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Ratchet's page
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Hi there, ive created a few custom monsters for my game, and wouldnt mind if you had a look over them just to make sure they all stand up.
Razorclaw Lynx Level 2 Skirmisher
Medium Natural Humanoid (Shifter) XP 125
Initiative +7 Senses Perception +9; low-light vision
HP 39; Bloodied 19
AC 16; Fortitude 13, Reflex 15, Will 13
Speed 6
M Spear (Standard; at-will) ♦ Weapon
+7 vs Armor Class; 1d6+4 damage.
M Short Sword (Standard; at-will) ♦ Weapon
+7 vs Armor Class; 1d6+4 damage.
m Two-Weapon Rend (Standard; encounter) ♦ Weapon
The Razorclaw Dervish makes a longsword attack and a short sword attack against the same target. If both attacks hit, the Razorclaw Dervish deals an additional 4 damage.
Combat Advantage
A Razorclaw Lynx that has combat advantage deals an extra 1d6 damage on it attacks.
Alignment Unaligned Languages Common
Skills Nature +9, Stealth +9
Str 12 (+2) Dex 18 (+5) Wis 14 (+3)
Con 15 (+3) Int 10 (+1) Cha 12 (+2)
Equipment chainmail , Spear , short sword .
Razorclaw Archer Level 2 Artillery
Medium natural humanoid(s+~!er) XP 125
Initiative +5 Senses Perception +11; low-light vision
HP 32; Bloodied 16
AC 15; Fortitude 11, Reflex 13, Will 12
Speed 7
M Short Sword (Standard; at-will) ♦ Weapon
+5 vs Armor Class; 1d6+4 damage.
r Longbow (Standard; at-will) ♦ Weapon
Ranged 20/40; +7 vs Armor Class; 1d10+4 damage.
Archer’s Mobility
If the Razorclaw Archer moves at least 4 squares from its original position, it gains a +2 bonus to ranged attacks until the start of its next turn.
Not So Close (immediate reaction, when an enemy makes a melee attack against the Razorclaw Archer, encounter)
The Razorclaw Archer shifts 1 square and makes a ranged attack against the enemy.
Alignment Unaligned Languages Common,
Skills Nature +11, Stealth +10
Str 13 (+2) Dex 18 (+5) Wis 16 (+4)
Con 14 (+3) Int 12 (+2) Cha 11 (+1)
Equipment arrows (30) , leather armor , longbow , short sword .
Im also looking to create a basic spear armed Minion based on these, but havent got round to ir yet.
Any advice/comments/critismism would be welcomed!

Hi im currently on my 3rd session of DMing this game http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=444004 and so far its going pretty well. The PC's have rescued each other from slavery, met the main NPC and are on their way complete the quest that he handed out. They now have about a months travel through "the wilds" and I wanted some ideas to spice up the travel. Ive impressed on the charcters the danger of the wilds in my world, but so far ive havent really showed them the danger (except for a ..err.. second session character death).
I've got the "dungeon" that is going to be at the end of the trek sorted, as well as a pretty good plan of what happens afterwards, so its really this "wilderness" section that I after ideas for.
In an effort to get some inspiration i spent yesterday poking around my garden with a stick, and watch a titanic battle between a wasp and a spider. Now im no fan of spiders, but I HATE wasps, so im glad little spidey came away from the encounter with a tasty treat. Im trying to find a way to put that into the game, but there are no Giant Wasps or decent low level spiders in the MM.
So apart from an endless stream of bastard hard combat encounters is their any advice about themes, encounters, skill challenges or just plain old good roleplaying oppurtunities I could spice the travel up with? They are on the clock with the travel so it might be hard to tempt them off the track as it were, but maybe that's a good thing to tempt them with.
I have to run this session tomorrow, and while I am no starnger to winging entire sessions, but i'd like to at least have an idea of ehat im going to be running! :D
Last night, my lvl5 Teifling inspiring Warlord died. Which apart from sucking massively, has left me with a conundrum of what to play next.
At the moment our party is
Human Tempest Fighter
Human Retribution Avenger
Human Archer Ranger
DragonBorn Ruthless Ruffian Rogue
plus my new character.
My DM is heavily pushing me to play another teifling as its kind of required for the story line, but at the end of the day its up to me, and while I dont really like teiflings, im going to go with this request for the sake of the story.
Now I know this party is crying out for a leader, but ive played the f*****g healer for SIX SOLID YEARS and im fed up with it. I just want to roll a bucket of dice and eat some faces.
Does anyone have any advice about what works well with a Teifling that isnt a leader (or a warlock - we used to have one in the party and I wasnt at all impressed with them).
I've read a few posts about 4e and one of the things that keeps cropping up as an "issue" is that of minions.
Then I watched Fellowship of the Ring with my daughter for the first time (hers not mine - she loved it). I realised that the end fight (after Boromir tries to take the ring) is an awesome minion fight, and totally the way I envision it happening in game.
I heartily recommend watching it if you are having difficulty with the concept of minions.
Are there any other scenes from films that represent awesome fights vs hordes of minions that people would recommend?

In this thread I will show my process of brainstorming a new campaign. It will mainly be notes and probably not at all understandable but i'll try and put notes in to explain bits.
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World is one big (dying?) forest with a sun that never sets.
People all live in the world tree's, and don’t go up to the canopy or down to "the dark". The currently level is referred to as "the green". Villages are built into one "tree" on multiple level and paths are cut through them. The few cities that exist are spread over multiple trees. Multiple levels of ground made up of fallen branches and foilage.
Water is incredibly important, and usually collected in condensers. Nature check each extended rest to set up your condenser to gain 1 days water. easy check? moderate check? Must make need for water constant threat but not overshadowing everything else.
Everything made out of wood, resin and varnish. Metal is super rare. Technology level is primitive but magic is still studied, gods worrhsipped etc, but its all quite primal.
Insects and lizards are all the "native" wildlife and used as beasts of burden when they can be tamed.
The lands are in nearly all ways, wild, untamed and dangerous.
Orcs and gobbos are more gorilla like, but still savage and primal.
Gnolls are hyena like pack carrion eaters.
The main areas are known as "the Wide Green", "the Sea of Red", the "lands of night (an area where the sun never shines.)
The "offering" taken to the nearest big city. Part stolen enroute by gobbo's. Must be retrieved. Magical "incident" fires the across the face of the world. run across invasion force of unknown enemy.
Hi there,
can you please cancel my subscriptions to: -
Pathfinder Adventure Path
Pathfinder Chronicles
Pathfinder Companion
Wife got the chop last week, I got the chop yesterday. Stupid banking crisis.

Hi,
As I mentioned in another thread, im running a short game with my group while our normal DM is unavailable for a few weeks.
The game is basically going to be the old GW game Space Hulk.
So far I've come up with the following rules modifications
**As a note, these guys are supposed to more powerful than the average PHB race, but im going to be scaling the encounters up slightly to compensate. This si supposed to be a difficult game for them.
Race = Space Marine
Same as normal human plus
Centuries of Training - Proficient with all weapons and armour.
Gods Amongst Men - Add Con Modifier to Healing Surge.
And They Shall Know No Fear - You can spend your Second Wind as minor action.
The party will consist of
Sargeant - Warlord
Assault Marine - Tempest Fighter
Company Champion - Paladin
Librarian - Sorceror/wizard
Scout - Archer ranger
Special Weapon - Wizard
Equipment
Power Armour = Plate Armour
Chainsword = Bastard sword
Bolt pistol = Hand xbow + counts as melee weapon in Melee.
Bolt gun = superior xbow.
Powersword = +1 bastard sword, enc power - att vs ref.
Power Fist = Waraxe + guantlets of ogre power.
Thunderhammer = +1 Lightning craghammer.
Sniper rifle = Great bow.
Combiflamer = superior xbow + staff of fire
All of the powers are going to me renamed to have a more 40k relevant name.
Im also planning on giving each player a Chapter specific rule based on their choice of chapter. Roughly equivalent to a racial ablilty.
Some I've already come up with are: -
Imperial Fists - The Fortress of Humanity - Move 1 less square when pushed, pulled or slid.
Dark Angels - Unforgiven - +5 to saves vs powers with the Physcic or Fear keyword
Space Wolf - True Grit - Treat a Boltgun as having the "off Hand" property.
any comments/critisims/idea etc.
The main enemy of this group will be reskinned kruthik, which will take the role of the Tyranid menace. Might add a few 3rd or second generation Genestealers in there as well. Final bad dude will be a Genestealer Broodlord. or possibly a Hive tyrant depending on how mean I feel :D.
Hi,
Recently my wife has expressed playing DnD with me semi-seriously because I ran a game with her and her maternity group friends one day I was off work, and she really enjoyed it. Ive decided to run what is, in effect, deathtrap dungeon. The basic premise is that the Zhar of the city hosting the dungeon killed her family and the only way she can get close to him to exact her revenge is to win the "Trial of Champions" and get granted an audience with him.
She is going to be a human but I cant decide on what class she is going to play (as she asked me to do all the creating and stuff for her). I was thinking that maybe a beastmaster ranger would be a good idea, as it would give her a sense of "not being alone" and will hopefully be able to set up some cool interaction between her and her animal companion.
Any other suggestions/thoughts/comments?

We are starting a new 4e campaign in a few weeks (DM bailed on last one due to band getting signed) and I've come up with a concept for a character that I need some advice with.
** the following post is a mix of fluff and crunch **
The character is a Male Human Ranger (beastmaster) with a Falcon animal companion. He will focus on Strength and melee attacks and be backed up by the Falcon rather than using it to do all the damage.
The falcon however is his wife. They have been cursed so that by day, she is a falcon and by night he is a wolf (and she is a Human). I have totally robbed this idea from the mid eightys film Ladyhawke.
She will focus on Dexterity and ranged attacks, and the wolf will be used to protect her.
For feats I have given them both Weapon Prof (bastard sword) as the scene where they swicth over at sunset involves him planting his sword in the ground, the falcon landing on it, then the changes happens and she is returned to human form holding the sword. I put this in becuase he swore at their wedding that "his sword would always protect her". This is a way of him fulfilling his vows.
The questions I really had where
- how do I go about sharing magic items. I am thinking that they just swap them over at sunset. Mainly because I dont want to be taking a double share of the parties magic items and it would seem sensible. all mundane equipment would remain will the owner.
- How do I handle death? Human and animal form.
Does this sound like a crazy and unworkable concept.
My DM is all for it and is really up for DMing a character like this, I just wanted to get a set of pre-reqs/solutions sorted before we started.
cheers
Ratchet
Hi there,
according the the orders page my FotSG shipped on Dec 11, but i still havent recieved it. Can you tell me when i should be expecting this?
Cheers
Stu

This is the campaign log for the game I am playing in at the moment.
The land is based loosely on England under the french rule, with the Ontish taking the part of the English, and the Gardusch taking the part of the French. While Josef is Ontish, the Guard are a Gardusch organisation roughly based on the FBI. Magic is outlawed excpet to the Gardusch nobilty, and the Ontish hedge wizards (sorcerors) are all usually killed at birth, or locked up in the black house.
All characters are human.
"Hand's" are what the seperate teams of guardsmen are known as.
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Day 1
I really don’t know why I signed up for the Guard sometimes. Well… I do know, but let’s not talk about that little incident. I thought it would be an easy life, sleazing around in a swanky uniform and not spending all night in the rain guarding a gate like I did in the militia. Still, the pay is good.
Mol called us in early this morning and gave us a task. Apparently Kremler’s Hand had a gone and got itself into some trouble up at the old Firehelm manor and we had to go bail their arses out of the fire. He was up their investigating a lead that might have led to an illicit caster, and carting in an Illicit is worth a bit of a tasty bonus. I wonder how much Wilhelm is worth. I’m sure Mol know’s about him and his “abilities” but what is good for us is good for him I suppose. Still, something worth keeping in mind. They’ve also given us a new guy to replace Taral after the last accident. I say guy, I’m sure he‘s not even shaving yet. Stocky little bastard though, and wears his armour like he was born in it. He had a name, but I cant remember it so I’ll call him Freckles, as he has got enough of them. On our way out Janni Keeps called us in to her office. Janni is our Finder, basically our boss. While Mol assigns the missions, Janni actually has the details and the brief of what we have to do, and is our point of contact in the Senatorial Guard, and generally is a stuck up pain in the arse. She told us while we were up there, as well as bailing Kremler’s Hand out, we had to complete his original mission of pulling in the Illicit. The day is just getting better and better. Better than Kilmer anyway, my god that guy is ugly. They charge him double over at Madame DuBlanes, and I thinking he is getting off lightly! Can never understand how he manages to be such a goody two shoes at the same time as being such a sneaky thieving little guttersnipe.
It’s about an hours ride out to the manor, and it passes relatively uneventfully. Darvin is still complaining about his horse being too slow. I think if I had such a fat bastard sitting on my back, I wouldn’t exactly be sprightly either.
My first look at the manor does not inspire much confidence. The door is hanging off it hinges but apart from that there is not much movement. Kilmer and his crew must have gone in strong. As we were tying our horses up outside, I noticed an odd looking little footprint on the floor. That’s definitely not a human. Scarvy! What are those little bug eyed freaks doing round here? This is well outside their normal stamping grounds, and the Rangers should have intercepted any force that managed to push this deep into Ont. This is not good.
The manor itself is set into a hillside, and the entire first floor seems to be made of natural rock, only the upper floor being a totally man made construction. There’s a few windows on either side of the door set back into the rock face, so Darvin and I headed in to have a little look through. After quick climb up, I edged forward on my belly to the window. I could see into what looks like a bar area full of tables and chairs that are scattered all over the place. Looks like there was bit of a bust up in here and trying to hide behind an overturned table are two of the little freaks themselves. Their multiple eyes are roving all over the place, but they don’t seem to have noticed me yet. They don’t seem to have noticed anything to be honest, but they certainly haven’t put down their little crossbows. Hmm. I signal to the rest of the guys that I’ve got two in sight, and Kilmer heads through the front door. He is obviously not a quiet as he think’s he is as after a few seconds I here a twang, a thud, and a grunt of pain from Kilmer. The two Scarvy in sight instantly react by levelling their crossbows at the door in front on them. B~$%*%*s. I kneel up and send an arrow right into the ear of the nearest Scarvy, the drop back down flat on my belly. I’ve got no intention of getting shot today. I see Darvin and Freckles barrel through the front door, and the shouting from the other room increases. I know the remaining Scarvy in the room below is waiting for me to pop back up again and if he thinks I’m going be that stupid then he’s got another thing coming. Still laying down, I pulled my shield off my back and jammed it up into the window ledge. Whack! A crossbow bolt slams into my shield and nearly goes through my arm! The little f%!%er is going to pay for this! At least while this one is shooting at me its going to give the other guys time to finish whatever they are doing and come and deal with this one. I popped back up and sent another arrow winging it way towards him, but my arrow hits an upturned table leg and deflects off. Dammit. “I’m gonna do you, you little bastard!” I yell at the Scarvy, not sure if bug eyes can understand me, but it’s probably better if he concentrates on me. Freckles, Darvin and Kilmer come charging through the door and bug eyes manages to plant a crossbow bolt right into Freckles’ chest before the three of them fall on him. For a group of trained…well experienced….well alleged soldiers I’ve never seen such a display if swordsmanship before…..from a Scarvy. The little bastard just won’t go down. He manages to stick his little dagger into Freckles a few times, before it gets hung up on some thing (probably his intestines). You should have seen the look on his face when he looks up at Freckles just as his shortsword comes crashing down on his head. I yelled my congratulations down to the guys “You useless bunch of bastards, I nearly died of old age waiting for you to finish him!” Freckles and Kilmer are busy going through the Scarvy filthy pockets when I hear some thing. I’ve heard that noise before. “PIGBEARS!!” I yell. Oh no, not these things. Afflicted by the same mutating curse as the Scarvy, the multi eyed mounds of pink muscle and horn are not to be trifled with. Used by the Scarvy as guards, food and if the rumours are true, lovers, there not something I want to mess with. Damn filthy beasts. “Get up here lads! Quick!” I yell, only to countered by Kilmer “We can take them here!”. Damn city folk. He’s obviously never seen a Pigbear. “Get up here now you stupid stubborn bunch of bastards!” I yell, I’ve got to get these guys up here or they are all pig food. I think this finally motivates them and they all charge back out the front door just as the Pigbear’s appear out of a back corridor. I let off a hasty shot that spins wide, then head back to the ledge, and start pulling up my hastily retreating companions. Darvin, Freckles and Kilmer all get up onto the ledge, as the Pigbear’s burst out of front door, their hooves churning up mud and grass, their eyes fixed on Wilhelm.
Hi,
Im putting together some "bonus" encounter for the Savage Tide AP, and one of the big baddies is going to be a lvl 9 fighter with the leadership feat, but instead of giving him a human cohort, I was thinking about giving him a CR7 elite dog instead, as he can get a level 7 cohort (which make it a 21HD dog. Nasty). When improving animals, do they, like PC's and NPC's, gain a feat every three levels(Im assuming 1HD = 1level here, please tell me if my assumption is wrong), and an ability point every 4 levels? This does make a pretty nasty dog.

Seeing as plans for me to become a player again have sadly fallen through (along with my lovely paladin of Wee-Jas), im going to be DM'ing for my group again (not a problem as I love DM'ing).
The last thing I ran was a SciFi campaign, so this time i'm going back to good old fantasy, and I've got a few questions if thats ok.
Out of the three AP's which one do you reckon is the best for a party of experienced, creative party? I've read most of The Savage Tide and I'm loving it, but my last sci-fi campaign had a large section where the characters were stuck on a premevil planet full of dinosuars and evil canibal monkeys, so im thinking that it might seem a bit to similar for them if I ran Savage Tide. I know a bit about the AoW (namely the ending) and i know the Shackled City book is in my local DnD shop, so getting hold of them shouldnt be a problem. so err....what was I saying? oh yeah, which of the three do you recommend?
Also, I usually like to give my players a quick oneliner to explain the campaign, do you know any good ones for the AP's.
And finally, whats the best thing for character creation? Im usually very 4d6, core rulebooks only for character gen, then splatbooks as you start to progress, is this generally recommended?
Cheers for your help
Stu
Hi,
long time lurker here, just had a bit of question about paladins. I've just finished running my long term d20 modern campaign (a bit of rehash of star wars, 40K and the Deathstalker books) and am going back to be a player! The new campign im a part of is a fantasy one and im going to be playing a paladin. I wanted something a bit different, so I was thinking of playing the paladin in the style of a film noir detective (maybe start him with a level of rogue), and giving him the patron diety of Wee Jas.
I wondered if anyone else had any ideas for unique and interesting Paladins, as the shining knight archetype seems a bit cliched.
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