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Modules don't tend to draw quite as much interest as Adventure Paths, as they aren't the big names that Adventure Paths are. I actually find modules the ideal material for PbP, though, as they're long enough to have a full story but short enough that even the most average group has a fair shot at completing that story all the way through.
I'd be interested, for anything except Dragon's Demand as I'm already in a PbP for it. I do have to say 5th to 8th level is about my sweet spot for Pathfinder play, so I'm excited to see that most of your options are in that range.
Also prestidigitation, because all I need is a water source and I have infinite, caffeine-free-so-as-to-not-give-me-jitters tea/coffee. >:)
The monk in our game right now has a 100 foot land speed, I think? It's not even that absurd compared to what can be done, but he can already speed in school zones on his morning jog. It's actually one of the things he enjoys most about the character - especially since he's got permanent enlarge person now, his carrying capacity is pretty high, and the few other characters who don't have flight are pretty light, so the party's getaway plan is literally "he picks them up and runs".
I'm leaning toward revisiting a character from a previous campaign, Elia Aoine. I'm still working on adding more details to her story and making sure her statblock is accurate and in accordance with this campaign's guidelines, but the link above will let you see my progress.
I'd been leaning toward oracle or druid to start, so I'll probably go that route to give a caster-y option. (Still at least in part martial, though - I'm playing a couple of full casters right now in other games.)
Shoot, I'll have to rethink, I was going to propose a werebear skinwalker warpriest. XD
It’s good to see someone new trying to GM on PbP and to see a good response. It encourages me to consider trying it myself. Good luck with the game!Apparently all you need is a good recruitment post. I really wasn’t expecting this many people to consider applying. Tbh, a good recruitment post really does make all the difference. As a brand new GM, it can basically be your "audition" and give people an idea of your style and skill when they don't have any other reference, and it shows that you're willing to invest in the effort. (And it's pretty darn rare that a group doesn't at least get enough people to make a party - I don't think I've ever had to give up on a recruitment due to lack of interest.)
Bard 1/rogue 1/wizard x, who was using acid splash with 1d6 sneak attack as a primary attack strategy well past level 10. Didn't use other means to increase sneak attack, didn't use other means to increase rounds/day or effective level of bardic performance, and never used most of his spells. Was an elf, so could have carried and used a bow; never did. The rest of the group was strong enough that we got by fine, and he had fun, which I suppose is what really counts, but man, it hurt.
Oh...um...they apparently and decisively do not...Maybe you could play an animal companion or some kind of sentient shrub. Or get the GM to OK an intelligent ring of arcane signets as my under-2000-gp magic item and roleplay as the ring with wanderlust piloting the dominated PC instead of as the PC. XD 20-point buy it is. I'll think on it and get back later.
Bit intrigued, so I'll dot in. Let's see if the dice want me to play... = 9
Oh...um...they apparently and decisively do not...
Oh, that ring. That amazing, amazing ring. The first damage the hunter that put it on took was self-inflicted from a critical fail, and I think it was top 5 in the funniest things that's ever happened in our group. (And, being the tough, grizzled woodsman type, he didn't hesitate for a second to grab his handaxe and cut it off, which made it even better.)
Another fun formula I like for culture-specific swears is (deity name)'s (body part) - it doesn't even have to be anything particularly inappropriate to work well. Desna's thumbs!
As Khan says, how you play a monster and use their abilities can have as much impact on the true difficulty of the encounter as any mechanical changes. Dragons especially have personalities and individual quirks, being intelligent and sapient. Maybe this one is unintelligent and not good with spellwork; maybe it ran afoul of a powerful witch and was on the bad end of a bestow curse spell that renders it unable to use its breath weapon. Even pride can weaken it, making it think the party too incapable to be worth smarter tactics like staying off the ground or using terrain to its advantage. An NPC can be a good way to give some tailored support if you think they need it, although as was previously mentioned you'll have a lot on your hands already without having to run one. A cache of potions/oils like align weapon or protection from energy gifted to them would serve much the same purpose without creating more burden on yourself. A spectacular source of information they can use to figure out their foe, such as a hidden library or a diviner NPC, could also strengthen them a great deal while giving them more agency in their preparation, since they're the ones seeking out that information.
This sounds amazing. :D I'll start pondering character ideas. Will you continue this thread as a recruitment, or will a new recruitment thread be started up? Also, further guidance on the mechanics of character creation will help so that I can get started with the crunchy bits.
Ooh, I'm getting more interested. Answers to your queries: Level - I'm good with any starting level, but level 5-7 is my sweet spot for Pathfinder. Most characters can at least mostly do what they want to be doing without it being too over-the-top. Gestalt - Prefer no, but it's not a dealbreaker. Tone - I concur with Zanbabe: dark, but not utterly hopeless. Think Brothers Grimm instead of Lovecraft. Third Party - Even if it's allowed I probably won't use it (unless it's Elephant In The Room feat tax rules, which I do recommend and use in my own games. Time Period - Been there, done that with 1998. ;) I'd prefer 1880s or 1940s, ultimate preference I think 1880s.
I'm interested in hearing more so that I can start thinking about ideas.
Rocket: awakened raccoon gunslinger. Not typically a PC race, but doable with GM permission without having to actually change mechanics/rules. (A truly accurate rendition of course will need to include either modern guns or Numerian tech, which depending on the campaign might require some GM buy-in, too.) Groot: ghoran verdant bloodrager. It doesn't hit quite every ability we've seen, but incorporates a lot of the flavor. Unarmed strikes, of course.
Peri-blooded aasimar would be my choice, as their description already talks about having warring influences from multiple bloodlines. It involves a little bit of reflavoring, but definitely worked for the character I made that had both fiendish and angelic ancestry.
Another vote here for some kind of smoke/fog effect (and that adds a nice spookiness factor). A deeper darkness spell effect should do it, too, if you want to go the darkness route.
I'd make it a bluff check, DC possibly related to how much damage one took. Not hard to push through 1hp damage stoically, pretty difficult to push through 100.
Physical laborers are needed in just about any place and setting - Lonjiku Kaijitsu could be looking for some heavy lifting for a job in the Glassworks, or one of the inns could want a long-term heavy muscle type. Or maybe the town needs help setting up for the festival that's coming up... Escort missions are another mainstay in any fantasy game setting, with the numbers of monsters that are roaming about. Maybe one of the local noble families is going on a trip and wants some extra (literal or metaphorical) muscle to make sure animals or other nuisances don't cause trouble.
Happy to support this. Anyone know if there's an easy way to use the flip maps in Roll20? I haven't done it with the Flip Maps specifically, but for pulling AP maps I've done it two ways: 1) use a PDF image extractor to extract the map images I want, then drag and drop them into Roll20 and adjust as usual2) use the Windows Snipping Tool to take a snip of the map in question, save the images, then drag and drop them into Roll20 and adjust as usual Number 1 gives better image quality, but has been a bit more fussy for me in the past getting the images to extract correctly. Number 2 is not as good of picture quality, but is fairly simple to do and works well enough to give the group an idea of where they are and where they've been. Hopefully one of the two works for you.
I've marked the post to be moved to the Rules forum, where it fits better than Paizo General Discussion. You'll be more likely to get better help there.
+1 for maximizing hit points and an occasional extra enemy or two as appropriate. I've been running Reign of Winter for a 6-person not-crazy-optimized party, and these two strategies have hit just the right balance between challenging the party without threatening to kill them *too* often. The nice thing is, they're easy to change mid-stream if a fight ends up being unexpectedly way easier or way harder than expected.
The answers are as varied as the characters you want to play (just as no two humans are the same, so should no two orcs be the same), but in general, orcish ways strike me as very direct, with little patience in general for dishonesty or subterfuge. That most obviously plays out in power struggles, but would play out in friendly interactions as well. Your orc friend isn't going to recognize hints or suggestions for what they are - "maybe it'd be nice to have someone else to face the dragon with" isn't going to get your message across, where "come with me to kill the dragon" will.
I'm running Reign of Winter right now. If you're planning on playing pure blaster caster Winter Witch, you may find the amount of cold resistance you encounter frustrating. But non-damaging witch hexes and spells are always an option, and not everything has cold resistance. All in all, a Winter Witch will not be unplayable. You will come up against a ton of fire vulnerability, so if you want to play pure blaster caster a fire-based character may be more fun for you.
Second the screenshot/snip option Almarane presented. I use it for my online group, and while it's not perfectly high-resolution, it works well enough for our purposes. (It's certainly more detail than I got drawing on my Chessex mat with wet-erase markers.) You can also try looking for a PDF image extractor (there are several free ones available); it may do what you want, but I found it to be an over-fussy option when the Windows snipping tool exists.
Add some extra healing potions and a few scrolls of status removal/bring-back-to-life spells that are on the spell list of someone in your party to what they find in loot. That gives them the tools they need. If no one in the party has anything on their spell list that can take care of a particular status they need reversed (which is pretty uncommon, as even wizards can do a fair amount of status removal), provide an NPC in whatever "home base" they have that can do that spell casting for a fee. Or consider a magic item that gives them limited use of a spell they're desperately missing that can just be activated by command word. Beyond that, if they find they need someone dedicated to in-combat healing, that's for them to decide and resolve (via cohort, hireling, or change of character). If they don't decide they need that resource, then that's their call to make too. My current party has gone for ten levels now without a traditional healer, and there's no appetite at all to change that. We can cobble together enough answers to issues with the party members we do have to make it through just fine.
As a player in a few of Fabian's past campaigns, I can echo what others have said, that it'll be a great experience. Unfortunately, real life is a higher CR foe than any demon, and that's the one I've got to face down right now, or I'd be all in!
I'm in an all-kineticist party right now, and it's fascinating how many very different characters can come from the same core mechanics.
It's a *far* better deal for martial characters than spellcasters, but I don't think that's a bad thing. I definitely would only allow it once, though, if I did allow it. Stacking it up is going to lead to insanity. If you're open to allowing the Advanced template, be prepared to consider the option of allowing characters to add on any +1 template in place of a character level - I'd be very surprised if your players didn't ask about it. That'd allow even more character customization and well-roundedness, although it could lead to some crazy synergies that are hard to anticipate as well.
My advice very much mirrors the rest - work with your GM to get the aesthetics you want. I know for me as a GM, as long as an item's mechanics don't change (i.e. moving something to a different slot, making it significantly harder to disarm/damage, etc.), it can look however they want it to look, especially if the character is having the items custom-crafted or is coming into a game with them. (Also, look at magic item tattoos. They're a very by-the-book way to accomplish what you want, and although they cost more, they completely win out in terms of aesthetic and cool points.)
As others have stated, the way to counter high AC is to not target AC. Enchantment spells in particular are a good way to do this, as low Will saves are frequently side-by-side with high AC. Essentially, your enemies see the high defenses of your frontliners and turn them into a weapon against the party, which is a completely reasonable way for them to respond to untouchable opponents. (This has actually led to some of my party's favorite encounters, as the PCs are likely as big a threat as any NPCs they will face.)
(like giving all dwarves Scottish accents)Never understood this one. Almost all fantasy dwarves are based on Tolkien's, and those guys seemed to have more of a germanic and norse feel to them, with maybe a *little* celtic thrown in. Original intention was actually somewhat Arabic, interestingly enough.
I'm not aware of any website or guide that specifically gives roleplaying tips. Something important to note, though, is that not every member of a race is going to RP the same. Race can certainly inform who they are, but just as two humans can be wildly different in manner and temperament, so too can two halflings or two tieflings. Imitation can really be a valuable place to start when it comes to beginning RP. Pick a character you like from a movie/TV show/etc., build a Pathfinder character that reminds you of them somewhat, then use that character as a starting point for your roleplaying. Another good way to start can be to make a short list of two or three defining character qualities that you want to focus on. For example, if you were describing Sam Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings, you might say loyalty and lack of education/travel experience were his defining qualities. Then, whenever a situation arises, think about how those few qualities would inform the character's response.
As Scott says, any levels you take in a particular class will have the same archetype(s). You don't get to pick and choose which levels do and don't have it. Each ability of an archetype isn't always balanced with the specific ability it trades for; the balance comes from all the abilities that are traded out.
This. With it being an optional ruleset that most campaigns don't use and one that wasn't overall well-received, most likely it wasn't worth it to Paizo to invest in it further.
As I said before, the archivist bard is a pretty good archetype for the performance it uses in place of Inspire Courage. It does require some investment in Knowledge skills, but with Bardic Knowledge and a reasonable Intelligence that's not hard to pull off. The Arcane Healer, Solacer, or Songhealer could all buff your healing ability, since you said you were interested in that. Besides that, if you see another archetype you like the idea of, just check to make sure it doesn't interfere with spellcasting or Inspire Courage and you're probably ok. Fortunately, races with Charisma bonuses abound, so there's lots of options that'll buff that aspect (and it sounds like you'll want to focus on Charisma). Aasimar in particular have lots of subtypes with Charisma bonuses, as well as buffs to Diplomacy. (Peri-blooded aasimar, with +2 Int and +2 Cha, has probably the ideal stat buffs, if you aren't intending to mix it up in melee much.) As Voodist said, human is also pretty much always a good choice, with the flexible bonus and extra feat. (Speaking of feats, Extra Performance and Expanded Arcana are solid possibilities.)
Make a bard! (It's my answer to most questions!) Their Inspire Courage performance is a solid buff to any weapon users, they have lots of spells that can shut down enemies, being a Charisma-based character makes social skills a cinch, and they have access to the cure line of spells. Even a Core rulebook character could handle all these things, but extra options such as archetypes can help to expand them. For what you're specifically looking at, I would consider using the archivist archetype, as it will buff some of your options for debuffing, skills, and buffs (including adding an AC boost to your performance that Inspire Courage doesn't have). The archivist bard I made as a GMPC for my Rise of the Runelords campaign was a group favorite for all the utility she brought.
I've gotten into another campaign, so I'll withdraw and leave space for others in this one. Thanks!
Then I'll have something ready to go soon!
I've got Herolab on hand, so, like, 20 minutes? But you don't have to make an exception on my account if you don't want to. Have fun with your four folks. :)
I'd definitely be interested! Kineticists are one of my favorite classes. But I don't want to detract from anyone who's already signed up for one of the four elements. Is it all right if I put up a set of stats for if someone decides they won't be able to make it? Or for if you decide you want an aetherkineticist with the power of heart. ;)
I think I could work with either set, but I'd probably pick the first. I'll keep an eye out for if something opens up!
I'm pondering throwing a character in for consideration. I had an improvised weapon/combat maneuver fighter in another instance of this module that fizzled out, so I might refine that and bring her in.
I had a lot of fun running the module Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale, which is level 6. It's more open-world than a lot of modules, and gives a lot of opportunity to add or customize things based on your group's wants and needs.
Actually, I hadn't seen the PF2 Gamemastery Guide before, and it looks interesting. Any chance I could snag a PDF of that?
It's true, amazingly generous! If it's possible, I wouldn't mind getting my hands on PF2 Bestiary 2, although if it's not possible to preorder for another user I'm glad to let the chance go to someone else.Sorry, Rennaivx - it doesn’t seem to be possible to preorder the PDF, only the physical book. I thought that might be the case. Oh well! Still a great thing you're doing. :)
Out of combat I just have healing items/spells do full healing, since when you aren't distracted you can focus on using (insert item/spell here) in the right way to maximize it. It hasn't broken anything yet and it makes it way easier to math.
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