Desna's Song was a stately ship. The massive bulk freighter was over 200 years old, but she still cut a fancy line as her prow plied the space lanes of the Pact Worlds.
200 years running the transit lines between the various plants and Absalom station. She had been fitted out for,transporting the various inhabitants of the system, those willing to pay for the long voyage between worlds. In her heyday, she could pack six thousand souls in comfort. That was before the advent of the Mark 3 Drift drives though. Before ships could be kitted to make the run in 6 days, not the sixteen weeks it currently took her.
Her engines were too vast and the style of hull too integral to the mountings for a retrofit to be possible. Now she made her living hauling cargo too big for the mainline crews. Were six thousand people used to walk her decks, now fewer than a thousand booked the cheap fairs. Time was just too important for the majority of those living in the Golarion system.
The four sentients currently gathered in the "state lounge" were a mixed lot. Each had their own reasons for being on board. Keeping a low profile, too few funds, inexperience all of these were reasons why folk boarded the 'Song now.
Be it fate, or the twisted vagaries of chance, these four now sat cradling their drinks and listening to the warbled crooning of the stage band as the giant vessel pushed inexorably through the vast emptiness of space.
Their seats were pre allocated, tied to the room numbers they got when boarding the ship. With not much else for entertainment, the four of them looked at those seated with them and tried to spark some sort of interesting discussion.
I'm keen to see how Starfinder plays out, but I have no gaming opportunities for it here at the moment.
As such, I thought I'd run it as a PbP over the next few months and see what we can get from there.
I bought the Legendary Games first instalment of their proposed AP and think I'll take it for a spin in these forums. It's something different to the Society modules and the Paizo dead suns games.
Some notes for this module:
There isn't any space ship combat. This is more a Stargate style system where your characters have tech, but new planets and species are not familiar to you. Keep that in mind when designing characters (you won't need to invest in skills that assist piloting or captain rolls etc)
I can guarantee this game to run up to January next year (2018). After that my time frame is vague. This gives a good shot for you to try your characters and get a decent feel for the system.
Maps will be difficult for me. I'm running this from my iPad so getting decent mapping software isn't happening. I have an idea for using screen capture to post updated maps and using google docs or similar. However, we may have to go map free for a while and see how that runs. I've done both styles of games in PbP before and they each work well. One just requires more description from me and a bit of abstract rules application.
Ok,now for nitty gritty.
I will need four players. Created at first level using the standard point method given in the rules.
Each character needs to be fully statted and have a bit of personality for them. Don't worry about backgrounds in any depth. The scenario literally rips you from your homeworkd and dumps you in a place completely unfamiliar to you. My intro post when I roll out the game thread will detail how you get there.
Submissions need to be in to this thread by Wednesday next week. I'm in Australia, so my time frame will be different to many of you. I'll be checking the thread and selecting applicants by 6pm next Wednesday (Australian eastern standard time).
My posting expectation is one post a day from every player. You can post more if there is character interraction, but posting less will see you being replaced with a more consistent participant. Posting in the play thread needs to be in character. In other words I'd like some description and roleplay to go with the mechanics of things.
I've run a number of PbP games on these boards, all of them successfull for at least a year in length. I haven't run one for a few years though.
I'm having troubles downloading documents from the my downloads section of my account.
Doesn't seem to matter which document or its size.
Everytime I try it with my iPad, I drop from the system. The progress bar jumps to about 1/4 progress (almost instantly) then just hangs.
Doesn't matter what time of day either.
Normally, I'll see that progress is still occurring because a spinning circle appears, showing the network is still accessing data, even if the blue bar doesn't appear to be working.
This isn't happening though.
I had this same issue on the day I tried downloading Starfinder, but that got resolved when a moderator saw t and moved it to this section of the boards (I'd originally posted in the Starfinder section).
Could you please look into this. I download direct to my iPad since this is where I read my PDFs. Downloading to computer seems not to be an issue,(tried this morning when I first noticed the problem). This won't solve my conundrum though, because synching the files to my iPad from the computer is painful and longer than a direct download has ever been.
So I have the free society quest. It states there should be pregen characters available for download.
I can't for the life of me find them though.
I'm going to run through this with my regular group and we want to get some mechanics aspects under our belt before taking our own characters into the AP.
"Welcome to Sandpoint. Please take the time to see yourself as we do" reads the sign above a small mirror. The post holding the sign leans alarmingly to the left, the old timber hardened by salt and sun from the coastal landscape.
Ahead lay the last bastion of civilisation in the frontier of Varisia. Sandpoint was a trade town, its harbour providing a location for ships to dock on their way from Riddleport to places further south.
But this is not what brings you here this day. Today you have heard that the town is holding a festival to Desna, in celebration of their newly completed church and the induction of the latest clergy men into the fold of Desna and the other gods of the region.
As you approach the town, see a pair of guards greeting and checking people as they try to pass into the town proper. The man and woman are protected y studded leather and carry spears. Longswords are strapped to their sides.
Most groups are passed through without concern, but one or two individuals are questioned or ask to demonstrate their ability to control the livestock or animals they have brought with them.
The first task is to convince the guards you are not dangerous. This only applies to folks who are of unusual races not commonly seen (non core races), have animal companions or familiars or trained pets, Have summoned creatures present at the time of entering, or who may be currently covered in gore and blood for whatever reason. The guards aren't concerned about most weapons but will question people with overly violent looking items such as great swords or axes.
Guards are generally indifferent unless given cause to be suspicious. This celebration has brought lots of strangers to town and the place is known for its cosmopolitan approach to the natives of golarion. Should not be difficult to get in really, just a chance to roleplay or skill play aspects of the characters
A recent thread had a player throwing out ideas on how his high level character would operate (level 20 wizard, trying to create a new religion effectively)
The idea sounds awesome, but a number of us (Players and DM's alike) felt that this player was getting away with his plan very easily.
I'd like this thread to be a place where players and DM's alike post things that pop up in high level play that are capable of working but may destroy campaigns if abused.
Let's not shut down every trick, let's come up with in game reasons why those tricks could be limited in their use to avoid serious in world repercussions.
I'll start with a favourite of mine.
Explosive Rune bag o' death.
- Simple premise, make a ton of explosive runes and plant them as a bomb for the big bad to read. BOOOOOOOOM! red squishy.
It's been posted in many threads as the answer to everything.
Here's some things that would limit it/end it in a campaign if it starts getting overused.
1) Scry. Another caster hearing of the super power of the caster using the trick scries on him. Reads the runes in the bag or as the caster is preparing him. BOOOOOM. (easily defended against if the caster is paranoid enough.)
2) Creature with awesome perception reads the runes from a safe distance. BOOOOOOOM. Wasted effect. (I have a ranger in the game I play that regularly gets 40+ perception on his rolls. He could probably make out the little full stop on the rune from 30 feet or more).
3) Steal bag. No BOOOM here. But the trick is useless now. (can be protected against, but not as easily as the Wizard might think if the levels are high enough).
4) Dispel magic as he gets the trick ready. Easily accomplished in many situations. Caster just has to fail (also easily done if you buff a low level caster minion to be sneaky and then cast the dispel.) Failing a dispel on the Runes makes them go BOOOOOOM!
Now, I wouldn't do these unless the player was trying to abuse the trick. In reality it's a really clever trick and should be allowed to work occasionally. However, once word starts getting out that this is the preferred tactic, then try these.
OK, let's see if this goes for more that a few posts.
PS. Let's endeavour to keep the personal attacks out of it. I like hearing players ideas. I like the creative approach to problem solving and think clever tricks should be rewarded by working occasionally. I just think some players feel they are the be all to end all and this thread is for everyone to have some ideas on how they can be reasonably limited to ensure the entire campaign doesn't break down.
Well this is where we talk shop and do planning out of character.
Check in here with your finished characters in profile please.
I'll give folks a day or two to sort there concepts and builds out then I'll kick off the story thread.
Im excited to be back in the saddle. I've never played with any of you before that I remember at least. As the game progresses, let me know how I'm doing and feel free to offer advice on how to make things smoother.
As a DM I am permissive of actions, but I will implement world based consequences that you may not expect but will make sense to both the game world and campaign story.
I'd rather no one tried to "break the game", so to speak.
Let's have some fun with this and see how far we get.
Well, I've been away for a year. Before then I ran a number of PbP on these boards with good success.
I was thinking of my signing up to some games recently, but now I've just decided I'm going to run this one instead.
What you'll need to do
- read the players guide. This is a very different feel to normal Golarion.
- create a character using 15 point buy, no more than one stat less than ten before racial mods. 150 gold starting. Two traits, one must be from the campaign itself.
- no third party material.
- if your build includes something not from the PRD on this website, please include a reference from where it comes.
- apart from the alternate races suggested in the players guide, only core races allowed (from the CRB)
This is a party based game. I'm going to choose 4 players with that in mind. General areas to be covered are Melee, arcanists, divine caster, skill player.
When you create your character please let me know which role you see them filling. I know some classes can be a number of roles, but I want you specifying where you really , want to be in he the party.
Gunslingers are good for this one I believe. There are many types of gun weapons coming out of this area. However, start as if you have emerging weapons and I'll work it out from there as we go.
I'm going to run this one as the module lays it out this time. Not much modding from me except to better tie your characters into the game at times.
This is a PbP, so roleplay and character development are going to be important.
I expect a post daily from players. 7 days a week would be great, but probably impossible to keep. So I propose at least 6 posts a week, one per day.
I live in Australia and I will post every night between 5pm and 6 pm Australian Eastern standard time. That will give you a 24 hour window to post responses and actions between my updates. If you miss that I'll NPC an action for you in combat situations. In social situations it's not likely to be as time consuming.
These games take time. However I plan to keep the pace going well. Initiatives willbe a us vs them situation. Average of your initiatives vs the enemies average. I'll roll those when combat starts and let you know which group gets to act first.
I can create decent maps and post them, but my time constraints will determine if I can maintain that or not in the campaign. There may be times where we have to go mapless
I will choose the first 4 players who I feel best fit the criteria above. Back story is not so important at this stage. A brief description of how your character is going to play out and be a team player is most important. Well do the rest after recruitment.
Ok, this thread is popping up as a bit of a challenge to some of the big statements out there about Tier System and DPR mastery etc.
Anzyr and I kind of fell into a challenge, for him to help me see why this Tier system is accepted by so many, when I have seen it rejected by so many.
I'm genuinely interested in the result here as I'm wondering if years of gaming in Adventure paths with generally fixed groups has truly coloured my vision of things.
I open this to anyone who wants to take a shot at it and we'll see how it progresses. The official info will be going to Anzyr but other builds can certainly be tested against it in similar ways.
The rules
- Im going to generate a random dungeon using a site called donjon. It's great and I'll chuck a link up to it soon.
- The initial challenge will start with a social challenge that will provide bonus information if you have a good chance of succeeding. I'll roll randomly to determine what skill is needed (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, insight) using the dice roller function here at set a Standard DC based on level (assuming I can generate one from the books suitably). If you can somehow bypass this test it counts as a success and the info comes your way.
- There will be skill challenge in getting to the site. This will help prevent a random encounter on the way. Skill challenge will come randomly from Survival, Kno Nature or Dungeoneering (depending on environment) or Perception. High chance of failure gives the encounter as something extra to deal with. Again you can bypass if possible through some feat or spell or skill you have if its relevant.
- The dungeon needs to be cleared within a 7 days of contract offer or reinforcements, random critters, something else refills the thing and you've effectively failed.
- You can travel back to a Large town to resupply. Its half a days travel, with all the restrictions of a town that big. I'll roll random loot once for the seven day cycle for the town.
- The dungeon itself generates loot too. I'll let you know what pops up as you go.
- The system assumes standard fantasy. So, 15 point buy. Only one stat less than 10 before race mods. No stat less than 3 ever. This rule is the same for everyone so no one is disadvantaged really.
- Gear is wealth per level. We are starting at level 5. If you have crafting feats, you need to use the Ultimate Campaign rules for your new Wealth limit.
- Initially this was just for Anzyr, but I reckon others can give it a crack. There are 4 characters to a Standard party. I'm going to provide characters at your level from NPC guide. Characters will be Barbarian, Wizard, Cleric, Rogue. You can choose which of those classes your character is replacing.
I took a long Hiatus from these boards to sort some stuff out. I'm back for a while and wanted to get back into discussing something I love.
Mid to high level play and how to be prepared for it in various ways.
I started a thread like this just prior to leaving the boards a year or so ago, but rather than necro that one, I thought we could start something fresh.
I'd like to see if this thread can be a place where experienced DM's can offer advice for other DM's on how to handle certain situations that crop up at mid to high level games.
People often discuss E6, so let's go from level 7 up.
The idea is either throw your experience out there for others to read, or ask questions, pose scenarios and see what others have done in their games.
will post again soon with an example of something that might crop up (running out of daylight and still have some jobs to get done in the house)
I've been on these boards since the time Age of Worms came out in Dungeon mag. At first it was to lurk, but then it was to get involved.
Over those many years, I have found this to be a fantastic site to visit. A place to share my thoughts and a place to argue in a polite manner about something I've loved since I was in grade six, rolelpay.
Sadly, my life has become infinitely more complicated over the last few years. Now it has reached a point where these boards no longer provide solace but rather contribute to a large stress system I've managed to accumulate for myself. No one here is to blame, it is purely a product of my own thought processes and life in general.
In order to provide some closure on this, and end on a very positive note for me, I'm posting this thread to offer thanks for those who've impacted positively over the last few years on these boards.
Firstly, to James Jacobs - Mate, apart from creating an amazing world and sharing it with us, you once offered me personal advice about sticking to my career (science teacher). As silly as it might sound, I took that advice and ran with it, much to my benefit and subsequent joy. Thank you so much for the words you've shared with me personally in a few different threads and also for everything you've offered in gaming.
Secondly, Jason Buhlman - (Which I always seem to misspell). I love your iteration of the rules more than any game I've played to date. Much of this is the game world itself, however your rules and have provided a great ability to continue a game I enjoy. You also personally signed my first printing copy of the rulebook when you came to Australia. Something I've kept and something I regularly tell my gaming buddies about. Legendary work big man.
To those who've been involved in my Play by Posts. Thanks to all of you for the great games. PbP is still the best medium for getting full effect of roelplay out of Pathfinder that I've found. We had some epic stuff started in those games, and I only regret that I couldn't run any of them longer than I did.
In particular to French Wolf and Mark Thomas66. Both of you got involved in many of my games, and you guys proved to be great friends as well great gamers.
Kirth - We rarely ever agreed on anything kirth, but your insightful discussions and analysis opened my eyes to many things I'd never even thought of. I valued your opinion, though often disagreed with it.
To some long lost folks from these boards. Aubury, Sebastion and Heathensson. For making me laugh, and offering sage advice in my early years on these boards.
Ok, well that feels a bit weird to type publically, but apparently it's meant to be cathartic for me and should help bring some closure so I can actually walk away from this type of thing. I have a few more points to discuss on a thread I've created this weekend, then I need to walk away for good.
I've seen a few threads around calling for banning spells, or broken classes, or getting devs to make changes to things. While those threads have their places, and some have clarified issues, I'd like this to be one where we offer advice to gm's on how to curb some of the excessive rules bending or breaking some players may try. ( even if they come about it innocently).
I'll start the ball rolling by discussing one that's popped up recently
Golems - a recent poster was discussing how something as powerful as an Adamantine golem was easy to overcome using antigravity. This was then used to provide an argument for casters being op.
I'd like to discuss how I design golem encounters to see if application of in game logic and campaign setting can address this.
My first thoughts are, if you only put a golem there as an obstacle to by pass in order to reach an objective, then you will have trouble. If you want them guarding something, and you want them to be a hard fight, make so they must be destroyed in order to succeed.
Eg put the item being guarded inside the golem. Pcs need to destroy it in Oder to get to the item.
Eg2 make it so the portal/ door/ cunningly wrought device can only open with the power that is animating the golem. Once this animus is freed for the golem ( by destroying it) then the way is opened.
Another trick I use is to ensure golems are in locations where their reach is always viable, including reaching the roof. This poses problems for flying creatures as much as it does for thebantigrav crowd.
Lastly, golems always had issues with being tricked by illusions etc. one of my favourite tricks here is to use golems in conjunction with controllers of some type. I once ran a golem encounter where an imp familiar was left to control it. The creature hung around invisibly and called orders to the thing that heed negate illusions and other tricksy things. Mostly by getting the golem to change targets every second round. Nothing scarier for a caster who thinks the golem has already engaged and locked on to a target, only to have it switch objectives suddenly and come thundering after him.
Pit spells my still be problematic, but then they are less so if you use my first piece of advice.
Ok, I'm typing this on an iPad, which is a painful process. I'll pop back in later with some ideas and advice on high level stuff involving extra planar creatures and certain magics.
The first day of Autumn came with pleasent weather and clear skys to the lost coast. Varisia's midlands were beautiful to wander, barely tamed and vibrant with life.
The four men walking the road to Sandpoint were'nt too concerned with beauty though. They had come to the moderate township for various reason. Following the call of festivities and fun, the rumours of goblin activity, the need to prove themselves outside of tehir monestary or the chance of a contract for work at what they did best. All of them had their own reasons, but they all had something to prove.
This drive had bonded them so far on their travels, and now they felt comfortable in each others presence.
As they crested the rise, the group caught their first sight of the town. A sprawling affair, built on the sloping shores of the coast line, and divided as a township by a large and flattened bluff. The lower part of town seemed crowded with buildings, the streets meandering as the township had grown. The upper part, that built upon the bluff itself, seemed to have more planning in its layout and certainly had more space.
Three buildings in particular stood out in the township. In the upper reaches stood the new church. A stone edifice dedicated to a number of gods and godesses of Golarian. It the was the grand opening of this building, combined with the Swallowtail Festival of Desna that had prompted the festival the town was holding.
Beyond that, seemingly carved from the very granite cliffs of Varisia itself, stood the ruined remnants of an ancient lighthouse. The thing must once have been huge, but now all that remained was the the shattered hulk of a lost empire.
The only other building of some note was a two story building in the lower township, built in the tudor style and decorated with festive banners and bunting. The fact it was a playhouse of some sort was obvious, even from this distance.
Beyond the town, the coastal waters sparkled in the morning light. Very few ships plyed their trade this morning, with most captains choosing to forgo work in order to enjoy the festival that seemed to be about to start.
As the group made their way across the bridge leading into town, they came to a sign adorned with a simple polished mirror. "Welcome to Sandpoint. Take a moment to see yourself as we do"
There were no guards, and just beyond the wooden platform the sounds of cheering and merrymaking were clearly heard.
ooc - Ok, this is the intro. This is a festival, with all that you can imagine that entails. It is in celebration of a new church being opened and coincides with Desna's swallowtail festival. What forms of enterainment or information would like to find out my adventurous friends.?
Well, this is the thread to get your characters into and discuss the objectives for the game.
I get the impression most folks just want to play. As scuh, I'm happy to open this up to all classes if you'd like.
If you want to run this as the martial only party and see how we go, I'm all for that as well.
20 point buy. Standard equipment.
2 traits as per standard.
You can use traits from the AP if you'd like (free aniversary players guide has these). However, you don't need them at all. Take any traits from an official Paizo source and I'm good for it (just provide a reference).
For simplicities sake, let's assume you've all met before, if only as passing aquaintances or completing a job together somewhere in the past.
Those familiar with the AP and Sandpoint setting, feel free to make your characters locals so you can use some of that knowledge without fear of metagaming too much.
My firm belief is that PbP is more about playing than data gathering. I believe with the time investment required, we should be getting enjoyment from this. I will enjoy it as DM no matter what we do, I leave it to you guys as party members to determine what the overall goal should be.
A house rule I use is for potions- healing potions always give max bonus for the + mod. So a cure light is always d8+5. This is because they are so expensive compared to wands I want them to be a meaningful investment. If you guys don't like that homerule, let me know now and we'll run with standard.
I'll run monsters as the Module states, and apply my judgement based on their nature and responses as per setting and bestiary as needed. I don't necessarily believe in everything being tactical geniuses, as some members of the boards seem to think.
Righto, post your characters and lets see how we fare.
There's been a few threads around lately about magic items and magic shops. This isn't one of those.
I want to hear what items people use for their characters, or would like their characters to have that don't revolve around just stat boosting. I'm doing this purely for interests sake, not in any attempt to start arguments. As an example of what I'm looking for, let me start off.
I'm playing in a campaign at the moment where my Witch caracter was recently killed (at level 5). It was a particulalry cool death, and one we all thought was epic. Rather than down play that death just by bringning her back with a 5 grand diamond and a friendly priest, I decided to roll up a new character.
I've gone for barbarian. Something that hits hard, but has enough alternate class features to let me play around a bit during combats.
Now this guy already hits hard, certainly well enough that he doesn't need a +x weapon to be much more effective. (He has one, but that's to overcome some DR stuff we've been coming across regularly).
What I've realised is, we no longer have an arcane caster, which means we can't rely on things like fly and other utility spells later on to shore me up.
So for my barbarian, I'm looking for something that gives me the movement options that casters could have given me. A simple set of boots that lets me teleport occasionally, or a cloak that lets me fly around sometimes.
Obvioulsy he's a bit weak in the will power area, but that's shored up by some rage abilities. Still, if he can get himself an item that puts protection from evil on him, he's going to pick it up.
In fact, the only reason he'll need a sword to get better +x is for DR in all honesty. As far as I can tell, the majority of the time he's going to hit just fine, at least with main attacks, and my plan is to make those count alot. A wepon with extra effects is always nice, but again, I'm mailnly interested in the unusual items that can add versatility to this guy rather than more "Hittiness". Hitiiness I can work out.
So, there's my general list for my barbarian, and my reasons for why they're present. Any suggestions for my Barbarian would be welcome, but it'd be great to hear of items for other classes as well.
Over to you guys.
NOTE: Please don't make this a thread about attacking what people say or suggest. Please offer constructive advice for sure, but attacking someones ideas on the topic really just leads to off topic stuff and thread locking.
Seems our Runelords game has lost its alchemist. I'm running this game in Pathfinder and have modified it for 6 players, so I'm looking to replace him.
The characters are currently 2nd level and are in the middle of some exploration/combat. New characters won't be introduced until after this is completed and by then the party should be 3rd level.
If people are interested in creating a character for this, post some concepts here for me to look over.
I don't need an entirely built character at this stage, just a concept on who they are, and why they would be in Sandpoint.
Some notes on events that have happened so far (spoilered in case)
Spoiler:
Goblins raided Sandoint some 2 weeks earlier. The party were intstrumental in saving many townsfolk and are now known as the Heroes of Sandpoint.
Since then, they have been instrumental in capturing a group of local criminals known as the Creedys. These boys are locals, but they were caught up in a bigger conspiracy and are currently being held at the local gaol
The group also interrupted a drug smuggling operation while trying to find the Creedy's. As a concequence, a group of very dangerous bandits rode into town and killed their captured man plus everyone else in the gaol at the time (the Creedy's weren't there at that stage). This has caused the sherrif and all his men to leave town and bring this band to justice.
The "heroes" have been deputised and are now the towns defenders until the sherrif returns
I will create a link to my DM profile for this game later this afternoon when I have more time, but if you have the players guide you can use that to help tie your character to the game.
I need players who can post regularly (once a day preferable) and will give precedence to those I've played with before or I know as good posters from these boards.
Having said that, anyone who creates an interesting character with good tie ins to teh game and a reasonable reason why they would be entering at this stage will be considered.
Current party - Bard, Paladin, Ranger, Wizard, Druid. Only accepting classes from core game and APG. Only races from core game.
On the other end of town, where the road slopes down to the docks and the morning air carries the smell of fish and boat tar, three new companions stand watching brightly coloured crates of fireworks being carefully unladen fro the schooner Windsprite. A sall gnomish alchemist runs frantically around the hulking dockers as they lift and move the crates, the little man's voice cries shrilly as he demands they take care with the dangerous cargo.
All three are highly taken with the scene, and each for their own reasons. Behind them, the great rusted dragon creaks and groans as a slight breeze blos in from the bay and rolls gently up Salmon street. As the breeze dies down, the spicy scent of cooking curry wafts from the open windows of the Rusty Dragon as Ameiko Kaijitsu, proprietor and ex adventurer slowly simmers her famous curry spiced salmon in preparation for todays lunch.
And this is where Jo'no, Tania and Algus begin. Feel free to interact freely here, and you can work out how well you know each other as you play this scene out a little. Lets assume Tania is here for the company and the interest of watching the docks on such a busy morning, Algus and Jo'No are most likely fascinated by the explosives coming off the boat (but for different reasons I'm sure hehe
Ok, here is where we start the ball rolling. I figure about a week before I would like to start the game off. Hopefully that's enough time for you to work with.
- 20 point buy
- Average wealth for your character class
- 2 traits from the APG or 1 feat from the players guide for this AP
- No evil alignments please
- Max hit points for first level, roll for level ups but minimum of half.
- Those who can make them are able to purchase scrolls and potions etc that their class would allow out of their starting gold. (So if you can scribe scrolls, you can start with some pre scribed ones)
- Please don't use the SRD to build your character unless it has sourced the info from one of the books I posted in the recruitment thread (some of the stuff in the SRD has potential to be misused or overpowered, and I'd rather not have the headache of that)
Please create your alias with details of crucnh plus background info. I tend to try and tie backgrounds into the game where possible as they are the best source for roleplay opportunities that I have found.
As you create them I'll go over them, but I've never been very strong on that area (I tend to trust my players with their builds). Feel free to help me in this if you see something I missed.
We'll work together to tie your backgrounds more tightly to Sandpoint over the next week as well. Mostly this is going to be me suggesting NPC's that might work well for the background you've already created.
I'm going to launch my second game on the threads and I'm opening recruitment for it. As the title suggests, it'll be Runelords, a great AP and one I've wanted to run for an age.
If you're interested, please submit a synopsis of your character idea with the following information as a basis.
- All classes from Core and APG are available
- Only books available are Core rules, GM guide, Advanced players guide, Campaign setting (though we'll need to pathfinderise some of those rules since it was written with 3.5 rules intially). Please do not use anything outside those books for a character concept.
- Your background must tie you to Sandpoint, the starting town for the AP. However, if you are a local, I want you to be returning to the town after a long absence (some years at least).
- The players guide is a free download so please have a read through that as a guide to the area.
- You can either take two traits from the APG (only APG traits acceptable) or one of the campaign feats provided in the players guide.
At this stage I don't want an entire character build (notice I haven't given points etc), only concepts and backgrounds.
Because this is an AP, I will be looking to ensure a relatively balanced party (at least one each from Fighter type, Skill user, Arcane caster, Divine caster and I'll fill the others as I feel fit the nature of the game best). This means less work from me to balance the game to the group, and time is a resource I must manage on this.
I'll not be starting the actual game for at least two weeks, and will recruit for a few days to give as many people as possible a chance to submit.
I'll recruit both veterens and new players, so don't feel you'll be at a disadvantage here if you haven't tried this before.
Time zones don't matter as post rate will be around once per day, maybe a bit less in busy times.
If you're still intersted, feel free to post and we'll get this started.
Restov teemed with people. The city fairly swelled with masses of the sweaty and the desperate. Those who had struggled for the last nine years against the machinations of the noble houses and their constant bickering and political maneuvering since the fall of House Rogarvia inevitably found their way ever closer to the borders, and Restov was as close to the border as one could wish without the barbarians knocking on your door.
For whatever reasons, this city had also called to those gathered in the smoky hall of the Lord Chancellors palace. A great table containing a fully modeled map of Brevoy held the centre of the room. The detailing and colour of the beautiful map naturally dew the eye away from the other, more mundane decorations of the hall. While it was true the Lord Chancellor held great power and wealth in the city, if this hall was anything to go by he certainly lived a spartan lifestyle. The great fireplace at the end of the hall was well stoked and heat radiated throughout the room, its flickering light and the few lit torches hanging in their sconces providing adequate lighting to see by, but remaining fairly subdued at the same time. Apart from these two features and a small refreshment stand at one end of the hall, near the main entrance, the room was bare.
All of those standing there had answered the flyer calling for parties interested in exploring the wildlands to the south. The notice promised adventure and glory, but more than this it promised a fresh start. In a land verging on civil war, there were many who dreamt of such things, but only the six gathered here now appeared to have met whatever criteria it was the Lord Chancellor was using to screen petitioners.
For now they waited, wondering when the man himself would arrive to discuss their very future.
20 point build. Standard starting gold for your character type
Two traits, one of which must be from the Kingmakers player guide
I will be ready to run our game in about two weeks so take your time to get things sorted. Flesh out your characters as you need. I like to try and incorporate backgrounds into the game if possible, especially for things like who can roll knowledge checks and bonuses to skill checks based on your background.
Remember your characters don't need to be tied to Brevoy initially, but they do need to have a good reason to sign on (which most of you have already provided).
TN, the campaign suggests that characters aren't too heaily tied to the nobility of Brevoy. No need to change your background concept but we may need to tweak how important her noble family is in the politics of Brevoy.
A note on languages. I play Common as a type of trade tongue. It works for communication purposes but there are times when accents and local dialect get in the way of complex negotiations. All characters start with common and their local language (eg Varisian, Ulfen etc.) There are times when local dialects will make it hard to interpret what people are saying as well. This tends to make a more immersive game and it makes linguistics a useful skill at times.
Feel free to ask questions, particularly those new to this type of thing.
I'll check back in later today if people need anything else.
I'm going to start a new PbP on the boards in a few weeks time where I'll be running the Kingmaker campaign. I'm calling for expressions of interest from those interested in joining.
I'm an experienced DM and moderately experienced at PbP (as both player and DM). I ran a homebrew campaign here about a year ago which was going great guns until home life stepped in and caused me to get out of the boards for a while. I've learnt from that experience and this will be the only game I'll take on since it allows me to focus my time better and not interfere with real life.
I tend to write for a realisitic feel to my NPC's and like to build a consistant world. I'll be running Kingmaker in teh golarion setting but I will be tweaking things to suit my style of play and allow some GM freedom. Since Kingmaker is a sandbox game this facet is already built in to an extent but I wnated to let people know up front that I'm not an expert on Golarion Canon and will happily make details up to better suit our game and characters.
As this is an AP, I will be selecting characters with balance in mind as this is easier than having to adjust every encounter to fit the players. I appologise if this puts limits on players and it's not something I'd do for a home game, but given the nature of the AP's and PbP's this will allow me more time to run the game and that is a good thing.
Things available for you to use are - Golarion campaign setting, Pathfinder Core rules, Advanced Players Guide, Gamemaster guide. Any other stuff that Paizo has written for their game should be fine but let me know so I can try to read up on it. Third person stuff is off limits at the moment as I like to read about classes before I allow them and i don't own third party stuff. Having said tht, I'm pretty flexible as a DM and will work with players to grow a world, and that includes negotiating character stuff.
Posting times - I'll aim for at least one a day, and I'm hoping for the same from my players. If life interferes you need to let us know. I will GM NPC your character if needed so we don't end up waiting a week.
I enjoy narrative style so would ask that you post in third person rather than first person as it makes the "story" flow better when you read through it.
For applications just throw me a concept and a reason why your character wants to join an expedition to explore a frontier wilderness. Use the Players Guide for ideas and choose a trait from there if it helps. Don't worry about character creation until I've let you know you're in as it takes a long time for that sort of thing.
Characters will be first level
I'll be slecting five characters, and will recruit until I have five that I think will work (as both charcters and players).
Hope some of you out there find this appealing and are willing to give it a try.
I've seen a number of threads here discussing relative power of classes and how seemingly magic using classes can become voerly powerful at high level. Rather than create another "How do I fix this class" thread, I'd like to open up the forums to ways DM's have used their campaign setting to keep things in check. This is useful across all levels of play.
I'd like this to be an ideas thread as much as anyhing else. It'd be nice if we could keep it less argumentative than some of teh toher threads have become, but I guess we'll see.
Some ideas I've used
- Arcane magic takes from the world, divine magic takes from the gods. In essence, arcanist restructure the material around them to make their spells. High enough magic can have very unpleasent effects on the imediate vicinity.
Divine casters ask their gods for spells, but high level spells draws more power from a deity than low levels. The divine casters have to return teh power they borrowed somehow (maybe running a local church or converting people to their faith). Without the payback, their access to high level magic gets restricted by their god.
- Summoning comes from somehere and has repercussions of its own. Bringing forth a wall of iron means that wall came from somewhere. Someone may come looking for the person who keeps stealing their iron.
Summoning critters that have intelligence and forcing them to do your bidding means they may get cross with you. At high levels, with critters that have the potential resources to track you down, you may think twice about summoning them for aid.
Divine summons is restricted by your god. The god can only send emiisaries that they have in their power or have created pacts with. For example, your god may be worshiped by the Eladrins, therefore a high level summon monster may only net you Eladrins. Higher level summons only nets you you Eladrins, but maybe they have class ranks to help build up their power.
I've run out of time now for more of the things I've tried, but if you have some, let us know. I find these types of trweaks to how magic works in a world can really make a campaign feel alive.
I probably won't get to check back here any time soon, butt feel free to take the thread and run with it.
The sound of calling pterodons split the greying skiy. The false dawn had begun to lighten the eastern horizon and already the flying reptiles had taken to the air to begin tehir hunt for fish and birds eggs. Interspersed amongst their mournful cries, the harsh screech of turns and gulls could be picked out as they dove amongst the ships looking for scraps and fish.
On the docks of Great Azhagur, ten large ships were already being loaded for a journey of great distance. Their nationalities could easily be determined by the difference in their rigging. Great square masted vessels of Tien Province sat alongside Lateen rigged ships of the Sun Empire. A single Ulfen longboat stood alongside the last dock, it's crew readying weapons and armour as they prepared to depart for the battlelines somewhere out on the Sallanthus plains. It was here the the immortal Sun Emperor had gone to meet the invading horde of Goblinoids and these rough northmen were there to test their mettle in battle. Their blades had been paid for and their loyalty would hold till months end. Behind them the domed roofs of white buildings peeked almost timidly above the 30 foot white walls of the city. On the warves and piers, a small town of shanty dwellings and makedo tents was only just beginning to show signs of life as the desperate refugees of a dying nation stirred from their exhausted sleep, ready to face another day of begging to gather money for passage to the northlands.
Amongst this panorama of vessels and chaotic movement, a bastion of organised loading was represented by a five masted galleon of the Chelaxian nation. The great vessel stood at nearly 1000 tons and sat well in the water as snakelike collumns of people made their way up and down the three gangplanks being used to load the ship.
Vik and Algret
Spoiler:
You paid your fare for passage aboard the Vixen to a big Mwangi calledd Mjobo. He was first mate of teh ship but he hadn't bothered to tell you passage also required you to load and unload the ship. He merely laughed at your protestations this morning when you had fronted early to beat teh refugee crowds. His statement that you coul always swim to the Northlands had left you no argument and now you both find yourselves on the end of a barrel of apples, rolling it towards a small crane lowering stores into the belly of the ship. You are almost dead centre of the ship. Two big masts stand about 10 feet on ether side of you. The hold space is a gap of about 10 square feet and stands open. The gunrails of the mid deck stand 15 feet behind you and 25 feet ahead of you. Nearest ganglplank is directly behind you.
Paera and Bo-Dan
Spoiler:
When Mjobo took your money for passage aboard Vixen you had no idea you had to load the ship as well. Now you both stand in line at the base of the aft most gangplank. Each of you carries a sack of grain on your shoulders, now providing you both with a heavy load in addtion to your gear. The gangplank is 20 feet long and about 5 feet wide but bows alarmingly when you walk on it.
Milhar
Spoiler:
You signed up to move cargo this morning to check out the ship Vixen. It was the ship from your dreams and now you looked to fnd the two you had seen in your vision. You are currently carrying a crate of preserved foods (heavy load) and are walking off the foredeck ganglplank. You're about 15ft from the Forecastle of teh ship, and 20 feet from the cargo hold.
Dergo
Spoiler:
You sailed for 5 weeks on this stinking vessel, having sigend on for a one way trip as crew on the Vixen. Now the damned first mate was making you stow cargo in the second hold before he lets you off. You are at the base of the cargo crane unhitching barrels. The space is only 8 feet but it is the biggest deck of the ship. Directly above you the open hatchway of th cargo loader is 10 feet square. Two other men are helping you. The nearest exit is 5 feet to your left into another storage compartment. Through that is a set of small stairs leading up.
A single bell tolls suddenly in the morning air. It's strident tone cutting through the brightening sky like an omen from the gods. Everywhere things seem to stop as people turn their heads to look at the great tower of Sarenraes temple, from whence the sound emerged. Time seemed to stand still for the briefest of moments. Then the Bell tolled again.
Panick erupts from the crowds on the docks and in the shanty town on the warves, sccreaming starts almost immediately. Above all of this chaos and noise, a heavy drone can be heard getting louder.
Knowledge Nature 12
Spoiler:
The drone reminds you of a swarm of bees. Only these would have to be big bees to make such a noise.
Knowledge Local 14
Spoiler:
he tolling of teh bell of Sarenrae is the signal that the town is under attack by a large force. It is used to call all troops to the walls imediately. Failure to comply is accompanied by the death penalty.
Ok, go ahead and post actions you'd like to take. Obviously the bell is some sort of signal to cause such a panic. Ask questions of your surroundings and such as required. I'll be posting agin tomorrow night.
I'm looking for two more players to try out a bit of a homebrew for a PbP. I'm using the golarian setting, some Eberron stuff and influences from a number of tabletop settings and other roleplays to build the world. I have four definite players already interested with a fifth I'm not sure of. Happy to run with seven if it comes to it.
The OOC thread is here.Please read through the posts there to get a feel for the world and the type of game I'm planning on running.
Some of the content will get mature in terms of themes we explore, so please be aware of that (I'm an older gamer and like my games a bit gritty). I'm also expecting regular posting, once a day during the week. Weekends tend to be busier for most people so at least once on wekends is fine.
If you like the setting and are keen to try it out, post here please. If I get a large response, I'll lotto the thing and let you know who got in.
Oh yeah, I should note this will be my first time DMing a PbP.
Ive basically outlined the idea for the campaign in Terra Nova's thread but I'll do a quick recap here.
Your characters will start on a vessel fleeing from the twin cities of Azhagur and Bezek on the southern continent of Aramais. The cities were taken by a horde from the deserts but I'll let you discover more about that in game.
Without getting into too much background stuff right now, I'll let you know about creation rules so you can toss around the ideas of the character types you're after.
Rules will be Pathfinder Beta, to convert when the offical rules are released. I'm also allowing feats from PHB2, Complete Warrior, Complete Arcane, Complete Adventurer and Complete Divine. Some equipment from these will also be introduced as the campaign progresses.
I'm going to be introducing gear from Magic item compendum and players can use spells from spell compendium. Understand that some of the spells need to be changed to better fit Pathfinder but we'll deal with those as they crop up.
Races and religions are from the Pathfinder campaign setting. While their names and abilities are going to be the same, where they come from will be changed. I'll add those details as we need them.
Classes as per pathfinder. You can also use a Warlock or a Swashbuckler if you want. The warlock is good as is, the swashbuckler has a conversion in one of the threads that I'm happy with so will make available to you if you choose to go that path.
Paladins - I like the idea of all religions having access to Paladins as champiions of their faiths. As such, you don't need to be Lawful Good to be a Paladin. Instead you choose the god you worship and match their alignment exactly. No True Neutral though please. For detect and smite abilities, you choose one alignment axis from your deity and that's what those abilities are based off. So you can either be Good or Chaotc or Lawful. We'll iron out other abilities as we go though most of them shouldn't need modifying beyond a name change.
On alignment, you can choose anything except Evil. I find Evil doesn't really work for the type of game we're after. Lot's of true neutral mercenaries are fine though :).
Background - all you need is a brief bit explaining why you were in those cities. The natives of that land are Garundi and Kheleshite. Every other race would be visitors to those cities. They were very cosmopolitian and controlled the best trade route across the sea though, so it is possible you could have been raised there and be another nationality. Don't go into too much depth, let it grow as the game progresses, plus I'll be throwing bits at as we go.
Righto, the nitty gritty. - 20 point buy. Starting cash is standard for your class (not max, the average). You can have one trait from the standard traits availble from the Paizo downloads section (free). Max hit points plus con mod to start. When you level you roll for hit points. If your roll is less than half the possible score for your dice type, you automatically take the half value instead. So for a d6, the minimum you can get is a 3 for the roll. Then you add con mod obviously.
That's it for a start. Feel free to choose any character type. If no one wants to play a healing type I'll use an action point system that allows for healing in combat. If you don't like that idea I'll make magic items available early that allows for healing.
I've been DMing the Age of Worms campaign for about two years now and we're well and truly into the high level stage of things. The characters are 17th level, going to hit 18th in a session or two.
Before I comment on pathfinder’s impact on our high level play, let me state a few things about the campaign.
I allow all the splat books, but I've heavily tweaked the feats to try and match pathfinders take on things.
We play spell points from Unearthed Arcana. This was done as we have an evil party and this gave the cleric the option of "Spontaneous healing" to a certain degree
The spell compendium is in play and the spells in here take precedence over any spell in other splat books. I have ruled some spells out due to the spell point option (Limited wish and wish are a bit too powerful with spell points). Actually less of a rule out than enforced strict limitations on their usage to help balance the extra power spell points provide.
We use magic item compendium and I’ve stuck to wealth by level as much as possible within the confines of the campaign. There have been two occasions where players got to a location of significant wealth and access to magic gear that I allowed them to respect their gear as they saw fit and could afford.
With these provisions in place and given the questions from Jason in the sticky post, here's my take on things.
1) How do high level characters compare to one another? There are some inequities when facing one another, but do the classes still successfully fill a role when played as part of a group? Which classes need better high level abilities and what might they be within theme?
The classes play well together. No one class seems to outshine the others in our game. I've discussed this point heavily in other threads and I know there are people who just won't agree. However, for our group, using characters that have grown organically, with little restriction on gear based on wealth per level, all the characters work well together.
However, we did have to house rule in an option for melee characters to use their iterative attacks for movement. When they started getting three attacks per round but couldn't use them after moving, it started making fighting types fall well and truly behind the bell curve. This option has already been discussed in the combat thread.
Please note our experience is based off heavy group work, with all players working together to make the group more effective. This means the spell casters in my group are more than willing to spend points fully buffing the other players in order to make them more effective, and the fighters readily take the big hits so the casters stay out of trouble. There are spells in the spell compendium that are essential for party success, particularly mass conviction to boost saves. Greater Heroism does this better in the Pathfinder rules, except it can only target individuals. A mass version would be useful. It would also be useful for clerics to have a mass booster like conviction in the pathfinder rules, if you don't want people to be reliant on the old 3.5 books.
- How does the game change if there is a limit to the number of "buff" spells that an individual character can benefit from? How does this affect the game if the limit is 3, 5, or a number equal to 1 per two or four levels.
I tried to implement this change to our campaign but after discussing it with a few of my players we decided against it. There were some situations that would've TPK'd our party if they hadn't been buffed, and some critters that would've been walked over if they hadn't had time to buff. I can't comment more than this on this point sorry. Without play test experience I don't know how it'll pan out, but it will certainly change how some of the pre existing modules play out.
- With the changes to many of the high level spells to massive damage dealers, how does this impact fights against high HP monsters. Does this give the melee classes a better role in a high level fight.
This change made a big difference to the style of play of my casters. Because of the hit point nature of damage now, it means fighting types have a much better chance of staying in fights after one of these babies goes off, even if they fail. The damage output is still high enough to be scary though. My casters no longer rely on dropping a death spell to get the job done. They still try them but realise that someone else will probably have to finish the job for them. It's also changed how many big hitting types I can throw at my players. First time we played with the limited death spells I didn't compensate enough in the fight design and threw just a few too many giants at them. Luckily they had the capacity to run away and try again.
The fighters in my group wouldn't function as well without maneuverability items. There's a cheap pair of teleporting boots in magic item compendium that two of the melee types still use (up to 60ft teleport). It's helped them out of a number of holding type spells (solid fog for example) without relying on the casters overly much. The new critical feats are also proving popular with my fighting types. The bleed effect is a killer, also the blindness if you can drop it onto a caster. I tried to convince one of my players to take up the sword and board feat that makes people unable to leave your threatened squares but haven't sold him on it yet. I can see that being a great mage disruptor as well.
We haven’t had too much trouble with the classic improved invisibility flying caster of death issue, as our group works well together. However, I'd recommend some of the items I mentioned above making their way somehow into the game.
The only other point I'd like to make is certain skills become so high as to make checks on them obsolete after a certain level. Spellcraft to cast defensively is practically a given at the moment. An automatic pass makes it very hard to do anything about spell casting in combat. We're ok with that in my group but it is an issue that I think needs looking at. I’m sure it's been discussed before.
Fights take forever at high level. This is seriously slowing down progress for us in the campaign, however every fight is becoming memorable rather than just a few different ones. Each fight seems much tenser. Part of that is the great scenarios in the campaign, but much of it has to do with sheer variety of things going on as well. I'd like to see combat speeded up but I don't really know how to achieve that. Part of it at my table is player prep and focus, but part of it is all the number crunching and dice rolling. I can't really offer much more advice.
This one’s been more a summary of our experiences to date rather than a discussion point. Hope it helped.
This one may be a bit contentious but I think this is the place to bring it up. This is a rule at combat level rather than any specific class so all people can utalise it.
Many discussions have occurred around the disparity of effectiveness for combat types vs casters. Particularly the inability for combat oriented playes to fully utelise all their attacks if they move more than 5 feet.
I would like to see a change where you can either:
a) Spend attacks for further movement (5 feet increments, 10 feet if hasted).
or
b) have casting spells over a certain level take a full round action (can't move more than 5 feet and cast)
I have implemented the first example into my home game and with characters now at 17th level it seems to work well. Gives the fighting types more tactical maneuverability and the capacity for higher damage output.
My preference is the spend attacks option as it is far less complex than tracking if a spell was level 4 or more so you couldn't move and cast (purely from a DM's perspective).
If there is enough interest I'll post the full rule I've written for the move option.
In terms of backwards compatability it certainly has no impact on stat blocks as written.
Also, I remember how hot this topic was early on in the piece so if this isn't the place or isn't what the designers are after, I understand if it gets shut down. I just felt it was an option that could balance a number of other issues in the game.
I like the alcehmist fire and acid splash weapons options available in 3.5. They add alternate and relatively cheap tactics at lower levels to overcome challenging situations that may otherwise overwhelm a party.
Here's some more I'd like to see for similar reasons.
Glitter Bomb - sets off a small explosion of clinging glitter/dust etc that clings to and outlines invisible targets. This helps parties to prepare for the invisible creature that they may otherwise have no chance at targeting. If a more expensive version of this item had a timed charge, you could even make it explode in the air. It also gives all characters at all levels the chance to combat the improved invisible flying caster. Since glitterdust itself is a low level spell, this could cost the same as a potion of similar level.
Smoke bomb - Creates a short duration screen of smoke over a small area. Offers concealment only. A more expensive version may have a smoke effect that is also choking in nature, stunning a creature for a round as it hacks and coughs.
I don't see these as magic items, rather simple alchemical devices like alchemists fire or acid flasks. It makes some very useful itmes available for non casting types that can help them out of otherwise extremely frustrating situations.
This is the second copy of this thread. I can't delete it or shut it down now sorry. The boards were doing funky things for me earlier and I couldn't rectify the problem.
If one of the moderators could delete this one I'd be grateful.
I'm playing a Sorceror at the moment who has the elemental bloodline (air).
I'm loving the concept and enjoyed the extra versatility this allowed me as a limited spell choice caster. This has allowed me to expand the focus of my spell selection to some of the more versatile spell choices that wizards normally get but sorcerors can't afford to dip into. Now you still get some blasting effects from your bloodline as well as choosing other spells of a versatile nature.
On two separate games though, I found my bloodline powers to be completely useless due to the nature of the combatants (immune to electricity or very highly resistant). I am aware that there are times where some people should shine and others should be shadowed, however, it is frustrating to have your signature powers completely ineffective.
We're playing an AP (Savage Tide) so it's not like my DM was trying to deliberately eliminate me from the game either. I was able to cast alternative magics but there were entire sections of my limited spell selections completely useless to me.
Now there are feats available in a number of splat books (complete Arcane for one) that allows me to swap energy types so I'm happy to use these.
What I'm wondering is if this is a problem that needs to be addressed at the pathfinder level.
Are the designers happy enough to leave energy substitution as a splat book option or should it be built into the game?
I was thinking of an option like a Sorceror feat that indicates you have more than one elemental type, like Air and Fire (non exclusive elements obvioulsy). This can open up a solution for this problem without adding further power to the already amazingly versatile Wizard
My reasoning is that I feel the bloodlines have been placed to increase the flexibility of the Sorceror in the caster role. A choice at the beginning of your career may end up being amazingly limiting in the long run if you fight many creature types immune to your bloodline. This shouldn't happen.
Or am I just being a wimpy geek boy who wants everything for my new Uber Caster?
Played my gnome sorceror not long ago. We're going through the Isle of Dread part in Savage Tide AP and we came across some of the demons.
Now I have taken the air elemental bloodline (I like lightning and being able to fly around :) ) but many of these creatures were immune to my bloodline abilities (since they eveoke only the energy type of the elemental I am).
This was a bit frustrating as for most of the game I couldn't use those bonus abilities. I still had effective spells and scrolls, but it did make my option a little disapointing. For a sorceror limited options are going to happen but the Beta is trying to address this.
I'd like to see a metamagic feat similar to the one in complete Arcane, where you can swap energy types of effects for spells. I think it will increase the versatility of the sorceror. Not sure how the balance will change for wizards (who already have very high versatility). I realise the flavour of this might not be well matched to my bloodline but I am thinking about your overall goal of increasing the versatility of the sorceror.
I like the fact the bloodline abilities mean I can diversify my spell selection more so not trying to be a blaster, or enchanter all the time. However this scenario certainly then crimped my game a fair bit.
One thing I forgot to throw into the first post. Our cleric used channel negative energy for the first time today. The guys are playing evil characters if you havn't worked it out yet.
Up until the point he bought himself selective channelling this was fairly useless to him as it dealt too much damage to his friends. He dropped it today in our first fight and thought it was just damned sexy (his words, not mine)
However we felt that having to spend a feat to make a power useful to you is not really appealing. We've suggested making it heal characters of similar alignment to you (not our preferred option), or perhaps followers of the same religion (our preferred).If not heal them, at least not hurt them.
This at least means evil clerics on a mission with their faithful servants can heal them and damage opponents. It does limit things greatly though and would probably hurt the effectiveness of channel positive energy. So maybe positive energy can heal living creatures and does a slight bonus to followers of same religion.
Any way the selective channeling feat is still useful so you can use the postive and not heal your enemies, and is good atm to use the negative and not hurt your mates.
I am trying an experiment on this one to see if its possible in the current thread climate to resolve an issue without too much angst being shown.
I'd like a simple yes or no to this question "Should Planar Binding be adressed for the main relase of the Pathfinder rules".
Please do not post reasons why or why not. I am trying to determine what percentage of players feel it is an issue without clouding the forum.
At the end of 2 weeks I will tally the for's and against's and present them as a percentage of individual voters. On that note, please don't post more than once.
I would then invite at least one member of the development team to determine if sufficient weight of numbers has been carried to make this a topic for discussion in terms of a FIX. I also invite them to discuss if they feel this is even a relevent format in which to determine this.
Gary, if you feel this is circumventing your ban on the other thread please feel free to close it down and kick me soundly in the behind. It's certainly not my intention.
Hoping for all your support on the nature of the thread.
Cheers
Corelia has not participated in any online campaigns.
