Nice work Thread Necromancer!
I always thought that area A7 needed fleshed out more. Who is the blacksmith? Is he a Bugbear or a Yuan ti? any chance of hims showing up?
Also I would use Charau-Ka in place of the Tasloi.
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I can see certain bans being appropriate if they do not fit the GM's campaign. There are a significant number of GM's who will not allow gunslingers as they don't want firearms in their campaign. In the same vein, there are those who feel that psionics belong in a campaign with lasers and lightsabers and not one with dragons and wizards. It's even reasonable to ban Ninja's and Samurai if your campaign is supposed to be (for example) a "viking" setting in the frozen north and the character does not fit the campaign.
A lot of times, AD&D was played WITHOUT miniatures and a vinyl map.
Combat rounds were one minute long and you could get a lot done in one round.
Find Familiar was a spell not an ability. Combat took place in the imagination of those involved so vivid descriptions were a must for players and especially DM's this required some story telling skill. If you really want to get an AD&D feel, try playing without minis or a battlemat.
If you want to play Chaotic Neutral, just base your character on Jayne Cobb from Firefly. He is an exemplar of the alignment.
Sounds like the OP went full Rules Lawyer...NEVER go full rules lawyer! Remember, Rule Zero always applies. "Rule 0: The unwritten rule in tabletop role-playing games (such as Dungeons & Dragons) which grants the game master the right to suspend or override the published game rules whenever s/he deems necessary.”
Yes,they are all EVIL! They spend all of their off time plotting to kill your character and steal your Doritos while you go to the bathroom. Those players that the DM does good things for, they are the DM's henchmen! They are just helping the evil DM set you up for failure! They take great glee in knowing that this is really your campaign,not the DM's that they are ruining and not playing the right way.I bet they are reading your post right now and laughing an evil laugh as they plot new ways to torment you. You have to do something NOW, or the terrorists will win!
Rules bloat is a problem to look out for.
I could see an Owl or Hawk familiar being used as a flyby Bomber. Give 'em an alchemists fire or a Necklace of Missiles and it's boom time!
Thanks folks!
Could a figment type illusion of the same earlier mentioned swordsman cause an opponent to waste an Attack of Opportunity by having it move through a threatened square? The illusion would be a bust if the enemy hits, but it would still waste an AoO (?)
Can a spell like Silent Image or Major Image create a "Flanking" situation?
Obviously it is moot if the orc figures out that the swordsman is an illusion but if he does not, could it allow the fighter to get a flanking bonus?
That was my hobby horse, my high horse is much bigger.
Well, that is a bold claim. but you have not proven it yet. What do you have to back it up?Also a characters "role" is whatever the player wants it to be. That's why its called a role playing game.
What I think Lemmy and others are missing here is that this is Pathfinder. It's about PNP Roleplaying, not just a minis battle game and not something you "win" at. You can't measure the value of a character class by a DPR graph, that's shallow, two dimensional thinking. Characters are as good as the imagination of the person playing them and character classes like the rogue are made as a party asset that can help in many ways both in combat and out.
It's not the only tool in the rogues toolbox.
If the party encounters traps, you will be glad the rogue is with you. Besides complaining about a rouges melee capabilities (like sneak attack) without considering the value of the rogue as a whole is like complaining that the Wizard is useless because his familiar has poor melee characteristics.
I wouldn't go so far as to making it a breach of alignment, but it would be within the DM's rights to impose some consequences if you do it haphazardly. If you summon a fiendish wolf in a lawful good temple, don't be surprised if you get a chewing out from the clerics "How dare you summon that THING in this holy place!" What I would suggest now, since you can control what you summon is be careful about what you summon under what circumstances.
Nothing and I mean NOTHING says servant of Good like riding a Celestial Dire Ape or T-rex.
If you are playing a rogue, you should NEVER engage in a fair fight if you can avoid it. If any enemy mage has a component pouch, steal it. If a barbarian roars in your face, kick him in the junk and run (Improved dirty tricks, kids) If an enemy is busy with the party fighter, flank 'em then stab him in the back (the enemy not the fighter). Don't be afraid to fight defensively until you have your shot. Don't let enemies box you in. Keep moving, dodging and tumbling out of the way. (mobility is a great feat). You are a hit and run specialist not a tank. Withdraw, change opponents, or catch others off guard. If you can't get a flank, "aid another" is a good option. Feinting in combat is your friend because it opens up a chance for sneak attack. If you can cast spells or reliably use a magic wand, then touch spells are great! A sneak attack with shocking grasp does brutal damage.
A Whistling bard might be fun or one who makes noises with his armpits (and looks like Jim Carrey). But as odd instruments go, the saw, whiskey jug or the washboard might be interesting.A bard with a Jew's Harp might be fun too. The aforementioned "Mime" bard would be fun since he would have to mime out every spell that he casts.
The path of evil is quick and rewarding. Besides, you can pay with your soul LATER. For now, live it up and enjoy the perks of power and wealth. Asmodeus seduces his followers with wealth and power. Those who follow his path are rewarded with position, vices and money. All the while, he is digging in his claws into their souls to claim upon their death. Urgathoa offers power, both personal and military. Those who serve well enough may find a kind of immortality in undeath. Think of Zon-Kuthon as being like Pinhead from the Hellraiser movies. "I thought I'd gone to the limits. I hadn't. The Cenobites gave me an experience beyond limits... pain and pleasure, indivisible"
Lamashtu represents the dark bestial side of your inner nature. That can be a dangerous temptation to both Barbarians and Druids.
There is a low tech, non-magical solution to the problem. In the 19th century, arctic explorers had to avoid glare blindness by wearing glare goggles (which were just a slit you looked through) See pic:
Feel free to throw some non-undead bad guys at them.
Grave robbers (rogues that sneak attack with shovels) A spirit possessed Barbarian. A trio of Witches that work with the necromancers, vampires etc. Swarms. (A swarm of rats, bats or insects are hard to defeat with just divine magic) Traps (Without a rogue, traps really become a challenge.) Constructs. Intelligent undead will want a buffer between them and all that positive energy channeling. Also, don't just use vanilla undead. I once hit a party with a mob of fast zombies that used a grapple and bite tactic instead of a slam attack. (they survived when the wizard panicked and dropped a fireball right in the middle of the party.) A party of all clerics is going to have a lot of healing available so don't worry about slinging some damage their way.
1)Magic Missile ignores most Damage resistance 2)Magic Missile can be fired into a melee and always hit the target. 3) Because it ALWAYS hits, it ignores cover. If you can see it, you can hit it. 4) It has a range comparable to a bow and does not miss...even at maximum range. 5) It hits incorporeal creatures (every time). 6) It's low level means that you can carry a few of them and it can cheaply be made into a wand or scroll.
I'm seriously considering converting I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City to Pathfinder (with Serpent folk in place of the Yuan-Ti)....but here is the twist...
What I need to know is if someone has already done some of the conversion work on this module on their own. It would save me a lot of effort. I'm also looking for any ideas or opinions on how to make this work.
Good points everyone!
As an example, a +1 dagger might be... A Hex bound dagger (arcane)
"All right evildoers! Knock off all that evil!" "Did you think you could hide your villainy from ME?" "There can be no darkness within the light!" "My god has a strict policy against evil...I AM THAT POLICY!"
You have just described the story of the Movie "Death Wish" with Charles Bronson. A man who's wife and daughter were killed by home invaders is dismayed by the law enforcements lack of ability to control crime, so he sets off on a one man spree to wipe out violent criminals. He is certainly Chaotic Good, so is the character you described.
The grizzled warrior handed the ancient blade to the wizard and said, "Pray tell old friend, what mighty enchantments have been woven into this finely wrought steel?" The Wizard replied, "It's a +1 Longsword." There goes the whole mood of the game, shot down by an item that is all mechanic and no description. Is there a better way to describe the weapon? Given the amount of bonuses that all melee centric characters get as they level, add feats, etc. Are +X weapons really just weak holdouts from older versions of the d20 style games? How do +X weapons impose their +X bonus? Do they hit harder? Do they guide the hand of the wielder? Even back in OD&D this was a bit of a problem that was danced around. Any ideas for solutions?
A Paladin strives for a world that is organized and free from evil. He is regimented because only through order and cooperation can evil be driven back. Laws of society are important and should be followed when possible. To ignore laws or make up your own rules is to invite chaos and that leaves room for evil to creep in. Personal glory and riches should take a backseat to group success and shared wealth that benefits all good people.
On the other hand, a paladin should rightly expect a community that he serves to provide for him as well. because expecting lodging for free, Free or low cost repairs from a weapon smith, free healing from like aligned temples or assistance from the town guards is a normal and natural order of things. They benefit from the paladin playing his role so they should be expected to help out for the good of all. Honor is something earned in the eyes of those who look to you for leadership and aid.
When part of a group of adventurers, a paladin should know his role in the party (leader, support fighter, body guard, etc.) and work to be the best at that role. When encountering "true" evil (a paladin can just sense it) He should make every attempt possible to destroy or at least hinder that evil. He does not have to martyr himself but should try to find a way to do what he can to oppose it. He should encourage other good people to do so as well or at least warm them of the danger.
Drow Noble just screams Magus. Go Magus and load up on touch spells for damage. Make sure to take improved critical.
101 A volcanic eruption
If your Diplomacy and Bluff skills are high enough, then you don't need combat abilities (Just talk your way out of fights) If your Acrobatics is high enough, you can Parkour through dungeons and tumble through combat while ignoring difficult terrain and obstacles. Don't forget to apply skill synergy boosts. i.e. While haggling with a merchant, you roll your sense motive vs. his diplomacy to try to talk him down on a price. You get an additional +1 on your roll for every 5 points of Appraise you posses. Profession: Brewer could give you a synergy boost when appraising a bottle of wine or maybe when trying to make a magic elixir Craft: Carpentry could give a synergy boost when using the Survival skill to make a shelter.
So, could a WISH spell remove the AMF on the sword?
294)Panicked horses pulling a driverless cart filled with barrels of beer goes speeding down the street. 295)Roll DC 10 perception check or step in horse poop. 296) An arrow narrowly misses hitting a PC. It has a scrap of paper tied to it with the PC's name on it with XOXOX and hearts drawn on it.
70) A drunk tries to swat a fly and misses hitting another drunks girlfriend. 71) A bored gnome illusionist uses Ventriloquism to aggravate patrons of the bar into attacking each other. 72) A very drunk Barbarian stares at a PC for a few rounds then shouts "Sumbeech stole my lucky amulet!" and attacks. (His "amulet" is in his belt pouch but he forgot).
Of course Barbarians are unbalanced, they have serious rage issues. Perhaps if they put a few points in anger management....
Is this something the players do instead of adventuring? Do they run this shop only during down time? Have they flooded the market with the items they make? How big is the market for what they are selling? Do they have competition that can under price them? Do they have to pay taxes? Do they have to pay guild dues?
The only thing you owe you party is to play your character the way you want to.
Too many players get lost in the CRPG mentality and try to build a party like they are preparing for a raid on an MMORPG.
It never hurts to borrow from movies and books for a good idea. Classic movies like The Maltese Falcon come to mind for an urban scenario idea.
If you are judging a monk by his DPR, then you are doing it wrong.
They can lock down a spellcaster at melee range, Disarm and de-armor a melee tank and deflect most attacks from a ranged specialist. Barbarian with a 2 handed axe got you down? A monk with improved disarm or improved sunder will either take or break that weapon. Then its flurry of blows time and down goes the barbarian. Spellcaster decimating the party? A grappling monk will shut him down quicker that you can say hammerlock! Monks can Parkour through a dungeon. They practically ignore most terrain effects and can outrun most other characters. They don't win by out DPRing the other guy, they will by bringing his DPR down to their level.
How about: Maladin,
Monks are awesome because: They can go toe to chitinous toe with a rust monster and come out ahead. They can Parkour through a dungeon. They can speak in dubbed speech. Really old, long bearded monks can single handedly take out an army. They are even more dangerous when they are drunk or blind (or blind drunk).
Political section?
Maybe just creating a pornography upload section would be less controversial or maybe we should just stick with what we have already.
I'm falling in the "lets see a boxed set for each Adventure Path" group. I don't want to have to buy 4 boxed sets with lots of duplicates just to get the one mini that I need for next weeks game session. Also, releasing groups of standard mob monsters (Kobolds, goblins, orcs, skeletons etc.) would be useful too. I don't like the concept of "collectible or rare minis". Price them based on the amount of plastic used to make them. Don't price them based on an artificial rarity because you made a smaller batch to sell. And for Cayden's sake, please make some decent vampires.
The old 1st ed Deities & Demigods book states: Deities usually send an intermediary creature (angel, demon, holy cow, whatever) to assist when they do intervene. "...Spur of the moment intervention can be handled as follows: If the character beseeching help has been exemplary in faithfullness, then allow a straight 10% chance that some creature will be set to his or her aid. If this is the first time the character has asked for (not recieved) help. If 00 is rolled, there is a percentage chance equal to the characters level of experience that the deity itself will come." It goes on the add the following modifiers: "Each previous intervention on behalf of the character -5%
after that it goes on to state that this intervention chance is only for the prime material plane, and if the character is on another plane, then he is probably S.O.L. Hope this helps.
It strikes me that a +1 sword does not have to have a name, but could have an origin. It might be an ancient Thessalonian Rune Blade decorated with glowing runes. It could be a Chelaxian Officers blade lost during a minor battle some 50 years ago.
BTW I'm writing all of these ideas that you folks post down to give me a pool of resources for my campaign, so I appreciate every suggestion.
Since it takes a skilled craftsman a lot of time to do the best work that he can do to make a masterwork weapon and a spell caster spending enough resources to buy a small mansion and time casting spells to make a sword +1, I would say that they are pretty darn special. In most campaigns, +1 Items are not cranked out from assembly line factories. They are crafted by hand by master craftsmen and enchanted by spellcasters. So it is safe to assume that they will reflect some of the personality of the creator. As far as the H&K g36c goes; It is an H&K rifle, not an FN SCAR, Not a Stoner Rifle, not an AK-47 and certainly not a generic gun+1. Its a Heckler & Koch and that makes it stand out, makes it special. Some guys do name their guns... Any Browncoats reading this thread will remember Vera and why she is special. This thread is about putting some spice into what is normally a very bland(and metagame) description of a +1 weapon. Many people have alreay suggested giving the weapon a name and backstory, adding some minor powers to make it unique or just adding some non-magical features that make is stand out from the mundane. There should be a reason for my character to want a magic weapon other than a metagame reason (ie. +1 to hit, +1 damage). Show me some features or weapons that are more than just 3000gp that fits in a scabbard.
I was thinking something similar myself. Micro magic Items (those under 1000gp value) would be good rewards for a low level party.Using traits as a guide is a good idea.
When I want +1 items to be interesting, I make their background interesting. What do you do if there is no bard in the party to figure out that the +1 longsword was forged for an elven hero 500 years ago and was lost during the kobold wars? What kind of clues to the backstory would you put in to get the player interested in the magic item?
These are good ideas..Thanks SmiloDan
+x weapons are just a game mechanic and not a good description of the weapon at all. Why not come up with a few ideas that will add flavor to weapons with out making them powerful enough to raise them one without price level? For instance: Wayfinder: If this +1 Shortsword is placed on a reasonably flat surface, it will rotate on its own so that the point of the blade always points to the north. Sailor's Friend: This polished +1 club always floats on the surface of any liquid. It gives a +2 swim bonus to the wielder when trying to stay afloat. What flavor additions can you come up with?
I agree that the magic crafting system seems too mechanical and steril without much flavor. IMC, I use the system as is but with one exception; The character can't just throw gold pieces at the project and just craft away what ever they want. Instead, I make them convert those gold pieces into buying "Magical Supplies" (eye of Newt, wing of bat, goblin blood, etc).
Why bother? You might ask. Because, when the crafter has to buy supplies for crafting, you can use the Maximum buy rules for town size (A crafter in a dinky one horse town can't buy a full 1000gp worth of supplies there. It lets me add some other useful rewards if the party defeats, say, an evil alchemist. They might find (for example) 500gp worth of Magical supplies in the lab. I can also reward creativity from the crafter if he says something like " I want to collect some of the essence from that fire elemental we just killed to use on the flaming sword that I want to craft." Just asign a Magical supply value to the essence and you are good to go. More flavor and you don't have to nerf the rules.
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