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Then what's the difference between neutral good and lawful good?

My paladin follows a strict paladin code and would follow the law when he can, but will always choose to follow his paladin code or to do the "right and moral thing" if it conflicts with a law (thus, breaking the law).

Does that make him neutral good? Can a paladin be neutral good?

That's pretty cool, Haladir.

I'm read all the advice, and I'm going to end up killing him off-camera, after he gets separated from the group for 5-10 minutes. If the group doesn't let him get separated, then I'll have to wing it. None of the other suggestions really fit for this particular campaign (it's a pre-made module, not a homebrew).

But the rest of the PCs will get the chance to extract immediate revenge on BBEG's minions, is that's what they want to do, and will now things will be personal and they'll have more incentive to track down BBEG.

"I hope you're in a friendly home group that does a lot of roleplay"

Isn't that kind of the definition of RPGs like pathfinder? If I wanted a competitive group that did nothing but combat in a dungeon, wouldn't I be better off playing something else?

Also, the scores were rolled, it was not a point buy system. I can't just remove a point from intelligence to add one to dex.

The spells are there because I want to try out a bunch of different stuff. I haven't tried any of these spells yet. Do you suggest something amazing that I'm missing?

I'll probably end up doing the +1 to Dex now. The more I think about it though, the more I'm not sure why i'd need to get that point in strength at all if clerics focus almost exclusively on spells later on (do they?)

Can I damage lycanthropes with magic spells (acid arrow) or a weapon enchanted with the "magic weapon" spell, or do I have to have silver items?
What's the cheapest way to get a silver morningstar or dagger that can damage lycanthropes?

Oops, here is the correct link for the: CLERIC

Just hit level 4 with this cleric: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYCN82whurQ

Not really sure how to build him since I've never had a cleric past levels 1-2. Should I put a point in wisdom (to 19), just to put myself in a situation where at 8th level I can get up to 20 wisdom?
Or should I go up to 12 dex now so I can take advantage of the 1 AC + Initiative it will give me (my Full-Plate gives me 1 AC bonus). I am the team's tank.

Or I could go up to 16 strength for an extra +1 damage and +1 to hit on my morning star...

Not really sure where to go with this. How do clerics do most of their damage at mid-high levels? With spells? Or will I be swinging my mace around?

Hey, I'm a new DM and am bout to run the "Crypt of the Everflame" path for a group. I've never DM'd before, and after reading the adventure, I thought of a scenario that could actually be quite common at low levels and I'm not sure how to deal with it.

Here's the hypothetical: The group of 4 gets to the tomb and quickly discovers the slaughtered animals, bodies, and skeletons at the entrance. "Oh crap", they realize "People are dead and the tomb is overrun by skeletons." But what if instead of entering the tomb to defeat the enemies, they just go "Let's trek back to town, tell them what happened, and come back with reinforcements." The small town, upon hearing of this slaughter of their townsfolk, would undoubtedly send every able bodied man and whatever higher levels they have to quickly stamp out this undead problem.
How do I handle this if my characters just immediately want to turn back, and go grab a bunch of help at town instead of entering on their own with their weak level 1 asses? Even getting a couple of NPC helpers would make the adventure super easy, and if they came back with a dozen level 2s with pitchforks and axes, it would be trivial. Their decision to run back to town for a ton of reinforcements would actually make sense and be the most practical solution to the problem. And the town would never ignore the request...

What to do if this comes up?

I'm going to first time DM for a group of players that has a bit of D&D/tabletop RP experience. They aren't super experienced Pathfinder players, but since they have a general gaming background, I figure the "Beginner's Box" might not be the best place to start (correct me if I'm wrong).

What is the single best campaign/adventure path (not sure of the exact name for it) there is? I want to start a 3-4 person group at level 1, and I'm not limiting this to "free" adventures. Thanks for your advice!

Are their critical misses (critical fumbles) in pathfinder?

Ugh man to the OP I like what you're saying and I like your approach but I can't help but feel that you are biting off way more than you can chew here.

Have you thought about running a single-session published encounter or two, or an Adventure Path before you create something yourself?

Who said I was creating something myself? I'll first run a published encounter or adventure path. But I'm not sure which one yet...

Also- what books do you want to allow? I suggest Core & APG to start, maybe the three ultimate books. There are some weird feats and stuff in some of the campaign guides and some stuff is actually 3.5. Summoner is pretty nasty for a DM, and Synthesist & Master Summoner are even worse.

You can stop min-maxing by saying “You get no points for choosing a stat below 10”.

I suggest:
No Evils, and no CN that act CE.

Yeah, I agree with pretty much everyone else and am only going to allow core classes. No gunslingers/summoners/etc.

What's wrong with CN characters that sometimes act a bit evil? I'm wary of putting too many limits up-front on what players cannot do, and saying "No CN that acts evil!" may sound a bit limiting.

Martryn, can you please explain why the bad guys are even attacking the fighter and not simply ignoring him and attacking the easier to hit teammates?

I'll refrain from posting my houserules regarding magic item crafting, since I think as a new GM you probably want to make your own experiences if the rules as written work out for you.

I don't fully understand magic item crafting. What is there to watch out for and why do some people houserule it?

A mounted Paladin halfling? What are you riding? a lab?

Halflings ride ponies.

Remember, the pc's don't need to be balanced against some kind of outside standard,, they need to be balanced against each other.

Why do the PCs need to be balanced against each other if they are working together as a team? That implies that if I'm a PC, I would try to stop my teammate from getting a +5 sword of badassery because it would make him stronger than me. But don't I want to support my teammates becoming really good so we can do better stuff as a team?

Thanks for the info. I have one additional question while I have everyone's attention.

Is it best to start an adventure with a "You all know each other already and are friends." or should I create some sort of scenario where they all just meet each other? The latter seems difficult since one character may push back a bit and be like "well, if I'm Roleplaying my druid correctly, he really has no reason to care too much about this Paladin and Wizard, so I don't see why I should join this group."

So, what is the best way to do the in-character introductions?

I'm a GM with more than 25 years of experience under my belt, and I run a "Core Classes Only / Core Races Only / No Traits" game myself.

I agree with the other poster who talked about death in your game: Be sure to set expectations with your players. If you're running a world where there are only a handful of clerics higher than 5th level, then they need to know that there usually isn't anyone around to cast raise dead.

Good luck!

Why no traits?

Also, why do you think about 20 point ability buy? Should I do 25 instead?

Also, I'm not sure at all how to deal with Player Death. If a player actually dies (negative HP equal to Constitution), why are their options for "raising dead"?

I'd be a bit concerned about opening up every core or base class out there; some of them can be pretty tricky to correctly wrap your head around, especially if you don't have a lot of experience. But, if you're up to the challenge, and your players aren't trying to take advantage, it shouldn't be a real problem.

Yeah, I was thinking about that. I've read on here that both "Summoners" and "Zen Archers" are OP. So I might ban those...

I'm also considering the following rule since I am new and don't really understand most of the classes. My concern is that the rule sounds super harsh and almost a~*%*++-ish. I would appreciate feedback if it sounds fine or how to word it better or change it:

"It is your responsibility to understand your PC, your class, skills, race, etc. There are plenty of online forums to ask for help understanding your class, skills, spells, or feats if you need them. I will trust each player to honestly and maturely account their feats, health, damage, AC, etc. That said, if we are in-game, and I feel like something is fishy, and I may double-check your numbers. If something is "accidentally off" to your benefit, I will take it as an opportunity to mete out a merciless punishment on your PC which could be any number of things, including a permanent curse, or whatever evil I have imagined up at that moment. "

-the idea is that I can't possibly police every facet of everyone's classes when I don't even know what a Sorcerer does, so I want them to be a little bit afraid of "fudging" the numbers for their own benefit thinking that I won't catch them.

I'd also appreciate any suggestions for "houserules" to adopt.

I'm considering this rule: All dice rolled by the DM will be rolled publicly and nothing will be "fudged" or hidden (unless the story calls for a secret roll for whatever reason).

Is that a good idea? I don't want to make my players think I am fudging things to keep them alive, and I want them to feel the fear of actual possible PC death, which is much more real if you know the DM can't hide a "hit" or a high damage roll...

Hey guys, I only have a little bit of experience with D&D in general (played maybe 5 or 6 times) and am about to DM a group where most people have a lot more experience than me since no one else wanted to DM. It is my FIRST time DM'ing. Here are the character creation rules I am going to use, please let me know if I should add or edit these. Thanks!

Character Creation:
Create your character and send it to me at least 3 days before the first session. The sooner the better.

Choose any “Core” or “Base” class from here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes

Choose any race from here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races I suggest using one of the “Core” races. Some of the “Other” races are fine too, but you must first get my approval.

You should communicate with the rest of the players and determine together who will play what class, so you don’t end up with 4 of the same class.

Create a background for your character. Where does he come from? Describe what he looks like and what his most important life experience was. Doesn’t have to be more than a couple of paragraphs.

Create a “life goal” for your character. “Kill the king!” “Become the king!” “Win the annual tournament!” - Whatever - it could be literally anything.

Use a 20 point ability buy: http://tools.digitalightbulb.com/pbcalc.html

Choose two traits. Don’t just choose the best two traits for combat. Please keep your character’s backstory in mind and choose two that actually would pertain to him/her. A list of traits can be found here: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/advancedNewRules.html

No hero points.

Use the average starting gold for your class found here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/basics-ability-scores/character-creation (Paragraph 8 under “Get Equipped”).

Try to avoid “min-maxing” and pure optimization for your character that does not take in to account story and roleplay. The game is balanced assuming you aren’t 100% perfectly optimized, and you don’t need to be to survive.

All of the rules of the game can be found here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/