I'm thinking about creating a scenario where people play Scooby and the gang using PFRPG rules and pre-generated characters. I want Scooby to be an awakened animal and a full-fledged PC, and the other characters to have abilities and flaws similar to the rest of the gang. All the humans should have at least one level of investigator, with appropriate archetypes. PC level probably about 3rd so dips into other classes are possible and there are some interesting feats and class features. Characters will have almost no magic or spells or weapons or armor, but typical wealth and mundane, alchemical, occult and tech items that fit the iconic characters. They should also have spent a good portion of wealth on items like books, trap making equipment, a vehicle and stashes of food. I'm looking for suggestions for character builds, if any of you are inclined to share your ideas. My goal is to match iconic character abilities, skills, equipment and behavior as much as possible for roleplaying - with a group that relies mostly on their wits and luck to solve mysteries and doesn't have the typical capabilities of a party that regularly engages in combat. Once I've settled on the character builds, I'll develop a familiar story with each act incorporating a classic opponent of appropriate CR.
I'm not sure if this would help traffic but I'm thinking about paying for bundles now and distributing codes later as convention prizes to be redeemed a few months from now. Can that be done, or do the bundles need to be redeemed within the promo period? Also, do you get a single code with each purchase, or is it broken up into different codes for the items included at each different award level?
Is there a rules source that explains this? Seems to be game breaking if you have a circumstance where you have to succeed on multiple saves in the middle of your action (or lose it) due to an effect that doesn't require line of sight and could be concealed to prevent detection. The chance of succeeding on multiple saves gets exponentially more difficult with more creatures, so the encounter CR should not go up simply in proportion to the number of creatures. Especially if the aura radius is beyond your range to perceive and identify the threat. As an example I refer to 3 or more Seugathi all concealed in a fog filled room with auras that extend beyond the only entrance to the room. Unless the party is prepared with a way to clear the fog from a distance or blasts spells blindly into the room, this is a likely TPK unless the party numbers several greater than the monsters. The chance of succeeding at 3 DC 20 will saves at the same time is minuscule for most PCs, so while the monsters control 3 party members and remaining party members have only a 1/4 chance of acting normally, the party almost surely destroys itself or goes insane before it can take out the opponents. The only good chance for the party is if the GM decides the creatures start with aura down and must get to their initiative to use a free action to activate it. They need a chance to take out one of the creatures early because 3 aura saves stacked together is just too powerful if it catches them by surprise. Probably a dumb move to enter the room here, and PCs might not notice immediately if a fellow party member is confused. Of course the group was bold about the lack of good visibility as they did have a telepathic bond, which in hindsight might have had some weird effects or chance to identify the cause when others began to get confused.
I am planning to offer some modules again at an upcoming convention. We have no problem triple-slotting modules that need it, but would some of these typically finish in less time and be better suited for 2 slots in the schedule? We will have 5 hour slots or 4.5 with breaks. How many hours have you seen the following modules take to play? 1-2 The Godsmouth Heresy
Climb DC 30 is for "an overhang or ceiling with handholds only". It doesn't say it has to be rough - just has to have handholds and not be "perfectly smooth". I would say most interior rooms do not have ceilings that qualify as perfectly smooth, but most also aren't over 10' high so the ceiling offers no further benefit versus moving on the floor or walls. With large size an 15' tongue attack, you could reach the center of a room 50' across while positioned on the wall. You could also move upside down in any 5-10' wide hallway, bracing against the walls, no matter how smooth the ceiling is. Good Dwarven stonework or magical construction could make a perfectly smooth ceiling, but most builders and tunnelers wouldn't put forth the effort to polish the ceiling. As long as it provides the desired clearance (or in the case of buildings, support for what's above it) that is probably all anyone cared about. Unless something indicates otherwise, a ceiling should have as many handholds as a natural rock wall or a brick wall. If your campaign has a thriving sheetrock industry, I suppose the argument for smooth interior ceilings might apply; otherwise wood rafters/timbers or angled/arched stone blocks would be more common for construction. Any creature with a natural climb speed and +20 or more to climb checks can move on ceilings without making a check (by taking 10), unless the surface is also perfectly smooth or slippery. Even Spider Climb lists a check modifier, so there are cases where even a gecko or someone climbing via magic might have to make a check. The only possible climb with a higher DC is a slippery ceiling (you need +25 to make that taking 10, or a good roll if your modifier is less). The mount took skill focus climb just to allow the possibility of ceiling movement. His modifier for climb checks rivals that of any other natural climber and he can move on virtually any surface that can support his weight. Giant chameleons are lightweight for their size, but carrying capacity does matter. Climb checks do have modifiers for medium (-3) and heavy (-6) loads, which could require a check if trying to move upside down so encumbered. Fortunately he gets the quadruped mount carrying capacity multiplier and is still has only a light load with a rider. But a little more weight from an opponent grabbed and dangling would require a climb check to stay on the ceiling, because taking 10 would no longer suffice to to make DC 30 after the penalty. Some structures (thatched roofs come to mind) might not support the weight, but natural stone ceilings and most stone and wood structures should support the chameleon and anything it can carry without penalty.
For my next character, I plan on making a Bard, and I'd like him to have a troupe of back up singers. Is there a vanity that would best fit this concept? I suppose I could have them be a bunch of heralds, but am wondering if there is something more specific. I also plan to have a signature song for each spell or ability that requires perform (sing), and have an audio clip on my phone that I can play when it is his turn to act. With the small number of spells known, I might need to cycle through a couple of song choices per spell or ability to keep this fresh with repeated use. The initial focus for spells known will be enchantment/charm spells, and I already have a few clips teed up. I'm sure I'll get a few other spell/song suggestions in response to this post. If I use your idea, I'll try to give you credit in game.
Would the flatter distributions be attributable to being more prone to influence by the individual GM than the scenario itself? Possibly. The theory is that the table bias (due to GM, PC mix or player choices) should average out as more tables are included in the set of reviews. But the data sets are generally so small that I don't think you can say with much confidence that the scenario is prone to GM variation. More likely there were just a few people who had differing experiences (more due to the people than the scenario). If you truly had two different ways the scenario might be run, which resulted in different levels of enjoyment, with enough reviews you might actually get a clearly bimodal distribution of ratings. You actually can (and I did) calculate something called a bimodality coefficient for each distribution, and based on the result you can see if the distribution tends toward bimodal, unimodal, or uniform (equal values at all rating numbers). The flatter distributions most closely resemble a uniform distribution, which has no clear "typical" value(s) regardless of the result you'd get by calculating an average rating. If there are a lot of responses and the distribution of ratings is still very uniform, then YMMV: your likely experience (and rating) with such a scenario might be nearly random. The scenarios that do have many reviews tend to NOT be like this; they tend to have a clear peak in the distribution of ratings and very few ratings far from that value. Only a few scenarios have a highly bimodal distribution of reviews and more than a handful of reviews at the secondary peak: Library of the Lion, Murder on the Throaty Mermaid, The Elven Entanglement and The Waking Rune. It may be that these can go really well with the right PC mix and really poorly with the wrong mix. Other scenarios may be better balanced to work with a larger range of PC parties and capabilities.
Thanks for the plug, Rene! Rock-Con is only 8 weeks away now, and we have GMs signed up for most of the slots we have planned. We can always use a few more and there is plenty of room at the ISC. With this being the first year we are running Pathfinder at Rock-Con, it's anybody's guess how large our contingent will be. Players and GMs are encouraged to sign up early on our Warhorn site, so we'll know if we need to reserve additional tables. If you can make it to the Rockford area October 19-21, we'd love to see you there! |
