Rufus Reeven's page

Say I want to unhorse a mounted foe with a guisarme...

How do I do this? Is it just a normal trip attack?

Don't know what the rules are, but I'd make it a regular trip, but give the mounted person a bonus to CMD based on his saddle. Seems reasonable to me at least.

Ok, my last campaign is drawing to a close and two of the five players will not be returning to play (due partly to personal reasons, partly because they want to play something else for a while - which I total respect).

That leaves me with three players who are dedicated and will only miss sessions if Hell freezes over, the Moon turns blue or there are two Thursdays in the week.

So I have two options; running a campaign with three players or try to find more players (and those I know who might be interested are much less dedicated).

If I choose to run with three players, I should obviously take that into account when designing adventures (or running pre-mades for that matter), and I know PF Core says to substract 1 level from the APL for a group with three players. But how does stats play into the balance? Obviously, the party will have more survivability with 25 points to buy stats than 20, but how big a deal is it in the "balancing the encounters" end of things?

Now, for the actual campaign, I'm (probably) going to base it in the Moonsea region of Forgotten Realms. I have the Sons of Gruumsh adventure, which I want to run them through at some point, as well as City of the Spider Queen, if the campaign goes in that direction.

I was thinking of starting them out at around 3rd level, all from the same home town (either Phlan or a place of my own design).

I have an idea for a first adventure, based on the rescue of some innoncents from the hands of a duo of Velsharoon worshippers (one necromancer, one cleric), who wants to perform one of Velsharoon's rituals. The villains would be based either in an old keep (or part of Old Phlan) or a cemetary and have some minions (probably a band of goblinoids and a few undead minions).

Question is, how powerful can/should I make the cleric and necromancer (who they should encounter seperately, not as a group)? Most of the fun cleric/necromancer stuff (mainly Animate Dead) kicks in at around 5th level, but that seems a little high in my opinion, so perhaps I should just provide the villains with some scrolls, that were used to raise a handful of skeletons.

After this adventure, possibly with a few short "side treks", I plan on bringing them to Melvaunt and start the Sons of Gruumsh adventure up.

Any comments/suggestions/advice?

Red Dragons!!! :)

That's just random...

Luck of Heroes, from Forgotten Realms, give +1 on all saves and +1 AC (at least in 3.5)

You are playing a Conjurer but don't have Spell Focus (Conjuration) and Augment Summoning...?

Looking at the Ranger, I see the following (my bolds):

Combat Style Feat (Ex)
At 2nd level, a ranger must select one of two combat styles to pursue: archery or two-weapon combat. The ranger's expertise manifests in the form of bonus feats at 2nd, 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level. He can choose feats from his selected combat style, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites.

Now the question is, is that only when using his Ranger bonus feats, or is it anytime he picks one of these feats (using the feats everybody gets or bonus feats from another class, such as fighter or rogue)?

In other words, could a Fighter/Ranger 2/2 (just leveled up as a fighter) use his 2nd level fighter bonus feat to take, say Two-weapon Defense, even if his Dex isn't 15+?

Thanks

Sense motive1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

I'm thinking of starting a Pathfinder Forgotten Realms campaign for my group. I have a good amount of 3.x books for Forgotten Realms and always liked the Regional feats and such.

But spending a feat seems like a big investment just to "belong" (I know they offer other things, but still), so was thinking of allowing players to either pick two traits or one regional feat at character creation. I think two traits are slightly more powerful than one feat, but so are the regional feats, so the power of the character should be roughly the same.

Any thoughts?

bruno_kristensen[at]hotmail.com

And thanks for the effort :)

I'm glad they included the pig...it caters to at least one literary/mythological source: Henwen the prophetic pig from the Chronicles of Prydain (loosely based on Welsh mythology)...

So power to the pigs!

"Corath mentioned something about her being under some kind of spell. We subdued her and tied her up, then came here to see if you were also under attack. Guess it was a good thing."

Rufus still has his impromptu weapon in hand, looking as though he misses his bow.

Amen bro!

Rufus tries to look "past" the creature, as directed by Therin, before striking at it.

Will Save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19

Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14
Damage (assuming it has stats equivalent to a spear): 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Rufus Reeven wrote:

If you only want people who are good at playing in character to succeed at what you call "role playing", should it be any different for people who want to play smart or wise?

Remember that I'm tailoring this game to my group's preferences. We tend to play this way anyway. If someone stumbles all over their words while lying to an NPC, he isn't going to believe you no matter how high you roll. Unfortunately, if you roll low on a Diplomacy check, it doesn't seem to matter how diplomatic you role-played it. The way we play is pretty incompatable with the way the CHA stat works in d20.

Hence me saying, your game, your decision.

But you still didn't address my question. If Mr. Stutterer can't play a character with high bluff skill, why should Mr. Moron (pardon the term) be able to play a scholar? I believe both should (though it is easier for Mr. Stutterer to play a character with a high Cha than for Mr. Moron to play a character with a high Int.

When should you roll for a cha-based skill and when should it be RP? Good question. In my game (and that's not the "right" way, necessarily), I ask people to act out their interaction and then give a bonus to the skill check, if they act it out well. Sometimes I even give them an automatic success. But if the player is Mr. Stutterer from before and he can't string a sentence togehter, he can still at least hope the die + skill modifier is good enough.

Which brings us to this: The aim of RPGs, besides having fun, is to play characters who are different from ourselves. When I'm a player, I would rather play a nimble rogue or a strong barbarian than the overweigh nerd with no agility whatsoever that I am in real life.

[Joking]But perhaps players in your group can't play characters with a certain Str score, unless they can benchpress the max lift from the Encumberance table for that Str?[/joking]

Charisma is already gone. Rolling is for fighting and skills, not for role playing. Your character is as charismatic as you play him. I've replaced it with Luck, mostly for simmetry, unless I think of something better.

Obviously your game, so your decision, but why not remove Intelligence and Wisdom as well? If you only want people who are good at playing in character to succeed at what you call "role playing", should it be any different for people who want to play smart or wise?

I'm not saying to make make all roleplaying be based on 1d20 + cha mod (and skills or other modificers), but your way of thinking is one that has always annoyed me as being somewhat "elitist".

EDIT: And I see CourtFool above has made a similar comment...

In my area (Silkeborg, Denmark...the land of Muhammed Cartoons) there's one gaming society (Avalon) and an FLGS (Asgaard Games - that hosts gaming nexts three times a week).

In Avalon, currently there are three gaming groups...one 3.5, one PF and one GURPS 4.0.

In Asgaard, there's as far as I know, but I only go once a week, a group of D&D 4.0 running.

If this is a general theme for the trend in the area, both games (PF and 4.0) are doing well. The gaming store has a few copies of both PF Core + Monster and 4.0 core books, but they mostly order in for people, as they don't want too many books sitting on the shelves.

I too, as previously said by others, hope that 4.0 will do well in attracting a younger crowd, because seriously...the average age in my personal gaming group is now above 30...and while we may have more money to spend, we also have more things to spend them on. I might even consider buying and playing 4.0 (I've tried one session as a dwarf fighter and it wasn't as bad as I'd heard - but PF is still "my" game).

Also loves this item.

But what is the HP and Hardness of the tankard? Because I could easily see someone with Catch Off-guard using it as an off-hand weapon with a rapier or similar in the other hand.

Rufus Reeven wrote:

Our take on Crit/Fumble:

Skills: A natural 1 counts as -10, modified for skills, etc., so you might actually still succeed, albeit unlikely. A natural 20 counts as 30, again modified for skills, etc.

My house rule for skills is when you roll a natural one, you take the skill ranks, add your ability score modifier, and other normal modifiers and add 1 to it, and that's your result. Because that's the freakin' rule.

Rufus Reeven wrote:

Attack rolls: A natural 1 provokes an attack of opportunity. Most of our attacks of opportunities actually come from fumbling. The in-game explanation is that on a natural 1, the person almost falls, almost drops his sword, or just makes an attack that is so stupid that it leaves a big hole in person's defense.

My house rule for that, is if you roll a natural 1 in combat, you miss, no matter what your modifiers are. Because that's the freakin' rule.

Hehe... can you tell I REALLY hate fumble rules? I'm being kind of tongue-in-cheek on some of this, but when I roll a 1 and the DM tells me something special happens, my shoulders clench up. I might even black out for a bit.

It's so common I envision this happening at my table when I have a new player who's used to rolling to confirm fumbles.
NEWBIE: I roll a ... aw, crap, rolled a 1.
ME: OK, next person in init order..?
NEWBIE: Should I confirm?
ME: If you want to.
NEWBIE: I roll... oh! Another 1.
ME: OK, great, you miss. Next person...
NEWBIE: Do I drop my sword?
ME: Only if you want to. Next per-
NEWBIE: Well do I take damage?
ME: Look, you're really holding up my game, here. Are you sure you've played this game before?

I'm fully aware what the "freakin' rule" is. We, my group, has decided to create a house rule, because that is how we, my group, likes it. Now, if you were to come along and play with us, my group, I expect you would play by our rules, just as I'd play by your rules when in your game. To leave the table in either case would be extremely immature and somewhat rude. But each to his own I guess...

Rufus Reeven wrote:

Supernatural Dodge - You gain DR 5/- as you manage to turn lethal strikes into near-misses.

That was precisely what I suggested, if more concisely.

I know, just agreeing with you and giving it a name :)

Supernatural Dodge - You gain DR 5/- as you manage to turn lethal strikes into near-misses.

Our take on Crit/Fumble:

Skills: A natural 1 counts as -10, modified for skills, etc., so you might actually still succeed, albeit unlikely. A natural 20 counts as 30, again modified for skills, etc.

Attack rolls: A natural 1 provokes an attack of opportunity. Most of our attacks of opportunities actually come from fumbling. The in-game explanation is that on a natural 1, the person almost falls, almost drops his sword, or just makes an attack that is so stupid that it leaves a big hole in person's defense.

I once tried using the Initiative/combat round system from Combat and Tactics in 3rd edition. I think with a bit of work and getting used to, it would be fantastic. Basically, no more "time bubble" effects where the fighter gets several attacks off before the opponent even moves.

Would also make light weapons interesting again, seeing as you'd attack before the guy with the greatsword most of the time.

I've always seen Gandalf (and Odin for that matter) as Bards more than Wizards. Gandalf's two most important skills/roles in LotR are those of knowledge and inspiring others to do great things.

No one can deny that Gandalf has obscenely high Knowledge skill ranks...that either smacks of Loremaster or Bard (or Bard/Loremaster).

And in many places in the story, his words of wisdom inspire courage, lifts the morale, etc. in those who listens.

His magic is mostly divination, enchantment and abjuration (You shall not pass, anyone?). And countering the enchantment cast on Theoden King is either a "countersong" or Dispel Magic.

So yeah, Gandalf was a bard...

Rufus, you forgot the spoiler... :D

** spoiler omitted **

Sorry, not used to all this secrecy ;)

For example, when a friend of mine asked what my solution to illegal immigration was, I said require companies that do buisness in the United States to pay a comparable wage to their employees outside the United States.

No thanks, I'm not interested. The minimum wages in my country is around $20. Now, if America wants to mirror that, fair enough...

Rufus runs up to the woman with the bow, trying to get into a flanking position. Surprised by the attack from Martine, he swings a punch at her, hoping to be able to make heads and tails of the situation later.

Unarmed attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10; Damage: 1d3 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4 nonlethal

"What's going on here!? Rufus yells, confusion painted on his face at the unfolding scene.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Hearing the cry from the stables, Rufus jumps up and dashes across the courtyard, drawing his dagger (the only weapon he's been carrying during the dinner and subsequent events), ready for anything.

Initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

Very nice maps, interesting thread all in all...awakens my spiring world builder...

Rufus walks outside to catch some fresh air after being inside the dusty library. He finds Brune lying near the stairs and sits down, scratching the dog behind the ears.

Maybe if it was just "on all the time", like the regular favored enemy bonus?

But how would you explain this? As a magical aura that just improves allies' abilities against certain creatures?

The reason it is as it is, is that the ranger gives guidance and tells his allies how to effectively fight x. At least that's how I see it.

On what asinine scale? Why should the Ranger be gimped in its choices when THREE OTHER CLASSES are not?

If this is just about being gimped on choices, put the Wizard up there as well...who in their right mind would take a familiar (unless for RP reasons) when you can get an extra spell at your highest level, that you don't have to prepare ahead of time, plus virtual craft magic item feats for whatever you choose to bond with?

Rufus Reeven wrote:

...might of...?

Sorry, just lost a customer there...

All I want is this project to come out. I just want to know how customer and even publishers can help.

Sorry, you just fell victim to my utter hate of the use of "could of" (or "might of" in this case) as a valid spelling of "could have"/"could've", which apparently is something only native speakers do.

Sure, I might buy the book if it looks good...but I sure hope there are no "could ofs" in the final product...;)

I don't see a problem either. Simply half the speed the group is travelling at, since the Wizard can't whistle while having flour in his mouth...or in this case can't walk as fast without falling.

I'm running a campaign where the wizard always does the magic scan in a new room, if he gets the time, and it hasn't ruined anything yet.

I don't agree...I think the Hunter's Bond (Aid Companions) is a great ability. Since when was D&D a solo-adventure where being able to do something that few other classes can do (aid others) is not cool?

Other than that, I'm open to new alternatives, but why doesn't the OP come with suggestions for what he'd like?

...might of...?

Sorry, just lost a customer there...

Martine looks surprised. "You are Pathfinders as well?" she asks, blinking at the group.

"Yes, for my part at least, though this is my first real mission for them, if you don't consider the initiation test." Rufus goes silent for a few seconds, looking away as if remembering something, then continues, "So, what did you say brought you here?"

Perception check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

Rufus has remained silent for most of the evening, studying the various members of the temple but saying little. When part of the group was lead to the library, he followed.

Seeing the two new people, he nods, saying "Greetings. I'm Rufus, hunter and tracker by trade. May your paths always run true."

Hi, once again sorry for the silence. My computer broke down just before Christmas and has just been fixed. I'll try to catch up. /Rufus

Sorry for the silence. I'm currently on a business trip and haven't had much off time. I should be back tomorrow or Monday.

Sorry, but three rounds is 18 seconds...

But I guess it is because it is basically a save or die spell if it was longer. Probably still is, but not certain doom for the spellcaster affected.

Just my 5 cents (Euro)

"The beasts of the wild will probably take care of the corpses...not that I understand, why any living creature would bite into a stinking goblin corpse...so on that point I don't agree with you, Corath...Nature does not always make sense," Rufus says, a hint of a rare smile playing on his face for a moment.

"Brune still has a serious wound. Don't think he will be able to walk far at the moment."

Rufus walks over and calms down the wounded pack animal, speaking soothing words in Elvish. It worked for Legolas, so should work for me too :)

Rufus looks at the "animal" with disgust, saying "Any trouble from it, and it gets an arrow through the head, now there's no rider to keep it safe." He then kneels by Brune to examine his wounds.

Can't remember, was Brune healed? If yes, for how much? Either way, Rufus will try to bind Brune's wounds, showing a great amount of care and concern for the old dog.

Risengrød (Rice porridge) - rice boiled in milk with a bit of salt and sugar. When done, served with a lump of butter, cinnamon and sugar and a glass of black currant cordial.

Slice of toast with chocolate spread and blue mould cheese, yum!