Thickfreakness's page

Ah, I forgot, they would also be unable to use any sort of small weapons. (Pistols, knives, most rifles, etc.)

My take on power armor (going off memory, so it's just the basics, really).

"Enchanted" Full Plate

Requires a Separate Proficiency Slot (Power Armor Proficiency)

Environmentally Sealed for at least 8 hours (with helmet on)

Bonus to Strength & Carry Capacity (as Muleback Cords, perhaps)

Penalty to Dex & Perception (assuming helmet is on)

Built in Geiger Counter, Water & Food dispenser (for 3-7 days), Radio, Lamps, possibly GPS/Mapping module (depending on world-design, obviously)

Can use Large weapons without penalty

Must use specially modified Medium weapons or suffer -2 size penalty

Takes a long time getting in (4-5 minutes, easily, WITH help), can "pop the can" to evacuate as full-round action if needed.

I think the original stats I had gave some amount of DR or Temp HP as well, but that seems unnecessary at this point.

Why not make power armor similar to titanic plate?

Price +3 bonus; Aura moderate transmutation; CL 7th; Weight —
A suit of armor with the titanic ability is almost comically oversized, though the effect is superficial and the interior fits a creature normally, with no adjustments necessary. A creature wearing titanic armor is considered one size category larger for the purpose of using or being affected by special attacks that depend on size, such as swallow whole and trample. Once per day on command, the wearer can increase her size as if using enlarge person (even if the wearer is not humanoid) for 1 minute. In addition, once per minute as a free action the wearer can add the armor's enhancement bonus to a single Strength check or combat maneuver check, or to her CMD against a single combat maneuver. Because of its great bulk, the armor check penalty of titanic armor is increased by an amount equal to its enhancement bonus.

Of course, remove the growing power, but even with training power armor is bulky and cumbersome at best. It should realistically weigh over a hundred pounds, and it's clanky and jingly as all hell.

Also, the ghoul and mutant issue.

Ghoul
-1 Str/Dex
+2 Wis
+1 Con

If you consider the average ghoul has been around since the war, or well over a hundred years in general, they're old, and they're well learned. Also, no one has ever been made stronger or more nimble by having half of their skin slough off, although it most certainly raises their pain tolerance.

You could definitely have Glowing One be a working racial archetype, along with Tech Wizards.

Glowing ones would constantly emit radiation, and be healed more by it, though it poses a risk to the party. They'd take a penalty to sneak, and maybe to one other skill?

Tech wizards would be more adept with all aspects of technology, (engineering, repair, maintenance, etc.) but take a penalty to using most weapons or social interactions. Think Nikola Tesla here, brilliant, but batshit crazy and no social skills/practical world knowledge.

For more info on both, I suggest looking here. http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_Tactics_traits

Super Mutants
This could be tricky, but there's certainly a few ways to go around it, half of it depends on what generation of mutant they're going to be.
First gen mutants were, by all means, human 2.0. They were stronger, faster, tougher, and didn't lose any of their intelligence. The nightkin were incredibly capable scouts, even without their stealth boys.

Second gen mutants, such as in fallout 2, and 3, are big muscular dumb asses. They're a little bit stronger, but are very clumsy, more prone to disfiguring mutations, and almost all of them (with the exception of Fawkes and Uncle Leo) are belligerent, aggressive, and incredibly stupid.

So:
1st Gen
+2 Str
+2 Con
+1 Dex
-1 Cha

Nightkin
+1 Str
+1 Con
+2 Dex
+1 Wis
-2 Cha

These would be very, very powerful for a PC, however.

2nd Gen
+2 Str
+2 Con
-1 Dex
-2 Int

Also, for all mutants, (even though nightkin are slightly smaller) they should be classified as large. They stand a little over 10 foot, and weigh in at several hundred pounds, almost all of it muscle, i'd say that qualifies.
Nightkin, due to their prolonged stealth boy use, develop schizophrenia and as such would receive a pen to Cha.

The talk of all of the tiefling characters is kinda bumming me out. The character I have planned is a sorceror one generation removed from a contract devil, and has apprenticed under grandad for the last 70 odd years. Nothing too fancy, other than a specific (not broken) magic item grandad gave him. A quill of tongues (translates anything he writes into a language of his choice), that allows him to cast a geas on anyone he gets to sign a contract with. Interesting interactions with good ol' grandad, I would expect as he develops.

I am so into this, and I have the perfect character that i've been wanting to make for the longest time.

One directional Tongues could also be very interesting. Forgery quills could also be fun, though perhaps not the lawful flavour you're looking for - some sort of anti-forgery mechanism like the quill refusing to write down a lie (a statement the writer knows to be false) could also be interesting.

That sounds like a fun plan.

Right, and it being an intelligent item, I would assume it to be lawful evil as well, which would be neat if it has self restrictions.

Thickfreakness wrote:

Where would I find these books? And really now, any race can produce a tiefling?

You can find those books (i.e. "Way of the Wicked", Pathfinder's only level 1-20 evil adventure path) here on Paizo.com and DriveThruRPG.

As for the Ogre being a tiefling...

** spoiler omitted **

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

Oh wow, haha, just the man I was looking for.

Thickfreakness wrote:

Where would I find these books? And really now, any race can produce a tiefling?

All the Ogres of the world are now offended. Why couldn't a fiend want to get it on with an Ogre.... huh, huh?

Seriously though, you could flavor any "touched" creature from paizo as having an origin in any base or advanced race, just that the bloodline made manifest.

As for the books, they are found here on the Paizo site... Fire Mountain Games I believe, Gary, one of the writers, is EXTREMELY active on the boards, and interacts with the community on a regular basis. I bet if you asked him about fiendish transformation on the board for book two he would answer you.

You have any idea what his screen name is? I'd love to get into contact with him.

Well, I was thinking maybe instead of giving comprehend language, maybe it could just shift whatever I write into any language I wish?

But yeah, I love the geas. I'm planning on contacting grandad, getting a contract, then duping someone into signing their soul away instead of mine.

The best conversation I've seen CLEARLY outlining the dichotomy between the three is HERE. This thread has some great guidance and commentary by James Jacobs in it.

@Thick: I would read Way of the Wicked books one and two. It describes the transformation of a tiefling ogre into a half-fiend. If I recall correctly, the transformation occurs when he drinks some unholy water in the vicinity of a very occult ritual that is being enacted.

That thread....

Where would I find these books? And really now, any race can produce a tiefling?

Wait, found it.

I've never seen any mention of that class anywhere, where can I find it?

So I'm bumping this because I want to know if any precedent has been set for the transformation of a tiefling/player character into a straight up outsider.
Being that it's the goal of the character I'm about to start playing, I'd like to be able to change that if it turns out it's all for naught.

(Mountain man, if you feel lucky) + Enlarge person + Permanency (rinse and repeat.) Really that simple

Anyway, someone pitched me the idea today that it could be a quill. It'd possibly be an intelligent item (which grandad could use to spy), with the ability to either grant comprehend languages/read magic/etc. so many times per day, or to just always have it on.
And a neat extra power, the ability to cast a geas on anyone that I get to sign a contract with it.

Yeah, it's from grandad.
His whip is already enchanted to do lethal damage anyway.
I just was looking for brainstorming.
Maybe he has a scroll that he can read from once a day, etc, that serves the same role as the fiendish vessel's familiar? (It grants minor augury/future seeing abilities.)
I dunno, I just need ideas.
And I'm reasonably sure as long as it's not insane, the DM will ok it, at the start of the campaign all of the players were given a ring of sustenance and some other magic item relevant to their character.

So this new character I'm making is a tiefling sorcerer, named Acherus, and grandaddy was a contract devil.

So he's obviously running around with the infernal bloodline, but that's really all I've decided for him. The backstory is that he knows exactly who the devil is, as the contract his grandmother made was for the devil to help her produce a half fiend son, in return for the lifelong (and everafter) service of her grandson.

So Acherus, my character, has served his grandfather faithfully, if not begrudgingly, for the last 70 odd years. From good ol' grandad, he's picked some things up, such as becoming a master scribe, proficient in his style of combat with whips (as contract devils will use their contracts as such), and a reward for his faithful service.

Thing is, I can't decide/design exactly what this item would be. I was thinking some scroll like thing, but I have no idea what it would do. It wouldn't be a book, I'd think, as a spell book is irrelevant to a sorcerer, unless I'm mistaken. Any ideas, O wise and powerful message board?

Cough.
paizo.com/threads/rzs2phxg?Advice-on-limiting-the-power-of-a-pretty

I want to say there was something in the inner sea guide (or whatever it's name is.)

Just a bit.

Devils corrupt the mind, Demons desecrate the body, Daemons want to destroy all life, Demodands serve the Thanatotic Titans, Divs despoil the works of mortals, Asuras hate the gods, Rakshasa seek to control through their disguises, but are tied to our plane, and Oni adopt physical forms in our world, but are corrupted by ambition. Did I miss anything?

What's the story with the qlippoth?

So daemons are more often out of the three to be the BBEG?
And what're are the... Goals, I suppose, of devils/demons? They just want more souls to make more devils/demons? But then what?

Neat, I'm digging it.
My new character is going to be said tiefling, and he'll plan on taking out grandaddy, then replacing him. Literally.

So if, say, a pit touched tiefling sorcerer discovered that he had a contract devil in his family, could he then somehow eventually be turned into a full blooded devil? (short of wish/miracle/consulting with another contract devil.)

Actually, that was almost everything that I wondered.
Now you said that demons were created by the daemons, right?
Well, is there any precedent for the creation of devils?

So, to my so far limited understanding of the game as a new player, from what I've gathered:

Devils predate the creation of mortal life, and exist in hell. They are lawful, but thoroughly evil, and enjoy the corruption and enslavement of mortal souls.

Demons are made from the souls or mortals, and are the embodiments of their sins and vices, and exist in the abyss. They exist to destroy... Everything.

And daemons are just a mix?

If I'm wrong, I'd love to be corrected.

Also, where exactly do tieflings fit into this? Are they the progeny of demons, or devils? Or can it be either?

Quite. Oh, and we lost a player, (he found a job finally) who was playing (as we came to call him) Captain Amerorca. Fighter, specialized in shield combat, with a throwing shield of returning enchanted to all hell.

*Cough*
paizo.com/threads/rzs2phxg?Advice-on-limiting-the-power-of-a-pretty

Oh, and a Russian parkour dwarf. Specializing in high flying wrestling and flails/improvised weapons.

Wow! If the DM really wanted to abate the situation he would have a group of monster hunters come in and destroy this abomination.

I wonder what the point of the rest of the PCs, which seem like guest stars, in this game, is?

Actually, as of our last game, the reason the tribe has been so hard to track down was finally revealed. A big ol' group of roaming inquisitors came across them and started a 10+ year campaign of extermination, leaving my character and a few others the only ones left. Aaaand they found me.

Also, as much as it sounds, I'm not the most ridiculous character in the group. We've got:

A cleric that has been revealed to have storm giant blood, and essentially is on a mission to be hit by a lightning bolt on top of such and such mountain which will switch on his heritage,

An undine bard that has discovered how to sing to water itself, and through an extension of that, nearly all liquids. Has a nasty habit of coaxing the blood out people's bodies with his voice,

A synthesist whose eidolon is a dragon-man. 'Nuff said.

And we somehow ended up with a dryad Druid.

Clearly the DM isn't doing anything to limit this character, and frankly doesn't care. I haven't read anything from the OP stating that the rest of the group doesn't like this walking "I win" card, so we're really just left with a player asking how to restrict his own character.

Pardon any potential snark, I'm just a little flabbergasted by this thread.

You know how you restrict your own character? By restricting yourself. Add in your own limiting flavor:
* You weren't actually separated from your tribe, you were abandoned because your blood contains impurities that hinders your transformation.
--> Mechanically this could limit the uses per day, increase the transformation time, add Exhaustion after transforming back, limit transformation duration (1 round per HD, or something like that), give a 50% chance of Confusion after shifting (group won't be as entertained when you shift and start eating them), etc.

* Not being raised by your own kind, you are actually terrified of your abilities and using them at any time other than a life or death situation is not something you can bring yourself to do. Require a Will save (DC 10+HD) to transform.

* You've actually grown to hate your transformed side and all other lycanthropes, considering it to be an abomination (after living among non-lycanthropes for so long). As such, you outright refuse to use it. If brought within X% of your health, your body's natural survival instinct kicks in and transforms you into your more survivable form.

* Your shift is unstable and you have to make Fort saves (DC 10+1/2HD+rounds transformed) or be forcefully changed back to human form, dazing you for 1 round.

It blows me away that at no point during this did you consider using fluff to tone down your strength. Rynjin also posted a perfectly acceptable solution (petition your DM to strip your powers and have you come back as a Level 5 Shapeshifter Archetype Ranger) that somehow was completely ignored. Take his approach or a combination of mine, or a...

There is actually a rather big self-gimp I imposed on him. Namely, a big silver death collar that prevents him transforming unless a number of silver keys strapped to his back are inserted into it by the other party members.

Now, that being said, the character first transformed in his early teens, and went on an absolute rampage, ending with him alone in the wilderness after a few solid days, clan less and scared. He fell into the ways of barbarianism as a way to learn to control said rage. Meaning, he's not exactly a fan of it.

Right after the thread went dead, the collar came on. Now though, being that he's 12'10", it not only sort of eliminates the need for the damn thing, but presents a few major character issues. The Titan mauler archetype doesn't specify damage bonuses against giants, it makes the barbarian better at fighting things BIGGER than him. Not too many of those now. Also, being that he absolutely hates/fears... Well, big things... He kinda despises himself and the boar shape even more. So, I just don't know what to do with the poor sod anymore.

Also, the deck was offered as an alternative to an unknown gift, and being the chaotic neutral character of the group, it came down to a will save to avoid the need to take a chance. After the first card being so great, I was forced to make another, harder one. Failed again.

Regardless, yes, I know the character is f!@&ing broken at this point. You have all illustrated that quite well. What I've been looking for this whole time is something helpful, like, oh, advice on how to tone him down, or where to go from here?

I honestly feel bad sometimes. Even though I'm essentially stuck in human form fornnow, a 3d10 + 9 greataxe plus a 2d6 + 6 bite is disgusting at lvl6.

Yeah. Yeah, that works.

Sorry to necro the hell outta this thread, but we eventually did solve the imbalance. Temporarily. The character went into a town, asked the local smith to forge him a steel collar lined with silver spikes. It was determined that if for any reason he tried to change forms with it on/take it off himself, he'd take an instant of 4d6 pure damage.
Yada yada, campaign continues, we meet the shadowy figure that has been handing us out our missions. In a gambling den.
He says "I have a gift for you, if you want. To draw from the deck of many things." (the harot version.) Manbearpig, as I've taken to calling him, steps up, and announces he'll draw two, after stripping down to his skivvies (collar is still on, mind you,) in case anything odd happens. First card, the locksmith: you may open/unlock ANYTHING once.
Second card, the Mountain Man: you immediately double in size. Gear and equipped items don't.
I immediately realize "oh shit, I'm kinda going to die here."
So I say "reflex save to use the locksmith on the collar?" and pass it.
But I'm now 12'10", str&con 22, running around in (newly bought) resized equipment, and nigh untouchable. Again, the party thinks it's a riot.

So in short, now what?

Hell, I'll join in.
Any day you have that you'd like?

I'm currently running a barbarian as a rather powerful tank.
They replace the warrior in the martial role, as well as having access to rage for an oh shit button, plus the rage abilities function rather nicely as a replacement for combat feats.
Titan mauler is my archetype, so I'm a switch hitter, (literally) with a light shield and great axe.
Heavy armor proficiency isn't given, but burning one feat for a VERY versatile damage dealer with high AC is worth it.

Honestly, how many of you have played prehistoric/underwater/underground campaigns?
And are they even fun?
I've seen so much in the books about them, and some of the stuff seems neat, but mostly they look like a hassle.
Any opinions?

I've noticed most classes seem to have a polar opposite.
Fighter/Rogue
Wizard/Sorceror
Paladin/Antipaladin
Cleric/(Evil) Cleric
Etc.
But there's no anti-ranger, or Druid.

The conversation about wether a dire-were-orcboar can have claws seems trivial at this point.

It wasnt the dire wereboar that got me.
It wasnt even the 'yeah he's an orc.... dire wereboar' that got me.
It wasnt even the fact that this monstrosity was allowed by a gm
or that it was controllable by a pc...
or that it's still around after being soundly proven to be overpowered...
...
Its that somewhere out there is a whole herd of them

And the whole tribe better all have an 18 charisma or I call shennanegins.

Well, honestly, it all came around when I was looking at the alternate racial traits for the half Orc. I saw Toothy. Now, orcs have always looked fairly "piggy", but I liked the idea of legitimate tusks. Then I saw the lycan template, and gears started turning.

Also, it's been determined that no, the entire tribe of half orcs are not dire wereboars, simply normal ones. And not even all of them, for that matter. My character either just got good genes, was somehow enhanced magically, born under a full moon, or whatever. He essentially just manifested stronger lycanthropic abilities, similar to a "born alpha male."

All these replies and not one person has attempted to answer the question.

OP: I think you've come up with the best suggestion with the choke chain. You could have a simple collar with silver spikes pointing inwards; to change with it on would mean that they go straight through the character's neck.

If you want to play on his bestial nature, perhaps a full gimp-mask?

I would also consider having the unlocking/unleashing method to be a short ritual, involving more than one character, rather than a simple key or whatever. This would lend itself to the urgency of the situation; that is, in an emergency, do the characters continue with what they're doing or do they give up actions to unleash the fury?

A quick example: to unlock the collar, 4 magical keys need to be pushed into recesses on each side of the collar; each key must be held by a different individual.
The mechanics: 4 characters must stand next to the ranger and remain there for x rounds.

Note: Should the lycanthrope ever touch a key, or remove the collar without the keys, he will die.

Perhaps the change can only be brought about by the sound of a musical/magical instrument of some sort.

You sir, are brilliant. That's exactly what I was thinking of. And as it was pointed out earlier, the situation with my character is a bit like alucard, and the idea of him quite literally uncaging the beast sounds perfect. I like the idea of headgear, but I don't know if a gimp mask exactly... works. Maybe a muzzle? (Big tusks and all.) the collar sounds brilliant, especially with the keys.

Honestly, I'm just expecting to be hunted down by a roaming group of inquisitors before I would actually get the time to redo the character. But I'll certainly think about that.

Is it even possible to play a character without a class level?

kyrt-ryder wrote:

I... am not quite sure I understand this logic. How are they the minions when they're controlling him? He might be the secret weapon but he's THEY'RE weapon, not his own. They don't follow his orders, they use him like any other tool.

Did you ever read the manga/watch the show (either of them) Hellsing?

Basically involves Alucard the vampire being in the service of this group called Hellsing whose job is to protect the world from other vampires and such.

Alucard, to put it simply, is busted as all hell. At one point in the show he sits on an airplane in broad daylight, flying over the Atlantic ocean, sipping a glass of wine, and eating a steak (flavored with garlic) with a silver fork and knife. He is shown repeatedly regenerating from things like having his body obliterated, being decapitated and so on because every person he has ever eaten acts as "extra lives" for him. Effectively, they re-die in his place, making him virtually indestructible on top of him being largely immune to every classic vampire weakness you could care to think up.

He is the most powerful being on the planet, but he is in the control of Integra Hellsing.

but you may notice something about the show. While Alucard is ostensibly under her control and is therefore the "minion" in the show...he takes up 80-90% of the total screentime. While he is the minion and must ask permission to really let loose ("release restrictions") in battle, he is definitely the main character of the show.

And that is pretty much the point Adamantine was making.

Honestly, comparing my character to alucard is kind of a stretch. He is not NEARLY that powerful.

Eh, first real character, wanted it to be something special.
I actually like the idea of him returning to the tribe, and me rolling up a new guy.
I'll be sad to see it go, but whatever.

Thickfreakness wrote:

Adamantine Dragon wrote:

I guess my only advice is ditch the character and play something that keeps you in balance with the other PCs. Trying to "control" this beast just reinforces the obvious fact that the rest of the party is playing minion to your boss and frankly I'd get tired of that in about, oh, five minutes.

That's why I was hoping to think of a way to allow the party to entirely control him. Literally the opposite of what you said, he'd be similar to a chained beast that they control. I'd be the minion to them being master. And the idea of literally being magically chained or restrained in a similar fashion completely reinforces that.

Sorry, I think you misunderstand. You want to be the nuclear bomb the party unleashes. When the party can't manage the situation, they turn loose their secret weapon who tears through the opposition that was making them pee their pants.

You = boss
They = minions

Being "chained up" when your awesome powers are not needed means nothing if you still end up being the big bag of awesomeness that saves the day.

Well, kinda can't argue with that.

Edit: Also, I was thinking about it, and really, it's sort of a hulk type situation. Because I'm reasonably sure that even a super human, an armored laser blasting juggernaut, and a god are thankful for the ridiculousness that is the hulk.

How do you have claws and a bite, a dire boar only has a gore, so a werebore would only have a 2d8 gore

The claws come from Apect of the Beast, (A perk available to lycanthropes for free), and the bite is from the toothy trait, being that he's a half Orc.

I guess my only advice is ditch the character and play something that keeps you in balance with the other PCs. Trying to "control" this beast just reinforces the obvious fact that the rest of the party is playing minion to your boss and frankly I'd get tired of that in about, oh, five minutes.

That's why I was hoping to think of a way to allow the party to entirely control him. Literally the opposite of what you said, he'd be similar to a chained beast that they control. I'd be the minion to them being master. And the idea of literally being magically chained or restrained in a similar fashion completely reinforces that.

Well it's not as overpowered now that you've stated that the level adjustment is in play (but still DR/10 is kinda ridiculous for a PC IMO).

But I agree with Adamantine, how is he murdering everything? Since he's only level 1 he shouldn't be better than the rest of the martial damage dealers in the party.

Edit: 2d8 Gore? How?

BAB 5, STR 25, Con 19, and 4 attacks a turn is nasty at 5th level anyway, but the fact that if all attacks hit, and he rolls only 1's for damage, it's still around 33 damage is just stupid.

Right now he's sitting at 27AC in hybrid form, with 2 1D6 claws, a 2D8 gore, and a 1D8 bite, a ridiculous intimidate skill, and ferocity. Add that to dr/10 silver, and you've got a nigh untouchable killing machine at 5th level. I'm expecting it'll balance out at later levels, as his attacks don't improve significantly, and half of the enemies weapons bypass his dr, but for now, it's a bit crazy.

Thickfreakness wrote:

And actually, according to the beastiary, only afflicted lycanthropes go bat s#@@, naturals have more control over themselves.

So lemme get this straight.

You have a Ranger who can, at will, increase his Str/Con/Natural Armor by 2 and gain DR/10 Silver.

And this was approved upon character creation?

*Sigh*

F$!+ it, whoever allowed this brought it on themselves.

Yeah, I know, the wild shape is kind of overpowered, but not in scale with what's beig thrown at us. It's a party of 8, so we're not just killing boars in a forest, or being ambushed by a few highwaymen.

Wait, you let your player CREATE a ranger who can wildshape at will into a dire wereboar?

What sort of level adjustment did you make? He has five levels of ranger now? So what level are the rest of the party?

Does the party include iron golem inquisitors?

No, with the way level adjustment works for playing a "monster" character, i'm at ranger 1, with 5 hit die, and 3 feats. Everyone else is in fact at 5th level right now.