Raptor2012's page

While I agree with Rawrsong's assessmemt of that particular prestige class, the question for debate isn't about the example PRC, it's about what would occur if the requirememts for any PRC are no longer met.

At my table, I would declare a loss of class abilities and no further advancement in the PRC until the situation binding up the character could be resolved, just like I would if a paladin suddenly became non-lawful (for example).

I agree with Morgen.

I have a very fervent belief that RPG's be about the story that the GM and the players want to weave. To that end (in my opinion) it is not solely the responsibility of the party to make sure that healing is covered. A GM is just as culpable to ensure that the resources are available if no one in the party "feels" playing a dedicated healer.

Sometimes this means swapping out some swank loot with stuff the group can use to get the deed done. AP's are a beautiful frame work upon which to build YOUR group's story. There are no AP police wandering the halls of geekdom randomly enforcing that each encounter be run exactly the same or that the adventure turn out in a similar manner every time :D. Make sure you discuss party composition with your GM, they can help alleviate quite a bit of worry if you let them know your concerns ahead of time!

I have run this AP a lot (a lot, a lot). In my party recommendations, I always hold up cleric of Pharasma. I never hold up a HEALING cleric of Pharasma because the healing aspect of things is not what makes that particular class great for this adventure (unless you want to blow up a whole bunch of undead with channel energy...just sayin'). The RP aspect present in the story construct is what makes the class great.

A support caster would likewise be very beneficial, but ultimately, you have one. A witch is a terrifying engine of flexible destruction. They can heal, they can buff, they can harm. As long as (just like Morgen said) you play smart, I think your group will be fine and have a lot of fun.

A summoner adds more bodies to the battlefield and that alone mathematically relieves some of the stresses that are present in a non-healer party. Theoretically, the bad guys will be taking swings on summoned critters, the critters will be taking swings on bad guys. On your side hit point damage will be spread to things that don't need to be healed and the hit points of the baddies will go in the opposite direction.

Good luck with your game, sounds like it's going to be fun! :)

You'll get a lot of mileage out of a paladin for all the usual reasons vs undead and other less savory critters.

The adventure has a whole bunch of research and personal interaction with NPC's so an inquisitor is a great choice for their knowledge skills and sussing out lies and the like. You have a good amount of spells, and can do some really cool things with their teamwork feats. With an inquisitor you are a little more free with alignment/deity choices and as such are able to choose Pharasma, a deity from which you will see more than just a little interaction with the campaign.

Ranger is an awesome choice. The game has urban elements but you are running around the countryside of Ustalav more often than not. Those outdoor skills are handy to have in party.

I've run this AP with three different groups of people at this point. I had a paladin in the first group, a paladin and a ranger in the second and a ranger and an inquisitor in the third. No player has regretted their decisions to play those classes and all had a great time with the opportunities presented in the AP.

Good luck with your choice!

You bet!

(EDIT: At first I made a snarky comment about 'silvered sling bullets' doing less damage than lead ones, but then I see from Raptor2012's post that the -1 no longer applies to bludgeoning weapons. I'd already instituted that as a house rule... what, it's official errata now?)

In 3.x it was -1 always, as you'd said. Pathfinder changed it to only slashing and piercing from day one of publication. :D

What Troublershooter said.

Also, the negative to damage only applies when the weapon is type slashing or piercing (like the arrows). If they had a silver mace though, there would be no penalty to damage.

Np. We Birds of Prey need to stick together ;D

Depends on when it hits.

The target gets a save immediately to negate the affect. If they fail the save and their initiative allows them to go BEFORE the caster who cast the spell, they don't get a second save until the end of their next turn (which would be in the following round). If they go AFTER the caster, then yes, they get a second save at the end of their turn which would be that same round.

IMO:

A creature reflexively resists any and all spells cast upon them. If you have an agreement and the target believes that X or Y is going to occur and they have voluntarily waived their saving throw, then what ever affect actually targets them takes place. If I were running the situation, I may require bluff/sense motive or spellcraft checks as I deemed appropriate.

1) Yes, although if the target in question has the SpellCraft skill trained I would be inclined to offer it a check to identify the particulars of the spell.

1a) Absolutely. Keep in mind however, that the caster goes with the teleport target so if the creature/target is upset they are in city B, there may be other consequences.

1b) Sure! Again, my spellcraft inclination stands. If not and they are told X and they believe it (which you or your GM may rule requires a bluff check to keep from cackling maniacally) they could have anything cast upon them.

2) I would generally say yes. It really depends on what the (Su) in question is.

Anyway, that's my two cents :)

I had a player take an Undine Stormborn bloodline Sorcerer for my campaign. She was the primary arcane caster for the party and between the race and the bloodline, she was a powerhouse of fun for the duration of the campaign, both in and out of the water. She had a lot of really neat electricity spells that beat the crap out of the crew but left ships (mostly) intact.

On a quasi-related note, I also had a Saltbeard Dwarf Shark Shaman Druid that worshiped Besmara. In my campaign, having this particular druid around was a hoot-and-a-half. He provided a lot of the weather manipulation and had enough personal oomph to go head to head with several pretty tough guys.

Both of those classes were a delight to have in my campaign as their themes made them enjoyable for the player and they added an extra flavor to the campaign that allowed them to shine.

Good luck with your choice!

In my early days of running RPG's I had players lose characters to random encounters. Yeah, that type of thing happens and while I consciously knew and acknowledged that fact, I found it left a bad taste with me. I felt bad that a character the player had worked so hard on had just been eaten by a Shambling Mound that had absolutely nothing to do with the story. That's the way the dice fall to be sure, but knowing that still didn't make me feel any better about it.

Ever since then, I adopted the same tactic of Yeti1069. I love having a series of set pieces that I can draw from.

What I usually end up doing is actually rolling for random encounter occurrence as normal (or adjust it to what I feel "normal" for the region should be), but I have my "Big Book of Bad" that I draw the actual event from. My BBB has fully fleshed out encounters that I have flavored for the campaign that I am running.

Additionally, when making up my random encounters, I also make sure that there are things in the book OTHER than just monsters to run into. Mysterious ruins, natural and magical phenomena, natural (or unnatural if the case dictates) flora and fauna. Again, all of this is geared towards the campaign I am running at the time so my BBB for my Skull and Shackles looks very different than my BBB for Carrion Crown. It's a significant amount of extra work but, my players seem to love it as they keep coming back and traveling "just one more mile" :)

Yep, Enchanted Arrows are indeed single use.

I did away with the Trust mechanic completely and went far more with my gut. Any major NPC's that the party kept in the loop of what they were doing and what then intended to do simply trusted them more. Any NPC's that I felt were motivated by those major NPC's were more reasonable towards the party and so on. It still gave the party a feeling of xenophobia from the town and was more effective in keeping the players feeling like they had plenty of time to get their research done (and give a certain villain more chance to spell out a name).

Glad your first game went well and your players had a good time.

The innate ability of the Smite class feature bypasses any and all damage reduction that a target has if it is an evil creature. If the target is an undead, an evil outsider or a dragon they get to add 2 points per level on the first attack made during the round. Regardless of the creature type however, if it has been smitten the DR is bypassed.

Undead Scourge gives up adding two points per level against evil undead, outsiders and dragons in the first round in favor of dealing two points per level against the undead all the time, if the undead in question has been the target of the smite. It functions in all other ways according to the regular rules for Smite.

Pharasma? I'm not using any of their deities. Is the item keyed to domains or something?

Yeah, it occurred to me right after I did my edit that you might not be using the Pathfinder deities. I was time pressed and decided to let it go.

Pharasma is the neutral goddess of birth, death (not the oggidy boogity kind, the "All Life Ends...Face It Folks" kind), fate, destiny, and knowledge. She actively opposes many of the forces at work in the AP and (as written) is considered the "State Religion" of the area that the game is written for. The item in question serves as sort of a symbol of office and indeed the faith itself.

While many of the good deities in the game (again as written) oppose the dead, few pursue it with the zeal of Pharasmas who view the undead as outside the "circle of life" and thus a direct affront to the tenants of their faith. I personally feel that such conflict added quite a bit to my games.

4, maybe 5 players, depending on who is interested.

Yup, I stand by my party composition suggestion :)

Why is adamantine such a massively expensive weapon material? It's not that great!

The reason its so expensive is that it outright ignores hardness when attacking an object. The ability to completely disable an opponents weapon or armor (assuming they use such things) almost at will is a pretty powerful boon (imo).

Your paladin becomes win/win on the DR penetration front as their smite ability bypasses any and all X/Y type damage reduction (against an evil target). Early on in the campaign (in book one), there is little opportunity to gear up with significant anti-DR gear (as Ravengro is just a small town). That quickly changes once the party gets to Liepstadt in the early part of the second book. Investing in some weapon blanches, silver or mithril silver weapons will serve them very, very well. An adamantine weapon blanch is very handy (although it is only one use RAW, I personally have house-ruled a % chance to wear off to make the use of them more appealing in my campaigns). EDIT- I forgot that you weren't using Golarion as a base setting, sorry, the anti-DR items may be more prevalent in your starter town, so that may not be an issue.

Strongly suggest that your Cleric is a cleric of Pharasma. In book 4, they potentially get a really, really cool item.

Perception is a great skill (as always) to invest in. Due to the investigative nature of the game, Linguistics is handy. Heal, Spellcraft, Diplomacy and Bluff added to the Knowledge skills are the most useful skills in the game, bar none. Stealth is useful if you have a couple of characters invested in it so they can run around together. Your players do NOT want to get isolated in this game (YOU want them to for story purposes but that's a totally different conversation) so if someone wants to go the stealth route, they should make sure they have a battle buddy.

If you don't mind my asking, how many players do you have? That does make a difference in party composition (in my opinion). If you've got four, I would suggest Paladin, Cleric, Wizard and either Dirge Bard, Detective Bard or Inquisitor. That's a really solid group with decent hp, especially if the Wizard invests in the Toughness feat (and if they are an elf they get the added benefit of staying the heck out of combat with their handy bow).

Hope this helps more. Sounds like you're going to have a fun game :)

Suggesting characters pursue feats, spells and abilities that raise their AC in other ways (besides just raising an armor or shield bonus) is solid. The adventure features several VERY dangerous opponents that use touch attack as their primary means of attack. Where the Barbarian is specifically concerned, going with the Invulnerable Rager is a solid archetype choice that gets quite a bit of mileage.

Where other classes are concerned, a positive channeling cleric (specifically of Pharasma) will see a great item reward during the course of the campaign. Also, there are several moments that can provide internal party conflict as the tenants of religion meet with the reality of the situation. Additionally, allowing or suggesting that the cleric sub-domain into Memory from the Knowledge Domain will be very handy at quite a number of points in the adventure path.

Bard is a solid choice of class, the only potential frustration for a player being that their really useful mind affecting offensive powers are of significantly less use against the dead (unless they take the Dirge Bard archetype). The wealth of knowledge and ability to make those checks (relatively) unskilled is very handy (though somewhat mitigated if you have a true wizard with a high intelligence and a willingness to invest heavily in knowledge skills). Detective also makes a decent archetype for bard play, though some of the main villains won't be caught by True Confession, Careful Teamwork is an undeniable asset. Also, if your party lacks a rogue, starting at 4th level they can fill that gap. While there are few traps in the whole adventure path, those few are unashamedly brutal (I'm looking at you Schloss Caromarc).

If most of the encounters, not just the random ones, take place in a less than urban setting, then yeah the Druid and Ranger should do okay. At this point I am taking your word for it, having not read through the whole thing, just flicking through and noting encounters.

The campaign only comes close to having a true urban section in book 5. The rest of the time the group gets bounced out into the wilderness (or into a dungeon or dungeon like setting) very quickly. Research takes place in the urban settings in the campaign so if you ended up with a Druid or Ranger they might have to hit the books like everyone else, otherwise they will be out where their skills are useful in a fast enough manner to fit most players.

So far I haven't really cared at all about Handle Animal, but then nobody has yet taken a Druid. There was talk about taking a Ranger over a Fighter for archery, but after much analysis, I told him that Rangers simply weren't as offensively orientated as Fighters, and they had better skills overall (more flexible). He took the Fighter, saying he really wanted to kick butt. Only problem was, his bow had a lot longer range than his darkvision, so he had to blow a feat on upping the latter.

I'm sorry if you've already addressed this and banned the class (I'm on a tablet and its a pain to go back and check), you might guide a ranged aficionado towards an Inquisitor. They are a very ranged focused class that brings some really cool abilities to the table, they have a lot of neat knowledge abilities, and they get spells and even a domain (which can occasionally stop the hemorrhaging of hit points while the cleric is occupied saving other players, as believe me WILL occur with this campaign).

Also, in terms of raw "butt kickery" a fighter does have a lot of cool feats and combat abilities but, imho, you can't beat a Paladin for this adventure path. I have my own issues with them, but regardless of what they are, Paladins lay the smack down in this campaign like no one's business. There is almost nothing that they can't smite (and for the few things that there are, it will totally be worth the expression on your players face when you say "Not Evil") and with their spot healing and spells (unless they go Warrior of the Holy Light which is very useful) they can really shine.

Normally, I encourage my players to invest in armor first, then weaponry. Makes for some frustrating combat since I can never get a good combat roll on them, but it saves their hides frequently.

There are a whole bunch of critters that ignore armor. Against the mindless masses, yep, having a high armor class will work just as well versus them as in the rest of your campaigns. I would certainly warn them to make careful choices concerning investment of armor and weapons. Having something around that is magical to make the hit points on the wraith that is curb-stomping the party go down will be more useful than a +2 Mithril Shirt.

The AP itself is a showcase path. Every book features a different critter type, Harrowstone is ghosts, Trial is golems (Frankenstein Monsters), Moon is werecritters, Wake is Things That Man Was Not Meant to Know, Ashes is Vampires and Gallowspire is the Lich. Anti-undead stuff is obviously great, another great suggestion is Abberations for classes that choose favored enemies or get combat bonuses against certain types of creatures via traits etc. Much like undead, the party will run into these unfortunate creatures in almost every book.

All of the knowledge skills are useful. Knowledge Local, Arcana, History, Religion, Dungeoneering are definitely the kings of the campaign. There are also some great times to be had with the Use Magic Device skill, so having someone that can make those checks will ensure some bonus fun.

I've done this campaign three times now. My groups were Paladin, Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, Oracle, Bard and Rogue; Paladin, Cleric, Ranger, Monk, Wizard and Bard; Ranger, Alchemist, Wizard, Inquisitor, Cleric, Barbarian and Rogue. All of those party's met with success to varying degree with highs and lows. All of those classes (except for obviously the ones that you have disallowed) performed well for the adventure path and if I were to run again I would suggest any of them for a player.

Extra Channeling, Dodge, Combat Reflexes, Extra Smite, Extra Lay on Hands, Channel Smite, Alignment (Evil) Channel, Combat Casting, Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration (LOTS of critters with SR), Iron Will, Great Fortitude (and Improved versions of those feats), Quick Channel, Toughness are all solid feats that I have seen my players take that have served them very well.

I hope I was able to provide some useful information, if you have any other questions, please feel free to PM me.

Good luck with your game :)

You should give him a 1 point bleed attack as well. Paper cuts suck.

The complete rules for Morale for monsters are located on page 66-67(ish) of the Dungeon Masters Guide.

An unmodified morale score for a monster or npc is 50% plus hit dice bonuses (generally 5% per hit dice) etc. Combat conditions as well as quantities of enemy forces, if the battle is going in the favor of the PC's or not and a host of other additional modifiers contribute to the +/- % of the check. Based on the level of failure of the check, monsters/NPC's will fallback fighting, withdraw, flee in panic or surrender.

Initiative is more of a sticky wicket. Basically (very basically) each side rolls a d6, the side rolling higher wins initiative. The sides take turns going until combat is resolved. There is no modifier to this roll, but dexterity reaction adjustment for high ability score in dexterity will benefit characters during the surprise round (only on an individual basis).

Weapon speed factor comes into play when you are dealing with multiple attacks or when two groups have chosen the same attack action and still ended up with an initiative tie. For the latter, a lower speed factor weapon strikes before a higher speed factor weapon. For the former, weapon speed determines when the weapon gets to attack during a multiple attack action. If a creature has two attacks for example, they would be able to attack first and last if they won the initiative check. If they lost the initiative check the would strike second and last. In any case, the other side would attack at approximately the mid point of the round.

Furthermore, if a weapon is very slow and the opponent is using a very fast weapon, it may grant them additional attacks against the target if the difference in speeds is greater than 2 times the weapon speed of the faster and greater than 5 OR if the speed is more than a difference of 10 (which would grant a 3rd attack to be resolved simultaneously with the wielder of the slower weapon).

As an unsolicited editorial, I much prefer 2nd Ed D&D in terms of smoothness of the system. Initiative and morale just worked much better imho. I also think that 2nd was a more solid system in general and omitted the occasional "confrontational" editorials that you can find here and there in the first edition stuff. There was definitely a GM vs Player attitude that I personally never understood in 1e, I've always thought the game was a collaborative effort. None-the-less that undertone of confrontation has fueled some great stories from other gaming groups.

If you are interested in furthering your collection/playing experience 2nd ed can lead to some really good times (and the PHB, DMG and MC are being reprinted soon by WotC). Additionally, Basic Dungeons and Dragons is an elegant and fun system that I still enjoy playing and running to this very day. Finally, check out Adventurer Conqueror King at www.autarch.co which is to Basic Dungeons and Dragons as Pathfinder is to 3.5.

Cheers and good luck.

In my campaign, the group returned from the Harrowstone Prison exhausted from their ordeal. They entered the house cautiously and found Kendra making tea in the kitchen. She greeted them warmly and told them that a silver haired, violet eyed man stopped by to offer condolences on the death of her father.

Upon hearing about the heroes, he simply had to contact these fine individuals that decided to carry on the professors good work. He left them a letter and a box which Kendra presented to them

They opened the letter from one Adivion Adrissant who spoke fondly of the professor and sincere admiration that he had for them as they ventured forth to carry the "good fight" to those who would create fear in the Ustalavian night. He issued them caution, that the followers of the Whispering Way would surely be displeased and suggested that they retire with the funds provided by the Professor in his will. He urged them to take the gift that he had left him to heart and return to the countries from whence they came, giving the affairs of the dreaded Whispering Way no further thought.

The party opened the box to find Kendra's head inside.

The "Kendra" drinking tea innocently asked "What's in the box?" as the snow creating the simulacrum began to fall upon the kitchen table.

They've been on a quest for revenge ever since :)

In a Curse campaign that I recently wrapped, I had two newspapers: The Korvosan Times and the Korvosan Quibbler.

I had two "factions" in my player group: One was more pro-Queen/establishment and as such I tailored the Times for them. It featured articles that were very political, interviews with nobles and the like. The editorials from The Times often targeted the "ramblings" of the of the Quibblers editor-in-chief.

Editorials and articles from the Quibbler were far more radical and much more "down with Cheliaxian Oppression". With the interpretation of "Cheliaxian Oppression" varying from day to day. This fit the other "faction" in my group quite well and between the two, fueled several in character arguments.

Needless to say it was a resounding success with my group. If you're excited about the possibility, give it a shot. Nothing is lost by attempting to add to the flavor of the game for your player's enjoyment.

At least in 3.5 the protection from mental control was complete. And the wording I cited above is also very clear: "The target is immune to any new attempts to possess or exercise mental control over the target". I don't know how you can read this in any other way.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/p/protection-from-evil

The subject of the F.A.Q. is why I see a difference.

Um, Raptor, Protection from Evil works perfectly against Song of Discord, because SoD is a compulsion effect which exercises a sort of mental control ( it makes you attack each other ) over the targets. So I fear you made a wrong call there.

Actually, PFE only works on compulsion effects where the caster exercises mental control of the target.

Song of Discord does not allow the caster to command those so afflicted to attack their friends, they roll randomly to determine their behavior (Just like with Confusion which is also a Mind Affecting Compulsion). In this case there is a 50% chance of acting normally and a 50% chance of attacking the closest target with their most powerful attack or spell.

In such an instance where they are forced to attack, targets under this spell effect are just as likely to attack the closest enemy combatant as they are to attack their fellows if there is an equal distance between the two. The spell does not specifically state that they must seek out their companions, only that they target the closest "neighbor" with their attacks.

.

Two days ago I ran this very encounter for a six person party and Song of Discord proved (almost) to be their complete undoing. The only character in the group to make their saving throw successfully was the cleric.

The spell held the party's barbarian and bard/dragon disciple locked in combat for four rounds against each other.

The party's rogue/ranger/horizon walker killed the party's wizard in one round of combat.

Don't overlook the power of that spell.

(PFE does nothing against it since it does not exercise mental control over the target in question).

My Illeosa was a 18th lv bard, 2nd level Dragon Bloodline Sorceress.

Worked out pretty well for me. Claimed 3 characters during her defeat. Quite the epic and bittersweet end to a campaign which my players loved.

I've always had it taste subtly sweet :)

Take a look at the Holy Vindicator prestige class. At first level in class you gain your heavy armor proficiency, +1 to Will and Fort saves, +1 BaB. You still lose the spells but, you get to stack the levels of Holy Vindicator with another class that gains Channel Energy for the purpose of that ability. Finally, you get the extremely cool Vindicator's Shield ability that allows you to expend a use of Channel Energy to gain a holy or profane bonus to your AC equal to your total dice for that ability until you are struck.

I have played a Holy Vindicator twice now and both times my buffing cleric became an utter brick house. I dished out pretty vicious damage against evil outsiders and undead (with Alignment Channel and Channel Smite) but I could also park my character in a gap, enter a defensive stance and hold the line against some pretty heinous critters.

My two cents.