Realmjumper's page

Thanks for the tips that I can find in the advanced player's guide. I wanted to give everyone a heads up.

In our 2nd to last campaign we cleaned up the place. I had 15 hit points at one point but I got critcally hit for 13 but I was able to save. So I was down to 2 hp.

With the knowledge that I now had I was able to step out of danger and get healed by the cleric. Eventually 5 of us where able to surround the beast (The first boss you find in Burnt Offerings, starts with a Q, a witch who turns invisible and summons monsters etc)

So yea we took her down. Now though our group is down to 3. It was supposed to be down to 4 but one guy is so unreliable so he's out of the group. One guy was leaving town so that was expected.

Anyways we are all level 2 now. Wizard, Cleric, and me being Barbarian. For my first rage power I took Animal Fury (The Biting power), since it's extra free damage while raging if it hits.

So yea we are doing pretty good. The real challenge is coming though and it's only 3 of us. Hopefully one of our older buds will be willing to jump in as a rogue and I think we can pull it off.

Well our group currently has people that are experienced in RPG's. It's only three of us now we are doing the Burnt Offerings. I think some of these guys already played The Crypt of the Everflame.

If I do start dming I will try and get a few new players mixed in with a couple of vets that way they can help each other out.

We'll see though because it's kinda hard to find people who would want to play with a new DM.

What GM screen do you guys recommend? I heard there was a better one called Hacks or something which has things that the Paizo one is missing. Also someone told me to download a PDF from Sord to print out stuff and have with me for certain things that happen. Like skills etc.

Hey all sorry I have not replied to the thread. Anyway currently we are running a campaign at Sunshine but the group is a bit hesitant to allow just anyone that we don't know in so it's not my call.

I am interested in another campaign though and I'll give some people a call tommorow. See if we can get something running at Cool Stuff or see what's going on. Thanks again for the links.

I am leaning toward a cold frontier town sort of like the comptuer game Icewind Dale. I have not played Icewind Dale so I am leaning on the name and screenshots, and a little things I read about it. This way I don't plan on just copying the game itself.

Rather what I had original thought of was that adventurers will start in this town and slowly learn that all is not what it seems. Also to survive in this harsh climate will be part of the challenge since it is really cold.

Perhaps from the town they will learn of a nearby adventure spot but just getting there is half the battle. I plan on putting some acrobatic challenges like perhaps having to cross a bridge etc.

Anyway I haven't really written anything but I will start to. This is the basic premise though. A frontier town with a cold harsh climate. Perhaps it's the fall since Winter would be too hard for new starting characters.

I also have a question in terms of character levels. Should I just start everyone at level 1 since this is my first time Game Mastering? That would probably be the easiest, though I am interested in starting everyone a little higher say 3 or 4 to make things more interesting.

Once I start writing and coming up with the plot I will post it here for now that is just the basic idea. They will be thrust into a hostile town with a few friendly npcs but will have to be careful who they run into etc.

Greetings all. I am interested in starting a new Pathfinder campaign. This will be my first time Game Mastering. My strengths however are that I have a creative imagination, I am an artist (draw, paint etc), fairly decent with math, and I have played many computer roleplaying games throughout many years.

I have a few questions though in terms of what I should purchase.

Which Bestiary do you guys and gals recommend? (There are 2)

I will definitely pick up the Game Mastery guide since that's pretty much a necessary item for beginners. I should also get the GM screen. However I've heard a few complains about it not having the combat roles required. Are there any better GM screens I can purchase?

So besides that I feel pretty comfortable coming up with my own adventure. I might buy a pre determined adventure though since it does come with those nice tiles. Any recommendations.

Finally currently I am playing my second Pathfinder campaign as a Barbarian and we rocked the last encounter Boss. We are doing very well thanks to the advice from everyone in this forum.

Cheers.

-Realmjumper

Shizvestus wrote:

Bard :)

Bard can be especially good for a Shoanti character, too. They have this special spear which makes a musical whistling noise. Get proficient in that and use it for Bardic music and you have a great start.

If you want to tank go Fighter. If you want frontline damage go Barbarian. Bard is good if played right but I would not recommend it for a starting character. If you do go Bard make sure you know what you are doing. (That means reading up on everything a bard can do and choosing a spear like said above)

A Bard is not a frontline fighter though from what I have noticed. If you want to be in the front go Fighter or Barbarian.

You might remember me I made a thread about a Sorceress who was the last one left alive with an inexperience group.

About a week or so ago we were in the third meeting of our campaign. By now our group comprised of

1)Barbarian
2)Cleric
3)Rogue
4)Druid
5)Wizard

I believe the DM was doing a pre set campaign, out of the previous group we had everyone except for the Bard who called it quits. It was alright though because we were doing quite well.

Pretty much The Barbarian was the front line damage with the cleric healing also the Druid if he needed to.

With rage I was able to mow down anything that came across our path. The Rogue was doing pretty good and so was the Wizard with Force Missile. Eventually we ended with the final encounter.

I forgot the name of the Beast but she summoned demons from a lava pit and was able to fly and go invisible. As we tried to find her I went up the stairs and she appeared behind me. She critically hit me but I was able to save. I got hit for 15 my total hit points where 18.

I was caught off guard but was able (thanks to experience) take a 5 foot step forward then move and chug a health potion. The cleric was able to heal me and I had enough hit points from there on out.

After we cut off her path (in a stairway) she dissapeared after casting Fear. Me and the Wizard did not save so we were running away as she appeared in a fountain near the entrance.

Eventually I snap out of it (Me being the Barbarian) and she appears right in front of me. I charge her and manage to hit her while in rage. Everyone else is able to surround her so she is totally cut off.

She attempts to leap in the air but the Rogue critically hits her between the legs. (Oh yeah!) She fumbles and falls nearby.

Quickly everyone surrounds her again and she finally goes down. I was so happy and so was everyone else. (The Wizard eventually got back during the last skirmish from his fear)

The bear from the Druid was also quite the killing machine. Also the Cleric who usually rolls bad I think got the killing blow.

Overall the most important thing is now that we know what we are doing we are way more formidable. Next round the Rogue will be gone so it will only be four of us.

There are about two more side rooms to explore before we head back into town and talk to the Mayor. (This is the campaign with the Shoanti frontier town)

The Barbarian chew you can buy also comes in handy for a Barbarian. It gives you one more round of rage for an hour.

Finally everyone leveled up (except me because I missed a gameplay session since I was sick but I'm close about 300 xp away).

Thank you to everyone who has helped me in the past. I am very happy how this turned out and will probably purchase the Advanced player's guide or the Bestiary 2.

Also a big thanks to Paizo for making this game even though it is borrowing from D&D 3.5.

Happy new years all!

Realmjumper wrote:

northbrb wrote:

don't forget that rage works on a number of rounds per day rather than just once per day for so many rounds at first level. you start with 4+ base con mod in rounds per day which makes raging last a bit longer than it used to.

also don't forget that you can add your favored class bonus to HP to help boost your HP.

I understand the first part. However once I activate rage I can't shut it off till it runs it course, right? Then I'm fatigued which means I must rest for 8 hours to get rid of the - penalties.

As for favored class, I understand that part. I'll just keep getting hit points when I level since it's just darn good.

Anyway this will be out second adventure and this time I will do my best to make sure we make it past level 2. We'll probably only gain a level per session anyways.

you can end your rage as a free action at any point after you start your rage. you don't have to use up all the rounds in one encounter. just remember that you are fatigued for a number of rounds equal to 2 times the number of rounds you were raging.

Oh I see interesting, this is definitely much better than I thought :D.

don't forget that rage works on a number of rounds per day rather than just once per day for so many rounds at first level. you start with 4+ base con mod in rounds per day which makes raging last a bit longer than it used to.

also don't forget that you can add your favored class bonus to HP to help boost your HP.

I understand the first part. However once I activate rage I can't shut it off till it runs it course, right? Then I'm fatigued which means I must rest for 8 hours to get rid of the - penalties.

As for favored class, I understand that part. I'll just keep getting hit points when I level since it's just darn good.

Anyway this will be out second adventure and this time I will do my best to make sure we make it past level 2. We'll probably only gain a level per session anyways.

Actually Combat Reflexes and Unexpected Strike, paired with Knockbak and Knockdown, help the barbarian on the tank side. Add strenght surge for the lulz.

Well traditionally the way I've viewed tanks is someone who can take a ton of punishment before going down. Not necessarily dealing a lot of damage.

However if the Barbarian is tailored more toward doing damage (which I've seen from posts) then that is another way of tanking as you say. I will try him out and see how good I can be with him.

I think I'll do alright as long as I save my rage toward the second half/end part of the final battle. Also to make sure not to fight too many enemies at once.

Thanks guys, I might have to go fighter if I want to be a pure tank. Depends what other players pick as well if someone goes fighter I can easily go Barb without a problem.

I'll probably stick to Barb though it's something that looks fun.

Hey all how are ya. The first game I played in Pathfinder I was a Sorceress but now I am switching to Barbarian since we are starting a new campaign. (Everyone died except me)

I have been reading the rulebook and am more experience now than before. I have a few questions.

1)It states that when you Rage as a barbarian

"While in rage, a barbarian gains a +4 morale bonus to her Strength and Constitution, as well as a +2 morale bonus on Will saves. In addition, she takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class. The increase to Constitution grants the barbarian 2 hit points per Hit Dice, but these disappear when the rage ends and are not lost first like temporary hit points."

Does this mean that I can get 24 hit points at level 1 when I use Rage? Since a Barbarian has 12 hit dice?

2)Also what does it mean when it says "are not lost first like temporary hit points." What's the point of being able to boost my hp if when I take damage I lose my normal hit points instead of my boosted hit points. Please explain that part.

Here is what it says about temporary hit points.

"Certain effects give a character temporary hit points. These hit points are in addition to the character's current hit point total and any damage taken by the character is subtracted from these hit points first. Any damage in excess of a character's temporary hit points is applied to his current hit points as normal. If the effect that grants the temporary hit points ends or is dispelled, any remaining temporary hit points go away. The damage they sustained is not transferred to the character's current hit points."

Besides that question I really want to make a tank. Our party so far has the following.

Druid
Cleric
Mage type character to be determined
Barbarian (Me)
TBD (another character hasn't chosen their class)

Anyway this will be our second campaign together, almost everyone is back for a second round. One guy took it pretty hard hopefully he comes back.

So I guess right now I should decide what race I will be. I am interested in Dwarf, Half-Orc, or Human.

3)Is it me or do Dwarves get a ton of nice bonuses? Lol. Most likely I will pick Human or Half-Orc though since I bought a figure that looks like a human and is too tall for a Dwarf ;).

4)So I want to hear your take on the strength and weaknesses of Human and Half-Orc. How useful are those extra feats to say Dark Vision and Intimidate bonuses?

5)One last question is should I go 1h and shield since I want to tank? If I can afford it I'll also get a two hand since early on adventures are usually easier and damage is more important.

Also please give any tips/tricks that I might come across as useful. I noticed all the nice little items I can purchase that might come in handy. Like Caltrops, Rope(to tie enemies up), Tanglefoot bags, and Thunderstones.

I had no about these and I wonder how effective they are? Thanks a lot in advanced :)

p.s.
Just if you have time take a look at the miniature I chose.
http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/black%20legionnaire/latest/02683

I was thinking of a neutral beiege type color perhaps with black and red. Or is beige not barbaric enough? I was thinking that he would hide what he is under his cloak and then strike his foes before they have time to realize what kind of danger they are in hehe.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am 26 years old and recently started playing Pathfinder. I notice the lack of organized groups in the South Florida area so decided to do something about it. This is an open call for all pathfinders interested in meeting up and possibly running a campaign.

This could be once a month or so and a day of your convenience. For this meetup I would consider meeting somewhere that is a comfortable drive for everyone involved. It can be somewhere like a University Campus or local store.

There are two local stores that I know of. The first being Sunshine Roleplayers off of Bird Road. Usually you have to pay a small fee to use the space in the neighborhood of 3-5 dollars.

There is also Outland station but I'm not sure on the pre requisites for that store but I can find out.
12540 SW 120th Street
Miami, Fl 33186

http://outlandstation.com/

Further north of these two is Cool Stuff Games. They are on 5655 S. University Drive Davie, FL 33328 I don't think you have to pay anything to play here.
http://sfl.coolstuffgames.com/

If you are interested post which place would be more convenient for you. Also Florida International Univeristy is another possible meeting point. Currently I know there to be 3 Pathfinders (2 others I found and myself) that are interested in starting a Pathfinder Society run. This doesn't have to be for Pathfinder Society though and can be a seperate event.

Thanks and let me know.

I remember I was rolling really low which is why Ray of Frost was missing.

Yea we should of just freed the prisoner and got out of there. Our party had a lot of inexperience players but I'm sure we will do better next time, if there is a next time for them.

Realmjumper wrote:

Thanks. Do you happen to know what page this is covered?

It is covered on this page. Look through all the bonuses. Basically, the only bonus that stacks is dodge bonuses. Everything else you only take the highest of the two bonuses.

Aha here we go, it is vital to know this information.

Bonus (Armor)
An armor bonus applies to Armor Class and is granted by armor or by a spell or magical effect that mimics armor. Armor bonuses stack with all other bonuses to Armor Class (even with natural armor bonuses) except other armor bonuses. An armor bonus doesn't apply against touch attacks, except for armor bonuses granted by force effects (such as the mage armor spell) which apply against incorporeal touch attacks, such as that of a shadow.

except other armor bonuses. except other armor bonuses.

Seems like the mage armor wouldn't give anyone wearing armor extra bonuses?

I was only aware of aid other for non combat purposes, now I realize you can use it for combat purposes.

As for the crossbow, this was my first campaign and I had bought a longspear instead. Next time I'm getting one and also a quarterstaff.

Thanks all for your help I have learned many useful things this past week.

Mage Armor will give your Sorcerer the +4 Armor. The Bard may be another story. Since both armor and Mage Armor provide armor bonuses, they overlap rather than stacking. So if the Bard has leather armor on providing +2AC the Mage Armor Overlaps and only gives him 2 more.

Thanks. Do you happen to know what page this is covered?

Here is the guide I was talking about.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/community-creations/treatmonks-lab/test

The best I can tell you is to look at the spells you can get at first level. Then ask yourself which spells am I most likely to use. For example detect magic is useful to identify items but you also need spellcraft to be able to discern what exactly a magic item does.

I'm fairly new myself but first off I would take a look at the 0 level spells and the level 1 spells and go from there. I believe there are also guide son here for Wizards.

Why doesn't the Mage armor give me +4? Here is as the spell reads in the rulebook.

School conjuration (creation) [force]; Level sorcerer/wizard 1
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (a piece of cured leather)
Range touch
Target creature touched
Duration 1 hour/level (D)
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance no
An invisible but tangible field of force surrounds the subject of a
mage armor spell, providing a +4 armor bonus to AC.
Unlike mundane armor, mage armor entails no armor check
penalty, arcane spell failure chance, or speed reduction. Since mage
armor is made of force, incorporeal creatures can’t bypass it the way
they do normal armor.

Thanks for your tips. The GM told me at the end of the campaign that I knew what the necklace did because I was shot by it. I assumed that I didn't know because I had to identify it at town or something.

Mostly because of my inexperience. Now that I know better I will ask wether or not I know what that does. Though if I get shot by it and I see the creature using it then I know what it does. (It was a halfling who had a necklace and slung a bead from his necklace at me on fire)

That would of been very useful. I now see why splitting the party is not so smart. Definitely should of ganged up on one guy at a time, we under estimated the final encounter.

Also I see I can appraise things, use detect magic on the, and then spellcraft to find out what they have. This will be very useful in the future.

Last but not least save the most powerful spells for the end. Thanks for the information :D.

I recently started playing this game, in the past we played D&D but the poor man's version which I won't get into. Therefore you can say this is my first true role playing experience in many years. I rolled up a Sorceress with the following stats.

As far as rolls go we did the classic dice rules where you roll 4 2d6 and discard the lower dice roll. We only got to rolled once though, is that normal? (For each stat) No re rolling sucks but I guess I understand why.
Str 7
Dex 13
Con 14
INT 13
Wis 8
CHA 16

I chose Half Elf and my Bloodline power is Elemental (Water). She is level 3 now but for explanation lets say she is level 2.

Currently I have 5 0 level spells.
Read Magic(Useless most of the time but necessary I heard)
Detect Magic (Kinda useless for the entire campaign)
Daze (useful)
Ray of Frost (Horrible rolls on getting to hit with this, but I need some damage)
Resistance (Not too bad but only lasts a minute and is a touch attack)

My two level 1 spells are
Mage Armor
Hypnotism

How our campaign went. First we had a Cleric, Paladin, Bard, Sorceress, and a Ranger.

In our first encounter we did very well. (Well our first encounter with me in it because everyone was already level 2 from a previous adventure) After that we got ambushed and did fine. (In a forest)

From there we were going to negotiate for release of a prisoner but instead we just attacked. The ranger snuck around and freed the prisoner. Meanwhile I hypnotized a bugbear and told him to go to sleep.

Also the Bard was playing a song and almost all the enemies where unable to attack which was awesome. We did really good in this encounter but there was a big problem.

We were burning all of our most powerful spells, this would prove costly later on. We freed the prisoner but he was not the guy who we were suppose to find.

He joined us as a fighter (A new player entered the game so now it's 6 of us)

The next session we were heading up to an Abbey. Also we left the wagon with much of the gear we had acquired (The Magical Gear) before we went up the road to the Abbey (In a mountain) We totally made a big mistake. We did not use the equipment we had gotten from the enemies of the previous encounter. There was a necklace of fire beads and some other useful things. The necklace still had like 6 beads and they casted the spell fireball. (Some people did use some stuff but the magically stuff was what we really needed)

The problem is the necklace was used against me, and since this was my first time I didn't realize that now I was able to tell what the necklace did. I still thought we had to go to town to identify the items.

We were unable to go to town before the Abbey assault because we had a 2 hour deadline on rescuing the hostage. The only spell I had was Mage Armor (left for the day) I used that on myself which was another mistake. I should of used it on the Bard who only had an AC of 15 bumping him to 19 (+4)

(My elemental spell Elemental Ray was already used up. I used it 6 times in the last encounter. (Mistake))

So basically we're going in with barely any spells. The cleric had like one or two heals left and so did the bard. So this is how it went.

We have the element of surprise because we heard a flute being played. The enemies were dancing, drinking, and distracted inside the Abbey. (This was seen by the Ranger who snuck inside)

We bash the door down and proceed to attack. After dealing with a few enemies we are faced with 5 bug bears. Also there is a bear chained up in the corner who we bull rushed an enemy into.

We defeat the 5 bug bears plus a few humans and go into a room toward the left. (From the entrance of the Abbey) There is another boss (Forgot the type) we defeat him. Now here is where I think we made a big mistake.

I go off to the room on the right and try to open it.(From the entrance hall) Meanwhile everyone is busy talking looting all the kills. I keep trying to open the door but my strength is really low. We have a bunch of keys and no one tried the right key on this door.

Also no one with a high strength tried to bash the door open. Everyone decided to go into the two unlocked double doors leading to the main hall of the Abbey/Church. Again I don't find the reasoning for that and was totally against it. Why go through the unlocked double doors when there is a side door that's locked and might have good things in there.

(We decide also to keep the hostage bear chained up he's not our objective) We enter the hall and at the end we encounter an elf playing a flute.

The Bard tries to match his tune and fails pissing him off. We also noticed an angel statue. Once the Elf is upset he summons the statue and it turns into a hideous creature. It looked like a Gargoyle which flew right up to us. At this point we engage.

Half the party rushes the Elf Rogue which was a big mistake but we all thought it was the right move. (Kill the leader first) (More on this later) I move off to the left to try and daze the Rogue leader. (It fails because he has more than 4 hit dice, fair enough)

The Paladin and the Cleric are taking on the Gargoyle. He is not hard to hit but he hits very hard at times. Meanwhile the Bard, Fighter, and Ranger go up to the Elf.

The Ranger is freeing the prisoner at this point and we do have the opportunity to retreat.

Also at this point I fail a perception check on a D19+1 20. Not sure how I failed but I got hit in the back by another stupid sneaking Rogue. I take a couple points of damage before I'm able to back out and the Paladin engages.

So at this point. Paladin engaged on Rogue. Cleric on Gargoyle. Bard and Fighter on leader/boss. Ranger trying to free prisoner. I'm backing up and going to help the Fighter/Bard as soon as I can.

The rational was we were trying to kill the boss to see if the Gargoyle would die. (Since he sorta summoned him after he stopped playing the flute)

This proved fatal. The boss was super hard to hit, we almost killed him but he drank 2 health points. (Moderate potions) The gargoyle had lots of hp but he was easier to hit. We eventually kill the rogue that ambushed me but by now everyone is low on hp.

Also I was missing almost all of my rolls on Ray of Frost. I think I only hit like once or twice max. Problem being my DC save is only 13 and it being a ranged touch attack.

Everyone eventually gets knocked out and i'm faced with a Dilenma. I decide to run for my life and make it out alive. The gargoyle ended up not being able to leave the Abbey entrance. I had to leave the prisoner behind. Everyone died and got wiped out.

I think I gained like 300 or so GP and level 3. However my entire party got destroyed. What should I do at this point?

The GM said he is interested in playing now so I was thinking of coming up with my own adventure. I've never been a DM before but I fortunately do have the time to come up with something decent. Everyone would have to reroll a new character though.

We messed up big time.
1. Didn't use the magic equipment we got from previous encounter. (Fireball necklace)
2. I didn't cast the right spells on the Bard to help his AC.
3. We should of retreated or attacked the Gargoyle first, since he was the biggest he had way lower dex than the rogue boss.
4. The ranger should of focused on fighting instead of trying to free the prisoner.
5. We burned our best spells way too early in the campaign. I did this thinking we were going to be able to rest.

Finally overall it was a fun campaign, I survived but only because I ran for my life. I tried helping as much as I could but I'm pretty useless without my other spells. What do you guys think? Thanks.

I think cheaters really ruin games. I use to know this one guy who is my friend's brother but he was just someone who couldn't play without cheating. It ended really bad lets just say and I no longer go to that house.

If he's already been accused of cheating then you got a compulsive cheater on your hands. I'd kick him out and tell him he needs to learn to stop cheating and realize that in life you can't always win.

The suggestion of doing it privately sounds fine since that's your friend. However you need to make your friend realize that cheating is not the way to winning and having fun. It feels much better to achieve something by not cheating than by cheating.

Let us know how it goes.

We as far as I know don't really keep track of total weight, we just don't carry or horde stuff. We did have a wagon where we tossed stuff in, but after our last adventure my Sorceress wast he only one to survive. We just make sure that we only carry reasonable amount of things if we're looting.