Warforged Goblin's page

Dunno if this should be here or the Third Party board, but here goes: Let's say I was making a 3P monster from outer space. I know I can't say "It's from Marata, the forest moon of Bretheda", but can I give it Maratian as its language and say "It's from the forest moon of a gas giant, check Distant Worlds for more planetary info"? Which is less likely to get me in hot water?

A little bit of cross-posting from the Advanced Class boards...

My party was just about to finish the first Kingmaker book, The Stolen Lands, so I took the opportunity to test out some of the new classes. I'm running with 5 well-statted PCs, so I'm using the six player fan conversion.

Auchs

The Stag Lord

Auchs performed like a champ, elbow-dropping our cavalier from the upper floor and almost knocking off her mount. He held off the cavalier, her auroch mount, and the cleric of Gorum, dealing scads of damage bare-handed. While that was going on, the Stag Lord made the cleric his favored target (from cover and hidden) and sunk an arrow into the holy warrior's side. Luckily for the cleric, not close enough for sneak attack.

Mobility is incredibly limited due to the party wizard's web, so those engaged stay close. With a quick jab from Auchs, the cleric drops to negatives, and the cavalier responds with a yard of steel through the simpleton's spine effectively ending the brawler playtest. The Stag Lord, still hidden thanks to fantastic dice rolls, switches his favored target to the wizard and lets another arrow fly. Still standing, the wizard dumps a healing potion down the cleric's throat. The cleric, now in the positives, sits bolt-upright and hits the Stag Lord with hold person, turning the villain from threat to statuary, and then statuary to bleeding pile.

Overall, the brawler feels good. Nicely balanced between fighter and monk. The martial maneuvers, for an NPC, only really add a feat. It's nice to be able to swap on the fly, but the average NPC lasts a few rounds at most. It's something that I really want to see a PC use before I pass judgement.

The slayer has a LOT of potential for wrecking faces. Admittedly, I tried keeping him as "canon" as I could, so instead of trying some of the more interesting slayer talents, he just took more feats. I really want to toy with more of the talents. Deadly Range, Slowing Strike, and Sniper's Eye would have drastically changed the shape of the battle (if our wizard hadn't gummed up the battlefield with his web...).

All in all, the brawler and the slayer feel like a lot of fun, I just need more time to play with them.

My party was just about to finish the first Kingmaker book, The Stolen Lands, so I took the opportunity to test out some of the new classes. I'm running with 5 well-statted PCs, so I'm using the six player fan conversion.

Auchs

The Stag Lord

Auchs performed like a champ, elbow-dropping our cavalier from the upper floor and almost knocking off her mount. He held off the cavalier, her auroch mount, and the cleric of Gorum, dealing scads of damage bare-handed. While that was going on, the Stag Lord made the cleric his favored target (from cover and hidden) and sunk an arrow into the holy warrior's side. Luckily for the cleric, not close enough for sneak attack.

Mobility is incredibly limited due to the party wizard's web, so those engaged stay close. With a quick jab from Auchs, the cleric drops to negatives, and the cavalier responds with a yard of steel through the simpleton's spine effectively ending the brawler playtest. The Stag Lord, still hidden thanks to fantastic dice rolls, switches his favored target to the wizard and lets another arrow fly. Still standing, the wizard dumps a healing potion down the cleric's throat. The cleric, now in the positives, sits bolt-upright and hits the Stag Lord with hold person, turning the villain from threat to statuary, and then statuary to bleeding pile.

Overall, the brawler feels good. Nicely balanced between fighter and monk. The martial maneuvers, for an NPC, only really add a feat. It's nice to be able to swap on the fly, but the average NPC lasts a few rounds at most. It's something that I really want to see a PC use before I pass judgement.

The slayer has a LOT of potential for wrecking faces. Admittedly, I tried keeping him as "canon" as I could, so instead of trying some of the more interesting slayer talents, he just took more feats. I really want to toy with more of the talents. Deadly Range, Slowing Strike, and Sniper's Eye would have drastically changed the shape of the battle (if our wizard hadn't gummed up the battlefield with his web...).

All in all, the brawler and the slayer feel like a lot of fun, I just need more time to play with them.

Is there a list/table/thing of base skill DCs in the core rulebook? It's been too dang long and I'm trying to get a good footing for starting off a 1st level game.

Yes, the idea is swiped from Minmax's new sword in Goblins, and the name is swiped from a China Mieville novel, but look past all that. Are there any loopholes I'm missing to cover with this artifact?

Thanks in advance.

Be gentle...

Crown of the Kobold King -- Level 6

Heartripper Blade -- Level 3+

Grasp of Droskar -- Level 4

Any comments or suggestions would be very helpful.

Ryth'a
Female lizardfolk abyssal bloodline sorcerer 15
Description: Nearly twenty five years after a rag-tag group of adventurers disrupted and defeated the plans of the would-be demigod Ssyth'ek, the marsh around tiny Quilman's Ferry has become a darker place. Ryth'a, barely four summers old when her father died, escaped the assault by being spirited away by her priestess mother, only to return after the “heroes” had plundered all they could. Intent on revenge and determined to avoid her father's fate, Ryth'a spent many long years honing her sorcerous abilities in the hidden copses of black, dead trees that were once her home. As she grew in power, something else grew along with her: The spirit of Ssyth'ek. Despite being torn asunder by the Abyssal-energies he tried to consume, he remained, though fragmented, haunting the darkened bog.
Motivations/Goals: Vengeance is not all that Ryth'a seeks. She may have plans to drown the hamlet of Quilman's Ferry for their part in killing her father, but in her desire for power, she also plans to submerge all lands beneath the swamp, expanding Ssyth'ek's ghostly influence, and taking back their land from the soft-skins. Ryth'a spends much time with the shattered spirits of her father, learning where he went wrong, and laying plans to overshadow even his great ambitions. A charismatic leader, Ryth'a emphatically believes that she can do more and go farther than Ssyth'ek ever could, armed with both his earthly knowledge and her own considerable power. She knows the isolationism of her father was part of his downfall, and has used her guile and magical abilities to broker alliances with bandits, gnolls of the Sirmium Plain, goblinoids of the Chitterwood, and demonic forces who want nothing more than to see the diabolic nation of Cheliax reduced to chaos.
Schemes/Plots/Adventure Hooks:

• Banditry along the River Iseld has become rampant, with the few survivors telling of dark powers aiding the raiders. Evidence points to a gang of tieflings with crocodilian companions working out of Senara as the cause.
  
• Thanks to the efforts of her sycophantic marsh giant companion, Ryth'a has cowed some of the Shaggras ogres to her will and is arming them for an attack on Quilman's Ferry. A lone trapper catches sight of the ogres' camp and alerts the PCs.
  
• Patches of swamp have begun to appear in places where no swamp should be. Although the patches linger for only a few days, those who encounter them report sightings of a deeply disturbing frog-like visage within them.
  
• An oracle has been struck with a vision of wet, murky doom. Sending for the PCs, she begins to foretell of the catastrophe, but is only able to detail vague directions before fetid water fills her lungs, pouring out her mouth and drowning her.

Ryth'a CR 15 [CR 1 {base lizardfolk} + CR 1 {2HD of nonassociated class levels} + CR 13 {13HD of associated class levels}]
NE Medium humanoid (reptilian)
Init +2; Senses Perception +0
===== Defense =====
AC 24, touch 15, flat-footed 22; (+4 armor, +2 deflection, +2 Dex, +5 natural, +1 dodge)
hp 147 (2d8+4 [13] plus 15d6+30 [84] plus 20 [toughness; 2 racial hit dice + 15 sorcerer hit dice + 3 from the feat] plus 30 [bear's endurance])
Fort +10 [+5 sorcerer HD, +2 Con, +1 cloak, +2 bear's endurance], Ref +11 [+3 racial HD, +5 sorcerer HD, +2 Dex, +1 cloak], Will +12 [+9 sorcerer HD, +2 Iron Will, +1 cloak]; +4 vs. poison
Defensive Abilities evasion; DR 10/adamantine (150 points); Resist acid 7, electricity 10
===== Offense =====
Spd 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +13 [+8 BAB, +2 Str, +1 magic, +2 bull's strength] (1d8+5 [+2 Str, +1 magic, +2 bull's strength] plus 2d6* plus 1d6 fire), bite +7 [+3 BAB, +2 Str, +2 bull's strength] (1d4+2 [+2 Str, +2 bull's strength, /2])
*Ryth'a takes 1d6 points of damage every time she attacks with her claws.
Ranged Ranged touch attack +10
Spells Known (Sorcerer CL 15th)
7th (5/day)--greater teleport, mage's sword, summon monster VII
6th (7/day)--acid fog, chain lightning (DC 23 [+6 spell level, +7 Cha]), greater dispel magic, transformation
5th (7/day)--baleful polymorph (DC 22 [+5 spell level, +7 Cha]), cloudkill (DC 23 [+5 spell level, +7 Cha, +1 feat]), cone of cold (DC 22 [+5 spell level, +7 Cha]), dismissal (DC 23 [+5 spell level, +7 Cha, +1 feat]), feeblemind (DC 22 [+5 spell level, +7 Cha])
4th (7/day, 6 left)--bestow curse (DC 21 [+4 spell level, +7 Cha]), dimension door, enervation (DC 21 [+4 spell level, +7 Cha]), stoneskin, summon monster IV
3rd (8/day)--dispel magic, lightning bolt (DC 20 [+3 spell level, +7 Cha]), rage, ray of exhaustion (DC 20 [+3 spell level, +7 Cha]), slow (DC 20 [+3 spell level, +7 Cha])
2nd (8/day, 6 left)--bear's endurance, bull's strength, eagle's splendor, glitterdust (DC 20 [+2 spell level, +7 Cha, +1 feat]), touch of idiocy
1st (8/day, 7 left)--cause fear (DC 19 [+1 spell level, +7 Cha, +1 feat]), expeditious retreat, mage armor, magic missile, ray of enfeeblement, shocking grasp
0 (6/day)--acid splash, arcane mark, detect magic, mage hand, mending, message, read magic, resistance, touch of fatigue (DC 17 [+7 Cha])
===== Tactics =====
Before Combat If she anticipates combat, Ryth'a casts stoneskin, mage armor, bear's endurance, and bull's strength on herself, in that order. If she has time, she casts bear's endurance on Braxxog.
During Combat If outside her chambers, Ryth'a starts combat by casting acid fog from hiding while her foot-soldiers, using potions of resist energy (acid), attack en-masse. She follows up by focusing on fighter-types with ray of exhaustion, ray of enfeeblement, or baleful polymorph, while reserving feeblemind or bestow curse for spellcasters, heightening them when appropriate.
If caught inside her chambers, she begins combat by casting summon monster IV, summoning two Huge fiendish vipers and orders the snakes to push PCs into the area affected by Ssyth'ek's haunt. She then follows up with chain lightning or mage's sword, reserving greater dispel magic for those bearing obvious magic effects. Depending on how well the fight is going, Ryth'a will attempt to flank with Braxxog in order to grant him sneak attack damage. If reduced to 80 hit points or less however, she will instead summon two fiendish girallons via a summon monster VII spell to aid the marsh giant instead.
Morale While tenacious, Ryth'a does not wish to share her father's fate, and flees using greater teleport (or expeditious retreat if dimensional travel is barred somehow) when reduced to 25 hit points or less.
Base Statistics AC 20, touch 15, flat-footed 18; (+2 deflection, +2 Dex, +5 natural, +1 dodge); hp 117; Fort +8 [+5 sorcerer HD, +2 Con, +1 cloak]; Melee 2 claws +11 [+8 BAB, +2 Str, +1 magic] (1d8+3 plus 2d6 plus 1d6 fire), bite +5 (1d4+1); Str 14 [8, +2 racial, +4 strength of the abyss]; Con 14 [12, +2 racial]; CMB +10 [+8 BAB, +2 Str]; Swim +11 [2 ranks, +2 Str, +4 racial, +3 trained class skill]
===== Statistics =====
Str 18 [8, +2 racial, +4 strength of the abyss, +2 bull's strength], Dex 14, Con 14 [12, +2 racial, +2 bear's endurance], Int 11 [13, –2 racial], Wis 10, Cha 24 [15, +3 from levels gained, +6 from headband]
Base Atk +8; CMB +12 [+8 BAB, +2 Str, +2 bull's strength]
Feats Abyssal Inheritance, Augment Summoning, Combat Casting, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Wondrous Item, Empower Spell, Eschew Materials, Heighten Spell, Iron Will, Spell Focus (conjuration), Toughness
Skills Acrobatics +11 [2 ranks, +2 Dex, +4 racial, +3 trained class skill], Bluff +14 [5 ranks, +6 Cha, +3 trained class skill], Intimidate +14 [5 ranks, +6 Cha, +3 trained class skill], Knowledge (arcana) +6 [3 ranks, +3 trained class skill], Knowledge (planes) +6 [3 ranks, +3 trained class skill], Spellcraft +15 [12 ranks, +3 trained class skill] (+4 defensive casting), Swim +13 [2 ranks, +4 Str, +4 racial, +3 trained class skill]
Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic
SQ added summonings, claws, demon resistances, hold breath, strength of the Abyss
Combat Gear +1 vicious amulet of mighty fists, 3 potions of cure serious wounds; Other Gear headband of alluring charisma +6, ring of protection +2, cloak of resistance +1, ring of evasion
===== Ecology =====
Environment Temperate marsh
Organization Ryth'a usually has a retinue of four swamp-skimmers (lizardfolk rogue 1/ranger 4), Zatha (lizardfolk cleric 5) and, unless he's been already killed by the PCs, Braxogg (marsh giant rogue 3).
Treasure In addition to her gear, Ryth'a also carries a fire opal and black star sapphire cloak clasp worth 2,600 gp.

Abyssal Inheritance
The power of the Abyss runs fiercer through your veins than others of your kind.
Prerequisite: Sorcerer 1st level, abyssal bloodline.
Benefit: Choose acid, cold, or fire. You gain resistance equal to half your sorcerer level (rounded down, max 10) versus the energy type you chose. Once the energy type has been chosen, it cannot be changed. You also gain Abyssal as an additional spoken language.
In addition, add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against any spell you cast that was gained from your bloodline, such as cause fear. This bonus does not stack with Spell Focus.
Special: This feat can only be taken at 1st level.

What exactly does "Do not list abilities that appear in the Universal Monster Rules (darkvision, grab, incorporeal, rend, and so on)." cover? Are class abilities part of that also? If I made a cleric, do I need to explain the rules of channel energy?

Now, I'm not looking for a work around the gold limits, but if your villain has the requisite feats, can we assume that they'd be able to craft their own gear?

Ok, let's say we have an 11th level sorcerer with a black draconic bloodline. Now, said sorcerer gets his claws (pardon the pun) on a pair of +1 flaming spiked gauntlets. Assuming a Strength of 14, if he were to make a full attack with his claws, what would the damage look like?

This: 1d6 + 2 plus 1d6 acid
Or this: 1d6 + 3 plus 1d6 fire plus 1d6 acid

Does the sorcerer add extra damage from other sources to his claw damage, or is there no way to add an extra oomph the the claws?

EDIT: Does the inverse also apply? Can the sorcerer add the additional 1d6 acid damage to his gauntlet attacks?

• If the contestant posts in his or her entry thread during the voting period for any reason other to acknowledge feedback or to encourage people to vote for his or her submission, the contestant will be disqualified.

If PosterX says "Hey, your math is wrong in areas Q, R, and S.", are we allowed to acknowledge and refute those claims, or would that get us disqualified?

Ssyth'ek, He Who Devours Demons

Unique male half-fiend lizardfolk fighter 4/holy warrior cleric 7

Description: Born of the unholy union between between the tribe's former shaman and a hulking hezrou, Ssyth'ek rules over the Scything Claw tribe of lizardfolk with absolute impunity. Clearly different than other “standard” half-fiends, Ssyth'ek stands over nine feet tall, wingless, and able to exude a poisonous musk from his warty, gray skin. He stares out over his people with small eyes set forward and high upon his head, giving him more of a toad-like appearance then that of a lizard. He shows his wrath plainly, bloating and puffing up when angered, with beads of dark green poison flowing from his skin like sweat.

Clad in armor made from the scales of an immense black dragon that recently opposed his tribe, Ssyth'ek strides into battle using his claws and teeth as his favored weapons, reserving his Abyss-borne magic to gird himself before battle, but unleashing the remainder at his fleeing opponents. Despite his savage upbringing and demon-tainted blood, Ssyth'ek has a mind for strategy beyond pure barbarism, drawing enemies into traps and turning minor skirmishes into running battles with his swamp-skimmers and their monstrous crocodilian companions. His reptilian nature is decidedly evident in his cunning strategies; slow and sluggish to the casual observer, but snapping tight in sudden, vicious maneuvers.

Motivations/Goals: Ssyth'ek is a canny and ruthless leader who is no longer satisfied with the simple dominion of the surrounding swampland. He desires nothing more than to become an unstoppable, demigod-like being.

Schemes/Plots: When he assumed power, Ssyth'ek's first decree forbid the practice of the druidic faith, turning instead to a dark, primal power that answered the ruler's guttural prayers and bloody sacrifices. With the blessing of this mysterious abyssal patron, Ssyth'ek's priestesses uncovered an ancient and dark ritual that allows an idolater to feed upon the soul-essence of evil outsiders and grow in power. Using this ritual, Ssyth'ek called and consumed dretches, babaus, a vrock, and most recently a rank-and-file hezrou. Bolstered by this string of successes, Ssyth'ek plans now to call his own father, the massive hezrou Gragrorrp, so that he may devour him. Should he also succeed in this, Ssyth'ek will cease to be a mortal creature, transforming into a full-blooded demon. All that is needed are the right astral alignments, and the dark ceremony can begin.

Adventure Hook: The ritual to summon Gragrorrp is still beyond the abilities of Ssyth'ek, though fortune seems to favor the fiendish chieftain as his scouts have brought word of a human bearing the mark of a summoner that travels the tribe's estuaries. Pavius Alvonar, a Chelaxian devil-binder, is traveling through the area on a mission for his house and might employ the PCs as bodyguards for the long trek. Alternatively, the PCs may learn about the wizard's kidnapping, especially if any have ties to Cheliax, and be dispatched to rescue him.

ALLOWED SOURCES:

Apart from your own original content, you are limited to using or referring to the following sources:

* Paizo's Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beta Release, and officially released web enhancements to the Beta
* The 3.5 SRD as presented at d20srd.org
* Published content from Paizo's Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting
* Content from the earlier round of this year's RPG Superstar contest (whether you created it or not)
* Content that is in the public domain (such as mythological references, etc.)

You may NOT use or refer to Open Game Content (or any other material) from other publishers.

Emphasis mine on what I'm asking; When it says "original content", is that limited to the wondrous items we recently submitted, or can we use other original content as long as it falls within the realm of the other allowed sources?

What with Adamant Entertainment putting out angelic and vermin lord pacts, I thought I'd try my hand at it too, so I'm working on the dragontouched pact. I'm mainly trying to adapt the dragonfire adept from Dragon Magic into 4E without coming up with an entire new class. Considering how the dragonfire adept was, essentially, the warlock with a different flavor and attack shape, a warlock pact seemed the way to go.

That said, I do have a question: I'm trying to create a controller warlock as opposed to a striker with this pact. Is that a feasible endeavor or should the controller be the sole purview of the wizard?

How will we be notified as per our entries? Will everyone be told at the same time, or will some be told sooner than others? Just wondering and in no way, shape, or form trying to placate any paranoia...

*whistles innocently*

Temporal Bracers
Aura strong transmutation; CL 17th
Slot hands; Price 165,240 gp; Weight 1 lb.

Description
You may activate these gem-studded bracers as a move action, pulling your “future self” to the past for one round. Your future self appears in a square adjacent to you, acts as your turn ends, and may take one full-round's worth of actions. At the start of your next turn both incarnations, and any items carried by them, disappear for one round. At the start of your third turn, you reappear in the square where your future self was last standing, appearing in the nearest adjacent square if that one is occupied.

Both incarnations are subject to damage and effects, using only one hit point total. All effects of a failed save against any persistent effect, such as poisons or the scare spell, remain with you when you reappear on the third round after activating the bracers. This includes death effects and dying due to hit point or ability loss.

A pair of temporal bracers can be used three times a day, but can only be activated once every four rounds.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, time stop; Cost 82,620 gp

I have a PC in my gaming group who's a half-orc, wields a non-masterwork spiked chain, and worships Cayden Cailean. The party has just started into D1, and I suspect they'll be dealing with the

The quote the rage ability "Starting at 1st level, a barbarian gains a number of rage points equal to 4 + her Constitution modifier. At each level after 1st, she gains an additional number of rage points equal to 2 + her Constitution modifier." Now does "at each level after 1st" mean any class, or only barbarian levels? Does a barbarian with a 14 Con who takes a level in fighter at second level have 6 or 10 rage points?

So, I've been recently working on updating the thaumaturge base class for the PRPG, mainly due to the two prominent thaumaturges in the Rise of the Runelords AP. As such, I decided to update the given domains in the back of the "Armies of the Abyss" book. So here they are. They should be balanced with the rest of the Pathfinder domains, but I really don't know, hence my asking you, the forum goers, for your input. Thanks in advance.

Catastrophe Domain

I'm going to be using the thaumaturge from Green Ronin's Armies of the Abyss book. Any suggestions on how to bump this class up to PRPG level?

Hello everyone. I'm going to be running a campaign using the final Alpha playtest of the Pathfinder System (we'll be upgrading to the official version next August). It looks like the campaign is gonna be mostly set in the Darkmoon Vale. That said, has anyone had any issues running these modules with the new system? I've got a party of five players, so I'm going to be bumping the encounters up some as it is already, but any specific points any other DM's could share would be most appreciated.

Will poster created content and/or beta-testing material be credited in the final release of the Pathfinder RPG? I'm not looking for anything major, just a small section at the end of the book. Is this asking too much?

...from a gnome and a half-orc.

For those of you that have/are successful game designers, what exactly do you need to do to break into the business? Unemployment compensation is surprisingly kind to me right now, so instead of trying to find another wage-slave job, I thought I'd try and do something I like. Yeah, I missed the boat with RPG Superstar (stupid me for not seeing it in time), but aside from that what do I need? Schooling? Playtest-type knowledge? Dumb luck? Any and all thoughts, suggestions, and/or et cetera will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Re-posted from the General sub-forum]

Would a simple Skill Focus (Survival) be in order for creatures that would normally receive Track as a bonus feat? I'm restatting a dire badger and, while it's not terribly important, I'd like to get a semi-official answer before getting too far into the system.

Would a simple Skill Focus (Survival) be in order for creatures that would normally receive Track as a bonus feat? I'm restatting a dire badger and, while it's not terribly important, I'd like to get a semi-official answer before getting too far into the system.

If we're going to get rid of cure minor wounds, we should also get rid of inflict minor wounds simply out of a sake... purity? Regardless, an undead cleric who gets away and has sufficient time can completely heal himself without touching any spells or rebuke attempts. My suggestion is this:

Bleed

Necromancy
Level: Clr 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 Standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

When laying your hand upon a creature that is at or below 0 hit points and is stable, you immediately open it's wounds causing it to fall unconscious and begin dying.

Thoughts?

What background info did you give your PCs before starting any of these modules? Just how much of Falcon's Hollow did they know about?

FotSG Spoilers

After my PCs cut through nearly every encounter during my last session, I've decided to raise the stakes a bit and beef the throne-sitting boss of the ogres up a bit.

I would assume they'd be rare, if existant at all. Do we have any ideas one way or the other about draconic half-breeds?

Considering that the rosewood armor sprouts roses, would it be a viable target for an entangle spell?

Has anyone thought of beefing up Mammy Graul? My group consists of:
- A spiked chain wielding half-orc barbarian 3/ranger 4 with a war mastiff animal companion thanks to Natural Bond
- A human beguiler 6/mindbender 1 with the Mind Sight feat from Lords of Madness
- A human cleric of Desna 7 with Leadership and a 4th level warlock cohort
- A human factotum 5/chameleon 2 who can do ANYTHING
- And a gnome jester 7 whose hideous laughter spells make my DM dice rolls below 8.

After two dispel magics from the cleric and beguiler, they tore Xanesha apart and I'd like this to last a bit longer than usual. I'm thinking of swapping some stats and making her a 10th level dread necromancer. Has anyone else bumped her big fat fanny up in levels?

Long story short: Our party needs at least 60 days to craft magic items and we only have 6 available to us. Using the Great Wheel cosmology, are there any planes where times moves faster there than it does on the Material Plane (ie: 5 days there equal 1 Material Plane day)?

Long story short, I'm working on an Golarion homebrew class that has some ties to the Outer Realm (you can thank the Hounds in Pathfinder 4) that culminates with the character getting a template. I had originally thought about using one of WotC's templates, but I like keeping with the OGL spirit. Any suggestions for a good C'thulu-esque template? As a frame of reference, I have the Advanced Bestiary but I wasn't able to really find anything that fit the feel I was looking for.

Thans in advance.

Just finished the first half of Skinsaw and my PCs are soon to be on their way to the City of Monuments. I intend on bringing one of my player's siblings in as a slaver. If I recall, Korvosa is rather lenient on the slave trade, but what about Magnimar? I forget if this has been covered before, the holidays are finally starting to take their toll on my stress-addled brain. Thanx in advance.

I'm not sure if this has been covered before, but can we expect to see content from the Dragon Compendium grace the pages of Pathfinder APs or Game Mastery modules? I was thrilled when I saw all the class variants used in J1, and I'm wondering what other non-WotC "new" stuff we'll be seeing.

I'm planning on running D0 as a one-shot this weekend for, more than likely, four players. While Valeros and the gang are cool and all, I 1) have too much time on my hands and 2) like adding my own twist of things, so I'm coming up with new pre-gen characters. Here's what I'm thinking right now:

Human (Varisian) Battle Dancer 1
Half-Elf Cleric (Cloistered Cleric Variant) 1
Human Fighter (Thug Variant) 1
Elf Evoker 1

Has anyone else changed or ran D0 with a "non-traditional" party, and if so, how did it turn out? I don't want a TPK because of my bad planning/character creation.

I think this has been brought up before, but I'll ask anyway. Do you guys have a "Paizo Gallery" where we can print out some of the artwork found in the Pathfinder AP and Gamemastery Modules? My fiance is running a "Kristmas Kobold Kampaign" and the art from "Crown of the Kobold King" would be a great visual aid for the players.

In my campaign, I'm going to add something for our cleric, who seems to be getting the short end of the stick. I like the thought of flametouched iron from Eberron, but I wanted to have something that wasn't just "Here, look what I ported over from this setting for you". So I came up with celestial ore.

Any thoughts and/or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Golarion's dragons do indeed follow the standard dragon alignments. Pathfinder 4 has a large chapter all about Golarion's dragons, in fact. But yeah; the five chromatics and the five metallics function in Golarion the same way the do in most campaigns.

My players are just about done with Burnt Offerings and I'm giving them a few weeks in-game for downtime. One of my PCs wants to organize and help sponsor a fishing contest, with first prize going to the one who catches Murdermaw. Now is "red snapper" Golarion slang for some type of huge crimson-shelled aquatic turtle, or is the famed boat-eater just a large version of what my wife made for dinner last night?

My players beat the ever-living snot out of Malfeshnekor (A well placed glitterdust from the beguiler and a roll of a 2 for the save ensured that), but still have the treasury, howling hole, and tentamort's lair to explore. I want to give my 4th-level PCs a challenge, so I'm thinking about advancing the tentamort. Now the stats in Pathfinder don't list advancement and I was wondering when the thing got to be Large-size. Can anyone help me out?

As was brought up before in other threads, the multitude of shatter-using spellcasters may be a bit of a problem for the players. I know one of my PCs, the half-orc barbarian, will have her spiked chain targeted at least once. Now, I could just put a +1 spiked chain in with the random treasure, but that feels to hokey. So instead, I came up with a legacy weapon for the campaign. Any input anyone has on this would be much appreciated.

[Notice: I don't know how to do tables on the boards, so please forgive the more than likely bad formatting.]

As I said, input is most appreciated.

Hello everybody,

I am looking for some advice to make an interesting combat out of a rather unfortunate setup (at least when it comes to encounter design). This is one of the final battles in long going campaign (72nd session over about six years, 12-16 hours each). The party is at level 13 and there are the following characters involved:

- elven transmuter in the body of a human bard

- half elven oracle of life

- dwarven inquisitor of torag

- infernal sorcerer

- a ghaele azata NPC (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/azata/ghaele/ )

- a mystic theurge NPC (CR 12) carrying a bag of holding which is rather important (see below)

- (soulless body of a human bard)

The enemy is a single (thats why I said "unfortunate") lich of 17th or 18th level (I didnt finish his stats so far)

The exposition:

The BBEG of this story arc is a high level lich (wohoo). As the party discovered the secret source of his powers said lich had to risk everything not to lose grasp on his plans. In a last attempt to prevent the party from destroying an atifact which holds the weapon he depends on to conquer kingdoms he casts the spell magic jar through said artifact on the partys bard who held it. My approach here was: when the lich has its soul and therefore phylactery at hand he is able to cast the spell but puts the one thing at danger that keeps him from dying. So the bard fails the save and is possessed. The party tries to negotiate without success and the lich threatens to kill the bard. Thats when the partys wizard does something rather surprising. He himself casts magic jar on the bard and as you probably all know: sometimes the dice tell the best stories. The lich fails its save rolling a natural one (even though his bonus alone exceeded the DC) and his precious soul becomes trapped in the wizards soul jar while the wizard on the other end possesses the bards body.

Now the constellation is rather freaky. Its kind of a stalemate; both fractions remain with a soul of their enemy.

Now the thing is how magic jar works. As both bodies are too far away from their respective soul jars, crushing those instantly sends them to the afterlife. Both parties know the other side is ready to negotiate somehow as otherwise they would have released the souls already but they expect deceit and cheating - somethings on the line here after all.

The PCs figured out they are somehow in the better spot as the lich will be desperate to get back his soul while at the same time the bards sacrifice seems like an option to save their kingdom. They made up a plan and created a demi plane, rather small, greenish and of circular shape where they gathered and invited the lich for a prisoners exchange. They know the lich will come as he needs his soul and the magic jar spell is soon to end. They also install a teleportation trap to only let in the one enemy they want to face and back that up by threatening to kill his soul as soon as someone else enters their demi plane. Quiet a bad spot for the lich to be in I guess. They stored the soul jar containing the liches soul inside a bag of holding, ready to crush it from within, killing the soul as it cannot travel between planes - the extradimensional space inside the bag is insurmountable no matter how close the lich is to the bag of holding.

The scenario:

So the lich enters a small demi plane where the party awaits him and first thing he does is casting a quickened time stop (using a rod) - thats when last session ended (nice cliff hanger!).

While he has lots of allies who could reasonably help him fighting the party, a teleportation trap doesnt allow creatures to enter the fight and even if they manage to bypass the trap the lich might not want them to risk his soul (see exposition).

The lich is buffed up from toes to teeth but now I need to know what

is reasonable for him to do and

makes for an interesting boss fight.

So what are the spells he casts during his rounds of time stop?

My first idea was: Mages Disjunction. I am not exactly sure wht the consequences will be but I think it will dispel the demi plane as soon as time stop is over and it will also render the bag of holding containing his soul useless for its duration and therefore safe. If he combat will be relocated - they will all be spat out somewhere in the astral plane (due to create demi plane) which actually makes for a nice location. But what next? The lich will be largely outnumbered and usually these kind of fights dont work well in pathfinder. I need him to get support somehow, he needs to survive the first rounds of combat and then challenge the party. I have no clue how the battle could go on from there and I'd appreciate every single idea you can come up with. I want this to be remarkable! Also - it doesnt have to end there. It would be rather fine if the lich is able to rescue is soul somehow and flee or even flee without his soul. But at this point a final battle might as well be the perfect ending to this story arc.

Furthermore I would really appreciate some feedback on the whole mess of magic jars in place. I feel like we sticked as close to the rules here as possible but now it seems pretty hard to figure out what a mages disjunction will add here. As well as dispelling the demi plane it will probably end the magic jar spell on all participants. So the magic jar spell cast by the transmuter to trap the liches soul will and and as the respective soul jar is stored in the bag of holding the soul will not be able to get back to its original body (or here: phylactery), right? How could the lich prevent that from happening? Is there a way for him to force his soul out of the bag of holding wjile in time stop? Is there anything he can do about it? And is there something I missed about all those interactings of spells (namely two magic jars, time stop, mages disjunction and create demiplane)? Are there certain spells the lich can use to his advantage for this specific situation?

Thank you a lot in advance! I cannot wait to read your ideas :)

Best wishes,
Wasum

PS: Bonus points if you have an idea how this can evolve the transmuters hidden agenda; the player whants the character to become currupted more and more (he already drifted some steps away from his NG alignment at the campaign start).

PPS: Also bonus points if the following chain of events sticks to the pathfinder rules as close as possible. Not because I love those rules (man, at times this feels so outdated) but because this forms the ontology of the world we agreed to play in and itself has been part of this games narrative

Hello everybody!

I am playing a campaign based on kingmaker right now, but I'm not going to use books 4 to 6 (as I don't like the plots). The PC are level 9 and have to deal with strange murders in their capital as well as political entanglements these days as the House Orlowski seems to have suspicious plans.

What I want to do is make Vordakai a far more fleshed out villain than he is in the actual book. His tactics are so poor as written that I wouldn't want to waste and sacrifice a freaking lich for a little dungeoncrawl.

Thats why I thought about what he would do from the moment he is woken up by his champion that the PC released in the ancient cyclops tomb.

But first he needs information - the most important good for him in the early and even more so in the later stages of his rise. Luckily his Aculus allows him to scy a lot and use his familiar for scouting the neighbourhood. He spots Varnhold, he spots the realms of my PC and he spots Brevoy as well as Mivon. A lot has changed within the past thousands of years. Together with his champion he wakes up all other cyclops buried in this very tomb (for which I use a slightly recolored map of Snurres Hall of the Fire Giant King) - enough to do some mining at least. He uses spells and undead workers to produce salt and jewelery - he needs money to accomplish further goals he set up. So while his minions are mining he scries and scries and scries. His raven travelling through the surrounding countries, listenig to important nobles, lords and ladies. He gets to know secrets, for example that the Orlowskis plan to attack the Lands of House Lodowka (an elven wizard PC is just about to marry the princess of House Lodowka) so thats a good point to start. He visits Lord Orlowski in human form (he uses Greater Magic Aura and a greater Hat of Disguise to appear as humen without magic properties) and convinces him that he wants to buy weapons for wars in the south so he makes him a great offer. He will fund the war against the Lodowkas if the Orlowskis provide more weapons he can transport to the south.
The Orlowskis will then ask Jomani Surtowa who was a broken man ever since he lost his reign over Restov to make a deal with the dwarves in the Highdelve. They should fabricate weapons for their war against the Lodowkas as well as weapons for Vordakai (who needs them as he will have to equip an undead army later on) - all in the name of House Surtowa.

For Vordakai this is perfect as he wants to use the war in the north as distraction and also profits from weapons for his own units.

Right after the deal is made he uses his artifact for the first time. He charms the population of Varnburg in order to take their (rather empty) treasueries and to have more workers for his plans. There is a lot of stuff he needs to prepare.
He gets mercenaries in Mivon who will deal with the transportation of the weapons from Brevoy.
He now has one year of time to get ready for the next step in his plan.

At this point I might need your help. He now has a couple of undeads, a lot of information and ~200 citizens from varnhold he turns into undead (maybe one or two intelligent ones as he needs help organizing his upcoming rulership). He also started to contact other evil enteties around to find some allies or vassels.

A year later when the war between Orlowskis and Lodowkas has probably started - according to his plans - he wants to use the Oculus of Abaddon for a second time. But now he's aiming for Restov.

I did some calculations on the distribution of CR among the citizens and the formula I thought looks plausible was an exponential function, proportional to EXP(-[HD of citizen]/1,25) which resulted in ~19.900 of the 20.000 inhabitants being charmed without getting a save. That sounds like a lot but I wanted to have a rather steep distribution. Most of the remaining citizens won't make their save so that I guess 20-30 of them being able to resist the artifact.

Now what? He has almost 20.000 humanoids under his control for 20 days. What does he do? Does he move them to his "base"? Will he kill them to raise them as undead? That seems hard to handle. He wont be able to feed so many people at all so he probably needs to kill them. That's a truely scary scenario. What does he do with those that resisted the charm? What will those who resisted the charm do anyway? Some might be able to use spells to stop several of the charmed... but I'm not sure how to think that through. What's going to happen afterwards? Would it be smart to even use the artifact? He could take every single coin from that city - not too bad. Could he use the structures? Should he leave the city abandoned? Can he still conceal whats going on? How does he move those people? Just have them walk two hundred miles?

And what would he need to tho in the previous year in order to prepare for that event?

This is how far I am right now. I also want him to get some help from Abaddon as his artifact is closely tied to this plane. He will get some Divs and Daemons to lead his armies because why not. He will also get an army of Urdefhans as I feel like this would suit him really good and is plausible.

I'm open to any kind of idea or critique - the more detailed the better. I want his plans to suit a highly intelligent ancient wizard with great knowledge and power so it should make sense all through and result in a subtly rising threat establishing in the very east of my PCs nation.

Thank you so much in advance,

Wasum

Google: "pf summoner powerful"

Might be faster than a thread;)

Thanks for the advice so far!

I will definitly use some of those ideas.

Now I'm especially curious on how to pace this scenario.

How can I decide when and how often the PCs find themself in a special situation? At what pace will they encounter things o their way to said tower?

Hello everybody!

I want to generate an intense atmosphere of danger in the next session of my current campaign.
Last session the 7th level PCs entered the realm of an evil fey and managed to stay unnoticed for a while. When they decided to use "Secure Shelter" for resting their shelter for the night was spotted by fey units and they surrounded the bulding until reenforcements arrive. Inbetween the PCs developed an escape plan and actually managed to flee - 3 of them teleported out, the druid left in eagle form, invisible, and the alchemist tried to escape invisible as well but is chased by a Babau, who was summoned by an antagonist to shut down the invisibility. Now the Dimension Door they used to teleport has no huge range and therefore they are not out of danger. The session ended with them regrouping close about 400 m away with the alchemist still being chased by the Babau (who will stay whole 10 Minutes as it was summoned by a summoner).
The PCs want to reach the tower of said evil fey queen which is about 30 km away. As they dont have means of fast travel (other than wildhape of the druid) this will take them at least two days, more if they actaully stealth. I want those days to be intense. I want them to feel hunted, with creatures looking for them and constant thread of being outnumbered.

Do you have recommandations on how to design such a scenario? I'd really appreciate every single idea you can contribute :)

Wasum

Ever heard of Stormwind Fallacy?

Well if you really agreed the post you quoted you wouldn't have resurrected this thread after the debate has been put to rest 3 years ago...

I think your GM will tell you which way the game uses to destribute abilizy scores. Point buy is the most favored option because it's fair. You will see variation for sure, it lets you customize what your character is good at - you can think of a background and then distribute your points as you see them fit. Dice on the other hand may lead to very unbalanced groups where on player steamrolls encounger because he got superior stats while another one wont even be able to play what he wanted to play because he doesnt have the attributes to do so.

i'd also say go for touch spell sneak attack. You can easily use twf for those if you want to and it also makes you very versatile as soon as you get some wands and stuff.

Another option would be a dex to damage sap master build. Combine with scout to get off one devastating strike per round while keeping good AC. You need the blade of mercy trait though.

Third one is THF with something like a longhammer, add vital strike and sap feats, maybe even enforcer for debuffing fun and be very mobile while striking really hard each round... less defense than going dex based but you can pick up power attack for sweet amounts of damage.

I wish I could have observed those conversations you had with your GM. I absolutely cannot imagine how that took place....

"Can I play a character that is almost invincible, potentially breaking the campaign unless the enemies you throw at us have that one feat from another game? Well, it's the same game I picked that template from."
"Sure, go ahead - that sounds reasonable!"

Later...

"I feel like my character is too strong. You have to bend the rules in order to challenge me and therefore the whole group. You are not using that feat, mindsense, at all and I do not enjoy that abilities my character obtained from rules of another game are rendered useless. Therefore I want to rebuild him in a way it merges to the rules of the game we actually play and doesnt outshine other characters while giving you the opportunity to throw regular encounters at the group without me stomping them all."
"Mhh... naaay, that does not at all sound reasonable, I want you to stick to the character you built, even though you used rules from star wars D20 or whatever game that was and broke the campaign so far because otherwise I might lose immersion."

Another occasion...

"Hey! I found that spiked chain in Pathfinder RPG too weak, so I checked other versions of other games and - you wouldnt believe - in D&D3.5 the spiked chain was broken as fcuk! Hence I assumed it should be allowed in our game - here's my character sheet!"
"I don't know... that looks kinda unbalanced."
"Oh, well then, here's a way to extend my reach even further! Combining stuff from different games allows me to make this character even more powerful, let me fix that character sheet right quick!"

It's cool, not OP.

ACG will provide way more difficulties towards balancing than UM and UC. If ACG is fine for you, the latter should'nt be a problem.

The only "serious pain" a core rogue delivers hits its player.

the advantage of prepared casters is that they are strong no matter what you do and you can find out how to effectivly play them throughput your career. You just cant really do anything wrong. On the other hand those need players who know it takes some bookkeeping and time investment due to the sheer number of spells.

Spontaneous caster are easier to play but harder to build. You will have to help them there as you can easily mess up one of those really easily.

In highschool you for sure learned how to calculate expectancy values. The curricula of most countries include that around 10th grade.

And that is actually all you need to calculate DPR. Also, you dont need excel-sheets or something like that to do so as it contains only simple multiplications.

No need to have studied math at all - just visiting highschool lets you know how to do it, so no need to be deterred :D

Oracle is a 9th level caster and summoner is 6th level on steroids (dont even want to think of master summoner in such a setting) - I'd rething those two.

....

Why dont you just take 15 minutes and make up just right the build you want to have?

Seriously?

There is no reason why you couldnt take a monster-feat you qualify for. They are called monster feats because usually monsters qualify for those.

You dont need some kind of reputation to gain access to prestige classes, do you?

We once had a wand of mount named "rogue"

Noone cares how much fun people have playing rogues. We all know its possible to enjoy playing a rogue in certain games and groups. That has just nothing to do with the question why the rogue is subpar. He definitly is, no matter whether you care or not or enjoy playing rogues more than anything else. This topic appearently deals with the weak mechanics of the rogue class and not with amazing rogue-fun in some homegames, not with rogues who were viable in unoptimized groups an not with CRB-only games which try to make all other classes weaker in order to maintain a reason for playing rogues. Its about nothen but the mechanics of that class - the rogue - compared to other classes mechanics and why it is as "subpar" as it is.

And I know that people dont like to hear that, but this topic is not about fun. its about game design, predictable problems that may occur due to weak balancing regarding how the classes perform.

Honestly, I think "just have fun with that class, its possible" is an answer full of ignorance to the vital spot of this annoying discussion that comes up again and again on therse boards and always inspires some people on here to explain "us" how this game is meant to be played....

Sorry for that rant, but I'm really tired by this.

Yea, sure, but that has nothing to do with the rogue mechanics. You could have done the same as commoner, bard, ranger or awakened sheep (skill focus sleight of hand, some item to pimp dex and the SoH and there you go).

The thing is not that you cant have fun, the problem is that the rogue mechnics are just bad and there is no justification why. I could enjoy playing tennis with a baseball bat as well if my goal isnt to hit the ball but talk to the referee about how weather is in cologne. But some people wanna get that freaking ball over the net and therefore struggle when holding a rogue in their hand who isnt even close to a bat.

Still this would weaken martials.

The problem with the rogue-class is that it is not the best way to build a rogue.
If you have several classes, all of them covering the "rogue" theme completely (keep in mind, classes are just mechanical constructs, what your chrarakter is like has nothing to do with its class - the class just provides different abilities) then there is no real reason to play an actual rogue. There is no advantage the rogue-class has over some other classes in playing the "sneaky role".
If you renamed the bard, the ranger and the rogue "class 1", "class 2" and "class 3" and someone wanted to play a rogue-like charakter then - after checking out and understanding those three mechanical bases he can use for his charakter, I highly doubt someone who has understood the mechanics of the game (e.g. by finding the trait that gives trapfinding - so you dont even have to lose spells as ranger) would pick "class 3" - the actual rogue.
The only thing it provides over the other classes is SA and yea, thats an incombat ability that is - combined with the rest of the mechanical construct "rogue" - not worth picking the class over one of the others.
Honestly I'd predict if the class would not be named "rogue" it would not be played much at all and if so then by those who do not understand that sneak attack is not the best way to DPR (even though there are some optimized ways to make efficient use of SA, touch-rogue, sap adept scout and so on).

But most people see the image and the description of the rogue class and therefor think (understandably) this is the class they want to play in order to get that bad ass backstabber. So in case you want to make the class more popular, just copy description and layout of the rogue page of the crb and combine with the one for rangers. people will start playing rangers all of a sudden.

There should be a bot identifying these threads, posting a link to an older one and then closing them. That would save a lot of people a lot of time.

edit: Another way would be a "the rogue issue"-sticky.

Dex based lore warden with 1 level of maneuver master using dervish dance + dirty tricks. Great AC, great saves, sky high CMB, okay damage, you can even add trip to your list and easily control the battlefield. Also you get a lot of skillpoints for a fighter.

Could also be pulled of with strenght - less defense, more damage.

Another thing could be Pala 2, Sorc 3, Dragon Disciple 8 wielding a greatsword. good defense, amazing offense, spells. More interessting than EK builds.

What about Magus? Just combine those two worlds, cast useful spells, hit it with your sword.

Or - one of my favorites - play an Oracle of battle, dip 2 levels of Paladin and become a melee beast while still having those spells.

Sword and Board Ranger - great damage, flexibility, defense, yey.

Some Pathfinder Chronicler stuff with UMD as his ability to have almost any item available when he needs it is so close to swiss knife.

Also, eldritch heritage is always an amazing way to make your melees more interesting - and there really are some great picks!

or when sundered!

Maneuvers kill archers most of the time. Also the shape of the battlefield can help. Give enemies ways to get cover while closing up.

Also, smoke sticks can prevent archers from fullattacking - cheap, easy to use and hard to protect against:)

Hey there!

I am looking for character concepts that are competetiv in optimized game but use unusual ways to deal with their problems.

You know - other than beatung things up with falcata or falchion, other than pit spells and shocking grasp spellstrike action... just things that do not come up often as main schtick of a character.

Just for example: I had that sorcerer who used some pimped up enervation action to defeat his enemies or another one who used fear effects and phantasmal killer.

Maybe a character who effectivly uses poison to kill his enemies? Or a hydraulicnpush sorcerer with bullrush feats and high CL?

I somehow feel like I kinda fail at explaining what exactly I am looking for, but maybe you have an idea and can provide some ideas:)

Hello there!

I want to build a character based on the fishmen in "One Piece". I'm not sure which way to go, but I probably want him to be a martial artist (-> Fishmen Karate) and maybe even adopt their abilities to fight using water somehow. And he should be kinda charismatic of course!

I'm using a 20pb and about all the paizo-sources available.

Oh and I already thought about making him a mysterious stranger but then it would be even more difficult to implement the fishmen karate thing...

Well, I'd be really glad to get some advice there!

Wasum

You really have to differentiate between experiences, subjectiv impression and awesome home party gaming on one hand and the mechanics on the other hand. Sure, there are circumstances when it might be fun to play soccer high heels, but that should never be included in the rules of the game or be preached as the right way to do it.

Sorry for quoting myself but it fits in both threadsd:

The problem with the rogue-class is that it is not the best way to build a rogue.

If you have several classes, all of them covering the "rogue" theme completely (keep in mind, classes are just mechanical constructs, what your chrarakter is like has nothing to do with its class - the class just provides different abilities) then there is no real reason to play an actual rogue. There is no advantage the rogue-class has over some other classes in playing the "sneaky role".

If you renamed the bard, the ranger and the rogue "class 1", "class 2" and "class 3" and someone wanted to play a rogue-like charakter then - after checking out and understanding those three mechanical bases he can use for his charakter, I highly doubt someone who has understood the mechanics of the game would pick "class 3" - the actual rogue.

The only thing it provides over the other classes is SA and yea, thats an incombat ability that is - combined with the rest of the mechanical construct "rogue" - not worth picking the class over one of the others.

Honestly I'd predict if the class would not be named "rogue" it would not be played much at all and if so then by those who do not understand that sneak attack is not the best way to DPR (excluding those really tough optimized rogue-builds, especially those sap-THF-ones, but I feel like thise are not played that much anyway, even though I think its probably the best to do with your rogue).

Hey there!

I don't know whether this is going to work, but after some research I recognized there is no thread like this one yet.

My idea here is to post creative, special and challenging encounters that others can use in their games. Making up encounters is not easy and requires a lot of preparation (even though there already are a couple of great guidelines of how to do so), so I'm pretty sure such a thread - if filled with the most exciting battles, skill challenges, traps or whatever you made up in your games - will find use in many campaigns.

To help readers on whether a posted encounter may be implemented in their current scenario we should mention some important aspects:

_________________________________

Summary: ("Party fights small mosquitos in mouth of colossal frog while trying not to be swallowed")

CR of the encounter:

Typ of encounter: (Is it a boss fight, a skill challenge or some mini game?)

Background: (For what party did you initially create the encounter, what was the intention?)

Encounter: (What exactly does it look like? What creatures did you use, what tactics? Just all the details!)

Comment: (How did your group get through the encounter? What might be a problem? What else should be mentioned?)

________________________________

I really hope to find some people filling this thread with great ideas! I will do so as soon as I get home as I have some cool encounters that might be interesting for some of you:)

This might really help lots of GMs or at least can provide some inspiration! I know we have a huge number of creative heads on these boards, so there's no excuse:)

Wasum

Thug and Scout Archetype, Earthbreaker, Endorcer, Sap Adept, Sap Master, Vital Strike, Power Attack, Furious Focus.
Offensive Defense.

Fun:]

To become mammoth rider!

You forgot that size affects intimidate-checks!

I second maneuver master monk

Cool

That sounds like you should check his build.

Its not overpowered, everything you mentioned is pretty easy to achieve with some optimization. Further this depends on the class, build, scores and so on anyway, so just these dates are not saying that much but no its not overpowered.

The advantage of the cabalist is that you wouldnt have to dip another class, lose casting progression and bab, so actually that would be really neat for a dd-build. But 3pp suck and straight magus is stronger than a dd dipping one anyway.

I'd say find grown ups to play with, but that would probably considered rude, so I'll just not say anything.

And even if the eagles couldnt have brought them to onto the mountain - they could have brought them to mordor

Yea, because melee classes are just way too strong in pathfinder!

Druid?

Why dont you make him empyral sorcerer? Honestly having 4 cha less than any similar concept kinda sucks. Especially because you rely on high save DCs...

Hello there!

Well first: In Pathfinder HD means something like level. A druid of level 8 has 8HD because he hitpoints of 8 dice-rolls (well, 7 assuming the first one is always maximum)

So when an animal companion starts with 2 HD it kind of is level 2. when you look at the BAB of a druid you will see he's at +1 there as well.

Now when the companion has 3HD it gained a level, so you have to toll one die to determin how many hitpoints it adds to its total. Sometimes companions do not gain a level when the druid gains one. Thats when the HD in that table does not change. The companion does not gain new hitpoints or similar level dependent stuff (like feats, stat boosts or saving throw increases)

In the end it caps at 16 HD. when you compare it to the druid table you will see that the druid has a BAB of 12 at level 16, so when the druid is level 20 the animal companion has 16 HD (=is level 16) and the BAB of a level 16 druid: 12.

Claws and bites are primary natural attacks. That means all of them are done at full BAB and all of them add the full strength modifier to damage.

Rake means that as soon as the companion grapples (what it can always do, check the rules for a grapple maneuver) it can deliver these rake attacks.
In addition to that a big cat has the grab special attack that allows to start a grapple as free action after you hit with the appropriate natural attack.

Further you can also use the rake special attack when using the allmighty pounce special attack. Then you end up having 5 attacks at full attackbonus and strenth bonus to damage after a charge.

Wasum!

You should add that these encounters have to be challenging enough to need spending resources - easy encounters can be won without burning a gishs resources. The fighter shines when he's facing a lot of pretty hard encounters. And as I said - thats rarely the case.

The thing is most of the time its way more important to be able to spike than to do reliable constant damage. Maybe there are campaigns where this is useful, but looking at all the AP's there is none where the ability to regulate your power isnt superior. Being able to nova somehow is just exactly what is needed in hard fights while constant high damage is not really necessary in the easier battles.

Dont add penalties for low HP. This will completly mess up the game balance.

Accept it as it is. Where's the problem with description? The T-Rex falls in lava, and swims back to the edge, climbs out with an acrobatic check (those small arm can perform heck of a move) and then bites the evil halfling barbarian who seems to take the hit without any troubles and even makes his grapple check to not be grabbed in that mouth that alone is 4 times bigger than him.

Thats D&D - maybe you should consider a different game system without hitpoint mechanics if you cant handle it.