Starfell's page

Hello,

I am working diligently to prepare for a pathfinder 2e adventure within the Iron Kingdoms. Many may know of it via older materials published for DnD 3.x, Warmachine/Hordes or even the IKRPG. I am trying to convert things from the 3.x version over (as it appears to be the easiest to transfer) for use as Pathfinder 2e. Fortunately, gunslinger and inventor fit extremely well into the setting flavor-wise and Magus can cover the "Gun Mage" feel quite well.

Currently I have the following:
Warcaster Archetype

Ogrun Ancestry
I pulled the majority of my info here from the Orc Ancestry as it seemed to have the closest feel.

Trollkin Ancestry
I obtained most of this idea from the person who posted their work on Reddit with some adjustments: Reddit Post. I wanted to make sure to give them full credit for what they did.

I am considering how I want to have Arcane Mechaniks, Bodgers and may be Mage Hunters, if at all - into my conversions. Any critiques and advice would be very much appreciated!

Hello,

I wanted to reach out for ideas to build an exorcist, or priest that is anti-evil supernatural beings. The flavor I was going for would be similar to the priest from Helsing - who has what appears to be holy powers with significant martial capabilities to fight. It's for a future campaign a friend of mine is running and he will certainly be having fiends and evil-denizens showing up. The problem for me is that Cleric tends to be more centered around anti-undead.

I've been beating myself over the head of doing Champion/Cleric, Cleric/Champion, Fighter/Cleric, Champion/Other but it seems like there is very little that I can take advantage of as anti-evil as I'd like. Cleric would be the ideal simply for Holy Castigation for flavor but that comes a bit later. Nothing seems to quite "click".

I am also ok with this character being so specialized that he may be sub-par against anything else. If he is a skill or knowledge guy in addition to just being really good at beating fiends or the like, I am ok with that.

Hello everyone! I wanted to get some suggestions and insight from the great minds here to piece together a world concept I have. First a bit of background:

The world was initially Rhydin (for those of you who participated in the AOL days, you got a jist) - a portal world to other dimensions and planes. It often was a world in which beings could traverse from one world to another. Weird combinations of creatures (again, if you were there during the AOL chatrooms...) existed and all levels of technology were present. One day, the portals closed. The powers that be quickly turned on one another, laying blame and attempting to seize some form of dominion. This war tore the world apart - literally.

It was a pantheon of deities that showed up to put the world back together with whatever survivors there were. Time was short because the atmosphere was falling apart and the earth literally shattered to pieces. A new world was reborn out of the remnants of the old one. This new world would be renamed __(Not yet named)____.

The key points of this historical blueprint is that a stolen adventure idea was during the last days of the catastrophic war had heroes fighting for their lives. In their final moments they were turned into stone. Fast forward into the future they were released from their stone state in a whole different world and existence. Worshiped as gods due to their realistic look, they quickly ascertained the situation of the world.

The major players in the war that tore the world apart, at least that survived and were significant in the battle and reparation were chromatic dragons. In the setting there are no metallic dragons. The "brood lords" or "primarchs" of the various chromatic lines were named: Magdela (Green Dragon, from a friend's idea); Behemoth (White Dragon); Leviathan (Blue Dragon), Apollyon (Black Dragon) and finally Jormangandr (Red Dragon). These dragons would make colossal or gigantic dragons look like ants. The two largest being Behemoth and Jormangandr. The finally battle was an attempt to bring down Jormangandr and his plans to become a deity by eating the core of the world. It was the other Chromatic's betrayal of him that ultimately brought about his defeat.

When the pantheon of deities arrived to restore the world, Jormangandr was actually placed under the largest continent as his prison. His body and soul were separated and his body became dormant rock. His soul in the body of a fat, televangelist type swindler who actually lead the "worship" of the statues that were the people put into stone. (This was all a previous Pathfinder game). The other chromatics were placed in charge of defending Jormangandr's prison. Various continents and races associated with them fell under one of the chromatics and Magdela set up a veil to prevent passage between the locations.

Jormangandr used the newly released "heroes" from their stone prisons and manipulated them to believe these overlord dragons were oppressing the world. First to fall by their hands was Magdela, and the other Chromatics turned to hunt down these would-be heroes. Jormangandr used this opportunity to undo the prison that kept his body and soul separate. Eventually, the final Chromatic lord was killed. The heroes of this story learned of Jormangandr's trickery taking place the entirety of their adventure and a race to his body commenced.

Jormangandr's mortal body jumped in a suicidal way into his body's mouth and the soul and body were once again reunited. The continent was split apart as he broke himself free of his underground prison. He gathered easily manipulated followers to himself to once again reach for transendance - this time by eating the celestial sun that acted as a gateway and conduit between the pantheon and the world.

The heroes and their followers fought with Jormangandr and his armies as he prepared for his ascent into the sky. In his final hours Jormangandr made one last ditch effort to reach the sun with the heroes on his body doing all they could to stop him. The end of the story? They failed. The sun was devoured by Jormangandr and his deification took place. He isolated the world he was entrapped within out of spite of the previous Pantheon (similar to war of souls in Dragonlance).

He took pleasure in slowly and excruciatingly eradicating the elven races. Except for his personal domain of residence, Jormangandr made the world a desolate horror. His "glory" is the light of the world - such as movies that emphasize a colorless hue effect like the world being seen gray color, for instance. Monsters that would have otherwise feared being outside could freely move about during the day as well as night. Many areas outright dieing and being haunted by all manner of monsters.

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Now, with that backstory laid out - how would you populate such as world that is still livable but terrible. Horrific, but survivable for the inhabitants? I am looking for a way to portray a feeling of dread and hopelessness.

I want to introduce the characters as commoners the come into contact with *a* pantheon outside of Jormangandr's reach that receive blessings (character classes) to eventually defeat him. I am simply here to pick everyone's brains to make a fantastic campaign for my future players! Thanks for any assistance I receive. I hope you also got some enjoyment reading my homebrew campaign's backstory!

So I recently came upon an opportunity to make a new character for a adventure path campaign (Skull and Shackles). Having re-watched an old series of mine "Peace Maker", I got the idea to base the character off the gentleman named Ryoma Sakamoto in the series. He's effectively a highly skilled samurai (or ronin, more specifically) that once was a dojo master (if I recall correctly) within his clan that was highly respected. That was true, until he left to see the world and came back with a more western mentality and intention for Japan. He was proficient with both pistols and his katana / wakazashi. For my post this is using Sakamoto's name until I come up with a more suitable name for my character.

To make things interesting I went through Ultimate Campaign and rolled up all relevant information for his starting traits and back story. My intention is an effective character for the role he'll play (front line tank type - though with his own flavor). I chose Tactician and Grief-filled traits respectively out of the myriad of results I got. The overall story from the charts is below.

I've played with two different builds so far - one with dual wielding sword and pistol. The other, going for spring attack and vital strike. However, I know that I have more options(both that I can use for RP and combat effectiveness) and there are some ideas I haven't come up with yet. For this purpose I request assistance coming up with some fun builds to enjoy. The only requirement the GM appears to be giving me is no 3rd party, and multi-classing requires that the different levels (if not going for a prestige class) must be equal as often as possible. He is very much against the min-maxing idea (as I argued that it was a silly stance, but it is what he decided) of dipping into a single level of a class and no more.

Also, traveling kimono is a +2 Parade armor (+3 AC on its own) renamed in Hero Lab to allow me to make full use of my +5 dex modifier and not sound so goofy on the character sheet.

Hello once again Paizo community! After a severe car accident I am slowly getting back into the swing of things. Today I seek advice on a simple topic as you see.

Reason: A witch character within my campaign is seeking various elemental books (as required by her elemental "patron") each a spin of book of earth/fire/water/wind etc.

Besides the patron giving her the mission to collect all the books and feed them to her familiar (whose appearance changes depending on the book and how many so far has been eaten), she needs their power to face off with an enemy coven. A coven that arm-twisted her into joining them with the intent to rip her away from her elemental patron and realign her with their Shadow patron instead. They also will be holding the final book.

I want a hearty RP session involving a Troll and Ogre retirement community that happens to be in possession of one of the books (Book of Air).

So the request is simple - what circumstances can be going on that challenges the PCs in some way? Even if it's a goofy contest or request by the members of the retirement community :) Thanks ahead of time, and have fun!

Preface
Leadership is one of the most debated feats within Pathfinder as to the level of power it holds. New game masters often find difficulty handling players who take this feat to detriment of their game. Often times the feat is banned in many games due to improper handling of it in the past or fear of what it may end up creating in the future. I write this treatise in hopes to aid in handling this often ignored feat by game masters and players alike. Though be aware, this treatise written with the game master as the intended audience!
I hope that once you’ve had a chance to read through my treatise on leadership, that you may include it for the enjoyment of all in your games. Ultimately, it is up to you – the GM – whether or not I made a case to allow it and embrace it. This is less opinion that you should use it, but how to handle it if you do allow it.
Leadership as I intend to present it can be both NPCs helping the party, or the feat itself being involved in your game. The feat is more a power gauge guideline, I believe, on where the cohorts should be in relation to the party. Even if you decided not to allow the feat, allowing side-kick NPCs can easily follow the same guidelines in the background to keep any of the players from being overshadowed. Thus, the “Game Master PC” problem can also be solved this way if done properly. Remember Rule 0 applies!

How to not make having cohorts too strong.
The primary fear of having cohorts and followers is the dreaded idea that one player becomes twice or more powerful due to action economy. Instead of a challenge, the extra set of hands simply makes your puzzle that much easier to overcome. But is it truly the extra character that is the problem or where the character comes from?
If you allow any NPC or Cohort to assist the party: always generate that character yourself!
If the power to generate the cohort or character is placed in the player’s hands – it will give them more room to take advantage of it. Unless you absolutely trust the player making the cohort to not go overboard and/or metagame just don’t do it! They will most assuredly design it to squeeze the most of it that they can.
Instead use this as a chance to help them out without going over the top. When generating a cohort it is a great chance to try out different prestige class setups! Ever wanted to see how a pathfinder chronicler would do? The cohort can have some splash of classes to try it out! Mystic Theurge? Well, my PC is a witch apart of a coven – I think a cohort who is both a witch (evil-ish feel to its build) and an oracle (goodish feel to this side of the build) would be fantastic role playing opportunity! It can be enjoyable to try something different, but also that the cohort themselves aren’t nearly as potent while still being helpful in some form. This case is made due to the universal agreement, even on the paizo forums, that prestige classes are not near as “optimized” or “powerful” as straight levels would be. Heck, some folks on these very forums have commented that some archetypes are meant for NPCs! Cloistered cleric anyone?
In addition, make the cohort/NPC based off their position, personality and experiences. So a retired fighter could dabble with some levels of expert as a farmer or blacksmith. Could technically be a certain level to satisfy leadership feat requirements without them being “full power”.
Concerning combat actions – let’s continue with the thought that the character is multi-classed towards a specific prestige class. A mystic theurge (played by the game master) would use their actions to ‘buff’ the party. This takes away their action economy to bring down your BBEG as fast but still feeling useful enough to keep around. It keeps the PCs as the stars of the show. Keep in mind thatthe game master should be taking the actions on behalf of the cohort as much as possible!
The leadership feat is best used as a plot-device to assist the players along the story points instead of being an additional PC. The role play aspect usage can be the feat is spent to open up an NPC to fall in love and marry the PC! Not a character that stays back and slaves away for the party for meager rations. The players must take into consideration rations, water and loot priority with the cohort involved as well. As joked about often in some circles and comics, the cohort is a ‘named character and therefore doesn’t die willy-nilly’. Keep the character as someone significant and with their own agenda like any other significant NPC in your game and you’ll do fine.
Recap:
1) Don’t let the player determine what the cohort is or how it is built.
2) You the game master always or almost always should remain in control of the character for leveling, combat and role play agenda. Let the players fret over rations and loot or pay.
3) Have fun with the build of the cohort to try different things and support the party in other ways in combat than being a mere super beat stick or glass cannon to make the party uber.
4) Make the character significant to the story, or at least the PC’s story of whom they are tied to.
5) The characters don’t have to be the result of the leadership feat to show up and have an impact.

Different uses for leadership
Plot Points
The characters meet an NPC who eventually becomes significant and joins the party! But – what does the new addition bring in baggage? An angry spouse they left? A Lord whom they owe money seeking to collect? A spy in the midst who secretly works for the BBEG that eventually changes their ways as they adventure with the party? Use your imagination!

A Pirate’s Life!
What better way to use the leadership feat than to use it to ensure you’re the undisputed captain of your pirate ship? The cohort can be your first mate, while the followers are your pirate crew! What if the cohort is the butler of your mansion/castle while the followers are the various servants whom you give QUESTS to? They could alter the campaign’s story arch in some way depending on success and failure. Means you, the PC, are not always doing the legwork. It would certainly make the world feel more alive that you got peons to handle the goblins this time around!
Perhaps a diplomatic game requires a decent following – your power within the courts of the kingdom being dependent on the size of your following. The possibilities are large indeed.
Leadership as a means to make the “Low Magic Campaign” work!
Of all the different avenues one can take advantage of the leadership feat, the low magic setting lends itself best. Often players on the paizo forums argue that without proper equipment player characters are left in the dust when facing higher CR beings. Enter leadership or NPCs that make up for actual or perceived lack of magical equipment! The magical buffs that equipment are normally given can be granted during combat to the party to bring them up to snuff! The extra attacks can also be handy to even things out a bit. Stories don’t always have a single hero or heroine – they often do have a troupe that gets them through when things get rough.

FAQ?
What is defined as a special power for the +1 benefit?
I would recommend looking at this old and rather short post on the forums that dabbles in it. I don't think you'd want me to write another huge post on what it could mean.

Should I allow the cohort to also take the leadership feat?
This post on cohorts with leadership should help when determining this. I would personally say no.

I thank you for reading this short essay on my personal thoughts on the leadership feat. It isn't the answer to everything but can help those with little experience with it. I want this to be helpful or clarify things a bit. If I missed anything that you think would be great to add, feel free to respond and let me know! It is a collection of thoughts I came up with, confirmed based off other threads and more or less compiled for this post.

Hello everyone!

Recent days of trying to come up with the most enjoyable "Pirate Captain" build I could from a different thread with ideas I came to an idea that I wish to try.

Moving away from necessarily the feeling of being a pirate or pirate captain, I want to make a character that highly emphasizes buffs in any manner I can obtain them. The concept is simple: The more "passive-like" buffs I can use the better. I want my very presence on the battlefield or anywhere to be felt by the party. This can be accomplished in various ways: Some type of bard, Evangelist cleric with luck domain, Honor guard archetype with Order of the Dragon for Cavalier.

But I know my knowledge of everything is still limited and come to the boards for yet more ideas to fulfill this passive roll. I mean passive in that I don't necessarily "cast" spells (though I am not adverse to having to do that.) Like bard/evangelist cleric I could simply inspire everyone with some good words and it lingers from there. Paladin's auras are another method too (though in Skull and Shackles would be very... difficult for me I'd imagine.) Cavalier, Order of the Dragon or otherwise can be useful with the banners.

In short, I am looking for an idiotic (as in amazingly fun) build to buff my party. I could have one or two levels for every single class if that was what is necessary. The idea of getting a prestige class that further assists is an idea as well.

As of right now, if a single class - Evangelist Cleric appears to be the winner. Though being uber in an of myself isn't required. If I can do a secondary thing well such as healing or pew-pewing, then so be it.

Hello everyone. Long story short:
Will be starting Skull and Shackles soon - I don't know much of what to expect in the adventure path. I want to make a character who aspires to become Captain of the ship he is on, eventually. I simply don't know if it ever comes up or not.

If it does, honorable community members I ask, please assist me in making a character worthy of being a pirate captain. If it does not, I want to make a character who is out of the limelight, extremely useful, and generally left alone to his own plots.

We will have access only to the core set of hardbacks to delve through. This includes Core, Advanced, Ult Magic and Combat - a big maybe on Inner Sea World Guide.

What I am thinking of currently is a plotting LE character that is the mastermind-type of person. Not necessarily the strongest, but takes advantage of situations to fit his agenda. A dab of firearms with the intention of sword in one hand and a pistol in another. If firearms is not doable, a crossbow is fine as well. Less emphasis on heavy armor also - prestige classes I am open to as well. I don't need a full build but just some ideas, thanks!

Hi everyone. Haven't done much posting as of late but an interesting 'debate' between me and some good friends came up about a proper Pathfinder character. I wanted to hear about your opinions on this aboard the topic I am about to broach (I haven't tried my search-fu to find a topic similar nor do I care to). The discussions we've had has nothing to do with any specific game that has taken place or characters that have been made. It is all theory-craft such as what we find on these boards which I think fits it well. These 'debates' tend to have multiple facets with them but I'll try to break it down as best as I can so we can focus on differing parts easier.

For a quick background these friends are used to playing in the 'high powered' campaigns where you regularly see 18, 17, 16 stats in at least three stat boxes. They are very much set in their ways (as I am) in how things are supposed to be and anyone who argues otherwise (as with me) just don't know what their talking about. Of all the games we've played, except for when one friend made a ranger/rogue character, each of my characters (without trying!) end up being stars of the show. What I mean by this is not me tooting my horn, but just by a few basic choices I end up with characters that easily over-shadow others in abilities. This ends up with my perception that these friends are over-emphasizing certain things that I believe they don't need to be (not even for optimization purposes either, just principle).

Multiple Ability Dependency (MAD)

Friend's Argument:High constitution is required to play a playable character. The character is unplayable if it does not have at least a +2 in Con. This makes even casters MAD. Low con will equal death and short survival life span. Required for casters as much as a fighter type character. Claims his characters constantly die if they don't have the higher con and therefore it is mandatory.

My Argument: High constitution is only required for a specific style of play. If you expect to play a fighter type or one that is constantly up in the front. For casters a high constitution is quite lovely but not mandatory as is suggested. Having a -1 in the stat is certainly not preferable, but not near as damaging as to a front line fighter. A single stat (the casting stat) is the primary focus of a caster and con is secondary for any kind of efficiency. A caster getting constantly killed is either a GM intentional deal or poor play choices on the caster's part.

Point Buy vs Rolling Dice

Friend's Argument: Rolling dice makes 'heroic characters' and therefore more fun to play. Point buy makes characters that are average. Point Buy is no fun at all (Yes, I realize this is relative).

My Argument: Point buy makes characters have to rely more on one another; instead of having the solo player that does what he wants because he always roll amazing somehow. The game becomes grittier and more realistic instead of steam-rolling of obstacles. The game is designed with 15 point buy as the standard, therefore fewer balance issues when closer to this.

Druids and Animal Companions
Friend's Argument:Druids are unplayable without animal companions.

My Argument: Learn to play noob!!

Well, there ya have it. I'm curious to hear who beats me over the head with a rod or how people present the arguments (for/against) in a more reasonable manner.

While reading the advice boards as the lurker I am, I came up with some interesting ideas for bad guys that you Game Masters may enjoy using at some point. I know I certainly intend to do so.

First: The Anime Uber Fighter
I've been watching some Anime so the sense of speed has been in my mind when the idea came up. In other posts you find many people asking how to make a BBEG not die in a few rounds of combat. This in the vein of making them truly terrifying without being godly.

So I came up with a simple idea to make it happen. I'd suggest not doing this in the first couple of levels for effect. The recommendation would only start having these kind of guys at level 5+ of any adventure probably. So what am I suggesting? Simple - The kind of anime characters that not only hit like trucks but move almost too fast for the untrained eye to see them.

Effectively the BBEG would most likely have spring attack somewhere in his build. Now what the PCs see is that he moves up and does a simple attack that may hurt via Vital strike or just a basic one. When the PCs first attack (to represent never facing a foe like this) they can hit rather easily but realize that they are simply swinging through air. A sort of image of the person is cut through but for all intents and purposes appears to still remain there as if he never moved ala silent image possibly. At this point a perception check for those *after* that first attack is made with a relatively moderate to high DC to see where the bad guy REALLY is.

So after the attack the bad guy is actually 15 feet away or even in the middle of everyone. This is what they'd see if they made their perception checks and those who notice may attempt to get after him for that round.

That is my idea, though I want to get ideas on the ways PCs can not be overwhelmed by such an opponent and more ways than simply perception to figure things out. To keep perception from being the ONLY thing able to follow an elite guy that moves so fast. Blind fight I'd think may have a shot if the person is adjacent at the end of the BBEG's move?

Some may ask if the PCs could eventually do the same and I think if allowed it at all, it would be through the Spring Attack feat and house ruled to be as above. Now I don't know if I'd necessarily tell any PC until someone bothers to obtain it by that point or gets some mentoring from an in-game NPC to give away the secret.

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Second: The Invincible Warrior

This can go for almost any class and not a fighter specific type of BBEG. Some have come up with the concept that an intelligent weapon controls a body moreso than a person wielding an intelligent weapon. I didn't want to limit this BBEG to simply an intelligent weapon or magic weapons at all. It could go a number of ways in so much that he is invincible as long as he has a weapon in hand. Obviously his fight would most likely be near a weapon rack of some sort.

The fight I'd envision would be some form of weapons armory and his HP is counted as the weapons on the wall and in his hands. To hurt him is effectively to sunder them all somehow. The things that I would be curious about here is:

1) How, in a not in your face obvious fashion, do I give hints to this method of beating the bad guy to make them figure it out and get the satisfaction of doing so?

2) What limitations of attacks would be necessary once they do figure it out to make it a decent fight afterwards? i.e. fireball wouldn't destroy the weapons but shatter certainly would speed things up! Also, hammers would be more effective in sundering the weapons over piercing or slashing since they aren't being wielded and being forced against said blades.

Thanks for the advice and feel free to use these ideas for your games ^_^

I want to begin that I am very thrilled with the idea that there may be a Pathfinder MMO in the future. Being that this is still at such an early stage the more input of ideas you at Paizo and Goblinworks have access to I believe can drastically improve the game to something everyone can enjoy. Being from several different MMOs myself I'd like to suggest a simple critique of past games and what was not liked and what was for the friendly staff to observe.

It will go simply as such:
Choose the ONE favorite MMO you've played.
Explain no more than five reasons why you greatly enjoyed it.
Explain no more than five reasons why you got bored with it / didn't like about it / thought could be done better.
Give one or two specific and major things you are most afraid of seeing take place or implemented in this potential MMO and why. Does not have to relate to your favorite MMO.

I will go first.

My most favorite, in the early days of MMOs, would be Ultima Online.
What I enjoyed about it:
1) Skill based system to allow flexibility and immersion not seen in MMOs these days. Yes, I get that the Core game of Pathfinder is a level based game itself. However, if for some reason that specific system is problematic in conversion over to a computer platform, at least consider this.

2) I could explore the world and surroundings irregardless of my "level/skills".

3) Store bought items were good enough for majority of my gaming experience. I did not need the new epic item or magic items to compete or participate in anything.

4) Guild stone system: I personally enjoyed the fact you could buy a tent or house and place a guild stone inside it that people's names would be inscribed to. The myriad of options to declare faction alliances or friend/enemy guilds for PvP without involving in game guards to kill us for fighting.

5) Seers: At one point early on the initial owners had a volunteer group of roleplayers called Seers whom were green robed game masters essentially. They did server-specific story lines to involve players and give special in-game benefits to roleplaying groups. Example: I was apart of a guild known as the Shadowclan who were simply a group of us who threw on Orc attire and had a roleplay system to be the "bad guy orcs" for "human roleplayers". The seers at one point saw the dedication and awarded a simple note declaring a specific orc fort as the Shadowclan's. Nothing amazing - but enough of an acknowledgement to those of us who made the game something more.

What I didn't enjoy or thought could be improved:
1) The trammel / felucca split. I understand PvP could get tedious for many but the threat grew communities for self-preservation. If you are going to do something so big, simply integrate it early and not later.

2) They made it where special ore had to be mined to make that epic gear that was necessary to be competitive or able to participate in things. Store bought stuff, when EA took over, became obsolete. If that is the case save us all the time and don't have vendors selling basic armor and weapons.

3) Houses upon houses kept getting in the way. You sometimes had to go a ways around to venture to that single dungeon because jimjoebob placed a castle right in front of it's entrance. I honestly don't know what the best way to handle this would be. In game taxes so if they aren't paid due to inactivity the house goes away?

4) Horses were way to darn common. You could tame or buy a horse, but early on it was too much of a hassle to get one that none really had them except those who really took the time. They normally died too easy. The moment that horses and mounts became super-easy to obtain, everyone used them. The point here is that they used horses in combat as well as for travel. Other than improved speed there was no difference in how a person played on horseback than on foot. I don't know how you can improve upon this if you include mount classes. Possibly have the mounts have a cooldown to do their charging or harder to maneuver?

That is all I can think of concerning UO that I liked and disliked. Now for the next point of what I am afraid of seeing that killed MMOs for me in the recent games using World of Warcraft and RIFT as examples.

1) The grind. zomg the grind. Please do either a skill system like UO where you can go anywhere and able to do SOMETHING (Skyrim probably would be the 3d version of this). I always hated coming in and doing the whole "Get livers from the boars over there so I can make some stew". But killing and killing some more. If at all possible make any grind that has to happen as painless as possible. RIFT had me hooked for a bit simply due to their RIFT invasions. But outside of those it is the same grind where I don't even have to bother reading the story to do the quest. I simply want to get past that leveling grind to get to the end game where my buddies are waiting so I can play with them.

2) Roleplaying Servers' Terms of Use rarely, if ever, being enforced. If you have a Role-play server with special naming rules and guidelines - please have a staff to observe and maintain those guidelines. I hated being in rp servers where roleplayers were mocked, harassed and dealing with stupidly named Parizbehot avatars that ruined the experience. Or you have the Goldshire situation on Moonguard (I think that was the rp server's name) where you had tons of nude avatars dancing and acting stupid. If you dedicate a server to RP, PLEASE help make it a RP friendly atmosphere.

Well, that was my two coppers. Your turn!

Hi there all!

Here's the situation at hand that I've decided to take upon myself. I have been given the opportunity to make a new character for a group of 7-8 (depending on the night if all of us show or not). A custom campaign meant for a large group of players and the GM is very good about allowing us to do things. We are currently in the process of transferring things from DnD 3.5 to full Pathfinder.

With this in mind I wanted to make a Paladin character made solely of Pathfinder rules. We rolled for stats, lots of evil critters galore.

Overall he's based off the two-handed stereotype. My request is based off his story, what exactly would fit with him (both combat oriented or not feats).

My initial intention besides being an expert veteran type himself, that he'd be a good tactician or battlefield leader as well. We are starting level 5 and I am looking for ideas for and beyond that.

My intention is to play him as the bum who orders and directs others into combat for best effect. If any of them are in dire trouble he would be the first (though always being sort of a jerk about it) to help and defend them as necessary.
He is not Lawful Stupid. He may take care of those in his envoy but he won't babysit them. He is perceptive at what he does. Think of him as the grumpy old man who gives everyone a hard time but comes to their aid when it truly matters.
He is no mindless crusader who must always throw himself at something "to be heroic" and understands that you don't go around executing people just because.

So for someone like this what should be future considerations (namely feats) that I should consider for this man? Clearly as you can see, I don't choose all the "optimal DPS" feats - simply things I feel him as a veteran would be more likely to be capable of. Leadership is a feat I am considering but want other ideas as the GM may be giving that to me for free as RP it. Skill Focus: Perception to stack with Alertness at higher levels to make him extremely perceptive for a paladin!
Lances are what the kingdom's equivalent of a modern day military company would be. The idea obviously being that they are horsemen who handle lances. I do carry a basic lance in the Efficient Quiver but the character favors the Greatsword more due to him not always riding a horse or liking to use a shield often. In this regard I am considering extra lay on hands feat or maybe Greater mercy to increase the healing done by his LoH.

Thanks in advance!

So in my normal fantasy world in my head I came to interesting ideas that sound fun. Such as having to train to advance a level or pick up secondary classes or prestige classes. As I going through some posted it dawned on me, rather than doing it specifically for classes (or in addition to) have a special setup for Archetypes - special training to pick them up.

Many Archetypes are useful only or starting at level 1, but some don't kick in till much later due to what they replace. Though what if people had to seek out or befriend NPCs who would train their minds to forget old teachings (remove class abilities learned) and give them new prespective (Gaining the Archetype abilities) instead?

It wouldn't hinder their ability to pick up new classes nor would it require they pick the archetype at level one either. It gives the players a chance to develop their character or get a feel for the campaign to see where they may grow to.

It wouldn't be the same rut that having to "train/practice/learn under a mentor" to progress would be. The question could be if the Archetype in full is learned or just the abilities replaced; I personally would say that everything in an Archetype would be learned at once. The full mastery of the archetype isn't developed until they reach the level necessary to have the teachings "click" in their minds.

Would be interested to hear what people think of the idea (I didn't read up on anyone else mentioning the idea). Afterall, it allows a form of "training to improve one's character" without limiting progression through the levels.

Using my search-fu I've found a discussion dating back in 2005 concerning thoughts of people who ran their own custom worlds. Most people tend to take a previous setting a tweak it. Others start from scratch and build up. I've found that in my workings of making a setting for players I can run into road blocks quite a bit when designing things. So to get over that writer's block of sorts I decided to do something fun and discuss other people's methods of world / setting creation.

This discussion while focusing on world creation, easily fits into adventure creation as well. Why Bad guys do what they do and how PCs intersect with those events and plans. The easiest type of adventure to make is the dungeon crawl. Give a reason for the BBEG to be there and populate it.

The more intricate adventures are further reaching and would love to hear people's thoughts on them as well!

Some methods or at linear reasoning I've seen are these:

1) Make a random town, populate it and build outwards as the PCs adventure.
The GMs I know who do this tend to make things between sessions and many times on the fly. Building the world as a adventure progresses.

2) Build a world, moving from a macro view to a micro view to the area the PCs are at.
I've seen this done with quite a bit of plotting. Can easily be overwhelming but keeps coherency much easier rather than a smattering of random things that don't seem to make sense.

3) Tweak what exists.
Golarion, Greyhawk, Faerun, Eberron - Taking what you like about it and making your own universe. Most common.
People tend to like what they see or don't want to do the macro world building. They tweak it enough to keep it seperate ala alternate dimension or timeline.

When you develop a setting or even an adventure, how do you go about it? Move from the small to big? Big to small? Or just a big mish-mash to make things interesting? Do you write the events and fill things in as they come to mind (using say... history or BBEG actions to build a world instead of making it as the PCs adventure).