Scalwith's page

Well as one of the spell casters in question, I honestly went for as many protection and charm spells as I could with him. I was picking spells for the characters personality rather than worrying about anything else. I intended to add flight eventually, but where I was bringing him in at 12 level it felt less important when I could teleport or dimension door. It was a question for the character of "how can I run away faster"... And then turn around and dominate someone else into doing my dirty work. The ninja is legit.

The sorcerer has no dispels. He is to busy running from a fight to be much use anyway.

Adventure Quarterly (Rite publishing) has something that might fit nicely to your needs.

Nemitri wrote:

I hate splitting up parties due to that fact that you HAVE to split xp and treasure, which creates imbalances in the party, I like to keep the level of people even to prevent level or loot drama.

Not to mention the DM has to multitask or keep the info from the split party from influencing the actions of the other, its a real hassle!

Not if you use ad hoc exp and just have everyone level at the same time. I find it makes life much easier.

Of course, the multi-tasking is an issue. In that case it can work if you have a 2nd GM.

It is a problem multitasking for the GM, but if done right it can be a lot of fun. I've set up a "special guest" GMs for times when I planned to split the party and we ran parallel games where it was appropriate. When the party came back together for the final battle there was a palpable sense of relief and the post game debrief between the players (both iC and OOC) were almost as fun as the game itself. Its not something to be done often, but if you can pull it off it is more than worth it.

As for splitting the party by the characters, I don't worry about it much. I either go along with the rest of the party or I don't... Things tend to work there way out one way or another.

Pans Labyrinth might provide some great inspiration.

Imo Paladins are basically knights, and I subscribe to the "A song of fire and Ice" notion that knights are for killing. Paladins are killing machines imo nothing more noting less....and I love Pallies!

I would agree with you in part on this. obviously in Songs you only have your honor and your lord's honor whether you keep to your words. Some do some don't. Pallies can lose their abilities mid combat for an ethical decision. A much higher level of accountability they are being held to. I like the challenge. Holy warriors who won't cross the line.

One of the things I liked about the series was how low in regard that many of the Northmen held knighthood because so many didn't hold to their words. Or with the watch and how casually some held to their oath. For a Paladin their oath is their life.

TriOmegaZero wrote:

No, you are not. And that's okay. Others like the monk. And that's okay too.

this.

I am a fan of the monk re-skinned as a duelist/pugilist tho to better fit with the remaining classes. (unless doing oriental Adventures in which case they fit fine.)

I suddenly have the urge to play a dwarf monk as a boxer "oi pointy ears outta the way and let a real fighter do the job"

Magus or alchemist. They bring a little different flavor to the party and both can be very effective.

I think my biggest gripe with Channel is the either/or aspect of healing living or damaging undead. I, personally, believe that Positive energy should do both at the same time.

Agreed. I can think of certain situations that would make selective channel even more important under those circumstances.

There are definitely role play ways to handle this rather than asking the player to leave or killing the character. Sometimes that can grow organically over the course of a game, but not after one event. Perhaps your character is suspicious and watching the other characters closely going forward. I would suggest being proactive in the future in letting the other character know how you feel by protecting the "innocent" or at least verbalizing when encounter starts Then you will know if they are intentionally walking a path to darkness or not and deal with it appropriately. I'm not a huge fan of PVP as a method of solving in character problems. Long term all it does cause bad feelings.

I recommend looking at Walter's Guide to the Magus.

+1 this. Even if you choose to give you a different direction than suggestion you at least how some guide posts on how different abilities can work together

Basically what you are asking which alignment follows the code: "The end justifies the means" and have no consequences for it. Its questions like this where the system breaks down because while it acts as effective sign post for character behavior, people and characters tend to be much too complex to measure truly under the system. In Taken for example I would argue that while Neeson's character was a good dad(or at least attempting to be a good dad from an absentee perspective), he was not necessarily a good man. Its actually one of the things that makes the movie so enjoyable.

To put it into game terms, in my mind a paladin should be a unbending foe of evil in all its forms, but to truly war with with evil you should have a greater understanding of it than most paladin's codes will allow. I think for what your asking the idea of a LN Inquisitor might be as close as you can come. CE would lack focus and drive to do anything that wasn't on some level self serving. NG would have qualms against torture (not threatening torture, but the torture itself). True neutral might be a good alternative, but in all cases I come come back to the idea that when you cross a line there is a consequence for it even if it simply Role playing the loss of innocence or being wracked with guilt. Playing out those consequences can be a lot of fun though.

Vendle wrote:

Reminds me of the wizardess I was playing who, after several levels of defying death, developed an invincibility complex. She still didn't try to handle encounters alone, rather she felt that there wasn't anything she-and-her-party couldn't do. It didn't help that she had about 2 ranks in Diplomacy and the party let her be the face, but it was funny how demanding she could be in 'negotiations'.

So, less arrogant in a boastful way, more the over-confidence type.

This is the way to go. The party can have some fun with this rather than being put off

One more thought on this. If you play a character believes arrogantly he's competent in some facet of his life (like a lady's man or combat expert) but isn't can make for some fun role playing moments because of the character's disconnect between his believed abilities and what he actually does. For instance, a halfling who believes that he's is nearly invincible because of his faith ends up getting grappled or nearly killed and needs to be rescued. Afterward he says: Good thing I was here to save your asses... and believes it. The party may role their eyes, but it creates some humorous moments

Reminds me of the wizardess I was playing who, after several levels of defying death, developed an invincibility complex. She still didn't try to handle encounters alone, rather she felt that there wasn't anything she-and-her-party couldn't do. It didn't help that she had about 2 ranks in Diplomacy and the party let her be the face, but it was funny how demanding she could be in 'negotiations'.

So, less arrogant in a boastful way, more the over-confidence type.

This is the way to go. The party can have some fun with this rather than being put off

Yes... you have to love the intensified shocking grasp... Especially when you do the instant empower. What about greater spell penetration. Our DM loves him some SR.

It worked... but I wouldn't put it past the GM to bring it back again at the worst possible time. Between evil intelligent sword and paranoid party members we almost destroyed ourselves

I learned that most problems can be solved by dropping a shark on them.

If you go forward on this let us know how it goes. A buddy and I were talking about running Ptolus for our group when we finish our current adventure path. Good luck

Very true. I should rephrase to ... Where as I have a fairly good idea what to expect out of standard Arcane and Divine casters before I allowed one of these in my game I would need to spend some time knocking the kinks out of my understanding of the rules as it applies to this class.

Wow... So if you aren't watching formula cost and number of bombs per day carefully this class it could end up throwing things out of balance. Or am I reading it wrong.

Other than sickening the halfling.. The trogolyte build looks good to the others in the party. Crunch bits aside it adds some great flavor to the campaign.

After last week's debacle for a certain halfling cleric I find myself prepping for a replacement character for if (read as when) he runs our of luck. I've been looking at the mangus and its alternate the black blade as possible replacements. If the combat that we were involved in when we had to stop doesn't go well I'll be looking at bringing a new character at level 6.

For those of you who have played this character class, what advice can you offer as far as strengths and weaknesses. As I read it is seems to be well balanced, but does it play as well as it seems to? Any advice would be appreciated..