Raphaele Flickerlamp's page

I fixed the map to make it a little easier to read. Does that look right, everyone? Also,
for future reference, Fintan is riding a horse, which means he actually takes up 4 spaces - but that's something we can just make a note of for future fights.

Upon seeing one of the wolves, Fintan lets out a whoop and urges his horse onward. He lowers his lance at the beast and tries to impale it on the end of his lance!

Free action - Rage. Full round action - charge, power attack against the wolf in I9. Lance has reach.

Attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

If it hits: wielding the lance two-handed, so 1.5 STR for damage. Raging, so a +6 STR modifier = +9 damage. +3 damage from Power Attack. Finally, I double whatever I roll because mounted charge with a lance.

Damage: 1d8 + 12 ⇒ (6) + 12 = 18

I roll the worst attack rolls. Again!

Oh, I didn't think that, no. BUT SINCE YOU MENTION IT, if you ever do decide to run a new game on Roll20 for any reason please let me know.

I've already been talking about eventually trying to run this as a Roll20 thing myself when my weekly Emerald Spire game ends. We're level 6 now (about to be level 7 after we finish making fun of Klarkosh for being too easy to defeat).

A preservationist alchemist does summon things by throwing small containers. Bombs are arguably used the same way. It'd be easier to do this with that class/archetype IMO.

A pretty good thought, and very true. It doesn't feel quite as "catch 'em all" to me but that's a good route to consider.

You want to store your spells in a familiar rather than a spellbook? The spirit whisperer wizard archetype does that. So does an unlettered arcanist, or most witches.

Sounds like a spell storage item to me.

Yeah, I started thinking about that as I went to bed. "I choose you, <familiar name>!" followed up by "<Name>, use Fireball!" and casting my spells through my familiar sounds like a great way to start.

And it still gives me plenty of opportunities to say "IT'S SUPER EFFECTIVE!" when shit works.

About how to replacing spell components for pokeballs I don't know if there is some official ruling but as a homebrew your GM might allow replacing them for a pokeball with the same cost. 5000gp diamond powder? Maybe an Ultra Ball.

Talking with the GM is always the best idea. Given that this concept is entirely conceptual at this point, I'm hoping to see some rules to help. Maybe if I could somehow apply the Stylized Metamagic to all my spells for free...

are you using these "pokeballs" as thrown weapons to concuss foes into unconsciousness?

Not unless I'm casting Melf's Acid Arrow or something like that. No, these Pokeballs are being used the way Pokeballs are usually used: you toss them and a magical thing comes out.

As an example: let's say I'm playing a character that's casting Summon Monster. Pretty simple: I say 'I choose you, Hound Archon!' or something. But the same could be applied to spells: casting Web could be summoning a 'pokemon' that casts the spell and then vanishes immediately. Etc.

No, seriously, hear me out: I had this dumb idea while joking with a friend about how wizards want to "catch them all" (spells), and I suddenly wanted to know if there's a feat or SOMETHING that lets you cast your spells with a specific material component in lieu of other components... and options that remove the spellbook without adding tattoos or anything weird like that.

Basically, I want this wizard to throw pokeballs at people when he casts spells, and the spells to come from the pokeballs.

How do I do? How do I do the thing?

(Conjuration spells would obviously be very fitting, yes.)

I like to think they haven't posted because they're all at a party and they just don't know yet.

Until someone picks up their cell phone, and checks the boards, 'just for a moment, see if anything's up'...

:)

The most recent celebration for Starfinder is a bit too raunchy...

I reckon there hasn't been enough time to stamp out old hatreds and put aside the history of Christian and Muslim fighting, so even in the face of Hell on Earth Badahir isn't joining this group with a smile.

[roll=Battle]1d12[/dice]
Oops, wrote that incorrectly.
Battle: 1d12 ⇒ 4

Brandoch takes his place at the top of the tower, far away from the action soon to come. He knows his role in a fight, and he trusts in his stalwart companions to stand between him and the oncoming orcs.

When they enter his vision, Brandy immediately begins loosing arrows into their ranks.

My shots will be fired at the orcish leader. If he dies, any shots that remain will be aimed at the enemy's archers.

First Volley Feat Die 1: 1d12 ⇒ 4
Feat Die 2: 1d12 ⇒ 3
Bow of the North: 3d6 + 3 ⇒ (4, 5, 6) + 3 = 18

Second Volley Feat Die 1: 1d12 ⇒ 7
Feat Die 2: 1d12 ⇒ 5
Bow of the North: 3d6 + 3 ⇒ (1, 1, 5) + 3 = 10

Third Volley Feat Die 1: 1d12 ⇒ 7
Feat Die 2: 1d12 ⇒ 3
Bow of the North: 3d6 + 3 ⇒ (5, 5, 3) + 3 = 16

As the clash begins, Brandoch begins firing more rapidly at the enemy.

Rearward Stance - called shot, Rain of Arrows! DARK DICE GODS, I SACRIFICE ANARIEL'S LUCK TO YOU THAT I MAY BOLSTER MINE!

Rain of Arrows Feat Die 1: 1d12 ⇒ 7
Feat Die 2: 1d12 ⇒ 10
Bow of the North: 3d6 + 3 ⇒ (2, 5, 1) + 3 = 11

Will edit in damage momentarily.

Okay: First opening volley, aimed at lead orc, total of 22: probably hits. 9 damage. Second volley, fired at lead orc: 17. Probably misses. 5 damage if hits. Third volley: 23. 5 damage. Called shot: failed.

Generally speaking: pick out spells you like and use regularly. Have some utility spells you'll use based on the adventure. Select spells you use regularly at the start of the day, prepare a couple utility spells (or make scrolls of them if you're a wizard). You're set.

As an example, let's say I want to play a support-style wizard in a game. My focus is on buffing the martials to make them feel great, and then on Save or Suck spells to ruin the enemy. So I'd have some buff spells and some control spells in my arsenal, but then I'd vary some spells based on what I know I'm fighting. Orcs? They've got crap will or reflex saves, likely, so I'll grab some spells that target those. Ghosts? Stuff that's effective against undead sounds good. Oh, we're going to be exploring a blistering hot rainforest? Maybe I should get some spells that ward off animals, spells to help deal with the weather... that sort of thing. And I CAN do this, because I'm a flipping wizard; my spell list is as broad as my budget allows.

And when all's said and done, I'll have a few scrolls of utility spells. Scrolls to detect secret doors and traps, a couple scrolls of silence in case I'm fighting another spellcaster, a scroll of dispel magic in case I end up using my prepared one, a scroll of whatever I might need but don't want to waste a slot preparing.

Is this a lot of bookkeeping? Absolutely. But that is how the prepared spellcaster do.

Now, you don't have to play it to that extreme, obviously, but it helps to have Scribe Scroll (so you can prepare stuff you might need but don't want to worry about). If you avoid that, just use this rule of thumb: pick spells you want to use often and MOSTLY fill your spell slots with those. Have 1-2 spell slots per spell level that are more utility-based. Then you're good.

Hunter, Magus, Warpriest, Inquisitor: all 6th level casters, and all pretty heavy on themes I don't feel necessarily belong. If I were to allow 6th level casters, I'd pick 2-3, and the Bard and Skald would be among them. I COULD see allowing Inquisitors, but only after I vetted their spell list (as I may have to do with bards/skalds).

As for the Reavers... I don't see it as cowardice. I see it as simple pragmatism: the mists help create a sense of fear, and a raider's goal isn't to kill their enemies, but to rob them. If the mists roll in as longships appear in the distance, you want your enemies to abandon their homes and run to the nearest castle / church / whatever for protection, letting you plunder safely. It's about fear and intimidation. It's the same reason pirates historically wouldn't kill all their prey; if you've got a reputation for murdering everyone, then everyone will fight back when you come plundering.

Combat 101: Winning without fighting is much better than fighting to win. If you fight, you risk getting hurt or dying. Routing the enemy = safer than cutting them down to a man.

Or, if you like a more narrative approach...

I could see what you'd done in borrowing & altering the Baltic Sea area. It was fun, though, in that you had NOT grabbed the North Sea, which is so much more common. Thanks for the production tips! (No, not what I had expected, but doable...) Except: you precisely (?) outlined the land borders in black. It looks precise at this scale, anyway! How? If I were following your instructions, I'd be nibbling away at the land with a blue paint brush. So I'd have green meeting blue, no black.

I'll just demonstrate and show you what I mean. Read the spoiler below.

On a related note, I've changed the ocean's name to the Aldaric Sea, officially naming this world the Aldaric Sea Region. It's roughly based off the Baltic Sea Region, and I like the name.

If you're curious, this is what it looks like without the cities and stuff. At least, that's an earlier draft of the map. It SHOULD be accurate.

EDIT: Oh, on favored class bonuses: Yeah, human races have Human FCBs available to them. Brelani will have Elf and Halfling FCBs available, Garlani will have Dwarf and Halfling ones, and Jotunkin will have Human and Half-Orc FCBs.

{PS: What software did you use to create your beautiful map? Is it EASY to learn? For someone who never, ever could figure out CAD-based programs? I've got a much simpler homebrew setting, but I'd love a map like yours. (I'm envious, I think you can tell! LOL.)}

You'll probably scratch your head at the answer: I used standard Paint to make the first layer of the map, then used the program called paint.net to create layers atop it for text and locations. All the icons on the map were created pixel by pixel in the Paint program that comes with all Windows computers.

Yeah, it's a boring answer.

If you want similar lines along the shore, my practice is to create a soft, non-jagged line, then to repeatedly go back over and carve it out into the shape I want several times. Then I'll create more bodies of water, carve more land, add bits where I think bits are needed, and then add islands. As I'm doing this, I'm pre-considering where I want mountains. Then I'll add the mountains with rivers, swamps, and so forth. That's how I get my base map.

I save that file. I go into Paint.Net the program, I make layers for locations, points of interest, and for text. For text, I'll write out the text, then copy it, delete it, paste it, and rotate it as I desire on the Text layer.

Hopefully that helps.

PS. All those fancy dots in the marshes? I literally just left clicked a whole bunch of times with the Pencil tool. XD

Unfortunately, Reavers are so very not what I was expecting (having adored Dragon Age with its dwarven Reavers) that I haven't gotten my head wrapped around your Viking-style race. No, it's not a Viking-style race. Your race is much more into watery Stealth, besides being actually able to conduct combat at sea, so the historical model in my head is interfering with your mechanics, too. Maybe it will help once you put some fluff to it.

Consider it like this: Reavers DO fight at sea and board other ships. However, they basically do what Vikings do: they find a coastal settlement and raid it. They prefer to do so under the cover of mist, and if they have an appropriate spellcaster they'll use fog spells or Obscuring Mist to give themselves an advantage.

What tech do these people have?

This is a standard medieval fantasy setting, no gunpowder. So the basic tactics are:

Land attack

Step 1. Get near enemy shore province. Preferably approach at night or under the cover of mist, fog, or storm.
Step 2. RAID IT!
Step 3. Get out before actual enemy reinforcements arrive.

Naval battle

Step 1. Get near enemy ship.
Step 2. Grapple or leap aboard.
Step 3. FIGHT FIGHT KILL FIGHT KILL AAAAAAAAAAAH

Yeah, it's basic stuff.

Anyway, onto Westerlings! There's a reason I didn't include any magical traits. Be prepared...

*DEEP BREATH*

This is a low magic setting where powerful magic users are EXPRESSLY THE BAD GUYS. That means that while Wizards and Clerics and Oracles DO exist, those are BAD GUYS. Players are limited to the following classes:

Barbarian, Bard (MAYBE, potentially made INT based), Bloodrager, Brawler, Cavalier, Fighter, Paladin (probably as a prestige class), Ranger, Rogue, Skald (MAYBE), Slayer, Swashbuckler. You, uh... may have noticed a certain lack of 9th level spellcasters here, and a very limited selection of 6th level casters. The only other possible addition to that list is a homebrew class called the Herbalist that would be a 6th level spellcaster mashup of the Alchemist and Druid, but I don't know if I'll do that.

The point is this: Magic racial traits? Out the window. Not allowing them except MAYBE on a Tiefling race I may or may not include. In this setting, the players are low magic people that will occasionally meet high magic enemies. It's intended to be a difficult task, but mitigated by the fact that the max level will be 8 (I.E. it'll be an E8 game).

Sorry about the rant there. ANYWAY, NOW we can talk about Westerlings.

There's a thread here on Homebrew about different Knowledges. (LOL -- I linked to my eventual set, but the whole thread is interesting.) We were talking about instituting a Knowledge (martial), which would be a much better fit for your race than Knowledge (history) -- that's just weird, I'm afraid. "If the Chinese weren't over-running us then, the Japanese were." End of history lesson, is how it would go for most Korean peasants, I'm thinking.

I'm already homebrewing enough stuff and changing enough rules as it is. Knowledge: History in Pathfinder includes knowledge of warfare and tactics. Ergo, it's the best fit for the trait alongside Profession: Soldier. It works.

You may want to offer Eternal Hope as an alternate choice, or even consider it as a main Defensive Trait.

That's a really good thought. I like the simplicity of Lucky, but Eternal Hope is a good, strong racial trait. I'll think about how I want to include it, if I do.

If I give them Eternal Hope, though, Reavers may need a different trait other than Fearless. Otherwise both of these human races are strong vs. Fear for some reason.

Heroic is only good if players make certain to spend their HP. I dunno; maybe they'd be more likely to if getting 2 a level. I've played for years in groups that offered HP, and every so often someone uses them to great effect. But more often than not, people hit their cap of 3 at level-up because they saved them for a rainy day. At 2 HP a level, you can hit your cap every two levels!

This is a big concern of mine. I feel Heroic and Lucky make for a really flavorful combination together, but at the same time Heroic requires players to be willing to actually USE their Hero Points. I mean, that's what they're there for. That's why I originally had Skilled as a Westerling racial trait and Heroic as an alternate, but it didn't feel very flavorful. Heroic does.

I'll chew on this.

As an aside: I'll be thinking about how to better tool up Reavers. I... really liked them having the potential to have both +CON and Toughness as a bonus feat, and it's not as if core Humans couldn't pick Toughness as their bonus feat. It gives Reavers the role of "super tough guy that doesn't afraid of anything," and I like that.

Made some changes to Westerlings, added to their lore, and also changed the mechanics for Reavers. I plan on adding another alternate racial trait or two to the Reavers and expanding on their lore. More critique, please.

There's no Westerling peasants or merchants who go adventuring? They're all potentially knights, with appropriate traits?

I'm also not particularly crazy about the choices of racial traits. Westerling's traits suggest that every man, woman, and child is trained on horseback and in courtly etiquette.

This is something I've been chewing on a lot. See, on the one hand I want them to be good at horseback combat - ergo, they should at least have one mounted trait available to them, such as Saddleborn. On the other hand, making Knightly Charge an alternate racial trait and replacing it with something else makes the given race more modular, and other races ought to be equally modular to make them equally interesting.

Basically, I want to make sure that each race has some leaning toward being good at a certain role, but in the end CAN choose to serve a different role. So maybe I ought to go ahead and make Knightly Charge an alternate racial trait.

Also, I'd like to explain that I'm actually trying to keep from having the human flexible bonus feat available to any of the races. Instead, I'm trying to have different groups of humans available.

One thing to note is that races in this setting are going to represent cultures as much as they represent races. You might notice that for Westerlings (as an example) I noted that while most are dark skinned, there are others who are not - because the Westerling racial traits are inherited by members of their culture, not by people with a certain bloodline. It's just that most Westerlings are going to be dark skinned. This is something I'm toying with for humans.

As such, there's several different cultures for humans that will be around, each with a somewhat different focus. Westerlings (a plains people with a knightly heritage), Reavers (a Viking-inspired people), Muckers (a frowned upon lot of usually lower class city folk), Caerlings (wildmen who leave near forests and on the frontiers), and Aldonians (a group small in number that once served as the ruling class of the empire the map above covers). I want them all to have roughly the same power level of base humans while being more flavorful and varied than base humans and NOT having the human bonus feat.

From both a lore and mechanical perspective, they feel a little bland. A race should inspire me to want to create a character for it. I'm just not feeling it here.

Lore-wise I'll be adding more to what I've written (this is just preliminary stuff written quickly in the dead of night). Mechanically though I'd be glad to have some help. What do you suggest?

In my homebrew setting I'm making a handful of human races and a couple small races that will replace all races normally available in Pathfinder. This is important.

In my setting there is no Human race. Instead, there are different cultures of humans, and the races I'm making represent this (Westerlings, Reavers, Aldonians, Caernlings, Muckers). Likewise, there is a race called the Lani which has a few subraces that are chosen (Garlani, Brelani). Finally, I'm making two half-breed races (Jotunkin and an unnamed Human/Lani mixed race) and might allow a specific kind of tiefling in this game.

Anyway, onto the meat of the matter: I've finished a couple of these races and would love to have them critiqued, as well as the RP scores checked. I compared these to existing abilities from the race creation rules as best I could, or to abilities that a given race possessed that replaced another race. Hopefully I did good.

The races I'd like reviewed so far are the Westerlings and the Reavers. I'm trying to give all the races I'm designing 9-11 RP.

For curious parties, here's a link to the map. If you want to see the Google Document I'm storing this information on, click here.

I had a huge dungeon with several entrances planned once. One of them was a cliff entrance that also happened to have kobolds guarding it.

Some kobold tactics I considered involved:

1. Drop boulders on party.
2. Use gliders and crossbows.
3. Literally catapult themselves at the enemy and grapple-murder them.
4. Some magical means of turning earth to mud, so that climbers would, well, lose their grip. (Not really applicable to your situation.)
5. The dungeon was HUGE, like I said, so it had small murder holes along the walls that the kobolds were going to use to shoot crossbows out of.

You get the idea. Even though the party is traveling by air, you can still use humanoid creatures if you wish.

With that said, let's focus on the flying monsters bit. Possible encounters:

1. Harpies attack - but not with the intent of murder. Instead, they're making Steal combat maneuver checks to take valuable possessions away from the party as the spellcaster carries people up to the top. This can lead to the party having to recover their valuables as a side-quest, and hey - they can find other adventurers' valuables, too!
2. Some jerk decides to use a magic whistle to make a Purple Worm or similar creature burst out of the cliff face and attack the flyer. But hey, this ALSO creates a tunnel they can navigate. Where does it lead...?
3. It turns out there is a portal to the Elemental Plane of Air here. Hostile Air Elementals are popping out nearby. Maybe there's an intelligent creature that wants help closing this portal?
4. There's a spell protecting the top of the cliff that keeps the winds MIGHTY strong and even produces a cloud that obscures vision when flying creatures get to close. The source of the cloud comes from a dragon nest very close by, as the dragon doesn't want anyone discovering her lair...
5. The cliff houses a griffon nest. Oops. Fight!
6. The cliff houses a griffon nest. The parents are gone right now, and there are a few eggs... Is taking them worth the risk?

I read the title as "succubus in a grippli" and wondered why the Hell the grippli was pregnant with a succubus' baby, and if so HOW?!

Yeah, again: this isn't an issue with a simple "Yes" or "No" answer. This will vary from group to group, game to game, individual to individual, and the influence of the nature of the game and roleplay reasoning should be taken into account as well.

For instance, the golem crafter in question were playing in a standard Pathfinder game, I think it'd be entirely reasonable roleplay-wise for the golem crafter to ask for a little extra gold. But if the golem crafter were part of a team of gladiators that literally depended on each other to see the next sunrise, you can bet your arse I'd be surprised if he said "By the way I need some extra money from you, wink wink nudge nudge."

One thing does strike me as interesting in this conversation:

The problem is that usually teammates see your character as a function of his build, so they assume his role and become angry/disappointed if you act differently from their expectations. Crafters are indeed usually support characters (and I don't dislike them), but the aforementioned Construct-Master isn't, and instead requires a lot of resources to stay competitive with level. However, since it requires other useful crafting feats, the average party will assume you'll craft them items half price without even asking, and they'll start treat you badly if you don't, both IN and OUT of game.

This is... a rather good point, but it touches on a much bigger topic. When you play a cleric people will expect you to be a healer, even though healing is generally less effective than buffing. When you play a fighter some groups will be mad when you use a bow instead of a sword as your primary weapon. There's a lot of situations where people expect something you never agreed to provide.

Basically, I think this point is indicative of a bigger issue than the one we're discussing.

Anyway: like I said before, this is an "agree to disagree" issue. If you choose to play support and intend to play support, you should enjoy playing support. In the case of the golemancer, you've got support-related abilities but are focusing on providing golems and machines and such, and... it's unfair for other players to expect you to be a support character if you're really NOT, or if you're supporting in a different way.

And again, charging a small fee for a huge discount seems mighty fair to me.

Even FOOD gets new flavors. Someone decided to make this flavor called "Umami." What the Hell even IS Umami?

DAMN YOU, SCIENCE!

Well, Thaago, the whole point is that I don't think MEGABUFF is that awesome given its cost.

I think this is where players need to agree to disagree, because this is the crucial crux upon which this conversation rests.

Some people enjoy support roles - myself among them. I LIKE being the social and magic focused bard that lends support to the team with song and spell rather than focusing on ways to bolster my damage through the roof. I LIKE being the Aid Another Fighter that makes all the other martials feel like gods. I LIKE being the buff-specialized wizard that doesn't cast save-or-die or fireball but instead turns the party's beatsticks into gods of war via magic. I LIKE playing the Paladin with Oath of the People's Council because I enjoy making everyone else's numbers go up. And I LIKE being a crafter that can give his party a 50% discount on all the toys they'll ever want.

If you like that sort of playstyle, then use it. If you don't, then... Don't. Do things you enjoy. Let others play the support role. This game is designed to let everyone play the concepts they enjoy, and it's pretty good at simulating all kinds of characters.

Now, if you're set on playing a golem crafter or an item crafter and you want to know how much to charge your party... I'd say 60-75% is good roleplay-wise. You can say "I'm going to give you a substantial discount on what you're buying since our survival depends on each other - but I certainly don't mind having a few extra coins, so please don't expect this to be free of charge."

Well, I suppose now's as good a time as any to finally put some actual numbers behind my Bulette Style build. I want to see how it compares.

A note: this build is going up against CMD, not AC. Average monster CMD looks to be 32 compared to the average AC of 24. This ain't gonna be pretty, and my build will suffer for it.

Note: this build will fair MUCH better against groups of lower CR enemies rather than a single high CR opponent, but that's not what this thread is about. This thread is about beating up one really big guy. Let's proceed.

Overview

Okay, now let's talk tactics.

First, it should be noted that Futbol Pleya can tackle things of up to Huge size already thanks to Poised Bearing. This goes up to Gargantuan if he's Enlarged.

Again, remember that Futbol Pleya is NOT best sent against a single CR10 opponent. He's great at dealing with groups of lower CR opponents. This is not his forte, but he's here already, so let's see what he can do.

At the start of the adventuring day Futbol Pleya grabs his ioun stone and makes it float over his head because of course he would. This impacts his attack and thus his CMB, increasing both by +1.

The Scenario

Futbol Pleya gets onto the field for a fight. He chooses a target that's within charging distance for him (50 feet), squats down into a three-point stance (enters Bulette Charge Style as a swift), activates Rage as a free action, then rushes forward to tackle the sumbish.

The first thing that happens is Futbol Pleya gets to make a Bull Rush attempt against the target. He's charging, so he's getting a +2 bonus to his CMB; he's raging, so another +2. Ergo, he has a +24 on his Bull Rush attempt. That's a 60% chance of success against the average CR 10 enemy, and his damage with Bull Rush is 15. That's 9 average damage a round from Bull Rush. Ew. At least he has a chance of knocking the enemy flying a few squares if he exceeds their CMD by 5 or more.

But now he gets to make a free Overrun attempt. Futbol Pleya has +29 on his Overrun attempt right now, or an 85% chance of hitting his opponent. His Overrun attempt deals 1d8+42 damage, or 46.5 damage on average. Doing a little math, knowing it only triggers when he successfully hits with Bull Rush, we get the following equation: 46.5*(.60*.85)=23.72 (rounded up). 23.72+9=32.72 DPR for the first round.

In the second round Futbol Pleya charges the enemy again. This time he gets a swift action attempt to use his armor spikes. He's raging and has an ioun stone, so he has a +20 to his attack. Notice how despite having invested very little into his armor spikes he's got an 80% chance to hit (versus having dedicated lots of resources to bull rush/overrun and having frankly bad chances to hit). However, he has to actually hit with his bull rush for this to work, so doing math again - 1d6+9 averages to 12.5, 12.5*(.60*.80)=6 extra DPR. So, his DPR against a single enemy right now is... Yeah, 38.72 DPR. Again: ew.

With all that said, this character is certainly playable. According to this table, he's actually got acceptable (green) EDV, his AC is in the green even when raging (and could easily be pushed into blue with a buff or two), his saves are all acceptable (+13 and +12 when raging = green for Fort and Will)... Yeah, he's very playable. He's just not top tier.

Buffing

Now, this is a character that gets TONS of mileage via buffs. I will note two buffs in particular: Heroism and Enlarge person.

Heroism is good because it gives a +2 morale bonus to attack rolls (which you already knew). But in this case that increases Futbol Player's damage considerably because his biggest issue is actually hitting CR 10 monsters with Bull Rush. After all, CMD scales WAY faster than AC (32 CMD vs. 24 AC) and CMB is harder to increase, so a 10% boost to his chances to hit is good.

Enlarge Person only has a minute/level duration, but let's assume for a moment that we're in a group with a caster that has that spell. We drop our Ioun Stone (4000g) to get a Lesser Extend Metamagic Rod (3000g), and we donate that rod to the wizard on one condition: he prepares three casts of Enlarge Person each day, and he uses the Extend Metamagic Rod to cast that spell on Futbol Pleya three times per day as we adventure. That gives us 60 minutes of Enlarge Person, which is perfectly fine for a dungeon crawl. Enlarge Person gives us +2 STR and a +1 (NOT a -1) to our CMB. This equates to more damage and a +5% net gain in chances to hit over someone that's using the Ioun Stone.

Let's crunch our numbers again with those buffs. +15% chance to hit on Bull Rush gives us a 75% hit chance; and we have 95% hit chance with Overrun (we will always miss on a 1) and a 90% hit chance with our armor spikes. Also, our damage has gone up like so: 16 damage with a successful Bull Rush, an average of 49.5 damage with a successful overrun, and an average of 14.5 damage with his armor spikes. Recalculating DPR, we have DPR of 47.27 in the first round and 55.10 in subsequent rounds.

Is this stupendous? No, not really. It doesn't quite reach the Blue mark for our level. But it's fun. Still, let's take a look at one more scenario...

Three Bad Guys

According to the rules on gamemastering, 3 enemies of the same CR = CR+3. So, let's assume we're up against 3 CR 7 enemies instead of 1 CR 10 opponent. Yes, this is a different scenario, but let's try it because this seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to have happen in a game.

Let's do new DPR calculations, this time assuming that Futbol Player is able to tackle multiple enemies at once. Which he can: he has Bulette Leap, so at the least he should be able to hit two enemies at once with good or lucky positioning.

The enemy's CMD is much easier to hit now - it's 26. Assuming we do NOT have Heroism or Enlarge Person and instead must use an Ioun Stone, we have +24 on our Bull Rush attempts. That's a 90% chance to hit. Our damage, as before, is 15 on contact. Follow that up Overrun (+29) with a 95% chance to hit and we also deal our 46.5 damage from before. Our DPR against one of these enemies is thus going to be 53.26.

But now we're tackling a second guy. Our to hit chance is reduced to +22 (80%) and +27 (95%) for Bull Rush and Overrun respectively; thus, we deal an average of 47.34 damage to the second enemy. Add that to the first number and we get 104.60 DPR.

But what if we can somehow hit the third enemy with a bull rush as well? It's certainly possible. The bonuses go down to +20 and +25 (70% and 95%); our DPR against that enemy is 41.42, and our overall DPR for the round is 146.02, over twice the benchmark damage a level 10 character should be dealing in a CR 10 encounter.

You're probably starting to see the pattern here.

The Conclusion

Against an enemy of equal CR, this build is going to feel a little lackluster. However, as the number of enemies increases, so does the effectiveness of this build. In this regard Futbol Pleya up against more traditional fighters feels like the comparison between a wizard focused on single target spells and a wizard focused on area of affect spells (like Fireball); generally speaking, the one focused on single target damage will be more effective against lone big targets, whereas the Fireball specialist will mop up mooks quickly. And I think that's what Futbol Pleya's job is: mook smasher.

In a boss fight, the boss should be accompanied by a number of minions. Futbol Pleya's job should be to mop those up as quickly as possible, knocking them flying across the room (bull rush) and knocking them prone (overrun) with high high CMB. He will fair particularly well in any event that has a literal horde of monsters as the opponent, as he will enjoy using Bulette Leap to crash through their ranks.

The build's defenses would be much better if the character were a dwarf (extra CON and +2 saves vs. spells/SLAs/poison), and his DPR would only drop slightly (2 less strength, equivalent CMB). However, his feat gain would be reduced; whether or not that is worth it depends on the player.

This character would probably also fair better against NPCs than against monsters. He would be very fun against enemy spellcasters at level 11 (he could grab Rhino Charge and ready a charge for when the enemy spellcaster casts a spell), for instance. And in general I doubt NPCs get CMD that scales as quickly as monster CMD does.

Another note: Futbol Player gets the Knockback rage power at level 11, allowing him to smack people adjacent to them and hit them with Knockback. This is super useful, since it means he doesn't have to charge all the time, and he can make this attack in place of an attack in his full attack routine (so, his first attack). This would still allow him a chance to smack someone with his spiked armor or masterwork weapon, too.

Finally, Futbol Player gets much more interesting at later levels because he gets the Shield Slam line of feats, meaning once he Bull Rushes someone into a wall he can repeatedly smack them with his shield, getting free, constant bull rush and overrun attempts against them. At that point he'll be investing in highly-enchanted magical shield spikes so his attack roll can be as high as it can be. His tactics will thus vary between tackling people, punching them in the gut at point blank to send them flying, or slamming them against a wall repeatedly with his shield for fun.

At later levels Futbol Player will also be able to attempt Bull Rush and Overrun against anything with Enlarge Person cast on him. I do mean quite literally any size of creature: when Large he'll count as Gargantuan, and thus he'll be able to tackle Colossal creatures. That's just awesome. Of course, the CMD of a Colossal creature is liable to be pretty darned hard to beat, but hopefully he can receive buffs from his party to make it work. And at higher levels his favorite tactic will be the aforementioned slam-them-into-a-wall-repeatedly tactic, and by then he'll just need to focus on boosting his attack bonus with his shield so he can maximize his potential bull rushes and overruns in a given turn.

I like this character.

Don't do drugs, kids.

Goth Guru wrote:

The Sideromancer wrote:

Un-Bear-able Puns wrote:

pezlerpolychromatic wrote:

Goth Guru wrote:

Vidmaster7 wrote:

I started out giving out single use healing items when i did something similar like id call them lemba leaves or what have you and it would be a one shot cure light wounds item.

Naturally occurring Good Berries would be a good idea too. Maybe your herbalists could preserve their power in preserves.

That's my jam.

That pun made me jellyous

I don't know, maybe we should spread this out.

I propose a toast.:)

You'd butter do it quickly, since your response was berry late.

Must you all make these puns with such aplomb a plum?!

Okay. My advice for a 1st level commoner with those stats...

1. Find the commoner in the party with the best physical stats. Ask them to play a Dwarf so they can be proficient with Battle Axes from the start. A battle axe is 10 gp, so they can carry one of those (10g) and some leather armor (10g as well), which they don't have to be proficient with because it has 0 armor check penalty. Now you have a front line.
2. Stand behind them.
3. Okay, so you can't afford a Light Crossbow. But you CAN use a longspear and - I'm going to suggest what's normally an awful weapon choice - a blowgun, which AT LEAST won't have an STR penalty to damage and weighs next to nothing. Shoot darts at people and stab enemies with a longspear when the time comes.
4. Also, you can use Aid Another on the most brawny of the commoners.
5. You can afford 2 Acid Flasks with your starting gold (along with your longspear, blowgun, and 10 darts). That... might actually be a worthwhile investment.

As far as races go, Human and Dwarf both sound good. If you're going to be a Druid, I vote Dwarf; if a Cleric, I vote Human. The simple reason is Druids aren't hurt by missing CHA, but Clerics are.

If you really want to buy guard animals, go ahead and get a guard dog and fight with a long spear and some form of ranged weapon. If you were using non-core books I'd actually suggest two dire rats as guard animals, but a single guard dog will do fine. Just make sure you have decent Handle Animal.

This sounds like a perfect setup for an E6 game, which is specifically intended to create a "gritty," more realistic feel. Above 6th level, the PF game's genre shifts from struggling adventurers to comic book superheroes, simply based on what the characters can do. That applies even to martials, who by that time can wrestle dinosaurs, and go skydiving without parachutes and live every time.

People have a hard time with E6 because of expectations: "But... we want to play the same game at levels 7-20!" But that's not how PF is set up. If you go in with the expectation that level advancement will be slow, and that the campaign will stay somewhat grounded in realism, then it's ideal for what you're envisioning.

Yeah, I mentioned E6 at one point because of this. Either E6 or E9 is probably what I'll roll with. E9 allows enemy spellcasters to bring to bear much more vicious spells, however (5th/6th level spells depending on their CR compared to the party).

E9 may also be the sweet spot for rewarding characters who stay "pure" in a class, such as rewarding a Paladin or Bard with at least 7 levels in their class to get 2nd and 3rd level spells respectively. It also allows the opportunity for characters to get 2 iterative attacks without being full BAB.

Either way, do believe me when I say that I've been looking at the P6 thread as I've posted here.

Azten wrote:

Let's think about this for a moment. We'll use a wolf pack analogy.

What happens when one wolf doesn't try as hard as the rest? Is slower, weaker, but still expects as much of the kill as the rest of the pack?

They die. It's the player's choice to play a weak wolf character. He's barely better than a commoner in terms of stats, and you don't see commoners striking down Runelords or Snake Gods or even little Kobold Chiefs(very often).

Nah, a good chunk of the reason for a pack is that the alpha male and female catch so much food at one go that they can't eat it all themselves before something comes along and snatches it , so the best use for it is investing it in their kids before it becomes grizzly lunch.

(as if wolves weren't hated enough already, they're pretty socialist

A-HEM.

*Puts on nerd glasses*

The alpha male / alpha female hypothesis of wolf behavior was actually disproven later by the exact same guy that wrote the book that popularized the terms Alpha and Beta. The long story made short is the author came to realize that "Alpha" behavior only applies to wolves in captivity, and the leader of the pack outside of wolves in captivity is just the mother/father figure. Only in captivity do wolves fight for dominance - probably because they are with a number of other strange wolves they have no relation to and are afraid and confused.

Now, excuse me as I ride my scooter down to the local den of dice and engage in a thrilling, escapist round of dungeon delving.

*Rides away on scooter with a 'MEEP MEEP'*

One thing I will say is that if he eventually decides to play a caster but still wants to be an archer and he has gotten some solid system mastery... the Molthuni Arsenal Chaplain Warpriest makes a DARNED fine archer.

But for now, stick with Fighter or Ranger.

1. Healing: how does the party manage to recuperate HP between combats when Clerics, Oracles, etc. are not readily available? Will you have an accelerated HP recovery during rests, for example? Or, will psuedo-magical and/or alchemical healing items be available at rates no more expensive than the ubiquitous wand of CLW? The same consideration needs to be made towards status removal.

There will be alchemical healing items around for sure, and I want players to have access to skills that allow them to make this sort of stuff without casting magic. I don't want these abilities to be SUPER powerful, though.

I imagine the players also fight less in a day than standard parties. A lot of mercenary work involves TRAVEL. Lots and lots of travel. So, most times they'll fight a battle, and then fight another one a few days later (or a WEEK later). On days filled with combat they might fight 2-4 battles, most likely 2-3.

I will have the very rare dungeon crawl available to them, but I'll give hints that it's going to be dangerous delving into those places.

I have been considering accelerating HP recovery during rests, but I'm not sure how good it should be.

2. Bonus progression: The game's mathematics assumes that characters will have a certain range of bonuses for to hit, damage, saves, skills, etc. as they progress from level to level. The usual way to make sure a character has these bonuses is through gaining magical items that enhance the bonuses. If casters are rare, are these magical items also rare? If so, how do the characters make sure they are at the level of bonus they should be at in order to not be at a disadvantage? Have you considered the Automatic Bonus Progression alternate rule? Or, will "technological" items exist that provide the same bonuses (sort of like that crazy repeating crossbow from the Van Helsing movie)?

So, high tech stuff generally won't be available, generally speaking. Think of this as a classic medieval setting without magic, and then suddenly throw in the enemies WITH magic into the mix. Like, if you took medieval Germany and Italy with their warring city-states and then tossed monsters and magic into the mix, this is what you get.

I might allow some weird Da Vinci esque inventions to pop up eventually, but these will be rare and far, FAR from the norm.

With that said, automatic bonuses are a good idea. I don't know if it's the best solution, though. A part of me really wants to hammer home the idea that magic isn't the norm, and automatic bonuses seem to detract from that.

With that said, yes, magic items will be rarer, but I'm also going to try to make the TRULY magical stuff feel fantastic. For instance, if you go to an old tomb where a great hero is buried and find his magical sword, it might be a +2 greatsword that also makes automatic sunder attempts your enemies' armor whenever you strike them. You might find a helmet that gives you 120' darkvision and gives you the 'scent' ability. Or you might find a magical amulet that grants you +2 natural AC, but also lets you Immediate Action cast Stoneskin on yourself as a caster equal to your level 1/day.

3. Magical defenses: In a typical game of Pathfinder, the best defenses against an enemy high level caster is your own high level caster. Lacking this option, what can you do to balance the playing field? Again, maybe rare, ancient magical items that provide some of the spell casting abilities of higher level casters on a limited daily basis (like Fly once per day, or Dimension Door twice per day, or Dispel Magic once per day, etc.). You're writing the adventures, so you can tailor the objects the party finds towards obstacles that they will later encounter. (And as the adventure progresses, tailor encounters to give the characters the opportunity to use things they had previously found.)

This is just very good advice in general. Thank you very much.

So here are the big things to consider;

That list is pretty important. I'm going to talk about that really quickly I suppose.

So here are the big things to consider;

Lvl 1-2: Swarms and healing?

Swarms won't be used against them - except as creatures summoned by crazy druids that do crazy stuff in the woods. That much I know. Eventually, at higher levels, I'll start using them a little more when the party deals with weird nature-themed enemies.

As for healing, that's one of the biggest issues I'm chewing on. I'm thinking of making various skills better in relation to healing, but they shouldn't be so good that a Paladin's Lay on Hands or Cure Light Wounds spells are invalidated. I'm tempted to assume everyone gets a free skill unlock at level 5, and that you can use Treat Deadly Wounds on yourself.

I'm also contemplating letting Knowledge: Nature and Survival turn up ingredients that can produce healing effects (slow poison, allow a reroll against a failed save, automatic stabilize, etc), but to also allow Craft: Alchemy to use these ingredients to create more potent stuff. I'm open to ideas.

Lvl 3-4: Incorporeal Enemies, invisible enemies?

I'll try to make sure the group has a magic weapon or two by this point. I'm thinking that there may be a way of temporarily gaining Blind Fight through alchemical items, perhaps. Silver weapons will be fully effective against incorporeal enemies, and I know I'm gonna allow +1 weapons to exist as "they aren't ACTUALLY magical but they function as if they are," basically as super well crafted items.

But yes, I imagine Incorporeal/Invisible foes will be AWFUL to fight.

Lvl 5-6: Flying, Darkness, Ability drain?

As far as flying enemies go, I've been considering some sort of alchemical tar component that's used to coat arrows and stuff that can help bring down fliers so the melee combatants can fight them. Elsewise, they'll have to depend on ranged weapons and what spells they have at that point.

Ability drain is going to suck. It NEEDS to be able to be dealt with via the Heal Skill - another reason to allow free Skill Unlocks and buff the Heal skill.

Lvl 7-8: Low Saves?

Yeah, this one's gonna be a problem. Certain classes will have an advantage here (paladins, barbarians, monks). I can always assume the enemy casters don't have HUGE spellcasting scores, as an enemy wizard with 14 intelligence is much less threatening than an enemy wizard with 20 intelligence, but both can cast 4th level spells.

Yes, I'm serious. I've wanted to finish designing this world for a long time, but I want to make sure this is "Balanced" in so far as it's a tough game but the players have plenty of opportunity to overcome adversity.

So, to give a little setting synopsis without making things long and rambling, here's the general gist of the setting:

The players will be mercenaries in this setting. The individual characters should all have personal reasons for being mercenaries, but the group's overarching goal is to travel from town to town taking contracts to kill monsters (or people) and get paid. This is not a glamorous campaign setting I have in mind: this is a gritty one.

Now, with all the fluff out of the way, here's some mechanical considerations I've made. Please give me your opinions on them:

• 1. Players don't get to be 9th or 6th level spellcasters. Players can be Rogues, Barbarians, Fighters, Bloodragers, Paladins, Rangers, Brawlers, Swashbucklers, Slayers... But all those 6th and 9th level spellcasters belong solely to the enemy. Monks will have to be foreigners from faraway lands.
  
• 2. Save or Die will NOT be used against the players. Save or suck is fine - entangle will be used, as will fireball, as will burning hands and what not. But Phantasmal Killer, Disintegrate, Finger of Death... Nope. Not using them. Likewise, Sleep is more likely to be thrown at them than Color Spray; Color Spray means multiple rounds of "you can't do crap," whereas if you take damage while under Sleep you CAN wake up and keep fighting.
  
• 3. Alignment is nixed. There is no alignment system. Protection From Evil-like effects work against all magic and outsiders and undead, and the Paladin's Smite operates on goblinoids, orcs, giants, undead, outsiders, and high level magic users. Also, the Paladin's Detect Evil is replaced with Detect Magic.
  
• 4. Players will be limited to the following races: Human, Dwarf, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, and Halfling. Any alternate racial trait that grants SLAs is banned. I'm considering allowing Tieflings, but only under the condition that they have the Pass For Human alternate racial trait, and with no variant heritages.
  
• 5. Also, there is no difference between Arcane and Divine spellcasting. Both are derived either from intense study or from some inherent talent for magic - usually both. Some believe that the Gods grant magic, but the Gods are not like Pathfinder deities. Some claim the Gods speak to them directly, but there's no more proof of this than there is that Moses got the Ten Commandments from God directly in the real world. In the end, this comes down to a matter of faith.
  
• 6. Oh, right. No guns. Probably no Bolt Ace either.
  
• 7. Magic items WOULD be available, but you can't just buy them at a shop. They're quest rewards, rarities, often taken from the corpses of powerful foes, and if you DO buy them it's at a steep cost. However, I think I'd let +1 weapons and armor be available fairly commonly as just the epitome of what a masterwork item can be before magic comes into play.

I'm considering reworking the Bard to better fit this setting so the players can use it. A full BAB, no-magic Bard that nevertheless has bardic music might be worth considering - but how would you balance that? Or a Bard with 4th level spellcasting but medium BAB? Again, how would you balance that with the other available character classes?

I'm also trying to decide if the Unchained Rogue might need some love or if its 8 skill points + DEX-to-damage would make it worth having around.

Would this fit best as an E6/P6 type of setting?

What are your general thoughts on balancing something like this?

I play gnomes a lot. Halflings, too. I wouldn't say they're my immediate go-tos, but I play them a LOT.

I've also contemplated having a gnomish mage as an archvillain before. When you're between two and a half to three and a half feet tall, magic is the go-to means of ruining people's days. Making people go flying across the room with a wave of your hand, or making them grovel and kiss your shoes by dominating them - that turns the gnome from a laughable threat to an entirely insufferable a#$&%!~ who can ruin you with a wave of his hand. Playing up the a%~~+*! aspect and the REVELING in your inability to fight him makes it even better. Honestly, the best way to make that sort of villain work would be to first introduce him at a level that the party is too weak to face him - and then have him idly send them off to be slaves in the mines or something.

The background manipulator is also a great way to play a small-sized villain. Heck, why not have an illusion-specialized wizard with great social skills and a lot of connections to nobility and the like? And have him be in fairly close contact with the PCs at all times; perhaps even have him serve as what appears to be an advisory role, helping the PCs along, rewarding them for their efforts to save the day when in reality they're only furthering his plans. Later, he calmly reveals - with a smile, of course - that they've been his patsies from the beginning. Oh, and they should stop underestimating the little guys, by the way. Bad call.

And misdirection is a lovely tool in fights. A gnomish wizard or bard should make great use of Illusion spells, constantly escaping JUST as the party thinks they have him in their grasp. A gnomish cavalier should have plenty of mooks and some Betrayal feats to use their minions as meatshields. A halfling rogue should only strike when he's certain he has the advantage, and always have an escape plan - and, of course, he's letting his bigger, more thuggish friends wade into the melee while he shoots with impunity under the effects of Greater Invisibility.

And on that note, small-sized villains can also humiliate the party by taking advantage of the fact that they can simply walk in places where the party has to freaking CRAWL.

Basically, make it seem like the BBEG is playing games - vicious, cruel games, of course - with the party. Make them ENJOY what they're doing. Make them manipulative and cunning. Then the halfling or gnome suddenly doesn't seem like a joke anymore.

No, how it should. This is not an official ruling.

There's not an official ruling... Unless you, y'know, look at the Core Rulebook and actually accept that it means exactly what it freaking says. It works on clubs and quarterstaves - specifically THOSE TWO WEAPONS - as long as they're made of oak. That's it.

You can argue RAI all day, but RAW it works on regular clubs - you know, the ones listed in the weapon entry as "club," simple weapon, 1d6 bludgeoning x2 melee with a range of 10 feet if thrown - and makes absolutely zero mention of greatclubs.

What 3.5 did doesn't matter. What 2E did doesn't matter. What Gary Gygax, holy be his name, said or did doesn't matter. We're not playing D&D. We're playing Pathfinder, and in Pathfinder you get to cast the spell on two very specific kinds of sticks.

Houserule it if you want to play with a bigger stick. Or, y'know, just grab a Large Club - and no, that's NOT the same as a Medium Greatclub.

Remember, you can be Lawful Neutral and worship Asmodeus. Are you sure that he's actually evil?

I... pretty sure, yes. When I say he and my gnome had evil laugh sessions, I mean they LITERALLY had evil laugh sessions, with the cleric saying "Yeeees, the regular flock might not understand this, but alone we may LAAAAUGH! MWAHAHAHAHA!" And the DM and I did evil laughs for about 30 seconds. I mean, it was played up for laughs, but there's that.

He also was literally peddling contracts to Hell wherein your soul goes there when you die. That's what Asmodean clergy do.

He also tried rather enthusiastically to get my gnome to sacrifice his pet rat. Because that's how you show true devotion, see: murdering something precious to you. And he was overjoyed at the idea of sacrificing a favorite teddy bear because that was clearly a sacrifice of "innocence."

Between that and some other stuff, I got some pretty serious evil pinging on my radar. And again: the gnome never intended to get him killed, only to bring down an institution of evil through mockery and perhaps mean-spirited pranks.

(Other villains have been played in much less MWAHAHAHAHA ways - but this guy was hammed up pretty good.)

Good luck, folks. I mean, obviously I'm also wishing myself good luck, and not everyone can get in, but-

You know, I'll just try to take a slightly larger portion of this luck I'm distributing than everyone else. You guys have the rest of the luck. Fight over it or somethin'.

Three words: Living Grimoire Inquisitor.

YES.

I think an Alchemist/Druid would be a neat Naturalist or Natural Philosopher class. Intelligence-based divine casting, lots of Knowledge and Craft skills, plus Heal, Spellcraft, and Survival.

I wasn't even considering it being Intelligence-based, but now that you say that... Yeah, wow.

Naturalist sounds like a great name for the class, too. Naturalist or Herbalist.

Maybe there's a way to make the Heal skill more useful to this hybrid class via a discovery? Or to get the effects of Clever Wordplay or Precise Treatment via discovery?

Human Blood: Change this to "Buli have a human heritage and are humanoids with the human subtype."

I just copied the Half-Elf equivalent racial trait.

Elf Blood: Half-elves count as both elves and humans for any effect related to race.

But yeah, just giving them Intimidating Prowess as a bonus feat and making rewriting strong-arms to only work for exotic one-handed weapons that can be wielded with two hands martially is fine. Using a two-handed weapon in one hand WOULD be cool, but it might be overkill.

As far as RP cost, I feel that this is somewhere between a static feat and a flexible feat and that it should cost 3 RP. I could justify lowering that if they suffered a small attack penalty for using the weapons in this way.

Nah, 3 RP feels right the more I chew on it.

They are descended from half ogres, the ogres being used to give them the imposing size and greater Str. So they're not quite a half race, though the blood of ogres does flow through their veins.

Hm. Well, why not...

Ogre Blood: Buil count as both giants and humans for any effect related to race.

Ogre Blood actually makes them potentially SUPER weak to gnomes. Gnomes have +4 dodge AC vs. Giants.

Weeeeell...

Molthuni arsenal chaplains are warpriests trained in the Arsenal District in Korholm. They bolster their nation’s military by focusing on the militant aspects of their gods.

It seems pretty explicit that you were trained in that district.

On iron: I don't recall it actually being THAT much better than bronze... at first. It's only when you remove the impurities of iron and start creating steel and alloys and stuff that you get to the point where yes, it's outright superior, but early iron weaponry is... Well, comparable to bronze.

I dunno..If I were to do a direct Pathfinder take on Sword and Sandal/Mesopotamian fantasy, I would probably let Clerics be as common in the setting as they are in Pathfinder. If anything, Pathfinder's idea of religion is probably closer to Mesopotamian than Medieval European.

Agreed. Pathfinder mythology is NOT a medieval mythology at all. Actually, I hate how Pathfinder and D&D mythologies are usually done: there's no ambiguity as to whether the deities are real, they simply ARE and they intervene directly sometimes and we know for a fact they grant clerics their powers. Buh.

Making religion a matter of faith seems way more interesting when designing a setting.

Anyway, I'd say that Clerics and Shamans alike have a presence - as do Oracles. Witches can certainly exist, too.

As far as chariots go - horses were first being ridden in, what, 2-3 thousand BC probably? Yes, chariots were dominant for a long time, but there were some CRAZY PEOPLE that decided to take the little bitty horses of yore and try riding them, and that eventually led to the breeding of bigger horses. I think that's reason enough to make horse riding an option - just make horses less sturdy and a little smaller. Maybe horsemen are assumed to take Undersized Mount to make it work and Horses count as medium creatures?

In that case, though, the whole "what is the opposite of a succubus" becomes a case of "what is the opposite of a hunter-killer" - and I guess that's basically a shepherd or other entity that raises and helps tend/breed the creatures. And that is an interesting and weird succubus.

I think you're onto something there: the role changes from the predator to someone that teaches and protects mortals, helping them grow to their fullest potential.

And yeah, the more I think on it, I feel that a redeemed succubus could very definitely still be sexualized or beautiful (in the way that Tacticslion pointed out) without that being necessarily serving the succubus in the way it did as a demon.

In that case, I could certainly see them being helpful in certain marital situations - if the spark is gone, but a couple really wants a child, the creature could serve as a kind of "fetish fuel" to think about, even if the couple themselves are exclusively engaged with each other.

You know, succubi in PF can grant their Alter Self as a profane boon to mortals. I could see something akin to that being used as a sacred gift for the situations you put in spoilers as well.

God is Love. Which is to say, all of the virtues can be summarized as "love." But love needs to be appropriate: appropriate to the object, appropriate to the manner, appropriate to the time and place, and so forth. The cardinal sins (and sins more generally) are simply incorrect love.

For example, "pride" is simply excessive love of Self. "Gluttony" is excessive love of food, or perhaps more generally of pleasure. "Sloth" is generally considered to be insufficient love of anything, so you just sit there and don't do anything. "Envy" is love of self perverted into schadenfreude, delight at seeing others brought low. And so on.

I think that's an interesting angle to approach this from. But I think your later post where you suggest that the redeemed succubus really boils down to just being the coffee/phone lady of heaven just sounds... Underwhelming?

I could see the redeemed succubus as a messenger and a shepherd in the way Tacticslion described things very easily. Indeed, I could see the bit about teaching the lessons of temptation and how to AVOID temptation being core to the redeemed succubus. This sounds like an angel that might lead good or neutral aligned characters feeling doubts to see glimmers of hope, or to help a young (wo)man that is surrounded by unfriendly souls looking to take advantage of the youth learn how to spot deceit and temptation. Etc.

Also, I know you mentioned homosexuality as a lesser sin solely in the old Christian context, but I'd probably make a note saying "and I'm not saying it is one but this is just Dante's framework at play etc etc" to make that clearer. I won't bother you any more about that - but I wanted to point that out, since someone might misinterpret what you said, and I know you didn't mean any harm or insult.

Though, admittedly, we're pretty far from their standard portrayal in Golarion canon... sort of. I could easily see most of the instances I've run into be painted as, "These fools think I'm sexy, and I even indulge a bit on occasion to either lure them into continuing that delusion, or generating useful spawn." with no actual sexual interest beyond that.

Yeah, that's a very good point. People tend to play them as sex-crazed, but they're really not supposed to be. They're supposed to be manipulators and tempters, but I would compare them to the "Black Widow" concept: you have a character that knows they have a strong sexual presence, and they use that to their advantage, but that doesn't mean they're crazy into the act of babymaking.

Of note, while @Orfamay Quest makes a very interesting case, Pathfinder specifically does categorize angels and other celestial entities into various rigid groups that have specific areas of interest, so at least in the structure that the game already uses for categorization there is a plausible reason to ask "What kind of specific angel would a redeemed succubus be? What would that be like?"

I think they'd be angels that focus on teaching mortals and helping them grow while also being companions (potentially ranging from friend to guardian to some sort of platonic love) to troubled characters in need of guidance. Having been demons versed in temptation and corruption, they'd be focused on teaching mortals the -

Oh God I just had an image of a redeemed succubus as a "don't do drugs cuz I've been there" spokesperson at a high school.

STR or DEX based?

Instead of getting Ricochet Toss, I'd grab that Blinkback Belt. But you want more strength than 13, personally; +1 more damage will help a lot early on. Try 14/16+2/12/12/14/7. Yes, this means dumping CHA, but in return you get a little more wallop with your thrown weapons.

NOTE: If you get the Blinkback Belt, that takes up the belt slot, so no +DEX belt for you (unless PFS lets you enchant items to ALSO become stat items, but I doubt that). So, there's an argument for taking Ricochet Toss anyway.

Alternatively, build STR instead of DEX and use the belt of mighty hurling (STR to attack with thrown). You still want 15 DEX, and you will DEFINITELY want Ricochet Toss so you can make a full attack with one weapon, but this lets you be a full plate wearer that gets STR-to-damage-and-attack with thrown weapons and still gets Rapid Shot (but not Imp. Precise Shot). I'd use this array: 16+2/15/12/10/14/7. That gets you the DEX you need without items, a solid +4 to damage and +2 attack at the start (which becomes +4 to both later), and... Yeah, it's good.

Note that the Arsenal Chaplain is the Molthuni Arsenal Chaplain in Golarion, so your character is PROBABLY from Molthune.

Personally, the problem I have with daggers is their range. Their range is... well, it's 10 feet. That's bad.

I'd suggest Chakrams. They have 30 ft. range, and their damage is 1d8, and they're generally pretty good. You get to put your Weapon Focus bonus feat into any weapon, not just your deity's favored weapon, so this still works. It also frees up Deific Obedience to be a different feat.

Range is important since every increment you are below the necessary amount = a -2 attack penalty. Again, that's why I suggest chakrams over daggers.

I think Rapid Shot makes the most sense for you at level 9. At level 10 you'll have 4th level spellcasting, which means with Fate's Favored and Divine Power (quick cast with Fervor) and Rapid Shot you'll have 4 attacks a round. Tack on gloves of dueling and that's a lot of bonuses. You also have Sacred Weapon to grant you bonuses.

Startoss Shower with Weapon Spec is good. That means you'll be dealing +8 damage with your chakrams. Not a bad call.

For a level 12 feat you could get Greater Weapon Focus, but personally I'd Far Shot if you find yourself fighting in a lot of longer-ranged situations. If not, yeah, Greater Weapon Focus is fine. Ooooorrrr get Improved Precise Shot if you go with a DEX build.

Also, remember that you're getting Quickened Blessing (War) for free from your archetype. That's a swift action boost to your AB.

If you decide to go the STR route, consider the Two-Handed Thrower feat. Assuming you have 18 STR at the start and eventually get 20 STR by level 10, tacking on +4 STR from buffs or items for a total of 24 (+7), you'll be dealing +10 damage with your thrown weapons from strength alone.

Inlaa wrote:

The ability to use a greatsword one-handed and carry a shield would be pretty powerful at low levels. Imagine...

21 STR character (starting STR of 17 before point buy) has a +5 to attack/damage. Your greatsword, when used one-handed, deals 2d6+5 damage and can be worn with a heavy shield for +2 AC. Use Power Attack and it goes up to 2d6+7. That's not a bad level 1 character.

This was a purposely built in ability because they served as frontline shock troops for their former overlords. An opposing army facing a phalanx of Buil would often waiver and flee, which helped their masters conquer half of the known world at one point in my homebrew's history.

Yeah, that makes sense. I can see them using two-handed reach weapons with shields to great effect.

Also, here's my official third take on the Buli:

Intimidating Prowess as a bonus feat would be 4 RP. Now the question is, is using Str instead of Cha worth more RP than that or less?

Actually, 2 RP.

Static Bonus Feat (2 RP)

Prerequisites: None.
Benefit: Choose one feat with no prerequisites. All members of this race gain this feat as a bonus feat at 1st level.

Intimidating Prowess has no prerequisites. What I'd do is this:

Brawn Over Brain

Buil are a menacing people that use their great stature and their aggressive posture to intimidate their foes. Buil use Strength in place of their Charisma score when making Intimidate checks. This prevents Buil from taking the Intimidating Prowess feat. Buli with this racial trait are considered to have the Intimidating Prowess feat for any feat, ability, or class feature that requires Intimidating Prowess as a prerequisite.

This prevents Buli from getting STR to Intimidate TWICE.

Actually, here's a thought:

If you decide to remove Born to Serve, why not make their penalties be to DEX and WIS?

If you decide to KEEP Born to Serve, I'd consider it comparable to a negative version of Dwarves' Hardy trait (a 3 RP trait that gives them +2 to saves vs. poisons, spells, and spell-like abilities). So, consider it worth... at least -2 RP.

Given that, let me bring them back to a 9-10 RP race really quickly:

I think this seems fair and balanced. It's DEFINITELY slanted toward a martial character, but Born to Serve is a hefty weakness. They also get -1 AC from their low DEX, and they don't get natural armor or anything to make up for that. But in return they have +4 STR and toughness as a bonus feat.

Bards and Paladins have always been my favorites as far as personality goes and how easy they are for me to build. But I also like some oddball builds using Fighters and the like.

I also have discovered that the Molthuni Arsenal Chaplain makes the Warpriest BADASS and I like that.

A buil with a Strength of at least 13 not proficient with the bastard sword, dwarven waraxe, and similar weapons can treat them as one-handed martial weapons. The buil suffers a -2 to attack when using the weapon in this way.

1 RP

I'd just give them Weapon Familiarity with all weapons like the bastard sword and dwarven waraxe outright.

And I definitely like the idea of these guys having Human Blood still. Let them be another half-race; that's neat.

If you want them to be a high STR race, stick with the +4 STR, but give them...

Greater Paragon (2 RP)

Modifiers: Members of this race gain a +4 bonus to one ability score, a –2 penalty to one physical ability score, and a –2 penalty to one mental ability score.

So they have +4 STR, -2 DEX, and -2 CHA for 2 RP. Okay.

And then you don't need to give them the...

Members of this race receive a +2 racial bonus on Constitution checks and Fortitude saves to avoid fatigue and exhaustion, as well as any other ill effects from running, forced marches, starvation, thirst, and hot or cold environments. They also receive a +2 bonus on Strength checks, and treat their Strength score as 2 points higher for the purpose of determining carrying capacity.

3 RP

So let's look at these numbers and tinker a little:

This makes your Buli very good at what they do: being big, tough, and scary.

Also, you can probably keep your Strong Arms text and just handwave it as being 2 RP instead of 1 (replacing Weapon Familiarity). So, make them a 9 RP race. MAAAAYBE a 10 RP race.

In my current Emerald Spires campaign I'm playing a gnome bard, chaotic good. He's got the Archivist archetype, and I use Perform: Comedy and generally play him as a prankster, trickster ass.

I want to know if what I did in this session was something you'd call "evil," "not really on the moral spectrum," or "well the guy probably deserved it," just out of curiosity. My DM hasn't changed my alignment or anything - I just started thinking about this after the session and wanted to see what the forum thought.

I also kind of just want to tell this story because it was funny to me.

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There's this Hell Knight town called Fort Inevitable. In it there's an Asmodean cleric. This is where our story begins.

Early on my gnome was short on cash and so fake-signed a contract to Asmodeus to get a discount on some services, blah blah blah, generally hatching a plot to make a mockery of the Asmodean church at some point. He "befriended" the cleric, joined him in a couple private evil laugh sessions, and through some lucky Bluff roles he convinced him he was more than happy to join the congregation, and would even make a sacrifice to Asmodeus! Namely, he'd sacrifice his totally life-long best friend, a pet teddy bear, at the next service.

So, my gnome bought a teddy bear (which he claimed was totally a teddy bear he'd had since a child), shoved the only copy of Asmodeus's unholy book in town into it, then shoved in dung for good measure and used prestidigitation to make himself look and smell bad. He also used prestidigitation to make the teddy bear look more believably worn and old. After having made a few more preparations (like get a potion of expeditious retreat just in case), he decided to attend the service the next morning and do his best to get kicked out of the church.

During the service my gnome was introduced to everyone else (and they tried to sit far away from him because he smelled). The gnome explained (with a good Bluff check) that he wanted to express his newfound devotion to Asmodeus with a song. The priest agreed to let him sing, confused but curious.

The gnome started a bardic performance. He used Fascinate during it to make the priest not interrupt him as he sang a song of praise for Asmodeus (which was actually just a raunchy love song converted into a really questionable song of "praise" - I have points in Sing and Comedy). Then, the gnome "sacrificed" the teddy bear (totally a prized possession) in the bonfire. As the smell of burning poop spread around the area and the congregation began to scatter to get away from it, the priest realized he had been made a fool of AND that his most prized possession was torched.

This pretty much sent the priest into a berserk rage as he was being cajoled by those of his followers who were only intimidated into serving him, he was publicly humiliated, his unholy text was destroyed, and all of this because the damned gnome went out of his way to destroy the church he had worked so hard to get started. So, the Asmodean cleric attacked the gnome.

The gnome lived. Guards intervened and arrested the cleric, who struck at them lethally and so earned himself a hanging. The gnome was sent to jail, but he got away because reasons.

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So: my gnome publicly humiliated a priest of Asmodeus in an attempt to get booted out of the Asmodean church he pretended to join, partly as a prank and partly to undermine his authority (after all, as a chaotic good bard he HATES the idea of a church based around getting people's souls sent to Hell). He wound up destroying the cleric's most prized possession and getting the guy hung because the cleric started attacking the Hell Knights that tried to restrain him. How would you judge this series of actions on the alignment scale? Would it be a grievous enough deed to change his alignment if you think he did evil?

Again, there's nothing happening in-game that prompts me to ask this. There's no alignment shift being enforced, there's no warning about... well, anything. The GM even went so far as to say that the guy was known for, well, not exactly being of good character and unironically enjoying the prospect of being called "master" by the gnome. The gnome is suffering legal repercussions (and he broke out of jail and can't enter the town without being arrested again), but that's basically it so far.

I'm just curious as to what you guys think of this alignment-wise and such. What would you make of this, either as a player, bystander, or GM?

All I will say on the Warpriest is the Arsenal Chaplain archetype brings out all the best things about the Fighter and combines them with 6th level Cleric casting to make a character that I REALLY love. I don't care for the base warpriest as much, but the Molthuni Arsenal Chaplain is one of my favorite archetypes in the whole game now.

Bonus feats, Fighter weapon training, 6th level casting, an awesome list of spells to bolster with your weapon training... The Arsenal Chaplain is a combat powerhouse that can be built for melee or ranged, and with the right spell selection and a decent INT you'll be useful out of combat too.

And yeah, I'd be quite happy with a 20th level Arsenal Chaplain warpriest. It packs a Hell of a punch in a fight.

Claxon wrote:

Chess Pwn wrote:

So if going for a combat sneak attacker which is better?

Wizard/Urogue -> trickster
or
eldritch scoundrel chained rogue

My opinion straight eldritch scoundrel is better. The rogue talents, debilitating injury, BAB, etc are much more important.

Arcane trickster basically only works if you want to focus on sneak attacking with spells. Of course, the ruling that you can only get sneak attack once per spell also makes it kind of difficult to be much of a damage dealer.

Chained rogue doesn't get debilitating injury or free weapon finesse or dex to damage.

Is the chained eldritch scoundrel still the better option with this?

Unchained Eldritch Scoundrel is pretty rad. Chained Eldritch Scoundrel is considerably less rad, IMO.

Chained Eldritch Scoundrel at least gets 6th level spellcasting while staying medium BAB, so you're playing a rogue with some handy tools. That's fine. It's just not as awesome as also getting free DEX to damage and debilitating injury.

If we're using Chained rules, I'd go with the Arcane Trickster any day. If we're using Unchained rules, I'd go Eldritch Scoundrel if I wanted to be more of a bruiser / roguish character and I'd go with Arcane Tricksters if I wanted to be a mage that dabbled in thievery.

Chess Pwn wrote:

So if going for a combat sneak attacker which is better?

Wizard/Urogue -> trickster
or
eldritch scoundrel chained rogue

My opinion straight eldritch scoundrel is better. The rogue talents, debilitating injury, BAB, etc are much more important.

Arcane trickster basically only works if you want to focus on sneak attacking with spells. Of course, the ruling that you can only get sneak attack once per spell also makes it kind of difficult to be much of a damage dealer.

I feel like the real allure is 9th level spellcasting potential with your roguey skills and disarming traps with mage hand ON TOP OF the ability to cast a sneak attack fireball.

And if you're focusing solely on blasting with Arcane Trickster, why not take Sorcerer instead? Get the Orc bloodline, and if you want to cast with INT crossblood it with the Sage bloodline. Or do orc/draconic. As a gnome Pyromaniac with 10 levels of Arcane Trickster, 1 level of rogue and 3 levels of Crossblooded Tattooed Sorcerer (Orc/Draconic) with Spell Focus and Spell Specialization and Accomplished Sneak Attacker, using a Lesser Maximize Metamagic Rod and using the Intensified and Empowered Metamagic feats, we're looking at a fireball that...

1. Is cast as caster level 17 and deals 17d6 damage,
2. Is also Maximized, so it's dealing 17x6=102 damage,
3. And Empowered, so 102x1.5=151,
4. Also adds 34 damage for being CL 17 (Orc/Draconic), so 185 damage,
5. And also deals Sneak Attack damage because you're using Surprise Spells (assuming you're casting on a group of flatfooted foes - presumably you have greater invisibility up?), adding another 7d6 damage to each target, so 185+7d6,
6. For a total of 192-221 damage.

Is it game-breaking? Not really. You can get way better damage on an evocation-focused pure caster, and the 7d6 is just a small extra blip in the huge damage you're already dealing with that fireball. But it is respectable to drop that AoE on a whole group of enemies as a level 14 character. And you can use Surprise Spells as long as the enemy is flat-footed, so it potentially could be used multiple times a day.

Also, that Fireball cast can be made Silent and Still with Tricky Spells, so if you've got Greater Invisibility up they'll have virtually no idea where the Fireball came from. And then you can fly away and pretend nothing happened.

Far from the most powerful build in the game, but Arcane Trickster definitely has its merits both as a blaster and as a sneaky jerk.

I lied I'm doing this now.

R=Rogue, F=Siegebreaker Fighter, B=Armored Hulk Barbarian, S=Snakebite Striker Brawler, V=Avenger Vigilante

R1 1) SAD 1d6, Power Attack
R2 2) Evasion, Lethal Acrobatics
F1 3) Breaker Rush (aw yis), Improved Overrun
F2 4) Armored Vigor, Breaker Momentum (AW YIS)
B1 5) Indomitable Stance (very dwarfy), Rage, Bulette Charge Style
B2 6) Overbearing Advance, Armored Swiftness
B3 7) Resilience of Steel, Bulette Rampage
B4 8) Knockback
R3 9) 2d6 SAD, Spiked Destroyer
S1 10) 3d6 SAD, Unarmed Strike, Martial Training
F3 11) Armor Training 1, Poised Bearing
V1 12) -
V2 13) Two-Weapon Fighting, Imposing Bearing
V3 14) -
V4 15) Improved Shield Bash, Shield Slam
V5 16) -
V6 17) Improved Bull Rush, Greater Bull Rush

Worth it.

And if you wanted to do without the Shield Slam setup until later in lieu of better bull rushes:

R1 1) SAD 1d6, Power Attack
R2 2) Evasion, Lethal Acrobatics
F1 3) Breaker Rush (aw yis), Improved Overrun
F2 4) Armored Vigor, Breaker Momentum (AW YIS)
B1 5) Indomitable Stance (very dwarfy), Rage, Bulette Charge Style
B2 6) Overbearing Advance, Armored Swiftness
B3 7) Resilience of Steel, Bulette Rampage
B4 8) Knockback
R3 9) 2d6 SAD, Spiked Destroyer
S1 10) 3d6 SAD, Unarmed Strike, Martial Training
F3 11) Armor Training 1, Poised Bearing
V1 12) -
V2 13) Improved Bull Rush, Imposing Bearing
V3 14) -
V4 15) Greater Bull Rush, TWF
V5 16) -
V6 17) Improved Shield Bash, Shield Slam

Or if you want, consider taking a regular Brawler instead of a Snakebite Brawler. You can get 1 bonus feat of your choice via Martial Flexibility, which means you can get whatever setup you want online a little earlier each day for a move action. And given that 1d6 SAD isn't that great compared to a bonus feat...

Hm.

Barbarian (Mad Dog) 1, Cavalier (Huntmaster) 2, Inquisitor (Sacred Huntsman) 3, Brawler (Wild Child) 4, Druid 5, Hunter 6, Unchained Summoner 7, Wizard (Spirit Binder) 8, Ranger (Falconer) 9, Mammoth Rider 10.

Be a Half-Orc. Have the Beast Rider feat (allowing all your animal companions to count as 2 levels higher and be DINOSAURS) and Boon Companion on one of the animals. You now qualify for Mammoth Rider. Also, you have 7 animal companions, 1 familiar, and 1 eidolon.