Paylin Mihzrahi's page

***SPOILERS ALLOWED***

Just as the subject says, I will probably be starting this campaign soon. I have experience as a dm with Rise of the Runelords, but I'm basically looking to those who have playtested this particular set.

It's 4 players, 20 pt buy, hero points (debating between 3 or 3+half level), any current pathfinder book available for use.

I'm looking for any issues people may have had; anything from stall points in the story, awkward segways, combat difficulty spikes, wipes, etc. If it makes any difference, this group runs once a week with a 7-8 hour session.

1. Ectoplasmic Spell - does it work in the reverse, can a pc that casts ethereal jaunt use this to affect creatures on the material plane?

2. Intesified Spell - Does the caster level limit increase by 5 or the amount of dice rolled. Ex. fireball increases to 15d6 with a CL of 15 since it goes up 1 for 1. Now does the same level pc who casts magic missle max out at 10d4 or 7d4 (since 5 more levels technically equates to 2 extra dice)?

Shifter Wizard/Spirit Shaman/Geomancer back in 3.5

Umpteen natural attacks plus arcane strike had some full attacks rolling over a hundred d4 as ranged touch attacks (thank you blood wind and wraith strike).
Had his bear spirit animal constantly trying to inhabit his bat familiar.

Of course, a real high level character would have counters to the dragon's spells, and the dragon would have counter counters.

It's all about who runs out of blue mana first.

Recipe for the Balanced PF Cleric

1. Add 3 oz. power powder
2. Add one teaspoon of weaksauce.
3. Mix vigorously with a wooden alpha spoon.
4. Let simmer on stove at 350 degrees for 6 months or 4000 thread posts.
5. Poor and let cool in your beta bowl and test for levels of sweet and salty, neither should be too overpowering.
6. If evenly balanced, chill and glaze onto your campaign cake ready to serve. If not, adjust recipe to suit yout own tastes.

First Cleric I played was the standard 3.5 healer. Becoming completely overpowered by the Radiant Servant prestige class, access to the spell compendium, and divine metamagic + spell trigger feats pretty much made him able to fill any role better than the primary classes meant for it (the warmage kept me on my toes for damage output).

That being said, playing a cleric in pathfinder was like going from heroine to flintstone vitamins. While this point has been made time and time again, I'm personally hooked on the variety of ways that a class is able to respond to a given situation, combat or otherwise (wizards and monks now keep me occupied).

2 reasons caused me to drop my kingmaker cleric after 9 levels and almost half a year. Foremost was that I wrote his story into a corner and couldn't continue with the group as is, my fault and not contingent on the class itself. The next however was because he couldn't nearly keep up with the escalation of difficulty in combat. I've been playing D&D and pathfinder for a long time, so the the character planning wasn't amatuer'ish. Close range combat couldn't keep him standing long enough and long range abilities were so variable dependant that it just kept him in reserve out of ineffectiveness.

While this doesn't prove that the cleric class itself isn't worth playing, the fight design themselves may have been a contributing factor, to me clerics seem to be one of the least adaptive classes, especially to changing conditions in short term circumstances. While they can fill just about any role with time and preperation, the current variety of abilities thay have access to just doesn't sit well with me. Though I'll probably get my fix with the new round of paizo books coming out soon.

I don't disagree, however the money withdrawal is the issue, not the item selling itself.

"It fails on a Nat 1" is meaningless when hero points are in play, and they are too fantastic to do without, in my experience.

As soon as we dismiss the rationale that (in game)

1. The pcs who are expanding the kingdom's power are singlehandedly going out into the wilderness and exterminting the most powerful threats.

2. At some point, building districts that serve all the needs of the people. (without metagaming the downfalls of some of these building bonuses, I'm looking at you luxory store...)

3. That monarchs tend to have that power and leeway when the kingdom is successful.

Then I'll concede that the withdrawel system can be abused and should be limited with in game response from the gm.

Out of game I agree, with a group of people that know how to work the system, that this free money can seriously cripple game difficulty. My only suggestion is that any bp taken out of the economy should likewise be used to fuel projects that indirectly serve roleplay. Rather than crafting the +5 vorpal longsword for the king/queen, spend those resources putting up permanant magical effects to protect the castle (anti-magic fields, teleport circles, etc).