Ryan_Singer's page

Hi Everyone,

Very simple question: How are the values on this page (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/spellbooks) calculated, and do you have a reference?

I'd really appreciate a pointer.

Thanks!

--
Ryan

As an aside, it occurs to me that the monster non-associated (or key) class advancement would be an interesting approach to, say, multiclassing.

That is, by the logic involved, a Fighter 10/Wizard 10 would be a 15th level character, and you'd hit level 20 at Ftr14/Wiz12 (or Wiz14/Ftr12 for that matter).

Food for thought.

This came up in the Bear wizard thread, but deserves it's own thread.

On first thought, I approve, but I think I want to make some builds first to see. Anyone want to help?

--
Ryan

The Wish Economy (I didn't make this up, google it) was an interesting phenomenon in 3.5. Basically, by the book, you could chain bind efreet at 11 level (earlier with a scroll), and have them wish you up tons and tons of cash, but they couldn't wish up magic items over 15k gp. This resulted in many GMs seeing their game setting as one in which there are two seperate economies working, the normal and elite.

In the normal economy, everything functioned as per DMG, except there were never any major magic items to buy. Major magic items belonged in the Elite economy, where they basically were only available as rewards for quests, for equivalent trades, or for some sort of unobtainium, like souls, ransom for powerful NPCs, etc.

At first glance, the Wish Economy was removed from Pathfinder RPG. While chain binding Efreet is still RAW-legal, the wish spell has been changed, you can no longer reliably wish for money or magic items. (you can still totally get +5 inherent bonus to every stat, raise an efreet army, etc, but these aren't the topic here, and are mostly ok as the Efreet take it personally and can plane shift to here to take revenge after the spell wears off. Also, the +5 to all abilities helps fighting classes disproportionately, and that is good at 9-12th level, where it happens.)

However, it seems like the default setting has been designed with the Wish Economy pretty much assumed. According to the section on Buying Magic Items (page 460-461), items that cost more than 16,000gp are just not really available (except for a tiny number of randomly generated items per city). Given that it takes a powerful spellcaster over 2 weeks to make one, and the only others who will have them are high level NPCs or monsters with treasure, it's basically the same effect. Magic items up to 16k gold are purchasable with $$, Magic items worth more than that are only gotten as loot, rewards, or crafted by PCs.

My suggestion for GMs is to make the random major magic items available in each city barter only; you can only get them by trading other major magic items. This increases the appeal and makes every appropriate major magic item something worth going on a quest for.

Which is the way it should be, anyway.

Hello Everyone!

Soon I will start running Burnt Offerings using Mutants and Masterminds. I've converted the NPC's, with special focus towards the preferred tactics listed in the adventure. For example, the Goblin Warchanter in the beginning uses his stun spell on PC's while his Goblin Warriors attack, so I have him using Rank 1 Stun as his primary tactic. I have run a few sample combats, and it feels very much like a more fluid and dynamic game of 1st level Dungeons and Dragons. I have built pre-stated characters for the players to use as a reference, and they look great, embracing pathfinder flavor further than D&D can.

We have a Varisian Sorceror, whose magic literally comes from her magic tattoos. Every new spell she learns is a new tattoo.

We have a Fighter, who reminds us of D&D, but also showcases the differences. He has Armor, a sword and a shield, and makes effective use of Power Attack. I can't wait to see what he does with some of the feats available as he experiences.

We have a Barbarian, who shows the flexibility of the M&M system, in how differentiated he is from the fighter. He is completely unarmed, and unarmored, but a major threat to those around him with his CON of 22, his STR of 22 while raging, and his mastery of grappling, allowing him to utilize the brutal strategy of tackling an opponent and holding him pinned to the ground while punching him into unconsciousness.

I am building 2 more. One is a cleric/paladin architype, who worships Saranrae and uses her healing flame to keep her allies together and her sword to punish her enemies. The other is a rogue-type, who uses Charisma and stealth to avoid unnecessary combat, and surprise attacks to deal with those who won't be talked down.

All of these character will experience using a point-based system instead of a level-based one, allowing them to emphasize different aspects of their characters as they grow, or to travel down dramatically different paths than they started with.