Obi Kemnebi's page

Thank you! Anything else I can do to make myself a bit more versatile?

I'm playing a fire elemental (race and bloodline) blaster sorc, gestalt multiclassing with oracle of flame. My racial traits and favored class bonuses give me half my level to fire damage spells, count me as two levels higher when calculating number of damage dice with fire spells, allow me to turn any non-fire elemental spell into a fire spell, and give me +2 to my Cha when calculating save DC for my fire spells. And I have a permanent 27 Cha before those bonuses. Basically, I am *really* good at burning the crap out of everything flammable in sight.

Unfortunately, because I'm so completely focused in fire, I'm also rather helpless whenever I have to go up against anything with any kind of resistance or immunity to fire damage. And half dragons are one of the most common enemies in this world. What can I do make myself better at fighting fire resistant creatures? Is there a spell out there that gives vulnerability to an energy type, or removes present energy resistance/immunity? Or a feat that lets me turn fire spells into other kinds of spells?

...Wonder which is easier, reviving a dead thread or starting a new one?

What about using the logic behind called shots and sneak attacks to get extra damage when in frontal combat? Say, the character is alone, so can't flank, and is not in a position to drop into stealth to get sneak attack damage. Could s/he specifically aim for the vitals and, without accruing the normal debilitating effect of such a shot, use the called shot penalty table to make her attack more precise and deal xd3 damage according to his/her level?

Dreaming Psion,

As a witch, his equivalent of a spellbook is his animal companion, a scorpion. That's not so much a career choice, as an innate magical talent. He was originally training to be a cleric (his mother's wishes) but another acolyte tried to crush the scorpion (which at that point Young Nec thought was just his beloved pet). In his anger, Young Nec instinctively channeled negative energy at the offending acolyte, covering him with gruesome scars. His mother, upon discovering that her son was a necromancer, went into a rage (believing it to be on the behalf of her god) and attempted to "purge" the evil within him with her Holy weapon. This resulted in Young Nec being scarred and fleeing for his life. For the next few years, he struggled to gain control of his magic, accidentally causing various levels of damage whenever he lost his temper or misjudged his own skills. Which, of course, convinced the church he was following his natural inclination for evil and necromancy, and began a witch-hunt. He had (and used) less fatal means to defend himself, but he simply didn't have enough control yet, and it resulted in at least one inquisitor's death.

Necromancy is a banned branch of magic, and witchcraft is highly taboo. The king is very lacking in his duties and rule, so the church of Iomedae has pretty much taken over.

He knows he was accused, but being unable to properly defend himself, he fled instead. As well as the evidence left behind in the form of corpses and scars, this was taken as proof of his guilt, and he was condemned in his absense.

He believes they had condemned him even before the trial (which they had), so he wants to be judged by someone supposedly above mortal prejudice.

He surrenders to honorable opponents only. So, if an agreement can be reached (commune spell, trial by combat, DMWES, etc) and he believes he can hold them to that agreement, he'll surrender. If he thinks they can't be trusted even that far, then he won't. He's more likely to do a mass Sleep or Blind spell and take off.

...If it makes any difference, I'm a first-time DM. As a player, I've always played Chaotic Neutral (and often Chaotic Stupid) characters. Playing Lawful Good and Lawful Smart is not something I'm particularly good at...

...His mother is the High Paladin of this area, effectively a bishop-equivalent. She's also the one holding a sword to his throat. Not sure how that affects his social status, but he has plenty of money to spend on commune spells if they'd let him.

In the campaign I'm DMing, there's a PC who started out as Neutral, but has slowly shifted to NG over the course of the game. He's also a necromancer, but only by the fact that he has an affinity for necromantic and negative energy spells. He hasn't raised any undead (though he has Decomposed and Recomposed a corpse or two) and he's technically only ever done one evil action (torturing a guy he'd blinded but who wasn't divulging information). He's killed an inquisitor and injured a number of others in Iomedae's service, all out of self defense. Oh, and as a witch, his patron is (unbeknownst to the character) one of the four horseman of the apocalypse (specifically, Pestilence).

He's now surrounded by inquisitors and paladins of Iomedae, under arrest, and being told he's already been tried and condemned for his crimes (necromancy, murder, defilement, and assault of a servant of the god). He claims he committed no crimes, and says that he refuses to be judged by mortals (especially those who have prejudice against simply on the grounds that he is a necromancer). He's openly declared that the only judgement he will accept would be that of Iomedae herself, and not through any of her servants.

1) Would this LG god of war and justice be bothered to be summoned for the sake of one mortal? Or would she just leave it to her priests and paladins to deal with? Would she smite him then and there for thinking he has the right to summon her?

2) If she would step in, how would she judge him? He has committed one evil act, but since made up for it with good acts. He does use necromancy, but thus far he has mostly used it to debuff evil creatures and to destroy numerous undead. Is necromancy alone enough to condemn him? Is it possible for him to have reconciled that one evil act he committed so long ago?

No language is just called "Common"--just like there isn't a language called "Plain" in the real world. "Common" is basically the language that is most commonly used in the area that the party spends most of their time in. For example, if you have a character group from America, "Common" would be English, but there's also Spanish, French, and German, plus any and all others that might get mixed into the pot just because somebody from Poland or whatever moved in down the street. Take that group and move them to, say, China, and suddenly English is a lot less Common. It's the language that you're expected to know when it comes to dealing with the general populace--ie, "Why should I have to learn Spanish to sell them something? Can't they just learn to speak Plain English??"

Also, as someone else said, there's also dialects, which are effected by common surrounding languages and cultures: British English vs American English, Brazilian Portuguese vs European Portuguese, etc.

Sweet, thanks! Now just to think up some story ideas, how do I steal the dragon powers... Though I actually wasn't as surprised by the "swindle" as I should have been. He has a proclivity for doing the crazy and unexpected. This is the guy who, as a GM, replaced the standard spike pit at the bottom of a stair-slide trap with a portal into the world of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. He once played a character with multiple personality syndrome and no less than three imaginary friends. That moment when your rogue randomly switches personalities, and 'Thias the Pious' begins bashing the prisoners' heads against riverbed rocks screaming "I CLEANSE THEE OF THY SINS!!!"

I'm actually a second-but-practically-first-time GM; divvying the XP as I feel it's warranted is part of what got me into this mess in the first place... Do you have any suggestions?

Okay, so I just tossed my party some items of legacy to help them out. Five out of six people got thousands of roleplaying experience each as they ran through rituals and scenarios to unlock the powers of those items. The party leader, who is already 2-CR higher than the rest of the group (I wasn't specific enough about character creation rules, and he used the "must be at least half-human" requirement to get himself a half-dragon) is also my best roleplayer, so he is now roughly 2000XP higher than the other four who unlocked their weapons. And the sixth player decided he didn't want to spend the time or money unlocking his item, so he is now 2000XP behind the middle four, and 4000XP behind the leader. At this rate, the half-dragon is going to be one level higher than the middle four (and thus be 3-CR higher than them) and two levels (4-CR) higher than the sixth player, within the next few sessions. Is there some way I can modify how much XP they each get from encounters, such that I can keep them at a more even-keel? The sixth player just shrugged off the difference, stating that in third edition D&D, lower level characters got more XP than higher level characters, so he expects to catch up in no time. Is there a system like that in Pathfinder?

That is an age-old question. It depends on if you're a rule-monger and how much experience you have with the game as both a player and a GM. If you've only played one or two campaigns, or only ever played fighters, etc, then I would not recommend inventing or modifying any spells/effects/rules just yet. If you have a really experienced GM who can help you through it (and who can keep a clear separation between player knowledge and character knowledge, if he's a player in your campaign) then there's a bit of lee-way. But I'd still be careful how much rule-bending you do in any case; it takes a lot of practice and planning to bend a game without breaking it.

I'm a first-time DM (well, technically it's my second time, but it's the first time my players have agreed to take my inexperience into account) and I just ran into a snag with my party. Instead of accepting a mission from a local lord to go to some ancient ruins to find... stuff, they've dethroned said lord and confiscated all the magical items he's gotten from previous adventurers from those ruins. Rather than giving them dozens of minor magical items, or one or two major magical items, I decided to give them each a single mid-level magic item, which I plan on making more powerful (resembling the ritual processes and abilities of third edition D&D weapons of legacy) as they progress, and giving the group a few minor items.

Thus far, I've got most of the items pretty much figured out. The haunted oracle is going to get a ring called "Ghost Mind" which allows her to directly communicate with the local spirits to enhance her knowledge local skill checks The debuffer witch is getting a ring with a mounted death watch beetle that leeches his HP to buff his necromantic spells. The ranger is getting a bow that conjures up arrows of pure energy and shoots lightning bolts on crits. The cavalier is getting an intelligent sword which can transform into a lance and can identify lycans on sight (the cavalier being the leader, and the lycans being the Enemy). And the ninja is getting a set of nunchaku which buff her sneak attacks, do "shadow" damage, and give a blur effect in areas with low light.

I've got a new player joining who wants to play a know-it-all bard. To be fair, I need to give her such an item as well. Unlike the battle-types, who can get away with suped-up weapons, and the pure casters, who can get worn items that enhance their magical focuses, she doesn't go one way or the other. She is completely a knowledge-monger; her spells are nearly all divination or pure performance-style (prestidigitation, etc) and most of her skill ranks (and feats) are in the knowledges. And she has no intention of physically taking part in any battles (she minimized her strength and constitution in order to max intelligence and wisdom). The best item I could think of for her would be a very magical instrument, but I don't know what kinds of abilities, rituals, or negative effects to put on it. Any ideas?

For reference, the weapons start out as basic +1 weapons, gain an ability and a pitfall at fifth level (after an unlocking ritual), become +2 at sixth level, gain another more powerful ability and pitfall at seventh, become +3 at eighth, and gain a final ability and pitfall at ninth. The rings start out as basic +2 casting stat rings, gain stuff at fifth, become +3 casting stat at sixth, and so on and so forth. And they all become bound to the character in some way at ninth level (seventh, in the case of the intelligent sword).