Clockwork Spy

Space Crimes's page

16 posts. Alias of Travis Ivy.


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Bandw2 wrote:
in all seriousness aren't clerics the holy warriors of every god? paladins do their own lawful good thing.

I can't speak for everyone, but I would just like to outfit the class features on any concept. I don't think smites and mercy powers should be locked behind Lawful Good any more than something like rage powers should be locked behind Any Nonlawful. They don't have to be called paladins, you could have multiple causes like the champion from arcana unearthed and one of those could be called paladin. Or paladin could be a prestige class of 'champion' or whatever else you could call it

That's just my druthers and if I wanted to play a warrior of Abadar with what we have I'd make a cleric or inquisitor instead of trying to pitch a homebrew class to the GM. But I wish I could also be a warrior of Abadar with a full BAB smiting chaos and removing effects from my buddies.


I'm playing a sorcerer that for background reasons is married to the concept being a conjurer of storms and inclement weather. He has the air elemental bloodlines that I'm happy with despite the pitiful abilities because turning spells like burning hands into force lightning pleases me greatly. I spent levels 1-3 mostly color spraying things and would like to fit into my concept more closely now that I get to play around with 2nd level spells next session. I guess I'm just asking for suggestions for the future.


TanRu wrote:

Next iteration below.

Again, I'm new to PFSs, so: do I really not need food, water, etc? Still have them in there for now so I can see the worst case.

I've only played a handful of proper PFS games and the modules I've seen send your characters to the adventure and back within the day which makes spending gold on food unnecessary. I would show up to the game early (you should anyways) and ask your GM if you should purchase food before the adventure. If s/he acts coy and won't give you a straight answer, get a weeks worth.


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It's not really within the scope of the project but I've never liked the full attack as is. When you get to higher levels playing a melee fighter feels like a Clix game where you can only move or attack every round while barbarians and druids are pouncing across the map.


Bandw2 wrote:
Space Crimes wrote:


Also, I think it's so weird that so many see neutral as either too apathetic to adventure or having an insane obsession with balance to the point of attacking everyone at some point. So many complaints about alignment restrictions and neutral gets put in the smallest box?

because he's either going to be a druid or a neutral from futurama... THIS IS AN EXEMPLAR OF NEUTRALITY! not just some run of the muck neutral.

P.S. i also believe anyone who wrote 4e should have no effect on what pathfinder is doing.

I WAS talking about run of the muck neutrals.


Mysterious Stranger wrote:

Sleep becomes useless one you reach medium to high level so is a bad choice.

Isn't that the point of replacing a spell at 5th level?


Just from the mechanics Paladin is a class that uses an alignment to be especially effective in combat against the opposite alignment on that axis. Neutral doesn't really have an opposite the way alignment is visualized in the books so you'll have to think your way around that. To answer the question someone could write a campaign setting where 'Paladin' just stands for training to destroy evil creatures regardless of your own attitude so you could be neutral. Or another one where there is a real threat to the state of the universe because of aberrations that eat reality or something on a weird third alignment axis that the otherwise neutral character opposes.

Also, I think it's so weird that so many see neutral as either too apathetic to adventure or having an insane obsession with balance to the point of attacking everyone at some point. So many complaints about alignment restrictions and neutral gets put in the smallest box?


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My favorite character was played by a family friend. He was a human fighter that deeply wished he was a paladin back when the flavor of paladins stated they needed to receive a 'call' to become one. He played the part: lawful good, stood for justice and honor, loudly challenged evil monsters etc.

The twist was that even though the GM was in on his true class the rest of the party wasn't. He said he was making a paladin, acted like a paladin, and his character introduced himself as a paladin. He went so far as to declare smite evils that secretly did nothing. We got confused after a couple sessions over why he wasn't using other paladin features. He had a big dramatic confession that he was a fraud.

The campaign didn't last long. That's easily my fondest memory of it


Yeah I'm not sure where the transgression is insofar as figuring an AC after a couple rounds. Him having that kind of breakdown instead of taking a second look is pretty poor play. But figuring out how difficult it is to do damage to a certain creature, and changing what you do based on that? How is that unacceptable? Why wouldn't trained combatants do that all the time?


I'm not interested in removing alignment entirely. I still want something like a holy sword being able to have a greater effect on a demon and the Protection from X spells to be around. Although I see a couple holes. Prot from Evil is a lot less attractive if goblins/kobolds/orcs no longer have an alignment.

Would it be a cool concept if alignment ties you to a morality if you are say an evil outsider but the muddiness of using these aligned powers for any purpose was unique to humans and the other PC races?


I wrote a concept of a new way of using the current alignment system for a campaign setting I'm creating. I don't currently have any players to give their opinion so I thought I'd toss it into the wild.

I've made a lot of Neutral characters recently as a silent protest of the current alignment system. I think it's weird that believing tyrants suck and that killing is wrong is enough to make your character glow with such Pure Good Energy demons can magically detect you and a wizard can cast a spell that prevents you from touching him. At the same time I like player characters casting Protection from Evil to stop something like a Succubus or some other creature that is by the lore evil incarnate from controlling their mind.

So I thought of this goofy idea. I'm shamelessly taking Unaligned from 4E D&D and making it the default for all player characters. Whether your character is a cowardly selfish thief or an honorable defender of the common folk you begin the game as Unaligned. The CRB states that the normal alignments are guidelines but not strict rules. But, I see players either putting their PCs in boxes or ignoring their alignment entirely. Unaligned is valid for every class and for the worship of every deity (which will also be very different in this setting).

A lot of spells and mechanics include alignment and I don't want to rewrite or erase them. I thought it would be cool if classes based on positive or negative energy could temporarily 'glow' a certain alignment when they use their powers. A paladin that uses Smite Evil would be Good aligned for a few rounds or maybe minutes. A cleric that casts a spell with the Evil descriptor or channels negative energy would likewise be treated as evil for a limited time. The Detect Evil radar wouldn't pick up on every petty thief and con man in the city but would rather be limited to evil outsiders and those who have recently cast evil spells.

Spoiler:
Alignment functions differently than a standard Pathfinder game. The 8 alignments that previously surrounded Neutral are still present. All references to 'Neutral' are removed. Neutral Good is now simply good, and Lawful Neutral just Lawful. Same with Evil and Chaotic. Additionally, there is the status of Unaligned. Mortal races, animals, and even most monsters are Unaligned. An alignment is a magical association with the power of good, evil, law, or chaos. It is not used as a tool to inform a character's personality or motivations. Some beings, such as outsiders, deities, and magical races are permanently aligned. A Lawful Good archon from the Bestiary still has the properties of both Lawful and Good at all times in this setting. Characters can become temporarily aligned through the use of class features, spells, or magical items. An Unaligned character who grabs a cursed item may become Evil aligned while it is in their possession even if they do not have a malicious personality and spells such as Protection from Evil and Detect Evil would affect them. A paladin who uses Smite Evil might be Good aligned for a few rounds while a cleric who casts the Holy Aura spell would glow Good for many days.

This shift in alignment is purely mechanical and would not force a change in attitude or personality right away. For most mortals use of aligned magic would cause a shift in character over time. If a warrior used a cursed sword that aligned the user Evil she could use it for months to protect the innocent people of her hometown but over time she would become more callous, selfish, and violent. The players are not forced to do this and could easily play a character that uses a power traditionally aligned against them. A necromancer who raises the dead as tools to help society rather than destroy it is as valid as a cleric who channels positive energy to heal his gang of bloodthirsty raiders. Whether or not an archon or demon would agree with these uses of holy/unholy energy is a different matter.

Any comments/ideas/concerns are appreciated!


My group usually ends up being 2/3 fighting types and we rotate. Last game's wizard would roll a ranger this time around etc. Except for one guy who will never not play a barbarian. There's 6 players so it's more of a time thing. Full attacks take a lot less decision making and drawing of boundaries than casters past 6th level.

I'd rather play a strong class in PFS because there are new players in my area playing some pretty weak fighters and rogues. If I brought my own silly rogue we might TPK. I'd rather someone make the decision to shelve a poor character on their own terms rather than be ruthlessly punished because the group doesn't have the tools.


It's up to you if you want to houserule body conditions for raise dead. I've played in games that don't allow coming back from death period (although they engineered encounters to make these deaths much rarer) so putting a few extra restrictions on lower tier options isn't insane.

If you decide to rule that raise dead can't be used in a situation like this you should let it slide this time and inform your players of how it will work in the future. Getting killed by a x4 crit is punishment in itself and a snap ruling that raise dead isn't good enough without any warning would be kicking someone while they're down.


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kaineblade83 wrote:

I've gone both routes; tried leveling up at story-based points, or in an AP when it recommends and have also tried going with XP by the book.

In the end, players wanted something tangible but, especially for higher level games, it became monotonous. We use a simple XP system (I believe it's modified from somewhere, but for the life of me I can't recall where I read it to modify from...). Anyway, if anyone finds it feel free to reference it.

I did some digging and found the article that I base my game on. It sounds like what you're suggesting.

http://www.paperspencils.com/2011/10/22/pathfinder-house-rule-simple-experi ence-points/


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I use a variant of xp with much smaller numbers. It takes 15-20 points to level up. The group gets 1 point for overcoming small problems, the kind that can be solved with 1 or 2 skill checks, or a trivial fight. 2 points for an average encounter that shouldn't seriously endanger anyone in the party. 3 points for a particularly dangerous or climactic fight. Bonus points for defeating an encounter in a particularly creative way or for completing a goal set in advance by the players with me like "we want to own a boat/tower/guild!"

I like it because it's less arbitrary than GM whim but the calculations are easy. Players see the next level approach in a consistant, reasonable way. I never really had a problem with players picking inappropriately easy fights to collect the rewards but I suppose it would discourage that.


Simple question that came up while discussing the future of my first Pathfinder Society character. Can a barbarian multiclassed with the archaeologist bard archetype from ultimate combat activate the luck ability that replaces bardic performance while in a rage? The ability states that it is treated as bardic performance for 'feats, abilities, and effects that affect bardic performance' and I don't think a raging barbarian can normally start performing. But, archaeologists luck is a swift action that isn't tied to a skill.