Tolroy's page

Have fun in what looks like to be a tough race this year. Congratulations for making it this far as well.

I just recently went through an older style game with my normal group. The game assumes 3d6 rolled in order. Everyone came to the table with interesting concepts about what type of characters they wanted to bring into the world I had described, and they ended up flabbergasted by the results of character creation. Stats were all over the place, ideas were changed on the fly to meet new (lower) expectations, and rolling for HP at level 1 ended up with interesting results as well.

The learning experience

• Wider variance in the initial stats turns the "character creation" process into the "character generation" process.
• Player deaths at early levels is meant to encourage "survival of the fittest" among the characters. Essentially, you are supposed to die if you got a bad set of rolls. Dying is the only way to allow yourself to roll a new character.
• It only ended up being fun for the survivors and the more experienced players. The people new to the game simply gave up.

Third Edition character "generation" and later models would put a lower limit on the random attributes of characters to mitigate the chance of "generating" a character that was "unplayable." I think point buy systems are really the first time you could honestly have a character "creation" process built into the game instead of G.M. Fiat-ed.

Character "creation" leads to a stable set of characters that players can invest emotions from level one. Character "generation" creates a, "I'm going to see if Estar here lives to level 4 before giving him a background. I don't want to waste too many good ideas on a goblin's pincushion."

G.M. Fiat can lead to dice "generated" characters essentially becoming player "created" characters. The social contract of my group allows for this type of G.M. power. In a more formalized contract, say at a convention, a point buy system allows the G.M. to be taken out of the character creation process with less of an ill effect.

While I was working on my own little projects, I came upon a curious thought exercise.

If we consider distance in three dimensions, what is stopping a character armed with a reach weapon from attacking an adjacent huge creature by targeting a square two spaces in the air?

It seems to me as if this should logically work, but I might be missing a rule that would not allow this to occur.

Any thoughts?

While I was working on my own little projects, I came upon a curious thought exercise.

If we consider distance in three dimensions, what is stopping a character armed with a reach weapon from attacking an adjacent huge creature by targeting a square two spaces in the air?

It seems to me as if this should logically work, but I might be missing a rule that would not allow this to occur.

Any thoughts?

The contest would have been more boring without a succubus commenting on each round. Thanks you for all the effort you put into making this more fun.

Congratulations to the Top 4. Keep up the good work and make this a hard round to vote for.

Well the results have been posted so I find myself coming back to see how things panned out this round.

I looked over the encounter again, and I see how it was not well designed in terms of game balance. The scaling nature of the game left my thoughts during the design phase. I should probably make myself a guide referencing the game changing elements added at certain levels.

Several people disliked the ambiguous nature of the evil beneath the temple. My intention in leaving this ambiguous was to allow a GM to use this encounter as a transition from a lower level story arc to a higher level story arc. As such, I left the evil open to the GM. Defining the evil would have allowed me to use it during the encounter, but I feared the possibility of something outshining the Knave.

In the end, I didn't end up making the cut for round 4. This contest has been a joy to compete in, and I thank the entire Paizo community for the chance to be a part of this. Maybe I'll try other avenues available to enter the design business, and I'm sure that I can take the lessons I have learned here to improve myself as a designer.

So that means we will be getting a top-notch Varstrius encounter? :-)

That really depends if one of the other contestants chose to use him. The rules said we could not choose our own villain. We'll see on Tuesday if someone chose to make an encounter around Varstrius.

Hey guys,

First off, thank you very much for all the discussion over Varstrius. Even as I kept silent during the voting, I would return here often to try and glean insight from your criticism.

Here are a few comments that I think should be made.

• Ouch. I messed up on the Andoran issue. I will have to watch out not to butcher the I.P.s of those I am essentially being interviewed by in the future.
• I now realize how important one word can make to the clarity of an entire entry. I should have wrote, "Sarrisia was more careless than usual, and the PCs encounter her while she is smuggling prisoners through Andoran." This would have made it clear that she was not trying to sell the slaves in Andoran.
• To Ryan Dancey- Apology accepted. There can be no grudges when there was no ill will.
• To those of you who came to my aid when I could not defend my work- You helped me sleep at night. Thank you.
• The biggest hurdle I had with Varstrius was separating him from his surroundings and encounter. Much of how I would show players how he treats his dolls would come from the descriptions I gave of his hideout, and a few villainous ideas I had for his tactics ended up being too location sensitive.

I thank everyone again, and I hope you all like my Round 4 entry.

I happen to have the solid excuse of actually being sick. Calling into work is easier on the conscience when you have an infection waging war on your sinuses.

Ruined Temple of Saint Braxtus
==========
Two thousand years ago, Braxtus the Resplendent, priest of Abadar, walked the lands of Taldor spreading the word of the master of the First Vault. Stories tell of how Braxtus entered the Verduran Forest and carved out of the uncivilized wooded hills a gilded shrine for his divine master. Tales say that this beacon of civilization stood for hundreds of years before succumbing to an ill-fated disaster.

While some truth lies within the stories of Braxtus the Resplendent and his gilded shrine, the true story holds a darker reality. Braxtus did found a shrine within the wilderness of Verduran Forest, but his purpose for doing so lay not in creating glory for Abadar. Deep within the wooded hills of Verduran Forest, Braxtus and his adventuring companions came upon an evil hidden deep in a natural cave. Unable to exorcise the evil from Golarion, the group instead sealed the entrance deep under the hill, and Braxtus built a temple to Abadar upon the location in order to guard the site for generations to come. The head priests of this temple were tasked with guarding the ward keys that kept the evil safely contained.

Over time, the wards weakened, allowing some evil miasma to escape and seep into the hearts and minds of those worshiping in the temple. Eventually, this evil drove the temple's inhabitants to insanity, and within one night, the halls of Saint Braxtus's temple filled not with the sounds of prayer but the sounds of murder.

In the present, not much remains of the once magnificent halls. Nature has reclaimed much of the open grounds of the temple, and bandits and treasure hunters have already stripped most valuables from the area. Currently, the dashing Acton Venarys, also known as the Gentleman Knave (R3), uses the location as one of his many bases of operation within the Verduran Forest. The underground sections of the temple are largely intact, and the Knave tends to use the underground worship hall when he requires meetings with his many lieutenants. The Knave found the last intact, but brittle, ward key upon his commandeering of the temple, and while he has not found a way to integrate the release of a great evil onto the very center of Taldor into his plans, he still keeps the ward key on his person during his short stays in the temple.

All that remains of the Temple of Saint Braxtus are three interior chambers and the ruins of two exterior rooms. The few remaining exterior walls count as 8 foot tall reinforced masonry walls with the broken condition (hardness 8, hp 89, break DC 45), while the smooth interior walls count as magically treated hewn stone walls (hardness 16, hp 1080, break DC 70). The interior ceilings are 10 feet tall unless otherwise noted. The temple was built into a rugged cliff face that stands 50 feet tall. Trees dot the top of the hill and along the base where the temple is located.

2. Worship Hall (CR 10 or 13)
==========
A large oaken round table surrounded by wooden chairs sits at the center of this repurposed prayer hall. Piles of maps, diagrams, and books litter the table and surrounding area. Light emanates from a multitude of torches lining the walls of the room, brightening the room and casting shadows on the 20 foot tall ceiling. The open doors on the east and south walls can be seen from the entrance. The room smells faintly of ammonia and sweat.
The walls of the worship hall are almost perfectly smooth, and as such, a PC may not attempt to climb them without assistance. The room contains six everburning torches which provide normal illumination within the entire area.
The table in the center of the room can be used by up to four Small or Medium creatures (or one Large creature) to gain high ground over their attackers, and the top of the table and the area immediately surrounding it count as difficult terrain (PF RPG pg 193) due to the large amounts of books and papers haphazardly strewn about.
A DC 15 Knowledge (engineering) check determines that the design of this worship hall dates back to Taldan architecture of the early to middle Age of Enthronement.
A DC 25 Knowledge (religion) check determines that the room is designed to channel prayers towards something to the south.
Creatures:
The Gentleman Knave often scours over a myriad of maps and plans that have been strewn over and around the great table in the center of the room. On several occasions, he has gathered several of his lieutenants here to discuss his grand strategic objectives. The Knave is always accompanied by at least four of his lackeys (variant guard officers PF GMG 261). Two of his lackeys guard the western entrance to the room while the other two keep close to the room's eastern wall so as to be near the Knave if he requires aid.
If the Knave is holding a meeting, six of his lieutenants (highwaymen PF GMG 259) will be present and sitting with the Knave around the table while six lackeys walk around the perimeter of the room.
Unless alerted by someone fleeing from area 1, the occupants of the room will be surprised as the players enter the room. If alerted, the lackeys will gather near the western door while the lieutenants, if present, move into safer positions behind them. The Gentleman Knave stays to the east side of the table where he can address and taunt the players from a relatively safe location before entering the fray.
Once in combat, the lackeys will use Dazzling Display to try and demoralize as many opponents as possible. Afterwards, they try to gang up on one player so that the Knave and any present lieutenants can use them for flanking purposes. The lackeys also try to draw one player towards the center of the room where the player can be isolated from the rest of the party. Lackeys will also throw their nets on prone characters.
Any present lieutenant attempts to take up a flanking position and trip an opponent with his +1 spiked chain. If any spellcasters are in the attacking party, two lieutenants will drink their potions of invisibility and attempt to move towards the offending players.
The Knave follows the tactics section of his entry during the fight except as follows. After using vanish to facilitate his escape, the Knave flees to location 3 where he makes use of the secret exit found in location 4. Before climbing the ladder in location 4, the Knave uses a standard action to break the final ward key in the hopes that unleashing any horror from beneath the temple will delay pursuers.

Tier 7-8 (CR 10):
Knave's Lackey (4) CR 3
XP 800 each
hp 34 (Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide 261)
Melee mwk greatsword +9 (2d6+5/19-20)
Morale The Knave's lackeys fight to the death as long as the Gentleman Knave is present. If the Knave is downed or flees, they attempt to surrender.

The Gentleman Knave CR 9
XP 6400
hp 78 (RPG Superstar 2011 Round 3)

Tier 10-11 (CR 13):
Knave's Lackey (6) CR 3
XP 800 each
hp 34 (Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide 261)
Melee mwk greatsword +9 (2d6+5/19-20)
Morale The Knave's lackeys fight to the death as long as the Gentleman Knave is present. If the Knave is downed or flees, they attempt to surrender.

Lieutenant (6) CR 6
XP 2400 each
hp 53 each (Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide 259)
Morale A lieutenant fights until reduced to 10 or fewer hit points. He will then drink his potion of invisibility, if available, and flee through the western exit.

The Gentleman Knave CR 9
XP 6400
hp 78 (RPG Superstar 2011 Round 3)

Development: If the Knave escapes, two rounds after the Knave leaves location 2, the altar in location 5 shatters in a fierce explosion. Anyone within location 5 at the time of the explosion takes 4d6 piercing damage (DC 14 Reflex save for half damage). The explosion of the altar can be clearly heard throughout locations 2, 3, and 5. Location 5 also comes under the effects of desecrate and darkness (both CL 15). Below the destroyed altar lies a gaping hole that leads down in the dungeon sealed away by Saint Braxtus.
If the Knave fails to escape, then the players find the ward key along with his other possessions. A player using detect magic may make a DC 35 Spellcraft check to determine not only that the ward key is tied to some great seal, but also that the ward key is near breaking. The ward key loses one of its remaining 14 hit points each midnight until it breaks. Lesser spells like make whole and mending have no effect on the ward key, but a DC 10 Knowledge religion check allows a player to recognize the symbol of Abadar on the ward key.

Strangely, I like to take a nap to find my inspiration. If I'm up and about I'm too tempted with TV and Internet and the like. When I lie down though, I can just let thoughts themselves roll around and see what I come up with.

I accomplish a similar state while playing older console video games. For example, Dark Cloud 2 has been this contest's meditative aid.

My fortune cookie told me to "Beware the past."

Maybe they will ask use to all use ASCII art. That way they would be able to judge our ability to design for the top-secret Pathfinder MUD.

The die is cast. Good luck all.

Varstrius, Connoisseur of Living Dolls
Portrait: “Portrait 10”
Description:
Forty years ago, a helpless Varstrius watched as his drunken stepfather strangled his beloved little sister Sulliana to death. Unable to fight back, Varstrius's agony and rage festered into the insane obsession he carries to this day. Varstrius blindly attempts to regain his lost sister by capturing small folk in Cassomir and dressing them up as gross parodies of Sulliana.

Varstrius stands at an unimposing five and a half feet tall, his hardy body beginning to show his age. He hides the pain of his loss by constantly wearing an arrogant sneer on his face.
Motivations/Goals:
Varstrius is consumed by one goal: to find a replacement for his departed sister. To that end, he has taken to kidnapping halflings and gnomes, keeping those that have a passing resemblance to Sulliana. His daughter, Sarrisia, sneaks any unwanted prisoners out of the country and sells them to slavers.
Schemes/Plots/Adventure Hooks:
Varstrius has been careful in collecting living dolls, but sometimes a plan plays out imperfectly.

• A recent victim's family is actively searching for their missing daughter, and they believe that the last mercenary they hired was close to finding her before his body was found floating in the harbor.
• A halfling or gnome PC could become Varstrius's next target.
• Sarrisia was more careless than usual, and the PCs encounter her while she is traveling towards Andor with a wagon full of prisoners.

Varstrius CR 7
Male middle age human ranger (urban ranger, APG 129) 8
CE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +5; Senses Perception +16
===== Defense =====
AC 20, touch 11, flat-footed 19; (+7 armor, +1 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 76 (8d10+32);
Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +6
===== Offense =====
Spd 30 ft.
Melee +1 bastard sword +12/+4 (1d10+14/19-20)
Ranged masterwork dagger +9 (1d4+3/19-20)
Special Attacks favored enemy (halfling +4, gnome +2)
Ranger Spells Prepared (CL 5th, concentration +6)
2nd--barkskin
1st--longstrider, pass without trace
===== Tactics =====
Before Combat Varstrius casts barkskin and longstrider before entering combat.
During Combat Varstrius allows his hired mercenaries to engage potential threats for a few rounds before entering the fray, but he will immediately enter combat after casting his spells if one of the opponents is a halfling or gnome. Varstrius will overrun past any intervening opponents in an attempt to reach a halfling or gnome target. Both Varstrius and his mercenaries take a -4 penalty to hit against such targets because they are attempting to deal nonlethal damage. After subduing any halfling or gnome targets, Varstrius readjusts his tactics, focusing his full attack actions on wounded opponents and maneuvering into flanking positions. Other than the small folk, Varstrius takes no prisoners.
Morale Varstrius has little intention of dying before finding the perfect replacement for Sulliana, so he attempts to flee if brought below 33 hit points. During daytime, he can escape in the vast Cassomir crowds. At night, this advantage is missing. If trapped, his pride forces him to fight to the death instead of surrendering.
===== Statistics =====
Str 16, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 13, Cha 11
Base Atk +8; CMB +11; CMD 22
Feats Furious Focus, Greater Overrun, Improved Overrun, Iron Will, Power Attack, Pushing Assault, Toughness
Skills Diplomacy +4, Intimidate +11, Knowledge (local) +14, Knowledge (nobility) +7, Perception +16, Sense Motive +9, Survival +8
Languages Common
SQ favored community (Cassomir +4, Oppara +2), hunter's bond (cat), push through, swift tracker, track +4, trapfinding, wild empathy
Combat Gear potion of cure moderate wounds (2); Other Gear +1 breastplate, +1 bastard sword, cloak of resistance +1, masterwork dagger (2)

I'm getting ready for my players to show up for my Friday game. It will be nice to get back into the swing of things now that the holidays are over.

Thank you for all the support and comments. Please vote for me in this round.

You'd have been better served to just tell us what gets added or removed from the skill list and leave it at that.

I would like to pipe up about this part of the commentary. The provided model had a line that told us not to do exactly what you have said here.

This should be a complete listing of the class's class skills, not a "add this and remove these" sort of statement.

Joseph followed the format that was given to him in the rules. Cases can be made on both sides over whether using his limited word count in such a way was prudent, but I don't think it would have been to his advantage to format his submission in another way.

Need to take some time and read through all those archetypes.

I hear you. One last good luck to everyone as the public starts to see our creations.

For Artus:

Some of the most awesome things I have ever heard.

Thank you giving me something nice to wake up to.

Hey there Danny. Your item does a good job being enough like a few existing items but for a different mechanic. I don't have monks playing in my current game I would drop one of these in a treasure hoard for one if I did.

Additional Comments
What does it offer the player?
Well it offers a monk a way to keep some ki from one day and use it in another. This would end up being an item used much like a staff. It provides an extra resource when required, but it takes time to recharge.

Price might become an issue with this one though. At 23800 gp it is somewhere between the cost of a headband of inspired wisdom +4 or +6. The player would want both the beads and the headband, but if he had to choose one, my bet would end up being on the wisdom increasing item. Up to five ki per day with an ability to use them in a different way probably doesn't approach the utility of 3 ki per day, a +3 bonus to AC, +3 to bonus on Will saves, +3 to the DC of your Stunning Fist, +3 on Wis based skills, etc. Your item is going to be competing with the player's limited budget, and I don't know if it has enough utility to deal with the opportunity costs.

That being said I don't have a definitive fix for you. Maybe it could have 5 charges a week, and you could draw at most 2 charges per day. Maybe a slightly cheaper consumable version that left you fatigued after you used a charge.

The 5 "W"s and How's
Mechanically the item is sound, and the writing clearly shows how it works. The one bit I suggest is taking out any mention of wearing the prayer beads. You mentioned somewhere in the description that the beads were worn, but you don't have the item taking up any slots.

Where you shine as a designer
You design in a way that makes the targeted players want the item, but you don't make it too overpowered that the rest of the community goes into an uproar. That is a tight rope act that needs practice, and you obviously have that talent. It will be interesting to see if that comes out in later rounds as well.

Good job, and good luck in later rounds.

Requirements:

• Must have seasons, but not extremes.
  
• No big cities. Suburbs are best. Rural is fine if a city/town is within driving.
  
• Low humidity preferred.
  
• Green is better than brown.
  
• Reasonable cost of living.
  
• High-speed connectivity.
  
• Low crime.
  
• A place with character/history would also be nice.

Let me just add that Florida should not be on your list.

• We have four seasons: Not Hot, Summer, Not Summer, and Christmas
  
• Cities are odd around Florida. They are kind of a collection of small towns that form up into being a giant conglomerate municipality.
  
• Ha
  
• You would think we would be green down here. Don't move to Florida unless you want to see the magic of grass looking entirely dead but growing like a weed 11 months out of the year.
  
• Its not California or New York, but my friends from Louisiana complain about it being more expensive to live here.
  
• Internet, yes. Transportation, probably never.
  
• Some history in parts, but not really near the major cities.
  

That probably would take Florida off your list unfortunately. Just 49 more states to analyze, and you should be able to find one that fits you.

John Bennett wrote:

What is braai?

A barbeque, essentially, though with some norms and practices different from the North American equivalent. We even have a national braai day. The great wiki has an article about it.

I can't think of BBQ without thinking of this song. I'm from Florida so I disagree with some of the accusations, but it's not bad at giving a quick laugh.

I chose the first option. Beyond it being the normal in most of the APG archetypes, I thought it brought more screen time to the new name.

The cleric section of the APG shows new domains, thus you would still be a cleric while selecting the domain. Same goes for bloodlines and schools.

The base class descriptions use the first example while the second example is used by orders, domains, bloodlines, and schools.

That is my take on it. This is kind of like backwards engineering a style guide.

What first hits me here is that both your name and the item's name are alliterations. Second thing that hits me is usually my wife, but until that happens, on to the comments.

What does it offer the player?
Well the first thing this offers the player is a mechanic for lugging around many potions in a one easy locations. The item also protects the potions slightly better from sundering because iron has 9 more hardness than glass and 30 times the hit points.

The second mechanic becomes a real treat for players. This makes creates calculation that ingenious players will use to create terrific combinations. The drawback is a good addition here as -2 to most actions can really hurt, and it will add another layer of math onto the min/maxers calculations.

The 5 "W"s and How's
Do you know what I always assumed you did with a potion bottle after drinking it? I assumed you dropped it as a free action. Well now I have this here flask that I really don't want to drop after only taking one swig. That brings the economics of actions into play with this item. Let's put this in the hands of a greatsword wielding fighter.
Round 1 -
Free Action - Switches from holding sword in two hands to wielding it in one.
Move Action - Retrieves flask.
Free Action - Moves the dial to choose a potion.
Standard Action - Drink potion.

Round 2 -
Move Action - Stores flask
Free Action - Switches from holding sword in one hand to holding it in two.

After that the fighter can go on to do what ever they intended to do.

None of this is particularly bad mind you, but it does have to be considered when you look at how the item will be used in the game.

Also, I don't really know if it should be a free action to adjust the type of potion used. Maybe make it an immediate action.

Lastly, I see how a dial would be able to allow potions that are next to each other on the dial to be used together, but it would have to be a rather odd looking dial to be able to fall between any two sections of a circle.

Where you shine as a designer
You found a need, and you filled it well. This is one of those items that needs to be special to be considered at the Superstar level. If it was just, "Holds X amount of doses of X amount of potions." you would probably have been passed over.

You also know your limits when it comes to working in the space limitations of this contest. I think it would have taken many a line to make this work well with the alchemist, and you made the right choice in not dealing with that here.

In summary, you present a concept that is clean and workable. I look forward to what you are able to show us in later rounds. Good luck.

Hey there Charles. You did great work with this item, and I want to talk a little about it.

What does it offer the player?
This is where your item really shines. Your item offers a choice that has real consequences. The fact that the first mechanic doesn't differentiate between friend or foe will make the user a danger to both his allies and his enemies. A player would have to make sure not to activate these if they were expecting a cure spell from his local cleric as that 1d6 electricity damage might interrupt the casting. The item also starts to effect a larger area when spells like enlarge person and giant form I are in effect.

The second effect has similar implications. First off, it creates a very specific distance the player will move. This means that the item becomes dangerous to use when the player near cliffs or fighting near traps. Secondly, the player has to try and work the positions of his allies and of any innocent bystanders into his movement plan.

Combined, these two abilities create a wondrous amount of choice for a wielder. Good job.

The 5 "W"s and How's
Two questions pop up in my head when I read your item.

First off, does effect one damage the wielder? The wielder is within 5 feet of himself so I would assume the answer to be yes, but the item doesn't bring mention to this issue.

Secondly, the item's description leaves something to be desired concerning the nature of the rings that surround the possessor during the first effect.

The sphere breaks apart into metal bands that expand to completely surround the possessor and provide an aura of electricity.

I picture iron bands flying around the user in such a way that movement and attacking might be rather hard to accomplish, but it could also create a cloud of much smaller bands that accomplish a similar function.

Where you shine as a designer
This item shows that you are very good at creating a good theme for an item and sticking to it. You also don't add too much to an item during the process. It would have been easy to also have the bands give you Resist electricity 10, but you didn't because the item is more about creating electricity than about resisting it.

Again good job, and I look forward to seeing your work in future rounds.

My weekend is beginning with Catan, but it will end with me catching up on my accounting homework.

Well mine is off and away. Good luck to everyone.

Charlatan (Rogue)
Some people lie to live, yet the charlatan lives to lie. Charlatans move from one deception to another, dancing a game of duplicity that leaves his coin pouch fatter and his victims none the wiser.
Bamboozle (Ex): A charlatan can implement a cunning and ingenious weave of lies and half-truths allowing him to gain the confidence of those around him. While using Disguise to alter his appearance, a charlatan may use Bluff instead of Diplomacy to alter a target's starting attitude or to make a request. Any change in attitude is only effective while the charlatan is in the same disguise and while the target believes the disguise. If the target disbelieves the disguise, its attitude decreases two steps and stops performing the request unless doing so would endanger it. Additionally, the charlatan may attempt to influence a given target's attitude with Bluff more than once in a given 24-hour period as long as he successfully uses Disguise to change his appearance between Bluff attempts. This ability replaces trapfinding.
Mystical Ruse (Ex): At 3rd level, the charlatan becomes adept at acting the part of a spellcaster. The charlatan gains a +1 competence bonus on Use Magic Device checks except for attempts to decipher a written spell. This bonus increases by +1 for every 3 levels beyond 3rd. The charlatan also gains a +2 circumstance bonus on Disguise checks while impersonating a spellcaster as long as he uses a wand, staff, or scroll as part of the disguise. This ability replaces trap sense.
Distracting Ploy (Ex): At 4th level, the charlatan may don a disguise as a standard action by taking a -5 penalty on his check. He may also use Bluff to create a distraction as a swift action. This ability replaces uncanny dodge.
Perfect Delivery (Ex): At 8th level, the charlatan can trick a target as a standard action into doing an activity it normally would not do. This effect works as suggestion using the charlatan's level as his caster level. The target gets a Will save (DC 13 + the charlatan's Charisma modifier). At 16th level, the charlatan can use perfect delivery twice per day. This ability replaces improved uncanny dodge.
Rogue Talents: The following rogue talents complement the charlatan archetype: charmer, coax information, guileful polyglot, honeyed words, major magic, minor magic, and quick disguise.
Advanced Talents: The following advanced rogue talents complement the charlatan archetype: master of disguise, opportunist, and skill mastery.

Hi there Paizo community.

I'm a 25 year old accounting student who loves playing and working on games. I don't have a website, but here is a link to the Obsidian Portal for my most current game. The journal is pretty much written by my wife, but I take care of updating the wiki portion of the site. Which is probably why there is a huge journal hosted on the site, and the wiki is kind of patchy right now.

This opportunity to participate in a design competition has been thrilling, and I am willing to see it through to whatever end it may bring.

It has definitely been interesting going through ideas with a mind of how many words it would take to get my ideas on paper.

Now I just have to weigh my two archetypes against each other and decide which one is the corvette and which one is the studebaker.

Thank you judges for this chance. I promise not to hand my Everlasting Gobstopper to Slugworth, and I will try not to drink the fizzies.

I would love to thank everyone who is commenting and critiquing my submitted item. I'll promise to come back and start talking about it after I get a firm foundation started on Round 2 and beyond.

I would try yoga or some other exercise. Just keep a pad of paper and a pencil near by at all times. You never know when the muse will strike.

I was raised in Melbourne, Florida which is south of Cape Canaveral. Currently, I reside in Orlando, Florida.

Congratulations to each and everyone of the 2010 Top 32. It is an honor and a privilege to find myself in the company of so many bright and creative people. May the world, or at least the forums, tremble as we wrench open the flood gates and give our all from here on out.

Mirrored Lantern of the Pious Seeker
Aura moderate evocation and necromancy(good); CL 5th
Slot -; Price 30,000 gp; Weight 3 lbs.

Description
This silver lantern boasts a multitude of mirrors throughout its interior. The interior of the lantern can house a holy symbol of a good or neutral deity. When a channeler of positive energy wields a lantern housing the holy symbol of his deity, the lantern will function and shed bright light in a 30-foot radius. This light functions as per the daylight spell.
As a move action, the wielder may change the area of the light to any of the following: a 60 foot cone, a 120 foot line, or a 5-foot radius sphere located within 400 feet of the wielder.
Any undead within the light suffer a -2 penalty to Will saves against channel energy. Three times per day, the wielder may channel positive energy through the functioning lantern, changing the area of the channeling to match the current area of the light effect. A wielder with the Glory domain may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Wisdom modifier.

Construction
Requirement Craft Wondrous Item, creator must be a 5th level cleric; Cost 15,000 gp

Thanks for all the help guys. I think I have a good idea where to go from here.

I think the Cloak of Vanishing, thank you Blueluck, is a pretty good idea for the NPC's I need to give this to, but I think the other ideas for working with the concept are also close to what a slightly upgraded version of the cloak would become.

Hey there guys,

I was sitting down to create stats for a simple magic item that my player's saw a NPC using, and I came into a small issue on pricing versus power. The item is a cloak that allows for invisibility a limited number of minutes, or rounds, per day. It is activated as a move action and canceled as a swift action. I was hoping to price it somewhere in the 2000 to 5000 gold piece price range.

Does anybody have any ideas concerning where I should set the price? I know it will tie in with the amount of time given daily, but I'm having a hard time balancing the usefulness of the item with the given price range.

Thanks in advance,

Tolroy

Wealth by level used to be one of the tables I'd go to look at only after I saw a party member lagging behind the other's in combat or out-of-combat situations. I found that in many cases the lagging player had gear that was worth a level or two below the other party members.

In my most recent game, I decided to try something completely different. I threw out experience as a method of leveling up characters. Instead I used the WbL table to level up the party as a whole. When the party is pretty much geared up to be just into the next level, each member gains a level. I don't count expendable items towards leveling up the group, and I try not to let one character have more than a level worth of gear ahead or behind the group.

In application, the method has worked pretty well. At low levels, a few good items went to the party fighter, and until recently, I haven't needed to check his gear to see if he is ready to level up. The other characters have gotten little increases over time that have leveled them up.

Thank you Jason and Caineach. I will probably use Jason's suggestions for most of my questions, but it would be interesting to have items sell off on their own.

I might also use the random kingdom event where a sensational crime spree occurs in the kingdom to "help" the PCs move minor magic items out.

My players are currently working on expanding their cities a good bit, and I would love to have some clarifications on a few questions.

Question 1- The rules say that a multiple block building can cross roads. Does that mean a Castle can be built where one block of it is in four different districts? If a multiple building spans two districts, can a wall be placed between the districts?

Question 2- What happens when an event destroys a house that is needed for another building?

Question 3- The rules for selling magic items state that items need to be worth at least 4000 to be sold. If I roll a minor magic item that is worth less than 4000 gold, then should I allow the players to roll to sell the item with for no BP? This would allow them to clear the space for next month.

I also want to give a big thanks out to the writers of these rules. With a few homerules, the nation building rules will find a home in many campaigns I run later down the line.

Well my players had a fun time with the Stag Lord encounter, though it got tense a few times.

Over all it seemed that a group that kept up with all the rumors and hints about the Stag Lord would have less of a problem in the fight.

I use max first level hp, and roll every level as usual. If the total hp are lower than the average hp the character should have, raise hp to that average.

Ex a fighter lvl 11th should have 10+ 5.5 x 10 = 65 hp.
If at level 10 he had 61 and roll 3, raise to 65.
If at level 10 he had 66 and roll 1, keep those 67.
etc.
This way the characters always have at least average hp, and they usually tend to that average as they go up in levels. Though, if they are lucky enough they can have more hp.

I usually use something like your system for my PC's. I give them the normal max at 1st level, and then I let them role for each level afterwards. If the level is odd, they either get their roll or half their Hit Die =1. If the level is even, they either get their roll or half their Hit Die.

I have also tried this method of HP rolling. I very loudly tell the players that I am going to the bathroom, and that I wouldn't mind if they were finished rolling for their HP before I got back. That method seemed to work as a fine band-aid to a normal rolling game that just had two levels of suck rolls for every character's HP.

is this class too powerful or does it seem balanced, are there any sugestions or ideas of the abilities/

The class might have problems in the AC department. It has light armor, and up to a +6 bonus to AC when next to opponents, but Dexterity might not end up being high enough to give him a chance of surviving a full attack from a level appropriate mob. He needs strength for to-hit and damage, and constitution to give him enough HP to make one of his core class abilities useful (Blood Drunk). Dexterity and Wisdom would have next priority because they would help his AC and Will respectfully.

A problem with the concept of Blood Drunk might also effect the survivability and playability of the class. Really successful spellcasters define themselves by making it close to impossible for the enemies to accomplish damage. A class that needs to take a hurtin' before he really starts to do damage might not mesh well.

Making the Knock Out Punch a full round action lowers its usefulness. Being fairly squishy, the Brawler is probably going to be more of a skirmisher. I don't see him getting more than one full round action off before either he or the enemy needs to be in some way incapacitated. Maybe making it a full round action at level 1 is alright, but allow the higher level characters to at least use the attack as part of a charge. (Hint: Flying Kick)

I hope my thoughts on the class are helpful.

I <3 Paranoid Agent but it's not relevant to D&D, whereas even series as disparate as Berserk and Slayers are close enough to each other that we can talk about them as part of one whole when D&D's inspirations already include both the Song of Roland and Fritz Leiber.

With note to your Slayers comment. Goury is actually a pretty good example of what the fighter as is tends to play as. Even with all his intensive training he only keeps slightly behind the casters and gishes when he has a super great magic item. He gets mind controlled into attacking the other party members at least once, and he does very little outside of combat.

To recap the check list:
1-Needs magic sword to do extraordinary things
2-Seems to be doing much less to help the group even when he has all he needs
3-Doesn't participate much until the fighting breaks out.

Yup straight class 2-handed weapon fighter.

Well the most interesting death I have seen within my time as a DM came about 7 years ago in a 3.0 campaign. My players had recently defeated some big bad evil, and the fight had ended with only the human paladin standing, and the dwarf fighter and kobold sorcerer being fused together as a statue of aluminum.

The party was unable to afford the proper spells to restore the two (I think they were unwilling to part with some magic items from the recent quest) so they managed find someone that could partially restore the two. The resulting spell allowed both players to act normally, but left the kobold's tail fused to the fighter's left arm.

The fighter took possession of a new shiny weapon the party had just received, a +2 Spell Storing Battle Axe with the Fireball spell stored in it. In the next fight with a river monster, with him and the sorcerer at critical HP, he used the spell from the axe while in melee with the beast. He failed his save and died, while the sorcerer succeeded his savfe and lived. We ruled it that the sorcerer had hid behind the fighter's shield and had managed to escape certain doom.

Would it be a good home-brew solution to change feats so that in the hands of fighters they are used better.

The idea here is that if feats are going to be the vehicle that we use as the primary class ability of the fighter, then the feats should be scalable and have the flavor of class abilities. By making them require levels in fighter to adjust the scales, we keep dippers from taking a level of fighter to gain all the fighter benefits of a feat.
A quick note on alternate training trees. Let me take a stab at rewriting the two presented trees to make them slightly more modular. I would remove heavy armor training, tower shield proficiency, and the class skills of Intimidate and Ride. Oh and give them 4 skill points per level.
At level 1, a fighter may choose two training trees. These training trees may not be changed at a later date.

Plenty of things plus links

Thank you for posting the links to that alternate system. I enjoyed reading through the skeleton and muscles of the system.

I am guessing that any system that included a host of generic options would have to give almost an entire book to NPC builds, or the writers would have to release such content online in some form.

My players are saying that they can cast detect magic and they will be able to detect and npc who cast invisibility on themselves.

Is this correct? Can a 0 level cantrip cancel out invis?

The first round that Detect Magic is used on an area (60 foot cone area to be exact) you only get the ability to detect that some sort of magic is afoot.

On round two of focusing on an area you detect the exact number of magical auras and strength of the most powerful magical aura in the area.

Finally on round 3 you gain the exact location of every aura in the area and their strength.

An invisible character would be wise to not stay in one place to long if they suspected an enemy to be using detect magic, or the mage could use the level 2 spell Misdirection to fun results.

Hope that helps.

What option sounds better for the game in general?

*All classes are as generic as the fighter, but you are supposed to multiclass and take levels in prestige classes to make a character concept/be playable at higher levels. Kind of a d20 Modern meets D&D type of thing.

*The fighter and other generic classes should be replaced with more specific classes that can form the basis of a 20 level progression all on their lonesome.(I wouldn't see much use of multiclassing or prestige classes in this type of system)

I understand that these two options are not the only two presented in this thread, but they are the two that I would most likely endorse.

I flip and flop between wanting a system that encourages every PC to take an appropriate Prestige Class and one where the PC's never consider a prestige class. The 3.5 fighter was usually my vehicle of choice to get into a combat prestige class because I felt that every level of the prestige class improved the character more than another level of fighter.