Mr. Damage's page

Made it one post back in 2013.

How about a silent image fog copy that you practice with your party so they save but the enemy archers only see fog? No save for the enemy until they get up to the fog, you see out but they cannot see in.

Grease, because even though the save is low they are flatfooted when crossing it which is "Yay!!!" for the Rogues and those with sneak attacks.

Would you consider using the Gnome Pincher and making a Dex Weapon Finesse, Improved Weapon Finesse build? Maybe throw some disarm or steal in there for flavor? Just a thought...

Oh, instead of using a bunch magic items you can have the environment provide the boosts. Say, a cavern creates a darkness that only can be countered with an edible fungus that the protagonist has eaten.

Crystals in the walls can soup up certain spells as long as they are left alone and only the bad guys know which spells. Maybe the crystals absorb and nullify illusions or evocations or something.

A grove of trees provides spores or pollen or something that boosts the bad guys and not the good guys.

And maybe you can just say to the group that they are too powerful and see if they will voluntarily go down to wealth by level to make the gaming experience better in the long run.

If that fails then take a trip to Ravenlof :-)

Loot can be controlled by applying the evil descriptor such that any non-evil person to touch it gains a negative level.

Is the Cleric giving sufficiently to the "cause"? Tithing and all that.

Look into the old Ravenloft setting, maybe some horror effects could make things tougher.

Under sea is a good idea.

This is where a developed character story comes in, families and friends are expensive.

The Plane!! The Plane!! Some time trapped in some hostile plane or demi-plane.

A wizard frequently found adjacent to monsters is called difficult terrain.

Would this be a candidate for Vital Strike...down the road?

Greater Invisibility is a must.

Look into intelligent undead via Necromancer and a cohort via Leadership to help distract the enemy from converting your guy to difficult terrain. My 2 cents.

Still not resolved... :-(

Cleric, carry a tower shield but don't bother with the proficiency and you can drop the shield, if needed, but shouldn't do so unless it is critical. Stay in front of the archer, as long as he is closer to you than the enemies are then there is no cover penalty. Also, you will be very hard to hit so git in the way alot!! If being fired upon just use the shield to provide total cover per the rules. Be the bottle cork in narrow and restricted areas to protect the Sorceress and Archer. My two-cents.

I find that, in the Cleric role, summoning the d3 or d4 number of creatures helps with splitting the field, kind of like a wall. If you need to heal someone or need some flank assistance or need to cover your own flank, summon helps a lot. You can use you channel on your groups as well as the summoned creatures to help them last, if strategically benificial.

The summoned cretures have their own spells you may not be able to cast, terrain adaptation you don't have and abilities you don't have. The down side it having to keep track of soo many different creatures, like a golf bag with a hundred different golf clubs.

So, basically life in a communist country. Not sure where the fun is going to come from for the players...

Two thoughts:

1. Use the level as a pool and subtract the level increase from the pool. 10th level Wizard can use a 1 level boost 10 times per day and a 4 level boost twice per day.

2. Use the level as a pool and subtract the spell unmodified spell level from the pool. 10th level Wizard can Maximize a first level spell 10 times per day or a 5th level spell twice per day.

I've always been bothered by Metamagic feats and this really illuminated the issue for me.

I'm fleshing out a Crusader Cleric that is high armor and uses a tower shield to cover allies. The idea is to wade into battle aong with 1 or 2 other heavies and provide localized support. Taking some of the focus away from the heavy hitters. Crusader helps with the shield and Metal Oracle helps with the armor (Heavy Shield instead of Tower Shield)for pretty much the same armor class in the end.

Once you can use Channel only on friends then that is a real boost. Just fight defensively and try to get attacked but not hit and/or spread the enemy's afforts around. Get in the way a lot!! Give soft cover to allies. Be ready with Restoration, etc.

Extended Mind Blank, Extended Invisibility, Silent Monster Summoning every round, to start. Partially flood the cave from some nearby water source and summon the sea creatures. Dragon can polymorph into something less massive for the first phase.

Look to Diviner with the Prescience power, Foretell I think, and get the other party members to take the Lookout feat with you. That is a great way to help out from the get go of every encounter. You act in the surprise round and it benefits those with the lookout feat. Load up on Perception, too.

Quick question, can I use Bull Rush related feats with this Bloodline Power? Couldn't find anything on this.

Avalanche (Su): At 9th level, whenever you hit a single target with a spell that deals damage, you may make a bull rush check as a swift action. Your CMB for this maneuver is equal to your sorcerer caster level + your Charisma bonus. You can make this maneuver even if the target is not in melee range, and you do not provoke an attack of opportunity for making this maneuver. If the target is in contact with earth, stone, or rock, you gain a +4 bonus on your CMB check.

Nothing to see here, move along....

Okay, ask yourself this:

What does providing an enhancement bonus to a suit of armor or shield do?

Does it improve your armor or shield?

How does it do that?

What does armor or shield do for you?

In what way would improving your armor or shield benefit you?

I think that is going beyond what the creators intended but I'll bite. I'd have to say an Armor Bonus may describe how robust a certain piece of armor is, such as Chain Shirt vs. Full Plate and an Enhancement Bonus would describe the quality or "ease of use under conditions" of that certain piece of armor.

So a very high quality chain shirt might approach the benefits provided by a stock suit of Full Plate, for example.

Are we saying that Ablative Armor doesn't work on Magic Armor? What happens when you cast Ablative Armor on the +5 Padded Armor? Is the AC adjustment a +6 or +8?

Quote:

Mage Armor of +4 overrides the +1 from Padded and then you have the +5 enhancement for an AC of 9. Do any of you have Herolab? Just run the numbers there and you will see who is right.

If that is what Herolabs says, then it is wrong.

Wait, no, I was talking about using Herolab to try out the Ablative Armor/Enhancement thing.

Yeah, Mage Armor and the Magic Padded are two different Armors so you either get the +4 or the +6.

Mr. Damage wrote:

Would a +4 Enhancement Bonus from Bull Strength Stack with a +2 Inherent Bonus to Strength since they are both increasing Strength, then? Or no?

Yes, they stack. They are different bonus types applied to the same thing (your strength score).

That has nothing to do with this thread though. Enhancement bonuses are never added directly into your AC, they always increase a suit of armors armor bonus, or a shields shield bonus.

Right, and it have everything to do with this thread. The Inherent Bonus adds directly to Strength and the Enhancement Bonus "increases" it, as you have worded above.

Mage Armor = +4 Armor Bonus

+5 Padded Armor = +1 Armor +5 Enhancement

For a total of +9 AC. Is that correct?
No. +5 padded armor already has a +5 enhancement bonus, or a +6 AC bonus total.

Mage Armor of +4 overrides the +1 from Padded and then you have the +5 enhancement for an AC of 9. Do any of you have Herolab? Just run the numbers there and you will see who is right. (Fix) +4 Mage Armor or +6 Padded is the option.

Would a +4 Enhancement Bonus from Bull Strength Stack with a +2 Inherent Bonus to Strength since they are both increasing Strength, then? Or no?

I'll try to make this as simple as possible.

** spoiler omitted **

Armor bonuses don't stack. So you would take the higher +5 armor bonus from the Magic Vestment Clothes and not the bonus from Ablative Barrier.

To say otherwise is to be ignorant of the rules as written.

Magic Vestment doesn't provide and Armor Bonus, it's an Enhancement Bonus. It is Ablative Barrier that provides an Armor Bonus.

Armor Bonus and Enhancement Bonus are fundamentally different bonuses and, thus, stack. There is no way around it. You can have a +2 Armor Bonus, a +5 Enhancement Bonus, a +1 Natural Armor Bonus, a +1 Deflection Bonus and a +1 Dodge Bonus. Each one of those is a different bonus. GMs might even allow an Alchemical Bonus, for example. Either way, all different and all stack.

Running one now, shift at 2nd level is a real plus for tough campaigns and the 6th level shifts are amazing. Same problem with all druids, though, is the top out at around 10th, give or take. I might switch to Barbarian around 8th, that will add a lot of kill power but you lose out on the spells. I am enjoying it quite a bit, as are my companions :-)

How many kobolds clustered together can a charging Brachiosaurus overrun? I wonder if it would be reasonable to use Great Cleave rules (the Brachiosaurus has it)to allow continuous overrun until such time as the movement limit has been reached or the overrun fails against an opponents CMD. Your thoughts?

As long as you don't ming collecting a lot of broken treasure...

I find it really odd that the adventure assumes that PCs are going to loot the whole Schloss Caromarc. Going by the book, they're going there because Beast invited them (if he's found not guilty), so why the hell would PCs steal from a former Count who created a sentient golem? Can't really imagine the awkward moment when they release him:

Alpon: Thank you, brave adventurers... Is that my chandelier?

Here's how it went in my game:

Caromarc: Thanks soo much, but I don't want to keep you, here's bus fare, have a great day.

Adventurer: This would be a great story for the local newspaper.

Caromarc: Take anything you want!

ANebulousMistress wrote:

Well remember, Trial of the Beast is verdict-neutral. The outcome of the adventure doesn't depend on the outcome of the trial. I say let them Scooby-Doo their way through the legal proceedings. Who knows, maybe the meddling kids really will make a difference this time.

The investigations themselves worry me, if the first adventure is any indicator. Harrowstone was humbling to say the least. The fighter was the only one who was any real use in overcoming obstacles, and he was normally too busy trying to find some obscure rule combination that would allow him to bypass an obstacle completely to think of the obvious solution. No holy water, only one spirit siphon used. Just the Dwarven magic resistance racial trait to protect him from everything. Couldn't remember any of the dozens of items found just for overcoming the obstacles within, but he never forgot that SR. Maybe I should just sit back and watch the fireworks...

This either isn't the types of adventures suitable for your player's style of play or they didn't "get it" when they were making their characters. After stressing the skill side through out the AP I still had to restart after the group "swat teamed" the angry farmers at the funeral. Hack and slash this is not.

Ever think about making the characters yourself and allowing the players to choose which to play?

I'd rule the eidolon comes back possessed.

More importantly, though, what sore of damage would this do to the eidolon long term? Can the vilkacis ever be destroyed? Will the eidolon think it's still possessed every time it's summoned?

Will the vilkacis stay in the eidolon's pocket plane (or wherever you have it go) forever? Will the eidolon come to fear returning there because it knows sleep means it's forced to grapple in unending bloody battle with the creature now sharing its nest? If that's the case, what if the eidolon loses that battle? Will the summoner now have the vilkacis as its eidolon? Will the eidolon poke and beg and conspire to keep the summoner awake forever to keep from having to go back there?

This is supposed to be a horror campaign, you've set yourself up for the motherlode of all nightmares. Use it!

That's a great point about the horror element!! I wonder if I can corrupt the Eidolon in some fashion so that it takes on certain aspects of the Vilkacis. Maybe the spirits fuse into a sometimes uncontrollable beast. Maybe the summoner loses control, periodically, over the eidolon. Definitely something to think about.

Long story short - Vilkacis possesses Eidolon, summoner dismisses Eidolon, in reading rules and such I figured the Vilkacis goes with Eidolon. Was that a suitable decision? Anything that says that can't happen?

My players just drew Cthulhu into Wonderland. Settle this argument. Majority of responses wins. Go.

Lesser Jabberwock

Sylvanite wrote:

Crits and sneak attack (basically precision damage) don't apply twice. Other than that, almost everything applies twice with manyshot. That's why it's so amazing.

My DM stated that because "flaming" and other properties were +1 and didnt work with crit that this shouldn't either.

Your DM is wrong!! He can house rule it but that's pretty cheesy after the fact. He should make those declarations before characters are made. That's a pretty big change to the core rules.

Can look into two weapon fighter using a shield as primary and a short sword as the off hand. That gives you some options you might not have thought about and is similar in spirit to the phalanx fighter.

If you're a small race, dire bat all the way.

I wholly concur +1

High fantasy, low magic? Sounds like a certain presidental administration.

Seriously, though, I like where you are going with this but I am concerned about nerfing the magic users. Have you thought about limiting spell selection rather than tackling mechanics? Or moving the spell lists up a level so that cantrips are now first level spells and first level spells are now second level, and so on and so forth.

Darigaaz the Igniter wrote:

If you do put a dude in a bag, give him a bottle of air so he doesn't suffocate.

If you give him a ring of sustenance also you don't even have to worry about taking him out for meals. Until the bag fills with poo that is.

Wow, can you imagine having to dump 80 cubic feet of slave dung? That sure would be a great deterrent to lay outside your cave. Anyone who came by would run in terror wondering what creature drops an 80 pound, 80 cubic foot turd.

May need a house rule but it is very reasonable to just assign a 2 hour block for every 250 gp in price for items that aren't priced in even thousands.

I say go for your idea that brewing 4 potions costing 250gp or less each can be done in 8 hrs (1 day).

The judicial system of justice you are describing is a product of the 19th century and would be like using lasers and computers in your game. You would have a feudal lord or magistrate who would basically hear the charges behind closed doors, then either a combination show trial/public corporal punishment or just straight to punishment.

A good example would be the pontious pilate trial of Christ to give you some pointers. Even the Salem witch trials would be too advanced form of judical system for the D&D world. Also, you might look to Trojan, Spartan, Mongol, Goth, Egyptian and Roman forms of justice.

In Wisconsin, the law is that they can send the cops to go round up absentee legislators and bring them back to make them be present for a vote. That's why the Democrats in Wisconsin had to leave the state.

They didn't "have" to leave the state. They could have , oh I don't know, just stayed and did the job they were elected to do and are geting paid to do.

Great, thanks everyone!!

Seems fair enough to me.

S.

I can think of few things I would disagree with more. On the contrary, a guy coming after me with a sword would convert me into a highly motivated individual who could utilize rapid shot without actually having the feat.

My Gm's figuring a value of 40,000gp. I think that's way too high, but I don't know what a good value would be. My closest comparison would be the Marble Elephant Figurine. That's 17,000gp for a CR7 for 24 hrs at a time, 4 times per month.
Whaddya think?

WOW, 40k for an item you can use only once a month for an hour. Actually, tell your Dm it's easily worth 60k and sell it right away. Buy something you can use now. Your instincts on price are correct.

Spell damage, for one, anything else? Adamantine?

Great idea in the heat of battle that does not harm your companion!! I agree with the others, the GM acted properly.

Great thread, I like the guide.

The die will noticably wobble when rolled, such as roll forward as normal and then roll backwards to the 20. I drilled out the 1 on a D20 all the way to the 20 and then packed a .22 caliber bullet a third of the way in on the 1 side. It rolls 20s consitantly on a soft surface such as a paper towel or napkin on a table top. otherwise, it's unreliable but still hits to 20 often.

It is also very obvious because in the place where the 1 shoud be is a large silver circle where I filed the bullet flush with the die face. I use it when I run a game for players to accomplish something spectacular. Like when there is an iminent party wipe I will allow someone to roll the "special" die to see if their action can save the group, doesn't always work but it sure is fun.

Make sure you are tracking the food rations and now, due to the monsoon, their water. The ground water will become contaminated because of the storm blowing all kinds of gunk into the water and because the storm will kill creatures such as alligators which will begin to rot in the ponds and streams right away.

What is their shelter, will their food and spell components stay dry? How wil they replace their components and get dry clothes? How will they stay warm. Eveyone should get the fatigued condition on an almost constant basis.

Make them come up with a survival plan for the duration of their stay on the island. Green dragon breath should foul much of their rations unless carefully contained. The ground should be super muddy so no 5 foot steps or running. Become very familiar with movement rules and listen, climb, swim and perception modifiers for a storm.

Then start with the "you hear a crash from the left about 150 feet away" (tree falling?) then "you hear a rumble coming up fast from behind you" (mud slide? flash flood?) or maybe "you hear a beast whailing 100 yards to the right" (deer or boar stuck in the mud-escapes before the PCs arrive) Lightning strikes?? Too much to cover, anything can happen :- )

Not only that. IMHO, Sword and Board is done better with two weapon fighting.

My intention was suggesting a build to fight with two weapons one of which is the shield.

Depending from what you need, this can be done with phalanx fighter, two weapon fighter or standard fighter.

+1

The ship "springs a leak" after a mysterious crash from below. The PCs mus choose what they can swim with and make for shore. The island is mostly rock so the PCs must use thier survival skills to survive and once they are weak enough, say three or four days later the Fang shows up to gloat.

Maybe the green pretends to hate the fang and tries to get the group to fight amongst itself ("it was the cleric who told the fang where your ship was headed so it could sink you and share your gear between the two but if you help me then the past will be forgotten.")

Dragons are supposed to be super smart so you have to have all the angles covered just as a near genius would. You might need to fudge a bit for situations the dragons would have forseen.

A maze/gauntlet of death on a rocky outcropping of an island would be fun. Sounds like the dragons would have had a lot of time to plan this revenge, make it very sweet and cold(a dish best served cold)!!