(You can skip below to the Tl;Dr if you don't care for the backstory here!) My present group for Kingmaker is only a group of three players, so I've allowed them to build gestalt characters with a 25 pt buy. They were doing pretty well, but just full party wiped to The Dancing Lady. I had Jhod find them and res them with the waters of the Elk temple, telling them it permanently drained the power of the pool, just to spare the time of restarting the AP. They enjoy their characters, but two of them are looking to make some changes, and I told them I'd help offer some suggestions. I'd love some opinions/feedback!
TL;DR I told my players I'd help with some suggestions for build ideas/modifications for their characters, I'd love advice/feedback!
Character 1: Paladin/Mesmerist
Obviously not incredibly thematic, but still a neat combination. Double his Cha bonus to will, three use level 1 buff spells per day, two tricks, and bold stare. On the Paladin side, he's taken Tempered Champion for the Warpriest weapon damage increase, and is dual wielding Kukris with it from his deity. Interesting way to get more attacks on his smite target using higher damage dice for a Kukri, but I was struggling to think of ways to help him carry it more. A few levels of ranger for feats? Rehash it as a dex build and go u.Rogue?
Character 2: Wizard / X
Originally a Wiz/Drui with one level of Sorc thrown in on the Druii side for crossblooded (Orc/Dragon for blaster), he took Druid to have access to divine spells. Not caring much for it, I suggested he take Alchemist with the Mindchemist, Internal Alchemist, and Pyschonaut archetypes.
We are attempting to make a gestalt build using the Unchained Monk/Kineticist classes.
Initially, when reviewing Kinetic blade, I saw the line:
"The kinetic blade's shape is purely cosmetic and doesn't affect the damage dice, critical threat range, or critical multiplier of the kinetic blade, nor does it grant the kinetic blade any weapon special features. The object held by a telekineticist for this form infusion doesn't prevent her from using gather power."
"Monk" is specifically listed as a special quality of a weapon, and therefore ineligible.
Would it be possible to use Ascetic Style (Nunchaka) and Ascetic Form (Nunchaka) and form my Kinetic Blade to the shape of a nunchaka to then be allowed to use flurry of blows with it?
Ultimately, the question is
Is the form of my kinetic blade the actual weapon I use.
Is a kinetic blade a dagger if I make it a dagger, is it a nunchuck if I make it a nunchuck, and so on...
My original idea was a Kitsune Mesmerist/Fey Sorc/Madness Cleric to punch through will saves, but the GM doesn't care for Occult.
My next idea: Paladin/Gunslinger.
If I have the rules right at level 12 with:
Haste
Rapid Shot
Imp Two Weapon Fighting
Double-Barrel Pistols
I could technically get 14 attacks per round.
Main hand: 3 base, 1 haste, 1 rapid shot
Off hand: 2 imp twf
Each pistol shoots twice. 14 shots.
Assuming I have a 24 in both dex and charisma by then and I'm smiting, that's about 1d8+29 for a minimum damage of 420 if it's evil and all shots hit, not including enchantments i could put on the guns. Rapid reload and cartridges can get the reload time down to free, but I need more arms to reload my guns!
I was thinking going witch for prehensile hair, but it's not very thematic with a paladin IMO.
Other tri gestalt ideas I was toying around with was:
a Barbarian (Drunken Brute)/Alchemist(Vivisectionist, Ragechemist Internal Alchemist), Sorc(eventually Dragon Disciple...unless you have a better way for me to ramp up STR more).
a Urogue/Umonk/Sorc. Ninja all around the battlefield with spells for defense/transportation/getting in sneak attacks.
PC Wizard is notorious for winning initiative and readying an action for the NPC caster to cast a spell and deal some sort of direct damage to them (Magic Missile, Scorching Ray, Dispel...etc.)
Evil NPC Wizard Boss has been scrying on PCs for awhile and is aware of this tactic.
Let's assume init looks like this.
30 PC Wizard
22 Other guy
21 Other other guy
18 Bob Dole
15 Lou Diamond Phillips
12 Evil NPC Wizard Boss Guy
On 30, PC Wizard goes "I'm going to ready an action for Evil NPC Wizard Boss Guy to cast a spell"
Immediately afterwords, Evil NPC Wizard Boss Guy says "Ok, I'm casting feather fall as an immediate action."
Does PC Wizard have to take his readied action, leaving evil NPC to then cast a better spell on his own turn without having to worry about interference?
What would PC Wizards initiative change to? The rules written for readying an action don't seem to take into account countering an immediate action.
Way of the Wicked Reversed is my home brew of the Way of the Wicked AP by Fire Mountain Games. This AP is pretty well known for being a solid "evil campaign" (at least for the first three books).
In my campaign, we flip the roles. You will take on the role of the heroes of Talingarde that foil (or at least...attempt to foil) the sinister schemes of Cardinal Adrastus Thorne, last High Priest of Asmodeous in Talingarde. The campaign will begin in the small town of Aldencross.
I am presently running two groups of this, and have had enough requests that I am opening recruitment for a third. I'll be running character creation a little differently than my last two groups, so the info is listed below in the spoilers.
You do not need to have a fully created character to apply. What I really want to see is (and what will give you the greatest chance of being selected) a compelling and immersive backstory. I prefer people who have experience playing or running WotW. I'd like your backstories to reflect that you have some familiarity with Talingarde.
Character Creation:
CONTENT: We will not be using any third party material unless it pertains to things published by Fire Mountain Games for the Way of the Wicked AP.
STATS: SPECIAL 18, 8, d10+7 for the remaining stats. If you roll more than one 1, or your final stats do not equal at least a 20 point buy, then you may reroll the set.
LEVEL: 3. Gestalt
HP: Max
RACES: Core Races. Talingarde is an isolated island and predominantly human. This reflects in the available racial-selection pool as a group of exotic races would be highly unlikely.
CLASSES: Talingarde is a happy, peaceful, prosperous nation; but not a very diverse one. The following classes are prohibited:
Ninja, Samurai, Summoner, Unchained Summoner, Gunslinger (exceptions are made for the Bolt Ace Archetype).
GESTALT: Don't forget that we are using the gestalt system. Take two classes and pick the best of both. You may only take PrCs on one side of your gestalt tier. You may not take PrCs like Mystic Theurge or other PrCs that combine two classes. An exception lies in Arcane Trickster. For anyone wanting to run a wizard/rogue, I will work with you individually on your character.
SKILLS: Similarly to WotW AP, you will be on your own for a great deal of this campaign. You will get 1 extra skill point per level and we will also use the Background Skills variant rule.
TRAITS: Select ONE Trait, NO Flaws. A second campaign trait will be given to you after character completion and selection. I will allow one and only one Aasimar into the group, at the cost of this trait.
FEATS: All PCs, NPCs and monsters have Power Attack, Deadly Aim, Weapon Finesse, and Combat Expertise regardless of whether they meat the prerequisites or not.
ALIGNMENTS: Allowed alignments are LG, LN, NG, CG, N. Alignment restriction rules for classes are to be respected still. A note on Paladins though: I do not consider Lawful Good to have to be Lawful Stupid or Lawful Annoying. I am not painfully strict for adherence to the code. Telling one lie will not get your powers taken away (though you may have to do some repenting). A great example of this is: You could work WITH an evil person, but you would not tolerate seeing them perform an evil act.
STARTING WEALTH: 1,500GP. You may not spend more than half on a single item. We will be using the AUTOMATIC BONUS PROGRESSION rules variant! At level 3 this gives +1 to all resistances.
Player Expectations:
I was running a game last night on roll20, and one of my players did a few things that struck me as peculiar. First, when the party made its way to their very first dungeon, he brought a ladder with him. He tied some meat on the end of it, and proceeded to drag the ladder along the floor ten feet in front of him. While I understand we might think that's a pretty clever way to find and deal with traps, here are my problems with it.
1. I've played with this guy before, and he did the same thing on another character. He also takes Profession Lawyer on every character he takes and tries to abuse it. I don't think there's anything wrong with creative uses of Profession Lawyer, but where I get annoyed is that when he takes it on every character, he's no longer really role playing anything, he's just regurgitating stats for a machine.
2. The party had a rogue. Poor guy didn't even get a chance to try and utilize one of his key abilities because some lunatic was running down the hall with a ladder with meat tied to the end.
Basically, build characters, not "you," and let other people have fun!
Oh, and post once a day (or let me know if you will be absent).
Pretty simple, right?
About teh GM:
I'm a 33 year old IRL hobbit. No...seriously I'm like 4'10". I've been playing tabletop fantasy games since I was 10. My father tortured me with second edition, but it was all we had so I didn't know how bad it really was until 3.0 came around. When I'm not working or in school, I'm playing video games (probably League of Legends) or hatching schemes for my Pathfinder groups. I run two groups out of my home, one on ROLL20, and two here on the messageboards. I am very new to PbP gaming, but not completely unfamiliar with forum/thread based role play. I wasted many an hour on Gaiaonline and (shamelessly admitting) AoL chat room RP. I try to stick to the printed rules, usually at my table if there is a disagreement or if no one knows, I just side in favor of the player and look it up when the session is over. That's definitely much less of a problem with PbP! I'm having a great experience with PbP so far, and because of the demand in PMs, decided I'd run a third group here.
I will keep this recruitment open for a week. Looking forward to concepts and submissions!
GM Snowe checking in, and ready to kick this thing off. Before we begin, I'd like to make a few quick notes to help bring this group together. Please read over the parts where your characters names are bold, the rest you may read if you like but isn't necessary.
-Cal Concorde and Kiasyd the Kindly-One: Based off your similar non-traditional backgrounds, Cal Concord and Kiasyd the Kindly-One will begin play knowing each other. Both originally from Daveryn, you decided Farholde would be a better place to live. Though it's rumored that many who live there are still loyal to house Barca, neither of you care deeply for Mitran politics. It's not that either of you particularly despise the Markadian regime, nor have any less love for Talingarde than most--it's just that Farholde seems like a better place for men of your kind to make a living (especially with the reported savage elves incursions from the Caer Bryr as of late). From Daveryn, you decide you'll travel north until you reach Lake Tarik, then travel west along the wall and rivers until you reach Farholde. As we begin, you've arrived late one evening to a small town but a few miles from Lake Tarik. You find one decent establishment to stay at: An bed and breakfast/tavern called "The Lord's Dalliance."
-Nukilik: Though Aldencross is your 'human home,' you've actually been away for a six months. Father Althus Donnigan, head of the brotherhood at Balentyne was actually quite supportive of Father Holbrook and your integration into society. So much so that he funded a trip for you and Holbook to travel to the capital. Word spread quickly throughout the lands that one of your kind was 'domesticated.' (So that we have a reasonable excuse to say why you're not attacked on sight!). Though you could clearly tell some people were not fond of you being there, you were always treated with respect and kindness; partly because of how revered Father Holbrook is, and partly because the people of Matharyn are generally good folk. On the return trip to Aldencross, you even got to sail on a boat twice! The first time, a large flagship travelling from Matharyn to Ghastenhall through the Cambrian Bay. Then, up the river towards lake Taric until you reached Amborayn, one of the watch towers. From there you traveled east until you reached Aldencross, arriving late at night. Father sent you to the Lord's Dalliance to pick up some stew that Mama Guiseppe always delivers on the weekends.
-Kyriel: Your background has you in Aldencross already for the evening. Good to go.
-Karl: EDIT: Tower Balentyne is undergoing some structural repairs on the portcullis and gatehouse. You've been sent up from Daveryn to make sure it's getting done right. They hired some dwarves to do the job, and they tend to let you deal with 'the other races.' It's not the first time you've overseen some work at Balentyne and you *HATE* this place because when you come here, you don't just deal with a quartermaster or sergeant, you have to deal directly with the Commander, Lord Commander Havelyn. The guy is a stiff prude. He never leaves Balentyne, he never drinks, or does anything you would consider pleasurable for that matter. Knowing the crap you're going to have to deal with tomorrow, you stop by The Lord's Dalliance to have some drinks and relax. You've been here before, once every six to eight months you stop by on your route, so you're familiar with the innkeep, and this wouldn't be your first time seeing Nukilik either.
I think that covers everyone, I'll have another post up within the next ten minutes or so!
The last useful piece of information Allyo Shan could gather before returning to Talingarde. For the last few years, he lived among the enemy, garnering their trust for information. Allyo had to do things he wasn't proud of, even lost the light of Mitra for a short time, but he knew that sacrifices had to be made for the greater good.
His sacrifices were not in vain, nor forgotten by those he served. Upon his return to Matharyn, he was given a rare private audience with King Markadian V called the Brave to debrief the last two years of his life. Unfortunately, not all the Knights of Alerion were as enthusiastic about his return: while the King had an extensive reintegration plan set for Allyo Shan, he understood it needed to be put on hold to grant Shan's request to return to Aldencross, his hometown, to investigate.
Thus, the King gathered a group of Knights he knew would be more tolerant of Shans past.
His decree: Travel to Aldencross and seek an audience with Lord Commander Thomas Havelyn of Castle Balentyne.
The heroes arrive in Aldencross late on the first Fireday of Pharast. The ledger provided by the quartermaster in Matharyn afford each Paladin a room at The Lord's Dalliance, the premier tavern/bed and breakfast in Aldencross. Though a small town, The Dalliance is actually a spacious and quite opulent establishment. The main room, littered with over a dozen tables, is so large and open that four equidistant pillars are used to support the rest of the structure. A large, curved bar extends from the edge of one wall to the other, encapsulating a corner of the room for the tall, gruff, black-haired barkeep to stand behind. Against one of the walls behind the bar is a door, perhaps leading to a pantry, and near the entrance is a stairwell leading up to private rooms. Being the first weekend of spring, the tavern is exceptionally lively, with bard and his minstrels playing lively tunes and telling tales of the battle of Tamberlyn, barely heard over the sounds of laughter and chatter from the locals. Though they continue with their business, the Paladins are definitely noticed as the enter. A few stare in awe, a group of young women at a table giggle and whisper amongst each other, and the barkeep flashes them a warm and inviting smile.
I posted a thread for this recently to see if there was interested; I've gotten enough replies and PM's to conclude that there is. I wanted all pertinent information in the first post, so I'm rebooting the thread as one of formal recruitment.
I would greatly prefer if you've had experience in the WotW AP, and while not required to play, I will take experience into consideration when choosing players. For those who have played in a WotW campaign, know in advance that the order of events that occur here will not be the same as WotW.
For those unfamiliar with WotW, it is an evil AP written by Gary McBride of Fire Mountain Games. I have thoroughly enjoyed running the AP, and am familiar enough with it now that I would like to reverse engineer it and have the players be heroes. I will recruit four of five players for this, based on applications.
Talingarde, is an island nation, a kingdom ruled by Markadian V and a predominantly lawful good human society. Mitra, the lord of light, is worshiped throughout most of the land, save for the Savage North and the western borders of the land. A massive wall, with twelve guard castles spans the west-east border about three quarters of the way up the island, separating the prosperous society from the Savage North above, which is home to bugbears, intelligent polar bears, and the mysterious ice elves. Talingarde has known peace for hundreds of years, since house Darius emerged victorious in war over house Barca. But peace will soon be replaced with panic as Cardinal Thorne, last high priest of Asmodeus in Talingarde begins to execute his plan to destroy the peaceful nation. Talingarde is in desperate need of heroes...
Character Creation:
Players will begin in the small town of Aldencross, located in the northwest of Talingarde. Aldencross exists primarily to serve the soldiers who live at Tower Balyntne, a castle along the watchwall that separates north from south. The players guide to Talingarde can be found here: http://www.firemountaingames.com/Players_Guide.pdf
The most useful thing you will find there is the map, since we won't be using these rules for character creation. For those of you not familiar with Talingarde, it's geography, or major cities, and want help building a backstory for your character or a reason to be in Aldencross, feel free to message me privately. I'd love to help.
LEVEL:
Starting at 3, 3k gp, use suggestions under character creation for spending limits.
HP:
Max first level, 1/2HP rounded up for all others.
RACE:
Because Talingarde is both geographically exclusive and lacking in racial diversity, race selection is limited to Humans, Half-Elves, Halflings, Elves, Dwarves and Gnomes. I will allow one Half-Orc and one Aasimar in the group (though the Aasimar will take a -2 to CON to shore up the racial point buy, I'll devise an actual reason for this later.)
CLASSES:
Again, because of Talingardes general lack of diversity, there are some class restrictions. You are not permitted to play: Gunslingers, Ninjas, Samurais, or Witches (witchcraft is highly frowned upon in Talingarde....and by frowned upon I mean they burn you alive.) You may play a summoner if you use the unchained version. Archetypes are allowed but please avoid 'eastern' themed archetypes.
GESTALT:
Do not forget that we are gestalt! You may only take prestige classes on one side of your tree, ever. In other words, let's say you went Fighter/Sorcerer and decided you wanted to use the Dragon Disciple Prestige class, If, for your first level of Dragon Disciple you gave up your fighter side and Took DD/Src, you can not later take a level of DD/Fighter. This is just to prevent some major cheese you can do with flipping around PrCs.
STATS:
17, 15, 15, 13, 11, 8. Alternatively you can use a 25pt buy for more customization, but the previous listed stats total a 30pt buy.
SKILLS:
You will receive one additional skill point per level, we will also use Background Skills unchained rules.
TRAITS:
You will receive one standard trait and one campaign trait. Because this AP was originally written for an evil party, I will not be using the original traits provided. Instead, after character submission and acceptance, we will tailor one to your character!
FEATS:
All players, monsters and NPCS get Power Attack, Deadly Aim, Weapon Finesse, and Weapon Expertise for free, regardless of if you meet the prerequisites or not. Unchained rogues will get their dexterity to damage at level 1 instead of level 3, and will receive an extra rogue talent at level 3 to compensate for this. Players will also receive a FREE TEAMWORK FEAT every 4 levels, decided upon unanimously by the players.
EXPERIENCE:
I will not give out exp. Leveling is based on where we are in the story.
ALIGNMENT:
Preferred: LG, LN, NG.
Allowed: CG, N Also allowed, but tread carefully. LE, CN
Please include a description and background of your character. A full submission is not necessary; but please include the theme of our character, their motivations, and the direction you want to take them. On a final note, we will more than likely use automatic bonus progression, as a great deal of the magic items you acquire from foes will be evil (and generally unusable).
Tossing around an idea. I'd like to run a campaign in Talingarde where the PCs are noble heroes foiling the plans of Cardinal Thorne. If there's some interest, I'll start taking character applications. Would more than likely run this on roll20.
Experience with the Way of the Wicked campaign preferred!
Hey folks, haven't been on the players side of the table in a long, long time, so I'm grateful to the GM allowing me to play at theirs.
He's running Ravenloft in Pathfinder, and I can't decide whether to embrace or resist the evil of the place.
So far the group has a wiz, bard, and sorc. Squishy squishy.
Level 6
16,000 GP
16, 15, 14, 14, 12, 8 (rolled 4d6 and dropped lowest 1)
Great stats I think.
So, I've been mulling over what exactly to build. The group clearly needs something 'tanky.'
I've been considering:
Scarred Witch Doctor (Witch) - Really cool archetype that allows casting with con. I could boost up str and con, use hexes and fight in melee with a great ac using the scarshield. However, they don't come into power until they get major hexes, and we're only level 6. Really feat intensive, too. Evil would work well.
Paladin - Would draw a lot of attention to myself, but would be pretty strong in Ravenloft.
Barb/Alchemist - hulk?
Some sort of evil cleric or another - Cause why not?
Synth Summoner - might be a waste of my good stats.
Or do you personally think my stats are wasted on these classes and I should play something with mad?
My group is interested in the pathfinder Dragon Empires stuff but I haven't been able to find any modules for it other than The Ruby Phoenix tournament. Does anything else exist?
Getting old sucks. Reaching my 30's, I find that my closest friends get further and further away from me. We all love Pathfinder/Dnd, and want to play together online, but I have no idea where to start!
I'm going to be DMing the game, and I've decided to use raidcall for voice chat, but I need to know more about VTTs.
How exactly do these work? If I create a map, can all my friends access it at the same time? Can they move their characters on my map and it show for everyone connected? Can I limit each individual player to access only certain things on the map?
This will get confusing! I'm playing a Gestalt Paladin/Gunslinger 5. My Dex is 23 (+6), my Charisma is 18 (+4), I have two +3 double barrel pistols, I have the TWF feat and Rapid shot. Now, assuming that I have an extra arm or other way to reload my pistols for free, could I get six attacks in one round?
+5 BAB, +4 SMITE, +3 WEAPON, +1 HASTE, +6 DEX -4 DOUBLE BARREL -4 TWF - 2 RAPID = +9/+9/+9 (one regular, one haste, one rapid). And each of these would fire twice for double barrel so +9/+9/+9/+9/+9/+9.
We're doing a big Halloween haunted house Pathfinder special and my DM has us building two gestalt characters. My first is a Witch/Barbarian, and the DM said death is a high probability (it is scary!) and to have a second.
So as nasty as my Witch is, if (when) he dies, I want to wow the DM with something truly retarded.
I'm pretty sure the way to do that is with the Paladin.
Stats are 18, 16, 14, 12, 11, 10.
Level 5, standard starting wealth for level 5 character.
I'm considering either going:
Paladin/Gunslinger - Can dump str and int. Decent saves with good dex/con/charisma. Enchanted smiting musktet of awesome.
Paladin/Summoner(Synthesist)- Can dump str/dex/con. tons of HP.
Paladin/Oracle- Lots of spells, can float charisma easily.
My DM wants to test out some gestalt with PF, starting at lv5. Right now, my group consists of a Monk5|Rogue5, Arcane Trickster 1|Fighter 1/Wizard4|Rogue4, and a Cleric5|Fighter5. He's allowing broken PrCs like Arcane Trickster, Eldritch Knight and Mystic Theurge. Stats are 18, 18, 14, 12, 11, 10.
My DM is allowing me to take the Scarred Witch Doctor archetype as a Half-Orc, so I am absolutely certain that I want to have half of my character as that. I originally considered mixing with Gunslinger because I could dump str, int, and cha, but it would be pretty feat intensive. So I decided...
Mix with fighter. Bad reflex but good HP. Lots of feats. Could fight well in melee (especially later on with retribution hex.) Good AC benefits from Scarskin, plus misfortune hex and compel hostility for tanking. Snatch up a great sword and just smash things!
Thinking Str(18), Dex(14), Con(23), Int(11), Wis(12), Cha(10). Will drop enough feats for Accursed Hex, Ability Focus(Misfortune), Power Attack and Furious Focus.
But I'm thinking...are there any prestige classes that normally suck that might be pretty cool combined with a Scarred Witch Doctor? Or is Straight SWD/Fighter the best way to go? Any great Fighter archetypes I could mix with this?
Combat Casting
Combat Reflexes
Resilient Eidolon
Extra Evolution
His evolutions are as follows:
Limbs (arms), Limbs (legs), Claws.-- These all come from bipedal
Bite
Flight, Magic (with 1 addtl. point spent for +20 speed)
Skilled, Fly.
When fused with his Eidolon, he has a 20 strength.
Since he has selected the "bite" evolution, he is automatically granted the multi-attack feat. This seems legit to me.
But how does his full attack work?
I'm assuming this:
He makes one unarmed attack as a monk at +10 for d6+5
He makes one claw attack at +8 for d4+2
He makes one bite attack at +8 for d6+2
I'm looking for a particular magical ring that I am pretty sure is third party content.
Basically, the ring is imbued with I think a random +1 magic weapon enhancement and whenever the person wearing the ring wields any weapon, the ring gives the weapon the bonus.
I'm having a problem with players abusing the following two tactics:
1. Mind Blank + Gr. Invisibility: Seem to work together. Can't seem to do anything about it (specifically states wish/miracle) does not reveal. I had an NPC cleric use the 25,000gp diamond dust kicker to ask for a targeted dispel on everything in the room to justify dispelling it, but I have no idea what else to do about it.
2. I have a cleric who has somehow built his feats to a point where instead of channeling like a normal cleric, he channel smites with his weapon. His channel ability dazes the enemy with a pretty disturbingly high Will save. He can do this many, many times a day, all while hitting for 3d6 + 1.5x str bonus. Seems there is *nothing* that is immune to daze.
I'm about to put together an NPC party for my group to face.
Will consist of a 12 barb, 12 wiz, 12 cleric, 12 dual wielding rogue.
I've got some of it made already (I use Hero Lab) and I was wondering if any DM's out there had reference material to premade NPC's that I could dig into instead of creating them all!
The entirety of this post will be pretty scattered, since I have so much on my mind that I'm having trouble keeping it all together. So I guess I'll try to number some of the points of concern I have.
Before I start, here is some background on my players and the campaign.
(YOU CAN SKIP THIS PART, ITS JUST ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN SETTING)
I've created my entire world from scratch. The players come from the city of Machina, an ancient city built on strange, self-sustaining technology that provides power to city, as well as sustenance chambers that provide it's citizens with nourishment through energy instead of food consumption. The city was built ages ago, and the present inhabitants have no idea how the city works or how to manipulate the technology. All that is certain is that the city itself is draining the life force from the planet. However, it's estimated that it will take millions of years for this to occur. Presently, there is a 20 mile radius around the city called 'the blight' where nature can not survive due to the drain. Gozreh, the God of Nature, is highly displeased with this and his most powerful followers encase the city in massive, crushing vines that are slowly disabling the city without harming it's inhabitants. The players, all hailing from the city, have set out to destroy the power sources the druids have created and scattered that regenerate the vines.
(THIS PART IS RELEVANT, ITS ABOUT THE PLAYERS)
My players have a bit of the entitlement problem. They feel that it is necessary to have straight 18's to build characters. I got tired of letting them roll, because two of them always seemed to have really great stats, so I put them on a 20 point buy system. Of course everyone but the gnome sorcerer has a 7 charisma. Presently, my group fluctuates between 4 and 6 people, with real life circumstances dictating who shows up. The group is level 12 and consists of:
Gertrude: the 30 str raging, flying, pouncing, monstrous barbarian with saves out the yin-yang due to rage power selection and a cloak res +5.
Zen: a monk who has, through some cleric spell, MADE himself a masterwork weapon and enchanted himself with all sorts of abilities. He flips through combat intentionally provoking attacks of opportunities so that he can counter strike the enemy. I think he recently made a jump check of 50 something?
PeakPeek- at level 12 I believe he's dropping 29 will saves on charm/compulsion effects.
Quagmire- A 2h paladin. Not as munchkiny as the rest.
Talrunya- a rogue super charged at finding all traps that come even close to the party cr, as well as optimized for 2w fighting and drawing out a crapton of sneak attacks.
Rumplestilskin- a summoner who ...well, he's just annoying.
Kaylee - bandaid cleric
(NOW ON TO THE ISSUES)
I hate, and enjoy, the abundance of rules. While I like that the massive amount of rules presented gives some structure to the world, I despise how players flaunt them in my face like it's some "Bill of Rights" that I have to respect at all times. Two of the biggest issues I have with this are wealth by level and CR. I've stated earlier that the group is pretty munch...err....optimized, so in order to present them with something that even resembles a challenge, I find myself having to modify and advance every single monster or NPC I throw at them. This brings immediate cries of "you can't make us fight that, it's 3 levels higher than our group." Yet, there has only been one character death in our five month long campaign, and that was due to a very nasty crit. My argument would be that if the party is challenged, FEARS death, but is ultimately victorious, then I've created an appropriate encounter! The best way I tell them is that optimized players should expect optimized enemies. Since they were so optimized at first level, I decided to put them on the fast track exp to get to more challenging encounters. Higher levels would help balance out the absurd stats on them. The result is that their wealth is significantly lower than what the book says they should have. So I constantly hear complaints about how they need more and better loot.
Next issue. The players get upset when I create encounters that deny them of their strongest abilities. Take for example their last combat:
The group moved into a very large room 50 ft x 50 ft with a 'cracked stone floor.' From the door on one side, they could see very small runes etched onto the wall on the other. The party moved into the room to cast 'read magic' on the runes, triggering a trap that broke apart the cracked floor and dropped them 50 feet onto a a room full of zombies with antimagic fields attached to them. On a ledge 30 feet above them, a four armed, musket dual wielding gunslinger sat in a cove 10 feet away from another antimagic source. The gunslinger proceeded to open fire on the party while they were stuck 30 feet below, having to kill enough zombies to get away from the anti magic to fly up to the next ledge. The monk burned a hero point to make two jump checks to run up the wall (which was pretty cool, so I allowed.) The gunslinger would step out of the aura to attack with his bonuses, then step back in. Or at least, that was the plan until the monk got up there and started disarming him.
The player controlling the gnome was furious because this was the second encounter that day that was immune to his charms and hold persons/monster, citing that I was intentionally screwing him over. It's partially true, though. With him throwing out will saves at nearly 30, there is very little I have to stop him from just dominating every encounter with ease. I tried to explain that I wanted him to have opportunity to use the power and be successful with it, but not in every single encounter.
Finally, I screw the rules sometimes, and my players get resentful. They recently faced a boss - single npc that would take two turns a round. The NPC operated in a way that made him a lone wolf, and him having minions wouldn't work with him. So, to balance the action economy of six players, I gave him two full rounds in a turn. I suppose I could have easily 'cloned' him and made the party fight two, but I think, personally, in a game *full* of metagaming, it's nice to twist the rules every now and then and make them do that knowledge check.
Either way, should I cater to the complaints of the players? Give them their gold and let them stomp all over the face of anything that looks at them funny and smite end-bosses as if they were insignificant flies?
Friendly gaming group looking for more players or DMs for Pathfinder / 3.X tabletop gaming.
We play almost every weekend, either Saturday or Sunday, from Noon to 8pm.
Meals are drinks usually served (thank the hosts wife!), but feel free to contribute!!!
Dedicated game room with large table and gaming map. (We use squares, not hex.)
Some players make optimized characters, the DM compensates with optimized encounters to provide challenge. Strong battle, mild RP.
We expect any new members to meet the following:
- Be 18+ years of age.
- Be friendly.
- Try not to meta game.
- Do not take offense to anything that happens in the game, i.e. a party rogue stealing party treasure, or the death of your character.
I only mention some of these things because as of late, we have had an influx of new members who seem to be slightly disconnected from reality. We have had players who take extreme offense to anything that happens against their favor. For instance, a gunslinger who was upset that the only creature they came across in the phase spider ridden forest was phase spiders (which he could not unload a full attack action on) and proceeded to curse for hours about how useless he was.
Bottom line. DnD is not our life. It is our hobby and our weekend stress-relief tool. Leave the drama of your life at the door, come in and have a good time!
