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My last straw happened while playing a session of DeadLands. I was playing a respected gun smith who was very handy with a side iron and had a distrust of the Pinkerton's. It was part of my PC's back story that my parents were killed for their land by people who may or may not have been Pinkerton's (law enforcement group in its infancy that is likened to the CIA). To further this the land my parents owned now houses a major Pinkerton hub. The GM knew about and approved this.
So right off the bat my character is approached by a Pinkerton seeking my skill with a fire arm to be part of a security detail. My PC's reward for such services was originally going to be a regular six shooter that had a fold out stock. Playing my character to his background I refused the offer or to help. So the Pinkerton revised his offer and my PC's reward now became. Do this and we won't slander your good name and ruin your gun smith business. At the urging of the other players I went along.
How the session started set the tone for what was to come. I don't know how I didn't see this at the time.
The first event took place on a train. We were to relieve a town sheriff of his prisoner and take him into custody for the Pinkerton's. This had to be done with out the sheriffs cooperation. We come up with our plan and put it into action. It turns out the prisoner is a werewolf. My PC witness his transformation and attack of other passengers. Being very handy with the side iron I decide to have my character take a shot at the werewolf from the other end of the train car. While lining up my shot it sees or seances my PC is a threat and charges him. My PC get's the shot off in time and with all rolls and raises (all legit rolled in front of the GM)this werewolf's head is turned into hamburger meat. According to the body location chart that Deadlands has I killed this thing. It could not survive the amount of damage done to its head regardless of total hp. Well what happens next is my character gets attacked by this werewolf and bitten. I asked how is that possible. Never mind it should be dead, how is it biting me with no head? The GM argues that I did not deplete its total HP ignoring the body location chart. Again by the urging of the other players I let it go and take my lumps.
What finally did it for me is a NPC he introduces to blatantly keep my character in check. He twarts my PC's every move and even trows him in jail while entertaining the rest of the party.
I got fed up and decided that my character is going to kill this NPC. My PC escapes form the NPC's jail and goes looking for his guns. My PC's guns are mysteriously not kept with the other guns in the armory for safe keeping. I say fine and ask are there other guns here.The GM informs me there are but they look worse for wear. Being my PC is a gun smith he find's the best gun of the lot and loads it. My PC makes his way back to the saloon he was arrested and sure as... I find the NPC there with the rest of the party having a good time. Waiting for the opportune moment My PC burst in and fires at the NPC. His first shot misses and now the NPC is alert to my presence. The NPC begins to draw his gun and and shoots from the hip hitting me. My PC is going down but can still get off another shot. The GM informs me that because of the wounds my PC suffered it will be near impossible. I say damn it I shoot. I roll the dice and hit. But is it good enough? Not nearly. So I use raises to make it a better shot. My PC hits the NPC in the head and the damage is killer. But no. The ground starts swallowing me (I will not get into the argument that transpired over this. It involves a GM's best friend his hexster character that can do anything they want and a spell cast before I entered the saloon.) and the GM informs me that I do not have enough raises to hit him in the head. Defeated and confused to why the ground is swallowing me I'm about to give up when I move my arms to throw them up in defeat when my friend yells at me. You have one more chip! (It was discussed how many chips were needed and that I was one short of being successful.)I grab the chip and throw it into the pile yelling "Rape the world Murphy" (From Young Guns). My PC is swallowed up by the ground and his last image was seeing the NPC go down. I then got up along with my only friend at the table and announced I am never playing DeadLands again with this group!

wraithstrike wrote:

What do you mean simplest encounters?

counters

Let's start with a canyon. On the other side of the canyon is a caster with any variety of arrow screwing spells if you want to get cheeky and shoot at him.

Or spell effects like wall of force, or iron, or just flying foes. Things like that.

That isn't to say a barbarian can do better in all of those situations, but he can in many. Rangers and Paladins cover others easily enough.

Clearly this battle it pitted and you would be stupid to engage a foe on his terms. I would retreat. I would then find a tribe of Orcs or worse and use diplomacy and their own base nature against them to make them a bane to the canyon caster. You can come up with all sorts of encounters that supposedly prove how bad a fighter is or any other class for that matter. Its a game of fantasy. Get creative and think outside the rules. If your GM is not gonna reward you for such efforts then he may be an ass.

I used to play a Dwarf Fighter back in 2e. I had the brewing skill and used it often when not in combat. The GM loved my antics and gave the party moral bonuses for attacks based on my brewing success levels. Its about being creative with what you have available. I think the fighter is fine the way it is. I usually find the player to be lacking. Remember rules are made to be broken and rules lawyers ruin any game.

I was wondering how other DMs/groups handle Initiative in the following situtation:-

The PCs are face to face with the BBEG. They are exchanging dialogue and both sides are obviously aware of each other and fully expect combat to start.
Suddenly the PC mage yells "I cast magic missile!"

Does the mage automatically win initiative and get a surprise attack?

Do you have everyone just roll initiative since all opponents are aware of each other?

Do you give the mage PC a bonus to initiative because he stated his action first?

It seems to me if players can get an advantage by doing this then why would the DM ever bother to have the BBEG do his BBEG speech, better to have him just attack and screw the roleplaying.

Thoughts?
Reebo

Initiative should have been rolled. Characters can talk out of initiative order because it's not an action (save for talking to cast a spell). While delaying actions the monologue could have went on and come the wizards turn he then may choose to delay to see what happens or attack. That's how I'd handle it. Unless the villain is unreachable at the current moment expect his monologue to be interrupted by an attack.

Anything in excess is bad, but really, there's inspiration to be found in any medium.

I'll drink to that.

Nice. Would love to have that guy in our group.

Be careful what you wish for...

Thomas Gately wrote:

The rock player says I do nothing because I'm a rock. sighs all around.

This guy is awesome. What happened after he was tossed in the water?

The session continued as he just pretended to communicate with fish refusing to make a new character. I did however make random rolls to see if by some off chance he gets plucked from the depths. It never happened.

My own personal theory, with no evidence mind you, is that video games are to blame for the lack of creative character details and background. Almost all video games have built in details and back story for the characters played, and those that don't have character back stories never really require them. Almost any roleplaying done in video games where back story is supposed to be fabricated by the players is due to groups of roleplayers using the game as a backdrop or stage.

Video games and TV. Seriously! Its sad how those who suffer its effects will never know until they remove themselves from it.

Just thought of a player I once had. He could not wrap his head around the concept of RPG's. So after explaining it to him for over an hour he finally got it or so I thought.
He had no background because he took something I told him while explaining RPG's to him and ran. I said to him that he could virtually be anything and do anything he wanted. So he decided he would be a rock.
Not some sort of rock monster, but a normal run of the mill everyday rock. I explained that he could not do this because it severely limits him and besides there’s no stats for a rock other than the damage it would do if thrown. He didn’t want to hear it and was very stubborn about it. So I said fine! Then gave him a proposition. If he could tell me how he came to be an intelligent rock I would allow it. So he came up with a generic I was turned into a rock by a wizard story. I asked why did this wizard do this and he replied because I slept with his daughter. Not wanting to prolong the agony I said fine your a rock. Lets start.
I go on and set the scene. I get to the point where I ask the players what do they do. The rock player says I do nothing because I'm a rock. sighs all around. I get to one of my players who response to me is I pick up the rock and skip him across the water. The rock player angrily shouts why did you do that? The other players just says calmly Well you see my character lost his dad at a young age. You see, skipping rocks across the water is the only memory he has of him and you looked like a good skipping rock.

I've played with the same group for years. Some joined and most left but always the same core group. I know there styles very well and try to cater to them when planning a session.

First off not everyone is creative or needs to be. They are there for you to unfold the world for their character. The only thing I ask my players is where do they want to go with the characters (not necessarily a physical location). From there everything unfolds.

I find the back story a hindrance. You always have the player trying to incorporate some family boon to be collected as way of "My fathers +2000 kill em' all sword of instantaneous death". The history that cause the player to have more enemies than Spider-Man (I know some of you get that one). There’s is also the ever present history that packs more adventure than a 1st level character can justify. Its too open ended of a question. Once you answer it all before hand there is nothing left to discover.

Now don’t get me wrong. I want my players to take a interest in their character but a detailed history is not the answer. If you have a name and a reason for why you are where you are at this moment. Great! Lets begin. That’s what its all about where you are and where you are going.

Ask your self if given the opportunity to adventure right now. Does it matter where I came from? You will find all that matters is where you want to be.

In module Godsmouth Heresy p. 6, there is a monster called a Skull Spider.

It has no Int, no skill points, but has a climb speed, so that entitles it to Climb +8.
But Str 3 means -4 so a total of +4

How can its Climb skill be +14?

SB:
Skull Spiders (4) CR 1/4
XP 100 each
N Tiny vermin (Tome of Horrors Revised 316)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
Defense
AC 16, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex, +2 natural, +2 size)
hp 4 each (1d8)
Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +0
Immune mind-affecting effects
Offense
Speed 20 ft., climb 10 ft.
Melee sting +0 (1d2–4 plus poison)
St atistic s
Str 3, Dex 15, Con 10, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 2
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 6 (18 vs. trip)
Skills Climb +14
Sp eci al Abi liti es
Poison (Ex) Sting—injury; save Fort DC 10; frequency 1/round for
3 rounds; effect 1 Con; cure 1 save.

It's a spider! Maybe it's a racial trait and not a skill. Does your character need a skill to walk? Just my two bits.

Range: Any attack at more than this distance is

penalized for range. Beyond this range, the attack takes
a cumulative –2 penalty for each full range increment (or
fraction thereof ) of distance to the target. For example, a
dagger (with a range of 10 feet) thrown at a target that is 25
feet away would incur a –4 penalty. A thrown weapon has
a maximum range of five range increments. A projectile
weapon can shoot to 10 range increments.

That's straight out of the core rule book. First, if the dagger can already cover 10 feet without penatly. All the attacker needs is 15 more feet. So if the range increment of a dagger is 5....Should the penalty not be -6?.

Could someone aid me here? And if you'd be so kind write up an example of a longbow for me.

Thank you.

I had a most of the day discussion about this with a fellow GM. Looking up some real world facts about the effective range of a bow. It is possible to fire an arrow over 1000 feet but it would be impossible to hit a target that was not rather large. The effective range of a bow is 30 to 40 yards which puts it in the 90 to 120 feet range. After this the effectiveness of hitting a target diminishes. A target can be hit it's just harder to do so. So my friend and I summarize that you would be able to hit a target past your max range at a -2 for every 10 feet (for projectiles). To diminish theses negatives you'd have to use specialized equipment be on higher ground or use magic. You may also say those negatives will stack up so high it would be impossible to hit anything. I just want to remind you a natural 20 is a hit.

As for thrown weapons, we didn't get that deep into it but being able to throw a item 50 feet effectively hitting a target seems a bit much unless the item was designed to do so.
I think you have it right SkyHighT26 overall. The rule in the PFCB is vague if you ask me.