Whispergloom's page

Another point to bear in mind - somewhere in the forums (I forget exactly where) James Jacobs said that in his view (it was his house rule, I think) Smite Evil shouldn't bypass DR/-, which is what the WtW has.

A slightly tangential question - one of my players has a Swarmbane Clasp and has queried if that might have some impact on the WtW's damage reduction. RAW the answer is no, but it seems flavor-appropriate that the item that lets people damage swarms with regular weapons would also enable them to damage a 'swarm-esque' creature more effectively.

What do we think?

Here's hoping that people are still watching this forum thread.

I am still a new GM and this is only my second time running a campaign. We are currently running through this path and the players are coming up on the fight in the courtyard of Drezen Citadel and I am stuck. After trying the Mass Combat rules our group decided to not use them because they did not work with our play style. I have been able to come up with individual fights and events for all the other mass combat situations and kept the actual army in the background but I am at a loss as to how to create an encounter for this particular fight.

While having a fight with dozens of tokens is interesting (I did that for the actual fall of Kenabres in front of the cathedral) it really slows down the pace of the game. I am hoping that someone may have had an idea for this or someone here has already done this.

Suggestions please?

I've also been avoiding the mass combat rules and instead just having the party fight the leaders of each enemy army while the rest of the battle happens in the background. For the courtyard (which is coming up in my campaign - they're currently in mid-siege), they'll be encountering Zenilakiri (the Drow Demonic Champion antipaladin from the Monster Codex) and Aspartin (her 9th level necromancer lover), plus a sprinkling of tieflings, dretches and cultists.

I'm DMing this and we're nearing the end of book one (the five PCs cleared out most of the Gray Garrison but had to retreat. They're gearing up for the second assault).

One of the main changes I've made is including references to the campaign trait backstories earlier, as waiting until Book 3 seemed counter-productive. It struck me that drip-feeding info to the players from the start would give the stories more oomph when they finally resolve!

So things I've added include:

I haven't run WotR yet but am planning to, only using hero points instead of mythic (3 pts + 1/tier, regenerating every day).

However,I was thinking of adding something more to the mix so came up with the advancement below. I wanted to make the characters seem more epic by giving them more defensive abilities rather than offensive ones. I borrowed some suitable looking powers from the mythic rules.

Still a work in progress, though. Any suggestions/caveats welcome.

Go to my shiny new Flickr account (which I hope works, as I've never used it before) to see what I've come up with so far.

@Krinn - that's good to know. Whereabouts in the AP is your group?

Hi folks.

Having seen the scathing reviews of the mythic rules on these boards, I'm considering just using the APG Hero Points system when I run it (PCs get 3 points plus 1 per Tier, regenerating each day - perhaps also including one or two of the base mythic abilities such as Hard to Kill, though not Amazing Initiative!).

Has anyone done this and have advice to offer? Does it work okay? I'm also assuming the mythic villains get Hero Points too.

Any guidance from other GMs who've tried this would be much appreciated.

Hi again.

Ckorik raises an interesting idea that I thought might deal with the action economy issue, maybe with a tweak or two. What would people think if I did this -

= Get rid of Amazing Initiative so Mythic characters don't get too many extra actions

= Mythic beings can only do two 'Mythic things' a round (i.e. Surge, cast a Mythic spell, use a Mythic feat etc.)

= They can still use a third 'emergency' Mythic thing in a given round (if, for example, they have to boost a saving throw or else die), but it uses up all their remaining Mythic power for the day and they cannot do anything else Mythic until they 'recharge'

I thought this might get rid of the multiplier issue, as multiple Mythic abilities working together seems to be the biggest issue.

Thoughts?

I know a lot of people have suggested replacing Mythic entirely. I wonder if there's any way it can be saved? I thought the 'only spend 1 mythic power per round' idea might help with that?

Would also appreciate any thoughts people have on how Mythic overpowers mythic spells and if there's any way that can be avoided?

Hi all.

I'm keen to run WotR shortly with my group (4-5 players, highly experienced gamers but usually tend to focus on 'what's right for the story' rather than overtly optimising).

Having read all the horror stories in other threads about Mythic being broken, I'm looking for some ways to de-power it. I'm keen to stick with the Mythic rules if possible as it provides a new slant on Pathfinder we haven't tried yet.

I would also prefer not to have to power up the bad guys in WotR by maximising hit points, changing stat blocks etc.

I've had some initial ideas (admittedly, based solely on what I've read in these forums rather than personal experience) and would appreciate the thoughts of those who've already played/run WotR:

= Mythic power only 3 + 1/tier, not 2/tier
= Regain only 1 pt every day
= PCs can only spend 1 Mythic power per round
= Mythic PCs don't get their specific path ability (Champion's Strike etc.) at all, as they all seem absurdly powerful
= Ban Mythic Power Attack and Mythic Vital Strike (as they seem to be the worst 'mythic feat' offenders)
= Ban Titan's Bane, which also seems to be broken

I'd appreciate any other suggestions...?

The only other situation is if a combat is underway but the rogue/magus is sneaking up behind someone not in melee (e.g. an enemy spellcaster who's hanging back).

If that foe has acted already in the combat, are they still considered flat-footed to the rogue for the purposes of that rogue's stealthy approach and attack?

Thoughts welcomed, folks.

Thanks all!

LoneKnave - I think you have it right if she sneaks up to surprise a foe before a combat has begun; you don't get the full attack action in a surprise round.

However, if the combat is already underway and she sneaks up, then does the 5-foot step and a full-attack 'spell combat' action in a flanking position to the foe, I'd assume the casting wouldn't provoke an AoO as the foe was unaware - and the attack would still get sneak damage as she was flanking.

Sound right?

In our current campaign a halfling rogue is thinking of taking a level in Magus, mainly to get access to True Strike. The question is, can she use stealth to get within 5 feet of a unsuspecting foe, then do a 5-foot step, cast True Strike and attack (using the spell combat ability) and get her sneak attack damage on the blow?

Also, does she have to cast that True Strike defensively, or does approaching by stealth mean the foe doesn't get an attack of opportunity for someone casting in a threatened square?

Any help much appreciated!