Radyn's page

Disclaimer: I have been a PF subscriber for over 10 years and believe in supporting Paizo by purchasing as much content as possible.

Now, as the title says I am wondering if anyone can help me out. I find that having so many options for players to choose from has caused some issues in my games. I'd really like to pare down to as few books as possible to get away from all the choice bloat (and power creep) that comes when there are just so many books. I am not trying to gimp the players into unplayable characters by limiting choices, but rather keep the choices to ones that I can still enjoy running a campaign for.

Example: A few posts down I see one titled "Help me make a Teddy Bear Warrior". While I'm sure there are tons of players and GMs who would be thrilled to have that in their game, I am not interested in telling that story.

Another problem I have run into is having a character that is so complicated that each turn we struggle to figure out what even happens when all of their abilities are activated at different times (Magus - bow wiedlder, Starlit Span, Expansive Spellstrike, etc.) After a while I just kinda took their word for the 40+ damage and where their spell that was delivered by the arrow began and who it hit just so we could move on to the next players turn.

HERE IS THE CRUX OF MY QUESTION: Which books could I limit player access to that would make for a still fun (subjective i know), competitive yet much more simple game?

I am currently thinking Core books, plus maybe a couple others. If anyone who loves making lists is thinking of responding, please do. Maybe something like...

Suggested
Player Core
Player Core 2
Any book related to the AP, adventure or region
Book X, Y and Z

Maybe add with caution
Book A
Book B (to add some more choices without the bloat)

Skip (because now you've got warrior teddy bears)
Book Q
Book R

Thanks everyone!
I hope this is making sense.

EJ

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate it!

Hi all,

My players are wiping out every encounter with ease. The monk of the party gets his flurry of blows off at +9 or +10 with inspiration and crits at least once or sometimes twice against the miniscule AC 14 mook, or AC 15 lieutenant style opponent. Is it really full attack bonus for both attacks?! So he's doing 20+ damage routinely vs 8hp or 22 hp. Are we figuring something wrong?

We also have a Summoner merged with Eidolon (big damage), an Evoker (Electric Arc can kill two 8 hp guys) and a Thaumaturge who can search for weaknesses.

At first level a few characters were given the dying condition due to the lieutenants actually getting a special attack off, but man, they are cake walking so far.
Anyone else having this trouble? Or have any ideas? I've already buffed hp, but the low ACs on enemies is brutal and leads to a lot of one shots.

Thanks in advance hive mind!

EJ

Awesome! Thanks everyone for the input! Paizo has the best community!!!!

Thank you all SO much!! I was simply thinking in terms of old rule sets where there was a large list of different magical robes. I see now that it is basically covered by runes. This is what I thought, but wanted some confirmation since it is sometimes very hard to pinpoint something in 2e...

Thanks again!

Wraith,
Ya, I guess they really only use the stat booster items. They have wands and scrolls that they don't use because their characters natural class abilities are usually way better. I guess I'm looking at the game through old eyes.

As far as awesome goes I mean "Hey, it's a wand of (insert spell)! That changes the way I play my character in combat!!! Until the charges run out..." Is that an old way to look at it? Probably, since I've been playing since the 70s after taking the 90s and 00s off. Haha.

Snow
Other than stat boosters, basically scrolls and such, a few wands. But with the Magus and Barbarian able do deal a bazillion damage per attack, why use them?

Also, I'll check out the unchained item as well as the other links, thanks for all the help so far everyone!

EJ

So, in my game we have a Barbarian, Bard, Cleric and Magus. They have found numerous magic items in play but never really use them. Is this a common thing in Pathfinder?

It seems like the character creation and development are so flexible with the multitudes of options at the players disposal that they can literally craft perfect characters that have no need for most magic items. I've never played in organized play, but from what I've read it CAN be about min/maxing which really just becomes a competitive game of math. That's not the way I like to play, but maybe my players do.

I must say that one main problem I have is that my games are too combat centric and therefore it probably encourages the players to arsenal up as opposed to maybe rounding out their characters more. I can't remember the last time a non combat spell was used in game.

I remember playing when magic items were awesome and rare. Is there some way I can look at this "problem" that will help me out a bit? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,

EJ

My wife, daughter and I are attending for the 2nd time. Last year was a bit intimidating because I knew no one, but I am hoping to get involved in many more activities this year. Even though I still know no one.

I must say, it was very nice of Greg Vaughn and James Sutter to take a moment to start a conversation with me. I was a little star struck. Is that ok for a 48 year old guy to admit. hahaha.

Man I hope I can play a robot PC race or a medium sized construct of some sort.

They said Android will be a playable race. I also remember them saying the "gravity warping Solarian".