Roanark's page

Thank you all for the replies. I believe my question was answered.

I just realized that in my OP I listed +6 when it should have read +5. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

Thanks for the replies, but I'm less concerned about the +5 limit and more concerned if there's any faq or ruling that specifically allows the class abilities mentioned to overcome DR with a weapon.

The enhancement bonus from Bane has been specifically called out to allow a weapon to count for overcoming DR.

The rules don't care where the bonus comes from, only what the (highest) bonus is. Since those abilities stack with an existing bonus, they do indeed help overcome DR.

However, a +6 isn't possible: "A single weapon cannot have a modified bonus (enhancement bonus plus special ability bonus equivalents, including from character abilities and spells) higher than +10." CRB pg. 468

A +6 could be obtained via Bane triggering. Are you aware of any official rulings on this though? I've seen discussions of permanent bonuses vs temporary bonuses, yet there's been no FAQ for this specific instance that I could find.

If I have a +1 longsword and use one of the listed class abilities to increase it to a +6 longsword for 1 minute, would that sword be able to bypass Cold-Iron/Silver, Adamantine and Alignment per the "Overcoming DR" rules?

Overcoming DR: Damage reduction may be overcome by special materials, magic weapons (any weapon with a +1 or higher enhancement bonus, not counting the enhancement from masterwork quality), certain types of weapons (such as slashing or bludgeoning), and weapons imbued with an alignment.

Ammunition fired from a projectile weapon with an enhancement bonus of +1 or higher is treated as a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Similarly, ammunition fired from a projectile weapon with an alignment gains the alignment of that projectile weapon (in addition to any alignment it may already have).

Weapons with an enhancement bonus of +3 or greater can ignore some types of damage reduction, regardless of their actual material or alignment. The following table shows what type of enhancement bonus is needed to overcome some common types of damage reduction.

I'm currently playing in the Ruins of Azlant AP and as there's a lot of under water combat, I wanted to clarify how this spell would work. Being magical, and not stating that it needs to anchor to anything, I would think that it would "float" in the water and remain exactly where it was cast.

Secondly, when cast outside of water, can you stack two of them on top of each other, thus doubling the height?

Thanks JohnB. They just finished book 5 and I had them level to 14 for the start of book 6. I guess we'll see how well they tackle the first few encounters!

Hey all,

I've been running Kingmaker for over a year now and my group's almost done with book 5 (just cleaning out the dungeons). They stuck pretty closely to the MO for books 1-3 by going out and exploring and handling all the kingdom building themselves. However, since we meet every other week for 3 hours, they were getting tired of spending an entire session or two with the actual kingdom building and exploring (and walking over every combat with ease). So part way through book 4, they decided to hire their own adventuring parties to go and explore the unclaimed lands (with a reasonable margin of death included) Going into book 5 they started off a level behind since they sat back and only participated in the major events. They also wiped out the initial army with a lone druid (wild shape + 3 diseases) and have avoided any other mass combat (they didn't like the rules particularly). So now that they're about to finish book 5 and are only level 13, I wondered what ramifications there would be for going into book 6 way under leveled. Is there any way to get them out exploring or leveled before the next turn of events? They've all focused on AC and anything that offers saves usually dies before it gets to go. I have to fudge some attacks just to give them some sense of not being invincible. As a side note, I have though about having one of their cohorts leave the party as she has been one-shot on multiple occasions and is their only arcane user.

Roanark wrote:

FLite wrote:

Roanark wrote:

Using an item to qualify for a feat is one of the catchy things. As long as you're wearing the item, you meet the prereqs. If you take the item off then you can't do anything else in that feat chain.

And no, you can't use anaconda coil to bootstrap into final embrace, and then make final embrace self sustaining (because final embrace itself gives you constrict) The devs have stated elsewhere that boot straping is not allowed. (I have come across that argument elsewhere on the board.)

Not sure if you were trying to counter my argument or agree with it.. but yes. That's what I was getting at :P

Extending it. :)

Carry on then :)

Roanark wrote:

Using an item to qualify for a feat is one of the catchy things. As long as you're wearing the item, you meet the prereqs. If you take the item off then you can't do anything else in that feat chain.

And no, you can't use anaconda coil to bootstrap into final embrace, and then make final embrace self sustaining (because final embrace itself gives you constrict) The devs have stated elsewhere that boot straping is not allowed. (I have come across that argument elsewhere on the board.)

Not sure if you were trying to counter my argument or agree with it.. but yes. That's what I was getting at :P

Nefreet wrote:

Scott Wilhelm wrote:

how can a PC obtain the Constrict ability

Anaconda's Coils

I had forgotten about Anaconda's Coils. AC seems more expensive at 18K than my PFS characters will ever be able to afford, but it's hard to complain. Constrict,+2 St, and +2 Grappling, which is really +3 if you include the St Mod increase.

The Constrict only does 1d6, but once again, that's pretty good considering what else you are getting. for your 18K.

And FLite, are you sure that Anaconda's Coils will serve as the Final Embrace prerequisite of "creature with the Constrict ability?" I guess that's what it means when it says that after 24 hours of wearing something, the effect becomes permanent. I like it.

Rather than Flurry, though, I was thinking of 2 Claws, a Bite, and maybe White Hair, and hey, as long as I'm in the neighborhood, how about a Mammoth Helm for the Gore Attack. Maybe take Hamatula Strike to activate all my natural attacks, not just the one for Final Embrace Grab. My build has a 16 Dex and takes Snake Fang, so 7 attacks/round by level 3, and another at around level 9 or so, all of them triggering Grapples, all of them scoring Armor Spike Damage, and with Final Embrace, the Constrict Damage from 1d6 to the damage of your main natural attack, in this case Claws that do 2d6. Pretty sweet.

I was thinking that the only way I would get Constrict would be to Wild Shape or Beast Shape into a Giant Octopus, you know, a Monktopus build.

Using an item to qualify for a feat is one of the catchy things. As long as you're wearing the item, you meet the prereqs. If you take the item off then you can't do anything else in that feat chain.

There's a couple of ways my group does stats. The one I just did for my group was come up with 3-4 different arrays using point buy. This let everyone decide if they wanted a more rounded character or wanted a dump stat while keeping the power even.

The other way that one of our GM's came up with was he rolled out 2 arrays with dice and gave us the option of which one to choose. Comes out with more points than if using point buy, but keeps everyone on par.

For HP, we actually roll a d4 for all classes and then add 2-8 based on the class HD (so a fighter rolls 1d4+6+con mod)

Being PFS, the players are going to build their characters to be most effective regardless of what other players bring. It's also generally seen that the best way to take less damage is to kill things faster. That being said, since the players aren't able to discuss builds before coming together, they're going to typically make characters that blow things up in 1-2 hits because the alternative is those monsters surviving 3-4 rounds and doing MORE damage to the party.

So I'm about to play a halfling bard and Oratory will be his first performance. I've written up his intro performance (at least the one that he'll give everyone the first time he meets them) but feel there could be a few changes to make it sound better. It should be known that no one actually calls him chief (they're generally yelling THIEF) but his 6 wisdom has him hearing something else. All suggestions are welcome!

Hi there! The name's Lem Foggybottom, but everyone just calls me Chief. Not sure why, but it sure is better than Foggybottom. If you've ever been to Egorian, Belde, Ostenso or West Crown then you've probably heard of me. If not, well, no matter. You've heard of me now and in person none the less!

Now, this is a story all about how
My life got flipped-turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute
Just sit down and relax
I'll tell you how I became The Chief of Cheliax

In west Egorian born and raised
On the homestead was where I spent most of my days
Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool
And all shootin some rats as a matter of fact
When a couple of gobs who were up to no good
Started making trouble in my neighborhood
I got in one little fight and my mom got scared
She said 'You're movin' with your auntie and uncle in West Crown'

I begged and pleaded with her day after day
But she packed my bags and sent me on my way
She gave me a kiss and then she gave me my stash.
I put my bow on and said, 'What a <bleep>'.

Well, the coach landed and when I came out
There was a dude who looked like a guard standing there with my name out
I ain't trying to get arrested yet
I just got here
I sprang with the quickness like lightning, disappeared

I looked for a tavern and when I came 'round
The sign said fresh and it had mice on the grounds
If anything I could say that I shouldn't relax
But I thought 'Nah, forget it' – 'I'm in Cheliax'

I pulled up to the bar about 7 or 8
And I yelled to the keep 'Yo! Can I get a drink?'
I looked all around
I could finally relax
To begin my adventure, as the Chief of Cheliax

Well.... the paladin just crit Vordaki on a spirited charge while smiting on the first round......

stuff...

more stuff...

even more stuff...

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll be making some changes to the additional quests in VV to better present them to the players. As a side note, how do players typically handle the monthly decisions when out adventuring? My group has done all the planning every month on the 10th in a council meeting. However they just entered Vordakai's tomb on the 11th. Traveling on foot, it would've taken them 2 weeks to get to town and back, which I think is rather silly for just a council meeting. I had to handwave them to level 9 inside the dungeon so they JUST picked up teleport, but can't even get the entire group yet with one casting.

I think I messed up....

So here's my current situation:

1. My groups Kingdom DC is only 25ish, so they still have very few hexes.
2. I ended up sending them the letter from Jamandi to send them to Varnhold.
2. This took place approximately 1 year after RRR
3. They took the road East from Oleg's and then south from Nivakta's down to to Varnhold itself.
4. They spent 2 days there clearing it out then headed east to find the centaurs
5. 2 more days of wandering around before they were captured by a centaur hunting party and brought to the village
6. One character died shortly after leaving the village, so he got an "on loan" centaur to play until they can raise him.
7. The group then made their way to Vordakai's Tomb and are literally knocking at the final door.

So what I think I messed up on..

1. I've completely ignored all of the quests on the inside of the front/back covers as I thought they were given out by the survivors. After reading over them again, it appears I was wrong. So how should I go about handing them out BEFORE they trek all the way back to their capital to get ambushed by quests to send them BACK to nomen heights.

2. The module seems to instill a sense that there's no rush to save the villagers, but there's been nothing to tell them to take their time to explore, so I feel they're going to lose out on a lot of xp when they finish and just run back to their kingdom to plan the next month's budget.

3. After a very rocky start, they've had very little incentive to EXPAND their kingdom and instead are turtling to save up BP to build more buildings in their capital. How do I force them to expand quickly? (Though I've thought that varnhold will tell them that they'll join their kingdom only once it's big enough)

Well, the first building they built was their keep and then picked a few not so good options after that before they were bankrupt. It took them most of a year before they got to the point where they only needed a 5 to pass a stability check and make money. Their current kingdom wealth (max item value) is only a couple thousand gold.

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'm definitely going to be adding some additional loot/gold to their upcoming adventures. It does sort of stink that they have to request magic gear from Restov still since they don't have any buildings that can produce it and none of them are crafters. These I need to start handing specific gear out to fill item slots.

My group just hit level 6 and have already replaced two members that died to the sycthe tree. They've cleared most everything north of the lizard camp (minus the island) but their wealth is still pretty low for their level. I've looked ahead and there doesn't seem to be much left to give them a boost, so are they supposed to be taking money from the coffers to make up for it? (they're already over a year into their kingdom with a rough start behind them)

Yes.. I know this has been asked many times before, but the argument tends to go both ways. From what I can gather, those defending the inability to take a 5' step during a whirlwind attack do so because it's a SINGLE attack (spinning around) to hit your targets.

I'd like to counter that logic with a scenario.

......
..XX..
.XOA..
.AAX..

In this scenario, X is the enemy and A is an ally. By using the logic of "You swing your weapon around you and hit everyone in a single attack, you're going to be doing a roller coaster of a swing to avoid hitting your allies.

If you then choose the side against this argument, you then see the character as taking a separate swing against each enemy and thus avoid the whole roller coaster situation and would thus allow you a 5' step between two of the attacks. (this is my standing but would like some feedback)

Roanark wrote:

my GM has ruled that I have to make a tuning fork with material from the plane I'm sending someone to. So far, I've got Heaven, the material plane, and my own person plane I've created.

Hahaha! Awesome. Send the bad guys to Heaven and let the angels sort them out.

I bet something evil wouldn't go unnoticed there for very long.
Reminds me of a scene from that Constantine movie...

Reach BoL is a fantastic spell.
Grace works well too; immediate action to not provoke AOOs when you move.

I suggest never taking more than one round to buff. Pick two spells, buff, and wade in.
Other buffing should be done when a lull in the fight appears or you're in one of those 'nothing better to do' situations.

Human Diversion is right. Quicken Spell is very important at high levels. Action Economy is more important than anything else in combat.

Would it be worth it to not cast blessing of fervor if haste is already up? The most useful ability it adds is the swift action to stand.

There is a Ring in PF that lets you tap a spell into it for all-day usefulness. Not sure if it works with Divine Favor, Might, etc, but it would save you a combat buff.

All that buffing and no Shield of Faith?

Summons are going to be your offensive power, or Called Allies.

Spell Resistance isn't going to get any easier. If you want to use offensive spells, you'll need to grab the feat, resources to punch it, or use spells that ignore SR.

That's a very low Wisdom for a cleric of your level. I'm surprised you haven't invested in any Inherent bonuses by now.

I don't see Craft Wondrous Item on your feats list?

Have a ring of deflection +5 so no shield of faith is needed. Forgot to add Craft Wondrous Items to the feat list. Haven't had the opportunity to buy inherent bonuses yet (it's been many months in game and out since we've been to normal civilization).

Roanark wrote:

The Human Diversion wrote:

I've never made a caster over level 11 without quicken spell. At some point along the way your greatest resource is actions and quicken lets you cast twice in a round.

That's what the rod of quickening is for :)

Get another, then. Make sure it's a greater rod. Also remember that unless you're constantly holding it, grabbing/drawing the rod is a move action or (if the GM allows it) part of a move.

Planning on picking up another when available. Generally, my GM knows that I use my lesser rod of extend spell in the morning for 34 hour long buffs and then wield my hammer, buckler, quickened rod for everything else.

I've never made a caster over level 11 without quicken spell. At some point along the way your greatest resource is actions and quicken lets you cast twice in a round.

That's what the rod of quickening is for :)

I played a Cleric of Iomedae through 16th level in RotRL. I can understand some of your frustrations with high level play. The stuff that works at low and mid levels doesn't cut it anymore.

My Cleric was primarily a support character, but after 13th level or so had some offensive spellcasting abilities that worked out ok.
It's nowhere near as effective offensively as an equivalent level Wizard, but there's some stuff that works well.

How are you buffing yourself at CL 21? Knowing that might help.

I suggest you use Reach Spell often and grab a rod of Piercing Spell (or several) asap.
Reach works great with the Communal buffs, especially Protection from Evil and Resist Energy.

IMO, one of the most dangerous spells on the Cleric list at mid-high level play is Plane Shift. It's normally a utility spell, but it works great as a SoD at these levels.
It takes a 6th level slot to prep it with Reach Spell; you can use a Rod of Piercing, and/or Dweomer's Essence to boost it past most bad guys' SR.
It is a very effective way to clear out minions, but I wouldn't trust it against a main bbeg; they would have more options to get around it in the long run. Sending an unprepared mook to the negative energy plane or the Abyss is nasty, and you can do it at 65' range.
Or, you can get creative with it.
We called it 'Fancy Shift'

I suggest prepping at least one Reach Breath of Life each day.

You also have a lot of great control options on the basic Cleric list at 7th and 8th level.

Fortunately, your Wisdom is high enough to still be relevant. Do you have a headband that's bringing it up to 21?
I assume you have belt of magnificence with 20s to all physical stats. IMO, Wisdom is more important at this level.

Scrolls of Mass Heal are definitely something I suggest having handy. The check to activate them is easy.

Summon Monster has a lot of useful options at this level too, even if you're not optimized to summon. At least it can...

First, thanks for the reply. I'd planned on using Plane Shift as a SoD spell, but my GM has ruled that I have to make a tuning fork with material from the plane I'm sending someone to. So far, I've got Heaven, the material plane, and my own person plane I've created. I suppose I could send mooks to my plane and either deal with them later or let it pop after 17 days.

I'll have to look at some of the communal spells to use with reach, as that sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately, we don't have access to higher level scrolls at the moment and we're currently not in the position to purchase anything (home brew and we're stuck 32k years in the past trying to fix it)

Stats are from a Belt of Physical Perfection +6 and a Headband of Mental Superiority +4 (will upgrade to perfection +6 when we have the downtime). Caster Level is a combination of an Orange Prism Ioun Stone and a standard set of Prayer Beads.

Was planning on taking Greater Spell Specialization at 17 for Breath of Life. But seeing as I've only had to use the spell once in all the time I've memorized it, having a single prepared reach version may be better.

Looking over buffs earlier, Righteous Might (or Frightful Aspect) + Divine Power + Blessing of Fervor would put me at the top of melee damage output while providing nice DR. The downside would be the two rounds needed for buffing, and my GM informed me that excluding a few exceptions, most of our combats last between 3-5 rounds.

To make a long story short, I have a lvl 16 cleric with the below feats and stats. The rest of the party consists of a Magus, Ranger (Switch Hitter), Witch, Wizard (Evoker and my cohort) and Bard (Cohort of the Magus). I currently provide the main source of healing which is generally with Heal in combat or channels/wands outside of combat. Every combat starts off with a Blessing of Fervor and something else quickened (rod of quickening), but I'm at the point now where I don't know which direction I should take him. He doesn't have the spell penetration needed to confidently overcome SR which we're finding more and more at this level and his melee damage output is way below the Magus or Ranger. Any advice as to what I can do, or am I pretty much SoL? (Changing feats, deities, etc. at this point is not an option and I can only use spells out of CRB, APG, UM and UC)

Stats:
Str/Dex/Con: 20
Int: 18
Wis: 21
Cha: 8
AC: 36 (self buffed w/o combat buffs. Could make it 41 if I swapped out my amulet for NA +5, but currently wearing a necklace of adaptation with 20 Fire Resist on it)

Feats:
Combat Casting
Improved Initiative
Reach Spell
Leadership
Divine Intervention
Spell Focus (Conjuration)
Spell Specialization (Breath of Life)

Typical daily buffs: (all at CL 21)
Magic Vestment x2
Greater Magic Weapon
Status
Windwalk

Alignment: LG
Deity: Torag
Domains: Law/Artifice

Thanks for the ideas everyone. I completely blanked on a moat and will need to work on that. I believe there are siege engines, but I'll work on making some trebs. I'll definitely keep trample in mind for gargantuan statues. Probably spend build points on stone + trample + speed boosts?

My group just acquired a nice sized keep in the homebrew we're playing in. Now, we just finished a major war on one of our borders, and the enemy on the other side is being driven back by an "ally" of ours, so there's currently no immediate threat. My character, as paranoid as he is, doesn't fully trust this "ally" and wants to be prepared to defend. The keep in question was previously used as a foothold due to its location, so any enemies invading from that direction would have to go through its borders.

We have been given funds from the king to staff the keep, and our party is one of the most powerful in the kingdom (we're all level 15).

As far as raw magical power goes... My character is a pure cleric, and the only other pure caster is his follower (level 13 evoker).

My cleric is an artificer and engineer, so I was planning on making some rather large statues and then animating them should the need arise (will make them permanent when he can cast miracle).

Are there any other good methods for defense?

Restrictions: He is lawful good and we are limited to core, apg, um and uc.

Hey all,

I'm curious if anyone has a good app to use for terrain maps that have fog of war capabilities. I'm not planning on using it for combat as we have a hex map to draw on, but I'd like something to use while exploring (specifically kingmaker). I've used picsart previously, but didn't know if there was anything better.

Also, wanted to know how most people handle(d) the kingmaker maps for the players. I'd like to give them a hard copy, but didn't know if that'd have a negative effect.

It varies. The group I am playing with have encountered some easy enough combats, but we've also experienced near TPKs a couple of times and we've also encountered things well outside of our APL ... Trolls at level 2 for example. It really put us on our toes for utilizing diplomacy/bluff/intimidate to get out of precarious situations. All in all, we're currently at level 6 and have had 3 PC deaths, so not a meat grinder, but not a cakewalk.

Thanks. My group is well versed with PC deaths (I forget the total count I had on them in CC). It's a 4 person party, and if they keep their current characters (one already died and has to reroll) then they'll have a Sorcerer, Barbarian, Druid, Rogue (he died).

I'll probably revert to normal Pathfinder rules if I switch to an AP. How's the combat in Kingmaker? Most of my group likes to hack & slash, but I try to encourage downtime, investigation, role-playing, etc.

Hey all,

My gaming group hit a snag and the previous DM had to back down. So, being the diehard gamer that I am, I volunteered to run a homebrew. Previously, I ran the Carrion Crown AP and ran a homebrew for 3.5 some years ago, but this time I decided to run an E6 homebrew. I believe the first session went well (I used a PFS module), but the second session was my own creation and didn't go nearly how I had planned. I've got the world etched out on a very basic scale, but I may have jumped in too soon.

I'm thinking about resetting everything and just going with an AP as my set up is lacking. Does anyone know which AP is best for non-railroading and that includes enough downtime where characters can be replaced easily? I'll probably auto-level to level 2 to start so that we can avoid the level grind again.

Submitting "Dex Roman" [Barbarian] for approval. Using the Random Background Generator.

Dotting for interest. I've played straight/hybrid casters in all of my recent games and would like to try a pure martial character. I'd like to reserve a spot if there's still room :)

To reduce any headaches (and make my life simpler) I think I'm just going to treat furies as elementals and make them controllable via Handle Animal + planar language.

Not to mention you completely missed Wood and Metal >_>

Metal wouldn't be a base affinity. It would require having Fire and Earth. I may make Wood a base affinity, but it could be a unique one requiring air and water.

edit: though now that I think about it, most soldiers were metal..

Would I be able to get by without any spell casters if I boosted the effects to tie in closer with Alera? And if I boost Air, Earth and Water, would Fire then be too weak?

Are you going to have 'normal' pathfinder magic in this setting? Are there going to be Sorcerors, wizards and clerics?

Probably. Do you foresee a problem with that?

Discussed with a friend of mine and we fleshed out the affinities a bit. Could use some community feedback:

Basic Elemental Affinities:

Air
level 1 - +2 saves vs. electricity or "Air" effects
level 2 - Endure Elements (Cold) constant
level 3 - Air Blast - X/day (1/3 level? 1/4?) 20' cone blast for 1d6/level, Ref for half. DC 10 + 1/2 level + Con Mod, slows target for 1 round (Elec)
level 4 - Levitate 10 rounds/day
level 5 - No longer needs to breathe
level 6 - Gain fly of 30' for 10 minutes/day, average maneuverability

Earth
level 1 - +2 saves vs. acid or "Earth" effects
level 2 - Safe Fall 10' (Drop an additional 10' before taking damage, by softening the landing)
level 3 - Earth Blast - X/day (1/3 level? 1/4?) 20' cone blast for 1d6/level, Ref for half. DC 10 + 1/2 level + Con Mod, half damage next round (Acid)
level 4 - Stone Shape, 1/day.
level 5 - Tremorsense. (15', maybe?)
level 6 - Gain earth glide of 30' for 10 minutes/day

Fire
level 1 - +2 saves vs. fire
level 2 - Endure Elements (Heat) constant
level 3 - Fire Blast - X/day (1/3 level? 1/4?) 20' cone blast for 1d6/level, Ref for half. DC 10 + 1/2 level + Con Mod, set target on fire (Fire, duh)
level 4 - Flame Wreath - 10 minutes/day, do 1d6 fire damage/rnd to any creature that attempts to grapple/swallow
level 5 - Pyrotechnics 1/day
level 6 - Flaming Weapon, 10 rounds/day, free action, can be used in 1 round increments (+1d6 fire damage, stacks with Flaming Weapons)

Water
level 1 - +2 saves vs. cold or "Water" effects
level 2 - Can drink any liquid without risk (saltwater, fresh water, poison...)
level 3 - Water Blast - X/day (1/3 level? 1/4?) 20' cone blast for 1d6/level, Ref for half. DC 10 + 1/2 level + Con Mod, knocks targets down
level 4 - Target can breathe underwater
level 5 - Flowing Motion - +1 Dodge to AC; +4 to CMD vs. grapple
level 6 - Gain swim speed of 30' for 10 minutes/day

If you want to fill your game with funky powers, then this question must be asked.

The main purpose of E6 is to essentially keep a campaign to a suitably gritty and mundane level. If you are determined to put in the fantastic, why are you putting the E6 clamps on your campaign at all?

I'm primarily trying to avoid the high hitpoint/high damage aspect of mid-upper levels of normal play.

I have some questions:

1. Why are you using E6? Codex Alera is a VERY high magic and high power setting. Easy access to large scale magic, which is a foundation of the setting is explicately something that E6 is designed to prevent. E6 is meant to keep characters within the realm of normal human ability. Sure they can still be exceptional but they never become super heroes. The characters in Codex Alera are most assuredly super heroes. So what exactly are you actually going for here?

2. When you say you will offer a feat to pick up an affinity, does that mean the entire progression? IE if I have the water affinity at level 6 I have all 6 water affinity abilities, I then take the feat for earth affinity and get all 6 earth affinity abilities? Then I can take another feat and get all 6 for wood (or something along those lines for the more focused affinities)? I think those feats are probably way too powerful, and would be go to feats regardless of character concept.

3. What is your preference between these rules fitting easily into pathfinder vs are accurate to the setting you are going for? You could do things that would work more like whats...

1. I don't see Codex Alera as super powerful. Sure, the main characters are considerably stronger than everyone else, but they're the exception. Excluding Octavian and his immediate family, most people only had basic control over their element. I'm primarily wanting to go with E6 to avoid the fighter or wizard from walking into a town and eliminating everyone (this hasn't happened before but you should get the idea of the scale).

2. The feat would let them another affinity with its level 1 ability. It would then scale up as they collected more feats, or require them to take an improved/greater version (though I don't know if the later would be took weak).

3. I'm creating the world, factions, etc. from scratch. However, there is going to be a large "wild elemental" theme that would be fun with affinities. With the group I'm planning this for, I'd lean more towards fitting it into the setting. If I decided to try it with my second group then I'd definitely have to aim more towards rules.

So a little background: I really love the Codex Alera books series and wanted to incorporate it a little bit into a home-brewed E6 game. The basic idea, is that players would get to choose 1 affinity during character creation that would automatically give them perks as the level up. I've been toying around with adding some feats that allow them to pick up a second affinity after level 6 and another feat that gives a more focused affinity with the prerequisite of two specific capped affinities (i.e. metal would be obtainable once earth and fire are capped) Anyways, here's what I have so far, but I could use some suggestions for the blanks and some validation that none of the affinity abilities would be so good that it would discourage a player from taking specific feats.

Basic Elemental Affinities:

Air
level 1 -
level 2 -
level 3 - Gain fly of 30' for 10 rounds/day
level 4 -
level 5 -
level 6 - Gain fly of 40' for 10 minutes/day (Replaces level 3)

Earth
level 1 -
level 2 -
level 3 - Gain earth glide of 30' for 10 rounds/day
level 4 -
level 5 -
level 6 - Gain earth glide of 40' for 10 minutes/day (Replaces level 3)

Fire
level 1 -
level 2 -
level 3 - Sheath weapon in fire for 10 rounds/day (+1d6 fire damage)
level 4 -
level 5 -
level 6 - Sheath weapon in fire for 10 minutes/day (+2d6 fire damage) (Replaces level 3)

Water
level 1 -
level 2 -
level 3 - Gain swim speed of 30' for 10 round/day
level 4 -
level 5 -
level 6 - Gain swim speed of 40' for 10 minutes/day (Replaces level 3)

I have a Wizard/Cleric MT in a homebrew game and rather enjoy the Law domain for Touch of Law. I know you're not looking for a buffer type character, but I've found the buffing capabilities to be much greater than anticipated. If you can afford one, I'd also recommend a an Orange Prism Ioun Stone for the +1 caster level to both classes. For Wizard, I went foresight diviner for the nice bonuses there.

btw: Mine is currently a Wizard 3/Cleric 3/MT 4 and started at level 4 acting as both the primary arcane and divine caster.

That wisdom is more than twice my oracle's wisdom (he's sporting a 7!). I'll reiterate BBT's question: What focus will this PC have? With those stats, you'd be very cautious to go into melee, which means staying at range. Though, with a 10 dex, you aren't hitting anyone with Ray spells. Knowing your focus, we could help re-arrange your stats.

How did you failed the perception check for the bridge? iirc the dc was quite low

Anyway take your chances and try to climb down the stone head the goblin fortress is built on and try to swim back to shore.

By the way has your group been to the catacombs of wrath yet?

I agree with the first question here, not that it's relevant here. I remember that we got a perception check or knowledge engineering check to determine that the bridge was pretty weak. Even without the check, why would anyone purposefully walk onto that bridge with more than one at a time without checking? I also remember it being water below the bridge, and not too far down that someone falling would auto-die.

A friend of mine is going to be joining the game too and will be playing a sorcerer. We're both going heavy melee with spell casting as a side note for buffs/healing/condition removal(who needs meta?).

Roanark wrote:

Psion-Psycho wrote:

@Roanark

Shame u did not care for the Alchemist i posted above. Its decent melee with the ability to chuck bombs when needed to take care of swarms and the ability to create areas of massive difficult terrain to cut creatures off. Not to mention it has great self healing with its extracts, fast healing mutagen, and fast healing discovery making it on par with paladin heals or at least a very close 2nd.

I'll take a look at it this evening!

So, any thoughts or just eh?

Sorry, I forgot to reply after looking through it. How are you getting 50% crit immunity? From what I can tell, Preserve Organs only gives 25%. He looks like a fun character, but may be more suited as a 5th if there's already a divine and arcane caster (I'm only guessing on this one seeing as I haven't had experience with him). With my group's composition, I foresee needing to spend a lot of turns either healing (they're all glass cannons) or buffing. How is the Alchemist in terms of team buffs?

@roanark and aelryinth: just making sure, since if you were planning on playing, say, a paladin and using it, it'd be a bit unfeasible to use.

This would be for a True Neutral Oracle of Battle.

It's looking like I'll be going with straight +1 bonuses until at least +4. Even then, it'll be a pricey weapon.

Aelryinth wrote:

Straight enhancement is usually the best way to go. As for optionals...you can't go wrong with Ghost Touch.

I'd also recommend a straight enhancement for the last +1. +2 can over come the cold iron/silver DR, and the sword isn't much good if you can't hit anything, so the bonus to hit is important. Ghost touch can easily go on a backup weapon. And don't forget to do all this with an adamantine sword.

I'll be starting off with just a regular +1 Falchion. I guess I could always sell it later or a +1 Adamantine and then start adding +1's.

Correct. True Neutral isn't too hard to play.

@Roanark

Shame u did not care for the Alchemist i posted above. Its decent melee with the ability to chuck bombs when needed to take care of swarms and the ability to create areas of massive difficult terrain to cut creatures off. Not to mention it has great self healing with its extracts, fast healing mutagen, and fast healing discovery making it on par with paladin heals or at least a very close 2nd.

I'll take a look at it this evening!