Wildonion's page

Applaud their ingenuity and move on? Seriously, your players are doing more than leaving traps up to a roll of the dice. They are being clever, interacting with your world, and doing more than just playing a game. Rather than thwart them, let them get away with it. There are always those traps that will be too hard for them to handle (say, those involving magic) if you really feel the need to challenge them with something that does call for disable device, or another such expenditure of resources. If my players were to put for that sort of effort, however, I would encourage it. Find more opportunities for them to do that sort of thing! And take it as a compliment that they want to get more involved with the time and effort you put into your game.

You mean like what Dexterity does for archery and finesse builds?

No offense intended, but that sounds awful. Why would we want to turn Pathfinder into what seems to be an entirely different game? Then again, I grew up playing the 3.5 system and think Pathfinder is pretty good as-is, so I am certainly biased on the matter. I can't help but ask, if all of that is basically Arcana Evolved, then why not just mod Arcana Evolved yourself to make use of your suggested changes? It sounds like you have a pretty good idea of what you want.

Your best bet is to take the player aside and talk with him about it, expressing your concerns and citing the behavior of the Cleric as an example of what you think constitutes a good example. Talk it and get your player's side of the story, because that may be all it takes. Also, be sure to point out that a Druid is supposed to revere nature and that, if the player keeps this up, you are required to make him into an ex-druid.

Given that there are a bunch of new Drow feats to make a PC into a Drow Noble, why don't you just have your player do that? He or she can have all three feats in the Drow Nobility line by level 5 (though the Improved Drow Noble feat seems the most important to you) and could even get the two Umbral Scion feats and be set by level 9. This avoids the massively powerful Drow Noble option nicely and keeps your players on an even field as they level up.

As for Cavern Sniper, since that is a Fighter archetype, your player will find that it is easier to keep up with all of the feats they are going to need for their archery to be effective despite the need for the Drow Noble feats. They are not going to be on par with other archers of their level for a little while, but sometimes it is the flavor of a character that is most important, right? You will want to give the player some way to access poison as well (or they're going to want to dump some skill points into Craft (Alchemy) and get a couple of feats to bolster their ability to make their own) because otherwise that aspect of the character--small though it may be--is going to be pretty weak. As shame they didn't give the character Poison Use at some point in the progression.

Overall, I would hazard that this character is going to be a little tough to play, but should do fine by the time they hit level 10. It sounds like a good RP character too.

Saurian Shaman. What? It worked for the Flintstones!

I make better characters, with more depth and personality, if I don't have to lay it all out ahead of time. Some people are the opposite. Develop in Play vs. Develop at Start.

I honestly failed to consider that; pretty shameful since I had a bud who pretty much worked that way. A valid point and well made, thanks for the thoughts.

I really have to wonder what kind of schedule some people run that they have no time to sit down, even if it is just for ten or fifteen minutes here and there, and construct a brief character bio. I mean, you can do most of the thinking while you do something else in the course of the day--unless what is eating up all your time is some kind of delicate surgery or precise construction, that would require a fair bit of concentration. (Lord knows I would not want my surgeon cutting me open if he was busy thinking about this awesome idea he had for a bard for next week's game.) If there is really no time to get a bio generated then how do you even find the time to play the game?

I am sorry if this is coming across as a little crazed, I just have had players in the past who made up all sorts of rather ridiculous excuses for not being able to through together a couple of paragraphs. Just a little something to give me an idea of where their character is from and why they are adventuring.

Further, I am questioning this idea of 10 and 15 point buy being somehow the death knell of MAD classes. As I understand it, the problem with MAD classes has everything to do with their abilities not keeping them in the theoretical T1 of characters that can be built and the issues there are way more than just the ability scores. Which stinks of this idea that, to have fun, a character has to be bar-none the best at his class. I can understand not wanting to have a lemon for a character, but most of what I see in Pathfinder allows for the easy competent characters.

Besides, shouldn't the focus of a roleplaying game be on telling an interesting and compelling story with friends? A good GM can account for weaker/stronger characters, it is his or her ability to tell a story that needs to be strong! The level of point buy ruining a game holds about as much water as the arguments that you can't RP in one game system as well as another. (Which characterizes a large amount of the edition and system arguments that I have seen in the past.)

Think of it this way, Your Paladin may have turned the poor guard away from a dark path in life by knocking him out. Next time he thinks about getting drunk and feeling up some girl in the bar, He'll remember his broken nose, and thank you *nod*

Or he won't and his corruption will further justify the Paladin's actions. So either way, a win for the holy arse kicker!