Well, so Barin it is then. I'm tempted to exchange his 2 traits for the Intimidating Prowess, as it would fit Barin's role as a legbreaker better (I immagine him more like the swat member of the team, but where diplomacy and cunning fail brute force may suceed... unfortunately Barin's -3 charisma modifier doesn't help much with intimidate so he needs intimidating prowess to be efective in that field)
When I said a feat that gives a bonus to skills, I meant one of the ones that give +2 bonuses to two skills. Intimidating Prowess, while applying to a skill, is a different beast, so not eligible for swapping. Skill Focus Intimidate would be a fine swap, though.
I'll do that then, and maybe Intimidating Prowess later on
Well, so Barin it is then. I'm tempted to exchange his 2 traits for the Intimidating Prowess, as it would fit Barin's role as a legbreaker better (I immagine him more like the swat member of the team, but where diplomacy and cunning fail brute force may suceed... unfortunately Barin's -3 charisma modifier doesn't help much with intimidate so he needs intimidating prowess to be efective in that field)
Here's Barin's Orcbane Sheet:Barin Orcbane.
Barin's a dwarven fighter I plan to specialize in shield training.
And here's Karthak Ironbreaker's sheet:Karthak Ironbreaker.
He's an inquisitor of Gorum (spellbreaker). He distrust arcane magic and hates necromancers.
I'm interessed, it would be my first online game. I'd be interessed in playing a dwarf, Inquisitor of Gorum (to hunt magicians who defiled the corpses of ancient champions of Gorum) or a Classical Dwarven Fighter (with two handed weapons).
Let me know if I can fit in, thanks.
I find it rare that a barbarian is actually capable of getting a decent-to-good AC without really sacrificing offense. So - as said before - he's really only useful in dealing large amounts of damage. The figher can do this (maybe not quite as well), but he holds on to his hp's better.
I mean, how often do people play barbarians in a group without a pretty dedicated healer? That's a dicey game right there. Not impossible, but far more difficult than with a melee guy who can actually make his opponents miss.
: shrugs :
But agin, the OP seems to be only interested in how many points of damage he can make in a round.
The fact is Barbarians have enough offensive power to be able to drop most opponents in a few turns, probably less than it takes for rage to expire. Now, I know that if the encounters are planned to last long then the Barbarian is at a disadvantage after a while... but how often does that happen really? How often does a GM plan successive waves of opponents or send you against something able to wisthand the full fury of a barbarian rage fuelled all out attack (unless he wants to risk a TPK)?
And yes, a fighter tanks much better than a Barbarian, that much is true but again, how often do you need a tank in play when I can kill most things before they have a chance to do anything?
I guess I can sum the essence of this thread with this question:
"As Fighters and barbarians compete for the same spot in most parties (melee damage) why should one who wants to optimize his options choose a fighter over a barbarian?"
Hello everybody, after analyzing the fighter and barbarian classes I think I found out the barbarian class is substantially better at doing what the fighter should be doing... i.e. dishing out damage and kill stuff in melee. On top of this the barbarian class seems more versatile (more skill points) in out of combat situations.
Now I realize most people already know this, but I think this is quite wrong. The fighter class is very limited in what it can do, it's a one trick pony if you want, and being worse than another class at doing its sole job makes the class itself pretty unappealing (imo). After all I can have a human barbarian hit with combat bonus of +8 (1+5+2) and cause 2d6+12 (5+2+2+3) dmg while raging at lvl 1 (Using a greatsword and with power attack and furious focus as feats, 20 points stats), something no fighter builds can hope to emulate at lvl 1 (imo).
While it's true the fighter gets more feats and therefore more customization, the core advantage of the barbarian stays mostly the same through all levels and to even have a chance a fighter would have to put everything in increasing AC hoping to wear out the barbarian.
I usually don't care if different classes doing different things are considered having different power levels (example wizard vs fighter, wizards do very different things than fighters and the 2 classes have very different roles) but I find that classes doing similar things and having similar roles shouldn't be this imballanced.
Thanks everybody and DM Bloodgargler especially. I'll submit my warrior in the discussion Thread, I think the Aldori Swordlord archetype to be quite appropriate for this AP ;P
Hi everyone. I've wanted to play in a kingmaker game for some time now, but I was never able to get in one. Since no one seems to be starting KM games at the moment I thought to take the reversed approach and ask if there's anyone willing to GM a knigmaker game, and of course people willing to play it.
If you'd like to play in KM, please post here, hopefully we can find someone to GM us.
Orisons: Purify Food & Drink/Light/Guidance/Resistance
Lvl 1 spells: Protection from evil/Shield of Faith/Magic Stone (domain)
Background: Hrakar was born in Port Peril by two dwarven refugees from the doomed nation of Lirgen. Hrakar grew up in the pirate city, sorrounded by chaos and anarchy and he felt the only way he could survive was by a strong personal code of etichs. That was the reason why he left his parents goldsmith's activity and joined the small temple of Torag near the city (much to their dismay).
After 10 years of apprenticeship Hrakar feels he's forged a strong code for himself and knows that Torag will shield him as long as he will be strong and uphold the faith's way.
With the end of his apprenticeship Hrakar's superiors saw fit to send him in Eleder to check things out with the dwarven mining companies there.
Hrakar's a pretty resolute dwarf, intending to make a name for himself in Eleder while defending the interests of the cult.
That said, I commend what's being done here, so I'll try to help: here's an essay on slayer psychology from the creator of Gotrek & Felix (who incidentally invented them while playing WHFRPG v1...). It's very informative and funny imho.
The thought that the abyss IS expanding that its INFINITE in its size while nearly every other plane is finite makes me somewhat depressed.
Whats the point of fighting the abyss if its expanding and there is nothing I can do to stop it?
If you want real pointless depression, try Warhammer Fantasy. Even the Gods of Law are doomed to be reabsorbed into the Chaos from which they sprang.
1. The God's of Law don't exist anymore in canon (a pity, cuz the likes of Solkan were really cool).
2. In 1st ed. they were just but ONE manifestation of chaos. Chaos was (and is) not evil per se, mortal's emotions were (and are) what shaped the realm of chaos and gave power to the Gods of Chaos.
3. All gods in Warhammer, Including Sigmar are Gods of Chaos. They simply fight the 4 great demon gods, because it's their nature to do so as reflections of mortal's higher virtues (as opposed to the 4 great chaos gods being the vortexes caused by raw emotions like wrath, lust, despair and hope)
4. The notion that trhe Abyss may be ever expanding is not that traumatic to me: in Pathfinder heroes can stop that kind of thing with a good GM...
Well, I must admit I created my own version of Mengkare... I just copied Astarathian's stats, increased something here and there (like more magic res and more spells...) till I guessed he was a lvl 30 threat. THEN I added 20 levels of wizard. At that point I felt satisfied about him, although my campaign has lvl 2 players at the moment, so I very much doubt I will get to use Mengkare anytime soon, and as I didn't write him into the plot, I don't think it would be a good idea to introduce him (especially because there'a another big bad dragon moving behind the scenes already, but he's not nearly as powerful as Mengkare).
Paizo has taken a pretty clear stance on this sort of thing. They're leaving most of the statwork up to individual GMs so they can tailor each NPC to the needs of their campaign, so such a book seems unlikely at best. Still, it's nice to dream, so here's my two cents.
I can't recall his name, but RotRL seemed to imply that the Runelord of Sloth was a league above his compatriots. I'd like to get some stats on that guy.
And if the stats for dead dudes are on the table (such as Aroden) I'd like to toss Xin's name out there.
Dispater.
Razmir (I get the impression that he's just on the cusp of epic level).
Mengkare.
They did with the NPC guide though. Why not doing this when they release the epic level handbook? Note I wouldn't buy the book just for the stats, I'd buy it because of the backgrounds mostly, detailing some epic level characters with campaign ideas would be great imho.
I was reading through the Inner Sea World Guide and it struck me how cool it would be for Paizo to give us a supplement detailing some Historical Epic NPCs in much a similar vein to the NPC guide. Obviously this could be done only when Paizo will release the epic play rules, but I think it would be neat to have an "Epic NPC Guide" to go along with that release.
So what epic historical characters would you like to see detailed? I'd like to see stats and description for:
Ok, since there seems to be a feeling of I wanted more than just what they are, what would you have added then? What would have been "fresh" and new for you that remaind true to classic dwarves?
Droskar though, isn't all that original. He's much like the FR's Laduguer, duegar patron god of toil.
1. Explore the way dwarves are fundamentally different from humans. Concepts like retribution and revenge should be felt with a whole different intensity by dwarves, so much humans can hardly understand. Maybe there are more concepts dwarves feel differently than humans?
2. The whole "civilization on the brink of extintion" has been explored since Tolkien. We could use something different for once. How do dwarves who don't need to fear the hordes of their enemies differ from the classical stereotype?
3. As it is dwarven society is a feudal monarchy where most dwarves accept their lot and work hard to improve it. What about the outcasts? The underworld? What about dwarven pirates?
4. As for classes, "classic dwarves" are usually warriors, clerics, and in golarion, Rangers (the revenge angle). What about specific magical traditions? What about those born with magical powers? Are there orders of paladins? Do dwarves only worship Torag and his brood or do they have consistent cults of other divinities?
5. As for fighting styles, it would be interesting to delve into dwarven specific styles, something is present in Dwarves of Golarion but it's almost cosmetic.
6. Politics. Do dwarves really accept they are a broken empire? Are there movements to restore the ancient glory of their world spanning empire? Are all dwarves really staunch monarchic supporters? If they suspect Andoran... what about Galt?
These are the themes I feel could be expanded/changed giving dwarves a new and different edge without making them too diverse. Feel free to add your toughts.
I don't know why people get down on dwarves. We all love the scottish sounding, penny pinching, beer consuming, beard wearing, elf and orc hating tropes that exist. I think it would be wrong if that did not exist; however, I am a bit surprised that there is not more difference in the dwarves from different regions. That would have made them more interesting.
Well, the problem is they feel way too much like "classical D&D dwarves". I would have hated if Paizo made them something too different, but I would have liked some twists, like they did on elves as I've played and DMed the classical dwarven stereotype too many times and I would have liked some fresh air.
P.S.
Chaos Dwarves worship a creature named Hashut who's more probably than not a minor chaos demon-god. Droksar, while evil (the god of meaningless toil) isn't a demon, and the whole mutation/slavery/turn to stone if you use magic too much is not on him (yes, Hasut is way superior to Droksar imo, but WHF stuff tends to really be awesome so no big problem there, Droksar is interesting too).
Well, the book itself is fine. But my problem is that Golarion dwarves are BORING.
They are the same old celtic/nordic culture of stout, hardy beer drinking miners. With a stoic, hard-working patron deity, history of warfare against orcs, living in a mountain range. Every dwarf trope is here, and frankly I'm sick of them.
It's double bad over here, where Warhammer Fantasy holds the no.1 RPG spot, and Old World dwarves (which are like Golarion dwarves, except they drink more, hate elves and have the whole trollslayer thing going on) are so deeply embedded in mind of many gamers. I so much wish Paizo would come up with something original for dwarves... While they were able to reinvent the gnomes (yay!) and spice up halflings and elves, not so much luck with the stunties.
I think I agree with this analysis (and I'm a huge WHF dwarven fan too... collecting them since 1988... and I've all the 1st and 2nd WHFRPG stuff...).
Dwarves of Golarion are just too unimmaginative, just your typical D&D dwarves. Besides that the book is decent not really great, imo. 5 kings mountain is described adequately, Torag has his space, as do racial behaviours, but all in all the book feels like the writers didn't really put a lot of immagination in it.
As a side note, I feel the same about dwarves portrayed in other Paizo products: they are very few and not really memorable at all.
Simple question: who or what are them, exactly?
I was reading "The secret of the rose and glove" and I found the ryme about the gardeners inspiring, especially as it was explained it was originally dedicated to "the shades of frost, spirits of putrefaction". Then it struck me: the gardeners never speak, are left un-molested by all the various revolutions that periodically storm Galt, and more importantly tend to teh final blades, artefacts of great power as they are meant to trap souls in order to prevent resurrection.
Originally I thought of the Grey Gardeners as just a strange human organization supporting the revolution, now I think they may be something more sinister...
Ideas? Evidence in the books (positve or negative)?
As I've explained the Taldanes to my players, Taldor is basically fantasy Britain as it imagined itself to be, the shining jewel of civilization, etc. Of course everyone wants to be nobility, or at very least the upper crust who can reasonably aspire to be elevated to the nobility, either by marrying into it or else by being granted arms by the emperor, but even the lower classes do this too. Everyone has some story about someone who is discovered to be a lost heir or else a Cinderella figure whose "true nobility" shone through so strongly that some prince just had to marry her, overlooking all the ugly stepsisters and political matches and so on that would be more common.
Beyond that, even the lower classes--the servants and gardeners and so forth--take great pride in being citizens of Taldor, thinking it the finest nation in the world, etc. and there are customs set in place so they can reasonably thing it so--servants balls, parades for the populace, all the rest.
Cheliax? Far less pleasant for the lower classes. I think more like Nazi Germany if the Third Reich had really come about, except with the Cult of Asmodeus instead of National Socialism.
Well, I disagree on Taldor. It's more like medheval France. Taldan society is divided in THE BEARDED, composed by Royalty (the nobles, hereditary titles generally decadent or at best trying to emulate some of their ancestor's achievements, at worst corrupt and ineffectual fops; one may be rised to royalty by the Grand Prince, but this almost never happens)and by the Senatorial Class (functionaries of the State, prefecture governors, important bureaucrats, it's more common for common people to be rised to this station if they work hard and they can call in some favors with their betters) and UNBEARDED (the rest of the population, 99% of it actually, which means the unbearded may be rich merchants or street beggars, they have the same right in front of the law, which means no rights at all; the unbearded can advance socially through promotion though, they may please a member of royalty or a powerful senator and get their sponsorship, or more commonly, enlist in the massive Taldan military and eventually be promoted to the ranks of the bearded... if they survive that long and please their superiors). Bearded class people have the legal right to grow and groom a beard (as a sign of their station), unbearded can't do that and an unbearded grooming a beard is going to be treated as a criminal if found out.
Taldor has serfs more than slaves imo. Pesants in the countryside are serfs, while vagabonds and poor can get enslaved and sent to Zimar to work their debts as galley-slaves, but that's how far slavery goes in Taldor imo. I don't think Taldor nobles possess slaves, but they surely have lots of serfs (which can live a much worse life than any slave), vagabonds and people unable to pay their debts can be sold into slavery untill they pay their debts off (which usually means the rest of their lives) on a slave galley in service of Zimar's navy.
Thanks for the answers.
I'm thinking of something like this: Daralathyxl, Tasathyl and a certain individual (a NPC inside the dwarven court in Highelm) share a secret, they unwillingly took part on a ritual involving a powerful artifact (well Daralathyxl was the one performing the ritual, the other two were trying to stop him but that backfired quite spectacularly, they gained power from it but they also got linked to each other, thing that makes them unable to kill each other without killing themselves), they are now scheming against each other, but they can do this only by proxy. Daralathyxl is trying to recover the pieces of the artifact (4 pieces besides the parts in possession of the 2 dragons and the dwarf) and needs agents for this, but obviously he needs to disguise himself and his agenda (he doesn't want to alert his rivals before he's ready to confront them), so he contacts a group of adventurers... all this should be linked with cut-throat dwarven politics, darkmoon vale's intrigues, the looming threat of a duregar invasion. And the very real possibility of the heroes helping the most powerful red wyrm in Avistan to reach apotheosis...
This is basically going to be the plot of my campaign, I need to work out the details. What do you think about the political climate between the 5 king mountains and Darkmoon Vale? I think I'll need to make that a big part of the campaign.
I plan to start in DMV and then move into the mountains, then a bit of Darkland exploring fun, back to the mountains just in time to stop a duregar invasion and finally the opportunity to choose between each of the 3 main antagonists, or just trying to cheat all of them.
I know of that adventure, but I don't feel like using it, I'm more interessed in some original ideas on the area and how to develop a campaign based there, but thanks anyway for your advice.
I'm currently planning a campaign in the area of the 5 kings mountain, since 3 out of 5 of my players expressed the wish of playing dwarven characters (a priest, a ranger and a warrior, with the other 2 players being a human ) and I actually think this. I've got Dwarves of Golarion and while it has some useful information on the area it doesn't really give me the feel of it.
So here I am, asking for advice and ideas on a campaign based around the 5 kings mountains, with a strong dwarven theme running around. Can anyone help me? Currently I'm toying with the idea of making Daralathyxl the main antagonist, though the players will be able to confront him (or even discover he's the secret mastermind behind most of their troubles) only when the campaign will be pretty advanced.
P.S.
As I don't have the new Inner Sea world guide, is there any interesting new information on the 5 kings mountains?
I'd like to suggest Galt as well. Read "The Secret of the Rose and Glove" web fiction, I think you'll find very ispirational (http://paizo.com/pathfinder/tales/serial).
As for Galt, it's inspired to the "the Terror", the historical period just after the French revolution ("The revolution devours its own children" was referred to this period IIRC). It really happened (but not for as ong as it's going on in Galt... this is a fantasy world after all).
Here's a wiki on that period, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror I hope it can help you to undestand what Galt is all about (basically people are so scared of the power they suspect anyone who gets it of wanting it all... and this suspect breeds fear of tiranny, and then the new leaders become too dangerous and lose their heads, and on and on...)
