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.

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.

----

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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?

So I'm jumping into a RotR game in the near future and I'm planning on playing a polearm wielding Paladin with Oath Against Savagry (For that sweet, sweet 15ft reach) and plan on going Evangelist somewhere down the line, assuming I can find a deity I like. The problem is, I'm having trouble finding a deity I like that works.

The issue as as thus: Do Paladins, as written and not expressly for PFS, have to worship a deity that is within one step of LG? For example, could my LG paladin worship, say, Urgathoa and it be...legit? If not, then I'm going to likely have to come up with another build or just settle on Shelyn and skip Evangelist.

Edit: Urgathoa is just an example. If anything I'd be leaning more towards Pharasma.

Okay short and sweet: When in the Familiar's social form, it is considered an "animal" and subject to the effects of Dire Collar. What I'm curious about is when it goes Vigilante and shifts to, say, a Nosoi (assuming I understand this right), does it retain the Collar's effect if it's still within the time limit of the collar?

Raven => Activate Dire Collar (Raven becomes Small sized) => Swift action (via Social Traits) transform => Raven turns into Nosoi = Small Nosoi?

'Cause this could get rather silly if you're able to throw Mauler on a Magical Child familiar and the Vigilante form gets the benefits of both the Dire Collar and the Mauler archetype (Large sized Nosoi in this scenario).

So with the release of Ultimate Intrigue and my own fascination with anime (in this case Madoka Magica, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, and Princess Tutu), I got to thinking. "Hey, I wonder if I can take the Magical Child archetype for Vigilante and make it work as a melee character".

So all I really know about the Magical Child archetype is this:
1) Charisma based caster using Unchained Summoner spells
2) Gets a Familiar and free Improved Familiar at level 3
3) Light armor (no medium)
4) Limited on Vigilante Talents due to not being an Avenger or Stalker and giving up half their talents as part of the archetype
5) Quick identity change (down to a Swift action)

So with all this in mind (and with the new Rapier feat) I was thinking that a simple support Dex build with a Rapier. Was thinking (as far as the Feats and Vigilante Talents are concerned) doing something like this:

Human
1) Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (Rapier)
2) Lethal Grace Vigilante Talent, replace Weapon Finesse for Fencing Grace
3) Arcane Armor Training (In conjunction with Mithril Chain)
5) Agile Maneuvers
6) Favored Maneuver (Dirty Trick)(Vig Talent)
7) Combat Casting
9) Combat Expertise
11) Quick Dirty Trick
12) Cunning Feint (Vig Talent)
13) Greater Dirty Trick
15) Dazzling Display
17) Dramatic Display
18) Shadow's Sight (Vig Talent)
19) Uncanny Concentration
20) Close the Gap (Vig Talent)

It's not the best makeup for feats and talents but it's kinda the best I got at the moment. Idea is to get in, feint and Dirty Trick all up in the enemy (or fire off some control or support spells then get stuck in) and just dismantle and debuff the enemy, making it easier for the party.

Edit: I also wonder if it would be easier to just do a straight Vigilante and just fluff it the way I want.

Okay so I've a character I'm trying to build for an upcoming campaign and I'd like some assistance in making it work. Couple things before we begin.

1) I'd very much like to stay within the concept as much as possible.
2) I'd like to optimize this build as much as I can insofar as it is possible while staying within the concept (basically make the concept work as best as it can).
3) Less likely an issue but preferably have the character as a full caster.

Concept:

-Short version: A Louisianian/Hatian inspired Elf voodoo witch that uses plants to help create undead. Kinda like the Golgari from the Ravnica block of Magic the Gathering, but less evil and more like using the undead (implanted with seeds and saplings and such) to work the land and eventually serve as food/fuel for the plants. Doesn't make undead from innocent people (so no burning towns to the ground) but rather those that have either died recently of natural causes or by violence (making the ex-bandits work for you!) and is big on the whole "giving back to the earth" kinda thing. Looking at either Chaotic Good or Neutral for alignment despite the whole Necromancy thing.

The build so far: Looks like we're going to be starting at level 1. The current idea is a Gravecaller Witch with the Plant Patron (with spells getting overwritten by Gravecaller). Feats are likely going to be Extra Hex at 1st and 3rd, Train Plants at lvl 5, Grow Plant Creature at 7, Spell Focus (Necromancy) at 9, Undead Master at 11, then likely more Hexes from then on. Granted if I opted out of one of the Extra Hexes at lvl 1 or 3 I could get Undead Master by 9 though I'm not sure if that would gimp me in the short term due to Gravecaller snagging up some of the Witch Hexes for archetype abilities. No idea on traits yet but I intend to set up the background by Harrow and Ultimate Campaign and see what traits pop up from there.

Around level 7 I'm also looking at starting to make Necrocraft creatures for various jobs and eventually making use of the Grow Plant Creature feat for Assassin Vines and Treants.

Anyway, that's what I have so far. The campaign is a ways down the road so I have time to experiment and tweak.

Edit: Bonus points to anyone that can sort out how to make legit plant based undead for player use.

Okay so I'm looking at some magic items for a Bard I'm building and a...conundrum occurred to me.

With Versatile Performance, are you using the chosen Perform skill AS the VP skill (Perform = Diplomacy for example) or lets you just use the mod in place of the one for the chosen skill?

To better illustrate my problem, say I was to get a choice one a skill boosting magic item. My VP is Strings which nets me Diplomacy and Bluff. Would I be better off taking a boost to my Perform skill, or could I take a boost to my Diplomacy and have that bonus augment my VP roll (As in use VP to use Perform and add in the aforementioned Diplomacy bonus)? Likewise, if I for whatever reason take a hit to Diplomacy, would that factor into VP, or would only hits to the Performance skill?

I hope this question's clear enough >.>

A loaded question as presented, I know, but bear with me on this.

Basically what I'm wondering is are fun builds (in my case dual-wield rapiers, wielding Huge sized weapons as a Titan Fighter, and similar builds) less...just, well, less, than properly optimized builds? Like should one take precedence over the other when making characters?

Me and a friend seem to constantly butt heads on this sort of thing, one of the big culprits being the Dawnflower Dervish bard which he refers to as a "****ty self-buffing bard that everyone hates" whereas I think a Dex-to-Scimitars-and-hard-as-Hell-to-hit Bard is fun as hell to play.

Anyway, thoughts?

Okay well more like a terrorist but hey, semantics.

So one of the guys in my group is going to be running a game set in the world we and another guy have been working on for the last few months and I was hoping to get some help ironing out some details to make this character work like I want it to work.

Location: The campaign is going to revolve around a flying/floating city a la Laputa: Castle In The Sky but combined with a sort of Warhammer 40k Space Hulk in that it's a bunch of flying elements (helicarrier type ships, a Cloud Castle and other bits and bobs) held together via a latticework of girders, rebar and general support substructures. Lots of gangs and possibly corrupt government.

Plot: The DM's been kinda hush hush on the plot as a whole but from what I can gather it'll be about working with or for some of the local gangs and possibly helping or overthrowing an outside government that's trying to muscle in on the free city. That's where the terrorism/freedom fighter comes in. The nation in question (the short version) are Imperial expansionist werewolves ruled by a sorcerer king and a high-priestess queen and who treat non-lycanthropes as, at best, second class citizens (at worst, food). Short is, them trying to take over is a bad thing. I should know, I developed the nation and know what they're capable of and willing to do.

What I know thus far: A good chunk of this campaign is going to be a testing ground for things we've been working on, mostly races and equipment and such.

Race:

Class: Arcanist, School Savant archetype (Metal, sub out Fire).
-Reason: Arcanist Exploits + Rusting Grasp (Metal) and Stone Shape along with oodles of illusion spells.
Feat (1st level): Spell Focus (Illusion) or Spell Focus (Enchantment)
Traits: Extremely Fashionable (+1 Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate when wearing jewelry of 150g or more, one of those as a class skill (Bluff)), Keeper of the Veil (+1 Disguise and Disguise as a class skill)
Skill Investment: Bluff, Disguise, Knowledge (Engineering), Spellcraft

Role: B&E specialist, chaos maker, Bavarian Fire Drill ringleader. Breaking into secure areas and blending in, destroying or disabling key structures (Like, say, a section of girders holding aloft a section of city via Rusting Grasp), and being able to take control of a possibly dangerous situation though BS and bluster (and absurd Bluff rolls).

Anywho, thoughts? Any suggestions on how I can improve the character?

Okay so I'm thinking of rolling up a dual-shield human fighter for Society, or at least an Adventure Path and I would like some advice. Most of the articles I've seen on the Paizo forums are pre-2013 and we've gotten quite a lot of content since then.

What I've sorted out thus far:

Minimum ability score requirements are 15 Dex and 13 Strength and a positive Con score. Taking the Shielded Fighter Archetype.

Feat breakdown would be as thus (up to ~lvl 8)
1st) Two Weapon Fighting (pre-req for TW-Defense), Improved Shield Bash (keep shield bonus while bashing and pre-req for Shield Slam), Shield Focus (+1 AC when using shield)
2nd) Two-Weapon Defense (+1 Shield Bonus when fighting with two weapons)(Not sure if applies to spiked shields. If not, replace with Missile Shield or Saving Shield)
3rd) Power Attack (More damage and pre-req for Improved Bull Rush)
4th) Weapon Specialization (Shield/Shield Spike)
5th) Improved Bull Rush (For use with Shield Slam next level, +2 on Bull Rush, no AoO from Bull Rush attempt)
6th) Shield Slam (Free bull rush with a bash attack)
7th) Greater Bull Rush (Enemy provokes AoO on successful Bull Rush)
8th) Combat Reflexes (Additional AoO, at least +2 AoOs from minimum Dex requirement)

By level 8 you're looking at:
+3 Damage from shield bash/shield spikes (Weap-Spec and Shield Fighter)
+1 to hit with Shield Bash (Shield Fighter)
+2 AC from Shields (Shield Focus + Two Weapon Defense) or +4 when fighting defensively (Active Defense)
+2 AoOs (Combat Reflexes)
+2 CMB on Bull Rush (Imp Bull Rush)

Order of combat operations would be: Shield Bash (1 attack) => Free Bull Rush => Greater Bull Rush AoO (Shield Bash)(AoO 1/3) => Free Bull Rush => Greater Bull Rush AoO (Shield Bash)(AoO 2/3) => Free Bull Rush => Greater Bull Rush AoO (Shield Bash)(AoO 3/3) => Free Bull Rush

Enchantments on the shields would be Bashing and Ramming with Defending on the Shield Spikes (+3 Armor Enchants on the shield/s and +2 on Weapon enchantments on the spikes):

Bashing

Ramming

Defending

Anyway, thoughts?

Edit: Also, side-question somewhat related to shields, if you enchant Shield Spikes with the Transformative enchant (Spoilered below), 1) would it affect the whole shield, and 2) if it does affect the whole shield, could you turn the shields into, say, gauntlets?

Transformative (cost +10,000g)

So cutting right to the chase, as a DM I'm trying to make weak monsters (HD and AC weak) as viable threats later on in a campaign I'm going to be running (5-7 people, Path of War is being used if that sways the opinion any). Two things I want to avoid though:

1) Excess use of traps. These ain't Kobolds.
2) Class levels. No reason these little buggers, who are little more than Goblins mixed with Morlocks without the Swarming ability, should be able to pull off complex teamwork feats and such.

What I'm trying to go for is:

1) Low HD. The players should be one-shotting these monsters by ~lvl 5-7. ~12-16 hp each.
2) Low AC. Hitting them ought not be a problem save for like single digit rolls maybe. No armor, only their piddly Dex.
3) High or scaling BAB. Yes, you may have like 26 AC and the thing these creatures are based off of (Goblins most likely) only have about a +1 or +2 to hit, but yes, they hit you.
4) Possibly scaling damage. Not by much though, replace weapons with claw attacks for small size creatures.

The idea I had was each of the monsters gets like +1 BAB and +1 damage for each creature like it in a 30ft radius. Strategy would be that these things attack in hordes and waves but die easily, so things like blunderbusses, shotguns, reach weapons with Combat Reflexes/Cleave and AOE magic make short work of them.

So anyway I brought the idea to one of the players who has a good grasp of the rules and he more or less suggested no on the BAB and damage scaling, insisting on the class levels or a more "mooks led by monsters with class levels". "Not really what I was going for" was my reply, to which he responded with "Well that's what the system is designed for" or something of that nature.

So I'm askin' ya'll, what are your thoughts on this? Any way that I could make this work, or do ya figure I already have it more or less sorted out and just need to go the "Because the DM says so" route?

Yeah the title is a bit wonky, but I feel it accurately summarizes what I aim to do.

Okay so minor backstory: The setting I'm looking at running *Points to this link* has been cut off from the rest of the planar cosmology, keeping everything that was already on the world on it, and keeping outsiders out. Problem is, any outsiders that were ALREADY on the world got trapped and pretty much died off. Yadda yadda yadda, short of it is that the biggest and/or baddest of the outsiders (of all stripes) managed to save themselves by essentially turning themselves into a sort of consumable phylactery. It's not that easy to explain, but if you've read Ava's Demon, then you'll have an idea of where I'm going with this (sidenote: seriously, read that comic it is beautiful and amazing and I love it so much).

Anyway, the mechanical idea is an artifact level potion that works like a combination of a pact (Power for a favor) and intelligent item that directly upgrades the drinker until said drinker dies or finishes the favor.

Pro: Power based off the outsider type of the potion (Devil resistances for the devil one, angel resistances for the angel one, etc) in addition to a short list of spell-like abilities (1/day, at will, etc.) based off the outsider in question, possible physical transformation as well (natural attacks, special attacks, etc.). Basically fusing a weakened version of the outsider with the drinker.

Cons: Outsiders have their own agenda. Failure to adhere to the agenda may cause a battle of wills resulting in the equivalent of a high level Suggestion spell (or straight up mind control in some cases, these cases being extreme "but we're too close, I won't let you screw this up now" situations). Plus side, the "battle of wills" is essentially the same sort of check you'd have to make for dealing with an intelligent item. Another downside would be the withholding of power in instances of displeasure (for actions that go against the outsider's immediate goals or alignment. An angel wouldn't let its vessel slaughter an orphanage for example and would withhold power and abilities).

The current outsiders planned are:
Archon (LG)
Angel/Agathion (NG)
Azata (CG)
Inevitable (LN)
Psychopomp (N)
Protean (CN)
Devil (LE)
Daemon (NE)
Demon (CE)

Along with elementals and fey.

Here's the problem though: I'm unsure of what sort of stats I ought to use. The idea was that the items mental scores would be based off the mental scores of a chosen outsider (Like an Astral Deva or something), but...yeah. Not sure if I ought to go with the most powerful of outsider on each list or if I should just sort of mix and match or what. Same goes for spells and abilities. Should I just mix and match from the outsider entries or just be like "Balor get X abilities/spells so those are what the players have access to"?

So this is more or less version 3.0 in terms of threads, and lucky us, we've finally seperated and consolidated a bunch of the previous info into specific documents and thrown them into a nifty table of contents.

Coria table of contents

So some of ya'll may be wondering "Silus, what the devil is the 'Barrier World' and why should I care?" Well, the Barrier World (we'll just call it Coria from her on) is a homebrew setting I've been working on somewhat on and off for about the past year or so. The idea stemmed from a dissatisfaction with the fantasy kitchen sinkand the general medieval era stagnation. In short, Coria is different from more typical settings:

1. More prevelent technology. Pew pew rayguns.
1a. Problem though, 9/10 you'll have to scavenge for the good stuff.
2. No deities. They either vanished, died or retired.
3. No planar access. Nothing comes or goes from Coria.

I could go on, but most of the info should be in the "Fluff" document in the above link.

So now what this thread is about.

1. Looking for suggestions on either a) what we already have (bugfixing) or b) ideas on what to add.
2. Troubleshooting existing ideas (big problems is balancing out the current prestige classes)
3. A place to bounce ideas.

So as I'm currently posting this on my phone, I'll be updating the Table of Contents with the first of several maps and the WIP document for ideas that are curretly in the pipeline.

So, with that, let's get this trainwreck underway.

Ok so I have a homebrew Harpy race whose stats are as follows:

Ability Score Racial Traits: Lesser Harpies are naturally agile and quite attractive, but are generally physically frail. They gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, and –2 Constitution.
Type: Lesser Harpies count as Monstrous Humanoids. They receive Darkvision 60ft.
Size: Lesser Harpies are Medium creatures and thus have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Base Speed: Lesser Harpies have a base speed of 30ft.
Darkvision: Lesser Harpies have Darkvision of 60ft.
Flight: Lesser Harpies have a Fly Speed of 30ft with clumsy maneuverability.
Skill Bonus: As Lesser Harpies spend most of their life on the wing, they’re competent fliers and naturally agile. They receive a +2 racial bonus on Fly and Acrobatics checks.
Light as a Feather: Due to their generally slight build and hollow bones, Lesser Harpies are fairly easy to muscle around. They receive a -2 on CMD checks as a result.
Musically Inclined: Natural talent and evolution have gifted Lesser Harpies with a better grasp of harmonics. They receive +2 DC on spells with the [Sonic] Descriptor.
Natural Attack: Lesser Harpies possess foot talons and receive a Talon attack for 1d6.
Languages: Lesser Harpies begin play knowing Common and Harpy. A Lesser Harpy with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarven, Elven, Halfling, Gnome, Undercommon, Centaur and Orcish.

Anyway, going off this picture, the Harpy race above is based off the Okepetian variety (which seems to be the Pathfinder standard type of harpy). I was looking for suggestions on making a variant based off the Aellean variety of Harpy. I was considering a speed increase at the cost of to-hit with non-natural weapons or something along those lines.

*Hums the tune to "Do you wanna build a snowman"*

Ok, so I'm trying to build me a Kaiju for Pathfinder for a setting I'm working on (Google doc of the setting can be found here). The idea is a massive...well the idea is like an Agnaktor blended with raw magic (Think "Breath of Wonder",), radiation and living in a massive crater created by dropping a magitech atomic weapon into a volcano being used to power a magic-powered-weapon facility. Anyway, looking to bring this thing up to "HOLY CRAP WHAT IS THAT RUN" levels. Also, would appreciate suggestions on skills, feats and special abilities/qualities.

A fresh new thread for this setting, complete with Google Docs!

THE BARRIER WORLD WIP DOCUMENT

THE BARRIER WORLD PLAYER'S GUIDE

Please note that the WIP Document is open to everyone to add content they think would be beneficial or interesting for the setting. The document is periodically backed up and, as previously stated, public (more or less), so please do not interfere with other people's contributions. Additional requirements for contributing are on the first page of the document. For editing access, please send me a PM with your email so I may add you to the list of people allowed to edit.

The Player's Guide is free for people to use for their own game. No need to ask, just go to File => Download As => PDF and just pass it out to people. There's no change log yet and after what we deem as a "major update" we'll up the version number.

--------------------------------------

WHAT IS THE BARRIER WORLD?

Emerging technology built on the foundation of a lost age, the new civilization living amongst the ruins, having made them their own, with adventurers delving into the places that were once seen as "taboo" or "dangerous" to discover what the previous age held and possibly clues (for the shorter lived races) of what exactly happened to cause the world to be the way it is.

and

Prevalent guns (Early guns = Martial weapons)

No Gods (Effectively killed off during the apocalypse)
After-The-Apocalypse feel (1000 years after when civilization is getting back on its feet)
Steampunk/magitech
High magic, low fantasy (Druid cities, quasi-deities, and magocracies, but low on creatures outside the mundane. So no dragons for example)
Switched up races (Orcs are shamanistic, Drow are neutral mad scientists and (Lesser) Centaur and Harpies are playable)

What I'm looking for:

• Where are the glaring holes in this world as it's currently written, and any suggestions on plugging said holes? (No suggestions are fine, helping me be aware of the problems is more than help enough)
  
• What aspects need clarification? Basically what do I need to expand on?
  
• Suggestions on making this setting work while maintaining the above quoted bits. Basically how can I make this work in the general way I want this to work?
  
• Suggestions for the locations marked "WIP"?
  

What I'm not looking for:

• "You're better off with a different system." No, I'm sticking with D20 'cause I'm stubborn and I know the system.
  
• Suggestions that drastically alter the premise of the world. The quoted bits there? They're stickin'.
  
• Urgings or suggestions to not bother with a homebrew setting/scrap the idea. 1) I'm stubborn, 2) I've already put a bunch of work in, I ain't stoppin' now.

Ok so I'm working on a handful of Prestige Classes for my little Homebrew setting, but I've never made a prestige class and I'm a bit stumped on exactly what abilities they ought to have.

Right so here's what I have so far:

The Queen's Guard: A magus based prestige class that increases the tanking ability and tacks on both buffing intervening ability (Based off the Devoted Defender prestige class from 3.5). A friend of mine suggested this ability: "Declare one person in a combat as your charge, and you get bonus weapon damage against creatures threatening them plus a bonus to spell penetration, their AC improves if you are adjacent to them (very small, like +1 or +2), and you can spend an arcane point to cast personal spells on them at range or at touch." In addition to some refluffed and possibly retooled abilities from the Devoted Defender, mostly In Harm's Way and possibly Deflect Attack. Heavy Armor would likely be a 1st level thing with progressively lower Arcane Spell Failure until a solid 0% at lvl 8 or 10.

Night Witch: A class required around flying (Based off WW2 Soviet Air Force group by the same name) either through natural means or via grafted wings (Fly spells need not apply). All I have for this is the requirements thus far would be 5 ranks in Fly and Stealth, a BaB of +5 and either natural or grafted wings. All I have for abilities would be a progressive increase in Fly Speed (Up to x2 "stock" speeds) and an increase in Flying Maneuverability (Good at lvl 5, maybe Perfect at lvl 10), Flying based feats every few levels (Death from Above, Flyby Attack, Hover, Wingover), a gradual increase/boost to Stealth while flying and the capstone maybe being allowing full-round actions to be taken while flying (So fly move + full attack or fly move + full round spell or the like).

Wyrm Hunter: Gunslinger/gun user Prestige Class based around taking out really big monsters with extra goodies vs constructs. I...don't have much for this beyond maybe extra damage, maybe precision damage or bonuses to called shots on monsters bigger than the PC/bigger than Medium?

Flesh Shaper: Graft Master, able to increase the bonuses of grafts and lower the general cost at the cost of having to specialize (As in the bonuses and cost reductions only affect one type of graft, like Undead or Construct). Can't really think of much for this that wasn't covered in the 3.5 Lords of Madness Prestige Class.

Principality Priest/ess: Cleric Prestige Class. The only thing I have for this is the capstone being full Lycanthrope status. Maybe a free domain, a lycanthrope "path" and social, preachy stuff? *Shrugs*

Suggestions and assistance would be greatly helpful, no matter how simple said assistance would be. Kinda floundering about on my own here. Mostly looking for suggestions regarding class abilities, save boost distribution (What is the good save and the bad save), suggestion on HD die, BaB progression and the like.

Ok due to formatting issues (Spoilers within spoilers), the compiled information can be found HERE. There's a lot of stuff there thus far, most of it sectioned up between areas on the map or by category. Take your time, there's no rush.

Right, the TL;DR of the world is a combination of these:

Emerging technology built on the foundation of a lost age, the new civilization living amongst the ruins, having made them their own, with adventurers delving into the places that were once seen as "taboo" or "dangerous" to discover what the previous age held and possibly clues (for the shorter lived races) of what exactly happened to cause the world to be the way it is.

and

Prevalent guns (Early guns = Martial weapons)

No Gods (Effectively killed off during the apocalypse)
After-The-Apocalypse feel (1000 years after when civilization is getting back on its feet)
Steampunk/magitech
High magic, low fantasy (Druid cities, quasi-deities, and magocracies, but low on creatures outside the mundane. So no dragons for example)
Switched up races (Orcs are shamanistic, Drow are neutral mad scientists and (Lesser) Centaur and Harpies are playable)

What I'm looking for:

• Where are the glaring holes in this world as it's currently written, and any suggestions on plugging said holes? (No suggestions are fine, helping me be aware of the problems is more than help enough)
  
• What aspects need clarification? Basically what do I need to expand on?
  
• Suggestions on making this setting work while maintaining the above quoted bits. Basically how can I make this work in the general way I want this to work?
  
• Suggestions for the locations marked "WIP"?
  

What I'm not looking for:

• "You're better off with a different system." No, I'm sticking with D20 'cause I'm stubborn and I know the system.
  
• Suggestions that drastically alter the premise of the world. The quoted bits there? They're stickin'.
  
• Urgings or suggestions to not bother with a homebrew setting/scrap the idea. 1) I'm stubborn, 2) I've already put a bunch of work in, I ain't stoppin' now.

Honestly I really need some fresh eyes to look at this to help me figure out how to make this stuff work. I've not had the chance to playtest a lot of it and the players in my gaming group don't really provide a good amount of constructive feedback.

So in my gaming group, my turn to DM is coming up in a couple of months. Initially I wanted to run a thing I called 'The Gear Wastes", a homebrew section of my, well, homebrew world full of industrial dwarven ruins inhabited by all manner of mundane creatures comprised of clockwork and metal.

And then (after several questions of "Oh I thought you were going to run something normal" and their previous "urgings" to run something premade and "normal") I opted instead to run the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path despite my dislike of premade adventures.

So I'm sitting here having sent a text to the players involved that, because I know that the players would inevitably come up with SOMETHING I'd object to, they have access to all the Paizo stuff and any 3rd party stuff they opt to use (provided they bring me a copy) with the only "no" being templates.

And honestly, I think it's because I just...don't care about the integrity of the Adventure Path. I mean, this is only the second actual long term gaming group I've been in, but at least two of the players make me want to leap across the table to pistol whip their teeth in and the rest....It's a bad group from what damn near everyone's said. And...I don't really care enough to take these paths seriously because I'd put money on the PCs not taking it seriously either.

So what can I do? The obvious answers that I'd like to acknowledge are 1) find a new group and 2) don't DM if you don't care, so I'd appreciate it if we could just bypass those two...

I've got a fledgling little homebrew world that I'm putting together and the economy of one of the newer areas I'm working on is worrying me a bit.

Short of it, place called the Gear Wastes full of living clockwork creatures (The why is left hanging for possible plot stuff/I can't really think of a good reason). Anything non-sentient or semi-sentient born in the Wastes is made of living clockwork and thus metal. Cows of iron, foxes of copper, rabbits of gold and mithril (Which move VERY fast) and a rare mythical stag made of solid platinum, along with various other creatures made of similar metals or combinations of metals. All of which are VERY tough (Easily +18AC. With Natural armors halved, COWS are 19AC and CR7s) but more or less provide their weight in metal.

This in mind, hunting is very popular in the Wastes (Though difficult), as is ranching the iron cows for, well, iron. As such, metal has no real value in the wastes, coins less so. Food, and to a lesser extent water, are far more valuable due to anything edible being comprised of metal. As such, the one city in the Wastes exports ingots of metal and metal goods in exchange for a LOT of food.

One of the checks-and-balances I was considering is that due to the nature of the world (1000 years after an apocalyptic event yadda yadda yadda fall from high end civilization only getting back to where they were just recently) the continent where the Wastes are located has been long ago tapped out of its major ore veins. As such, instead of importing metal from other countries or starting up exploratory mines, ranching and hunting in the wastes has become a thing to provide a steady'ish amount of metal for industrial advancement.

So with this in mind, what sort of issues would I be looking at as a DM if coins and bars of gold, silver and iron are all but worthless (in the Wastes), but people will be willing to trade a Masterwork Greatsword or suit of armor for a week's worth of good rations? Mostly, how can I look at curbing PC abuse and are there any kinks or inconsistencies or whathaveyou that I've overlooked?

So I got offered to run a game for a new group, but instead of redoing the campaign I finished not too long ago with another group, I'm tossing around the idea of running a prequel to the first campaign.

Campaign 1 basic premise:

Anyway, the prequel would take place during the time 1000 years prior to Campaign 1, dealing with rogue gods causing trouble, interplanetary and interplanar troubles and politics, and, eventually, helping Ju'Leah erect the barrier and set events in motion for Campaign 1.

So here's the problems I'm facing at the moment:

1) New players. At least one has tabletop gaming experience, the others are pretty new. I've already got some plans to go slow with simple stuff (killing wolves, dire rats, goblins, etc), but are there any tips that I ought to keep in mind for dealing with new players?

2) The world in the prequel was far more...sci-fi than Pathfinder normally is. One sorta plot point that I've been tossing around is that a coalition armada or something shows up when they're not supposed to be in the area (turns out that they're there to "keep the peace" from the rogue god's shenanigans). Anyway, with the sci-fi elements (space ships, robots, etc.) blended with typical Pathfinder fantasy (swords and sorcery), what sort of problems will I be looking at?

3) The motive. Specifically, what the Goddess of health and wellbeing (still don't have a name) wanted to do instead of distance the world from the other Gods. Currently, all I have is she wanted to construct a sort of Tarrasque-God-Slayer monster and unleash it on the pantheon until it slew all the still not-semi-mortal deities. I figure that would be a nice way to tie in Kaiju (Bestiary 4) into Campaign 1 along with a sort of Fleshwarping lab. Suggestions are appreciated.

Ok, so the campaign I'm running is getting towards the end and I feel that I am not appropriately prepped for what the PCs have in store (also partially my fault for how much power I let them get).

Problems are as follows:

1) Due to my own ineptitude as a DM, I allowed the PCs to gain some templates (specifically the werewolf and vampire templates, and one is looking at buying a construct augmentation one), almost all have DR (at most, I think, of 10). Barring things that will explicitly bypass DR (and maybe come off as sorta "i'm gunnin' for you" ), what are good ways to deal with players with DR?

2) Compounded with issue 1, the PCs will be going to a Darklands-type ruined city on the coast of an underground sea. The city has been nicknamed "The City of Ghosts" and I wanna throw in some appropriately incorporeal undead, but at the same time I'm hesitant about A) Throwing in overpowered creatures (they're lvl 8s) and B) throwing too much at the PCs. But at the same time, I feel that I'm not doing my job as a DM (They've gone 8 levels with out a PC death). I was thinking Shadows honestly (Love those little buggers), but I'm also seeking something that will take out a vampire as well.

3) So, near endgame thing. Barrier between worlds that is keeping out the things between spaces has busted and the BBEG has shown up, an exiled former goddess of the night that has been corrupted and turned evil and bitter. Anyway, she's got heralds/minions. Way I described them was vaguely humanoid (two arms, two legs, torso, head, flowing hair) and seemingly composed of space (stars, galaxies, nebulas) and that they are, at least compared to the PCs, obscenely powerful (Rule 0'ed the one they found to destroy a CR 12 construct). I'm basically using refluffed Shining Childs, but I was wondering if there was a better alternative to represent, fluff and stat-wise, a herald/minion of the above goddess without going full Cthulhu (the PCs are convinced that the BBEG is Cthulhu or something Lovecraftian).

4) So I've decided to use this stuff from a fanfiction (Fallout Equestria) called the Pink Cloud. So far, I've had the concentrated stuff do at least 2d12 in damage as the cloud rapidly begins shutting down vital organs and whatnot. Anyway, I'm thinking of having some creatures being able to breathe the stuff (Refluffed Adherers + breath weapon + fast healing + some DR to represent the necrotic, transformative properties) and was wondering if 1) this would be considered a tad unfair/overpowered, and 2) what I ought to do to make the Pink Cloud more...true to source. Was thinking 2d12 for the concentrated blast +1d6(maybe 2d6) bleed (internal bleeding) and their armor and weapons have to make fort saves. Failure results in a high/low percentage. High and the weapon/armor takes corrosion damage, low and it beings to painfully adhere to the skin. It's only stupid dangerous when in concentrated quantities (Immediate 2d12 with an additional 1d12 per round you're in it + Bleed), though that's like London fog densities. Lighter stuff, the damage kicks in after a few rounds at only 1d6 with no bleed. The "source" of the Pink Cloud has already been passed (the munitions room of a crashed and buried space craft). The Cloud may have extended beyond, but not far enough to cause damage or expand further. The Adherers I mentioned in the OP would just be creatures that had the misfortune to be exposed to so much of it that they began exuding it.

Ok, so I've got this....problem? Issue at the least.

Setting up an Elder Evil kinda Godpocalypse event (the Elder Evil based off of MLP:FiM's Nightmare Moon) for the tail half of this campaign I'm running. With some help, I've come to the conclusion to bombard the planet with meteor storms containing "Star Beasts". Thing is, I've no real idea on which route to go for them.

Basic rundown of the event, reposted from Giants in the Playground

Anyway, I can see at least three ways to build these, and would like some advice on which would be the most effective route and the least bash-out-my-brains frustrating:

1) Take the Amalgam template from the Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary (Which I understand Paizo used several times for their Adventure Paths and such) and combine the oozes and Earth Elementals, then switch the type to Outsider and give it Immunity to Cold and super Darkvision.

2) Take either the Elemental Infused Creature or Ooze Creature template and apply it to either oozes or elementals.

3) Fabricate the creatures on my own and hope the creatures fit into the CR categories.

Ok, so firstly, in the off chance that you are a player in the "Planebreak: End of an Age" campaign, then kindly turn right around and scamper back out.

The current stat sheet (pretty unfinished at this time)

Ok so I'm kinda hitting a wall with regards to an upcoming ruin/dungeon that I'll be running this coming Friday. Specifically in level appropriate encounters.

Things to know/keep in mind:

-Party is level 4. Magus, LE Cleric, fighter, Sorcerer/Rogue and Fighter/Ranger with a wolf and zombie pet.

-Player have shown to be able to take on level-inapproriate encounters (up to a least CR6).

-I'd like to avoid any undead if I could, lest the Cleric try to dominate them all.

-Players are a little undergeared (my fault as DM really. This ruin will hopefully solve that).

-Players are (almost) all VERY experienced players and have been making things hellish for me as a pretty green DM (Would like to give them a run for their money)

-The idea is that the ruin was, ~1000 years ago, a research facility for coming up with a way to lock the world on a planar level (No intrusion from outsiders or gods). Place has been sealed up tight since the planar lock had been put up. Experiments may have gotten out and bred in the confines of the research facility. Also, since the planar lock is in place, Outsiders wouldn't be very appropriate unless they were brought in and trapped some how before the lock was in place, 1000 or so years ago.

-As the place was a research facility, I can't think of any traps to use aside from "the place is falling apart" based traps.

Please help, I don't want to screw this up and I'm strapped for ideas as it is D= Default enemies would be a Deathweb as the boss and just varying degrees of spiders and large vermin.

Ok, so the players in my group were tasked with retrieving this self-aware construct (Think Legion from Mass Effect in a sense) for an engineering guild. The construct asked to be let go when captured, saying that they (the guild) wanted it to be something it wasn't (a mechanical replacement for the boss' dead daughter). They returned it anyway.

Would it be too dickish to have the PCs try to extract the golem from the facility and find it torn in two, oil oozing from its eyes and moth, whimpering things like "...pleas stop, I promise I'll be good...I promise I'll behave..." In a defeated, broken tone? I kinda want to hammer home that their greed and actions can have unforseen consiquences without really taking it out on the players themselves.

Also, the players seem to be taking a "kill and steal from everyone" mentality. Would ot be inappropriate to have a future patron to hit'em with a Geas to keep them from murdering innocent people?

Seriously, the cleric kidnapped, experemented on then killed and dissected A KID because he was heckling him. I see a manhunt coming his way in the near future.

The Cleric and the Fighter are Lawful Evil, the Sorcerer is Chaotic Neutral, the Ranger is...Neutral Good? and the Magus is either Neutral Good or Lawful Neutral.

As with many scenarios I tend to come up with, I'm having a bit of trouble filling out the transitory sections, and would appreciate a bit of assistance in getting from point A to point B.

The Escaped Golem

"The City of Songs" or "The Pain Organ"

I'll be starting a campaign with a group of people within the next few days, and there's some issues that have cropped up in the planning process that I want to iron out, and I feel that I require assistance.

-A "The Great Owl" encounter
So I'm planning ahead with this campaign I'm looking at running, and I want to throw in an encounter that is reminiscent of the Great Owl scene from Secret of NIMH. They players will be traversing through the boughs of a massive World Tree like...tree, looking for the location of this oracle. They are given no information beyond that he is very old and very, very wise.

What I am concerned about is:
1. Which would be more appropriate in a world with supposedly no magical creatures like dragons: An Awakened Gigantean Giant Owl Lich Oracle, or some variety to undead dragon from loooooong ago in the past (would comment on this in a "the world you know was very different thousands of years ago" way)?
2. Any tips on running the encounter aside from said "Great Owl" type entity crushing a very large vermin as a way of saying "Hello, I am here"? All I have at the moment is that he/it would be curt and would provide some exposition.

-Get that robot
One of the first mission/encounters I want to run is the players (level 1-2) get tasked with bringing back a run away, "defective" clockwork creature that is hiding somewhere in a city.

What I am concerned about:
1. For the purposes of this mission, would a Human with the Clockwork Creature and Lifespark Construct templates be sufficient?
2. Given the situation, would a detective type scenario work better than a chase scene type scenario?
3. I've a plan to introduce a moral choice near the end where the clockwork creature pretty much begs for its life ("Please! I don't want to die!" *Cowers*). Should I avoid this or give the players differing rewards on how they opt to handle the situation (Money for bringing it back intact, the creature's assistance later in the campaign should they rescue it, etc)?

-Alternate campaign paths
I've been toying with the idea of the campaign branching off into separate directions depending on the players actions and choices. These all tend to culminate with a battle against some massive monster.

What I am concerned about:
1. How much is too much in terms of monsters? One creature I was toying with was gonna be a sort of Elder Evil Sealed In A Can that would be a Gigantean Amalgam Shoggoth/Qlippoth (not sure on type) Psychic Id Ooze. Ideally the players (currently a table of 8 players) will be around level 20 when they finally try to kill the thing.
2. Would it be..."acceptable" to keep the other branching story lines going when the players opt for another story line? Like they crack open the Elder Evil In A Can on accident. Should I keep the "The initial BBEG is gonna rip a hole between the planes and eventually usher in a Fiendish invasion" if they already have the aforementioned Elder Evil to combat?

-Number of players
As mentioned above, I'll be DMing for, at most, about 8-9 people. Is there anything I ought to keep in mind regarding DMing for large groups aside from the 'ol "spread the spotlight around"?

So I've got this Blight Druid that delivers Touch spells at range (Reach Spell), and I was wondering if there was any way to add Reduce Person to my spell list for the extra Dex for ranged touch attacks and the size AC.

(Copied from an existing thread of mine on another site 'cause hey, why retype it?)

So for like the umpteenth time this year (Or at least in the past 3-5 months), I may be looking at running a PF home game with a homebrewed campaign world. The short of it is as follows:

Anyway, upon further thought, I've a few questions for the more experienced world builders out there. After all, last thing I want is things to get too broken one way or the other.

1. I was thinking of making the basic firearms (musket, blunderbuss and flintlock pistol) martial weapons with the Advanced and "other" firearms (dragon pistol for example) to still fall under the "Exotic" category. The basic firearms would have the cost lowered a bit (from 2000g to, say, 1500g) and the Advanced firearms would be 1.5x more costly and they would need to get them specially made. I'm not sure if this a good idea or not and would appreciate feedback on this.

2. Are there any foreseeable consequences with having Divine magic starting to fall out of favor? I was thinking that thousands of years into the past, Divine magic was the ONLY tolerated magic and that the Gods had a more active role in society (miracles were fairly common'ish for example). This however ended and the people turned their attention to arcane magic and tech with the Divine magic users taking up a similar role to the modern day churches and religions. The general plan is to have the Divine magic come back into prominence via a campaign involving "unlocking" the world to the planes.

3. The no Summoner/Summoned Monster abilities/spells/classes. Good idea or bad idea? Again, to be "unlocked" when the world is opened to planar travel (as mentioned in #2).

4. Encounter related question, but how well do you figure a "Run and hide from the alien monstrosity that is stalking the party" kind of thing would go? Outwit the creature, scurry through openings that it cannot get through and try to keep it off the party's trail. I was thinking of doing it in an underground area with a +Size, Advanced, possibly templated Gug.

5. Is there a table for about how much gold a player ought to have by what level? I don't want to dump bags of gold on the players, but at the same time I don't want to screw them on rewards.

6. Are there any game breaking class/race combos I ought to keep an eye out for? I plan on letting most of the Pathfinder books be usable (as long as the races and racial stuff is kept within line with the above restrictions) so, again, not sure what I ought to be on the lookout for.

7. Any creatures I ought to outright avoid? Looking at throwing mostly aberrations and a few choice monsters at the party when they go underground.

8. Ought I avoid templates on the BBEG? Was going to use the Nightmare Creature template (Advanced Bestiary) on a Denizen of Leng with levels in Summoner as the BBEG (Calling things from the dark beyond to assist in unlocking the plane their own way to allow for mass raiding and slave taking, inadvertently ripping the barriers down so that planar rifts eventually tear the world apart. You know, the usual).

So one of the guys at my local Pathfinder Society is looking at starting a home game to run Rise of the Rune Lords or Shattered Star (Likely Rune Lords though), and I've already got a character in mind.

And here's where I run into a sliiiiiight snag.

Firstly, I need to convince the (first time) DM to allow the Android race. Since it's a Bestiary race, there's no alternate race features or favored class options, and it falls into the same "bracket" as Tieflings and Aasimars, which are PFS legal (And encountered rather regularly by us in Sociaty). The main problem is that I need to figure out how to 100% convince him to allow me to play the Android Alchemist that I've been dying to play since I saw the race.

I was gonna fluff her as an observer for a probability engine somewhere in the Silver Mount, explaining why she's in Varisia of all places (Probability indicates that a large event will happen in Varisia very soon and an observer needs to be in place to record it for the archives). Pick up the Cosmopolitan trait for Linguistics and another for Knowledge (History), have her talk in semi-jerky sentences and display a lack of emotions or empathy and cold logic (Possibly a Blue/Orange morality instead of Black/White).

Next, I need a bit of assistance ironing out the Discoveries and feat progression for the Alchemist. I wanna try to go for a bombing build with eventual flight capability (fluffed as jump-jets that unfold from the android's back). I understand that Smoke, Stinking and Force Bomb Discoveries are almost a must for a bomber spec Alchemist, as is Precise Bombs, so those are already on the list (Though I think Grenadier gets Precise Bombs for free). And I know that most ranged feats are good for bombers (Precise Shot, Point Blank, ect).

Lastly, any must-have magic items that I ought to look at beyond the +Dex, +Dex and +Armor items? We're looking to get up to around lvl 15 for the last part, so I wanna try to at least plan up until that level (and hopefully we can convince the DM to do some modules up to lvl 20 'cause I personally have never played that high).

I am aware that an Android does not 100% mesh well with Runelords, but I'd like to point out that the DM is allowing all the "canon" races in the Advanced Race Guide to be playable, so I don't really see how a Tengu or a Sulis is any more "in place".

So this is a bit of a two parter.

1. Short of it, did one of the Cassomir games with the Derro, nobody had Darkvision or Daylight (We were like, lvl 2-5). Is there any way to cheaply get either Daylight of Darkvision at level 3?

2. So I've got this Sorcerer (Kitsune Rakshasa-Blooded) and I've hit level 3 with her. And looking at her spells, they kinda, well, suck (Sleep + Silent Image as lvl 1s so far). I wanna take her down the Veiled Illusionist path when she gets higher level, but I'm not 100% sure on how well that would go. Should I keep up with aiming for the Prestige class or just try to go full Sorcerer?

2a. Any suggestions on spell or feat choices? Picked up the Realistic Likeness feat for Disguise shenanigans.

2b. Now, I know there's a lot of dungeon crawls, but should I move the Sorcerer away from the "social +20-mod-to-Disguise" shenanigans and more to a more...classical role?

So I understand that in Society, you are allowed to rebuild a character up to level 2 and keep all your loot and whatnot when you do. This being to help players iron out the kinks in their character.

Well I'm in a bit of a pickle. I've got my newest character, a Kitsune Sorcerer, and she's level 2 already. This is due to my attributing a lvl 1 Module to her (played the PreGen Cleric), thus making her lvl 2 before I even had a chance to test her out and see how she worked mechanically.

So what I am wondering is if the rebuild rules are a hard "Up to level 2" or more of a "You have three games to rebuild" kinda thing.

What the title says. There are a heck of a lot of places in the Inner Sea that have yet to be expanded on aside from a small blurb (Numeria an exception for obvious reasons), so which locations do you want to see have missions to in future...um...missions?

The big three of the tops of my head:

The Darklands, preferably a trilogy of Darklands only games.
The Mana Wastes. Think about it. Random magic shenanigans, mutants, firearms, ect.
Galt. All revolution, all the time. Would make for some nice sneaking/gauntlet type events.

So with Aasimar now available, I've decided to make a Garuda-Blooded Gunslinger from the Mana Wastes who shoots from horseback when there's room to maneuver about (As in when the missions don't force you into tunnels and such). The idea is to multi-class for 4 levels into Luring Cavalier with the Sword order, then back to Gunslinger.

So I'm at the feats, and I'm stuck. Ought I go for Mounted Combat and then Mounted Archery (which only specifies "ranged" attacks), or just minor in mounted combat and go for all the ranged combat feats? And ought I get the three levels in Gunslinger first (for free action musket reloads), or do the Gun 1 => Cav 4 => Gun route?

So I saw a character build concept somewhere and I wanna see about the legality of said build.

What you'd do is take a level in either Barbarian (Titan Mauler maybe?) or Ranger (Two Weapon Fighting), then two levels in Alchemist. Pick up Extra Discovery as your 3rd level Feat and get two of the Arm discoveries (Feats that improve two-weapon fighting at lvl 1). Then you just grab a pair of two-handed weapons and get to work.

The entry for the arm reads as:

Benefit: The alchemist gains a new arm (left or right) on his torso. The arm is fully under his control and cannot be concealed except with magic or bulky clothing. The arm does not give the alchemist any extra attacks or actions per round, though the arm can wield a weapon and make attacks as part of the alchemist’s attack routine (using two-weapon fighting). The arm can manipulate or hold items as well as the alchemist’s original arms (for example, allowing the alchemist to use one hand to wield a weapon, another hand to hold a potion, and the third hand to throw a bomb). The arm has its own “hand” and “ring” magic item slots (though the alchemist can still only wear two rings and two hand magic items at a time).

So logically, if you take the arm Discovery twice, that would give you four arms, letting you wield two, say, greatswords by RAW. You'd have to pump everything into Two-Weapon fighting feats, but you'd be putting out some pretty sick damage.

So, legal/not legal?

So yeah, I'm making a whole host of characters to supplement my current stab-happy BardBarian, but I require a little mechanical/technical help to flesh these characters out.

1. A revolutionary from Galt that signed on with the Pathfinder Society to try and to earn funding and assistance for his revolutionist brethren. Some variety of Rogue I think would be best.

2. A typical WoW style Tank (Wall of steel and muscle that can force enemies to attack him and has enough AC and HP to take a huge beating while delivering a heaping helping of pain himself). Probably a fighter of some sort, though other Heavy Armor wearing characters are appreciated.

3. A mounted gunslinger (As per PFS rules, only Gunslingers can use guns without feats) that specializes in mobile ranged combat. WOOT WOOT MANA WASTES REPRESENT!

4. An Alchemist/Barbarian (Titan Mauler?) that wields a pair of 2h weapons (Polearms?) (Via Extra Discovery towards the +Arm Discovery x2). Probably from Numeria. (Need legality check on this one though)

Suggestions for stat-distributions and feat suggestions would be greatly appreciated

So I'm finally getting this Pathfinder Society character hammered out and I'd like some advice on setting the Alignment and general motivations of this character.

He's going to be a Human Druid with the Decay subdomain, specializing mostly in Necromancy and a minor in Conjuration. Patron deity is gonna be Urgathoa with paying homage to the Horseman of Pestilence (Not allowed to worship him under the PFS rules however), mostly because I don't think there's a deity that specializes in disease or decay.

His reason for turning to disease and plagues is pretty simple: Eventual genocide. When he was younger, he was present at a Society mission that uncovered an Aboleth pulling the strings of a politician. Cat got out of the bag and he learned that the Aboleths had manipulated humanity right from the get-go. Infuriated that they were little more than puppets to these alien monstrosities, he searched for ways to wipe them off the face of the planet, along with any other otherworldy monsters with ideas of machinations towards the mortal races. Then a thought occurred, somewhere between "massive war" and "Get a Deck of Many Things". A plague. A super plague. One engineered to wipe out the Aboleths, before consuming itself in an orgy of biological destruction and decay. And thus he set on his path, learning the way of viruses, plagues, disease and decay.

TL;DR: Learned Aboleths are puppetmasters, wants kill'em all via disease and viruses out of vengeance for millennia of enslavement and manipulation.

Personality-wise, he's grim, a little paranoid (due to the whole "Aboleths control everything from behind the scenes" thing), and for the most part, quiet. For him, most of the Society missions are tests for new strains of diseases and viruses or how decay and sickness affects differing creatures. He does it with a sort of medical curiosity. Latest virus causes the subject to cough up blood and their eyes to scab over? That goes in the notes, might come in handy some other time. He's essentially the typical amoral scientist, conducting horrible experiments with an ultimately "good" goal down the line. Very "The ends justify the means". Civilian casualties will hopefully be either few or non-existant (what's the point of destroying your enslavers if you end up killing yourself?), but any deaths that DO occur will likely be unintentional.

So, without going Evil, what would be the alignment ballpark for this guy? And if he's just screaming "I'm evil!", what ought I do to get him more in like with the "top" 6 alignments?

I know the terms "Plague" and "Genocide" are loaded words, but I can't think of better terms to describe eradicating a species with a biological agent of artificial origin specifically tailored to kill said species. At least to me, it's better than trying to spark an all out war or hoping to get ahold of a Wish spell. And when you consider they were responsible for Starfall, IMO, the scales begin to tip towards "justified".