YellowMage's page

Such a shame that the PACG ended.

As a side note: Be careful with this encounter depending on the abilities and skill level of your players. 3d4 negative levels each round can result in a tpk with just a few failed saves.

The party consists of a level 11 Mythic Barbarian with an Oracle of Life Leadership cohort, a level 10 Mythic Barbarian built around having a 15' -reach at all times, a 5/Fighter/5 Oracle of Battle, and a level 10 Gunslinger. They've been walking through encounters for a while now, and now they're in Undead country...

So I'm running an encounter for my party right now featuring 3 Mythic Bodaks and a level 9 Mythic Cavalier, who also happens to be a vampire. Yeah, the campaign has been getting a little dark lately. Anyway, I'm confused by the Bodaks' Death Gaze ability. Am I correct to assume that it counts as a gaze attack, and thus the players would have to save against it every turn they're looking at the bodak (i.e., not averting their eyes or wearing a blindfold as in the core rulebook under the Gaze attack section)?

And if that's the case, does the save for the negative levels happen every time the Death Gaze goes off, or is it the type of negative levels where you get the save after 24 hours? I'm a bit confused, and would appreciate any help you guys could give me.

yes to basically everything that's been said so far.

i think the two most important factors are:

- resource management. the barbarian aren't likely to run out of rage, and the fighter won't run out of anything, but the oracle only has so many spells/channels per day (and everything will grind to a halt with out her). try using more encounters/day (or noticeably longer ones), or do something to control the healer (like a hold or fear, or even better something like Nauseated that's a fort save) for an encounter. if they have to really start paying attention to how much more healing they have (or if/when healing is even coming) they'll feel a lot more challenged.

- controlling the battlefield. any opponent that charges a super-melee party like this is pretty screwed, so only really stupid/foolish/arrogant opponents should even consider that. any enemy with any intelligence should try to engage from a distance, with any terrain advantages they can find. once in a while they may meet people face to face in closed quarters with just a simple initiative roll, but with a party with little to no stealth and little to no divination/scouting ability they'll often be facing opponents who had a round or two to pick an advantageous location and potentially kick off or receive a buff or two. that can make a big difference in combat. a couple of guys who have bows (even if they're not really archers per se) that are on top of a little cliff or across a decent chasm can drain quite a few resources even if they're APL-2 with no Mythic tiers, and (as already stated) it looks like they'd be totally hosed against flying/invisibility/all kinds of things they should face at that level... heck, any 7th level wizard worth his salt could cast improved invisibility and fly and give this whole party a pretty rough time!

Off the top of my head, with no character sheet in front of me, I want to say the Oracle has something like 10 channels a day...the player has been stacking CHA on her to the exclusion of all else.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

Mentioning now that one of them was originally a sorcerer and they haven't been both Barbarians for 10 levels kind of changes the whole thing.

You probably should have encouraged being something other than a Barbarian and that bad luck/tactics doesn't mean the class sucks. Since that's hindsight, I'd say you're going to need NPCs to help fix the problem as well.

I did try to explain that bad rolls happen and he shouldn't give up on the Sorcerer, but the player was, quite frankly, butthurt and wanted to play a character like he did in his high school campaign. I went along with this to keep the campaign going, but I know I should have held to my guns.

Perhaps the most important question to answer before anyone gives you too much detailed advice:

Do your players really like and identify with the characters they are playing?

Further, is there a real-world reason that you only have two players? More, in this particular case, might be exactly what you need.

I've run a world-for-one before, but it can sometimes require you to turn into storyteller and throw a lot of the mechnical systems of the game out the window. Which is can be a sacrifice worth making in the name of fun.

Sorry, didn't see the rest of your response. We've only got the three of us due to living in an area devoid of other gamers, and we've been friends for a while. We tried to introduce another player to the group but ended up asking him to leave after multiple sessions of telling him to put his cell phone/cartoon sound board away, cleaning up after his meals like a small child, etc. Mind you, this guy was in his mid-20's.

Perhaps the most important question to answer before anyone gives you advice:

Do your players really like and identify with the characters they are playing?

The dps Barb really loves his "smash everything" play style. The tank BArb was until 4 or so sessions ago playing a Sorceror to decent effect (his first time playing a spell caster), but after the fight with the Moon Beast and failing to get through its SR the entire fight (some truly awful rolls, simple bad luck) he decided that "spell casters are useless" and made the Barbarian.

Try to give your players information on what they will be facing up front. Example: going in the sewers? They get rumors about carrying fire or backup weapons in case they find slimes. You can have the cohort or DMPC search for rumors to give them the idea.

Have them role play an encounter with another group of adventurers (friendly competition in the future maybe?) where they talk shop and compare notes, could be fun if the players go for it.

Have bad guys use the tactics you want them to learn; ranged weapons, using potions, etc. maybe have the DMPC buy the group options, since it's not something you think about until you use it (especially if you play a lot of computer RPGs, where consumables aren't necessary much of the time).

I've been having the DMPC buy things like alchemical fire and such for the past couple of sessions since I knew the group would be facing crab swarms, but I'll try to be more chatty with various necks. Drop more rumors, hints, etc about what may be coming next. Good idea!

Appreciate the help.

First of all, i see that you're a new poster... welcome aboard!

Character creation can be very daunting the first few times around, but you'll figure it out if you enjoy the game. :)

As to your specific question, the feats gained every odd level are standard. Those are what every pc of any class/race gets simply for attaining that level.

Depending on your race and class, you could get more than just the 1 at level, 1, though.

for example, all humans get one additional feat simply for being a human. So if you chose to be a human monk, you're already up to 2 feats at creation.

Quick note about monks, they can be a difficult class to create. There are many, many people would would suggest you play something "more straight-forward" (like a fighter) for your first character. While I'm not going to go that far, it would be nice to know what kind of monk you would like to play. Do you have inspiration of some sort or have something specific in mind?

Thank you for the kind welcome :)

I'm thinking I'd like to play a Dwarven Monk. My inspiration was a sort of lone brawler, taciturn and quiet, yet totally willing to beat the tar out of someone who asks for it. Ideally I'd go for a Drunken Boxing-ish Prestige class (although I don't see it in the APG...well, maybe in the future). I was reading the description for the Monk class when I saw the mention of a Monk being, among other possibilities, a "self taught brawler".

This is my first time playing any RPG, and I'm a little confused as to the specifics of character creation. I have the Core Rulebook, but it's a little...daunting, and I'm having trouble finding the answers.

When you create a character, how many feats do you get? I'm trying to create a Monk, and I see on the 3.10 table on page 58 that I get a "bonus feat" every few levels. Are these the only feats I get, or do I get a normal feat every level?

Any other tips/advice you guys could think of would be really helpful, I've got my first night of Pathfinder Society Play this Wednesday. Thank you for your help, and happy adventuring!