Raistlin

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The way we play trapfinding:

In my group we always ask for march order, so the first one/two who walk ahead decide if they are searching actively for traps/secrets or not.

If they do, they have a check when needed, but the group speed is halved. You can always hurry up them if needed, like chasing them with periodic patrols, remembering them about that captive the BBG has, etc, or just take note of the time they are investing on the place for later uses.

If they decide to not search actively, well, then they wont free-spot the traps except for the obvious ones, like a bunch of bones over a burned piece of corridor behind a big pipe in the cellar. Usually the will trigger the traps and ignore secrets.

Trap Spotter (or similar talents) prevent them for doing that active search, so they can move at normal speed, and the PJ with the "talent" can check to find traps/secrets at 10' or less (Traps at 15' or more get triggered normally if thats the way it works)

We have never had any problems with this. If players make the game slow because X, DM always have tools to hurry up them. If DM slows the game... well, that should not happen. Dont bore your players with unnecessary rolls.

Its all about make the game something funny for everyone. If a mechanic doesnt work well for your group ignore it, or houserule it to make the game dinamic and fun.

Hope it helps.


Im not very creative, but here we go:

Perhaps Hargulka could play an all-in backdoor attack to the PCs kingdom, trying to reach their castle and take it as his last bastion. This way PCs should siege their own castle, carefully about human casualties and material damages.

Hargulka could play his last Diplomatic trick then, offering a new deal. His life in exchange of a pacefully retreat south the greenbelt.

If Pcs decide to bring him the last chance, he could return again in next books. If not, they would fight in a dangerous environment where people from their own realm could end injured or killed, and with the possibility to damage their own castle.

Whatever they decide, there will be people criticizing their decision because the casualties and damage, or because making deals with an assassin troll. An interesting final (or break) for this charismatic guy.

Hope this help.

@edit: If you need a way to let him leave his own stronghold, he always could ask for some fairy help from Nyrissa ;)


rainzax wrote:

New Topic:

I can think of 3 "primary" questions that a Knowledge-user might immediately want to know when succeeding at their check against a creature:

1) Does the creature have a weakness?
2) Does the creature have special attacks?
3) Does the creature have special defenses?

What other questions belong on this list?

Context: After using a variant of Background Skills (Unchained) to saddle each PC with free ranks in at least one Knowledge skill, I want to create a little "cheat-sheet" for them as a baseline for using that skill.

Hope some of this help to feed your final list.

4) Is it intelligent?
5) Is it common to find it alone or is it usual to find a pair (or more) of it?
6) Is it extraordinarily strong/dexter/wiser/etc... ?
7) Is it slow or quick?
8) Is it territorial (with a burrow/nest/wahtever close) or nomad/migratory?


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Nothing more satisfaying than throwing a big bunch of dice. I cant see why rolling 3 is faster than 9... just roll all them together and sum the results.


dragonhunterq wrote:
I don't really have a lot to add but...
Pizza Lord wrote:
Best bet, make the PCs care about the item and never know it's your phylactery. You might have trouble making your phylactery into good or holy item or weapon (or maybe you won't if you aren't evil until after becoming a lich) but what PC is going to destroy a +3 holy undead-bane bastard sword. It will probably have to have some incredibly valuable jewel or other spot for your soul to reside while a new body is being made, but gem-inlaid pommels and such are not unheard of. Bonus points if you can make it an intelligent weapon with a special purpose of slaying liches (and additional powers when trying to do so, other than finding them obviously.) The weapon doesn't know it's secretly your phylactery, all it knows is that it loves sending PCs to try and kill you, and whether they succeed or not you always come back.
I am so stealing this idea.

+1


Lucy_Valentine wrote:


...

Example: if the PCs are on journey, and there is an encounter consisting of bandits blocking the road and demanding a toll, they could pay the toll, they could fight their way through, they could try intimidation, and all of those would be solving the problem. So why would spotting the encounter in advance and sneaking around to avoid engaging it not be xp? The "problem" is some people blocking your path, and sneaking has solved it.

...

In the example, I could reward my players for finding a way to pass the toll doing a good use of their stealth, but sure it wont be the encounters xp. For me the problem isnt solved. The bandits are already there, asking for money to everyone who reach their spot, and the next time our PCs come to this point they will need to find again a way to avoid them (whatever form), so they havent solved the problem at all.

I think we arent gonna agree on this, but theres no problem. I think the OP can judge by all our responses when he should and when he shouldnt reward sneaky actions.

Hope our different points help him to take his own decisions.

Regards.


Lucy_Valentine wrote:

Personally I prefer levelling at appropriate moments but, if I were handing out XP on an encounter basis, then yes I would give it for avoiding the encounter.

I mean, you'd give it for beating the encounter up, so for combat skills. And you'd give it for applying knowledge and various social skills to talk through it. So why not give it for using stealth and perception to solve the problem? If the point is to solve the problem, then the problem is solved, so there should be XP.

So, if I see a red dragon in the sky and I move behind a tree in one of your games, would i get the complete XP from a red dragon encounter?

I dont think hiding from something counts as "solving the problem" except in some rare exceptions like the commented above, where something is tracking you actively and u achive to get it lost (sorry if my english is bad enough to not be clear in what I want to say).

The opposite means u can reach lvl 20 without actually do anything more than be in the right (or wrong) place at a time, and watch how the big bad guys ignore a simple human being sneaky far from them.


My 2 cents:

Can u aoo the brb with a cure? Well, I would say yes. He is leaving a threatened square, u are armed, so u can touch him letting him decide if he try to resist the effect of the touch or not. The action is the same for a cure or for an inflict, so u should be able to do it. The brb is the one who has the last word to decide if he is resisting the touch or not.

You just take an action, you dont have to know if he is an ally or not, or even if he wants that cure or will hate u for trying to cure him. So you just take your aoo on a creature that is leaving a threatened space, and the rest depends on the brb.

Thats my point. Hope it helps.


Without any interaction? I would say no.


+1 for this of van canto, probably my favorite for a bard PC too.

And to put my 2 cents in, take a look at the Skyrim Theme by Lindsey Stirling & Peter Hollens for this Inspire moments ;)


Take a look at the archaeologist bard, in the Ultimate Combat I think. Its not as good for buffs, etc. as the vanilla bard, but it has some rogish talents and with some arcane tricks u can make a decent sneaky ranged PC.


Make it a Dhampir NPC.


My archaeologist halfling is called Teeto Redmoon. Everybody loves Teeto.


as DM I dont like the idea of a duel 1vs1 with the BBG and a lonely player, while the rest of the group just sit down and wait for the end of the fight, BUT if it works for ur group and everybody had fun, thats the goal of the game, so nothing more to say except im glad to hear u enjoy it so much.

BR.


We are on the first book, but im looking with interest your modified rules of kingdom building. I have posted a link to ur doc on our obsidian portal to let my players take a look to the rules.

Im very interested on using ur rules, so ill wait for ur battle rules doc to take a look at them when finished and probably use them too.

Thanks for ur contribution! Nice Job.


My players are on the first steps of the AP. They just have arrived at Olegs and defeat the bandits after a short intro of my own invention.

One of them has written a nice backstory where he tolds that the final goal for his half-orc barbarian is to defeat Armag and rule as the Tiger Lords King. Dont know how, but sure i will recompensate him for the backstory. Probably with some kind of knowledge about the required tests previous to Armag encounter, or something similar.

Ive always tryed to recompensate time invested and creativity off-table.


dinketry wrote:

Alex, I still find your work done almost 6yrs ago here EXTRAORDINARILY useful. Thanks!

-Dink

Im DMing KM this weekend with 6 PJ. Only one thing to say to all the people who contribute with the 6PJ version of the AP:

THANK YOU VERY MUCH! YOU ALL ARE GENIUS! YOU'VE DONE A REALLY GREAT JOB HERE!


Well, actually Im playing an archaeologist halfling and i wouldnt say he sucks, even when not optimized. I have spent all my feats in the archer route (except lingering performance, wich is like a must have). I think its a versatile class, dont know if you could be interested, but has all you are asking for:

- Has a good skill pool (bardic knowledge helps)
- Does a decent ranged damage (not the best, but decent) with his sling-staff (you can short-bow here, mine is just for flavor)
- Has some arcane tricks granting him some survival and utility
- Is a good party face
- Can also play the scout rol, and do the work with traps
- Lvl 3 spells let him cast a phantasmal mount for hours/lvl, so he can move 20'/2lvls & full-atack in a round (at high levels he can fly while shooting)

Hope it helps.


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Level 5~6 party. DM ask for a roll to see if there is any random encounter this day. Our warrior rolls resulting in a T-Rex charging to the group. The 3rd time we roll the same encounter in this campaign, previous times DM had changed it for other mobs because he didnt want to TPK the group.
*INIs rolls*
Teeto, my archaeologist, goes first. He swings his sling-staff and scores a crit on the first bullet. We use crits cards, so the T-Rex takes 2 INT damage, and falls down unconscious.
Poker face on DM, and I win a Hero Point because luck.


A mirror (or similar). Its always useful to see whats behind the next corner, and let you be spruce enough (prestidigitation helps here too) to charm the princess after rescue her.


Im more with the It's Wrong, sorry. In my opinion you have to aply this "extra 5ft" every 2 diags, even when not consecutive.

Dont know if its raw correct or not. Just my opinion.


Well, perhaps this wont save you from death, but I see Aegis of Recovery as a cheap way to improve your chances at low levels. If you can cast some kind of evasion spell or similar, maybe its worth to take one of this.


Any class? race? age? sex?

Well, as general stuff:

· Kidnapped sister
· Old grandpa weapon
· Little village in the forest
· Large family
· Childhood breakheart
· Lovely pet
· Adventurous soul
· Banana!

hope it helps!


And whats going with a PC with 10 CON with a 1 in the HP roll. Is he falling unconscious to a hand shake? Is that kind of "heroes" what he is looking for?

Well, I think, as said, you are in the good way giving him a chance, but I see that houserule like nonsense.

Good Luck!


Expletive wrote:
Do you have to be a monstrous and/or cannibalistic cleric? Do you have to consider it food for it to work? What would the effects be? Is it considered an evil act?

I think you can do it if your rping something like Hannibal Lecter. Is your PC that kind of gentlemen? If not, Im with the above. I wouldnt treat a corpse as food.


extinct_fizz wrote:


So I don't have to make a separate SoH check specifically to "hide small objects" on me when I palm a small object? That's the crux of my question.

I think there are two different things.

If you want to palm a coin or similar, go with that DC 10 roll. I wont sum the clothes bonus in this case. Now, if someone denounce you for stealing and then some guards come to register you, its then when i would sum the clothes bonus to my soh opposed to their perception (whenever you have put there that coin).


Chemlak wrote:
The 3.5 SRD uses exactly the same wording as Pathfinder. Not sure about 3.0.

ok, my group has been playing with the only before/after 5' step for some years and nobody has ever notice during is legal.

thank you very much!


Chemlak wrote:
Shalafi wrote:
Anguish wrote:

4} A fighter with Quickdraw is beside his target. He uses the feat to draw his weapon as a free action then can make a full-attack. During his multiple attacks he drops his target and sees another 5ft away. He can make his 5ft-step to get beside the second target and continue his full-attack routine.

So, bottom line is these are all different things working together. Whirlwind Attack is just a full-attack so yes, you can 5ft in the middle of it. You can swap the order of your actions as you wish. Normally you can't interrupt an action (you can't make your standard action attack in the middle of your 30ft move unless you have the Spring Attack feat for instance) but the 5ft step is specifically allowed to happen during...

Sorry im not sure about this. As a full-round action, i think you cant use your free 5' movement in between attacks. I think you can use it before or after the action, but not while performing that action. I dont have access to my books right now but please check it.
Quote:
You can take a 5-foot step before, during, or after your other actions in the round.
Emphasis mine.

Checked then. Thanks.

ps. Ive been playing this bad for about 10 years... Do you know if this is a PF change of the rules or if its still legal in 3.x ??


Anguish wrote:

4} A fighter with Quickdraw is beside his target. He uses the feat to draw his weapon as a free action then can make a full-attack. During his multiple attacks he drops his target and sees another 5ft away. He can make his 5ft-step to get beside the second target and continue his full-attack routine.

So, bottom line is these are all different things working together. Whirlwind Attack is just a full-attack so yes, you can 5ft in the middle of it. You can swap the order of your actions as you wish. Normally you can't interrupt an action (you can't make your standard action attack in the middle of your 30ft move unless you have the Spring Attack feat for instance) but the 5ft step is specifically allowed to happen during...

Sorry im not sure about this. As a full-round action, i think you cant use your free 5' movement in between attacks. I think you can use it before or after the action, but not while performing that action. I dont have access to my books right now but please check it.


We just have chosen to go with the pathfinders, saving some relics for the red mantis.
I think we wont have any problems with the pirates because we have a very nice relationship with Aerys, but we got more than words while listening aspids offer, so i think they will be our main problem to reach the ruins... (hope Mantis help with them)


Blackstorm wrote:
Hmmm. Nobody ever think about just, you know, love?

Yep, I've just thinking the same. What about Aragorn and Arwen? Who could resist to a girl like her?


We are facing some groups of dead creatures on my campaign. We dont have any cleric or paladin in the party, but our Alchemist, equiped with holy water is terrific at beating them. He kills at least 1 creature per vial and his splash damage goes up to an average of 5~6 to all near ones. And if you change the water with bombs, you have similar effect, or even better. We are lvl 4 atm.

Hope this helps.