Search Posts
turtles
This list would be impossibly big for less experienced GMs. General advice would be advised, depending on the kind of GM/players/interaction. That already exists in many forms. More experienced GMs don't need an exhaustive list of powerful combos, and here's why. In the spirit of your request... the best thing is to take the time to understand the system, dungeon, monsters, player's characters, and if you don't understand, either don't allow it or learn it on your own time. I wouldn't recommend winging it without that understanding unless you're willing to let the player(s) have near-total control of the game. I like to let the players have what they want and come up, but then they often don't like how challenges end up challenging them because their cheese doesn't work as well as they want, or worse, can't handle it when the cheese is used back at them. It's a balancing act; you shouldn't always say yes or no to cheese. Try to stick with what you know, start with the core book and slowly expand. Don't get overwhelmed by the players, they should understand that you're unaccustomed to the position and concede to your imposed limits. Don't be shy to make clear limits, it's better for everyone that way. Your players might even remind you of those limits! The kind of cheese I usually say no to are the kind that work in most situations. The first question I ask myself is: would this cheese save them from strong enemies successfully ambushing the PCs? General purpose crowd control that ignores immunity is an automatic no, regardless of other limitations. Things that change action economy deserve a good, hard look. Crafting custom items in general is nightmarish for balance. Always make Divination sketchy, and go to extra lengths if you have a bad poker face. Use a combination of counter-divination and in-game deception. Target summons and companion class features, especially the casters. Have dedicated counterspell casters on constant alert and hidden. Consumable items and other ongoing spell counters work well too. Ultimately, a list of OP strategies and combos is pointless, because there are many possibilities, and most of them can be dealt with easily enough and are subject to interpretation in terms of viability and if its legal or not. Rather than knowing all that is out there, just know what your players might use. Ask them if you have to. Having a list beforehand is backwards. If you're hardcore about the list none the less, then I'll start...
Multiple Enervation casters will wreck your BBEG without Restoration. 4 hits usually give -10 attack and spellcaster level and can quickly outright kill targets with nothing more than touch AC and SR to save them. With Quicken, that 4-caster team will kill almost any target not immune to Enervation in the first round combo with Energy Drain. Intelligent creatures can be defeated by the smallest of illusions, stronger ones only make it easier. Making a combo of illusions multiplies their effectiveness. The plethora of crowd control spells means that with a few of them prepared, you can take just about anyone out of combat for a few rounds fairly reliably, and its even easier to take groups out. The combo is in having different ones available. Trap the Soul. Just a prime example of the GM needing to understand what their players have. The ability to change the environment can do all or most of the work. Anything from Grease to Polymorph Any Object can spell doom, the caster just needs a scroll of the less common spells and prepare the better ones and even some innocuous environments can become deadly.
Granted. Tommorow you will awake on the tallest building on the highest terrace in Redwall, climbing gear at your feet. You will be observed as the one who conquered Redwall. I wish to safely and comfortably live in a new home more grand than any other made just for me and my family/friends/loyal subjects.
We are; I'll be passing contact information to the GM personally. A spot did just open up, here's a sufficiently succinct synopsis of where we are. Dwarven campaign. We have been assembled to investigate threats to the Five Kings Mountains dwarves in response to worries by the various cities. We've discovered and begun to deal with well supplied and able kobolds, and have just found some particularly strong orcs who may be linked to the kobolds somehow... all we have to go on is some kobold reference to the Dark Ones. I can say that most would find the combat challenging, and it is combat-focused. Phone numbers by PM would be welcome, as it allows us to contact on short notice.
I am posting on behalf of the GM, who has recently moved to the area, and has started to look for players. We are looking for a few players to start a new home-brew campaign based in the Pathfinder world starting at level 1 and going up into the mid to late teens. We'll initially gather on Sundays, every other week, at Total Escape Games in Broomfield, starting in January (we might need some replacements as we go as life happens to players). There are three campaigns on the menu, including a barbaric, witches and sorcery type, a thieves guild oriented one, and a dwarven focused (Five Kings Mountains) campaign. Mature players would be welcome. The goal is not so much a hack-and-slash, but more emphasis on role-play. Ideally we will have a balanced group who will work together and have a good time rather than attempting to outdo each other. The GM is a chef, and praises the idea of being an entertaining host during such meets. If you're interested, leave a line and/or shoot me a PM!
Sorry but Ibroke my computer laptop when my girlfriend broke up with me this weekend. This is from my ps3 browser. All work I did for the campaign was on it. Unrecoverable, and posting like this is a pain. I had high hopes for this but all hopes of mine are going to have to change. Goodbye. We were together for years.
You're right. I was counting it as a colossal object falling on you, but didn't specify- it does less damage than the falling distance (10d6 vs 15d6). Normally you can't acrobatics any damage out of a falling object on you, but in this case am allowing it. I'd be counting the feather fall as flying, since the room would fall much faster than those with feather fall.
About beating acrobatics by X to avoid further damage: No- it is a pass or fail only as far as I understand. Falling: Creatures that fall take 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet fallen, to a maximum of 20d6. Creatures that take lethal damage from a fall land in a prone position.
If a character deliberately jumps instead of merely slipping or falling, the damage is the same but the first 1d6 is nonlethal damage. A DC 15 Acrobatics check allows the character to avoid any damage from the first 10 feet fallen and converts any damage from the second 10 feet to nonlethal damage. Thus, a character who slips from a ledge 30 feet up takes 3d6 damage. If the same character deliberately jumps, he takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and 2d6 points of lethal damage. And if the character leaps down with a successful Acrobatics check, he takes only 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and 1d6 points of lethal damage from the plunge. Falls onto yielding surfaces (soft ground, mud) also convert the first 1d6 of damage to nonlethal damage. This reduction is cumulative with reduced damage due to deliberate jumps and the Acrobatics skill. A character cannot cast a spell while falling, unless the fall is greater than 500 feet or the spell is an immediate action, such as feather fall. Casting a spell while falling requires a concentration check with a DC equal to 20 + the spell's level. Casting teleport or a similar spell while falling does not end your momentum, it just changes your location, meaning that you still take falling damage, even if you arrive atop a solid surface.
I know pace has been slow, but I'll have to promise a map update early Saturday. Tell you what though, if most the party slogs through the swarm, I can just crunch the numbers again and tell what happened, unless someone is starting to hurt. I'll presume D'endrrah is going for the original dopplerat that went down the hall, and not the one that went up the stairs. Looks like everyone but the hawk is going to be sick...
I felt the need to explain a little about this monster. The big threat is the disease, and all the clones are like summoned minons. Killing the clones is only mop-up, getting the originals should be the objective. It makes a bad encounter if you don't expect it (I think after the first fight with them), but now you know what you're up against. It should be a good fight this time.
Oops, sorry to make you say that twice. Overlooked that post- and don't worry about remaking it. But, if I could ask, is there an alternative image site you might upload to? Photobucket makes the pictures hard to look at. Post Image works real fast and allows easy viewing, and doesn't need an account.
There is next to no light in the halls, with all the doors shut. You could see heavy curtains drawn over the grated windows. The home is abandoned due to word of abominations coming to siege Salzbach. The last time it happened, the countryside suffered, and no sane person who knows about the story wants to be outside the walls when they come. It doesn't look as though its been abandoned for long at all.
By my estimate, you've got about 20 years worth of labor done if you did a workday of lyre playing (8 hours, you can't fail the check). You could build a modest full size castle in that time with all the supplies you need at hand. Combine with that, engineering knowledge. Never mind the question of having a basement, even on a wharf. Would you like to have in that basement a barracks, a recreation room, armory, treasure room, command and control center, and a bath house? Seriously, slap a few stone shape spells and it'll only be a sweat. For having played a lyre for 8 hours. I've considered the impact this may have, and deem it acceptable. Reason:
We are saving the world, the ability to rebuild it is only taking it a step further. This COULD be used in a totally destabilizing manner, that makes economics not work, but the world is already messed up. I'll bet most of the still-standing cities probably use magic similar to this just to survive. It still requires you get the material, and that's a huge part of any construction project. So unless you like sand castles, in this situation you're limited to using it inside the city.
If future GMs don't like it, justify it not working to the same extent (or at all) with the excuse that its putting a strain on the region's mana, or the affected material becomes warped as if the spell touched the astral plane and makes for bad things. Or whatever. I'm sure this ruling will change what you want to do... so have at it.
Hm, grounding rods may help the building itself against electrical damage directed at it. But magic goes beyond natural scientific laws (as we know it)- for simplicity's sake and by definition. If anyone starts talking about making a massive cannon that fires by nearly instantly vaporizing a cell of water with a lightning bolt... Sorry, that's unnecessary- getting a feel for how effective this base should be. Might take a while tonight!
Would I be accurate in guessing you're not going to fret carrying capacity and mundane gear like rations? And for characters, would you prefer more high-fantasy, stand-out people/skills, or the more traditional adventuring group? I've pretty much finished the wizard, but I wouldn't mind ... changing the concept. I'll check back tomorrow- Which reminds me, what sort of posting regularity is your standard?
It sounds to me as though we'll be would-be adventurers who happen to have gathered in the same spot, and hear rumors about the Sunless Citadel. Given that's the case... I'm thinking... A faithful to Lorien wizard of Shaldevar. He believes that humanity is a strong force, but has grown out beyond Lorien's original ambition. They are not to rule the world, but to flourish with it. Particularly prickled about Reichland's philosophies, this wizard looks to demonstrate and argue the superiority of magic and faith with science over absolute science. But he's not just a political enthusiast, he's also on the lookout to empower himself. He felt that his talents would not shine in Shaldevar, and so made his way toward Four Winds. Now, in this town, a handful of capable individuals and word of this Sunless Citadel piques his interest. Character stats coming...
|
