So, make the requirements something like 20 dex and ability to cast any kind of spells I guess, so you can't make the "it's not realistic" argument?
I don't think the ability to cast spells should have any impact on this, nor should your dex. It is just the point that it would be highly improbable(impossible IMO) for anyone to be able to do it.
If the dragon don't fireball, you must...allow your expectations of what is possible to extend beyond the limitations of our physical world. Let me clarify with an example. I saw a movie where martial artists ran across a lake and then jumped to the top of a tree. Too bad it would be highly improbable (impossible IMO) for anyone to be able to do it.
Snark aside, these arguments for restricting abilities (you can't do cool_thing_x, because of real_world_example_y) in a fantasy game are only hurting player options. If a dragon can fly (which numerous discussions involving legitimate analysis have proven impossible) because of "innate magic", why can't Joe have some "innate magic" that lets him exceed physical limits. Not everyone of the arcane bloodline becomes a sorcerer. In a world where magic is so common, I find it difficult to believe anyone could have avoided any ancestry to someone with magical talents.
This mutation was inspired by the Warped Lungs mutation above.
Swollen Lungs
Available to: Aberrant, Pestilence, Undead
Benefit: Your lungs are enlarged, but are continually filling with tainted blood. You are prone to wracking coughing fits that prevent you from taking more than a move action in the following round. There is a 10% chance per round during any strenuous activity including moving more than your speed in a round or any action that would require an endurance check. Multiple concurrent actions stack; each strenuous activity beyond the first increases the chance by 10%. As a full round ction, you may expel the full contents of your lungs causing yourself to begin coughing and creating a noxious cloud with a radius of 5 feet centered on you. Any creature inhaling the noxious fumes within the cloud must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 sorcerer level + Con mod) or become nauseated. Creatures that succeed at the Fortitude save are instead sickened. The cloud lasts for 1 round per sorcerer level before dispersing harmlessly. The cloud may be dispersed sooner by an effect such as a gust spell. At 5th level and every 5 levels after 5th, the radius of the cloud increases by 5 feet.
I haven't found anything in the rules that says the text description of an ability isn't part of the rules for that ability. To me, the word punch means fists and those few weapons that are used to enhance fists, like cestus and spiked gauntlet.
"Punch" is not a weapon. It is actually not a game term, to my knowledge it has never been formally defined in rules text. Unarmed Strike is a weapon which could include a kick thus not requiring your hands to even be free when delivering an unarmed "punch" with Pummeling Strike. Cestus, spiked gauntlet, and the others suggested by several posters are all defined weapons. The text for this feat does not mention any specific weapon or set of weapons (e.g., close weapon group) as defined in game terms. The clause "in a single punch" could be replaced with "in a single burst" and have the same meaning to many of those reading the text. If the author intended this to be limited to a specific set of weapons, many of us expect them to list the restrictive set of weapons.
No-one here can claim the author did or did not intend for the feat to be restricted to certain weapons, and this is because the text of the feat does not clearly spell out this intent. Thus, we are asking for clarification.
I generally find your posts to be from a steady and pretty balanced POV, so I'd be happy to copy and paste stuff if you have any other requests.
<text removed for length>
Come on people...How am I supposed to fit two more feats into my TWF, dual-Falcata wielding, Oath of Vengeance Paladin's build without bonus feats! No BBEG lives past the first round ever again!
Seriously though, this feat line looks a bit on the broken end. Consider the kukri wielding TWF's. Large crit range, many opportunities to crit, any single crit makes the whole sequence of attacks a crit.
Don't base balance decisions on 20th level:
How about if we swap the weapon to Falcata and consider a 20th level fighter. Our fighter has 9 attacks(speed weapon full twf chain), 30% chance to crit per attack, a x4 crit multiplier, and only needs one attack in the entire sequence to crit. Make the fighter mythic and that is a x5 crit multiplier.
I am expecting clarification on what weapons can be used with this feat. Either only unarmed or only the close weapon group is what I expect.
Yes! I really hope these are addressed and corrected soon! This is the most excited I've been for an archetype in ages, so I'm quite disappointed that this is also the only time I've seen a class feature completely missing.
Here's to hoping it was +wis mod to ac?
I'm not sure why people want a cleric that doesn't wear armor to have AC boosting abilities. The point is to be less of a melee combatant and more of a caster right? An armor-less cleric should defend herself the same way any other caster would (don't stand where they can hit you).
These cover basic fantasy character races and provide good, bad, and indifferent tendencies (all without including a certain subterranean race that feel a lot like variant-elf). I would be in favor of having only these 5 to start then expand to include more specifically flavored race options.
If forced to choose 7, I would also include: Aasimar(NG), Tiefling(N)
These options push toward a more planar setting and could probably be replaced with more generic races.
No half races:
I am not a big fan of the half races and would rather do without them. They seem to encourage the forcible insemination of an unwilling partner in the characters background (which is a theme I'd rather discourage). They are also defined by mixing their two progenitor races which leaves them without a unique identity (especially Half-Elves).
As expansions, I think the monster races (especially natural lycanthropes), the elemental-touched races, and more plane-touched are very interesting options for more specific campaigns. Some would also probably like android races and arcane-touched races as well.
I like the idea of a force mage. Not sure what class I would go with, but at low levels toppling magic missile is my signature spell.
I suggest Human Evocation Wizard. I also made a quick list of spells which have force effects.
List of Force Spells:
cantrip - scoop
1st - magic missile, shield, floating disk, mage armor, shock shield
2nd - cushioning bands, admonishing ray
3rd - ablative barrier, force anchor, battering blast, chain of perdition, force punch, tiny hut, twilight knife
4th - resilient sphere
5th - interposing hand, wall of force
6th - symbol of sealing, forceful hand, leashed shackles
7th - forcecage, grasping hand, mage's sword
8th - clenched fist, telekinetic sphere
9th - mage's excellent enclosure, crushing hand
*Bolded spells are choices I suggest.
If you want to be particularly blasty then being an orc bloodline varisian tatoo sorcerer(choose evocation) would also strongly benefit you. You could also add crossblooded with draconic or elemental to up one particular element. You would also want the standard feats and traits that any blaster would want. Switching from standard evocation to admixture also gives you a lot of versatility. There is really not going to be much variety among blasters.
I am also fond of the fighter 1/wizard 5/eldritch knight. I prefer to select scorching ray as my weapon of choice and put all fighter feats toward rays (weapon focus(ray), etc.). However, the rogue 3/wizard 3/arcane trickster will out damage the eldritch knight, and you could use one level of assassin to gain entry to arcane trickster a level early.
How about having an intelligent item with a proclivity (word of the day) toward chaos as the end boss. The item has taken control of past contestants who now enact its will. This leads to a series of combats as you have to take out each of the items wielders to finally take control of the item yourself. With each successfully defeated wielder (which does not require death just that you wrest them from the control of the item), the item teleports itself to the next wielder. I would have the final wielder be a fallen paladin who has fallen due to the chaotic (not evil) influence of the item. This means a group who wants epic and diverse combats can get them and a group who wants more noncombat solutions can get them. The final battle is more a battle for redemption than a battle to the death. I would make the paladin much higher level than the group, but have him regain control occasionally giving the group the chance to see his true nature and to decide if they should grant him a merciful death or try to free him from the item.
cool idea, how do you make an intelligent item? how does it change the weilder?
Here is a sample intelligent item (roughly put together). Which has the power to dominate at will as well as an exceedingly high ego (meaning a difficult will save to control the item). This is nearly an artifact level item, but a lesser item wouldn't fit the bill (imo). I wouldn't be too concerned of the party using the item since it can gain control over the wielder which makes this as much of a liability as an asset.
The item has a special purpose which is "defeat all", I interpret this to be that the item is seeking to dominate other to further its cause of spreading chaos.
Weapon of Chaos:
Weapon of Chaos
Cost: 198,600gp
Ego: 30
Base Item: +2 Anarchic Longsword (32,300gp base price, +4 ego)
Intelligent Item Modifiers:
Intelligent item (+500 gp)
Senses (120 ft.) (+1,000 gp )
Blindsense (+5,000 gp, +1 ego)
Telepathy (+1,000 gp and +1 ego)
20 int/wis/cha (+24,000gp and +15 ego)
Item can change into one other form (shortspear) of the same size (+10,000 gp, +2 ego)
special purpose: defeat all, item attempts to gain control of all others and use them to generate chaos (+2 ego)
special purpose power: item can use 5th level spell (dominate person) at will (+90,000 gp and +2 ego)
How about having an intelligent item with a proclivity (word of the day) toward chaos as the end boss. The item has taken control of past contestants who now enact its will. This leads to a series of combats as you have to take out each of the items wielders to finally take control of the item yourself. With each successfully defeated wielder (which does not require death just that you wrest them from the control of the item), the item teleports itself to the next wielder. I would have the final wielder be a fallen paladin who has fallen due to the chaotic (not evil) influence of the item. This means a group who wants epic and diverse combats can get them and a group who wants more noncombat solutions can get them. The final battle is more a battle for redemption than a battle to the death. I would make the paladin much higher level than the group, but have him regain control occasionally giving the group the chance to see his true nature and to decide if they should grant him a merciful death or try to free him from the item.
Sorry that ended up a bit long winded. The basic idea is the BBEG is a chaotic intelligent item which is simply controlling random participants to further the chaos of his realm (the maze) and the maze has now become a twisted path where the very laws of our reality may even be beginning to breakdown (this becomes more true nearer to the heart of the maze).
So, I have noticed that there is almost no reason to have any measurable CHA for the arcanist. Certain blast exploits and the bloodline power are the only abilities I see which key off of CHA. I doubt many will bother with getting enough CHA to bother with the blast exploits which are CHA based saves. I feel the Arcanist needs more reason for CHA or to just swap the saves to INT.
I would like to see the Rage ability lose some STR scaling and instead add benefits while casting or benefits to encourage casting. Being able to cast as a swift action under certain circumstances (e.g., once per round when scoring a critical hit while raging) jumps out as a nice replacement for the boring STR bonus type boosts to Rage. Could also allow the Bloodrager to spend at least a standard action to add certain metamagic feats for free without increasing cast time (Intensify, Heighten, Silent, Still) or at a reduced cost (Maximize, Empowered), but requiring the Bloodrager to have the appropriate feat. The Bloodrager should feel distinct in how it uses its rage ability. Adding some incentive or bonus to a limited spell list would be a nice move toward being a caster rather than a barbarian who can also cast.
I have never been a huge fan of the crafting rules, and in my latest campaign this particular issue finally reached a head for me. The main concerns for my group are (1) the amount of time required to craft breaks the flow of the game and (2) the number of feats is excessive especially if one character wants to be a "party crafter". These issues were magnified by the lack of available magic item shops appropriate for the needs of the group. In addition, one of the members was more than willing to be a crafter for the group, but was not willing to trade all of his feats in order to meet the various needs of an active adventuring group over an extended period. The nature of the campaign allowed for some minor downtime for crafting, but spending a month or more every level to meet simple needs like weapons and armor was simply not going to work. To address these issues, I created two new feats that consolidate the standard crafting feats and rewrote the rules for determining the amount of time to craft items (both magical and mundane). I did not alter the pricing of magic (or mundane) items, but an option is presented in the closing notes concerning price and availability of crafted items.
A brief summary of the changes.
Consolidate Craft Wondrous Item, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Forge Ring, and Craft Rod into Craft Magic Item. Also, expanded the availability of crafting feats by eliminating the need for Master Craftsman (craft and profession skills are incorporated directly into the new feat).
Consolidate Scribe Scroll, Brew Potion, Craft Wand, and Craft Staff into Craft Magic-Use Item. Must have a minimum Caster level to craft scrolls, potions, wands, and staves.
Alter the time to craft magic items. The new time is determined per hour and scales with your Craft Level. Crafting level is either caster level or ranks in craft or profession skill.
Alter the time to craft mundane items. The new time is determined per hour and scales with your ranks in the craft or profession skill.
Craft Magic Item:
Prerequisite: Caster Level 3rd or 3 ranks in an appropriate craft or profession skill
Benefits: You gain the ability to craft an increasing variety of magical items as you increase your crafting level. Your crafting level is determined as the higher of either your Caster level or the number of ranks in an appropriate craft or profession skill. Each crafting ability has its own Minimum Crafting Level as noted in the specific crafting ability description. You may only use Caster level or an appropriate skill (as noted in the crafting ability description) to meet a Minimum Crafting Level.
Craft Wondrous Item Minimum Crafting Level: 3
Appropriate Skill: Craft or profession skill is based on the specific item and arbitrated by GM.
Description: You can create a wide variety of magic wondrous items. To create a wondrous item, you must use up raw materials costing half of its base price. You can also mend a broken wondrous item if it is one that you could make. Doing so costs half the raw materials and half the time it would take to craft that item.
Craft Magic Arms and Armor Minimum Crafting Level: 5
Appropriate Skill: Craft or Profession(armor) (for armor), Craft or Profession(bows) (for magic bows and arrows), or Craft or Profession(weapons) (for all other weapons)
Description: You can create magic weapons, armor, or shields. To enhance a weapon, suit of armor, or shield, you must use up raw materials costing half of this total price. The weapon, armor, or shield to be enhanced must be a masterwork item that you provide. The weapon, armor, or shield's cost is not included in the above cost. You can also mend a broken magic weapon, suit of armor, or shield if it is one that you could make. Doing so costs half the raw materials and half the time it would take to craft that item in the first place.
Forge Ring Minimum Crafting Level: 7
Appropriate Skill: Craft or Profession(jewelry)
Description: You can create magic rings. To craft a ring, you must use up raw materials costing half of the base price. You can also mend a broken ring if it is one that you could make. Doing so costs half the raw materials and half the time it would take to forge that ring in the first place.
Craft Rod Minimum Crafting Level: 9
Appropriate Skill: Craft or Profession(jewelry), Craft or Profession(sculptures), or Craft or Profession(weapons) (if the rod is to be a club, quarterstaff, or other rod-like weapon)
Description: You can create magic rods. To craft a rod, you must use up raw materials costing half of its base price.
Craft Magic-Use Item:
Prerequisite: Caster Level 1st
Benefits: You gain the ability to craft an increasing variety of magical items as you increase your Crafting level. Your Crafting level is equal to your Caster level. Each crafting ability has its own Minimum Crafting Level as noted in the specific crafting ability description. When crafting an item using this feat, the crafter must be able to cast or have another character cast any required spells. The crafter may not ignore any required spells when crafting using this feat.
Scribe Scroll Minimum Crafting Level: 1
Description: You can create a scroll of any spell that you know. To scribe a scroll, you must use up raw materials costing half of this base price
Brew Potion Minimum Crafting Level: 3
Description: You can create a potion of any 3rd-level or lower spell that you know and that targets one or more creatures or objects. When you create a potion, you set the caster level, which must be sufficient to cast the spell in question and no higher than your own level. To brew a potion, you must use up raw materials costing one half this base price. When you create a potion, you make any choices that you would normally make when casting the spell.
Craft Wand Minimum Crafting Level: 5
Description: You can create a wand of any 4th-level or lower spell that you know. To craft a wand, you must use up raw materials costing half of this base price. A newly created wand has 50 charges.
Craft Staff Minimum Crafting Level: 11
Description: You can create any staff whose prerequisites you meet. To craft a staff, you must use up raw materials costing half of its base price. A newly created staff has 10 charges.
Time to Craft Magic Items:
When crafting a magic item, the crafter makes a maximum progress of 125 gp, plus an additional 125 gp per crafting level above the minimum crafting level, per hour. The crafter must provide an amount of materials equal to the progress made during the crafting process before making the check for the crafting process. Once the materials are provided, the crafter makes a single check using an appropriate craft or profession skill. Casters which have a caster level equal to or higher than the minimum crafting level for an item may use spellcraft in place of an appropriate craft skill.
If the crafter fails on the check to craft an item, the crafter regains half of the materials spent at the beginning of the crafting process losing the other half of the materials in the failed process. No progress is made on a failed check.
The progress earned for each hour must applied to a single item. Once a crafter has made enough progress toward an item to equal the cost of the item, the item is complete.
If desired, the crafter may make a single check to determine success or failure for an item. The result of the single check is applied on all checks for the entire period of crafting the item.
A crafter may work up 16 hours per day. Treat working beyond 8 hours as working a separate day at half the normal amount of propress. A crafter must spend a minimum of one hour crafting.
If a crafter has spent any time during the current day adventuring then the crafter may only spend 8 hours crafting and only makes half the normal amount of progress. Adventuring includes unexpected dangers (e.g., an ambush while traveling) as well as expected dangers (e.g., assaulting an enemy stronghold).
Example Scenario: Ezren is a 10th level caster with no ranks in craft. If Ezren wanted to craft a Ring of Counterspells the cost would be 2,000 gp, 4,000 gp price / 2. It would take Ezren 4 hours to craft, 2,000 gp / 500 gp/hr (125 gp base and an additional 375 gp for being 3 levels over the minimum crafting level). Ezren could spend another 4 hours in the same day he crafted the ring to gain 2,000 gp in progress toward another item or he could finish after only spending 4 hours crafting. If Ezren had also been attacked by bandits while traveling or explored a potentially dangerous cave previously that day then he would have needed 8 hours to craft the ring.
Time to Craft Mundane Items:
When crafting a mundane item, the crafter makes a maximum progress of 1 gp per rank in craft or profession skill per hour as determined by the following formula. The crafter must provide an amount of materials equal to the progress made during the crafting process before making the check for the crafting process. Once the materials are provided, the crafter makes a single check using the appropriate craft or profession skill.
If the crafter fails on the check to craft an item, the crafter regains half of the materials spent at the beginning of the crafting process losing the other half of the materials in the failed process. No progress is made on a failed check.
The progress earned for each hour must applied to a single item. Once a crafter has made enough progress toward an item to equal the cost of the item, the item is complete.
If desired, the crafter may make a single check to determine success or failure for an item. The result of the single check is applied on all checks for the entire period of crafting the item.
A crafter may choose to increase the difficulty of the craft or profession skill check in order to increase the amount of progress made per hour. For every +5 added to the DC of a crafting check, the crafter gains an additional 20% of the base progress. For example, if a character with 5 ranks in a craft skill decided to add +5 to the DC of creating an item and succeeded at the check the crafter would earn 60 gp toward the item.
A crafter may work up 16 hours per day. Treat working beyond 8 hours as working a separate day at half the normal amount of progress. A crafter must spend a minimum of one hour crafting.
If a crafter has spent any time during the current day adventuring then the crafter may only spend 8 hours crafting and only makes half the normal amount of progress.
Example Scenario: Valeros has 3 ranks in craft(weapons). If Valeros wanted to craft a Longsword the cost would be 5 gp, 15 gp price / 3. It would take Valeros 2 hours to craft, 5 gp / 3 gp/hr. Valeros could technically make an additional 1 gp of progress in the second hour of crafting, but it must be used toward crafting the same item. Since Valeros completed the item without needing the extra 1gp he can not use that potential progress. If Valeros had also been attacked by bandits while traveling or explored a potentially dangerous cave previously that day then he would have needed 4 hours to craft the sword (5 gp * 2 / 3 gp/hr).
Closing Notes
These rules are presented to provide an alternative which fits neatly on top of the existing rules. I was very careful to only change the rules concerning crafting time and availability of crafting feats. This leaves a few odd edge cases. For example, some classes gain the existing crafting feats as class abilities. If the new rules presented here are applied directly the class might end up gaining too much power as a result. I would rule that the class gains the feat, but only for the purposes of crafting the specific item granted by the class ability. This ruling maintains power balance of the base classes. I would suggest keeping other similar cases to be handled in this manner.
Applying these rules as presented here may increase the attractiveness of crafting items which may result in skewing wealth by level. One of the goals is to see many more players using the crafting rules to create interesting items, but I understand the game is balanced around a certain wealth of items. I intend to monitor the effects of the extra crafting in my game, but if you become concerned about the effect being too great then you can alter these rules to maintain wealth by level. You can have your players pay full price and double the amount of progress for a period when crafting. This would be 2 gp per rank in craft or profession skill per hour for mundane item crafting and 250 gp, plus an additional 250 gp per crafting level above the minimum crafting level, per hour for magic item crafting. This results in the same crafting time decrease without allowing players to get any item they want at half of market value.
Finally, there are a few crafting options which are not addressed here. These options should be incorporated into the feats listed here. Hopefully, the groups are clear enough to make it easy to choose which feat to incorporate these options. The crafting options are not altered in these rules and the aspects are based on corresponding aspect for the existing craft feats (e.g., minimum crafting level is based on the prerequisite caster level).
I feel at this point there is enough discussion of scrying and lead lined pants to warrant its own thread. This thread was supposed to be concerning how to improve martials.
Personally I'm under the school of thought that complete armor/weapons shouldn't drop at all to begin with. If so they should all be trash to the level that they are either salvaged for parts by the crafters.
However I also am of the school that if armor and weapons do drop, it should be all or nothing. IE if you can loot the sword and shield off an enemy... that should not be a .01% chance for the sword to be looted. What is there a 99.99% chance the sword just coincidentally breaks as he is dying?
Now my reasoning on not dropping fully equiped things is pretty simple. The crafting chain is, Adventurer brings back loot, to the refiners, who refine and sell to the crafters, who make something good of it and sell it back to the adventurers. When the adventurer gets something as good, or nearly as good straight from the enemy... well then the crafted items have to be a huge sight better than the crafted gear, to even merit 4 markups. Otherwise we wind up with the WoW economy model, IE crafting is at a 95% loss until max level, and even then at a loss unless you happen to have a ridiculously rare recepie, and even then are most likely unable to sell it for a profit, because getting that recepie meant you were the guilds designated crafter of that type and the condition of them letting you have it was that you did not share the gains of that recepie with outsiders. As a result crafting items was more or less a pure waste of money, (IE the materials to make X ran you 50 gold, the sword would sell for 10g, most likely to an enchanter who needed something to break down to be able to train enchanting... of which he was having to give away free).
IMO crafters should be a critical key part of the economy, and any gear of any moderate worth should have to pass through them.
I would argue that enemies should drop anything they would be able to use during combat. If the big bad was swinging a sword at me moments before his death while wearing a chain shirt and wielding a light steel shield then when he dies those items should not have magically disappeared from the world never to be seen again. The way to balance this is that NPCs should very rarely have an item of significant value to an adequately geared PC. As in PFRPG NPCs have significantly less gold available to spend on items and therefore generally have items that are less powerful than PCs. A CR 14 encounter has several CR 11 fighters and each one will have armor, shield, weapon, and some magical equipment; but none of the gear these enemies possess is enough that a 14th level fighter is going to be wanting to use it. However, the groups crafter can take these base items and add enhancements to them to make them competitive with what the fighter has equipped.
Now this is not to say all enemies should drop a full set of equipment. Dragons with magical swords popping out of their dead corpses has never made sense to me. Perhaps there are one or two magic items in the dragons horde, but most of it should probably just be gold, gems, etc. I just hate the idea of loot being completely independent of what the enemy actually had and/or only being some chance for a portion of the things I saw him use ("guys...was he naked while we were fighting him?").
Monkey Lunge could be used for an a defensive build focusing on AoOs to hamper enemy movement. If all i want to do is stand in this door and irritate the crap out of everything, Monkey Lunge.
Haven't read the whole thread to see if this has been brought up, but paragon surge could be fun with this; especially on a druid who can share spells with their animal companion.
Interesting note: the item has this reads "Whenever the wearer of this ring casts a spell with a range of personal".
So you could in fact use the ring to maintain a spell on your animal companion for a 24 hour period, but you can't then do the same for yourself. It's either you or your animal companion.
WHAT'S THAT!?! SORRY CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF MY HUGE DRAGON FAMILIAR BURNINATING THE COUNTRYSIDE!
The ring just needs to have a variable cost based on the level of spell it can affect similar to metamagic rods. Using this with a 1st level spell is in no way worth 50k+ gold. Using this with a max level spell is so worth it every caster will eventually have one as standard equipment along with their boring +x to y items.
EDIT: Also, I would use this to give my familiar a constant polymorph effect. I always wanted a pet dragon that could eat the dissenters! =D
I am pretty sure there is a FAQ concerning a similar topic. I'll try to find it, but I am half asleep . So, I might end up on a completely different site before I locate the FAQ entry.
Half-Orc with Toothy racial trait to gain bite
2 level of ranger natural weapon style to gain claws
2 levels of Barbarian to gain Gore(when raging) and Rage
1 level of Sorcerer to qualify for Dragon Disciple
10 levels of Dragon Disciple
1 level lame oracle for cheesy fatigue immunity and no reduced speed from armor
3 levels of barbarian for imp. uncanny dodge
1 level of bard so I can sing of my heroic deeds(j/k probably fighter for the feat or barbarian for the rage power)
Flying, fire-breathing, raging half-orc who can turn himself into a dragon!
The character starts with a 2h weapon and bite attack then progresses to 3 natural attacks at 2nd level and 4 natural attacks at 4th level. With the focus on massive strength and all of the attacks being primary natural weapons he is getting 4 attacks at full BAB each with full str bonus to damage at 4th level. The static str and con bonuses from dragon disciple are fantastic. The various spells and other special abilities make this character truly unique and fun. At higher levels he gains
Both the Deflect Arrows and Missile Shield feats completely shut down Manyshot, and DR can wreak havoc on an archer without Clustered Shots.
It is much cheaper and easier for an archer to have the appropriate arrow types to bypass DR than a melee character. Anyone who has played a ranged damage dealer in our games has a quiver full of silvered, cold-iron, adamantine, piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning arrows.
This is an item I made for a mixed alignment party in a custom campaign which I am running. The contract was offered to LE Assassin who after some discussion signed the contract. The last few clauses tie into my campaign but should be generic enough for most campaigns to use for at least a side quest. The clauses get kind of long winded, but I wanted something which would allow him to unravel more about the item as he leveled with a devilish flair. The item is roughly balanced for a 9th level character, but has a lot of flavor for evil-ish characters.
Read the clauses carefully there one or two subtle traps laid into the early clauses.
NOTE:
This item writeup was originally made for a home-brew campaign and is not written like a traditional magic item. I can convert this to a more traditional item writeup if requested.
THE SMOLDERING HORNS OF NESSUS (and a contract which you might regret!)
This item appears at first to be a moderately sized horn from a fiendish creature, but upon further inspection the item smolders like the last embers of a fire. This smoldering effect is constant and can not be removed from the item. This item is an ancient and powerful tool of the ruler of Nessus. The item is only gained by mortals through the signing of a contract. The only other alternative would be to conquer Nessus and claim ruler-ship which could prove to be less risky than signing the contract...
Upon signing the contract the player gains the following information:
When this horn is placed on the users head (fills the head slot) it grows to resemble a pair of budding demonic horns which smolder as the item does. The horns must be worn in this manner to be used. In addition, it allows the wearer to use Summon Monster V as the spell with a caster level of 9, except the wearer may only summon devils. This effect can be used at most 2 times per day and each use consumes a charge. The horn begins with 3 charges.
NOTE:
This was originally a permanent devil companion, but felt a little over powered to me. So, I discussed with the player and nerfed it to this version.
The horn can be recharged by enacting a demonic right which requires a humanoid creature which must either die during the ritual or have died no more than 1 minute prior. The ritual requires 1 full round with no distractions.
In addition the contract has a number of clauses written with devilishly difficult wording. These clauses may only be deciphered by an individual who has trained linguistics. Each paragraph below is a clause. The Linguistics DC is listed as the spoiler title for each section of clauses with that DC (one clause is not in spoilers since it covers how the item scales).
DC 0:
Only individuals who have signed this contract may wear the horns. Any other attempting to wear the horns will be burned by an unholy fire for 1d6 untyped damage on the first round and the damage increases by 1d6 every round thereafter until the wearer's body has been completely consumed or the horns are removed.
Any individual which has signed the contract is required to protect the gem and the attached extra-dimensional space. The only individuals allowed to possess the gem are those who have signed the contract, the ruler of Nessus, or representatives of the ruler of Nessus. If any other individual obtains the gem or control of the extra-dimensional space then the protection is considered to have failed. If the gem or extra-dimensional space are destroyed then the protection is considered to have failed. If the extra-dimensional space is detached from the gem then the protection is considered to have failed.
Failure to protect the gem will result in all those signed to the contract losing the ability to wear the horns and all those signed to the contract will be transported into the extra-dimensional space attached to the gem. Only those signed to the contract at the time of the failure will be affected.
DC 5:
The gem has an extra-dimensional space attached which the wearer may enter at will. Any creature inside the extra-dimensional space does not need to eat or sleep and does not age. Creatures within who require rest to regain spells and abilities must still do so and resting still heals hit point or ability damage normally. Any effect other than aging which is tied to time works normally.
DC 10:
The wearer of the horns may enter the gem's extra dimensional space at will, but may not leave once inside. While inside the extra-dimensional space any devil summoned by the horns remains for 1d4+1 hours as opposed the normal time constraint.
DC 15:
If the wearer of the horns fails at any time to protect the gem then the wearer's body will be immediately consumed in an unholy fire and the wearer's spirit will be trapped inside the gem. In addition, while the wearer's spirit is trapped within, the gem will transport any mortal creature which approaches the gem into the extra-dimensional space attached to the gem.
Those who have signed the contract may at any time request a copy of the contract. This copy may be requested via the devil summoned through use of the horns or by any other means which can contact a devil representative of Nessus. This copy will contain the exact wording of the original contract, but the writing will only be viewable by those who have signed the contract. If any individual willingly and knowingly signs the contract copy then the individual will also be considered to have signed the original and their signature will be added to the original contract.
DC 20:
The horns can be upgraded by performing a ritual in which the user presents a number of sacrifices and requiring a certain amount of gold and diamond dust depending on the level of the horn. In, addition to the monetary and soul requirements the wearer must be of a certain level to enact the ritual. When the horn is upgraded it can be used as a Summon Spell of a higher level. The details of the upgrade and requirements are listed below. Each upgrade must be done before the next can be attempted. With each upgrade the horns grow slightly. After the final upgrade the horns will have grown to resembles those of a pit fiend.
Summon Monster Level | Cost of Reagents (in gold) | Sacrifices Required(not cumulative) | Level Required
Summon Monster VI | 8,400 | 2 | 11
Summon Monster VII | 10,000 | 3 | 13
Summon Monster VIII | 11,600 | 4 | 15
Summon Monster IX | 13,200 | 5 | 17
DC 25:
If no charges are present the horns can only be removed for two rounds. After two rounds the horns will immediately and painfully imbed themselves in the wearer's head again. If a sacrifice is not made within 24 hours of the final charge being used the wearer is consumed by and unholy fire which burns for 1d6 untyped damage on the first round and the damage increases by 1d6 every round thereafter until the wearer's body has been completely consumed.
DC 30:
Once a new individual has signed the contract then any individual who had previously signed the contract may opt at any time to remove their own name from the contract. Once removed from the contract the individual is removed from all obligations as outlined within this contract and loses all benefits offered by the contract. The individual may at any time in the future as a free action decide to resign the contract and will at that time be considered the newest individual to sign the contract.
DC 35:
Any individual who has signed this contract who is targeted by a suggestion spell from the ruler of Nessus or his representatives receives no saving throw except when asked to perform an action which places the target in immediate physical danger. If the target later is placed in immediate risk of physical danger they may attempt another save.
Any individual who has not failed in their protection duty as defined previously in the contract or who is not currently signed on the contract may escape the extra-dimensional space by enacting a complex ritual within the <campaign specific room of the extra-dimensional space>. This ritual may only be enacted while the <three campaign specific keys> have been used to unlock their corresponding locks. This ritual requires fifteen minutes and a caster level check of 30.
DC 40:
The gem may be used by any individual signed to this contract as part of an ancient ritual. The only other individual who is allowed to use the gem in the ritual is the ruler of Nessus. Any other individual attempting to use the gem in the ritual will immediately be transported into the extra-dimensional space attached to the gem. The ritual is not defined within the contract...
This sounds like an extremely fun scenario. Though perhaps a bit too gritty for my tastes (impalement, dismemberment, and killing children) it had variety of encounters and challenges along with chances for PCs to shine(silly goblins and their fire).
I would probably have had an NPC lieutenant come up to the PC who was trying to stay behind and assure him the camp would be well commanded in their absence and encourage him out of game not to split the party. Splitting the party is very frowned upon in my games and outside of downtime I openly discourage it. DM-ing for a split party is very difficult and is generally less fun for someone (and at times everyone) from my experience.
If one of your players is playing a stupid character but he figured out the answer to the riddle would you deny him the option of answering?
"No, your character is too stupid to answer the riddle sorry."
I am saying if the group is being tasked with a riddle or other puzzle this is a challenge for the group to overcome similar to a combat. In combat there are strategies which work well or work poorly (force them to come down the hallway one at a time when fighting large groups for example) but regardless of the strategy employed the character still gets to utilize their AC to help avoid hits. What you are suggesting sounds like my DM would throw a ball at me and see if I dodge to determine if my character gets hit. Yes, having players do puzzles can be fun. However, if I had a group which was struggling with a puzzle or some similar challenge I would definitely allow them to utilize some rolls to gain a few hints or reminders.
For example, the players have visited the scene of a crime and after some thorough searching found several foot prints where the left foot is missing a toe. Earlier the players during their discussions with people in town found out that people who work at the coal mine tend to have injuries related to the cart getting loose or cave-ins which they dismissed as some background fluff. After their investigation at the scene the only clue they have is the foot print and none of the players is figuring out anything relevant from the foot print. They do not want to go through town asking for folks who have missing toes since the town already doesn't like outsiders and might take offense at personal questions such as asking about deformities. I could allow the group to get stuck and potentially waste a lot of time doing nothing OR I could give a player with a high Wisdom a roll and if he makes a decent check (15 is usually my rule of thumb) he remembers people who work at the coal mine get odd injuries from the carts and cave-ins.
The idea I am promoting is to challenge the players, but be flexible with helping to move the game along. I do not point blank give them answers. The hints help players to pass the challenge and continue playing the game.
Imagine you had an encounter where the players had to hit the enemy with a certain sequence of blows to kill it. It lingers at deaths door for how many rounds before the players get frustrated and stop enjoying the game? They ask if the creature has fast healing, regeneration, immortality, DR, is being healed somehow, and every other standard condition, but never think to hit it with the sword then mace then fire. The wizard may even think it is getting healed by fire because he goes after the sword wielding fighter and before the mace wielding paladin (sword hits and it weakens then fire hits and it looks better).
After all were not playing a game where a single players shortcoming should really have any substantial effect on the enjoyment of the game as a whole.
If your players are playing against each other then being smarter gives you an advantage.
But these are the same players who will complain that there character has an 18 intelligence so he should get a hint.
Basically they're trying to use their charisma(convince the GM) instead of their intelligence.
I am going to disagree with you to a degree. I have characters which wield longswords, but I as a player have absolutely no idea how to wield a sword of any type aside from "keep the pointy end away from me". Also, I make characters who have amazing strength and have knocked iron doors off their hinges. I'm not sure that I am strong enough to break through a thick piece of plywood. Why are the mental stats so different? If I am DMing and want to use a riddle or some other puzzle I definitely allow appropriate checks to those with the right knowledge/skill/high base stat for hints. I also would let my players discuss the problem with each other out of character and then switch back to "in character" when giving their response. I feel that even though I am absolutely horrid at solving riddles my Wizard with a 26 INT and max ranks in linguistics (with class bonus and an additional +2) should be able to decipher something.
We are not our characters and our characters are not us. There needs to be a divide between in-character and out-of-character if you want to run this as an RP game. I am all for giving the group something which requires some thought and gets away from the "roll dice and I'll tell you if you win the game" adventures, but you need to consider the difference between PLAYING a wizard with a massive intelligence and BEING a wizard with a massive intelligence. Allowing for players to gain some hints if they are struggling does not detract from the game. Having the party sit for an hour trying to figure out a puzzle does.
In the sidebar which discusses why different traits are designated standard, advanced, or monstrous a house-rule suggestion could be made. Perhaps the designers suggest the following:
double point cost for choosing advanced traits as a standard race
double point cost for choosing monstrous traits as an advanced race.
triple cost for choosing monstrous traits as a standard race.
This is obviously outside of the intended use of the system. The system is balanced around each type of race choosing from their category or lower categories in the hierarchy. The optional rule attempts to keep a simple system in place for balance, but should note that GMs should more closely monitor the power of builds which utilize higher category traits as compared to other options. These rules are heavily governed by the tried and true smell test. The system is really a starting point to begin building your own custom races. Rules should be simple and relatively balanced, but perfect balance does not exist. This is why the section in Ultimate Magic about creating spells specifically says to compare your custom spell with spells from the CRB.
I just recently made a Staff Magus for a game. It was the first Magus I have created and I decided to do it as a way to test out the new rules for the class. This build is at level 7 with two traits and a 20 point buy.
Stats:
STR 14
DEX 14 +2(belt) = 16
CON 14
INT 16
WIS 12
CHA 10
Feats(not in order of level taken):
QuarterStaff Master
Weapon Focus(Quarterstaff)
Weapon Specialization(Quarterstaff)
Arcane Strike
Combat Casting
Craft Magic Arms and Armor
Improved Familiar
Alertness(when familiar is nearby)
Traits:
Poverty Stricken
Focused Mind
Magus Arcana:
Familiar
Close Range
I could have dropped Imp Familiar for Power Attack, but I wanted a psuedodragon. Also, I could have gotten the belt of str, but felt the extra armor would be more generally useful due to my low AC. Also, with the trait and feat I have a +16 concentration which gives me an auto success on 1st level and trivial checks on 2nd and 3rd. I took this route to prevent myself from losing spells(not enough per day to risk it) and to prevent needing to take additional negatives(though I could if I absolutely needed to land a 3rd level spell).
Craft Magic Arms and Armor is the feat I least enjoyed taking, but allowed me to get a Quarterstaff +2/+2. This is a bit of a weak point in the new rules in my opinion. I would rather be allowed to enchant only one end of a double weapon instead of being forced to do both. I only plan to use the Quarterstaff as a one handed weapon, but have to pay double the cost to enchant it. This is really the break point in the build, in my opinion. Unless you plan on house ruling the craft rules for the character your staff magus is going to cost double for all of your weapon enchancements and most of the time will not see any benefit from the extra cost. I would propose allowing the Quarterstaff Master Magus gain a quarterstaff similar to the arcane bond rules which can be enchanted at half cost by yourself.
EDIT:
If I had the build to do over again I would swap Poverty Stricken for Magical Lineage(Shocking Grasp) and Craft Magic Arms and Armor for Intensify Spell. This would leave me with only a +1/+1 Quarterstaff, but I could shift the gold into more scrolls/wands and an additional +1 on my armor(making a mithral chain shirt +2). I like to prepare my casters with a stock of scrolls and wands and the extra gold would allow me to have a good number of utility options. At the next feat I intend for this guy to take power attack and furious focus then once I get past level 10 start dipping into the Greater Weapon Focus/Specialization fighter options.
The intent is to use SpellStrike to 2h the Quarterstaff and SpellCombat to cast buffs. With the high Concentration this guy can cast defensively with little risk involved. The familiar can be used for scouting and when I anticipate combat I can precast vanish/shocking grasp into the familiar for some surprise round fun.
If you want to give examples of character builds, I feel it is more useful to have members of the community present various potential builds on the forums. Then have the community at large participate in discussion concerning the various options and eccentricities of each build.
A single sheet with choices made for you is really only good for the "Oh crap I need a character now", newbies who just need to play a bit before diving into character creation, or group meets where there is no time to build a character from scratch.
I do feel these builds would be useful, but they do not need to be optimized. The time and place where pre-gens are useful optimization shouldn't be expected. In fact I would prefer some more flavor to the builds and encourage players to build unique characters as opposed to optimized characters.
In summary, I would like to see pre-gens at various levels, but would rather these be rich and interesting characters as opposed to being focused on optimization points.
