Nodrog's page

Oddly enough we skipped the caravan stuff in the Jade Regent AP as well. I didn't GM it, but noticed the person GMing did have a hard time following it. I don't think it was the way the AP was laid out, but more it wasn't the kind of game he wanted to run.

I pulled a few bits out of the Iron Gods for a little side adventure in a home brew game. I thought it would be a fun AP to play or run as a whole, though I couldn't judge its difficulty to run.

I agree that how hard an AP is to run, likely depends on the type of game you enjoy playing and running.

One of the players has the cardboard minis from the bestiary box set like 1-4 I think.

The players have their own mini figure, but usually we just roll out small 6 sided dice. That way we can use the numbers to keep tract of who is near what and what their initiative is.

I cast a vote for just do it. Especially if you need a roll filled for the game as a whole.

I also don't find it hard to keep the GMPC's knowledge and just GM knowledge separate. My current GMPC is the same power level as the PCs, but she is not as old as they are and does not have the worldly experience the PCs have. Meaning she always defers to the PCs anytime major decisions need to be made.

Though a few times she has had to make suggestions because the group missed some clue or the role she fills just happens to have the right knowledge skill to make the needed check.

She does take her hits, her AC is right in the middle of the party. I think knocking the GMPC around at least shows the party that the GMPC isn't getting special treatment. But the hard part is not making the GMPC a liability in a fight.

I openly roll all of her checks, skills and actions so the party knows what she is doing and I didn't fudge it. Which resulted in her shooting the fighter in the ass once... It was funny and the player thought it was hilarious.

So I suggest it if the GMPC can fill a needed roll and can carry their own weight without special treatment or being a liability.

My GMPC doesn't take the monetary treasure and buys her own gear. If I need her to pick up loot, I always make sure its something another PC could use or make sure there is something else in the loot a PC can use. That keeps everyone pretty happy.

He would have been just another filthy beast, but Ashava saw a spark of hope in him, and raised him from the dead, saving his soul from damnation.

Ashava is chaotic good alignment, the goddess of lonely spirits, and consequently, good werewolves. Her sacred animal is the wolf. It makes sense, I promise.

You are Ashava's Chosen One...

What can the GM really say? Besides, "No." Lol.

Ashava has the Ghost Whisperer feat, which actually makes sense for a paladin. She even has a prestige class if you wanted to really drive it home with the whole Ashava's Chosen One thing.

If you pitched me this idea in my game, I would totally let you roll with it. Because it is interesting and has enough game support to work.I can't be the only GM who hates every creature or species having to stick with the RAW's narrow minded alignment.

Good werewolves why the hell not?

Never had a problem with cheaters.

I don't think you could wield any two handed weapon with four hands, there wouldn't be enough hilt for, four hands. Except for things like pole arms which are mostly handle.

Even then I don't think it would give anymore strength bonus than just using two hands.

The +2 to Cha is pretty solid as is being able to roll a reflex save twice and take the better result once per day. Add that to the Black Cat feat which is also once per day that forces someone that hit you in melee, to re roll the attack at a -4 penalty.

Also low light vision is always better than normal vision.

Neither are super powerful, but I've had those usually ignored little traits or feats save the day a couple of times.

Kind of depends on how much leg work you want to do. And how much hand waving your GM allows vs how much book work the two of you have to do.

I actually tried to see if there were actual rules and found this:
https://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-Cult

Yes it is a valid question, and I would answer it.

It also depends on who is asking the question. The fighter or druid might know something different than the cleric or wizard who might know something different than the paladin. But the bard would know the real details like the favorite color or what the creature does in its off duty time, the name of its kids...

I try and base answers on what the character might actually know. Two of the party are more well traveled and would have picked up a bit more random information than the others in the party. One of them is more book smart so I give that player a bit more information than rumors or word of mouth. So I try and flavor the answers for each player, so they feel like they can contribute in different ways.

I really like the concept.

Nodrog wrote:

Or maybe just give the not spell casters something else to do while the spell casters cast spells.

And honestly, I have advanced the plot as a martial character far more often than any of the spell casters in the party. Barbarians and ninjas are an impulsive lot and generally hate waiting for the spell caster to stand around and spend 30 minutes trying to pick the "right" spell for what ever.

The game I am GMing running right now the Fighter and Swashbuckler have done more to figure out how to do things and keep the plot moving more than the magic users.

What if those players were playing Wizard and Cleric instead?

They would more than likely spend 30 minutes looking at spells trying to do what they did in 30 seconds as a martial.

When you can do anything, it takes longer to figure out what to do than if you can only do a couple things.

This party doesn't have a rogue, so I just gave the swashbuckler the ability to do the lock picking and trap disabling. I could have let the caster do it, but then the pirate just spends more time standing around not feeling useful and is bored.

And really that is my biggest gripe with most systems is how skill-less they make the classes that would actually have more skills. The martial classes are going to have more practical skills than the casters. Simply because they will have done more things thru experience than reading them out of a book.

Or maybe just give the not spell casters something else to do while the spell casters cast spells.

And honestly, I have advanced the plot as a martial character far more often than any of the spell casters in the party. Barbarians and ninjas are an impulsive lot and generally hate waiting for the spell caster to stand around and spend 30 minutes trying to pick the "right" spell for what ever.

The game I am GMing running right now the Fighter and Swashbuckler have done more to figure out how to do things and keep the plot moving more than the magic users.

I have a mundane silly item, that has become a running joke in my group.

When out-fitting for an adventure, my character always goes out of his way to make sure to get an eleven foot pole.
"No, no no, good merchant. This selection will just not do. Not do at all." "I need an eleven foot pole. Not ten. E-l-e-v-e-n."

While it seems silly on the surface, the reasons for insisting on it (other than humorous role-playing), are sound ones.
A large number of traps (that the pole may trip) have a 10 ft. radius.
A large number of pits are 10 ft. across. (the pole can now span that, and not fall in).
Easier to use, when vaulting 10 ft. walls.

Ten feet, is a common distance in the game.
Having those extra inches comes in handy. (giggety)

That is bloody genius.

Instead of using the link to the Kusarigama you posted, I looked it up in Ultimate Equipment.

Kusarigama Double, grapple, monk, reach, trip. Blade does a 1D6 damage and ball a 1D3 for a medium weapon. Costs 12 GP

This weapon has a single kama or sickle held in the off hand, attached by 10feet of fine chain to a weighted metal ball. The sickle can be used to make trip attacks, jabs, and blocks, while the ball is whipped around at high speeds and then smashed into the opponent,or used to tangle an opponent’s sword or spear, allowing the wielder to then attack with the sickle.

You can flurry with either end, but generally the ball end is used for your 10 foot reach attacks. The sickle is manly for tripping.

The Kyoketsu shoge is basically the same concept except both ends do a 1D4 damage and you get the disadvantage of using rope instead of chain. Both ends according to UE, are S or P damage.

The Double Chained Kame and Kyoketsu Shoge are sharp on both ends and the Kusarigama is sharp and blunt. Other wise they are pretty much the same weapon. You get 10 foot of reach with any of them and can flurry with any of them... The double chained Kame only has 8 foot of reach.

The text about retrieving the weapon on the Double chained Kame, is if you use the weapon to disarm an opponent, you can use your weapon to yank their weapon to you. Which I don't see why you couldn't try the same thing with the other two weapons.

The Kyoketsu Shoge should be a double weapon, likely a misprint as it is a rope version of the other two weapons.

Another reach weapon would be the Monk's Spade... Except it is some how a pole arm with no reach... Not sure how that works. Does a 1D6 on either end and can deal B/P/S

Personally for a monk I would go with the Nine Ring Broad Sword. One handed, that you can flurry and dish out 1D8 per hit. Which as far as Monk weapons goes is only beaten by the Seven Branched Sword in base dice damage as it deals 1D10. The nine ring is 15 GP and the Seven Branched is 50 GP.

Warpriest was a ton of fun

Barbarians are always fun...

I wish I could think fast enough to play a bard.

Any monster who acts like a dick and wants people to do his bidding, without having to do too much work themselves.

Body Oder...

I spent 5 years driving a garbage truck, if your BO is so bad it makes me want to gag, you probably shouldn't be out in public until you reacquaint yourself with soap and water.

I honestly feel bad for the owner of a small game store here in town, because even heavy handed use of bleach doesn't completely remove the smell of his customer's BO.

The distracted player used to bug me, but I have found just some random dice rolls pulls them back in pretty quick.

A lot of those aren’t things the spells can actually do, though. Mage Hand doesn’t create a hand, it just targets an unattended object to slowly move it. It requires line of effect, so you can’t reach through doors. No poking or punching. Unseen Servant can’t make attack rolls, so no tripping. GM call on passing through door cracks or whether poking a guard is a bluff check, though.

I don't think an attack roll is needed for an invisible thing to lay down infront of someone to trip them...

And since the point of poking or punching the guard is to get them riled up, not cause them harm, its not really an attack.

And honestly, I never knew mage hand didn't make a hand... Everyone I have ever played with just treated it as a ghost hand. All of the uses we use it for are basically: silly, stupid or bullshit, like punching someone's balls or looking in a window and unlocking a door.

Mage Hand = shenanigans
Unseen Servant is just as good

Use either to poke, shove, prod a guard so he turns and attacks another nearby guard.

Gota make a discreet distraction, either can knock over a tavern parton's ale, or bump a burning candle into a flammable tapestry.

Rogue out of lock picks or behind bars? Either can open a locked door from the other side. As you don't need a disable device check to just use the lock's knob or latch.

Smudge dirt on the paladin's shiny armor.

Scare the crap out of the rogue.

Need to catch someone who is running away and has a head start? Mage hand and punch them right in the jimmies with 5 pounds of force. Or have the Unseen Servant trip or just stand in the way.

I let people roll and add con or just take half and add their con.

But some of my players roll low so giving them half helps a lot.

Also all of the "Uber builds" assume she's fighting 1 on 1, while they know all of her stats in-character to plan the perfect attack, that they have all of their spells, that they didn't fight through her realm to reach her, that she let them fully rest before attacking, and it's the problem with all the shroddinger wizard situations.

In order to get to her you've fought through her whole army and breached her realm. She's not stupid. She's not going to fight you if she thinks you can just paste her.

If I were running her she'd be popping in and out of numerous battles en route. Disrupting PCs at the worst possible moments.

I've played and run AD&D you'd be facing Black Dragon tactics the whole way.

You'd be in a CR 26 encounter, about to cast a spell, when all of a sudden, "Your spell is interrupted as something sharp slams into your back."

Black Butterfly is there, like 150 feet away, across difficult terrain. You have one round before she does something to aid the Angels you're fighting then is gone again.

She harries you the whole way, you never know when she's around. If she hasn't managed to weaken you before you reach her, when you do reach her, she bails.

She's an Empyreal Lord, not an idiot.

Hell you'd be dealing with her deeper darkness CONSTANTLY in fights not against her.

She'd be there, hidden, cast a deeper darkness while you're fighting someone else, drop an AM field, or a Mage's Disjunction then 5ft step and vanish.

She's not a video game end boss coded to sit and wait. You're about to kill a minion? Nope! She appears from nowhere, drops a quickened heal, slaps one of you with a spell of her choice, then vanishes before any of you can act.

This and DM > stat blocks. They are more like guide lines anyways. Plus since a few people missed it, if you look up Antimagic field you will find "Artifacts and deities are unaffected by mortal magic such as this"

So she can use antimagic field and still use all of her spells and spell like abilities with no problem.

All of these are good.

Now I know some groups have different levels of humor and tone of game play. But I thought just for fun, what are those items that have come up during more lighthearted or silly moments in the games or just in game discussion.

Today, Coffee of Frog transmutation came up. It's coffee that turns who ever drinks it into a frog.

Last week I came up with an item for venerable aged female characters.
A handbag of whippersnapper bane. Adds a +10 to hit any character half the wielder's age or younger. Does non lethal damage.

Two, if you give it class levels anyway, do so with one of the classes defined as "intuitive" in the rules for starting ages (meaning they didn't need training at all). This category includes barbarians, oracles, rogues, and sorcerers.

Barbarian goat, rage headbutt with enchanted horns to overcome damage resistance.

Y'all missed the most obvious answer, allowing the entire party to use it as a toboggan.

Bonus points if the party is 1 half orc and 4 gnomes or halflings.

It is just like running any other NPC, they have their own knowledge, beliefs and motivations.

Just because the NPC knows something, does not mean the NPC automatically divulges that information at the drop of a hat.

My current DMNPC is designed for support and to keep things running, in those occasional situations where the players forgot or missed the 27 times a certain thing was mentioned to accomplish a goal. Usually the PC fighter or barb do a good job at getting things unbogged down in pointless discussion, but sometimes they need a little help.

The climbing bit is the tricky part. Because horses do not climb as well as say a big horned sheep just due to their size. However big horned sheep and other goats can climb some stupidly steep and difficult terrain without thumbs.

Like this
https://www.google.com/search?q=goats+climbing+dam+in+italy&client=fire fox-b&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiw47nx r9HXAhVh64MKHUiDDrIQsAQIbQ&biw=1908&bih=966

You can find ungulates in pretty much any terrain on earth, including mountains. And while hooves are not as great as thumbs on all four of your limbs; keep in mind any quadruped race with arms and hands has six appendages to climb with.

So it would be more a matter of upper body strength to pull up their full body weight and if there is enough room for them to fit. They could actually reach much higher than a biped if they just stand on their hind legs with their fore legs up against a wall or just a good balance check.

Not feeling the barkskin or blindsense. Neither really make much sense to me even with the race background.

I would go with thick skinned for a small bonus to AC in the form of natural armor and Keen sense hearing for bonus to hearing perception checks.

But I do like pretty much everything else. Unique enough to be interesting and sized appropriately.

A stop at a average skilled blacksmith could provide the character with some more climbing friendly shoes. There are a few real breeds of horse that are sure footed in rough terrain. This character won't be scaling walls or smooth nearly vertical surfaces without a horse shoe version of spider climb boots, but they will fair alright.

A portable hole full of sand?

Nodrog wrote:

As paladins are supposed to be all great and pure, they would want to be easily identified as a paladin of what ever god they follow.

So they are ID'd how? Why are people seeing a paladin instead of a cleric, fighter, cavalier, ect of that faith?

Being easy to identify does not mean everyone would instantly know what order or faith anyone is. Just that those people would assume anyone they saw in a uniform they have seen before might belong to the same group as all those other people dressed the same way.

You are going to argue order VS faith? If a paladin follows X god, than they will be in X order with X faith. They have faith in X god so they are in X god's order.

Ultimate Cooking hardcover? Iron chef base class...

I would buy it, just cause I would find it entertaining.

Why wouldn't paladins of the same order dress the same?

A good example would be from the Book Faiths of Purity, and Seranrae. Page 12

When you travel, you can often recognize others of your
faith by their dress, as the Keleshite robes of the desert
dervishes have become synonymous with the faith in
many worshipers’ minds, as have the symbol of a sunburst
and the colors of white, red, and gold. Your fellows
sometimes wear jewelry sporting ankhs or stylized
doves, and even in the cold north, far from the deserts of
Qadira and Osirion, the truly devoted carry scimitars in
homage to your goddess.

All the gods have a symbol and or colors that represent them, even that grump Erastil has a symbol worn or carried by his followers. Uniforms or holy symbols sort of let other people know your faith allowing others of the same faith to easily recognize one another.

As paladins are supposed to be all great and pure, they would want to be easily identified as a paladin of what ever god they follow.

Also, are you really going to argue with a dragon?

From a big-picture, overall game-balance perspective, avr brings up an important point: resistance and immunity to fire are more common than they are for other elements.

That said though, as long as the DM knows what's up...whatever. Shouldn't be too hard to deal with.

The only thing I'd clarify is the "additional effect" of freezing liquids and making some materials brittle. Creating a crust of ice over a lake or making some widows crack is cool. Freezing a waterfall solid or shattering some iron bars is less so. I don't care how cold it is, it's an instantaneous spell. Energy transfer is going to be limited.

I would really like to see a *new* spell, though, rather than a reskin so thinly veiled it's not a veil at all. Maybe a cold aura DoT spell, or something concentration-based a la Flaming Sphere. Even an icy Spiked Growth type deal.

I wasn't thinking anything quiet like freezing lakes, water falls or even metal. Glass windows, a thin wood door, frost on the closest target... fluffy theatrical stuff, not break the game stuff. Basically the cold version of the cartoon explosion/burn effect. Like when a certain coyote miss calculates the potential energy of products from Acme.

I tend to think of magic more in Final Fantasy terms and usage than this system. IE, I want a spell the same power level as fireball, with all of the same level requirements and draw backs. At a certain level you can cast thunder, fire or blizzard. To me at least if you are a sorcerer with a Blue dragon blood line, you should cast electric spells. Red would be fire, white cold.... Maybe a bit over simplified, but you get the dragon's breath weapon, so it would make sense that that dragon's energy would come more naturally to you.

And honestly we never keep track of spell components, because to the people I play with it does take away some of the magic of magic. All the other restrictions are there, you do have to be able to speak or wiggle your fingers.

Plus I was always cool with the spells as in the books, but with this character I wanted a bit more flavor, not mook annihilating power, just some story fluff. So until now I haven't really tried to modify or create my own spells before.

HWalsh wrote:

knightnday wrote:

It is fine to have that sort of thing as the default of your home brew setting. However, it is giving the paladins a lot of social power that isn't baked into the class.

What you are describing is something akin to how, say, the Heralds of Valdemar are seen by the population in large part. Which, again, is fine if that is what you want to do. But the default setting doesn't grant them any sort of situational bonuses or any special recognition that others wouldn't get.

No. I am describing the game setting for Pathfinder. That is the default. When you deviate from that it is called homebrewing.

Thus in your homebrew setting it is fine to have that sort of thing not be the default. In the non-homebrew setting that is the default.

Page numbers? Where is the bits on all of this? I've poured over the various editions of D&D and Pathfinder and I seem to be missing these pieces of information.

I don't think there are any. However I would say that in very large towns or more towards cities with well established temples, most citizens could recognize someone dressed as a paladin. As all of the paladins belonging to the same temple would have the same uniform/armor and weapons. Which can be said of: knights, cavaliers, clerics, war priests, the city guard... A mercenary company that calls the city home.

That being said, if you went to a small village or town with no paladins; then the population there wouldn't have a clue. Because you would just be another full plate wearing person with a weapon. Is this person a fighter, a mighty knight, a paladin or a cocky mercenary? No way to tell until they did something, and even then that won't help. Until the paladin is the only one turning down the reward for getting rid of this town's particular monster.

But really you could take all of his points and apply them to Knights or Cavaliers. Because fluff... anyone flying a banner of the area's major religion or King would get minimal attention. But unless they are stupid, they aren't going to just throw praise and adulation on everyone who comes to town under that banner.

But for the average NPC in any location, they aren't going to know any of these glorious armored do gooders by face or name. Hell they won't even know if the armored do gooder standing before them is a real do gooder or just someone with fancy stuff.

There's a few large wolves, but you're probably thinking of Fenrir. Both those horses are the same horse; Sleipnir.

Fafnir was a dwarf cursed to become a dragon, and was slain by his nephew Sigurd, who later cooked and ate his heart. Drinking Fafnir's blood granted the ability to speak with birds, including Odin's own ravens.

I don't know why I can never remember the damn horse's name.

For simplicity sake, I always have the animal act with the character it belongs too, unless they want the animal to act separately. Like if they want the animal to fetch keys after the players have created a diversion on a different turn.

Also, get a small stuffed panther of cat stuffed animal. Set it on the table so you and the GM do not forget the cat is always with you. As that can happen frequently if you don't normally have an animal companion.

I have to agree it is less hate for the class as it is hate for the way people play them. Because most people just jump right into stick up butt goody goody mode for paladins.

Just like not all barbarians have to be blood thirsty dimwits, not all paladins have to be holyer than thou pricks.

#2 don't know what fafnire are. Doesn't come up in a search, either pathfinder or a generic goggle one.

It is a 100 ton mech in Mechwarrior, though I think the spelling is different.

And I can't remember, but it was either a really big wolf/dog of Norse mythology or the name of Odin's six legged horse... or it was the name of the horse that Loki had after turning into a female horse and being raped by the six legged horse.

I once put phantom Halfling paladins on blinkdogs. ***evil grin***

May I use this idea?

Yes, but you have to do a couple things for it to work.

Firstly you must give the summon a gift.
Secondly, you can not have the summon engage in combat during any part of a 7 consecutive day span.
Thirdly you need some Barry Manilow and good wine
Fourthly and most importantly, you must treat your summon with respect and accept if they say no.

Though to be serious you could likely find rules in the book no one speaks of. Or just use cartoon porn rules which would be yes.

With a high enough Con, everything is likely edible... But that doesn't mean you might not end up regretting it upon the first time you stop and use an outhouse or can't get out of your full plate fast enough.

From a world standpoint, I think race would play into it. Full Orcs and Gnolls probably could manage just about anything, with little or no real cooking effort. Half Orcs and Kitsune might fair pretty well if its cooked enough to kill parasites and germs. Dwarfs might need to be careful, but likely not as much as Humans and Elves or any race with a Con penalty.

Going to have to give a single boss a ton of buffs and epic level gear and make sure the battle takes place on his terms and in the location of his choosing.

Traps or general terrain hazards that he boss can avoid without thought. Acid pools, geysers, lava, bottomless crevasses, quick sand, barely balanced heavy rocks...

A ring of blink and boots of haste = 50/50 hit chance and more actions. I encountered a blink dog or something with blink in a campaign and it was the longest and most difficult encounter pretty much ever.

I enjoyed playing a war priest, and did solid healing and damage with even a less than optimal race and build.

Basically half fighter half cleric, get some extra feats and wear full plate; use pretty much any weapon you could ever want along with weapons most people never use, plus you can cast. I like the fact you can magic your own equipment in battle a time or two a day. Suddenly need a holy weapon, bam your weapon is now holy.

If you want to smash skulls and heal, take a few levels in barb and the rest in cleric... Or paladin and change lay on hands to healing punch to the face.

Alternative: Just go antipaladin with the tyrant archetype. 100% core, and now you can flavor yourself as a paladin of Asmodeus without being a dick about "Well, you guys don't have any real arguments against something clearly disallowed by the rules and common game sense in general!"

All of this, if you want to worship an evil god, you need to be an evil thing, which is what an antipaladin is, an evil paladin.

Also back to your argument about poison. All drugs can be poison in the right dosage, just as poisons in the right dosage can be medicine. Think of snake venom, you use snake venom to make an anti venom... Snake venom is poison... or an even more extreme example would be chemo. Which is carefully administered radiation, and radiation is really not good for you in certain amounts.

I second a ring of protection or an amulet of natural armor and the cloak of resistance.

I would also suggest a second weapon with different enchantments. For those encounters where the fire doesn't hurt the thing you are fighting. Like a cold iron sword if you might encounter fey or some demons.

Potions or weapon oils can generally be useful. With some creativity an immovable rod is handy.

duplicate post sorry

Unless someone puts it on you after you shape change than no. As wildshaped and polymorphing absorb your gear.

Also if the helm is made for a humanoid, it really won't fit most animals very well. There is a reason why armor for animals costs so much more.

I usually start with class first, then pick a race after coming up with an interesting concept.

As I do not play with full groups, we always come up with a NPC to fill any gaps. Allowing all of us to play something different or try some other class.

Unless needed for class, Cha or Int is always my dump stat. At the same token unless Dex is the main stat for a class, it is always my second highest stat. Cause free AC and reflex saves, have been a life saver on a number of occasions.

Skills, always always max perception. I aim for a few utility skills like diplomacy/intimidate/bluff/heal/disable device... Depends on class, but heal is always handy, I have as a barb kept the healer from dieing with a good heal check.

Weapons, generally tie in with the character and race. But all classes have at least a weapon and a dagger. Yes I even give casters a sword or mace of some kind and a dagger. Cause everyone knows the pointy end goes in the other man.

All martial classes have melee and a ranged weapon. And all classes carry: rope, crowbar, dagger, water skins, light source (even if they cast), holy water, bed roll, cooking stuff....

Early firearms are inferior to bows, and few classes start with Weapon Proficiency in firearms, so they cost another feat.

They are inferior in range, and you roll against the target's touch AC, not their full AC as guns ignore armor. Perhaps the player just rolls really poorly and ignoring armor seems like a great way to make up for it... until the gun misfires.

To the OP, if you want your non gunslinger character to have a gun, why not ask your GM if you could have one for backstory reasons?