Philetus's page

Hey, folks. Just started tinkering with a L1-L6 homebrew (my last attempt ran seriously afoul of Paizo's CUP; mia culpa). The storybook is still very rough (cleaning that up will be the last thing I do), but I'm curious about how the thing plays.

Posted the first scenario here (I'll probably keep adding to the same file, or at least link from it). Bang on it, comment, have fun. Let me know what you think. And if anybody wants to play Thargrap, the Blood God summoner, in this, so much the better.

Book 1: Unusual Alliances

Hey, folks. I played the first few scenarios of a borrowed Rise of the Runelords back in the day, but never felt like I had the money and room to assemble everything needed to play the original APs. I recently got the Core Set and Crimson Throne, and my wife and I are both loving it. I came here to check out who was doing homebrew scenarios, and ... well, kind of ran into crickets.

So, I've started trying to adapt one of my old tabletop campaigns (Jade Regent), seeing how far I could go using just the Core Set while keeping as true to the published AP as possible. I've got the card structures for the first book (The Brinewall Legacy) posted in a Google doc, linked below. I don't have any flavor text written yet*, but I'd welcome feedback from anybody who wants to get in and run a few new scenarios and see how they feel. I've turned on comments, so feel free to leave me a note here or on the doc itself and let me know what you think. Thanks.

Jade Regent Book 1: The Brinewall Legacy

* -- The Storybook may be the single biggest improvement in the new edition.

So, I'd like to throw out a potential build for a Skulls and Shackles campaign and, to make life as difficult as possible, I've decided to take a run at a halfling mouser (swashbuckler archetype). Because, (A.) it's thematic, and (B.) I've been trying for a few years to really find a place halflings work, and this seems to be as good as any.

In looking at the class, and building it out to about 15th level, I began to see that everything after Hamstring at Level 7 was seriously diminishing returns. You get non-multiplying precision damage, a few free feats and ... nothing else really special. So, I'm looking at Mouser 7/Fighter (Weapon Master or Freehand Fighter) 8. Considering that he's never going to do great damage, no matter how he's spec'ed, I am tinkering with Golarian's smallest melee battlefield controler. With Nimble, buckler, high DEX and Combat Expertise, it should be possible for him to keep his AC up with 20 plus twice level.

We're doing a bit of an overpowered stat roll that left me (after racial mods) with 18s in DEX and CHA, so I left off Extra Panache (which had initially been my first feat). I think four at the start should be enough. So, here goes:

1st: Step Up. I haven't found it in print, but the PFSRD states that anything *within* 5 feet is considered adjacent, which means an halfling who is underfoot is adjacent while in the same square. Step Up should allow you to shift with your foe and stay underfoot, without blowing another panache.

3rd: Combat Expertise. Threatening Defender trait also drops the to-hit penalty by 1.

4th (bonus): Agile Maneuvers. DEX instead of STR on CMB. Really pops on Hamstring.

5th: Outflank *or* Combat Reflexes. Outflank is nice, if everybody else buys in. Otherwise, it's a wasted feat. When it pops, it pops a lot.

7th: Improved Disarm. Intentionally not going with Improved Dirty Trick here, since Hamstring does not draw AoOs, and adds a lot of flexibility to the build.

Fighter from here down.
7/1 (bonus): Improved Dirty Trick.

7/2: Critical Focus. Required for Critical feats.
7/2 (bonus): Greater Dirty Trick. Hamstring now becomes 1d4 rounds, plus 1 round for each 5 points by which you beat CMD.
7/4: Signature Deed: Underfoot Assault. Now panache-free.
7/4 (bonus): Bleeding Critical. 2d6 stacking bleed damage.

7/6: Combat Reflexes, if not taken at 5. Otherwise, lunge.
7/6 (bonus): Stand Still. Keep a foe from moving away from you, if you're underfoot.

7/8: Blinding Critical. Even at 15th level, this is just brutal for a high-crit range weapon, because a Fort save to reduce to Dazed for 1d4 rounds. So, they are blinded, or just can't do anything for 1d4 rounds.
7/8 (bonus): Critical Mastery. Swashbuckler levels are considered fighter levels, so he adds bleeding and blinding together.

I would normally find room for Iron Will/Improved IW on any melee build, but he'll have four uses of Charmed Life before he switches classes. WF, WS, GWS are nice, and unlike precision, the damage stacks on criticals, but I felt the disarm/greater dirty trick direction was a lot more bang for the buck, over three feats for +4 damage. If Outflank at L5, then Stand Still doesn't come online until 13. Is it worth trying to move it higher, considering I'd need Combat Reflexes first?

The other big question I'm considering is which fighter archetype to switch to. Weapon Master will allow two bumps to weapon training (10th and 14th) and the chance to reroll once per day. Free-hand gives +2 to AC by 13th level, but only one bump to weapon training. Both give the same bonus to disarm (ignoring feinting and sundering). Or, is there another fighter type I should be considering?

From a bar conversation last night:

Is the population of Golarion essentially like the right side of a normal curve (bell graph), if you break it down by level, with each level representing a standard deviation? IE, the largest part of the population is level 0/1, and each level above the represents a predictably smaller segment of the population.

Add to that thought: What is the world population of Golarion? If we can assume the first and know the second, can we then determine how many people of a certain level are alive on the planet at any given time?

I am playing a duergar tetori in a campaign that may run to near 20th level. I am currently sixth level, with a strong stat array, having already taken Crane Style and Crane Wing (Riposte is slated for Level 11).

Monk underpowered/tetori a one-trick pony/why not be X/yada yada. Now, with that out of the way, here is my question. I'm looking for a good fighting AC that does not require in-combat buffing time. The caveat is that STR/grappling are more important to this character than AC, so money spent on Amulets of Mighty Fists trumps Amulets of Natural Armor, STR items trump DEX items, etc. Using standard wealth by level for the 10th-level build; I didn't worry about money on the very speculative 20th-level build.

So, what am I missing that would be level-appropriate, not prohibitively expensive and would not take up combat rounds?

10th LEVEL 10

DEX (12+2 item) 2 DEX (6000 gp rider on a +4 STR belt)
WIS (16+4 item) 5 Dodge
Monk +2 2 Dodge

Dodge 1 Dodge
Fighting Def 4 Dodge (Crane Style plus 3 ranks in Acro)
Barkskin 4 Nat (100 minutes per 1 ki, qinggong substitution)

Mage Armor 4 Armor (1 hour wand/10 hours casting)
Ioun: DustyRose 1 Insight
Ring of Pro +1 1 Deflection

SoF (potion) 2 Shield
(casting) (3)

Total 34 (36/37 with SoF)

20th level 10

DEX (12+6 item) 4 DEX
WIS (16+6 item) 6 Dodge
Monk +5 5 Dodge

Dodge 1 Dodge
Fighting Def 4 Dodge
Barkskin 5 Nat

Bracers +8 8 Armor
Ioun: DustyRose 1 Insight
Ring of Pro +5 5 Deflection

SoF (potion) 2 Shield
(casting) (5)

Total 49 (51/54)

I've seen a few threads that danced close to this topic, but I haven't found one that addresses it exactly (my search-foo may just be lacking).

I'm tinkering with the idea of a halfling paladin, played as a mounted archer. If I'm reading the druid description correctly, when a paladin can first call his mount at fifth level, the mount would have three feats. Now, for my question:

If you went the dodge-mobility-spring attack route with those first three feats, would the mount *and* the rider be safe from attacks of opportunity due to spring attack? IE, if my halfling archer used a full attack to fire (with rapid shot, or with a standard second attack after 5th level, taking his normal penalties from firing mounted and rapid shot) at the same time that the mount was using his full movement to make a spring attack, would the rider be safe from AoEs while the mount was moving through the critter's threatened squares?

I spent some of this evening reading the thread of fixing Monk damage, and someone on there suggested just making an unarmed fighter. Here's my riff on that. Feel free to slash and burn, or take and modify. But any feedback might be helpful to those who are dealing with the monk issue.

*******

This class combines Fighter, Monk and a couple of touches of Rogue, while placing very strict limitations in the hope of creating a character who specializes in unarmed combat and can hold his on on the front lines of a fight, acting as the primary tank of a party. Giving him a Fighter's number of feats, and adding some of the Rogue talents to that feats list, hopefully allows for a significant breadth of character development and individualization.

*******

Unarmed Specialist
The fighter takes up arms for battle. The monk uses mysticism for his powers. The rogue uses cunning and guile for his deadly attacks. But the unarmed specialist enters battle with just his fists, and in this, is the master of his craft.

Alignment
Any.

Hit Die
d10.

Starting Wealth
5d6 x 10 gp (average 175g)

Class Skills
The unarmed specialist’s class skills are Acrobatics (Dex), Climb (Str), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Ranks Per Level
4 + Int modifier.

Table: Unarmed Specialist
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special
1st +1 +2 +2 +0 Unarmed Attack, Unarmed Training I, Bonus feat, Weapon Restriction, Armor Restriction
2nd +2 +3 +3 +0 Bonus feat
3rd +3 +3 +3 +1 Armor training I
4th +4 +4 +4 +1 Bonus feat
5th +5 +4 +4 +1 Unarmed Training II
6th +6/+1 +5 +5 +2 Bonus feat
7th +7/+2 +5 +5 +2 Armor training II, Improved Unarmed Attack
8th +8/+3 +6 +6 +2 Bonus feat
9th +9/+4 +6 +6 +3 Unarmed Training III
10th +10/+5 +7 +7 +3 Bonus feat
11th +11/+6/+1 +7 +7 +3 Armor training III
12th +12/+7/+2 +8 +8 +4 Bonus feat
13th +13/+8/+3 +8 +8 +4 Unarmed Training IV
14th +14/+9/+4 +9 +9 +4 Bonus feat, Greater Unarmed Attack
15th +15/+10/+5 +9 +9 +5 Armor training IV
16th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +10 +5 Bonus feat
17th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +10 +5 Unarmed Training V
18th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +11 +6 Bonus feat
19th +19/+14/+9/+4 +11 +11 +6 Armor mastery
20th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +12 +6 Bonus feat, Supreme Unarmed Attack

Class Features
The following are class features of the unarmed specialist.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
An unarmed specialist is proficient with all simple weapons and gains no armor proficiencies at 1st level.

Unarmed Strike (Ex)
At 1st level, an unarmed specialist gains Unarmed Strike, as per the Monk class feat. His unarmed strikes do 1d6. A character may select the Two-Weapon Fighting feat chain to allow for multiple off-hand attacks, while retaining his full STR bonus on his offhand attacks.

Unarmed Training (Ex)
Starting at 1th level, an unarmed specialist gains a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls when he is using unarmed strike. Every four levels thereafter (5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th), he gains an additional +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls. An unarmed specialist also adds this bonus to any combat maneuver checks made with his unarmed strike.

Bonus Feats
At 1st level, and at every even level thereafter, an unarmed specialist gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement (meaning that the unarmed specialist gains a feat at every level). These feats must be selected from the list of Combat Feats, with additional feats added to this list as the unarmed specialist advances in level. An unarmed specialist may qualify for feats that are restricted by Fighter class levels (i.e., Weapon Specialization, Greater Weapon Focus) at the same level that Fighters would be eligible.

At 2nd level, an unarmed specialist adds Fleet, Evasion (as per the Rogue class feat; only functions if current Armor Check Penalty is 0) and Bravery (as per the Fighter class feat) to his list of selectable feats, both for his bonus feats and his feats gained through normal level advancement.

At 4th level, an unarmed specialist adds Unarmed Strike: Magic to his list of selectable feats.

At 6th level, an unarmed specialist adds Fast Stealth (as per the Rogue Talent), Ledge Walker (as per the Rogue Talent) and Stand Up (as per Rogue Talent) to his list of selectable feats.

At 10th level, an unarmed specialist adds Defensive Roll (as per the Rogue Advanced Talent), Improved Evasion (as per the Rogue Advanced Talent; must have Evasion; only functions if current Armor Check Penalty is 0) and Unarmed Strike: Alignment to his list of selectable feats.

At 14th level, an unarmed specialist adds Unarmed Strike: Metal to his list of selectable feats.

An unarmed specialist may swap out feats after 4th level, as per a fighter.

Weapon Restriction (Ex)
An unarmed specialist who uses any weapon, even those with which he is proficient, takes a -2 penalty on attack and damage on all attacks in any round in which he uses weapons. This penalty resets just before his next turn begins.

Armor Restriction (Ex)
An unarmed specialist loses all class features related to his unarmed strike if he begins a round with an Armor Check Penalty greater than 0. See Armor Training below.

Armor Training (Ex)
Starting at 3rd level, an unarmed specialist gains proficiency with light armor, and learns to be more maneuverable than an average person while wearing armor. Whenever he is wearing armor, he reduces the armor check penalty by 1 (to a minimum of 0) and increases the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed by his armor by 1. Every four levels thereafter (7th, 11th, and 15th), these bonuses increase by +1 each time, to a maximum –4 reduction of the armor check penalty and a +4 increase of the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed. At 7th level, he gains proficiency with medium armor, and may move at his normal speed while wearing medium armor.

Improved Unarmed Strike (Ex)
At 7th level, an unarmed specialist’s unarmed strike does 1d8 damage, plus that granted by Unarmed Training.

Greater Unarmed Strike (Ex)
At 14th level, an unarmed specialist’s unarmed strike does 2d6 damage, plus that granted by Unarmed Training. In addition, the threat range for his unarmed strike increases to 19-20. If he has Improved Critical: Unarmed Strike, the threat range is 18-20.

Armor Mastery (Ex)
At 19th level, an unarmed specialist gains Damage Reduction 5/—.

Supreme Unarmed Strike (Ex)
At 20th level, an unarmed specialist’s unarmed strike does 2d8 damage, plus that granted by Unarmed Training. In addition, he automatically confirm all critical threats and the damage multiplier of his unarmed strike increases from x2 to x3.

Additional Feats
Unarmed Strike: Magic (An unarmed specialist’s unarmed strike acts as a magic weapon, for purposes of bypassing damage reduction.)
Unarmed Strike: Alignment (An unarmed specialist chooses one of his two alignments. His unarmed strike acts as that alignment, for purposes of bypassing damage reduction. Once this choice is made, it is permanent, but this feat may be taken again and used to add the character’s second alignment.)
Unarmed Strike: Metal (An unarmed specialist chooses one type of alchemical metal (silver, cold iron, adamantine, mithril). His unarmed strike acts as that metal, for purposes of bypassing damage reduction.)

PS: If anyone wants to format that levels chart, by all means, be my guest. Some things escape me.

I'm just old enough to have played the original Temple of Elemental Evil (not the year it came out, but within two or three years), and it has always been in my top three or four campaigns I have run in any system ever.

Last year, I ran a group through the beginnings of a total conversion to 3.5, but the group got down to three regular players and suffered a TPK about three-quarters of the way through the second dungeon level. It was still an incredible amount of fun to run. So much since 3.0 seems to have been written with balance and the characters' chance of survival as the main reasons for playing. The old Gygaxian stuff concentrated on telling a story, and --- to paraphrase Ivan Drago -- if the players die, they die. It kept the party on their toes for ever room, every doorway (including a couple of specially made traps to liven things up a little).

So now, I've got a group that may be interested, and I'm starting from scratch to do a full translation to Pathfinder. This isn't my first time playing with PF at all, but I haven't had more than three or four sessions with it, all as a player. I've got a good grip on the rules changes (I think), and on the mentality that Paizo seems to be using. I'm ready to start.

What I don't know is, for me, the most basic of all: Where the heck does this take place in Golarion? In Fareun, Homelett was about halfway between Saradush and Riatavin, Nulb was along the River Ith and the Temple was in the foothills of the Omlarandin Mountains. The location worked great. But I know almost nothing about the PF campaign world, and it's important for me to know about the region where this takes place, even if the players never ask the first question about it. So, anyone have advice for a nice, out of the way location in Golarion to put one of the most evil place on the face of the planet?

My next big mental project -- the room-by-room conversion takes a lot of time, but it's not really a mental creation process -- will be to rewrite a little bit of the mythology (those who have played the adventure will understand), but I don't think that will be a difficult task at all. And Lolth will probably be imported intact, simply because if we're successful with ToEE, I may run the same group through the Giants trilogy and then through Queen of the Demonweb Pits. But that's getting way ahead of myself. As I envision it now, ToEE will be a 1-20 adventure, with the final god/demon queen-level fights as 20th-level battles.

So, anybody have any specific advice on settings, or any general advice on ToEE as 3.75? I can use all the feedback I can get. Also, I'm kicking around the idea of posting the conversion on Google Docs when I'm done (or as I get each area/level completed). If this is successful, and if I can finish it, would other people be interested in running it as well?