Nether Saxon's page

I've done this a few years back with my group at home. I had only recently moved in with my girlfriend and wasn't able to meet up every few weeks. So we started using Skype. It felt strange at first, but at least from a DMs perspective, it works quite well. My RPG group assured me they had a blast.

I don't think it works that way, you're bringing too much math into it.
The base damage of a Sunblade doesn't change against any target - you simply roll your damage as normal (1d10+pluses), then simply double the result for the special targets mentioned in the description.
In case of a crit, you roll damage as usual, then triple for the crit instead of doubling it (again, for the special targets omentioned in the description, yadda yadda). Simple. ;)

How about mixing and matching lvels in Monk, Ninja and Oracle for Mysteries, Chi powers, Style feats and ... stuff? Also, don't forget to include specialized equipment, maybe even make them advanced humans and give them extra treasure.
All in the Name of Cool! ;)

I personally see most of the Furycrafters as Oracles - the Msytery is their Fury and most of what the Fury does can be explained by spells and revelations. That's what the norm for the "standard" would be, at least. The Marat could all be druids (seeing how they come of age when first bound to an animal and such), with various archetypes representing different clans. Gnolls could make great canims, but personally I'd just try and build a new race from scratch for them.
Don't go overboard, remember, what is exceptional for normal people in a fantasy world might be just level 4 in Pathfinder.
Also, if you're going Oracle, there's really little need for multiclassing to represent most of the powers of "higher-level characters". That's what you can use the customizing aspects of feats, skills, spells, and background/fluffy descriptions for, after all.
;)

Well, if he confused it in the first place, what makes you so sure he didn't think you meant "Pathfinder", when you both agreed 4th Ed. sucked?
It's a bit like talking about James Bond and saying he's got real class and stuff and only later finding out that one of you meant Sean Connery and the other Timothy Dalton. ;) Or even worse, one of you has only seen the movies and one of you is talking about the books...

So, to come back to the topic of a hot female paladin alongside the bare bear-shifted flexible druid and her suckubus... succubus grappling toy, would it be safe for the paladin to Lay her bare Hands on the druid to let her feel some of her manyfold mercies?

How about instead of nerfing spellcasting you make it imperative for everyone to start out with one or two levels of warrior to represent the hardships everybody must go through before reaching adult age?

Ring of Protection, Amulet of Natural Armor, Cloak of Resistance, Belt of *insert favorite physical stat*, ... If it has the necessary limbs, it can wear something in the corresponding item slot.
Remember also that most magic items will change their size for different characters, so fitting a magic item is never an issue - however, getting your Companion to actually accept wearing it might be. ;)

Me gusta mucho. :3
Also, now I've got the song by Marilyn Manson stuck inside my head again... Not that that's a bad thing, mind you. O:)

Why don't you simply turn it all around? Instead of penalizing characters for falling below a certain threshold, give a small morale bonus to characters who manage to stay above that threshold.
A +1 on rolls for AOOs, for example, or maybe even a morale bonus on Saves? Nothing more powerful than what you could accomplish with a cantrip to keep the balance.
I wouldn't mind implementing that kind of house rule and it does mirror what we find in cinematics and often real life as well: If you get hit, you feel it and you might get desperate. You lose morale. So, make it a bonus for those who manage to not get hit. ;)

Nether Saxon wrote:

You're very welcome and I'm glad you did. :D

I may be running a winter-themed adventure in the future. These guys sound perfect for the barbarian-heavy northern region of my world where much of the campaign will take place. Could be some interesting, unlikely allies for the party.

So these guys will be there to tell the party that ...

Winter is coming? ;)

And of course, they'll be riding Clydesdales, amirite? ;)

You're very welcome and I'm glad you did. :D

Don't we all just get along lawfully well? ^^

I almost always liked paladins, and I think that is partly because I never pictured them as lawful stupid.
But then again, my first encounter was with a group of natural were-bears in kilts and equipped with claymores, all sitting round a giant table in a hotel on our way to the next adventure. They were drinking loads of alcoholic beverages that would make lesser men cry without flinching and generally behaved like a group of metalheads in their favourite bar...

Yeah, this wasn't very helpful or even entertaining, but I guess everything worth pointing out has been outpointed (^^) and this just stresses the fact that everyone has had a first impression of a certain class. If you can't get rid of this impression for better or worse, creativity will die.

If I recall correctly, any spell effects created by summoned creatures end immediately as soon the summoning spell ends. Also, the bralani could only cast blur on one party member per round, which would be a waste of it's resources in-fight.

However, using a level 5 spell to grant every party member concealment is not unbalanced - you might as well cast obscuring mist and be done with it. Don't punish your players for being creative. ;-)

Let your GM take a look at the Deathweb, from Bestiary 3. It's a spider exoskeleton that's somehow animated by a swarm of smaller spiders, all undead. So, if you can't animate spiders or any vermin at all, how come it's there, at CR 6 and spitting your GM in the face? ;-)

If I recall correctly, you need Create Greater Undead, an Unhallowed site and a few scantily clad female cultists rubbing down your body with oils or somesuch to create a Skeletal Champion. It's somewhere on the boards, too. Use your Search-Fu!

I just finished this one - I know, it breaks the noncombat combo we recently established here, but I thought it almost too good to be true. Look up Bless Weapon and the corresponding Paladin Optimization guide... ;-)

For the enterprising Paladin/holy warrior/daredevil/guy who kills evil stuff for a living:

Holy Hands
Aura faint transmutation; CL 1st
Slot hands; Price 4.000 gp; Weight -

Description

These gloves seem to be made of shed silver dragon scales that gleam lightly when random light touches them. Whenever the wearer touches a weapon or projectile, this gleam intensifies and transfers to the weapon or projectile in hand, conferring a bless weapon upon it, making them strike true against evil foes.

Construction Requirements

Craft wondrous item, bless weapon; Cost 2.000 gp

Well, seeing as I came originally from an Earthdawn background, I was used to every single weapon being based on Dex to hit. Armor was there to soak up damage - it worked just like damage reduction.

Considering this, how would anybody think if Pathfinder had the same system? Using Dex for attacks (since Dex symbolizes hand-eye coordination) and having armor - instead of making your vitals harder to hit - soak up a certain amount from any damage you take.

Would you then think a feat that lets melee fighters apply their Strength to attack rolls overpowered since these types could then just base their entire build on one ability score?
;-)

That's just what I would have done.
There was a kind of magic armor once that could "sprout" a fixed selection of weapons basically at will. The weapons had to be melee, as far as I recall, because when seperated from the armor, they'd disappear.

Also, there was a kind of armor (tesselated full plate) in the old Arms&Equipment Guide that could be kept in a box. It could be fully equipped with just a standard action (command word) and worked like a watered-down version of mithral full plate.

Thirdly, in one issue of the dragon magazine, they included a form of magic belt that could store your armor so you could equip it with a command word, same as with the tesselated full plate.

Combine these three, reflavor the magic belt as magic gauntlet (which occupies both wrist slots) and maybe make it an intelligent magic item.

Shouldn't be too "epic" or hard to make if you keep it simple (full plate+1, creates only masterwork weapons, etc.).

Otherwise I'd have gone with the Synthesist Summoner as well - after all, Miss Pezzini DOES have Charisma in spades and the Witchblade seems like a rather skimpy coating... O:-)

Hmmm... Maybe "Don't have an Imp familiar if Paladin happens!!!"? ;-)

What the...

Haha. See, this is what happens when you "Burn out" a guide. Not sure how I got that wrong. Got that fixed.

Thanks for pointing that out.

I contributed, Yay me! ^^

Seriously, though, I really appreciate the effort you put in this guide. It just makes designing any spellcasting characters so much easier if you've got your work cut out for you.

So; thanks for the guide. :-)

I couldn't find out whether anybody already pointed this out, but I think you've been confusing Command Undead's duration with Control Undead.
In the Undead Master feat, it says "Your duration for Command Undead is doubled." Your take on it: "Doubling the duration of Command Undead sounds like it could have been good if the duration as far as I could tell wasn’t only minutes."
There's your mistake: Command Undead is the 2nd level spell that lasts for DAYS per level. Sure, intelligent undead get saves and such. That said, use it on the giant fast zombies you'll be encountering. :-)

Well, I would definitely look up the new archetypes before trying to reinvent the wheel (of time). For female channelers, you could try and convert the inquisitor (possibly with some home-brew inquisitions) or even just switch out the required stat for witch-spellcasting so it works like you want it to.
Personally, I'd tag "seeing the potential in an initiate" as rather a plot hook/GM fiat/plot device. That's something for NPCs. Or PCs with the Leadership feat who are on the lookout for a cohort who can actually level up - in contrast to all the NPCs in the world who will be stuck with their GM-assigned stats forever. ;-)

For Aiel, I'd simply go with the Sohei archetype for the monk. He wields a spear, he unleashes a wild series of attacks on his enemies while in the "throes of melee rage" (read: full attack all the way! Yay!) and looks soooooo intimidating while doing it. So just give him Dazzling Display as a bonus feat in place of another archetype/class feature he doesn't need anyway.

As a side note, you can always describe "non-dramatic or flashy spell effect" as simply highly specialized deductive thinking mid-combat or something. Sure, Karl the Bard calls it "I cast Haste, everybody full-attack for the next 12 rounds!", but Georyn the Learned calls it "Hurry, my fellows, while we have the advantage! Their movements are slow and slurrish from lack of sleep - so press on while we are still fresh! It will not last long!" Any spell with verbal components can be re-flavored to sound like simple advice or bardic music stuff.

Oh, and just as a starting point: if spell-blights (from Ultimate Magic) were more common place, everyone would be more careful with what and how much they cast - how is this different from the fear of stilling from over-channeling...? ;-)

I would have to search for my copies of the rules to go any deeper, so I'll just shut it now. ^^

(please note that I hve only played the game, not read the novels. All my friends at the gaming table at that time were always referring to them, however, and I can only hope to get the expressions and vocabulary right - it's been a few years. ;-) This is just what I always do when trying to convert anything: look to the material already present and see how I can make it fit the mold. That way, nobody can say it's grossly unbalanced and it's not so much work...)

@karlbadmanners I see your point but also felt strange giving a manufactured fighter race a bonus to Int.

Well, I always envisioned them as beings of logic. Think Spock or any of the Vulcans in Star Trek. Droids in Star Wars. The Qunari from Dragon Age: Origins. Even Vision from the Avengers comics.

Frankly, what ELSE would you give your warrior if you could build him yourself? He has to be durable, alright, so Con is the way to go. But the mental traits all come with some "role-playing baggage" attached. Wisdom means compassion in being the key ability for Sense Motive, Charisma equals people skills, and you don't want your fighter to waste his time exchanging quips with the enemy. You want him to come, see, and be victorious. ;-)
And if I were to compare mental stats to physical counterparts, I'd go Strength=Intelligence (raw power), Dexterity=Charisma (fluid grace and nimbleness) , and Constitution=Wisdom (endurance and wholeness).

Just my opinion on the matter.

This is just so much win. Earthdawn was my first campaign world EVER. I played with a regular group for more than two or three years on end and loved every minute of it.
I even wrote up my own versions of t'skrang for use in a D&D-module once back in the day.

Good times! :-D

Hooray for Shardfinder. That's just nice play of words right there. :-)

I was wondering about a shardfinderizaton of the base races myself these days - especially regarding the shifters. I always found the shifting and it's durations and feats and stuff to be very troublesome. A subsystem of abilities you had to keep track of next to your actual abilities and class features.
In my version, I just didn't bother with durations and just gave the shifters +2 to any one ability score (they're half-human heirs to lycanthropes, after all) and one pick from a short list of animalistic features (among other things, like a little resistance to transmutation magic and so on). These features could be later on gained by a shifter by sacrificing normal feats for the benefit, resulting in advanced, "shifted" forms. Also, their animal traits would become more pronounced while agitated, resulting in a shifting that would seem like some kind of berserker rage for the people in-game but not altering their abilities rules-wise.
Otherwise, I think your final conversions are fine. Eberron was always my favorite D&D-Setting. :-)

I'm actually in the process of converting most of WoW's classes for Pathfinder or finding ways to "just make them work".
Of course, I'm revising the base races as well - WoW Orcs are just not the same as Orcs from Golarion or even Half-Orcs.
By thw ay, Forsaken are hard to convert, to say the least.
I'll let the forums know soon as I'm done.
;-)

11th Commandment:
Thou shalt not praye for thine spells more than once per daye.

It's somewhere in the book. ;-)

And we know exactly what that one will be. Every. Single. Time.

O:-)

Taliban paladin?

For the Smite!

Seeing as the APG is not finally on shelves and the rules are not "as written" until it will be, I will come back to this thread when I see the final print edition of the "crippled Oracle".

She wants a nice, fluffy, little bunny rabbit.

It shouldn't:
roast or be able to catch fire
die of old age
be any colour but the purest white
be an albino
smell bad
become obese when fed with delicacies
be afraid of her
...

And so on.
Good luck.

Well, since all spells cast within 8 hours prior to your "preparing of spells for the day" count against your limit for the next day, you might as well rest for that time.
O:-)

So many names, such creativity...

How about

ARCATRUTZ - the syllables "arca" should be self-explaining, the word "trutz" is old German for "withstand" or "hard to break" (rather hard to explain, really). A "Trutzburg" was a kind of castle or keep built to last and withstand hordes of enemies.

BULVARC (or, to go a little Rammstein on the whole, BOLLWERK) - it's how we here in good old Germany often pronounce bulwark and I think it has a nice ring to it. Bollwerk would simply be the german equivalent.

POKUS - it's like Hokus, except it's got "poke" in it. >.<

THAUBER - loosely based on the german word for "spell" (Zauber). In german, it would be pronounced "tow-bare". Yeah, we're goofy like that.

More to come.

Might even make it worth to dip the four levels fighter to gain armored movement and somesuch. And, as far as I would read it...

- does the granted effect only apply to ONE PARTICULAR KIND OF animal companion or is the wording to be read as "you can't use this feat to simultaneously boost more than one class feature at a time", i.e. no boosting familiar AND animal companion without taking the feat twice?

One of my players gave her character Profession: Courtesan and has her run a temple of Calistria with her Cohort and followers.
Go figure. ^^
Also, I go by the old "Wilderness Lore/Survival = Profession: Outdoorsman" - Profession can be used in place of a number of quite different skills without sacrificing massive amounts of skill ranks or character concept.

I could write on and on about how we pronounce it in our weekly gaming group - but none of you folks here would get it, since I'm german.
The beginning sound, the combination "CH" is pronounced like the "CH" in Rammstein's "Ich will" (go search the Interwebs for a version of that song).
And that's just the beginning of it, so I won't bother you with a fullblown essay on the subject.
Suffice to say - it's hard to pronounce for native english speakers.

^^

It's not in the books, there's only one kind of armor to which the special property applies...
So, make up your own rules.
According to Mithral (basically), I'd go with a higher cost for heavy armor base types and a lower cost for light armor base types.
I won't do any maths here, it's just my opinion.

And yes, I allow Celestial Armor to be made from Mithral IF the right Armorsmith can be found AND the proper price is paid for mithral chainmail to begin with - after all, it's chainmail BEFORE the enchantment will be applied.

Me too. Save or get knocked out cold for at least an hour in addition to the subdual damage.

Looking good so far, but why did you do away with the Strength bonus?

Also, you still have a good point's worth of abilities to spend on, since Light Sensitivity is a penalty. So either just remove that or give them another small bonus on something. ;-)

And today a thought occurred to me - does it really have to be a Charisma penalty? For a cursed race, I could just as well see a penalty to Wisdom instead (i.e.: they're not very devout and Clerics are RARE in their society. Their Rangers would rely more on brains than intuition, and Paladin would be a viable calling. The race as a whole wouldn't be extremely religious, but IF one of their own was chosen, he'd be up to the challenge.)

On another note, the penalty could just as well be switched to Dexterity in keeping with the "old" history of the race. The progenitor race of the Szarvas Emberek (great name, by the way!) was known for their large hands and feet and ensuing lack of finesse in many things.

Just a few thoughts to keep the creative juices flowing.
;-)

That's it for now. Nice weekend, y'all.

"It will cast Protection from Evil again or I shall apply the lotion to my hairy chest. With pleasure."

>.<

Simple and elegant:

The Master Tome

Ammunition Arcane

Eldritch Convolute (not entirely sure about the second part, at least in german research a "Konvolut" is some kind of compilation)

Du Hast Arcana (just kidding)

Spellonomicon

Caster's Companion

Code X

Satisfy Your Thaumat-Urge! (maybe used best as a subtitle)

Liber Aeternus

Vex Hex

Fundamens Fulminans

Magenificient

... that's it for now. ^^

Oh well, I've got a dirty mind, I admit it. -.-'

Your comment reminded me of That One Movie with the well and the lambs in it and ... stuff. You know which one I'm referring to. ;-)

Building upon that idea and HalfOrcH's plan on how to subjugate all the evil creatures in the world, I have a Paladin interested in building himself a home base where he can hold prisoner the models for the kyton, the succubus, the erinye, and similar baddies for "reprogramming".
Slow, but very thorough reprogramming.
Should include a summoning circle with ample space for leisurely activities (so the evil gurrrrls don't feel uncomfortable) and a bed with satin sheets, some magic music apparatus and an endless supply of chocolate treats.
And, for those of them who don't understand any other language but violence, maybe a +1 merciful cat-o-nine-tails to teach them their place.

Ahem. All in the name of Goodness, of course.

Dang, I'd have done exactly that.

Genie: "...if you wish for flying island made of clouds to be mine!"
Slave: *surprised* "Yes master! I wish for a flying island made of clouds to be mine!"
Genie: "Wish granted! You can ... Waidaminit..."

Glad to have been of service. ^^

And just imagine: these orcs basically get "Reading Rage!!" - but nobody believes them, as they are just not charismatic enough.

Oooooh, I just pictured a sharakim rogue. Musclebound and beefy, wearing darkened leather armor and the usual accoutrements of the class - and on his pig-ish nose, he's got spectacles that seem strangely out of place.

Granted, they are not great paladins - but I wouldn't want to get into a philosophical debate with a sharakim fighter, much less a ... barbarian. o.O

Love the idea.

So, that's exactly what the OP thought.
The figurines are added to the list you can choose your animal companions from.
You don't add "Cat, big" to the list forever, but you gain the Golden Lion figurine companion nonetheless.
Might even be a better investment, all in all, seeing as the figurines don't need to be fed or anything like that.

Guenhwyvar, anyone? ^^

Hummm... You two give me ideas.
Now I'll just have to create some character who kidnaps a soarwhale to travel to the Elemental Plane of Air and rob some noble genies of their fortress base. Hilarity ensues as the thief escapes through the gate and the genie sultan gives chase.
Add the "Benny Hill" soundtrack for optimal visualization... ^^

Hello there, friend of all things ugly and misrepresented. We have to stop meeting like this. ^^

If you'd like a nice guide on how to stat out a race, I strongly recommend THIS HERE GUIDE and get crazy with it.

I always liked how the Sharakim looked like smaller Ogre Mages and how some of the other races might picture them as exactly that.
Anyway, with your current write-up, they still seem UNDERpowered.
Even with the "skilled" bonus humans gain, they lack a bit oomph.

I tried writing them up and as far as it goes (even doing away with the light sensitivity), you'd still have 5 points worth of abilities to choose from.
(the numbers at the end of each paragraph list the "cost" of the mentioned ability/racial adjustment as pertaining to the guide)

+2 Str; +2 Int; -2 Cha. (0)
+1 bonus skill point/level (2)
Darkvision 60 ft. (2)
May choose any 2 Knowledge Skills as Class Skills (1)

So, stat away. ^^

Basically, anything keeping things from one plane from crossing into another. "Materializing" most often means, for incorporeal beings, coming into the prime material plane from the ethereal plane, the astral plane or the plane of shadow.
So, Antimagic Field or a Dimensional Anchor might both work. I'm not entirely sure about the Anchor bit, though.
Also, Ghostwalk Campaign Setting had a load of spells and techniques for dealing with manifesting/manifested spirits.

Avast!
Radioactive Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Zombie Cyborg Time Travellers!
Again!!

Can't wait. o.O