Rhishisikk's page

Okay, I realize a lot of this is probably in Burnt Offerings, but:

With the exception of the Master Runewell in the Runeforge, each runewell can only hold 1-3 sins, is this correct?

The "control dias" for a Runewell limits what the power in the well can be used for?

It requires special training / feat in order to bond with a Runewell for features other than summoning things?

Special Sihedron rituals are needed to "recharge" a pool through sinful fatalities? Or just chuck a sinful critter into the well and watch it dissolve?

I had other questions, but I'm going to plead night-brain. I'll be back after I try to sleep.

Was disappointed that UC didn't introduce any "Edge" feats, which led me to a revelation: What is the difference between chi (ninja) and ki (monk)?

If you look at it mechanically, Grit and Resolve are just renamed, class specific, Edge. Unless I'm missing something?

I'm seriously considering going through and mashing all that stuff together.

Idea from a thread on enchanting monk's fists. Someone mentioned magical tattoos that take up item slots. (The magic of the tattoos interferes with magic item use.)

I don't have the rules on Shaonti face-paints from CotCT in front of me at the moment, but it's something similar, IIRC.

Not sure what Seoni's facial tattoo does, but I keep coming back to Second Darkness' Cyphergate.

Anyway, I don't see where this concept is broken. In fact, unless you can take the tattoo off (or have interwoven Celtic tattoos, and choose which one is active [like a staff... ooh, I like my brain]), it is actually LESS unbalancing than magic items themselves. I'm pretty sure that Permanency is cheaper than the equivalent magical item/tattoo.

But back to the main idea for this thread, for each character class, what tattoos would you want?

For Shaonti barbarians:
Eyes - something allowing eagle (distance) vision
Face - wolf pattern around nose for Scent ability
Arms - +STR
Armor - natural armor (like barkskin, but re-themed)
Amulet - endure elements
Feet/legs - something similar to horseshoes of Zephyr, increase movement rate

For arcane types:
Eyes: detect magic, arcane sight, read aura (forget the spell name)
Head: comprehend languages, +INT, or Pearl of Power
Hands: +DEX (for ranged touch attacks)
Feet: expeditious retreat
Belt: feather fall
Cloak: fly

For divine types
Eyes: detect [alignment], deathwatch
Head: +WIS, otherwise same as arcane
Hands: healing spell (as Pearl of Power), possibly Light as well
Amulet: Status (also Pearl of Power)

Honestly, there's a LOT of potential here.

This is an extension from another posting, which I place here for clarity and organization sake. This thread is for Burnt Offerings; if you have suggestions for other parts of the AP, please put them in another thread.

The adventure's start is critical. Sandpoint is a rich roleplaying environment, and it takes little effort to bring the PCs more fully into the town.

Prior to the Swallowtail Festival:
1) let (or force) the PCs listen to the gossip around town
2) I forget where the thread is with jobs before the festival, this is a great way to introduce the PCs to NPCs and places. The more they value Sandpoint, the more likely it is they will be proactive in defending it.

Having two or three potential "meet this NPC" encounters for each NPC would be welcome. Let the players find the NPCs they love, and the thought that Sandpoint could get wiped off the map suddenly becomes something more critical than "now we have to walk farther to sell off all this stuff...".

Having relationship handles for various NPCs (and noting which NPCs gain benefits from their romances) would help the verisimilitude.

The death of one of the goblin chiefs at the hands of Belor Hemlock during the raid is downplayed in the AP; I'd like the option to have it happen on the edge of a fight the PCs are on the other end of.

Seeing, either first hand or through after-the-raid evidence that horses and dogs kill goblins would be COOL. Example: Aldern Foxglove is hiding from a goblin, whose companion has been crushed by his horse (which threw him and ran away, or is lamed by a lucky dogslicer hit).

Listing the "Ten Things You Need to Know About Goblins" where the PCs talk to Shalelu would be more helpful than having them outside the adventure entirely. (Although having them in front of the Goblins section of an "adventure bestiary" appendix would be almost as good.)

Copy and cut pages for statistic blocks would help IMMENSELY with the combats.

Rules for fighting a house on fire would be nice, but not story critical. (Although going into a burning house to save a woman's screaming husband, and having her REAL husband ask what he was doing (naked/under-dressed) in their bedroom seems priceless ATM...)

A chance to admire (or want, for example, a stained glass portrait window for the shrine) Kaijutsu glass makes Lonjiku's death important to the PCs, rather than "Oh, another nameless NPC died off screen. Pity, that."

I had other thoughts rummaging around in my head - they'll be back at the surface later.

When attempting to combine caravan rules into the Kingdom rules from Kingmaker, I discovered a HUGE problem: one BP is equal to 400 trade goods on the caravan scale.

Mind you, 1BP buys the entire starting caravan, plus goods, so I think it's still a sound concept. But how long does the caravan take to gain 4k gp? If I'm reading the other threads properly, about a year or so.

So please help save me from a brain embolism; I've already stopped caring about where in the world the corrupt lumber baron is (for the cheaper goods).

I've already stopped worrying about economy in a Colonization (computer game) level accuracy; if something's a decent amount of work for me, my players aren't going to want to do it.

But my main question is: where are the profits in a caravan, or in trade between kingdoms at all? Copper is mined in Kopperkroft, refined in Janderhoff, and the goods are sold in Korvosa, so there must be some kind of profit in moving stuff about the world...

Came across an idea in the tier discussion:

What classes could, with a little effort, be just archetypes of each other? Are there any classes that already meet that criteria?

My concern is that 3.5 suffered from "class diarhea", where rather than give existing classes options to "reflavor" them, they just created new classes. (Fighter-Samurai, Rogue-Ninja, etc.)

Admittedly, Pathfinder has been better; realizing the wu-jen (Elementalist wizard) is just an archetype of wizard, for example. But the main focus is: what have they missed?

Is ranger distinct from fighter/druid? Paladin from cavalier/cleric?

Please put prestige classes in a different thread. :) Thanks.

Just read a post where a magus could pretend to be an inquisitor. In the past, I have played a ninja pretending to be an expert (easy), and am currently playing an inquisitor who thinks of himself as a ranger.

But before I meander:
What classes have an easy time pretending to be another class, getting the same sort of thing done, even if through different game mechanics?

Any who can help:

Ran across a reference to Runelord Sorshen becoming immortal. The only reference I can find is that she was the Runelord of Lust. I recall her having been done in by the succubi that she summoned to her section of the Runewell. Can anyone add anything extra?

Thanks in advance for your time and effort.

Using Beta and every web document I could get my hands on, I managed to restart my Rise of the Runelords campaign.

Having only three characters, the arcane lost out as 'least needed coverage area'. The players decided on a lean, mean, aggressive party build. Character generation bogged down at that point, as the players familiarized themselves with Golarion (but showed little interest in Sandpoint, none of them being locals).

Characters:
Elf/Taldan Rogue (Travelling scholar, decided against BARD)
Ulfen Fighter (Still looking for a unique one handed axe)
Orc/Chelaxian Paladin (Of Iomedae, player still learning about her)

The group, for it's aggressive build, rapidly went about roleplaying in the town. In fact, we haven't reached the Swallowtail festival yet. In spite of this, the players enjoyed themselves, and a good deal of roleplaying XP was earned.

Among the sins, Greed took the lead, with a bit of Wrath and minor smatterings of the other sins. Envy, Lust, and Gluttony were the only ones absent. (I don't really know how to measure Envy, and my players ALWAYS assert noble intentions of their PCs.)

Players found the races balanced, but had trouble choosing between the literally dozens of identical human cultures. (With the exception of the half-orc, who finds it appealing that he doesn't have to be a drow to be the righteous member rebelling against his evil society!)

I needed to print out copies of the equipment list from Beta and needed to create a list of rumors for PCs to overhear. Otherwise, the game was a huge success; I'm looking forward to how the Ulfen reacts to the goblin warchant (although I expect she'll take it akin to a personal challenge).

As indicated by the title, I was unable to buy PDFs for Pathfinder issues #17 and #18 in spite of finding PDFs for 19-21. This isn't a HUGE issue - I've got plenty of stuff to read before the missing PDFs.

Oh, and not being able to subscribe to PDF downloads of Pathfinder is a minor oversight on y'all's part.

But I have to go and relabel LOTS of downloads, so count on me being happy for at least two or three weeks.

I know that NOBODY cares that I promised to test Channel Energy before giving it the nod. And nobody cares that after much playtesting, I've discovered it isn't that much worse than sneak attack.

HOWEVER, it does make the clerics important parts of the battlefield. Having watched three PCs (and henchmen) butcher a bunch of undead clerics, I've had to conclude that Channel Energy alone is NOT overbalancing. Even had the battle gone less well for the PCs, their own clerics could have kept them alive until the negative energies of the cultists had all been discharged.

SNEAK ATTACK, after a bit of consideration, is also still not unbalanced, and the ability of the rogue to sneak attack the undead also contributed to the battle above.

Anyway, my point is in spite of my original reservations, thorough playtesting of both positive and negative energy channeling has shown me that alone, it isn't broken. So I'll worry about the possible combos sometime soon, but so far it looks good.

Oh, BTW, never let a group with more than two clerics attack a tomb with mostly undead things in it. Unless you INTEND for it to become a 'turn it till it dies!' scenario.

Forgive me, but I have tried to walk my players through the links to get their own copies of the rules. It is more of an annoyance than a show-stopper, but is there any way you could either:

A) put the link in a more central location, or
B) add a link for 'Email this file to:' (preferred)

They are both good/zany playtesters, pushing the thresholds of what the system is supposed to be. They're just computer-stupid.

I've read a number of threads showing that other classes are as impressive, if not more so, in combat as the fighter. So my question is this:

Is fighter the new warrior? A redundant and un-needed class thrown in for the people who just want to play something simple rather than something cool?

Or to rephrase, is there any reason you'd want (or better yet, need) the fighter of your group being an actual PC, rather than a hireling?

Or to rephrase, is there something the fighter can do that other classes cannot?

For me, the main advantage of the fighter was they were the only class with the ability to perform in combat all day, if healing were available. Ranger didn't have the feats to keep up, and I always thought paladin was broken. Barbarian had his rage, but that left him too tired to keep up. In Pathfinder, I've seen levels 1-4 of the base four in play. So far, I admit that rogue holds its own in combat. BUT I haven't seen anything that suggests that all fighters should just remake themselves as rogues.

Okay, I've become fed up with all the posts about limited weapon proficiencies for certain classes. Perhaps there should be rules for swapping out, or choose X of the following weapons options?

Swiping from both another thread and the Assassin's Creed game, there are multiple ways of performing this task.

Diplomacy: Asking around for what people know.

Sense Motive: Find people that know more, but don't want to say it.

Bluff: As per the Amber series of novels (and Cook's 'metal detective' series), pretend to know more than you do and see what extra info people assume you already know.

Intimidate: Pummel people until they talk, or pull a Rorsach. (Or a Marcus, for all you B5 fans.)

For adults:

Disguise: Pretend to be either someone the target knows, or someone they don't know but know they need to answer to.

In general, I'm tempted to reference the little bubble charts for figuring out tech devices in White Peaks (IIRC, I remember it's the first adventure that has a froghemoth). But this leads to the Glantri political system, which was never explained well enough to be useful. That, and I'm tempted to find a copy of Red Arrow, Black Shield.

But I'm going to stop me before I babble on too much. My main point is that even simple activities can, with a little creativity, enhance the adventure rather than cause it to stagnate.

Am I the only one who thinks that the sorcerers who gain non-damaging powers at level 9 are being nerfed for that level? At 6th level, a sorcerer can cast the Fly spell. So at 9th, he gains the Fly spell once per day (Wings of Heaven, Celestial Bloodline, p29)? I am unenthused, especially when compared with Grasp of the Dead (Undead Bloodline, p32).

Not sure yet how I feel about the rough balance between Bloodlines and Schools. The general theme seems to be that Sorcerers are more competent at close combat, but wizards have broader and more rapid progress with magic.

I was unenthused with Sorcerers before, and they still leave me feeling disenchanted. I know players who will playtest them, so I'm willing to do that. But I don't know that I'd pick one to play.

Disclaimer: Haven't actually playtested barbarian powers yet.
IMHO, the following barbarian powers might be overpriced:
Clear Mind

Elemental Rage [6 or 9]: depends how many attacks the barbarian is expected to be effective with.
[SIDE_NOTE] Something that adds to the weapon's damage for 6 rage points per die seems better to me. [/SIDE_NOTE]

Mighty Swing [6]

Night Sight [3]
[MEMO]This is because it requires two power picks.[/MEMO]

Quick Reflex [3]: If a feat can give you multiples of these, and increased DR (a feat) costs 6 rage points, I can't see a single attack being more than 3.

Surprise Accuracy may be UNDER-RATED. Check possible combinations with other rage powers. OTOH, this sort of combo is a case of burning a candle on both ends.

Terrifying Howl: Need to check severity of the PANICKED condition, this one might be priced fairly.

Disclaimer: The above are, as noted, UNINFORMED opinions; if you know better, please indicate why you feel I'm wrong, not just that you disagree.

Disclaimer: Work has kept me busy so I really don't know.

How do people think the Sorcerer bloodlines balance with Wizard Schools and clerical Domains?

If the balance is 'off':
1) Do other class features compensate, and
2) If not, how should it be fixed?

Got to thinking about barbarians and Barbarian Chew. Barbarian Chew is an alchemically prepared root that lets barbarians rage for two rounds longer. So instead it now adds two rage points; why is this even worth a post?

What other methods do barbarians have to recharge/renew their rage pools? Are feats planned to let them use their rage powers at cheaper cost? What about feats to gain a rage point every time the wizard's familiar urinates on their backpack?

Of course the simple solution is to say that Barbarian Chew can only be used to add to the duration of a rage. But I thought I'd open the can of worms anyway.

Was reading the thread on Ranger and Paladin spells. Apparently, I've been ignoring the rage pool for Barbarians too long, because it grabbed one of my mental limbs and yanked it back and forth like a dauchaund until I noticed it.

In keeping with my earlier thoughts on PrCs (in the class thread):
Give Paladins the option of developing a 'Faith Pool' to power their abilities and cast spells with. Want to play a chevalier? Take other options, and just enough faith to call yourself a paladin. Want to be the shining beacon of positive energy, light, and goodness? Don't expect to win too many trophies.

Rangers could have a 'Serenity' option for similar use.

HOWEVER, I still agree that these are Fighter/Cleric and Rogue/Cleric builds. But if you HAVE to implement the classes, at least make them flexible enough that just because you're an X doesn't mean you look like every other X.

I like how the base clases choose options as they level up. Then I had my brain pull one of its 'fuzzy' moments, and had an idea.

I was thinking that Barbarian and Ranger were just fighters with different feat types. (Especially ranger, putting terrain and FE in place of armor and weapons.) Somehow, that got mingled in with PrCs (prestige classes).

It hit me; PrCs are just optional picks with specific prerequisites. Once you meet prestige class requirements, then the new pick options start showing up. So you're still a level X main character class, just with options not available to the plain vanilla, who is still better at the mainline stuff than you are.

I would also sever specific organizations from a prestige class of the same name. To grab Hellknights from another thread, I can make cases for base classes of all four archetypes. Rng. PrC choices need a little more work, since different base classes will be taking them. Other than that, it's just a matter of mapping out the 'branches' of ability.

I'm tempted to bring the discussion of Pools from Iron Heroes into the open, but I'll leave that for someone else. Where I would be heading with that is that multiple sources can contribute to the same 'PrC type-level' for the purposes of abilities based on PrC level. For example, Moon Clan Ninja and Kensai would both pull off 'ki' level for their effects, determined by the number of picks from their options.

Ooh, evil, evil thoughts... I'll stop typing and go read somewhere else. This idea still has momentum, and if I keep typing it'll eventually end up in a place where nobody else will want to contribute.

Okay, d6 HP, maxed at first level, plus wizard as favored class, plus toughness feat, plus CON bonus. Result: First level wizard with 11 hp.

It was great to see in playtest! We had a wizard not afraid to move to attack position ahead of the fighters when he had initiative. It was like he was a vibrant part of the party, instead of some feeble old man who needed a wheelchair to get around.

That said, even goblins with tiny spears (d4) nearly knocked him down when the monsters went between the wizard and the rest of the party. In general, it isn't a MUST feat for the wizard, but he's getting mileage and running with it.

Add power attack, and you have the early build for Bigby. It's cool and not unbalancing to see a wizard that can actually hang tough in a fight. Now all we need to do is remind him that he does cast spells... Actually, come to think of it, it's a LOT like Bigby.

One of my players who is supposed to be playtesting the cleric made a pointed argument. At lower levels, a rogue with a wand of cure light wounds can take the place of a cleric, and the VAST difference in skills allows for a the faux cleric to cover the social and knowledge bases better than the true cleric is able to.

Looking at the base classes, I notice that EVERYONE has 2 skill picks, except for the Rogue, who has 8. Four times the skills, possibly worth one level. The only reason to NOT start with a Rogue is that you're a disposable 'starter character' to cover for people taking their rogue levels before branching out into their REAL professions?

Yes, that deprives them of their 20th level abilities, and puts a one level crimp in their mainline abilities. But I understand the temptation. Oh, wait... Tsuto Kaijutsu... Pathfinder adventures themselves encourage multiclassing at low levels.

Or maybe it's near 11 PM here and I've missed too much sleep.

Both playtest groups that I'm running have revealed a potential break in the rules for turn/rebuke.

1) Downed goblins with only slightly negative hp were brought awake again by turn undead bursts used as healing.

2) It is obvious that evil clerics are going to surround themselves with undead.

Both of these can be solved with a single feat option, making both effects much more useful:
Selective Turning
Prereq: Turn/Rebuke Undead
Effect: When you pray for your spells, you may declare one group or type of creature as excluded from your aura effects. Alternately, you may declare only one group as included in your aura effects. This lasts until the next time you pray for spells, and never over-rides your ability to include or exclude yourself from the effect.
Potential Work Needed: I think the term 'group' needs to be better defined.

3) Also, evil cleric is the choice PC class for sentient undead critters. I don't have a fix for that yet.

Response from all players is universally positive to the unified cleric aura. Counters are to deal with evil clerics at range and hammer good clerics in melee. And it makes dealing with neutral clerics dicey, until you know which one is which. Overall, this has enhanced the game, and has approval from the playtesters. I'm holding my opinion until I see how it affects the game at levels 3, 5, and maybe 7, when the potential damage/healing becomes that much more.

On page 34, there is a feat called "Arcane Armor Training". While everything else matches the name, the description is "You can force your magic through a connection between you and a foe you recently struck.".

This error was found by Laura Kraszewski of Houston, Texas. She is willing to work as a proofreader for 80k a year plus benefits. (I have no clue why she's looking at that feat; she's playing the fighter.)

In a related matter, another player asked about the feat "Extra Domain" from Complete Divine. I'm checking now hoping that it's not in the SRD. The player DOES agree it isn't appropriate given what the Domain powers in Pathfinder give you.

My appologies if there is another thread or if these have already been to y'all's attention.