Silus's page

Specifically the condition, not the spell, and I suppose this could extend to any creature classified as "mindless"

I as the DM and a player have been having...disagreements about this as of late. I've ruled that because an ooze is mindless (coupled with the lack of a discernible anatomy) that they would be exempt from that status condition, but I was wondering what ya'll thought.

I've also seen people rationalize that the Daze spell is considered Mind Effecting and therefore the condition would not affect mindless creatures.

So the campaign I'm running it gearing up for its last major mission that the players get to pick, and I had impressed upon them that if they want to do any side missions before starting the new big job then they should kick me some suggestions over the week. One such suggestion I got was for a Halloween/harvest festival mission/job (appropriate as Sunday, when we play, will be the first day of October).

Problem though: The party is all around level 9-10 and geared up stupid well (to help mitigate the lack of loot and shops over the previous mission and the upcoming big one), and most of the monsters I would initially throw at the party are all CR 1-4 (Jack-O-Lanterns, low level undead, Scarecrows, etc.), you can see how I'm in a bit of a pickle.

The initial idea I had was that, as it's also approaching fall in the game, a harvest celebration would not be a bad idea. Along with the various carnival whatnots, a separate caravan shows up from the Plane of Shadows (not an unknown occurrence in the setting we're playing in) and puts on a show. The show's not the problem. The children that go missing during the caravan's stay is the problem. The party has to track down and rescue the children and put a stop to the caravan before they skip town after the festival is over. Enemies would likely be leveled Fetchlings, Shae, a Shadow Golem strongman, and eventually some Kytons.

Suggestions are more than welcome as I doubt the party will get to any substantial combat on Sunday, what with prior investigations ongoing and new investigations to undergo before they start cracking skulls.

If we are going to keep the "wookie vocals" (I'm personally not a fan) then there needs to be a stated mechanical drawback to it as opposed to the broad wording of the penalty. And we would also need to change up the skill bonuses to properly reflect the language barrier.

Personally I think it would just be easier to drop the language barrier altogether as it just feels prohibitive from a player perspective.

I don't mean RP. That's just the scope of the race. What tier are they? Would they be considered Advanced races? Is aasimar still the benchmark? Because a race that can fly at 1st level is NOT on par with the aasimar and neither is a race with 40-foot movement.

Fair point. Advanced would probably be about right. Truthfully the purpose of this thread is to hopefully get this race sorted out both quality-wise and balance-wise. We're looking at a pretty hefty overhaul of the race, at the least the alternate racials, seeing as this particular race hasn't been touched since we wrote it up about a year or two ago.

Regarding the two alternate racials in question, perhaps switch the flight for gliding wings and lower the 40ft speed down to 35ft?

Also, someone on Reddit suggested a Stag Beetle that switches in for +2 for Bull Rush and a Gore attack.

What power level of a PC are you going for? Because giving them four arms, flight, or 40 feet movement are significantly more powerful than standard PC races.

Racial-points-wise I'd say not more than 17, up to or at least on par with Aasimar. I think when we build this race we got it in around 15 RP or so.

So me and some friends have put together a homebrew setting and crafted up a handful of races. One of these races however, the Kamakiri (mantis people), feel a little...meh compared to some of the other stuff we have, and I was hoping I could get some advice and feedback on how to improve the race as a whole. The initial inspiration for the race was the artwork of WhiteMantis, but as of now I'm wanting to edge away from that, perhaps towards a sort of Hollow Knight direction. Anyway, here's the stats:

• Ability Score Racial Traits: Kamakiri are naturally quick (a holdover from their mantis roots) and generally well educated, but the language barrier and their inability to easily communicate turn people off. They gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma.
  
• Type: Kamakiri are Monstrous Humanoids. They receive Darkvision 60ft.
  
• Size: Kamakiri are Medium creatures and thus have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  
• Base Speed: Kamakiri have a base speed of 30ft.
  
• Skill Bonus: Linguistics and Handle Animal are always class skills for Kamakiri and they receive +1 to Linguistics and Handle Animal.
  
• Vermin Empathy: Kamakiri treat all creatures with the Vermin type as animals for the purposes of Handle Animal checks to train them.
  
• Chitin: Kamakiri receive +2 natural armor due to their exoskeleton.
  
• Natural Attacks: Kamakiri possess a pair of claws good for little more than attacking, lacking the dexterity and fine manipulation skills of their hands. These are separate limbs then their hands, but do not have item slots of their own. They have 2 Claw attacks (1d4).
  
• Radiation Resistance: Kamakiri treat any form of radiation as one step lower for the purposes of save DCs and damage done.
  
• Language Barrier: While Kamakiri may pick up any of the languages listed in this guide, they are restricted to communicating via sign-language and Kamakiri. This does not affect spellcasting, but does impact anything involving vocal communication.
  
• Languages: Kamakiri begin play with Kamakiri and sign language. Kamakiri have access to all non-secret languages, but are unable to speak these languages (see below). They may understand languages as normal.

Alternate Racial Traits

• Locust: Certain Kamakiri are gifted with wings at the cost of their lower claws, natural chiton and resistances to the natural radiation of Xang-Tsan. These Kamakiri have a fly speed of 30 feet with clumsy maneuverability. They also gain a bite attack at 1d3. This trait replaces Natural Attacks, Chitin and Radiation Resistance.
  
• Quick and Quiet: Some Kamakiri are blessed with speed and stealth. Their base speed increases by +10 (to 40ft). In addition, they gain Perception and Stealth as class skills. This trait replaces Chitin and Radiation Resistance.
  
• Grasshopper: These Kamakiri have, through various mutations, developed exceptional jumping skills. These Kamakiri can use Jump as a spell-like ability 1+Con/day. The caster level of the spell is equal to the Kamakiri’s character level. This trait replaces Chitin and Radiation Resistance.

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I think one of the things I want to try is to expand the alternate racial trait for more variety of insect (we have spiders covered with another race already), or relegate the Mantis type to an Alternate Racial and make the base more of a generic insect almost in line with Kasatha in build (nix the claws, give them four arms instead) and have the alternate racials work off of that. I'm also very tempted to nix the language barrier. While a unique aspect to the race, it seems rather pointless without a sort of mechanical benefit or penalty.

Silus wrote:

Well with the CR, I have trouble sorting out what is a balanced encounter for the party (also compounded by the fact that LIKE AN IDIOT I allowed Path of War without 100% reading it and one guy rolled up a Warder). Like the PCs are lvl 5 right now and the encounters I have planned for next session range from CR 3 to CR 7. I'm probably gonna get crap for one or two of the encounters being too tough.

Okay well may I suggest that CR is in general not that helpful of a tool, it can give you a ball park figure but it is generally better in my opinion to consider what your PCs to hit and DCs are and the saves they target and what their AC is. Compare that with the monsters saves, to hit and AC and think, is this a reasonable thing for them to fight?

If you're consistently making encounters too difficult that would irritate me.

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Treasure-wise, my issues seem to be a balance issue of what is too much or too little. Personally I'm in favor of "Well this loot here makes sense given the location and context so let's put it here" but that tends to bite me in the butt when the piece of loot is worth like 4k and all the PCs had to do was walk into a room and search around for a bit. As stated before I'm kinda new to the mechanical side of DMing what with balanced CRs and loot tables so I have the Treasure By Encounter stuff to help me out.

Wealth by level on the other hand is actually quite useful and if you're going to ignore it in favor of your version of verisimilitude you should probably inform your players of that.

Actually if you're getting WBL wrong that might be why your finding CR is off, CR assumes appropriate WBL.

You also talked about loot tables before, I strongly advise abandoning them, they're annoying and can swing between getting items that are kind of too strong for what level the PCs are too completely useless. Which is annoying.

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The other stuff he's calling me out on are DM judgement calls and disagreements with

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In my defense with the CR thing, I only threw one encounter at the party that they couldn't handle, and his character died via that encounter (CR 5 Deathweb vs a party of lvl 4s. He opted to scout ahead through unknown terrain and was stupid trying to escape it. Went to a wall instead of the much higher ceiling. Two-shot him) Everything since has been pretty balanced and I'm not going more than 2 higher than the PC's APL as a rule of thumb.

Loot-wise, also doesn't help that nobody is giving me a solid wishlist that I can work into the encounters. As for the tables, they're more along the lines of "This creature should have loot equal to about this much gold for its CR" to give me an idea for a budget.

And the headbutting over the setting fluff is pretty minor compared to the "are you sure you know what you're going" nitpicking. I'm mostly sticking to areas that I either wrote myself or had a major hand in creating. And I don't think the judgement calls are unfair either way, but rather gets the player's jimmies rustled when I make a judgement that favors story over the strict letter of the rules.

Also there was some pushback about me putting his character in a catatonic state for the duration of a session that he wasn't there, but what the heck else was I supposed to do?

Draw attention to details the lead to obvious questions. Leave some of the questions unanswered then tie them together with a clue in a later mission, preferably with the clue also being a plothook

** spoiler omitted **

That's how I typically do things as I go for Mastermind esqu. villains. Different styles for different villains. For a warlord bent on conquest I might seed rumors, then send a warparty, then have a wave of refugees, etc. In that case the military might purchase exclusive use of the PC party and send them on daring missions against evil warlord #42. Basically its a buildup followed by a plothook that sends them in the right direction

Another thing you can do is only use narrative arcs in place of a massive ongoing plotline. Instead of using a single BBEG the campaign is focused around, have a series of independent(or not) villains that each that 3-5 sessions to deal with. This allows you to satisfy much of the need for longer storylines and keep your most of your creative freedoms. If the players still want a big plotline throw in a piece of evidence that makes them loosely connected

Easiest answer: Dragons of the Great Game, xorvintaal. From 3.5 Monster Manual 5. Simply enough you don't need connections...

I may actually need to make a separate thread on connecting some of the missions into a tidy little web...

I've done this in the past with a DM who had moved over from 3.5 so got confused sometimes, and the rest of the table had never played before so when he said things like 'make a spot check' and the table would go silent whilst everyone else frantically scanned their sheet for 'spot' and then I'd reply 'we're playing pathfinder' and just wait for him to click xD.

The only other time I would chime in was when he was making rulings up that were clearly homebrewed and made up in the moment with a very anti player mentality (he had a habit of in his own words 'being a dick'). For example a player in character flipped the bird at an archer that shot them, he decided that was a full round action and they lost their turn.

soooo ... what exactly is it you're doing that he's calling your out on? You're saying loot distribution and CR but that could be anything from being a couple grand under WBL to receiving a masterwork longsword at level 10 as their best weapon...

Well with the CR, I have trouble sorting out what is a balanced encounter for the party (also compounded by the fact that LIKE AN IDIOT I allowed Path of War without 100% reading it and one guy rolled up a Warder). Like the PCs are lvl 5 right now and the encounters I have planned for next session range from CR 3 to CR 7. I'm probably gonna get crap for one or two of the encounters being too tough.

Treasure-wise, my issues seem to be a balance issue of what is too much or too little. Personally I'm in favor of "Well this loot here makes sense given the location and context so let's put it here" but that tends to bite me in the butt when the piece of loot is worth like 4k and all the PCs had to do was walk into a room and search around for a bit. As stated before I'm kinda new to the mechanical side of DMing what with balanced CRs and loot tables so I have the Treasure By Encounter stuff to help me out.

The other stuff he's calling me out on are DM judgement calls and disagreements with setting fluff (We're running a custom setting that we both helped write up). I've used the phrase "Yes [name], I DO know what I'm doing so shut up" more times than I care to think over the last few sessions regarding those two issues. The rest is nitpicking and general interruptions which tend to elicit most of the "Shut up Wesley" responses.

It's possible the links aren't nearly as obvious to the players as they are to you. Try putting in more obvious clues.

I was thinking just that actually but I fear I've sort of written myself into a corner with some of the missions.

I think for the one they're currently one (the one with the disenchanters, rust monsters, and shadows) I can throw in a link to one or two of the other big quests and get them on the rails to one of those.

Some player groups are more pro-active than others. This is a whole topic of its own.

While I as a new DM enjoy that they are cool with riding the rails and not giving me endless headaches (makes planning sessions easier), it would be wonderful if they showed a little initiative in choosing adventures as opposed to just "well what's on the'ol job board today?".

Careful there. Run into one of those, it's a change of pace. Run into them constantly, it looks like a GM purposefully picking the least fun enemies to play against.

Well to elaborate, the Disenchanters and Rust Monsters are going to be a random encounter and they'll only fight one or the other. The Shadows are using the Underling template, basically making them really weak 4hp creatures that you field lots of, and the party has a battle Cleric and a Magus (rough fight but I'm not expecting them to die, and they all have magic weapons at this point). The plant monsters was a previous mission (corrupted dryad controlling plant monsters).

Just to say it again, because it can't be advised enough, talk with him. OUT OF GAME.

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This is important, Why are you the DM?

Did you convince everyone you should do it and they reluctantly agreed?

Does the group need someone, and they wrangled you?

Are you guys just taking turns?

Because this really affects their perception of you as DM. There's a difference if you weaseled your way behind the DM screen and if you just agreed to help because they needed someone.
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But as for suggestions,....

Maybe an approach like, "We're going to stick with this way now because I designed the encounter this way, unaware of the rule, and the encounter works based on my design -- I can change it in the future."

Or another way, "We're going to stick to this way now to keep the game going smoothly -- I can correct it in the future, but I'm not stopping the game for this adjustment, accurate as it may be."
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Or another approach, tell the group you guys are going to to do a more theater-of-the-mind approach.

Throw away the battlemat and minis and DM the sessions closer to diceless roleplay. Design the session less rules-dependent and more ROLEplay. Don't use Crunch that often.
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Another thing you may consider is to DM a couple sessions with another system or a modified Pathfinder system. This is something I strongly recommend to a new-to-the-rules or unaware-of-the-rules player who really wants to DM.

A few years ago one of our players really wanted to try her hand at DMing but did not know the rules. Was intimidated by our knowledge and experience, even. We all KNEW she could come up with a fun adventure and wanted to encourage her. While my friends recommended her to DM a Pathfinder module while we would help with rules, I told her to make up something unique and just go with it. She settled on designing a 'down the rabbit hole' / Wonderland adventure where she made pre-gen PCs based on the little experience...

I actually volunteered to DM, both because I enjoyed the first few games I ever ran (back in 3.5) and that I know I am inexperienced and that I need some first hand experience to get better. Also that pre-made adventures just sort of rub me the wrong way (Not saying they're bad just...it feels weird).

Most of the problems seem to arise with the judgement calls I make as DM, loot distribution, and CR, and less about my running encounters or plots I'm giving the players. Granted I'm not really in favor of giving the PCs all the tools they need to win an upcoming fight (like conveniently giving them a +4 Sword of Dragon Slaying before a dragon boss for example) so that's something I get lectured at for...

But yes, I'll talk with him in private next time there's an outburst. Let'em know that yes, I will make mistakes, and if it's blatantly against the rules, then by all means correct me TACTFULLY (hell I might just ask him to raise his hand). But judgement calls and setting fluff stuff can wait until after the game or during break.

Short version: Got a guy that does a lot of backseat DMing in the game I'm running and kicking him out of the group is not an option that I want to pursue. Suggestions?

Long version: So I'm running a game on Sundays and, I will admit, I don't have as good a handle on the system as I would like. I mean I can play it just fine with no problems but the actual DMing is still something I'm getting used to (CR and loot tables being one of my big problems). Anyway, there's a guy in the group, a friend actually as opposed to some rando we picked up, who has like crazy system mastery. Like I'd not be surprised if I learned that he read all the core books cover to cover. Anyway, problem is, the guy will, with annoying frequency, chime in on things that I'm apparently doing wrong. Like it's getting to "Shut up Wesley" levels here. I don't want to ask him to leave the group, but I am getting friggin' sick and tired of telling him to shut the hell up with his interruptions and rules-lawyering (or setting-lawyering if that's a thing).

I know pulling him aside and having a talk with him is one of the go-to tactics but I was hoping ya'll would have some additional advice.

So one of my players brought this to my attention (in a rather dickish manner but still) that apparently the missions I as a DM have been offering have not tied together into any sort of cohesive "main plot". That is not to say that the missions are not tied together, just that the players haven't really picked up on the links just yet. Currently the PCs are taking jobs from basically a handler (or Fixer for those Shadowrun players out there) and I'm giving them the option to pick and choose what missions they go on. I've also hinted that they can strike out on their own and do some freelance work but nobody's bitten at that bait yet. Apparently one of the players is dissatisfied with not being able to fight actual humanoid characters and getting stuck with plant monsters, rust monsters, disenchanters, hordes of shadows, and other such creatures. I mean they COULD ask about bandits that need killing, or rogue cults stirring up trouble...

Anyway I was wondering if any other more experienced DMs know how to deal with this, or if it needs addressing at all. I mean I could just throw one of the main plots up in big neon letters like "HEY HERE'S THE BIG STORY THING GO OVER HERE" but it would feel to me that I'd be sort of forcing the player's hands.

Fun monster :) Yes its a fair fight.

For loots just continue using whatever system you have been, be that wbl or arbitrary or other. The only thing to keep in mind is that is shouldn't have metal loot. Gems are an easy replacement to coin. Ironwood items can replace any metal item drops and add a bit of flavor.

Oh I'm mostly concerned with loot in general. I tend to bounce between either not giving the players enough loot or giving them way too much. Still trying to learn the balancing act that is loot distribution and CR balancing.

I can offer advice I suppose. It's ultimately my opinion. First, think about how this creature came into existence. Did it evolve? Was it the result of a wizard's experiment? etc.

What does it eat? If it eats meat like a phase spider, then having a poisonous bite makes sense. It leaps out, poisons a creature and that waits for it to keel over in the safety of the Ethereal plane. That's pretty efficient, why would it ever rust metal (as a food source, I suppose if it evolved in an area with a lot of metallic predators that might be a reason otherwise)?

If we assume it feeds on metal like a rust monster, it probably wouldn't have a poisonous bite except as defense against predators or competition and if that's the case it it would have more defensive traits. Of course, if some mad-wizard 'owl-beared' it in a crazed experiment long ago, then anything's fair game, so you could keep the poison as well, but I would recommend making the creature more than just a: Rust monster + Phase spider = Rust spider. At least do it in a way that's unique to the creature.

For instance, make use of its webs. While it doesn't have a web attack, they do spin them. Maybe they cross to the Material Plane but normal creatures are unaffected, only metal, which means creatures wearing significant amount of metal are caught. Rings, a pair of bracers, a dagger, or a bag of coins might slip through, but a combination of those items or metal armor or weapons causes a creature to get tangled as though in a normal web. They can still pull free, but since the webs are on the Ethereal Plane they can't cut or burn them away without suitable magic effects. That's different and unique enough to make for a memorable scenario.

Make note of whether the creature attacks for food or just spite. If characters leave sizable metal behind, will it cease stalking them like a rust monster would, or is it just a malicious predator?

Also, I would recommend adding the ability for the creature's scent power to also function from the...

I'll see about implementing the changes ASAP (I hammered this out at like 4AM so it's very rough in terms of details). The web is a pretty neat idea and I may run with that as well.

The idea behind them is that they were sort of an experimentation done by some insane/cruel aberrations. They escaped and bred (like the Cazadors in Fallout New Vegas) and, while they are a threat, are mostly ambush predators, feeding on the native fauna of the island they inhabit. Metal would probably fall under supplements as opposed to a key portion of their diet, kiiiiiinda like a salt lick for deer (not the best example I know).

But yeah I'll try to hammer out the details in a little bit, sort out their ecology and whatnot. Given their abilities, what of their CR though? I don't wanna throw these things at the players if they can't stand a chance at their level.

So I've had this creature on the brain since I started brainstorming the current campaign/mission that my players are on. In short, it's using the Amalgam Creature template (Advanced Bestiary) and combining a Rust Monster and a Phase Spider (BECAUSE.). Now I THINK I sorted out the actual combining (the better of the two base creatures was a Magical Beast and when you combine a Magical Beast and an Aberration you get a Magical beast so much of the Phase Spider stayed the same) but I could really do with a second or third pair of eyes on this.

Of note, I'm worried about the CR (Phase Spider CR is 5, bumped it to 6 due to the additional rusting abilities) and if I as a DM should tone it down any. Currently the party is a group of 4 lvl 5's and I'm not even sure if I'll use this monstrosity but as a DM I want to be ready.

Deadline on this is next Sunday though hopefully I can get some input before then.

Regarding the loot question: Should I try to go off the Wealth-By-Encounter table or just toss in a reasonable amount of appropriate gear and gold and go "Yeah that should be good"? Still having some difficulty sorting out how much is a proper amount of treasure to hand out to players is why I ask.

I love it, as far as the items go, have you seen the 3.5 legacy items, those may give you ideas, but be warned they are not balanced well because the drawback system just kills any desire to use them. I use a modified version of those rules in my games but I don't know anything else

I assume that stuff is in Unearthed Arcana? I miiiiight have that book on tap but I'd have to double check. I'm sure I've got the PDF lying about somewhere otherwise.

Okay so this all SORTA goes together. For the sake of organization, we'll break this into sections.

1) So I've introduced an individual to the campaign I'm running called "The Empty King". He's not made an official appearance to the rest of the players but one of the characters is having nightmares involving him. Basically think Kyton + Qlippoth + Old One whose domain of influence is nightmares, madness, and hunger (If you've played Fallen London or Sunless Sea, toss in Mr. Eaten as well and you'll get the idea). Anyway, the question I have is this: If I don't have any plans on introducing him in such a way that the player can actually FIGHT him, do I really need to stat him up? I was gonna try to put him roughly on the level with the Archdevils from Bestiary 6 if I had to stat him up.

2) As mentioned above, one of the characters is suffering nightmares involving the Empty King who is giving hints and generally being creepy (such as knowing the character's name and predicting the future and stuff). What I as a DM want to try to do is begin to blur the lines between what is supposedly dream/nightmare and what is real. In the last nightmare I sent to the player, the King presses something into the character's hand, a signet ring of sorts with a distinct design. I was thinking of having the ring crop up in the waking world (Broken Soul Dryad gives the ring to the character while saying something in Sylvan--which the character doesn't understand but another character does--just prior to the Dryad snapping her own neck to escape from the madness). Was looking for thoughts on dream/nightmare things starting to bleed through (as in good idea/bad idea) and suggestions for more instances of this sorta thing.

3) So going off the Dryad thing above, I was looking at hooking the players up with some magic items that start out...okay (+1 Greataxe or something for example) but can be upgraded via investment as the players go. I'm aware that Unchained has rules for scaling gear that gets better as you level but I was thinking more along the lines of the weapons already having the enchantments and stuff already on it but are inaccessible due to damage or something. Repairing and finding upgrades would be key to bettering the weapon and stuff and might set up for an actual quest for the players to pursue. Was wondering what ya'll thought about the idea, and I'll be happy to elaborate if I need to.

Hmm...Well the lvl 1 NPCs do have longbows so I figure I could switch up the encounter I had in mind. Basically it was going to be the lvl 3 offering to cut a deal with the PCs for the item they were retrieving. Refusal would result in a fight.

Though I think 4 Skinwalker Rangers with longbows on overwatch on the party while the lvl 3 does the talking MIGHT tip the hand of the party to accepting the deal.

I usually make the encounters slightly more difficult for my party than they should be, as players that tend to get creative and play it clever usually find encounters easier.

What I tend to avoid is getting to heavy on save or die stuff unless it can be predicted and avoided as it can easily come out of control.

I'm thinking this first mission is mostly to reintroduce some of the players to combat as it's been a good while since any of us have actually played some Pathfinder, and human enemies of the non-caster variety tend to not really have a lot of tricks up their sleeves.

The next mission is up in the air however as they'll get a lot of plot hooks just dangling about. Best case scenario they'll pick a profitable one that also lets me throw some more exotic creatures at them (plant monsters, undead stuffs, etc.).

Well update after the session finished up (We didn't get to the last encounter due to time).

The party pretty much steamrolled through the encounters, with the wolves surprisingly giving them the most trouble, what with some max damage rolls and at least two successful trips on the Swashbuckler. Hell, the burglar encounter pretty much finished before it even began thanks to the Witch taking one of the two out with a Slumber Hex.

I don't really expect the last encounter with the lvl 3 to be much trouble. In fact I might have to look at beefing it up a tad to compensate for the Half-Giant Warden and his 2d6+1d6 Iaijitsu strike thing.

To give you some maths that may help:

The dead average damage for a sneak attack with a short sword is 10.5, before any bonuses from strength or other sources. That is enough to take a level 1 PC from full health to unconsciousness in one hit the majority of the time.

The encounter with two burglars is your chance to really make the party feel the danger of sneak attacks, as the bruglars can successfully knock one party member unconscious and still be badly outnumbered (and killed or chased off) by the rest of the group. The point of the encounter is to kind of teach/validate the tactical threat.

In the subsequent boss encounter, the problem is that you're combining the ability to one-shot players while they're already at a numbers disadvantage. This is why I think the threat of the boss using the sneak attack should be implied but not really used. Make the party afraid of it, make them sweat and worry about their positioning, but don't one shot them.

This isn't so much about the raw mechanics of the boss (2d6 vs 1d6 sneak attacks), but how you choose to use/play him. Remember, as DM your job isn't to play the bad guys to be effective, but instead fun and memorable.

At least that's my two cents on it.

So kinda....play intelligently, but sandbag if need be?

I'll see about using the previous combats to gauge where the players are and try to adjust accordingly.

Okay so I don't have a lot of time to sort out toning down the encounters overmuch. Thoughts on just dropping a die of Sneak Attack from the Burglers and the lvl 3 Rogue from +2d6 down to +1d6?

Also @Balkoth, started the lvl 3 with ~750g worth of kit which I understand is quite lower than the PC standard. Literally no liberties were taken with making the lvl 3.

As I read it was a CR 3 I thought you were giving him higher stats and gear to make him a CR3 at lvl3. If he's a CR2 it could be done.

Aye, I went back and switched up the CR. Again, first time tinkering with CR. I forgot that NPCs with PC class levels are essentially "class level -1" for calculating CR. Or so I've read. So since he's a lvl 3 rogue it SHOULD make him a CR 2.

Wait going by the Burgler sheet, the lvl 3 Skinwalker Rogue would technically be a CR 2, making the encounter a CR...4?

Unless I dun goofed again :/

It's hard to judge what's really likely to happen in a battle like that. Does the witch have a powerful Slumber hex? How many actions would it take one of those Rangers to take down a PC? Are the enemies going to be scattered or attacking all at once?

XP value for NPCs is more art than science. If the NPC are as powerful as a PC of the same level would be, you have to increase the CR a step - which means four level 1s and one level 3 would be CR 6. Typically, NPCs are weaker or poorly equipped, but I don't know if that's the case here.

The plan for the session is the PCs are sent off to a northern city to retrieve an archaeological find (Skymetal samples and research notes dug out from an old research complex). The last two encounters are a third party trying to get the find from the PCs. The last encounter likely is going to happen at a train station and, depending on how the PCs choose to proceed, could end with there not being a fight at all (i.e. selling the find to the third party or brokering a deal). If they were to attack they would either attack from one direction or, depending on how the PCs opt to proceed given the first (encounter 4) attack, they might try to hit them from several directions.

The lvl 1's only have longbows (which I'll probably scrap in enxchange for coin) and a pair of 1d4+3 claw attacks. I'm pretty sure the Witch has a good Slumber Hex and is rocking Enlarge Person, Ray of Enfeeblement, and Ray of Sickening (along with some other spells).

I actually got finished mocking up the lvl 3 NPC (The lvl 1's I'm using I grabbed from the SRD here). The prelim lvl 3 stats can be found here. I built it using the Paizo NPC creation guidelines so it SHOULD be right.

Edit: I'll probably drop it down to a pair of lvl 1's and a lvl 3...

Why would you think four level 1 characters would be able to beat four level 1 characters and a level 3 character? Are your group super-optimized / high points buy?

Not really super optimized, though I know the Guru, Warden, and Witch are pretty solidly built. The Warden rolled REALLY well on stats and is built like a tank, and the Witch is a homebrewed Tiny race we're testing out that will probably be getting cover bonuses from riding on the Warden's shoulders and dropping CC and debuffs on the enemy.

Seeing as it's the last encounter I have planned it's possible that I'll take off one or two of the lvl 1's.

Again this is really the first time I've tried to do encounters based off XP and CR. The idea was the lvl 3 is worth 800xp on his own. Tack on the four CR 1/2 lvl 1's (at 200 xp a piece) and that brings it up to 1600xp for the encounter.

Okay it's like 4am as I am typing this and I'm putting the finishing touches on some encounters for my game in like....10 hours or so give or take and I'm a little concerned that I've made the encounters too hard. Normally I just wing it when it comes to encounters but I'm trying to do things correctly (figure if I learn how to do things the right way then I know what I can get away with).

So here's the thing: I'm going off the notion that a CR5 encounter is a good boss fight for the session, and breaking that down to a 1600xp max. The method for encounters I have is as follows:

1) Easy - Arachnid Robots (CR 1/2) x2 (400xp)
2) Easy - Wolves (CR 1) x2 (800xp)
3) Medium - Burglar (CR 2) x2 (1200xp)
4) Easy - Clockwork Spy (CR 1/2) + lvl 1 Skinwalker Ranger (CR 1/2) x2 (800xp)
5) Hard - lvl 1 Skinwalker Ranger (CR 1/2) x4 + lvl 3 Skinwalker Rogue (CR 3) (1600xp)

The party is level 1 currently and will have some time between encounters to sell off loot and re-kit up and rest between fights. The party consists of a Witch, a Swashbuckler, a Guru (Akashic Mysteries), and a Warden (Path of War).

I'm just worried that I might be throwing too much at the party and that I'm making things too hard for them and some feedback would be appreciated.

Goblins start life with a +10 stealth bonus, even with no ranks, due to a racial bonus of +4, dex bonus of +2, and a size bonus of +4. Rogues add another +3 once they take a rank, for a level one stealth +14.

And they see in the dark.

Now think about what a guerrilla war would be like. Why would they ever mass up for traditional combat?

Basically, ordinary humans have no shot of spotting a goblin sneaking up on you; their only option is massive amounts of light that clearly marks exactly where your camp is.

If these guys are made Lawful Evil, humanity faces real problems. I think that's all you need to do.

The idea is less on traditional combat and more overwhelming hordes. Now I'm not saying there wouldn't be exceptionally sneaky buggers skulking about, but when hordes of goblins explode out of the sewers and start raising hell...

*Gestures to the thread* It feels like the general idea I'm trying to convey is getting lost on some people.

YES, CERTAIN GOBLINS SHOULD AND WILL USE ADVANCED TACTICS, I.E. NETS, ALCHEMICAL WEAPONS, SNEAK ATTACKS, COMBAT MANEUVERS, ETC..

WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR HOWEVER IS A WAY TO MAKE A MEAT GRINDER TACTIC/MANEUVER VIABLE.

Throwing waves of 50 goblins at a group of 4-5 PCs. The Goblins may be right around stock levels (i.e. right ought of the Bestiary) and the PCs might be lvl 7-10 or so, and thus the combat is already one-sided in favor of the PCs. The issue here is making the goblins a credible threat to the PCs without changing too much for the goblins (See: Class levels and such).

Imagine you can kill ~2-3 goblins a round, and your wizard is racking up the kills left, right, and center. But each goblin is pinging each PC for ~1-3 HP a round. Not too bad to keep up with but you can't hold out forever. And you slowly realize that you didn't aggro a patrol, you aggroed all of Moria, and they're coming for YOU as a tide. That tide is what I'm trying to sort out.

Goblins may not like words...but they do like pictures.

They could be literate with hieroglyphs.

No offense, but....that doesn't really help with the given situation at all...

What I want to do is to keep the 1d4 damage of the standard Warrior lvl 1 Goblin, but make it so said goblin can hit a, say, lvl 10 character with level equivalent gear. I want it to be where even a lvl 1 goblin, in a horde, is a credible threat to Mr. Big Fighter with full plate and some magic kit. The issue, at the moment, is the mooks.

The short and sweet version is I just scale the to-hit appropriately (increase their innate BAB or something) to keep up with the PCs but leave the damage and HD all the same so it's death by 1000 cuts instead of 1-hit-KO or something. That way it keeps the weak creatures in an unstoppable tide vibe (Cleave and AoOs will really help) but makes it so they can actually do something to the PCs and so the goblins don't have to rely on just critical hits to deal damage.

...goblins aren't CR 1/3. They're a 0 HD race, they take class levels. A Goblin Warrior 1 is CR 1/3. A Goblin Wizard 20 is CR 19 and pretty much as dangerous as any other Wizard 20. Just give them higher levels.

Then comes the issue of justifying the class levels when you're fielding entire map-covering swarms of the guys.

Silus wrote:

So me and a friend of mine are looking at reworking goblins for a homebrew setting and we're having a little bit of trouble sorting a thing out and I was hoping we could get some assistance on it.

So we're taking the standard Pathfinder Goblin and switching up the tactics and societal makeup to that of an amalgam of Kobolds (with the traps and scary cleverness), Skaven (Warhammer Fantasy, with the specialized clans, overwhelming hordes of mooks, use of poisons and disease, and general sneaky skullduggery), and Orks (the WAAAGH! method of warfare, looting technology, and "the strongest/most clever leads" leadership). All of that is well and good and easy enough but here comes the issue: How do you make Goblins threatening beyond, say, level 5 or 6?

One idea that my friend had was to give them the ability to auto-Aid Another, though I was thinking for higher levels give them the ability to get additive flanking bonuses (If 5 goblins are in melee with the party they all count as flanking and have the bonus stack, so each goblin would get +8 to hit). Swarming would be another option. Basically looking for a quick and dirty way to make a green tide of goblins a credible threat to a party up to about level 10 or so without having to give them all class levels. Increased HP or attack damage isn't needed, just the ability to hit the PCs. The idea is a horde of easy to kill mooks that can and will damage you little by little.

So, any advice?

Goblins have a whole lot of awesome stuff as it is: special Feats, Alchemy Options, oversized Guns, a 30' Move.

All you really have to do to re-imagagine Goblins is to change the culture a little. Maybe make them a little smarter, make it not a crime amongst Goblins to read, stuff like that. I think if you made some Goblins Lawful Evil and allowed them to draw up a regular order of battle, your Goblin Army would be most terrifying indeed!

Idea that we had regarding the second bit was that the other goblinoid species--Hobgoblins, "Blues" (Ultimate Psionics), and Bugbears--would be mutations of the standard goblin and would affect how the clan/tribe would operate. The Hobgoblins would instill a more military sort of discipline, the Blues would be more overall tactical, and the Bugbears would favor stealth raids to sow terror.

The problem is the stat drop-off of your standard goblin. Each is a 1/3 CR and only has a +2 to hit. The issue isn't more or better tactics unless we go full Kobold with them and have all the damage be from traps and such, the trouble is boosting the to-hit to scale with the levels of the PCs. 1d4 damage isn't a lot, even at low levels, but when 5 or 6 goblins can hit you for 1d4 a round, even at level 7 or 8, then things start getting a little worrying, and that's what we're trying to accomplish.

The alternative is to make a swarm-type creature but of goblins to reflect the basic tide mentality.

So me and a friend of mine are looking at reworking goblins for a homebrew setting and we're having a little bit of trouble sorting a thing out and I was hoping we could get some assistance on it.

So we're taking the standard Pathfinder Goblin and switching up the tactics and societal makeup to that of an amalgam of Kobolds (with the traps and scary cleverness), Skaven (Warhammer Fantasy, with the specialized clans, overwhelming hordes of mooks, use of poisons and disease, and general sneaky skullduggery), and Orks (the WAAAGH! method of warfare, looting technology, and "the strongest/most clever leads" leadership). All of that is well and good and easy enough but here comes the issue: How do you make Goblins threatening beyond, say, level 5 or 6?

One idea that my friend had was to give them the ability to auto-Aid Another, though I was thinking for higher levels give them the ability to get additive flanking bonuses (If 5 goblins are in melee with the party they all count as flanking and have the bonus stack, so each goblin would get +8 to hit). Swarming would be another option. Basically looking for a quick and dirty way to make a green tide of goblins a credible threat to a party up to about level 10 or so without having to give them all class levels. Increased HP or attack damage isn't needed, just the ability to hit the PCs. The idea is a horde of easy to kill mooks that can and will damage you little by little.

So, any advice?

Short answer: It entirely depends on who's playing in it.

Long answer: It's entirely fine to handwave everything... right up until a player wants to know more. Then you need to know more, or at least have a way to fake it. Say someone wants to come from the clockwork continent, do you have a handy race for them? Are they different from normal races? Do they breed true with the non-clockwork people? Do they make half-construct people? Similar issue with the eye. In the game it's mysterious. In a PnPRPG, nothing is stopping the players from deciding they want to put on their diving bells and go poke the eye to see what happens. Then it's not mysterious, it's a mystery, and one which better have an answer other than "it's secret" if the players are putting in their time and effort to solve it.

Thoughts on answers that don't really answer the initial question but simply raise more complex questions? Like the players decide to try and sort out the clockwork creatures thing but stumble upon like an ancient conspiracy/curse/pact/whatever that MIGHT explain the clockwork situation?

Personally I'm kinda loathe to give out explicit answers of "Well X is the way it is because of reasons A, B, and C."

You as a DM should know what is and why it is there, but that doesn't mean your players have to.

Case in point, The Eye in the main game is a complete unknown, but you can interact with it in the Zubmariner expansion. So while you never find out anything about in the Core game, the developers did know what it was and why they put it in.

Other cool minimalistic examples would be the Souls series of games from From Software (Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1-3, Bloodborne).

Would it be acceptable to simply do the 'ol "It's a secret *wink*" dealy for some things but have no real explanation?

Like in a setting me and some friends are working on, there's a whole....kingdom? Continent? General landmass. Where all the creatures born there are made of living clockwork. No explanation of why it is that way, and most if not all people in the setting just sort of roll with it (because hey, super lucrative ranching).

This is a thing that's been on my mind for a while, compounded recently after a playthrough of Sunless Sea.

Specifically pertaining to homebrew settings and such, do things have to make sense, or even have an explanation?

Using Sunless Sea (a fantastic roguelike) as an example, on some maps, in the south, there is an unmarked location known as The Eye. It is literally a massive eye on the sea floor that opens and watches your ship should you draw near to it. Nothing else (aside from rapid terror increase), it just...watches you. It's never mentioned anywhere in any of the dialogue of the game, never brought up at all, and there is no explanation for WHY it's there or even WHAT it really is.

Now if this was in a Pathfinder game, should you, as the DM, have an explanation for what it is and why it's there? Or even if there is an explanation, do the characters (or even the players) need to know?

Sorry if the question is a bit wonky, it's like 4am here and I'm getting a little loopy.

Any suggestions on ways to balance it out? One of the issues in my group is that Androids are too....living, and that the concept of them having souls is stupid. Hence the more robotic thing I'm trying to go for here.

Is this designed to be a player race or an NPC race?

Player race, though will see some use as an NPC race.

This I think is mostly an attempt at making a more...robotic Android.

Okay so me and some guys started working on a robot race (like a proper robot race) and would like some help/feedback. The idea is that the Coppelion are between Mannequins and Androids (Gen 2's to Mannequin's Gen 1 and Android's Gen 3). What we have so far:

+2 Str, +2 Dex, -4 Cha
Medium size
Normal speed (30ft)
Construct (Robot Subtype)
-1 to Diplomacy, Bluff, and Intimidate
+2 Reflex (multi-directional swivel joints. Think Orianna from League of Legends)
Toughness as a bonus feat

Construct
--Constructs have no Constitution score. Any DCs or other statistics that rely on a Constitution score treat a construct as having a score of 10 (no bonus or penalty).
--Constructs have the low-light vision racial trait.
--Constructs have the darkvision 60 feet racial trait.
--Constructs are immune to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms).
--Constructs cannot heal damage on their own, but can often be repaired via exposure to a certain kind of effect (depending on the construct's racial abilities) or through the use of the Craft Construct feat. Constructs can also be healed through spells such as make whole. A construct with the fast healing special quality still benefits from that quality.
--Constructs are not subject to ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, energy drain, or nonlethal damage.
--Constructs are immune to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless).
--Constructs do not risk death due to massive damage, but they are immediately destroyed when reduced to 0 hit points or fewer.
--Constructs cannot be raised or resurrected.
--Constructs are hard to destroy, and gain bonus hit points based on their size (in this case 20)
--Constructs do not breathe, eat, or sleep, unless they want to gain some beneficial effect from one of these activities. This means that a construct can drink potions to benefit from their effects and can sleep in order to regain spells, but neither of these activities is required to survive or stay in good health.

Robot Subtype
--Vulnerable to Critical Hits: Whenever a robot takes extra damage from a critical hit, it must make a DC 15 Fortitude save to avoid being stunned for 1 round. If it makes a successful saving throw, it is staggered for 1 round. The robot remains immune to other sources of the stunned condition.
--Vulnerable to Electricity: Robots take 150% as much damage as normal from electricity attacks, unless they are immune to electricity via other special defenses.

An idea we were kicking around was they would have a Force Field to offset how tough it is to keep them healed. Personally I favor the idea of the Construct Bonus HP (the 20HP) being relegated to the Force Field HP and the "Core" HP being a combination of Class HD, Toughness, and any Favored Class bonus HP. Would provide a buffer for players at low levels up until the players get access to Make Whole. Also kicking around the idea of significantly lowered difficulty for implanting cybertech and allowing them to self-implant.

Anyway, thoughts?

Pshaw, you can worship Apsu as a Paladin all you want. The organization of the faith is just somewhat limited, that's the only caveat. Otherwise you just follow the code.

It also sort of works as one of the other players is going Dragon Disciple and jumped on the Apsu bandwagon when I mentioned him. So yeah, dragon bros =D

Well, there are lots of ways to make the character 'Draconic.' Some involve extensive building, but some are very simple.

(1) Select the Blood of Dragons Bloodline Race Trait. (I love this Trait.)
(2) Take the Eldritch Heritage (Draconic) feats. (You'll have the Charisma.)
(3) Dip a level of spontaneous arcane caster and then go into Dragon Disciple.

Lots of fun options for...

Honestly I'll probably go with the trait as I feel most of my feats will be going into combat stuffs (Power Attack, Cleave, etc.). Downside is the DM is kinda mandating we have a Campaign trait and with polearms the Helpful/Aid Another trait will be missed out on.

Also, being flavorfully limited doesnt' really mean anything in Pathfinder. Your PCs are supposed to be the unique awesome characters that defy the norms of society. I would have no problem with you being an agent of Apsu... just have a story behind how it happened.

Rare doesn't mean impossible.

Aye, I'll probably go with Apsu.

Or I suppose I could see about going Grey Paladin and get a wider selection of deities.
Scratch that re-read Gray Paladin and the alignment restrictions stick.

Silus wrote:

swoosh wrote:

BigNorseWolf wrote:

If being a paladin was easy everyone would do it.

Probably not. Class isn't THAT good.

Aye. But options are limited as the DM is only allowing Core classes, otherwise I'd be rolling up a Warpriest. Or a Kineticist >.>

Edit: Also, decided on Apsu as the patron deity for my Paladin for purposes of Evangelist (thank you Inner Sea Faiths!). Also gets a nifty amulet that allows for a breath weapon and Eagle's Splendor.

The weird thing about Apsu is that it's RARE for non-Draconics to worship him, since as a God he is very singularly focused on his opposition of Dahak. The like... 2 human churches that exist on Golarion are almost entirely focused on performing the tasks requested of them by Apsu's Dragon representatives (usually Bronze) to help ensure that Dahak and his followers don't gain too much strength... though these Dragons usually feel that they do not require the help of humans so these requests are rare. The only care Apsu has for Golarion is that Dahak and he will have their final battle there... otherwise he focuses on Triaxus.

*Grumbles* Well back to Sarenrae I suppose unless I can sorta cheese my way into having a paladin of Brigh or something.

BigNorseWolf wrote:

If being a paladin was easy everyone would do it.

Probably not. Class isn't THAT good.

Aye. But options are limited as the DM is only allowing Core classes, otherwise I'd be rolling up a Warpriest. Or a Kineticist >.>

Edit: Also, decided on Apsu as the patron deity for my Paladin for purposes of Evangelist (thank you Inner Sea Faiths!). Also gets a nifty amulet that allows for a breath weapon and Eagle's Splendor.

Silus wrote:

Rovagug, The Rough Beast wrote:

Good luck getting rid of me! Why you'd have to pull Golarion into some sort of pocket dimension and wipe out all recorded history of how it was done to shut me up. But, I mean *nervous chuckle* they'll never do THAT...

So I know it works in other settings, but if you killed off all the worshipers of a God, erased all record of them and all that jazz, would that kill said God?

Hell, a Wish spell or two could in theory (depending on the DM I suppose) starve out any God or Goddess if that's true.

... What kind of GM makes Wish powerful enough to kill at least thousands of people across at least continents, if not planets and/or planes anyhow?

Killing ain't needed. Just laser guided amnesia.

"I wish everyone forgot about [person/god]."

Good luck getting rid of me! Why you'd have to pull Golarion into some sort of pocket dimension and wipe out all recorded history of how it was done to shut me up. But, I mean *nervous chuckle* they'll never do THAT...

So I know it works in other settings, but if you killed off all the worshipers of a God, erased all record of them and all that jazz, would that kill said God?

Hell, a Wish spell or two could in theory (depending on the DM I suppose) starve out any God or Goddess if that's true.

Rysky wrote:

Granted I am more okay with the idea of a Paladin of Pharasma than I am with Paladins of Abadar, which are unfortunately a thing.

I like to imagine Paladins of Abadar all have pompadours, slick grins, and ridiculous wives/sidekicks. They travel the countryside in tent shows explaining how their god wants them to be rich... at least until Starfinder, when they start their own television network...

Oh God. 'Lil Gideon as a Paladin of Abadar.

Gulthor wrote:

Silus wrote:

(And I plan on grabbing Extra Smite)

Extra Smite?

Ah, good catch! There is no Extra Smite feat.

Oh right, that was a 3.5 thing.

Shows how long it's been since I've played a Paladin...

Ragathiel is a good choice, if you just want to be all about the fighting.

Yeah, was looking at the Empyreal Lords but there's no support with Evangelist. I mean I could skip the prestige class and just go straight Paladin but the fiddly bits and Align Class just look so fun.

Granted if Warpriest was allowed for this game hell yes so many options.

Besmarian Warpriest woooooo.

Silus wrote:

quibblemuch wrote:

Also, if all you mechanically want is reach, why not just wield a reach weapon? There's nothing that says that a paladin has to use the favored weapon of their deity.

I kinda figured that was a thing O_o I usually play bards and Druids so it's never really been any sort of an issue.

Nope. You never even have to pick up a favored weapon if you don't want.

In fact, a paladin with a strategic bent might well carry and wield several different types of weapons, knowing that some foes are resistant to different types of attacks.

Well that does make things far more simple.

Now to just find a deity that works.

*Flips through the Inner Sea Gods book* Suppose Sarenrae would work. Her Evangelist bonuses are pretty nice.

Silus wrote:

technarken wrote:

Oath Against Undead Paladin who is a devout Pharasmin?

Problem is is that that oath isn't really good for Rise of the Runelords. We're fighting giants later on so the Oath Against Savagery works a lot better, netting me 1 minute of +5 reach per use of Smite (And I plan on grabbing Extra Smite) for a 15ft reach with a polearm.

I mean if I had free reign on what I wanted to play (as in no restrictions) I'd be running a Pharasman Warpriest that uses daggers and Splintering Weapon with a whole mess of cheap stone daggers.

All Holy Reach does is give you the Lunge Feat for 1 min. By the time you start fighting Giants your BaB will be high enough to nab the feat itself, and you won't have to blow through your Smite Evils to use it anymore.

We're also playing the AP with like 7 people so the 15ft reach, especially at low levels, will come in handy. I only played the first book but I expressly remember very cramped corridors even for 4 players.

That and Lunge gives you -2 AC for the round whereas Holy Reach does not and you can grab it at level 2. Not saying I can't or won't grab Lunge when I can though.