OssumPawesome's page

To be honest, I thought the Elohim was meant to be kind of a reference to GMs who like to homebrew (hence the D12). In a short amount of time, generations can pass in the blink of an eye thanks to the fantasy world and there's more than one home brewing GM who would make a world, shelve it for a few years, then scrap it and make a new one.

One grapple check per character grappled is my understanding.

OssumPawesome wrote:

He sounds like he doesn't think strategically. Point out some of the uses for his spells. If that doesn't work, he either needs to make a martial so he can whine how weak he is compared to the wizard after 4th level, or play a rouge so he can whine how weak he is outside of skill tests.

Was the misspelling there of "rogue" unintentional or ironic?

Unintentional. I'm just now putting my RDC (required daily caffeine) into my system. I usually spell it correctly.

I just had a brainstorm(Quite literally in some ways). Mental Inventory sheet. Lined paper with a line drawn down the middle. A number such as 1: 2: 3: ect. written at the beginning of each slot. A character gets 1 slot per level plus double their intelligence bonus. Half that if they keep spells in their memory. Each slot can contain a ritual, invocation, or something studied. If something studied is used in an illusion, scrying attempt, or teleport destination they get the bonus. A good backstory will get you some free slots(I ran away from home when I found out my family was a cult of spider worshipers, so the image of the drider that was living in the attic is burned into my memory.)

You get the players to keep track of these things, and it becomes harder for them to spam the concept. No more"I pray to all 500 gods before I open the door." or "Yeah, I read all about zlipblaches all the time, it's my hobby." If you look at my Rituals topic, you'll see that a branded monk could have the new edge he or she needs. A monk could boost his con. by always asking Buddha for patience.

Ummm...by reading your post it looks like you're suggesting everyone get divine spells. I think if I did that, my players would mutiny. Actually, if I did that I would mutiny, so I would be mutinying myself.

Not only that, but there are some enemies that are such massive blood knights (or have high enough spell resistance) that they prefer to attack the fighters with the massive swords.

He sounds like he doesn't think strategically. Point out some of the uses for his spells. If that doesn't work, he either needs to make a martial so he can whine how weak he is compared to the wizard after 4th level, or play a rouge so he can whine how weak he is outside of skill tests.

No problem. It's pretty easy for me to come up with ideas if I have a little background info so I'm happy to help.

Encounters other than golems can be haunts or spectres of the former occupants as well as oozes. Golems and Carytid Columns...anything you can make with Crafting, really. Maybe poltergeists or shadows? Or perhaps the creatures inside were affected by evil outsiders or are evil outsiders...there's quite a few options.

As for a clue...hmm. Scattered pieces of a Macguffin hidden where only true heroes can find it is a useful trope. Journals pointing to where Bal-Thor is hiding, a ghost you can calm to get information, or even a homunculus that was accidentally left behind. I know I'd want to know what was going on if I unlock a tower and run into the minions of Hell or psycho golems.

What do they find engaging? Do they have any connections to the world? What are their motivations? Do their characters have long-term goals?

I typically require my players to establish a connection to the world in some way, such as having NPC family members. In my campaign, the monk's surrogate mother is a quest giver and high priestess of the local church. Another PC fell in love with an NPC. The alchemist began the campaign as a criminal who blew up the town library to spite the librarian that works there.

Give them something to care about in character.

That's pretty good advice. I'll try to follow it.

Hmmm...well decades implies he had this tower recently (30 years I would guess). I suppose his tower would be his research laboratory and living quarters. Since people know of him and not hearing from him is unusual, it's likely it wasn't a retreat. More likely he was practicing dangerous alchemy or magic and didn't want anyone either getting hurt or finding out based on his alignment, or perhaps both. I would assume the first floor of the tower would be an entryway of some sort, not much of importance there except perhaps a clue about what's going on or where the other pieces could be.

I would assume since the tears are scattered the tower was sealed by Bal-Thor himself and is either dead/in hiding, so more likely than not Bal-Thor isn't even in the tower. I would make it either a bad evil outsider summoning in which the monsters are trying to keep the portal to hell open or whatever or a bad alchemy experiment in which something mindless gained sentience, took over the tower and slaughtered his family.

OssumPawesome wrote:

@Ascalaphus: My players generally don't take those traits into account. Basically my goals with this thread are twofold.

Is it that the traits aren't good enough to tempt them, or that they just take the mechanics and ignore the flavor?

In my home game I've written a new set of traits instead of the published ones, both to weed out some broken ones (Magical Lineage, Reactionary) and to set down the flavor of the setting. And I've made it clear that when you take a trait, the flavor is mandatory. If you don't want a past as a bandit, don't take the Bandit trait.

The former I guess? I think it's more they don't really know the traits exist (and I usually ignore them myself). The issue I'm running with is that a couple of the players don't really let themselves get engaged in the world. It's a mixed bag, really.

I was playing a game with a rogue who's backstory was essentially "I want to build a bunker to be safe." Erm, ewkay. Apparantly his character was also a coward. The party would be exploring caves and he would be "guarding the cart" (never ran off with it, thankfully) and almost got himself whacked when he pulled his sword on some hoochies the witch sent to him as a joke. He was like a really cowardly Batman, always brooding about something.

Now here's another one from a friend who was in my game and played a halfling inquisitor. He wanted to make the most ridiculous backstory as a joke. So he made up a cult called the Truth of the Beard or something which had different orders depending on how the beards were cut. Longbeards ran everything and his character was part of the assassin order called the Goatees and he got in trouble for sleeping with the Longbeard High Priestess who was the Great Longbeard's daughter. So he was on the run from the Great Longbeard and the Goatees. I allowed it.

Da'ath, you and me may be kindred spirits to an extent. I absolutely love your system and I'll definitely use a big part of it. Not to discount the wonderful advice I received from the other forum-goers of course, but that system just gives me that "Eureka!" feeling. And I totally agree with the no deity thing. Details are for another time, but suffice to say since roughly half my pantheon is literally mortal ideas and personifications that became powerful enough to become sentient the "atheist divine class" does not exist in my world. And I heartily recommend 5th edition Shadowrun.

@Ascalaphus: My players generally don't take those traits into account. Basically my goals with this thread are twofold.

1. Make deities more important to non-divine classes (Cleric, Pally, Inquisitor, Oracle and the Hybrid derivatives). It just seems that a name gets tossed besides the Deity line with very little attention paid to it.

2. Get my players to RP more. I ran into a problem with an Iron Kingdoms campaign where I lost interest after trying to make the world as vibrant and colorful as possible and getting...very little interaction as far as IC chat. I don't think they're bad players per se, but I'd like to see some more interaction with their surroundings and I hope their awareness of the cosmology will help with that.

OssumPawesome wrote:

Hero points might be the best way to go...my players may balk at something so 4th Edition but then that's why I always have my rebuttal prepared:

My players hated 4e, as well. Best things about using the hero point system?

When you use the system, they don't need to know the crunch behind it, as it is a GM tool and not one they use directly (ie you use it, they just get the benefit). My players just know I have a divine intervention system, see the effects on occasion, I track the points and they never know how much they have or all the potential uses, and that they get to choose being pious or not. They seem to love it, which cracks me up because they hated it when it was in their control.

Oh yes, that hits me right here. *points to appendix* My appendix doesn't lie. That is excellent for all the reasons Cyrad mentioned.

@Cyrad: Ah Shadowrun...one day I may be able to convince my players that story driven skill based systems don't end up being boring...well...unless you have too many people at the table.

This can sound a little harsh, so...DIPLOMACY CHECK!

I get you want to change things up. It can get a bit dull when people play the same thing over and over. But...your players are having fun, right? That's important too and forcing them to play different classes will probably just lead to resentment. I get you want to send monsters against a bunch of different types of dudes, but if your players hate you for it, what's the point? If you feel you're just phoning it in as you said, perhaps you should step down if you can? Take some time off, see if someone else wants to run the group. Or maybe join another group as a player? That will shake things up.

*roll roll roll* Did I make my check?

P.S. How old are you guys? I notice younger players (In the 13-17 range usually) tend to play the same characters more often.

Oh, awesome...more stuff to buy. Kidding. ;)

Dang, so many good ideas, though. I wanted to make it for everyone, though. Making it a Feat would crank up the power a teeny bit too much for my tastes and using those stats for a "blanket bonus" makes it a little too good. Hero points might be the best way to go...my players may balk at something so 4th Edition but then that's why I always have my rebuttal prepared:

"Oh, I'm sorry, if you'd like to spend 2-3 months making an exhaustive sandbox campaign world that I can enjoy, then please do so by all means..."

And if that doesn't work there's always running out the door impotently flailing my arms with tears running down my cheeks chanting "Meanie, meanie, mean-faces" all the way home. That usually teaches them.

So I'll pick up the Faiths and Philosophies guide book when I can so I can compare it all a bit better. Custom pantheon or no, Pathfinder is Pathfinder.

@Set: Headshot! Um...anyway I checked your post. It's good stuff but I was thinking something more along the lines of occasional bonuses instead of easy to use prayers ready for invoking. I'd love to use those rules, but the problem is I'm lazy so any significant balancing a short prayer could quickly get out of hand in my group. Basically I'm a roleplayer that's expecting a few power gamers (not the munchkin variety, though) and I'm abjectly terrified of giving them easily abusable bonuses they can grab at just about any time.

Okay, so I've been working on world building for my Pathfinder campaign for a month and a half now and there was something that bothers me about deities: they don't seem to matter outside of divine classes. Sure, flavor you may say but I wanted to make a world where the gods are a bit more involved. A reason to bring more roleplay into the group (I may need it...). So I had an idea, miracle bonuses. The concept is that those who offer lip service to their gods may get a +1 bonus here or there, but those who roleplay devout followers will get rewards like the occasional re-roll and larger boosts (mainly because I'm a fluffy bunny GM and dislike killing huge swathes of characters). Thoughts and opinions?

What I do when I roll up a Pally is ask myself one question: to be Lawful or Good? Basically, this means if the GM decides to do the whole "Kill this possessed child who's only crime is being possesed or let 10,000 people die lol either way you fall" bullcrap that would normally leave said GM with a free mascara treatment sans makeup at that point, I can justify it to have the Pally avoid falling. Just...make sure your character is willing to compromise with the neutrals in the group or else you could end up stranded in the woods and killed by bears (true story). Basically don't be inflexible and if your GM wants to be a tool, prepare to justify until you're blue in the face.

My theory is that dice all have their own inherent luck that they build over time. I never test roll, as that can cause luck to exit the die. I keep several dice around for this purpose. If a die rolls poorly too many times, I simply switch for one on standby. I do this while wargaming too, and it works. Funny story...for six months my dice I use for wargaming rolled poorly to test my faith. I held onto belief that they would save me when the time was right...the gods truly work in mysterious ways.

I like divine classes. Totally not obvious, I know.

I don't draw the whole map out, just rooms the PCs are fighting encounters in. It goes a lot more smoothly. You have to communicate to your players a lot though, I found myself repeating where they could go a lot, but it was easier than drawing the whole thing for me.

Eh, what the heck. I'll toss one in.

(21) Empirys, The Lawbringer
Lawful Neutral God of Civilization, Truth, and Law
Symbol: A square with the image of a tower in the center.
Favored Weapon: Spear
Domains: Law, Glory, Nobility, Community

Empirys is normally depicted as a bald, tanned human man dressed in gleaming steel plate mail and carrying an ornate spear. He is often direct in his commands and loathes disorder and trickery. Most often worshiped by humans, especially justices and nobility, but a church dedicated to him can be found in just about any major city.

To be honest I'd say the only fair Drow Noble race is the standard Drow. Nobles look like they were meant for GM's only for creating encounters. If I were your GM I would simply not allow it.

Hello. I'm a DM with some experience under my belt (not a lot) and I was surprised by my party composition recently in my RotR campaign. It consists of a CG Elven Bard, a CG Human Druid, a CN Half-Orc Barbarian, a CN Human Abyssal Sorceress, and a LE Human Samurai. Now you may be thinking this may not lead to evilness (and thanks to the Bard and Druid, it may very well not) but it pays to be prepared especially since the Sorceress is starting to make Sczarni ties thanks to her searching for some poison and the Barbarian will probably end up being enslaved by the Samurai (he already accepted a "Friendship Necklace" from the Samurai aka a leash and collar).

Obviously this will lead to some homebrewing and finagling, but I think this could be an interesting way to keep the party involved even if they do flip evil. So any comments or criticism is appreciated.