(sigh)... I wonder if this system is circling the drain. 1.5 Dex makes no sense on any level really. That being said, do what you want in your home brew.
If "dex to damage" is allowed, especially if power attack is allowed on a dex build, the str build become a joke.
As I tell people all the time... Pathfinder is a team sport. As long as the team is winning it's all good. It is the GM's job to offer a balanced game in that the challenges should be balanced with the group but I don't worry so much about character balance.
All human group.... that is important in a second. We are on a boat sailing from one place to another. We are sailing through a narrow straights and we see a large fire on one cliff. Turns out this is light for the crew operating the catapults. The catapult starts lobbing stones at us. We quickly put out all the lanterns and lights to disapear in the darkness and are scrambling around in the dark trying to manuver the boat to not get hit by the catapult stones. We are cursing up a storm, falling all over the place in the complete darkness. All human party remember.... The VERY chaotic cleric just yells out "screw this" and casts..... Daylight Here after to be known a "The target becon".
We just simply say that when you reach the weight limit nothing else will fit into the bag. I'd say do not over-complicate the issue.
Funny story, the elves who live on this continent used magic to develop "Ham Bushes" and "Steak Trees" as well as "Bacon Ivy" to get their protein since they could not raise livestock.
I thought I would share the "After Action Report" from the first session of my new campaign. It's a PF game but not PFS and in a custom world. We have been gaming together for far to long (10+ years) but I like to keep people on their toes, especially bitter players =) It was a lot of fun and my player had a blast. It gets mroe interesting as we move along over the next few sessions: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Being heroes is EASY!!!!! Complete first assignment destroying kobolds - CHECK Get next job from the boss - CHECK Gather minions - CHECK Casual stroll through the forest - CH..... hey wait.... is that a frog. WHAT THE F&%K.... that frog is 12' tall..... and Blue..... it's breathing Ice.... ARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Our brave heroes did get an assignment to check out the abandon dwarf town of Ironforge (tm) in the old mining valley. They did get some vague warning about a curse but NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION.... or 12' tall, ice breathing mutant frogs. Come to think of it the 14' tall black frog breathing darkness was not on the menu either. Still, it was nothing they could not handle. It is still only frogs after all, well, and mutant goats walking on two legs and throwing gemstones like sling stones at the group. The big clubs were well below average also. Yeah, that did make it a little more complicated. Still, no one died. It was enough the group decided to return to the gate, lock it behind them, rest and consider their options. What comes next? My bet is they go back to looking for more kobolds. Your guess is as good as mine!"
ALL OF THEM!!!!
Start killing..... don't stop till the place is empty
I am supposed to wear pants when playing PF?
"You would never allow your PC if you were GM".... Thread Over =)
The game I run has some pretty strong parallels with the "Walking Dead" TV show and I guess the comics, although I have never read the comics. It wasn't intentional. The key that is making it work is the characters are actually making a difference. Maybe only in a small part of the world, but they are making a difference. They have actually "secured" a small town and some area around it. They have been collecting refugee's and bringing them to this "safe" area. It's only really worked because my players understand that there are such things as unwinnable fights and sometimes you just gotta run away. Along the way they have had to make some tough choices on what they were willing to do to survive. There have been quite a few "choose the lesser evil" situations. You know, things like "You cannot save everyone so pick the ones you will save" and those sort of situations. It sucks as players but it makes the things you can accomplish feel more rewarding. I about fell out of my chair when I saw the "tag line" for this season's Walking dead was "Fight the dead, fear the living". They have really fallen into that way of thinking to some extent. As my players expand their secure area they are runnign into other groups of survivors and they run the gambit on the type of people they are encountering. Never a dull moment =)
As a GM if the 15th level Cleric in the group is enegaged in melee and not casting spells I'd consider that a win really. It is always a challenge to understand how buffs impact character "power". It takes time to cast and ahs a duration. Balance encounters that require certain buffs to defeat is often a quick path to a TPK. If a cleric is willing to spend 3 rounds buffing to become an effective melee person then more power to them I say. At least it's not a fighter with a bow.
Good Lord, and you still cannot get people to lay Clerics? Still amazes me people still think in terms of a "heal bot". In my last game I had to limit the classes to only 3 clerics in a 6 person party. Now, trying to convince someone to play a cleric that does not have the travel domain? That's a different problem. Couple of house rules: Hit Point Rolls - Players choice to roll a single dice until they have at least 1/2 may or rol 2 dice and take the best Paladins - Not necessarly limited to LG but rather their gawds alignment but they are held to even more strict requirements and are "the living enbodyment of their gawd's faith". (my gm's, not mine) You can wear 2 Rings of Protection and the effects stack. Reasoning being is someine is willing to sacrafice that second ring slot for a couple more points of armor class, more power to them. (my gm's, not mine) Shields have +1 AC above their listed value. This is a carry over from 3.5 when TWF was far superior to a shield. Combine those 2 and you get some crazy AC. As the Wizard of the group I am not a fan but it is not affecting balance a whole ton.
This thread is the perfect example of why you should never take prisioners =) Nothing good ever comes of it.
"It's not rocket surgery." Apparently it is.... You are trying to apply modern concepts of morailty to a situation where it simply does not fit. I wish people would remember it's a FANTASY rpg. There are certain criteria that are KNOWN FACTS. If you want to change it in your home game, knock yourself out but if you check the books, goblins and orcs are the bad guys. Enough of this shades of grey garbage. Orcs and goblins are evil, period, end of story. The only right they have is the right to die at the hands of adventures for fun and profit. There is not weapon or approach that is off-limits to eliminating goblins, orcs and any other evil creatures. Givent he chance they would murder you in your sleep.... EVERY TIME they have the chance.
Tell him to get a life and move on. Tools like this are not worth the trouble.
I think with the way enemies scale, it's practically never worthwhile to summon multiple lower level creatures. I'd leave it at 1d3 just so people are reminded of this fact and don't waste their spell slots on it. I can't think of a single level of Summon Monster where a single creature would be worse than even three from a previous list. With Summon Monster 2 I will almost always take the multiple eagles over anything on the summon monster 2 list. Multiple Lantern Archons with a Monster summon 4 is a scary thing.
I'd suggest that you seperate the "I think he's being a difficult player/jerk" from "He has better stats/stuff then everyone else" when dealing with this situation. I have been gaming since 1985 and one thing I am absolutley positive about is there are certain personalities that simply cannot be fixed. When confronted with person like this "rules lawyering guy" your choice is to learn to live with it, get rid of them or help them to understand why what they are doing is disruptive. I am going to make an assumption that the person you are talking about, at least according to their driver's license, is an adult. If so, at least in theory, you should be able to rationally explain what the issue is and arrive at some compromise. If he is not mature enough for that I suggest one of two things.... 1) get rid of him
Since he clearly knows more about the game system, mechanics and how a game should flow than anyone else he should be a stellar GM. I will never, ever let a single player ruin a game, especially if everyone else is enjoying themselves. There is no reason to tolerate someone constantly picking at the GM, it's inexcusable. Discuss things after the game, via e-mail or whatever but quit wasting game time on pointless arguements. Rule #1 - The GM is Right
Just my suggestion.
You party is 5/6 CN alignment. That's a formula for a train wreck. Just deciding where to eat lunch could result in fatalities.
This may be my favorite quote of all time: "yes I cheat, but only when it's fair"
The current group I am GM'ing for has 3 Paladins.... I'd like to vote no for any additional smites please =) |
