Swamp Druid's page

I think the "Heat Dangers" section on page 444 of Core Rulebook covers it will enough, without calling it by name. Mechanically, nonlethal damage and Fatigue are proper ways of handling it, IMHO. Calling it a sunburn is really just flavor.

Well, I was hoping for something more. I was envisioning it as being extremely painful, which the heat condition in the core book doesn't really address. I think I will just use the sickened condition and increase the penalty when the individual is in sunlight.

Is there a sunburn condition in any of the Pathfinder books? If not, does anyone know of any effect via spell or creature ability that deals with sunburns?

I moved to the area in March and am looking for a PathFinder group to join. I'm 39 and would prefer to find a group of players around my age.

Congratulations Sam. You did some really good work.

I don't think the adventure title is great, but I don't think it's horrible either.

I like the adventure. There is a lot going on and I like the false accusations being thrown at the fetchlings.

I like the tallow worms.

I think this will make a really good adventure that players will enjoy.

I'm not really a big fan of the adventure title.

Another poster already mentioned that an island 1,000 ft in diameter is way too small for an entire city.

I like the ne'er, but they seem a bit powerful for a 4th level adventure.

It doesn't really seem to have much Golarion flavor to it.

There are some interesting ideas, but it seems as if you wanted your proposal to stand out so much that you went a little overboard on the adventure idea.

I really like the title. It's sounds cool.

The setting is really good. I think you've put a lot of interesting locations in the fairgrounds.

I would like to see a stronger reason for the PCs to investigate and take down the villian.

It seemed as if the villian was by himself. That would indicate that the PCs would only have him to battle during the encounter (though he is level 8 so maybe it would be a difficult battle).

Your map is crystal clear and very detailed. I like the location and the inherent danger of combat around the forge buckets and molten metal. I think your idea of a foundry that makes shoddy goods fits well with the villian you chose.

I don't like the chase idea. The part about the Grim Harvester running from the scene seems to indicate that he just caused the wagon wheels to fail. However, this does not seem to be how the Grim Harvester would actually do things. He seems like a more subtle, behind-the-scenes kind of guy (which is why your foundry idea fits).

I think that if you get rid of the chase scene and lower the CR for the encounter, this would be a great encounter for a party.

Your encounter doesn't grab me. It's difficult to find anything to get excited about.

I would prefer to have you state what the evil is rather than keep it mysterious as a "great evil".

I missed the part about Hoarfrost and the worgs drinking from the fountain everyday. Thus, my criticism about them not be able to take advantage of the fountain is wrong.

I don't think this is a bad encounter, but it doesn't get me excited.

Why would someone who's trying to kill adventurers not have an escape route? Even tough guys plan for the worst.

I like the bottleneck created by the overhang and the iced over area. Along with the traps it makes for a nice kill area for intruders. However, it doesn't feel like an area that Hoarfrost would actually use to ambush adventurers. It does feel like an appropriate lair for him though.

I think you did a good job with the villian you chose. However, I didn't like the villian in the last round, and even though you've greatly improved it with the golem making approach I'm still not a fan of this villian.

I like your imagery of the location. The moving "dead meat" description was great.

It seems as if the villians may be a little weak for the stated encounter CRs. Even though the golem is immune to magic and can be healed by Dev's lightning bolts, the bad guys may get defeated very quickly in this encounter.

It's an interesting location. I think there's a good concept here that needs to be reworked a bit.

The eye cannons don't seem very powerful or have enough range to fit the description of the powerful, metal giant in the description. I don't think this would have been so odd if maybe you had said something about the weakening of the magic over time (or some other explanation).

I didn't quite understand the purpose of discussing a pharoah that came in and made a garden.

I don't like that there is a 25% chance that there is an advanced assassin vine. I understand using percentage chances for creatures in an adventure that move around locations, but this doesn't seem necessary here.

I didn't like the thunder keying the PCs into knowing that Voracek was coming unless they had previously known of him using thunderbirds.

I looked at the map before I read the description and thought: WTF! After studying it a little longer I thought this would be a great location for an encounter.

I love your entry. It's awesome. I would love to read about this scenario in a novel.

I like the story of the village and Koschei. That was very cool.

I don't like the name. I can't stop thinking abou the old Soviet Union whenever I see the word kremlin.

I wish you had made the thorn trap and tent symbols more distinct from each other.

The villian for this encounter doesn't feature very prominently in the write up. It really seems to be all about Koschei.

I love the idea of the maze and the hunting down of the PCs. However, it seems that the encounter will be easier than it should be since the worgs will have to bottleneck in the hedge maze. Since the kennel is so far from the fountain, it doesn't seem as if Hoarfrost can even take advantage of it to attack the PCs from within the hedge walls.

I like the background story of the chasm. I think you did a great job with your descriptions.

I didn't see an explanation of where the name Razorbreath Chasm came from. I like the name. It makes me think of razorbacks, so I thought there would be something about boars (not a big deal). After reading the entry I guess it's from the utterly cold winds that slice through the canyon (which is cool).

Does the villian plan to escape by just running away? It seems like he would need an escape exit planned better than that.

I like the scenario except for the ending. I don't get the connection to the PC's defeating this villian and at the same time freeing the body of the chieftan.

I would like to have seen something stating what happens when the PCs get close to the polar bear's cave or the mammoth bones.

I like the overall concept of the villian. I don't understand the connection between the stillbirth of her child and the desire to create derro that are not vulnerable to sunlight.

I like this villian. There was a good backstory to his motivations and goals.

I like the concept of the villian, but there doesn't seem to be much explanation of his motivations.

I would like to have seen more in the motivation/goals section. The villian seems underdeveloped in that area.

I like the concept. I think this would make an interesting villian.

I think it should have stated more clearly about her mind living on while her body is dead. I also think it needs to clearly state what caused her condition.

I don't like the aristocrat/barbarian thing going on. I like the concept you were going for but I don't like the implementation.

I like the idea of a dhampir villian, but the motivation section doesn't grab me.

I like the use of the hungry ghost monk. It fits well with the concept.

I think this would be a good villian if the motivation section was improved.

I like the concept. I like the use of the anti-paladin class. I think it's a cool villian.

I like the concept. I like the motivation of finding a replacement for his sister. My first thought was that he was creating soulbound dolls from the Bestiary 2 as replacements.

You lost me when I read His daughter, Sarrisia, sneaks any unwanted prisoners out of the country and sells them to slavers.

I keep thinking that if he's so obsessed with having his little sister back "if he has a daughter, wouldn't he use her as a replacement?"

It seems like he would do something (like trap her soul in a soulbound doll) to keep her from growing up so that she can be his sister.

I like the concept. It's a decent execution of the concept.

I think you should have made him a one-class villian instead of the multi-classing.

I like the concept. I like the motivation part except for the barbians stuff.

I don't really like the schemes section. It gives me the idea that he's going back to conquer an entire region instead of giving payback to the monastery.

Typo in the description.

caste out of the monastery

It should be cast.

I don't feel there's anything bad about this villian, but when I'm looking for entries to vote for I'm looking for motivations and schemes that stand out and grab me. This one does not.

I like the concept and the goal and motivation.

I don't like the following part of the schemes section.

He himself sneaks into houses, knocks out healthy adults and has the minotaurs drag them off to toil endlessly on his architectural delusions. His escalating dementia has encouraged him to break into progressively more elabrate trap-laden locales in search of better architectural slaves.

The breaking into areas for slaves doesn't make sense to me. I think something new here would make this a really good villian.

I really wanted to like this because it's a druid. However, I don't like the motivation. I wish there had been some kind of event or process that caused a foundational shift in the villian other than the development of a deep reverence.

I like the concept and execution. I can see this villian used in an adventure.

I think there should be some more information about why the killing started in addition to the killing for love and the strengthening of the eidolon.

You had me at druid.

I like the concept. It's a cool villian.

Congratulations Dean.

In the monster creation section of Bestiary I it states that the DCs for most abilities are based on Constitution or Charisma.

What determines the ability score that the DC is based on?

To add a little more granularity, here are the current averages for Fort, Ref and Will saves for monsters in the database.

Eventually I'll do an analysis of PCs averages for all the different elements.

Cool!

Hydro wrote:

Do you feel that there is any real difference between something that feels magical and something that feels psionic?

Honestly? I think psionics should have been a part of the Pathfinder Core Rules from day one, and "the mind" should never have been a major theme of arcane or divine magic. Every monster with a strong mind-related theme should have been designed using psionics instead of arcane or divine magic.

For example, I think the animate dream from Bestiary 2 should have been a psionic monster. I think the animate dream's concept lost a lot of its "wow factor" when it was grafted onto Pathfinder's homogeneous, jack-of-all-trades magic system. Same goes for the intellect devourer, the night hag, and numerous other pseudo-psionic monsters.

I also think the wizard's spell list should have been gutted of many of its mind-affecting spells to create a clearer distinction between magic and psionics, and the monk should have been a full-on psionic class instead of just emulating psionics using ki points.

YMMV.

I can see your reasoning, but I think that a lot of players would not have liked this.

The back of the Bestiary (p. 291) has target DCs for abilities of monsters at the different CRs. You can extrapolate desired saving throw bonuses from that.

Example: A CR 6 critter is listed as Primary ability DC 16, Secondary ability DC 11. So, a 6th-level character with a +6 save modifier would make the save a bit over half the time (55%) against the primary ability DC, and 80% of the time against the secondary ability DC. If you want your character to make the primary save 75% of the time, you'd want a +10 save bonus.

This assumes the monsters are being made based on those guidelines, of course.

This pertains exactly to why I was curious. When designing a creature, I'm trying to decide if giving a primary save above the average is going to be too decimating to a party.

In the core book it lists the expected wealth for each character level. Is there anywhere that lists the typical saving throw bonuses for each level? (I know this will differ by class, but I thought maybe there was an average set of saving throw bonuses by level)

Is there a comprehensive list of all the dragons that have been created for Pathfinder and D&D?

Would it be appropriate to give a creature a psicrystal without giving it leverls in a psionic class?

If so, do you use the manifester level as the class level for determining the psicrystal abilities?

I gave some psi-like abilities to my creatures that were not psionic powers, but isntead were spells.

When I read the Psionic Spells section at the beginning of the beta Psionics Unleashed Monsters, it seems to indicate that this is an okay way to got.

However, I just noticed that the Cerebrlith has psi-like abilities listed separately from spell-like abilities. Is it incorrect to list spells under psi-like abilities?

When approaching this contest, my first step was to brainstorm several dozen monster concepts. To ensure they were psionic, I went for monsters that would be mechanically impossible in the Pathfinder game without using material found in Psionics Unleashed.

That sounds like an excellent approach.

If you take a look at existing pisonic monsters and Prcs ( like in the Dreamscarred beta documents) you will see some themes emerging.

I tried to get some inspiration while reading the beta pisonic powers list.

However, for one of my creatures I had the idea before I saw the contest posting. I got the idea when I was reading through the Bestiary 2. I think it fit as a psionic creature though.

But perhaps one thing I can say when I was judging was, when I looked at the creature - if I took the (psionic) descriptor off the stat block, did it change anything? If the answer was no, then it wasn't really a psionic creature (thankfully, that wasn't much of an issue for the contest).

If the answer is no, then shouldn't that mean that it was really a psionic creature? If the psionic descriptor is the only thing making it psoinic, then it's not a psionic creature.

Maybe it's like that old quote about obscenity.

I can't define it, but I know it when I see it. (or something close to that)

For those of us who haven't used psionics before, what makes a creature feel psionic?

Oh man... I just read over my submission... and I found a number of typos... and that just made me cringe. (What's worse, the typos were everyday words, that were missing a letter (but were still legitimate words) for example I meant to have the word with in one sentence and I typed wit. :(

And in the same entry I had meant to type the word more and somehow neglected the "m" and have the word "ore" in the sentence.

I'm so ashamed. (That's what I get for submitting so late).

Don't beat yourself up over it. If you've got some good ideas, then I'm sure they will overlook some typos.

The fans are fickle. One fan's dream archetype is another's meh.

That's the truth.

Very cool! I just downloaded it.

It's not a big deal, but I prefer that y'all stick to one of the terminologies.

The following are in the Bestiary 2.

Dire Bear
Giant Gar
Megafauna Megatherium (a big sloth)
Behemoth Hippopotamus