Steve Beaman's page

I dont point buy, they roll 4d6; drop the lowest; re-roll ones. He just decided to take a 17 in cha; beats me???

If you have six players, I wouldn't recommend allowing cohorts. It will be a massive headache for you to keep track of the actions of 10 party members at a time. Combat will slow to a crawl and you'll have to pack in even more enemies for them to even stand a chance. Also, what kind of point buy are you using where a Monk can afford 17 Charisma?

6 players
4 want cohorts
Wizard - 14 charisma
Pali - 16 charisma
Monk - 17 charisma
cleric - 16 charisma

I usually allow Leadership in groups of four or fewer players; if you have more than that, it becomes a hassle to keep track of all the cohorts.

It's a little odd that all of your players want the feat, though. What kind of characters are they all playing and what kind of cohorts do they want? Please include their levels and Charisma scores.

Do you allow leadership feat as a DM? Yes or no and why not???

I have FOUR players who all just decided to take leadership and I am kind of stressing out; is this a big deal or not??? They are all wanting cohorts to bring along!

Thanks guys!!!

GREAT stuff!!!
As far as their tactics, the wizard loves to summon cheetas and spiders, alligators and squids. LOL; the cleric loves to beef his ac up and summon as well (he summons ancestrial gaurdians; they are spirts); the pali just charges in and hits stuff; the monk is basically useless right now (he took three levels of cleric and 2 of monk) and he doesnt play well; the other wizard loves to stand back and pick stuff off with missle type spells and such; and the sorceror also loves to stand back with missle attacks. They dont have too many magical items yet (I have been pretty stingy with Magic so far). Their AC are as follows:
Wizard: 21
Wizard: 14
Sor: 20
Cleric: 23 sometime 27 with spells
Monk: 22
Pali: 24; 29 when smiting I think

OK, here is what I got off the top of my head...

Warning, some of this will require some work on your part.
The Spiders - add the half dragon template - I'm thinking black dragon, and replace the breath weapon with an acid-for-blood ability that damages anyone who hits them with a melee attack. Swap out the flying for an ability that lets them squeeze without penalty. Sounds familiar? Strap into your auto-loader, and save Newt!

An Undead cleric and his minions?
Vampire druid cleric, and his minions are vampire dragons! Small or medium, and if you want to be a cruel GM, make them of a fire type like brass. I would recommend making a sort of "half-vampire" template so that you can have a lot of of the minions without too much level draining going on.

Not sure what a mud slaug is, so I'm not much help there.

Undead T-Rex? Hmmmm. Skeletons and Zombies are pretty weak. One command or halt undead, and that thing is down without a save...
I guess I would put something inside the T-rex acting as a controller (minor devil with 3 levels of cleric?), but I'm seeing a lot of problems with this creature.

Protection from good prevents contact by summon creatures, and circle of protection does the same at 10ft. A Horn of Goodness/Evil is a great magic item for a villain to have at this level.

With that many characters, I would have at least 3 enemies in each encounter, if not more. Also, with 4 full casters in the party, you should consider drow, rakshasa, or some other type of creature with SR to be the mook enemies. Sounds like you have a VERY powerful party to challenge, so don't hesitate to throw CR 9 encounters at the group, but keep the number of enemies high, rather then 1 Badass monster.

Ok guys,
I have been running my campaign for 6 months now, and the players are doing great!!! Great game and having a lot of fun!!! The only issue I see is that they are blowing through some of my encounters pretty easily. I do my best to reward their team work and NEVER punish them for their excellent tactics (like any good DM); but like any group, they like a good challenge and it seems as though I am having a difficult time challenging them. The average party level is 6. I have a 6Lvl Pali, a 6LvlCleric, two 6Lvlwizards, a 5Lvlsorc, and a 5LvlMonk. I would like to put together an encounter that really challenges them and forces them to utilize ALL their resources. I wouldn’t mind seeing a little sweat on their brow :)
The current situation (dungeon) they are in, allows me to utilize:
Spiders (vermin)
An Undead Cleric and his undead minions
Mud Slaug
And an Undead T-Rex

My issue isn’t so much the creatures available; it is more or less HOW TO USE THE CREATURES I HAVE TO THEIR FULL POTENTIAL. I seem to have my bad guy spell casters die quickly and the wizard in the group is able to pre occupy MOST my monsters with his summoned creatures. ANY TACTICS OR TRICKS YOU GUYS MAY HAVE WOULD BE GREATELY APPRECIATED!

Ok guys,
I have been running my campaign for 6 months now, and the players are doing great!!! Great game and having a lot of fun!!! The only issue I see is that they are blowing through some of my encounters pretty easily. I do my best to reward their team work and NEVER punish them for their excellent tactics (like any good DM); but like any group, they like a good challenge and it seems as though I am having a difficult time challenging them. The average party level is 6. I have a 6Lvl Pali, a 6LvlCleric, two 6Lvlwizards, a 5Lvlsorc, and a 5LvlMonk. I would like to put together an encounter that really challenges them and forces them to utilize ALL their resources. I wouldn’t mind seeing a little sweat on their brow :)
The current situation (dungeon) they are in, allows me to utilize:
Spiders (vermin)
An Undead Cleric and his undead minions
Mud Slaug
And an Undead T-Rex

My issue isn’t so much the creatures available; it is more or less HOW TO USE THE CREATURES I HAVE TO THEIR FULL POTENTIAL. I seem to have my bad guy spell casters die quickly and the wizard in the group is able to pre occupy MOST my monsters with his summoned creatures. ANY TACTICS OR TRICKS YOU GUYS MAY HAVE WOULD BE GREATELY APPRECIATED!

Ok guys, I am having a difficult time adding up XP for my players, not when it is a pretty straight forward 1 on 1 battle or even two or three monsters; but when its like 8-10 monsters (a pack of wolves, group of goblins, etc.)

Here is an example:
Players have an encounter all at once against:
3 - CR2 Creatures
1 - CR4 Creature
And 1 CR5 Creature

What is the CR???
I tried just giving out separate XP for each creature, but that doesnt make any sense, the more creatures the harder the battle; right???

Also, lets say I have a wizard who is a CR 5 (just an example) and he summons a pack of wolves (6 of them), does the CR go up because of the wolves (more creatures)??? Or is the CR the same (CR5) because summoning the wolves is part of the wizards CR???

Thanks guys!!!

Does the Familiar level up or does it just stay with the same hit points and such?
If it does level up, does it learn anything new?
Is there anything else special I should know about the familiar?

I am not sure if I am fully understanding the situation with the Witches Familiar. The Familiar stores the witches spells for what exact purpose? Is it like her spell book of sorts?

And also, if the familiar dies the witch can no longer cast? Or she can no longer prepare ANY of her spells?

Ok guys, so I have a simple yet seemingly complicated question. How do you craft poison? I would like to KNOW EVERYTHING.
- How do you go about getting the materials and components?
- How do you figure out the craft DC for the poison you want to make?
- When you want to craft a poison, how do you know what materials/components are needed?

I have found MANY different rules on how to do all of this and one of my players wants to pursue this for his character.

Thanks guys! You are always a big help.

HEy guys, In the new APG the cleric has a subdomain of light. His replacement power is "Blinding Flash" which reads, "As a standard action you can emit a flash of light...emanates out 20ft...creatures with fewer hit dice then your cleric level within this area are blinded for 1d4 round unless they make a fort save". Does this mean it effects your near by allies as well?
My player is asking, "If I yell out BEHOLD THE GLORY OF PELOR" could that be the signal that I am about to use that power; which will allow them to look away and prevent them from being blinded???

Please let me know what you guys think.

I am a DM in Santa Clarita looking for some players for a Local Game of D&D (Saugus/Santa Clarita). Rule Set: Pathfinder. Let me know if you are interested. Check out my meet up http://www.meetup.com/Santa-Clarita-Dungeons-Dragons-Group/

My Email is steaminbeaman@gmail.com

Ok, so its been awhile since I have DMed (or even played for that matter) and I find myself looking over the rule books forgetting how simple little things work. One thing is Monster Melee Attacks. Example:

Monster:
Chocker (Pg. 45 in Pathfinder Bestiary)
Melee: 2 tentacles +6 (1d4+3 Plus Grab)
Question: Does this mean he gets one attack at +6 and does 1d4+3Damage?
or does he get two attacks at +6 and does 1d4+3Damage with both tentacles?

Monster:
Chimera (Pg. 44 in Pathfinder Bestiary)
Melee: Bite +12 (2d6+4), Bite +12 (1d8+4), Gore +12(1d8+4), 2 Claws +12(1d6+4)
Question: As a full attack action, does he get ALL 4 ATTACKS? or 5 Attacks if you break the 2 claws into 2 separate attacks. Or does it mean you get to choose one of those attacks in a full attack action to use. Example: The Chimera has moved his 5ft (so he can still do a full attack this round), now he attacks, does he choose one of the above attacks? Or all?

Monster:
Crocodile (Pg. 51 in Pathfinder Bestiary)
Melee: Bite +5 (1d8+4 Plus Grab) and Tail Slap +0 (1d12+2)
Question: I assume since his Melee lists Bite then it says "and" tail slap, it means complete both attacks on a full attack action, right? Which is part of the reason I am confused about the Chimera. If the Chimeras attacks where all supposed to be used in a full attack, wouldnt it say, "Bite +12 (2d6+4) "and" Bite +12 (1d8+4)"and" Gore +12(1d8+4) "and" 2 Claws +12(1d6+4)

I hope this isnt too confusing, it is confusing to me. Thanks.