Third Mind's page

I'm a very firm believer that race and class choice don't make a character interesting or disinteresting. Rather, it's the personality and the manifestation of that personality in the game that makes them exciting to me. I'll grant that the potential social challenges that could come up in some campaigns by playing rarer races could offer good points for back story, their accent and speech patterns, and flavor to hinge upon, but that doesn't guarantee excitement in my personal opinion.

I could build a boring personality onto a Drow Noble, Tiefling or Tengu and be just as bored if I had built it onto a Human, Elf or Dwarf.

As for all powerful gods and magic? Well, I think every single race pales in comparison to said all powerful gods, not just humans. After all, a Grippli and a Wayang will get disintegrated by a god just as easily as a human or gnome. Since humans can use magic, and use it fairly efficiently, I can't think of that as a point against them.

What I'm seeing you say, however, is that the core races aren't unique culturally and physically in your games, and that is understandable. But they've been very exciting when I've played them, so I can't personally relate.

I have an odd question, are there any particular spirits a pactmaker can bind that would work well with Anajira the Prideless King? I have the book myself, but I never seem to find a good combination with him.

Anijara felt like the "get in your face" type when reading him, so I'd probably either go with a spirit like Tyrant Cromwell to further enhance the "get in your face" ability or improve ways to get in the opponents face with spirits like Loh'Moi, Al'Kra or even Marat (in that order). Another good combo could be Anijara and Vandrae. Vandrae would help in dealing with casters potentially and is quite a good, well rounded spirit. Though her personality influence may not mesh well with Anijara's.

I'd have to agree with those pointing at the paladin. To me, it's not the entire reason there may be a stigma, but it could be the biggest chunk.

My reasoning is that the paladins code largely spells out what LG is to the paladin and that people, having seen the association of that code with a strictly LG class would assume that that is how the makers define LG in less uncertain terms. Seeing that and perhaps not wanting to be so restricted in possible future choices, a player might decide that NG, CG, or any of the neutrals will work just as well.

I'm not the biggest fan of the alignment system personally. Thus, I tend to usually jot N into the box and play each scenario as I feel fitting to the character (unless the character is always and forever a single alignment. Like CE). Honestly, while the character I play right now has N on his sheet, he's likely more NG or CG.

Hello, everyone. As one of the many who had been a part of Radiance House's Kickstarter for their book, the Grimoire of Lost Souls, I was privy to the material via pdf format for so that we could give our thoughts and suggestions. I've played a Pact Maker in a campaign (and still am currently, when we get to play at least) and have found the need to sort of filter spirits in a specific manner, to feel more effective.

As you likely read in the title, that filter is deciding whether the spirit is Generally Useful or Situationally Useful. I was bored and had some time on my hands, so I made a guide to the spirits using this concept and figured I'd share it here with any who care, now that the book has officially been released to the public.

You can find the guide HERE.

I will note, I don't consider myself a pro player by any means, and obviously, I didn't get to try a lot of the spirits in a campaign/session setting. That said, it's worked pretty well for me in the games I've played and I hope it helps whoever bothers to read it.

I'd love to read some opinions on the spirits, and I'm sure there'll be some disagreement on what I placed abilities at.

Anyways. Have fun!

As a player, I personally wouldn't find Wands and Scrolls all that exciting, interesting or fun. I tend to look for unique things.

Just curious really. I've never really delved into multi-classing much to be honest, and for the most part, the way paizo's built their system, it seems to reward you for solo classing. That said, I ran into the Songbird of Doom build a while back, and fiddled around with my own version of it. I even tested it out in a scenario a friend cooked up. Lots of fun.

So, I'm here hoping I could further my knowledge on builds that dip every which way to make something fun and effective. Something outside the standard single class and hopefully past 2 multi-class builds. Perhaps expand my horizons, and inspire my own builds in the future.

So how about it? Anyone with an absurdley multi-classed, dip heavy build that's both effective and fun?

8. Clearly oozes are actually just delicious low calorie deserts animated by magically talented chefs to serve themselves to any around.

9. Clearly succubus are just extremely attractive tieflings that have gotten so much attention, they try to take it where they can get it.

10. Clearly when a zombie mumbles its need for braaaaaains, they are just in search of intellectually stimulating conversation.

11. Clearly wraiths were just aficionados of Gothic culture, which translated to the after life with them and they're no more dangerous than your standard home variety wayward soul.

5. Clearly Rust Monsters hold antiquities in such high regard that they simply wish to help add a rustic patina on each adventurer's armor and weapons.

6. Clearly vampires only drink a person's blood because they believe in the process of leeching to help cure the sick.

In the spirit of past threads meant to ignite creativity and focus it towards specific subject matter, and for funzies, I've started this thread. The subject of choice is ways in which monsters often considered evil and terrifying are clearly just misunderstood creatures given a bad rap.

In terms of use for this information it could be utilized by most any extremely optimistic and caring PC or NPC, or as information given by tomes.

I'll begin.

1. Clearly shadows are just extremely lonely and want to play tag in hopes they'll make new friends. (And they often succeed at doing just that).

2. Clearly shambling mounds are just curious and don't understand their own strength, picking up newcomers just to get a better look at who or what they are.

3. Clearly vargouilles are just hopeless romantics who get ahead of themselves, kissing those they find attractive.

A Mite Excessive wrote:

Make a Grippli Mesmerist.

I, uh... what? Where did that come from?

Possibly a reference to Hypno-toad.

20. Whenever you near a large body of water, you feel a strong unseen force pulling at you, trying to draw you into the water and presumably, keep you there for good.

21. After waking one morning feeling unwell, you notice that whenever anyone uses the name of a good deity to bless you, even if it was just a polite thing to say, you cough blood uncontrollably.

22. Recently, whenever another being's shadow touches you, all color begins to seemingly drain from you, then, you begin to fade from existence.

23. An immensely skilled doppelganger serial killer has taken a sick liking to you and your group, declaring you all to be his new "play things". You now wander cities, unsure of whom to trust, when the killer could be any of them.

24. When sleeping on solid ground, in all your dreams you're buried alive. When sleeping on a ship / boat, in all your dreams you drown. If you manage to sleep in the skies, in all your dreams you feel like you're falling forever. This had just begun, and for what reason, you don't know why.

"If it's a fight you want, it'll cost ya!"

"Tails never fails!"

"One batch, two batch, copper and gold."

"Ting!" (Mimicking the sound it makes when flicked)

"I can, in fact, spare some change."

Vetala therapist. Makes those unwanted, traumatic memories go away.

Genie negotiator. They know how to get the outcome they want generally.

Lillend (may have mispelled here) pop stars.

Devil lawyer. On phone so I'll have to check later which type fits the bill best.

Poltergeist house maids.

My 3 favorite spells?

Beast Shape 4, since it's the best version. So versatile, so many things you could do with it.

Bestow Curse, especially with a flexible DM (which I'm fortunate enough to have). Also versatile, and can be so mean.

Major Image. Again, versatile and with a bit of creativity, can get you out out of tough spots or even bypass some encounters.

As you can probably tell, I like me some versatility. Sow thought gets an honorable mention.

Hoarding dragons are gonna absolutely love meeting a gold plated morsel.

- Tremor Fang
- Quake
- Bitter Bite

Playing a character right now that is highly skilled / invested in perform skills and some other skills fitting the character that won't actually make him money, because he plays alone or for good friends who are npcs. Also because his job has nothing to do with those skills.

Fortunately, my DM sort of rewards my investment in such skills, making them mean something with interesting rp and indirect bonuses. But yeah, took skills that aren't generally the useful ones for the class and character.

Mesmerist as a snake oil salesman.

Alchemist that gets drunk off of his mutagen and extracts, snatch up Catch-off Guard and use the surroundings to pummel foes.

Native American (or the equivalent to in this world) Druid.

Female Bard made up to be an aspiring Cancan Dancer / Western Show star.

One of the mage classes that uses the harrow deck / deck of cards as weapons (cartomancer witch, card caster magus), via professional gambler addicted to their craft.

Pious, yet brutal priest via warpriest or inquisitor.

Alchemist focusing on grenades, flavoring them as dynamite and nitroglycerin.

Mysterious Avenger Swashbuckler, focusing on whip and sword via Zorro.

Slayer bounty hunter that uses things other than firearms.

Young Man that's a spiritualist, their spirit is their father who was murdered in front of their eyes over something trivial and they want revenge.

We're playing tomorrow. I'm going to run my character one more time and see what happens. If it is still non stop parroting of stuff in other books about other cities, countries, just knowing every creature off a basic description and then describing it entirely, dominating the conversation with all these factoids and every NPC understanding it all as if everything is common knowledge (Seriously, how many people right now can just name four members of the current city council from two towns over? Cause it seems like that is every npc that isn't just nameless unwashed masses.) and so on, I have to either make a new character that is not a talker, healer, buffer, sneak, or damage output guy somehow or just quit playing games face to face with people as this is really the only available group, and they are my friends and I don't want to keep arguing with them.

They're good people. I just, I don't know what to do anymore. I know you folks are giving solutions that might help but from what I know about my group, it has to be me that changes. Asking them to change is going to come off like an insult. So it is me that needs the fix, really, so I can keep playing.

The thing of it is, if you don't enjoy other roles, you just don't. Everyone could give you builds or ways to go about things, sure, but in the end, we can't control or magically make you enjoy things that you don't find enjoyable. It's not unreasonable liking rp over combat and lore, nor is it unreasonable to expect having the chance to rp in a tabletop rpg. We can't really change you, is what I'm saying.

That said, perhaps we can show things in a different light in terms of alternative stuff to play. In order for that to occur though, could you give us some detailed reasons why you don't have fun playing any of the types you listed?

I will also note that while yes, diplomacy / bluff based face builds offer a chance to get a fair amount of usefulness out of rp, and potentially offer more chances to rp, it's not the only way to get your rp fix. How they carry themselves, how they fight, interrogate, odd quirks, even why they use the weapons or magic they use is all a part of rping. If rping is truly what you enjoy, then there's a chance that you could find your role there. Make your pc ooze character and personality. Maybe you could have fun with that.

I would suggest if you go this route, that you switch to a different character. Like others, it's your character, not their cohort or slave. They say it, so they roll it. Foot down. Period.

Diablo Strings Orchestra... all of it.

So, I've DM'd here and there, not a seasoned pro by any means, but not a complete amateur. However, after doing some self reflecting, I've found that I haven't really had any fun doing it.

So naturally, being the introspective type, I ask myself why and consider what about it I have enjoyed as well as asking myself why I bother doing it in the first place. My personal answers feel weak to me, so now I come to other DMs.

What about DMing is fun for you? Maybe I can learn some things I've not done, not tried and find the spark / passion that I think is there, but not making itself known.

I've only done a few play-by-post games, and I've personally given up for the most part. That said...

Pros:
- You get to play with new DMs and players. Potentially making new friends.

There are quite a few interesting, skilled and talented role players out there and even if you can't make friends, you could likely learn from them, or get ideas for your own future rp, builds and techniques.

- You get to play when otherwise you couldn't and at a pace where you can check your computer or phone a couple times a day.

As you noted, it can be great for when you can't consistently manage to go to games / long games. Also doesn't require your constant attentions.

Cons:
- They tend to end abruptly and quickly.

Now. This has only been my own personal experience, but most of the games I was able to get into dropped pretty quickly due to things coming up for the DMs, other players or some other reason. Understandable of course, but it can be a bummer when you just start out on a first mission and the game ends before much happens.

- Can occasionally be difficult to find a game to get into.

As there are a lot of people wanting to have fun and play, there's likely to be quite a few people attempting to get into the same campaigns as you. Thus, it may take some time before you find a game that you are capable of getting into.

I'm relatively new to gming, but so far I enjoy dangerous creatures that have change shape / alter self / veil and a decent bluff bonus.

I have a succubus that is going to be a recurring enemy and I plan to introduce a young woman with a limp in need of help to get back to her clan.... I mean a fungus queen, guiding them into a trap.

Dotting, and:

A curious, uninformed halfling sleight of hand specialist, that pick pockets things they're simply curious about, then put pockets the item on another person, trying to be kind and generous.

Swipes a pencil, "Oi. What's this then?"

Looks to halfling, "that'd be the wizards pencil..."

Halfling, "Neat!" Proceeds to put pocket it on the paladin with a kind smile.

Dispel magic is under Abjuration, so you don't need Divination for that. Divination CAN be good, if that's what you're into. Some really good spells there are scry, clairvoyance / clairaudience, and arcane eye.

My question is, where do you like to get your Save or Suck spells from? Necromancy? Transmutation? If either of those, then you could take Spell Focus: Necromancy or Transmutation or Conjuration (for grease, create pits, etc..). Allowing you to up the DC by +1.

Metamagic could work. Silent spell could help you catch enemies off guard with this.

Spell Penetration tends to be something that needs to be gotten sooner or later.

Depending on how your DM runs games, you could probably find use for Fast Study. Leave a few slots open, and pull out a utility spell when needed within a few minutes.

Personally, I feel a bunch of people sort of overlook Feral Speech. May not be as useful depending on DMs I suppose, but being able to talk to any animal at will essentially could get you much needed information and maybe with a proper diplomacy roll, a new ally. Even more useful if you have a familiar at earlier levels as they're there to help you. No more, you get the feeling as if they saw something big and scary, they can straight up tell you what it looked like.

Hello all. It's entirely possible a thread like this has been made before, but in an attempt not to turn to necromancy and thus evil, I've decided to create this this one here. Anyways, the idea here is quite simple, but something that I believe could be quite entertaining and fun. I'd like to see some of your favorite quotes from your PCs.

Here are a few of my own, that I recall currently at least.

"Huh? Oh, I was just talking to myselves."

"Boop!"

"I'm a reasonable person. I do reasonable things for reasonable reasons. But you? Everything you've done up to this point, has gradually made me unreasonable; irrational even. So, I think it's time to get a little crazy, don't you?"

"Why Kalden, you're simply glowing."

Anyways, those are some of them. I may remember more in the future. Note that some stuff might (or might not) be re-purposed/reused/reconfigured for my or other people's games... but what's a bit of sharing between creative types? So what do ya got?

Had an evil character once. Full on face stealing serial killer. He worked fine in the party even after they found out what he was, mostly because I gave him an RP reason not to kill / harm the party, and also had a decent enough reason to work with them.

I don't see him killing party members and it going well, despite what everyone says. Even if someone says they're fine with it, once their character is dead, they may change their tune and feel extremely disappointing. Especially if they really like the character in question. I'd advise against that overall.

As for non-lethal, I guess it could work if it doesn't happen a lot. If they're bonking each other over the head every session, then it'll get not only silly but likely unfun and become a competition with each other instead of focusing on any story.

Lastly, betrayal can be alright if planned well, however, you may want them to give up the character after betrayal, or else you'll have a lot of side whispering with each group, solo crud you have to deal with and in the end, they may not even be the big bad, so you'll be taking the focus off of the story.

I think evil characters can be great fun, but only if planned well and even more so, only if they can work as a team or its meant to be pvp, all against all from the get go.

Recently my DM told me he was considering trying out a 5e game after our current pathfinder campaign ends. So, I decided to give the book a once over and came back feeling one thing really. Uninspired. Personally, I think that's because of the lack of options. The options given in pathfinder and likely those to come in the future often tend to inspire me in character creation. This is just me of course, after all, it's also how I prefer to play. With plenty of options and versatility open to my characters (let's just say I've not played a "mundane" martial for quite a while).

All that said, I'll still play 5e, despite how unexciting and uninteresting it seems right now. Maybe it'll be fun (there is much doubt here currently) or maybe not. Either way, I go where the game is, even if it's into game systems that interest me far less.

Here is a general question...

Is it easier to role play...

Jack the human rogue 5?

Or

Jack the half android - half strix, slayer 1, unchained rogue 3, cleric (trickery) 1, raised By dwarves trait, glaive-combat reflexes-sping Attack build?

Or is it exactly the same?

Easier? I guess Jack #1. But to me, easy doesn't necessarily mean interesting or fun. Where Jack #1 you need to answer how he became a rogue, Jack #2 asks enough questions that help one flesh out a probably interesting and deep backstory and I'm not even talking about all the different classes.

As to the original posed question: I've been gaming with an optimizer in my friend group. Luckily, he focuses on damage output and usually from range. So he's good at one thing, and mediocre at other things. I've taken his optimizing as a challenge to improve my character building skills mechanics wise and I feel it's helped me. Luckily the rest of the party are just as good and are diverse enough for us to run well together in battle. So, in my case, optimizing has sort of improved my games rather than destroy any of it.

Third Mind wrote:

If you intend to stick with kingmaker, then figure out what CR your party is (assuming 4 players at 5th level they'd be CR 20) and then hike up the challenge numbers a bit. CR10 is an average encounter from what I understand, so toss them a CR 12 and see how they fair.

...I'm sorry, but you don't know how CRs work.

Please don't send a 5th level party a CR12 encounter.

Fair enough. I am pretty new to DMing still, and am still getting the hang of CRs. I probably get my skewed challenge settings from my DM haha. Either way, my bad. I still stand by not just using one big creature of proper CR most of the time though.

I will admit that there are quite a few options in Pathfinder, and so there should be with how long its been out. 5e has less options (and thus less chance of "trick builds") because it's not been out all that long. Maybe it's been designed to limit trick builds, maybe not. Time will tell. While I personally enjoy the bevy of options available in pathfinder and would be notably disappointing in switching to a far simpler game such as 5e (I'd probably still do it if that's where the games are), I can totally understand it being a bit much for some.

I've noticed though, that our DM hasn't had much of a problem. He is running a custom game and our characters are all pretty darn potent / powerful in their own rights / ways, but as far as I've seen, all of the enemies we've faced have been from paizo (kyton, nypmhs, springheel jacks, vrykolakas, etc...) or NPCs with classes that he's built. So, I know it's not impossible, but it's likely easier for him since he's not forced to adhere to an AP and has time to create, unlike a professor I'd wager.

That said, I've read a number of threads where the AP was simply just easy for the players for the most part. Having played some of it, Kingmaker was like that more or less. There were times when we got surprised by a shambling mound or two and had to run (surprisingly sneaky buggers), but otherwise it wasn't all that difficult. We killed giant boars and turtles before they even had a chance to attack due to initiatives, heck, our sorcerer took on a werewolf himself and won without much harm.

So, what I think might be another possible solution, is to check out which of the AP are more notoriously rough for the PCs. Not too rough of course, players should occasionally be able to feel powerful from time to time and not just "Run for your lives.....again!" If you intend to stick with kingmaker, then figure out what CR your party is (assuming 4 players at 5th level they'd be CR 20) and then hike up the challenge numbers a bit. CR10 is an average encounter from what I understand, so toss them a CR 12 and see how they fair.

Also, don't rely on a single big guy to take everyone down, unless that big guy has some serious defenses. My party in kingmaker was almost taken down by a fair amount of surprise archers. Sometimes you just need numbers.

All that said, and probably too much said, 5e might be simpler and if that's really what you want... go for it. Just, talk to the players first and get an understanding of both what you are looking for and what they are looking for.

So far, we've only used them for classes and the rules that come with them. Namely classes that seem balanced, and either haven't been done by paizo, or in our opinion, does that thing better than a like-class in paizo materials. We've not used much 3pp, but I am playing a 3pp class in our main campaign currently.

I'm playing an undead myself (Character died and DM didn't want him to so early, so he made me into one). It does seem pretty darn strong. Not only do I have those immunities, but the thing I turned into has fast healing 5. So I'm fairly tough to kill. That said, my DM will either tend to focus more minions on me (which is fine since I'm supposed to be a front liner anyways) or he'll focus on the rest of the party, with the bad guys saying that I get to watch my allies die slow, and painful deaths.

The interesting part comes in the RP. My character doesn't want to be undead. As it stands, the way my DM has asked me to play it, he's in constant agony from the wounds that caused his death, he's in constant rage that he has to keep in check and he's decaying over time. Not to mention he has abilities that, if not kept in line or are not used intelligently will cause major problems. That all said, my character understands the power he has and how it can help save others, but in the same vein, he doesn't want to be that monster (not that type of monster, he has another one in mind). So it's a tough choice on whether he takes the cure (once one is available) or not.

But yes. The immunities and not breathing have been quite lovely. Arcanist shot my direction with a color spray. No worries. Poison miasma popping up out of the fallen enemies? Shrug, I don't breath and I'm immune to poisons. If my DM doesn't want to deal with it, he'll likely either destroy my character (which would be a bummer, I enjoy the RP of him) or give me a way out of it and offer something more vulnerable instead (even going as far as reviving me). Hoping for the whole, "something more vulnerable" out of those three options though.

Here's a potential example of the above that I had written.

Bastion Le'Stance

Blurb about what they look like,personality, what they do, class and junk here.

3 Adjectives: Tenacious, Cheerful, Hulking

Ticks, Tells & Habits:
(Habit) - Bastion has made it a habit of challenging the first dwarf he comes across at a bar to a drinking contest.

(Tick) - Bastion tends to crack the knuckles of his fingers idly when bored.

(Tell) - Bastion wipes at his mouth with the back of his hand when he's nervous.

Defining Goals:
Primary Goal: Bastion wishes to enter the kings royal guard and rise in its ranks. (note this goal would probably depend more on the campaign setting and what's available)

Secondary Goal: Bastion intends to become well known in street fighting.

Nature / Essence:
Primary: Warrior
Secondary: Jester
Shadow: Destroyer

Exaggeration:
Bastion has two scars intersecting at his right cheekbone, which he had tattooed over in order to look like two swords clashing.
Bastion is extremely tall and muscular, yet oddly almost hairless.
Bastion's eyes are a stone grey.

High Status
- Fighting
- Drinking Contests
- Taking Hits / Being Tough

Low Status
- Talking to the more rare races.
- Flirting with women.
- Gambling.

Location / Bedroom
Bastion originates from Northern Brevoy. His Inn room is often extremely messy, his cestus lying by his bedside on a nearby table, a chair propped up under the door handle to keep would be invaders from having an easy time, with a candle stick sitting next to his bed, a gift given to him by his 5 year old step brother.

Hello everyone. Recently a friend of mine had clued me in on profiling techniques based off of tips that professional writer Jim Butcher had given in various forms of media. I am both here to share my friends profile building technique (since I've found it very interesting and useful personally) and to see how others build and block out their profiles to get a better, more solid understanding of characters and thus to improve on my own character building through devouring your knowledges like their delicious souls......

Anyways. Here's how my friend, and now I, create character profiles. Do note that normally these are meant for writing books / stories, so we have to alter how we look at some things to get what we can use for gaming. Also note the following isn't ripped from Butcher's notes, more so adapted and based off of them.

Blurb: The standard really. We start with the general concept. Some personality traits, what they might look like, etc... you'll need a bit of the character formed in order to fine tune it with the stuff below.

3 Adjectives: Here we list three adjectives that the character would use to describe themselves. This is essentially how the character feels about and views who they are. Note that this is more helpful when you make NPCs that know of the character, as you would then create 3 adjectives from your characters perspective about the NPC and vice versa, which would help further define how your character is seen in the eyes of others as well as themselves, and of course would do the same for the NPCs.

Ticks, Tells & Habits: This should be fairly straight forward. What, if anything, does your character do when they're bored, tired, upset, happy, etc... Examples might be tapping the their thumb to the tip of each of their fingers consecutively when they're thinking, rubbing at their forehead when they lie, cracking their jaw throughout the day. These help add a bit of slight flavor and individuality to the character.

Defining Goals: Again, pretty obvious, but not always easy. It is, however, often very important. My friend and I prefer to make a solid primary goal for the character and then secondary goals. Smaller "quests" that mean something to them, but not necessarily to the story or game itself.

Nature / Essence: This is where my friend differed fairly greatly from Butcher's notes (which I forget currently). Anyways, my friend suggests using picking a primary, secondary and shadow archetype from the twelve mythological archetypes. This helps to further define the character, their likely reactions to certain events as well as possibly give them a sort of hidden flaw via the shadow of the archetype.

Exaggeration: This parts the more fun part and is fairly easy for most everyone. What makes your character stand out to others? Do they have a huge nose? Are they absurdly tall? Do they like big butts and are unable to refute this fact when confronted with the truth?

High Status: Here we make bullet points of things our characters are good at, confident at and such. This is pretty easy. Almost too easy at times as it can be easy to want to make them good at a lot of things.

Low Status: This is the harder part (or at least it was for me). These aren't just things that they're bad at, but that they don't feel or look right doing, essentially. At least that's the way I currently understand it. Low Status is like babbling and saying um all the time when trying to speak to someone important, or hitting a cat behind them every time they attempt to throw a dagger at an enemy right in front of them, or even just a noble that freaks out when he feels pain. There doesn't have to be a lot of these, but there should be some. Flaws make a character less one sided.

Locale / Bedroom: First, where are they from? This does help and is generally a natural part of character creation so I won't dwell on it. Then, detail their bedroom. If they don't have one, detail where they'd sleep, what they surround themselves with when they're alone and try to think of why. Answering why to those can offer further character background flavor and tidbits. This can also be extended to sentimental gear the player keeps with them. From a piece of rope, to a sword.

That's about it for the primary profile stuff. There are minor side things I do to further get into my character personally, but it's sort of doubtful anyone would get much from those.

So how bout it? What do your profile questions, and format look like? Either way, hope this helps someone.

Oliware (or Perceival) is an intelligent ring designed for perceiving potentially unseen threats. The problem? It does too good of job. While it comes in handy for watching one's back, it does so almost obsessively, telling its owner of every single detail. Whether it be a grasshopper hopping past, or a murderous assassin approaching with a poisoned dagger, Oliware / Perceival will go in depth about its looks, perceived emotional states and general composition, even going as far as to critique the material from time to time. It's goal and only hope is to find the most intriguing event it can find and watch in earnest.

Possible quotes for general idea:

Oliware / Perceival: "Boss! Boss! There's two bumble bees, about 2 centimeters large mating in mid air. You have to see this. It's simply awe inspiring."

Oliware / Perceival: "Hey Boss, there's this woman wearing almost all black, with brown buckles holding what I'd guess is sheaths stalking us. She's got a solid scowl, but her approach isn't as intimidating as it could be. Her swords not even serrated. I'd give her a 6.5 out of 10."

Oliware / Perceival: "Could we go somewhere besides the desert? It's too bright and there's almost nothing going on to watch..."

Oliware = All Aware

Perceival = A play on the name Percival, mixed with perceive.

This scroll may be meant to be held onto for a future plot element that your DM has in mind.

It could be used to save a baby when the mother's about to die... hey female rogue! This vampire's baby is about to die... how do you feel about children with teeth and skin disorders?

Third Mind wrote:

Roundabouts in my hometown, in northern Indiana.

- My hometown (which I moved away from a few months ago) is planning on putting in a roundabout on an intersection right next to a hospital. Because... you know... ambulance's need a challenge.

Honestly, roundabouts have been nothing but good for us here. They've relieved traffic congestion immensely everywhere they've been installed. For example, when I lived with my parents there was a stoplight on the way home from work that every evening would be backed up for a block or more, sometimes even through the intersection before it. The DAY after the construction that turned that stoplight intersection into a roundabout was complete and traffic there was reopened, everything flowed smoothly through and there hasn't been a jam or backup there in over a year since.

But I do have to agree that putting one near a hospital is a massive bout of bad planning unless it's meant exclusively for incoming civilian traffic and there's a side entrance for emergency vehicles only.

It's good to see that they can help. I've just seen a few people have their stupid moments (everybody gets them at some point...usually) where one might go the wrong way because it's quicker for them, another may not have encountered them before and does something silly. I don't hate the thing's though. I probably just have bad luck with people is all haha.

Roundabouts in my hometown, in northern Indiana.

- My hometown (which I moved away from a few months ago) is planning on putting in a roundabout on an intersection right next to a hospital. Because... you know... ambulance's need a challenge.

- Mother's boss told me a story about how a friend of his called him while driving. Said he was in a roundabout, and had been for the last 30 minutes to an hour. Then he said he didn't know how to get out of it. Mother's boss had to tell him how to get out of the roundabout. It took only one sentence.

Just curious. I haven't seen any guides to the class and just by looking at it, it's not clicking how one "properly" play a mesmerist.

At first I thought it was about the Mesmerist Tricks, but they seem fairly limited overall, so I doubt that's the case. Is it more about using the stare to debilitate then along with bard-esque skill and martial fighting? How would a battle generally play out for mesmerists?

My latest session:

After spending a bit getting the team together, I bound Coralene and Sybee with Ubro as a reserve. We head out and find that we have to protect an old man whose car is being rammed by a Kyton evangelist and a crazy mage lady with their truck. Knowing we'd be facing something demonic, I decided on Coralene using Occult Weapon to replace her command ability as I wasn't sure at the time if devil's can be commanded (or at least my character wasn't sure).

I was riding shotgun in a car with another team member at the time and we were in the car stopped when all this went down (nearly crashing ourselves). I used her teleport ability to hop out of the car, and attack the windshield of the driver aka, the kyton, and apparently missed. I get temporarily grappled, but released after the kyton is attacked by other members. Mage girl causes an AOO and gets an earth breaker to the face, before shooting me in the stomach with some intense scorching ray. She dies pretty quickly from the rest of the party.

We then take our fight to the Kyton, who, thanks to Coralene gets its dr and regeneration bypassed by my now silver weapons. With some mighty hits (one by myself, gaining advantage from sneak attack given via constellation aspect) and clever (surprising and not sure legal but allowed by DM) use of an earth elemental, it dies. I use Ubro to heal the party up real quick.

After that, it was mostly just RP and social stuff, which, due to how it was set up, is the only place where Sybee actually came into use. I wanted to use her Fireball so much, but found the target we're supposed to protect too close to our enemies, so that never came up. I didn't really need to use the hex (chose fortune) and didn't really see myself stopping attacks to stand around and do either fortune or the others really. I probably should have just gone with tongues now that I think about it. Energy resistance (fire) would have been good for me to throw up before the fight in hindsight, but I've rarely had such chances to pre battle buff that I think I just didn't even consider it much.

While I didn't get much use of Sybee at all, I think that's just because I picked her for the wrong situation. Next session, if given the choice I'll probably not pick her since we'll be indoors. She's good, but I realize now, she's more so only good as either a caster occultist supplement, or for large, open battlefields. I do feel her hexes are sort of lacking in usefulness.

Coralene was solid. She proved useful where needed and I may have gotten away with the command ability. Ubro was as good as expected when used for reserve purposes.

Looking back I'm trying to determine which spirit I'd use in place of Sybee in the situation above. Al'Kra is generally useful all around really. Vandrae might have been good, if not just for her counter spell and sneak attack. Saelendrios would have been good as well I think.

Anyways, that's it in terms of occultist playtest stuff. I won't bore you with the other fun details.

21. A wizard.

I've run campaigns very similar to this - still running one, in fact. Unfortunately, it's been a long day and I'm mentally exhausted.

I'll try and stop back in tomorrow. Sorry. ^_^

No problem. :)

I think the hardest part will be the gorgons, as their perception is actually quite impressive and the player is lv. 5. Gorgons even have dark vision. That said, perhaps I make it so he could use roots on the ceiling to climb above them or something. 65ft or more up and he couldn't be breath attacked.

I also feel the area needs more stuff for him to do besides just stealth by and open a locked door. I guess the root thing above would be a climb check, acrobatics for the large root spanning the chasm.

Give him some places where he has choices -- e.g., use Stealth to get across the room, or Climb to go up the wall? Don't always force him to use one skill.

Maybe there is someone in the maze he can talk to -- perhaps the gorgons are willing to toy with their prey, or they hate each other and can be convinced to do each other dirty....

Don't make every skill failure lethal -- give him a cushion where the first couple of failed checks just make things more difficult. E.g., gorgons start off sleeping and the first bit of noise only wakes them up, and then they start patrolling.

Have some traces of lingering poison that slow him down (Dex poison, maybe), and perhaps some things in the maze at help counter it (e.g., a potion or two of lesser restoration).

Good suggestions. I'll definitely have the gorgons start out sleeping to begin with. At INT 2 though, I don't think he'll be able to speak with them to a point of understanding them or manipulating them via words. Perhaps he could toss a rock from one's direction and they think it was the other (not smart) and fight a bit.

I'll be implementing the ability to climb above on the root covered ceiling so that's a another option.

EDIT: Another friend of mine suggested the option of causing cave ins to trap a gorgon. So (Still learning DM here) I'd think that would be a Strength check and he needs to use a DEX check to avoid getting hit by debris and hope that he didn't cause a cave in at a dead end.

I'm in the team of using a middle man and revealing it was the lich all along later. For one, I don't see why such a powerful near demigod like being would care to have weaklings enter his domain, and likely take a swipe at him. They're likely not worthy enough to hear him speak, let alone see him.

You could have the archon not mention the lich at all and send them after the apprentice. I would probably trust an archon more if it didn't talk about working for a lich at all. Granted, it seems like its meant just to be a moment of cool scenery, but that moment could be had after the apprentice is dealt with.

The lich teleports all of them to his domain and is like, "as a reward for doing as I commanded, I'd like to say thanks... but I won't cause I'm evil!"

Middleman would keep party from attacking for no reason, bypass initial need for paladin work around, and you can still have lich moment later.

Hello all, I'm not sure if one of these has been made yet, but recently one of my characters has taken the turn of, "Why are people worth saving?" moral question and he's wrestling with it, finding it hard to care. That said, I'm interested in seeing how man reasons one can have for this kind of question.

I'll start.

1 - Because it's the right thing to do.

2 - To gain their trust, so that you can steal their stuff later.

3 - Because you own a shop, and they're sort of your customers.

4 - Because you're a paladin.

5 - Because you're evil and they're who you intend to rule.

6 - Because you're king / queen and you do rule them.

7 - Because they don't deserve what happened to you... (DUN DUN DUN)

8 - Because you're one of the idiots living amongst them (GotG reasons)

9 - Because you'll be able to sleep better at night?

10 - Because you'd be bored otherwise.

Granted, most of these aren't very motivating, but stuff is stuff.

Iron or steel, Hardness 10, HP 30/in. of thickness
Mithral, Hardness 15, HP 30/in. of thickness
Adamantine, Hardness 20, HP 40/in. of thickness

You'd probably have to guess on how thick it is I think.

Familiar:
Pros +
Action Economy. This is a big thing, allowing you to potentially have a familiar that holds onto a wand and either buffs you and the party or zaps an enemy.

Scout. Depending on the familiar, you could have it fly around and report back to some extent. Or if it's just sneaky, run ahead and do the same. Some even come with invisibility which helps this further.

Bonuses. The initial familiar list gives bonuses to you if they're within reach of you. Different familiar's give different bonuses, some even give you +4 initiative.

RP Value. You have a pet / animal comrade. Easily gives you something to dote on or argue with in character if you wish.

Touch Spells. I forget which level this happens, but you can eventually send touch spells through a familiar, booping your enemy with magic through them.

Cons -
Can easily be killed. Even if your DM isn't the type to outright have an enemy target, other things such as area of effect and traps could lead to its down fall.

Red flag of potential caster. Smart enemies might recognize the animal as a potential familiar and thus target you first because of it. Not a big deal and this shouldn't happen often.

Bonded Item:
Pros +
Extra Spell of your highest known. This is HUGE IMO, especially for prepared casters. Need a spell you didn't prepare for the day but would be perfect for the situation? BAM! You have that spell.

Usually easy to hide. Especially with the ring, you can hide half of these behind clothing, making it harder to get rid of.

Craft Feat for your item. If you have the ring, you eventually get Craft Rings for your ring specifically. Making it a sort of partial free feat, which is nice.

Cons -
If you lose it, you're close to crippled. The worst part in comparison to a familiar. If you lose your familiar, you can eventually get a new one. If you lose your bonded item... well... you better go get it or else you're going to have a hard time casting anything.

Your extra spell is only once per day. One use, so you have to use it well.

No extra action economy. Doesn't do much outside of the one spell thing.

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Anyways, that's what I can think of. Hope it helps. Remember that if your DM is willing to go out of their way to take your bonded item, then odds are they'd do the same for the familiar and vice versa. Careful of said DMs though.

Alex, you've been doing a fantastic job putting up with all of us. Thank you for listening to our concerns and addressing each and every minor point we bring up and engaging in conversation about details. As a customer, play tester, and fan of this work, I'll tell you that it speaks great volumes that you listen and engage - and it brings about even greater customer loyalty.

So thank you for listening, even when we (and specifically me) have been a pain in the arse. :)

Ditto. Seriously, it really is quite impressive how much work you put in.

A tough call. By all accounts, depending on your level DCs near 20 should be fairly solid. That said, my personal advice would be to focus on spells that effect the battlefield regardless of the save being made or not.

Example. Grease. If you drop that on the ground, the minions are still slowed by it regardless of save, having to move at half movement going through it. The save is to see if they fall prone or not (which is of course the most hoped for).

Another might be create pit. If properly placed, it can ruin their day whether they save or no. Things like that can make a difference.

An additional thing you'll probably want to look into is upcoming feats. You have what you need for summoning, so I'd not focus on that anymore, especially if you're not wanting to actually use it as often. Some suggestions here would be persistent metamagic (makes them save twice), greater spell focus (+1 bump with potent adding another +1 can help a bit), bouncing metamagic (situational, but if there are a bunch of minions it can be nice), there's a feat that gives you a tattoo that in turn gives you +1 to DC and some spell like abilities. All of these could help here.

Next, I'd be aiming to knowledge the heck out of my enemy. Then, cherry pick their worst save and target that if possible. If you're not given that, ask the DM to describe how it moves, what it's doing and try to gleam some info off of that. "They move gracefully," means don't target their dex. "He was drinking all night" means maybe don't target fort, "He's casting spells," Means don't target will...usually. I will say that some things are just insane with their saves (and immunities) so that's another reason to try to get knowledge of them. If their saves are insane, do something else.

Lastly, maybe your DM just doesn't want it to be easy and has either used a template or manipulated the creatures to be harder to hit with such spells. Or, much more unlikely, but not unheard of, he could be fudging the rolls. Automatically discarded if he rolls in front of you and not meant to be a knock on him or your group. Just a thought.

Anyways, hope some of this helped.

The speed boost for Crocodiles is due to crocodiles (the animal) actually having that ability as an extraordinary ability. Plus swim speeds are MUCH more common among spirits than speed boosts, even temporary ones. Giving crocodile heritage a swim speed would be a nerf.

Oh, I understood the speed surge. I've seen those videos where Crocodiles suddenly run up on people on land haha. What is the action to increase your land speed with the ability though? Also, with one round, once per minute, that means that every minute, for one round, you can surge in speed right?

Also, good point about mutable bonus for the bat. I just inserted it into my character sheet yesterday, so if I ever do use Night Fang, which I probably won't do to the environment / setting my PC's in, switching it with Acrobatics or even Disable Device sounds like a solid plan.