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There's nothing that I can particularly see - but I suppose you could make a case for an instrument being a "professional toolkit", at 20cr. (with a handy-dandy +4 circumstance bonus tagged onto it!), since being a musician is a Charisma-based Profession skill.
Don't think its been brought up, but Infrared Sensors only cost 200 cr., and half of all "starting armor" has at least one upgrade slot. If you're really struggling to find a useful way to spend all 1000 cr. like the OP is, dropping some of it on a hands-free "light source" that won't scream out "I'm here, space-spiders, come eat me!" could potentially pay dividends.
Must've been a house rule, Gregory, because RAW you have to use your standard action every round to keep SR down. Which is why I'm always desperate to get rid of it.
I almost always look for an archetype/character option that gets rid of SR, just because I've yet to play an SR-heavy character that has been helped more than hurt by their Spell Resistance. Not being healed when you NEED it is kind of annoying.
I've been playing as a rogue in a game for about two months now; our fighter was 100% willing to take teamwork feats to make flanking with me even better (since flanking is the easiest way to deliver sneak attacks). Sure, sometimes I have to take a double move/make an Acrobatics check or he has to bite an AoO to get into position, but with a little cooperation and communication we've gotten it down to pretty much clockwork. I usually end up doling out as much damage as the rest of the party put together each round, once I'm in position, and the two of us are outperforming the group's cleric, sorcerer and samurai hand over fist. tl;dr - teamwork feats are amazing if you've got people who are willing to take risks/small sacrifices to work together.
Yeaaaaaah; having DMed Kingmaker, I can tell you that I don't remember seeing anything like that on any random encounter chart - or written into any of the books (at least not that early on.) Seems to me like your DM added in something extra and y'all got toasted for it.
Oh! Tactician! I see it now, thank you Chess Pwn - man, that's nice. It takes an extra round to set up - but man.
Maybe I'm just dumb, but could someone point out what the Cavalier adds to 1 Bloodrager/1 Cavalier/Skald X? I can understand why you'd want the Bloodrager - that Familiar trick is just plain amazing.
I'm about to start GMing a playthrough of CotCT with my usual group, meeting weekly, this week. It's a 5-man party, but one player can't always make it (so far, we've got a Swashbuckler, a hunter with a dog, and either an Arcanist or a False Priest Sorcerer.) Any GMs who've already run through this got any advice about portraying Korvosa, any spots in the campaign they had "trouble" with, or just advice in general for making the campaign as enjoyable as possible?
I was astounded that he could pierce armor, because until that clip, I was sure that the bow was either too weak, or that he didn't pull it all the way back.n What astounded me isn't that he could pierce chainmail, but that the fellow actually put a gambeson beneath it - almost every "armor piercing arrow" test I've ever seen forgets that actual armor consists of several layers, not just the shiny metal bit you see on the outside (and that the shiny metal bit you see on the outside usually isn't what stops arrows, it's the layered cloth beneath it)
flurry of stars as far as i recall will only allow for 1 snaek attack. Point, point. I may have been thinking about the Invisible Blade trick he can pick up at Level 10 (which you totally should! It's AMAAAZING!) Either way, Vanishing Trick will still let him get into whatever position he wants against most enemies (sans those with inherent true sight or scent.) Can help guarantee a surprise round, and makes getting that flanking you wanted a cinch.
Slashing Grace is pretty great for damage, especially since you can get it very early on. For ninja's, another good trick is to double up Vanishing Trick (popping out of invisibility sets you up for sneak attacks) and Flurry of Stars - shuriken deal pitiful damage on their own, but dropping 1-3 shuriken w/sneak attacks ontop of someone in one go will definitely hurt.
I love outside-the-box half-orcs! I once played a half-orc Cleric of Abadar named Porq Tendercoin (yes, everyone groaned.) Great fun. I wish you the best of luck, and let me know how this actually plays out!
I actually usually end up playing Dryads off as ecoterrorists; charming lumberjacks to keep their coworkers away, sending plant monsters to harass nearby logging towns. They usually end up doing things that are rather awful - all for two reasons: defense of their homes, and because fey don't usually realize that people die when you kill them. Players never know how to react when the "bigbad" that sent armies of stickmen to harass the logging camps ends up being a charmingly attractive feywoman tied to a tree, who is more than willing to treat peacefully with them so long as they don't threaten her woodlands excessively.
Convince your DM to allow you to purchase an intelligent Large apparatus of the crab. Large so that all three of you can fit inside of it. Install a couple of Bottles of Air inside to deal with the limited air supply, and hang up some Continual Flame lights. Preferably a disco ball. Now, remember the part where I said "intelligent"? I read this in a splatbook once, and it was just so random that I loved it. This particular apparatus of the crab has a serious hero complex, backed up by the ability to Plane Shift at least once per week, some in-plane teleportation, and some added ability to let it travel between planets. It's constantly on the lookout for rumors of new threats of evil, danger and oppression, and it's not afraid to kidnap all of you as it barrels off to go resolve them. Bamf - you and your compatriots now travel the planes and the stars in a giant talking crabmecha, fighting the good fight.
So, I was glancing through the Ranged Tactics Toolbox when I came across the Juggler archetype. Their level 2 ability particularly caught my eye: Combat Juggling: At 2nd level, a juggler can hold and wield (in other words, “juggle”) up to three items or weapons in his hands. The juggler must be able to hold and wield an object in one hand in order to juggle it. . . . As long as he is juggling fewer than three objects, the juggler is considered to have a free hand (for the purposes of drawing a weapon, using somatic components, using Deflect Arrows, and so on) . . . It got even more interesting when I recalled the Firearm reloading rules. Firearm Reloading: You need at least one hand free to load one-handed and two-handed firearms. Is Revolver Ocelot a thing for anyone who does a 2 Bard dip now?
Why not an Alchemist? I love alchemists for a lot of things, and the Grenadier archetype is thematically appropriate (since you're making guns a mainstay of this military force, I'm assuming they're common enough to just be Martial Weapons - Grenadiers get to pick one martial weapon to be proficient with! Lucky them!) Give them something scary like a double hackbut - something that packs a big enough of a punch that you really don't want to get hit by it - just have them swoop in, apply an alchemical splash weapon to a bullet using Alchemical Weapon, and fire (even without a magical hackbut or dex-to-damage, they can still deal 3-30 damage per shot, with the risk of setting someone on fire if they use alchemist's fire.) I'd say it's fair to presume that some sort of rigging has been set up to allow the alchemist to bypass the -4 non-braced penalty for firing a hackbut. Reloading in the air? No problem! They're in no particular rush - just retreat back to safety while dropping Alchemist's bombs or other splash weapons (I could imagine tanglefoot bags, or just acid/alchemist's fire causing a fair deal of chaos in the enemy's ranks). The emphasis here is on skirmishing, not on prolonged encounters with the enemy - so having the fastest mount is what matters. This actually mimics early use of firearm-wielding cavalry to a surprising extent - they would gallop up, discharge their weapons, and then clear the way for the next rank of cavalry to do the same, retreating to reload and prepare to fire again.
As a player, could you have handled it better? Certainly - no one appreciates having their character killed. DMs have been kicked out of the RPGA for doing it. But hindsight is 20/20. As a character, did you handle it in an appropriate fashion? Absolutely - if that's how your character would've reacted, then that's how your character would've reacted. You responded to a threat in a fairly archetypical barbarian fashion: with overwhelming force.
Spatula, that looks absolutely amazing - I'm always looking for extra tools to help make running Kingmaker easier. Just sent a request for a download link.
Death #3-10, TPK: Adventure: Lords of Rust Location: Aldronard's Grave Catalyst: Gas Grenades *Gory Details*: The party initially decided to try and send in only their android and the Ghoran paladin - both of whom are immune to disease - to assist the Smilers in curing the "dweaded pwague" they were infected with (having failed to pick up on the deceit.) The android managed to avoid the gate (opting to hop backwards OUT of the keep) but the Ghoran ended up pinned underneath it. Cue three rounds of rocks being dropped/bullets being shot down at the party from the tops of the walls/towers as the party tries to pull the gate off of the paladin - once most of the party had moved up to try and help, Hatchet-hand dropped down one of his gas grenades - none of the party opted to move away, and all except for the Paladin and one other ended up nauseated. Luckily for the paladin, he finally managed to pry the gate off of himself - and promptly urged everyone to charge into the keep to deal with the Smilers. Unluckily for everyone, the paladin became nauseated one round after - leaving only one player capable of taking standard actions for the next 5 rounds (the party had already been wounded - and had yet to bother to heal up from - a random encounter with a small gang of orcs and then a wyvern); that single player was quickly mobbed by Smilers and dropped. What followed after that is best described as a "rogue-based meatgrinder". I'm still not entirely sure why they decided to charge in when everyone was nauseated.
Despite playing for 4-5 hours almost every week since the AP came out, my players are ooooonly just beginning Book 2 (and they haven't even gone out of their way to interact with any of the townsfolk except for Baine; or to even RP that much. Yech.) We've got!: -The Dwarven Barbarian (Korgoth): He hates robots, loves money. Has an unrequited thing for Dogla. -The Human Arcanist (David "Zigz" Dominus): Loves robots and money. Dreams of going into the stars someday. Has a strange birthmark on his forearm depicting the Salmon constellation. -The Kasatha Slayer (Squibble): Originally a human barbarian, he killed off his character and had the rest of the party use a Scroll of Resurrection on one of the Kasatha skeletons. The party named him this, because they had no real way of understanding anything he was saying for the first 2-3 sessions, until he leveled up and picked Common through linguistics a la Antonio Banderas in The 13th Warrior. Currently addicted to sludge. -The Android Gunslinger (Wilfred Now): An android found coming out of a renewal cycle in the caverns below Torch without any knowledge of his past. Acquired his name when the party told him that "His name is Wilfred now." - was the driving motivation behind the party taking certain Book 1 Bosses alive. -The Ghoran Paladin (Veeks): More than just a Groot knockoff. Worships Scorchbark and carries a masterwork club (which he claims is all that is left of his brother, after the Technic League got through with him.) The awkward voice of reason and photosynthesis. The rest of the party isn't terribly fond of him, because he stopped them from resting overnight down in the tunnels beneath Torch, but he's decent people. -The Human Swashbuckler (Timothy): Found in Torch's drunk tank. Good with his knife. Claims (falsely) to have been a space pirate who has wandered all of the galaxy (including "Android Planet 1, birthplace of all androids!") The rest of the party puts up with him both because his smooth talking helped Veeks finally break through in his interrogation of certain Book 1 Bosses, and because he regularly gets drunk and says beautiful things about space. -The Human Cleric of Desna (Asari): The only woman in the group. Often wonders why the heck she's traveling with these bozos.
Death #1, Gambit:
Name: Lamina Race: Lashunta (I wasn't entirely sold on it, but he wanted to be some sort of incognito alien man) Classes/levels: Magus 2 (Card Caster) Adventure: Fires of Creation Location: Skulk Village Catalyst: Numerian Fluids & Russet Mold The Gory Details: Lamina had made the silly choice of becoming addicted to Numerian Fluids - a series of bad rolls and constitution damage had his system compromised enough that the weak strain of russet mold from Vrilledt managed to kill him - the ensuing surprise battle with the Lamina-vegepygmies almost killed another party member before they put them down. Death #2, Korgoth of Barbaria: Name: Korgoth Race: Dwarf Class/Levels: Barbarian 3 Adventure: Fires of Creation Location: The Reactor Catalyst: Lesser Confusion Gory Details: I have 7 players, most of whom powergame - hard. So I added 2 Fanatics and a pair of ratfolk to the reactor core to give Meyanda a little backup. Those fanatics managed to plug up the barbarian in the doorway so Meyanda could do her spellcasting; she promptly casts Lesser Confusion on the barbarian, who fails his Will save (much to the horror of the entire party, as they had just dumped ALL of their STR and damage buffs onto him.) I rolled a confusion check to see how he was going to react to things around him until his next turn rolled around - I informed the party that he was becoming visibly hostile towards them. The cleric decides to move on up to try and heal the person adjacent to the barbarian, prompting an AoO - Korgoth promptly drops the cleric into unconsciousness with one swing. The rest of the party scatters. When the next round of combat began (confusion would end on Meyanda's round, this time about) Korgoth began to attack himself. He rolled maximum damage (well over 20 damage) and dropped himself; prompting his rage to wear off, which placed him dangerously close to dying. An orc promptly coup-de-graced him. I give my players Hero Points, hoping they'll use them to do neat things - but most of them just hoard them to prevent dying, so Korgoth burned 2 to be unconscious but stable. The rest of the party, however, continued to fight in the area immediately surrounding his body - he died a second time a few rounds later to Meyanda's Sound Burst. The party got him reincarnated soon after; I use this reincarnation chart, and he managed to roll Centaur. Since that would make things problematic in future dungeons (getting a horse down into a tunnel is a bit of an issue) he opted for me making a custom race for him. So that'll be neat. Right?
I can't find the exact line myself - it was the player in question who mentioned the Player's Guide talking about it. Maybe he was talking about the entry under the "Craft" skill on Page 10? "NPCs with the means of crafting technological items are extremely rare, and it is not assumed PCs have access to such resources. GMs are encouraged to discuss such considerations with their players before allowing technological crafting into their game."
One of my players seems to be really strung up on prestige classing into technomancer eventually, to the point of them really not seeming to want to play much else besides it. I have to ask, though, is it a good idea for me to greenlight this? We've already received word that technology crafting won't come any sooner than Book 3, and the Player's Guide mentions it being a bad idea to take crafting feats. I don't want to shoot the player down entirely, but the Technomancer PrC seems to be pretty heavily focused around tech-crafting, and we've heard little in regards to the AP being friendly to that so far.
You could always just have them stamp the wizard's forehead with a certain symbol, and then bind several of his fingers together with leather straps; nothing that'd prevent him from going about his day to day life, but certainly enough to stop any spellcaster who didn't invest in Still Spell from casting the vast majority of his repertoire. Severe fines for any spellcaster found without his fingerstraps. And if they DID invest in Still Spell? Good for them. I never see it taken.
Nowhere in the Core Rulebook's description of Lawful Good does it actually mention legality. Lawful doesn't necessarily mean -legal-. It represents holding yourself to a strict standard rather than acting on a whim (be that standard a personal code of conduct, a set of traditions, or an actual legal code.) These are all relatively similar, but different enough that every single LG individual doesn't have to be played identically to the last. The question is, what code is your party beholden to? Are their actions determined by social mores (what society deems to be correct and proper), or morality (which is similar to mores, but viewed through a religious lens)? Do they strictly uphold all laws and legislation regardless of the impact they have on the little people, or do they defer to their god's interpretation of what a just, legitimate law is?
I don't have my copy of the book on me at present, but I can't imagine Rasputin sitting in the middle of a Bolshevik army camp. Still, I have to admit that the hair's breadth by which the AP misses 1917 makes me a little sad; one of my favorite years in Russian history (and arguably, the year in which most Russian citizens enjoyed the greatest degree of personal liberty in the entirety of the last ~1200 years of well recorded history they've got.) So close, and yet, so far.
I just let the dice fall where they fall. My players seem to enjoy that. Unfortunately for me, my players are all terrible. Sincerely, sincerely terrible. I've been running Rise of the Runelords for awhile now. I, uhh. I had about nine or so PC deaths in Burnt Offerings. They managed to sneak three PC deaths into the filler arc. Ended up with ten deaths in The Skinsaw Murders (two full TPK's) plus they failed to stop the villain's plot. I gave up and asked for a drink at that point. Where's my big old beer?
Their enemies are sneaky types. Can you think of any reasonable ways for them to sabotage the players' war efforts? Ambushes and fighting dirty might also work, and might make for some interesting stories. How have the PCs treated their NPC allies in the kingdom? Certainly, they don't hold EVERY position of power themselves, in a kingdom that large. If they've mistreated anyone, now might be the time for those individuals to "get even" - turning coat, and possibly taking a portion of the kingdom's funding or armies with them.
Have you looked at Style feats yet? One feat spent in the Mantis Style tree gives a nifty DC boost to Stunning Fist, if he's looking for a way to lock down another enemy/apply a quick debuff. Alternatively, I'd really suggest Snapping Turtle Style - if his AC gets up to a decent level, it'll give him free opportunities to grapple. It also gives him a little extra CMD (only +1-2, nothing amazing) and reduces the chances of him being critically hit - which, lets face it, is one of the only things high AC monks need to worry about.
Just remember! What you need to remember.:
That if you follow the advice above you'll end up having to adjust most of the handouts/journal entries, etc that deal with Nualia; most of them mention her ignoring war councils to wait on releasing 'something'. Not a lot of work, just something to keep in mind. Other than that, the idea is fine. I do have one question, though - why'd Nualia bother sending them towards the goblins? What'd she get out of it/how does it further her own ploys? I'm trying to understand the purpose behind, well, all of it - because I'm having some difficulty empathizing with your DM-woes.
Ah, that's a good idea. Hammers in that point.
So, yeah - my party ended up biting the big bazooka midway through The Skinsaw Murders. Details on exactly how it happened below. The Details:
Suffice it to say, the entirety of The Misgivings was just a handful of bad decisions after another. Each party member managed to accrue some form of disease or ability damage, so they were down a bit there. They provoked Iesha Foxglove into a fight (even AFTER being given 2-3 warnings that what they were doing was a bad idea), but I had her run away after Aldern once the party scattered (partially because of the respectable amount of damage a revenant can kick out in one round).
They also ended up fighting ghouls next to the Yellow Mold. I decided to be nasty and take advantage of the fact that Undead creatures don't give any hoots about constitution damage, so the ghouls repeatedly triggered the spore clouds, and tried to drag smaller PCs into them - it took them 1-2 rounds to realize they should fight on the other side of the room, now that they'd given away their presence to the entire floor by shouting. So with each of them having Constitution + another ability score damaged, they decided to soldier on and try their luck clearing out the subbasement; cue several failed checks vs. Paralysis, and one TPK. So. Yeah. That happened. But I spent a pretty penny on this Anniversary edition book, so I'd like to get my money's worth out of it - I decided to throw away my usual rule of "a TPK means the campaign is basically over." Below are my ideas on how to continue on with the campaign at this point: Continuing the Murders:
The new party of PCs will be traveling to Sandpoint - together or individually - through the hinterlands, about a month or so after the original party died. I'll make a point of impressing on them how several farms they pass by seem deserted, and those that aren't are full of hardfaced men and women who stare them down while nervously fingering spears, dented old swords, and crossbows they carried into their fields with them.
They'll arrive in Sandpoint just in time to catch a memorial service for the Heroes of Sandpoint, who vanished a month before investigating a spree of as-of-yet unresolved murders; a great deal of hubbub is created, though, as Sir Faust (the object of Aldern's obsession!) appears! He proclaims that he was the only one of the party to escape, and he'd been quite busy tying up loose ends elsewhere in the region. Some of the townsfolk are leery of this upset, but the vast majority of them are overjoyed - "Faust" is, of course, Aldern Foxglove, scoping out his next marks. During the night, the fun begins - I'm thinking of running it similar to the "Night of the Ghouls" development; Aldern Foxglove, and then 2-3 seperate groups of 3-4 ghouls apiece, causing big trouble in little Sandpoint once the sun goes down. Once the heroes take him down, they'll find Xanesha's note and the keys for his townhouse in Magnimar on his corpse; but they'll have to act fast! A month before, they would've had plenty of time to save the Lord Mayor - now, he'll be dead within 4-5 days of their arrival in Magnimar, unless they do something about it. After that, the game continues as planned. Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?
And with 2-3 Instant Fortresses, you're just a command word away from formidable fortifications - anywhere, anytime! I love looking at the magical item lists and finding new uses for em.
That's the spirit! I could see a successful regiment of infantrymen forming up into a tetsudo formation to limit the damage of a fireball (cover on all sides, plus above! Nowhere for the blast to spread into). I can't provide much input on what the various militaries of Golarion look like, but I do know that Nirmathas favors guerilla warfare - to the point where their capital lacks walls, to make it easier to retreat out of and infiltrate when Molthune invades them (which it does regularly). Lots of excellent archers and snipers (correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe at least one Ranger archetype is actually named after their national elites?) Also, more details on army size & quality from the Kingmaker AP. You might not want to look at this if you're playing in said AP!:
When the PCs go up against Irovetti, he doesn't come to the field with a bunch of level 1 warrior mooks - instead, his main army consists of a Colossal (minimum 2000 men) regiment of Level 4 Warriors (who will each likely have a minimum of 29 HP, even if they've only got 10 Constitution.) While I will agree that a higher level wizard will scythe through that with no issue, the bets are safely hedged against a level 6 sorcerer simply one-shotting the lot of them. To make matters worse, they're backed up by 100-199 Wyverns and Trolls.
All this is being put into the field by Pitax. The River Kingdoms aren't known for their massive power or stability; I mean, even for the PC's teensy kingdom, the sample statblocks offered are for armies of 500-2000 level 3 warriors, labelled as "Militia". So, it's safe to assume that your regular soldier in any standing army is at least level 3-5, and that any nation of decent size will be capable[ (that isn't to say willing) of fielding auxiliary regiments of demihumans and monsters. A mass of relatively skilled infantrymen, backed up by whatever humanoid support groups you want to tag onto them, with a press-gang of ogres or a core of troll helpers paints a much, much stranger looking battlefield than this thread has been focusing on - even with wizards thrown into the mix on both sides.
Well, you lot should only be around 4th level right now, if he's running it stricly RAW. Unless I seriously messed up my math somewhere, the Thistletop adventure alone should be worth around: Potential Spoiler:
18,000 GP on its own. That's about what the party I DM'ed got from running through there. Remind your DM that certain items can be sold at full value, rather than half - particularly gems, trade goods (such as fine linens, silks, glassworks, and things made of precious metals).
There's a particularly large helmet made out of bronze and gold in Thistletop - your DM should have given you the full 3000 GP value of it, rather than 1500 GP, because its value is derived from the fact it's plated by precious metals. There are also a lot of gems in Thistletop, and several bejeweled weapons that derive their value not from the weapon itself, but the gems set in them. You can also make a pretty penny salvaging all the everburning torches and everburning candles from the dungeon. There's a fair number of them. Worst case scenario, sell off some of the magical loot you DID find. There should also be a small wealth of masterwork items, I recall my players making over a thousand gold off those alone. That alone, with four of you, should put you at ALMOST WBL. Remember that, if you can't sell an item at full value in Sandpoint, you can just go a day or two down the coastline to Magnimar and do so. If your DM refuses to allow you to make the trek, then he's a jerk. If you've already sold off all the expensive stuff, taking the 800 GP that Sandpoint can offer for them, then well... You've kind of already shot yourself in the foot, albeit unwittingly. Not much to be done, sorry.
Whichever weapon you choose, you'll be able to have a pair of +1 Agile <Weapons> by about L7, if your DM cleaves close to WBL. If they tend to be sparing with handing out loot, consider the Dervish Dance feat. If they give out a lot - all the better, you can get the swords quicker. If the character is for PFS, I can't really give any advice there. If you opt for getting +1 Agile weapons, then pick up Arcane Strike and possibly Piranha Strike early on, to compensate for low early game damage output (Arcane Strike is amazing on any bard, anyways). Having 12 STR wouldn't hurt you either, if you can find a way to work it in without sacrificing Dexterity too greatly. EDIT: If you make it to level 11, the Discordant Voice feat is your friend. Also, if you have another melee combatant in your party, consider having both of you take the Precise Strike and Outflank feats - who can argue with an AB boost and extra damage dice?
Okay, so I'm actually really pleased with this character's death - hear me out, hear me out! That's not as awful a sentiment as it initially seems to be. The full story is in the spoiler. Name of PC: Issac
Story: To start the story, one of my players (the one who plays Issac, actually) decided that at some point in the future he might like to DM - so he surprised me by purchasing the Critical Hit Deck and bringing it to the table for me to use. The other players in the party liked the idea of spicing up critical hits, and they also voted unanimously to allow NPCs to draw from the deck if they confirm a critical hit (no guts, no glory, y'know?)
But what really made me happy was that things just started to click for people. They didn't ask me a single time questions like "How do I calculate attack bonus?", or "What makes up my AC?" - and they managed to do all of that accurately on their own, something that hadn't happened for the last five sessions. Previously, I'd had to stop and tell them how it all worked at least three to four times each time we sat down. Suffice it to say, I was pretty happy with this. But what really made me grin, as a longtime RPG player, is that they began actually interacting with the game world. They talked to NPCs without prompting - meaningful conversations, not just "I want to charter a room at the inn", and they began thinking outside the box. For example, when they came across the bridge into Thistletop, the wizard suggested that the party all clamber inside the Bag of Holding Type II they'd pooled money to construct while the investigator snuck them across since she was the only one who can sneak (I use a modified "Encumberance Points" weight system, so chances are their bag was off by a few points - I was just so tickled with their creativity I let it slide). Things went a little downhill during the fight against Ripnugget. They managed to eventually get it down to just him and Stickfoot against all of them, but none of them had landed a hit on either him or the gecko during the entire fight - then it happened. Ripnugget rolled a Natural 1. He was flung from his gecko, and had to exit the square he was flung into because he couldn't end his turn in an enemy square - provoking an AoO from every party member. Every single one of them hit with their AoO, and two of them confirmed critical hits, dropping Ripnugget in a single round. But not without penalty: Ripnugget had scored a critical hit on Issac the round before. The card that was drawn? Lung puncture. Our intrepid, freshly-out-of-healing heroes had to watch on in horror as their ally drowned to death in his own blood (failing his Fort save each round). This is where things got interesting though - I was about to pack up, since we were finished up for the night, when the Cleric piped up "I don't have healing - but I do have lesser animate undead!" Then they got even more ideas, and the cleric asked if he could burn a Hero Point to return Issac as a Zombie Lord instead. I allowed it, for the burning of two points from each of them - and an understanding on Issac's player's part that he'd be leveling at a slower progression than the rest of the party from now on. Did I, perhaps, put too much power into his hands? Maybe. But they burned the points to do it, and you've all seen the turnover rate for my campaign so far - besides, with the amount of creative thinking and roleplaying that went on tonight, I was willing to let em have some kind of special reward.
Nope. The paladin was good and stabilized. Gunslinger just wanted cover. I use a sort of, eh. How best to put it. "Coordinates system" for determining alignment - you aren't just Lawful Good, you're (80,80). I marked the gunslinger a good chunk of the way towards evil, warned the player I'd let this one slide but I wouldn't tolerate any further jerkitude of that magnitude, and gave the paladin's player's next character a second hero point for his new character (for being stiffed).
If you're just running AP's as-written, try maxing out the enemies' HP and then adding 1-3 enemies (if you don't want the party's EXP to get out of hand, just don't hand out EXP for those extra monsters). A fight has little chance of being difficult unless there's at least one opponent per PC, and even then they'll probably breeze on by. I can't recall exactly which post it was in, but someone did some number crunching and figured out that an encounter with a CR = APL + (# of Players) should have - in terms of raw probability - around a 50% chance of a TPK. So try nudging the CR of encounters towards APL +2-4? Preferably by adding more "minion" type monsters to even out the number of actions the enemies get.
Worst case scenario, a quick trip down the coastline to Magnimar would likely get them whatever they want.
I know, right? Six players, 15 PB. Apart from the Ankheg random encounter, I haven't even added anything or changed everything - it's all as written. I even started to warn them when what they're doing is likely to get themselves/a party member killed.
I'd been planning on holding off until after I finished Burnt Offerings, but there doesn't seem to be any end in sight. First-time players both make me smile and kill my soul one adventure at a time. The party line-up at the start was: Cesare (Human Arcanist), Faust (Human Cleric of Zon-Kuthon), Thomas (Human Paladin of Iomedae), Kimber (Half Elf Investigator), M'thaine (Halfling Ranger) and Alec (Vanara Gunslinger). The LE Cleric managed to hide himself in part by being a perfect gentleman on the outside, and in part because the paladin was terrified of potentially being stunned for detecting evil, and thus never used the ability. Name of PC: Thomas
Story:
The party decided not to use up any of their healing supplies after the fight in the Glasswork's furnace room, waiting only long enough to link up (they'd decided to go in through all three doors) before pursuing the fleeing goblins - which, as it happens, gave the goblins just enough time to rouse Tsuto and get into position.
This time around, though, the party opted to go straight in on the offensive. No dual-pronged attacks, just everyone down a relatively narrow tunnel - as it happens, the goblins and Tsuto's initiative rolls were just where they needed to be to shoot at the paladin after he rounded the corner into sight. He promptly dropped down into the negatives, and failed to stabilize. His comrade, Alec, decided to hoist his unconscious body up and use it for cover. The rest of the party's bravado faltered, and they wasted several rounds doing relatively little - rounds the goblins used to fill Thomas' body full of more arrows. They were joined next session by the player's new character, Benzo (Shoanti Invulnerable Rager Barbarian). A little uninspired, but he's a new player and he's trying to get into the game, so I permit it happily. Name of PC: Alec
Story:
The party had allowed the alarm to be raised, which sent the two sinspawn in the prison into hiding beneath the platform. The party failed their perception checks to hear them lurking. Alec happened to be the first person to near the edge, and so the Sinspawn popped up - and succeeded on a CMB roll to pull him down to the floor below.
The rest of the party opted to go back 10-20 feet and then go down the stairs, which gave the sinspawn the rounds they needed to beat Alec to death. Name of PC: Benzo
Story:
Benzo happened to be the first person through the doorway into Koruvus' room - and he promptly rolled a 1 to resist being Nauseated. Koruvus closes to attack. Other players don't kill him. Benzo misses. Koruvus gets a full round attack - complete with a critical hit from his masterwork handaxe, dropping the barbarian in one vicious flurry. A boat trip to Magnimar in between sessions by Cesare resulted in the hiring of Issac (Human Fighter 3), and Adam (Human Rogue 3). After bonding as a group during the Day of First Brewing, they all headed off to Thistletop. Unfortunately for them, I rolled a 95 on a percentile, netting them a random encounter during their two days on the road. Name of the PCs: M'thaine, Adam
Story: The Ankheg came up in the middle of the night, during Kimber's watch. She rolled awful on her perception check to hear it surface. It promptly shot a line of acid, catching her and the arcanist - their acid drenched screams woke up the rest of the party, and regular initiative order followed.
After Cesare and Kimber fled a ways off to cast what few buffs they had, the Ankheg scuttled up and took a bite out of M'thaine, who provoked another AoO trying to stand up. It was Adams' turn - unfortunately for him, the only way to set up flanking was to stand on the party's campfire. Which he promptly did, missing on his attack and setting himself aflame. The Ankheg finished M'thaine off with a critical hit, before Issac finally finished kitting up and joined the fight - Adam continued to roll poorly, and continued to take fire damage; the Ankheg swiped him down. Then came Kimber's return. You might never have played an Investigator, but they can easily get their AC up to near 30 by L3. Combined with a Ray of Enfeeblement from Cesare, the Ankheg had 0 chance of hitting her, nor the fullplate clad, shield-wielding Issac, and they whittled it down between the two of them.
They can follow plans, sure - but plans never work out as planned. The real question is whether or not they've got the wherewithal to think up a new plan on the spot when the old one falls through. My response? Probably not.
I'd recommend Abadar, but he's primarily a god of commerce - I can't see a god of commerce being in too big of a hurry to back many crusades. Individual worshipers, perhaps, but wars inherently destroy wealth and wealth production. That's not good business. Torag, on the other hand, is excellent for this - but his worshipers are all primarily dwarves. Torag's paladin codes include things like "Yeah, lying and all that is bad - but my clan comes first. If I have to protect them, I will misdirect people gladly." and "Show no mercy to my enemies; take no prisoners, except to get information from them. Destroy them and scatter their families." That's such an exceptionally fine line to be walking for a Paladin, that I could easily see a LN ex-Paladin of Torag who still thinks he's serving his god appropriately.
To add some perspective, rolling through a town kicking ass and taking names would be rather chaotic. There's always that. Yeah, I was about to point this out myself. Walking into town and violently overthrowing an evil government wouldn't technically be an evil action, but it is most definitely a chaotic action unless gone about in an appropriate fashion. Paladins and morality are all about qualifiers - there're too many little tidbits and fidgety parts that go into deciding whether or not an action is justified to just go "If X does Y, is it Z?"
You seem to be short on feats - you ought to have 6 total (2 at L1, then one every level after that); since you listed Combat Reflexes twice, you really only have four. But, everything seems pretty all right so far. I'd recommend either picking up Dodge/Toughness at L4, or Weapon Focus. Either one is a good pick. For level 5, I'd recommend either Weapon Specialization (if you went with Weapon Focus), Weapon Focus (if you didn't go with it), or Steel Soul (increases your dwarven bonuses vs. Spells + SLA's to a total of +4). Fighters're pretty easy to pin down with magic, but a +4 vs. all magical effects counters that pretty hard - which, without spoiling any specifics, will come in very handy with Carrion Crown. EDIT: Two feats you might want to look into taking for future levels are Bodyguard and In Harm's Way. They're a little finnicky (since you need to be adjacent to people to use them) but fit well with the whole "tanky/bodyguard" theme.
If you're dead set on running an AP or a campaign, I'd second the previous recommendation of Rise of the Runelords. I'm running a team of first-time players through it right now, and it's simple enough for them to ease into playing the game (though, poor planning and unlucky critical hits have already killed off three of them before we're even close to Burnt Offering's finale). Kingmaker is a bad one to start new players off on - in my experience, most new players (and I've introduced thirty something people to the game) need a little more railroading to get into the swing of things. An AP that's so open ended, with mechanics as finicky as the Kingdom Building ones, is just begging for them to be overwhelmed.
Oil or Marbles can be used to the same effect as Caltrops (albeit nonlethally) - I usually carry a few bags of them around, even at midlevels, even though they start being a real crapshoot after level 5ish. If you're running into rough terrain a lot, and you don't NEED your Boots slot right now, consider Feather Step Slippers. They're like a really, really watered down Freedom of Movement for a cheap 2000 GP.
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