baronbloodbath's page

At face value, I would be leery of letting a teen play in a game with me; but is it really any worse than having them play a video game? If they won't, at least, let your son try his hand at RP, then they are prejudiced wrongly.

If, on the other hand, the players feel you might be playing favorites with your son, then they are prejudiced correctly.

I would recommend one of the players in your game where your son plays has a chat with The "problem" group about what your son brings to the table. A neutral opinion may hold more sway than you saying "My son is totally a great role player. Pinky swear."

Tabletop RPGs are cooperative games, and as such, without the cooperation of our pcs, there is no game.

If you can't find out why they have reservations, and if they flat out refuse to give your son (who wants to RP! Let him!) a chance, I would remind them that blood is thicker than water.

Seriously, I am so friggin pumped for this AP.

Dammit, I hope the Guide to Numeria book has a ton of stuff in it (new magic items as well as tech, new archtypes, etc). I'd really love something as flavorful as the Viking Archtype from the Reign of Winter campaign, you know?

Also, I sincerely hope that we see not only the Black Sovereign, but also in the Guidebook we see at least more public players of the Technic league itself, as well as their enforcers (beyond the Gearsmen).

Dammit, the possibilities for this are so many and so vast. The city of Starfall itself is awesome.

Also, will varying tribes in Numeria be detailed, as well as any groups that are resisting the Technic League and the Black Sovereign? Maybe some groups that are competing with the Technic League for his favor?

Would also love to see in this campaign the option for getting the Black Sovereign off his ass and back to conquering and unifying Numeria under one rule. And then going from there and taking more and more!!!!
I'm gonna be such a horrible warlord.

I'm hoping they put some sound-based weapons/magic items in....think weirding module From Dune.

I think I am going to recycle some ideas from a third party book from the third edition era called Occult Lore. In said book there was a wizard variable called logician which basically was a walking dead magic zone thanks to his "rationality".

Also had an idea for a witch archetype, THE LASER WITCH! which would grant you hexes like:
-Ride the lightning:
The witch turns into a living lightning bolt capable of electrocute her enemies or travel to electricity conductive material.
-Robot master:
Using a strange chanting, a witch can take the control of a construct per many rounds as levels she haves.
-Outrageous hologram:
The witch is capable of produce vivid illusory images and music out of nowhere. This hex grants a +4 to the Witch's performance skill as well as the chance of use a bardic performance.

These are not the robots you're looking for....move along.

My idea of a Numeria campaign looks an awful lot like This:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1OltqVcr1Q

Part Heavy Metal, part Flash Gordon, with an unknown race of saucer-borne conquerors from a Far Star, Elder Things from Beyond, and a sisterhood of dark techno-priestesses seeking apotheosis.

...But that's just my imagination running away with me. ;)

That...was....AWESOME!

Iron Gods eh? Sounds like every adventure will have a special featured ingredient.

"Tonight's iron ingredient is...drumroll please.......SHOGGOTH!"

No robot vs kaiju....

But will there be airships? Please...let there be airships!!

Octoborg- A weird tentacled cyborg creature with a glowing red eyestalk tentacle, a scorching ray tentacle, and a sleep gas tentacle. It kind of "jumps" around using stored kinetic energy in its adamantine limbs. It can observe both visible and invisible creatures using flashes emitted from its eyestalk.

There are some nice ones up there.

What I can think think up woud be the Reversed Cyborg:
Originally an automaton that wasn´t even supposed to be human decided, after an accident, to use organical parts, mostly of humanoids, to repaire and upgrade itself.
This leads to an somewhat unformly mass of fleshy and mechanical parts, that has obscuritys like an hand on top of mechanical neddle, instead of an arm, and an eye sewn on the palm.

Creepy!

We might not see kaiju vs robot battles, but will Cthulhu make a cameo?

Android bard. When she sings, dubstep comes out.

Perhaps a suit like the ones out of the original Stargate will be introduced, where it kind of functions like Called Armor that wraps itself around you on demand and you carry it in a necklace, on your wrist, etc.

Personally, I would like to see a force field like the myrmidon robot on the power armor.

How would druids feel about such artificial, unnatural creations?

Please please please add an airship into this AP! If you do I'll buy two copies of the AP (one for me, one for a friend).

Maybe playing an alchemist who has been mutated from exposure to the strange energies and materials in Numeria is a good idea.

He would have a tumor familiar named Kuato. When someone inevitably says"It's not a tumor!" You can tell them yes, yes it is.

An android ranger that hunts constructs for "parts" would be intriguing.

Hill Giant wrote:

Station?

"I'm sorry sir...they gave me a melvin..."

What? You thought the most intelligent being in the universe was from Earth?

Also, an android who wants to know what love is.

How about a supercharged android wizard evoker who harnesses electrical energy?

Perhaps if there were some larger bodies of water in Numeria, we could have some sharks with fricking laser beams attached to their heads.

James Jacobs wrote:

Honestly, a feat that allows androids to be more emotional and lose their immunity and resistance to emotion-based things so that they can do things like rage is a cool idea, and it's one I've always intended to be eventually available for them. It would require spending a feat, though, so it won't be free (or something you can just buy). You have to spend one of your limited resources to do something like this.

To live LIKE the hu-man?

A small sized android, who just wants to be "a real boy". AI, anyone?

Generic Villain wrote:

My suggestion/plea: John Carpenter's The Thing, Pathfinderized. That is all.

If it's a "proper" Thing, it wins the instant it hits a non-frozen ecosystem -- nothing short of a wish or miracle would stop it from eating the planet.

I'm not sure I want a "proper" Thing in Pathfinder.

An ooze creature from the movie "The Blob" would be very scary in Numeria indeed, growing in size the more it eats.

I wouldn't want a "Thing" in Pathfinder either, but Cthulhu....bring him on!

Personally, I am all for steam-punk style mechs, whether they are clockwork, steam-powered, magical, etc. However, if I had my way, I would want Final Fantasy VI-style Magitek armor, rather than man-sized power armor suits or Macross/Robotech-style machines.

Edit: Just read James Jacobs' latest post on Iron Gods.

I'm sure that I'll be quite happy with what I get. :)

You know, I haven't seen any airships in any Adventure Paths or modules since they released the rules in Ultimate Combat. How about an android airship pilot?

I still say some sort of overclocking mechanic(either as an alternate racial trait or feat) that enabled something similar-but-different from rage would be neat. As long as it carried some highly likely risks or guaranteed badness due to overclocking your android's mind, body, and/or soul. :)

Something that played up their body as "hardware" that the android could push past its limits at a great cost... It might even make them contrast more with regular humans, having such a different outlook on how they use their bodies.

Throngir: Gods, I had no idea you could move that fast!

Cypha-11: NANG. 10111010 NANG. NANG. 1101011000

Ferosi: I don't think she's supposed to be smoking like that.

Cypha-11: NANG. NANG. NANG.

Vethra: I'm pretty sure her weird glowy irises aren't supposed to be solid blue either.

Ferosi: Wait, she told me about this. We're supposed to-

Cypha-11: NANG.

Ferosi: -hold her nose and poke her belly button until she goes back to normal.

Cypha-11: NANG.

Throngir: She's still got that light sword in her hand though...

Vethra: Yeah. You first.

Cypha-11: twitches in a loop

Ferosi: ...maybe we should just throw water on her?

Cypha-11: hair catches fire

Well, using race building rules, you could add Haste as a Spell like ability; but you could balance it by having the character be staggered for twice as many rounds after.

For example, your Cypha-11 could move at blinding speed for five rounds, but for a minute afterward her servos overheat or her Nanites need to recharge. This is a great idea... I think I'll use it on my android NPC.

Considering androids have nanites in their blood, they should be able to exercise some degree of control over the Gearsmen.

In my Numeria game, I introduced an android ranger named Sova whose creator was Karamoss of Karamoss' Red Redoubt. Sova uses a power armor suit based off of the myrmidon robot. It basically serves her as Iron Man armor as she accompanies my mythic PCs into the Numerian wastes.

She has construct and human as her favored enemies; she knows exactly where to hit them for the most damage.

I run a campaign centered in Numeria. I think the player's favorite part of the campaign so far was me introducing them to a heavily mutated Kellid tribe of the wastes called the Ironblood Clan. They had gruesome deformities, extra/missing fingers, hair falling out, etc. They warned the PCs to avoid the Black Bearclub Tribe to the north, a degenerate gathering of cannibalistic savages who would probably "rape you to death, eat your flesh, and sew your hides into their clothing."

My players lol'ed at the Firefly reference, but the point still remains.

More than likely the primitive peoples of Numeria have heavy deformities caused by exposure to radiation, chemical compounds in the soil/water, or even exposure to nanites.

It's not a stretch to say the originators of the crashed starship (which may suggests that it's presence is unintentional) placed programmed protocols in things like the "robots" to help prevent or at least limit "contamination" on what they consider a developing planet. But what if some of the "AI's" gain a form of self-awareness and choose a different course of action.

I will start by saying this is not anywhere near the top of my looking forward to list. One guy in my group is super excited to run it though as it will plug in to his region well.

I just hope that paizo does this full throttle. The Tian Xia AP was only half in Tian Xia, the trip to the City of Brass was a trip to one house. I want no half-measures. The opening scene should be like the opening scene in Terminator 2 Judgement Day.

The Silver Mount went on-line 4th of Arodus, 4697. The Silver Mount begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Absolom time, 29th of Arodus. In a panic, the Technic League tries to pull the plug.

This post may be a little off topic (and long) but there are ways to introduce "technological effects" without breaking the game. The only things to consider would be Spell Resistance and Use Magic Device; have "technological effects" work the same for spell resistance and UMD.

So, there really can be no difference between a staff with runes carved on it that pulses blue under the moon and shoots magic missiles and a metal shaft with strange etchings that that discharges force bolts.

Here are some common substitutions I've come up with-
Arcane Spells-
Flare:Flashpulse
Magic Missile: Force Bolt
Mage Armor: Force Field
Silent Image: Hologram
See Invisibility: Infrared Vision
Scorching Ray- Laser Beam
Tongues: Universal Translation
Hold Person: Paralytic Field
Invisibility Sphere: Cloaking Field
Fly/Overland Flight: Antigravity
Haste: Temporal Acceleration
Slow: Temporal Deceleration
Minor/Major Creation: Minor/Major Matter Replication
Hallucinatory Terrain: Hologram Field
Fabricate: Matter Conversion
True Seeing: Wide Spectrum Vision
Mislead: Holographic Ruse
Delayed Blast Fireball: Timed Detonation
Moment of Prescience: Temporal Jaunt
Sunburst: UV Blast

It's fairly easy to come up with "technological" magic items. Just put a prefix like "trans" or "sub" and a suffix like "field" or "enhancer". A belt of giant strength +2 becomes a "transmuscular enhancer" and bracers of armor become "Force Field Generators +2".

Fusion of sci-fi and fantasy makes me giddy. I'm 100% certain Iron Gods will deliver a nicely blended experience.

I know I am definitely in the minority here but this is an AP I am not looking forward to.

I cringe at the thought of Fantasy characters running around with laser beams and stuff. I didn't like Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and I know I was not alone in this.
But I also understand I have the recourse simply not to play in it or purchase it. :)

I can just see it now, the maximized Zen Archer with Proton Beams, or the maximized Gunslinger with the Plasma Cannon...may the Gods help us all.

You've got it right. Paizo can't please everyone. But I'm sure I will please Paizo by purchasing the Adventure Path, the Players Guide, the Regional Guide, an Iron Gods miniatures case, and the limited edition collectible Silver Mount ship signed by James Jacobs, Erik Mona, and James Jacobs.

Yeah, I know he signed it twice. Can you tell I'm a fan of Numeria?

Coridan wrote:

I will start by saying this is not anywhere near the top of my looking forward to list. One guy in my group is super excited to run it though as it will plug in to his region well.

I just hope that paizo does this full throttle. The Tian Xia AP was only half in Tian Xia, the trip to the City of Brass was a trip to one house. I want no half-measures. The opening scene should be like the opening scene in Terminator 2 Judgement Day.

It won't look like the opening scene of T2. Because that's not Numeria. Technology in Numeria is regulated and controlled by the Technic League to a certain effect... the land's a big one though and they can't be everywhere. But there aren't flying vehicles patrolling the skies or robots on every horizon.

Furthermore, technology is being treated kinda like magic items, and that means that just as you don't see a LOT of magic items at low level, nor will you see a LOT of technology at low level. It will build its presence up over the course of a campaign.

I really enjoyed the idea of a steampunked dwarf shooting a "scorching ray" laser weapon, like in the picture in the Game Mastery Guide. To make it more unique it should be powered by energy packs hoarded by the Technic League; you probably would have to kill a Technic League captain to get the pack.

The idea of a phalanx of unblinking, unyielding Gearsmen advancing towards the party is a scene I'm likely to throw at my PCs.

IIRC, it was said that the ship came from beyond Golarion's solar system...

I hope that's inaccurate. I've got more than $5 riding on the ship being from Aballon!

But if it is Brigh that would be pretty cool. I'm still fairly certain that at least one of the Iron Gods is Epoch, though.

gran rey de los banned is banned for having banned in his name.

"This alien spaceship from somewhere that you will learn where that's from, probably during Iron Gods."

Is what I heard.

I'm banking on Aballon. 3:1 odds, got my bookie lined up.

I, for one, am extremely excited about the adventure path "Iron Gods" planned for Numeria. I wanted to throw out a couple theories I had about what exactly the AP will be about....

1. The "Iron Gods" are giant mech-like creatures that have been reactivated from their millennium spanning hibernation to wreak havoc on the Numerian landscape.

2. The "Iron Gods" are beings from Aballon that are awaiting the return of the First Ones. After receiving signals from beyond the stars they do battle with Gorum, the Lord of Iron.

3. The Silver Mount is not one spaceship, but multiple spacecraft.... a battle armada, if you will, that has been sent to Golarion to "lie low" and wait for a time "when the stars are right" to herald in the arrival of our dark master who waits, dead but dreaming.....you know of whom I speak. Conversely, they are here to do battle with the Great Old Ones who have been summoned to this world from beyond the void.

4. The AP will take the players to Aballon for an encounter with Epoch, who cryptically teaches the PCs how to travel through time.

Druids and Dinosaurs: the PCs have to collect a couple of different species of exotic reptiles for an eccentric collector. The players are free to use poisons, ropes, whatever they need to brig down their quarry.

Fast and Fresh: the players are asked to recover a stolen batch of valuable delicacies, such as truffles and caviar. The catch is that they need to bring back the food in 36 hours or it will spoil.

Step 1: Buy land.
Step 2: Build "Adventurer's Colleges"
Step 3: Lobby the king/ruler of the land to require training before someone can be an adventurer
Step 4: ?
Step 5: PROFIT!

I think this axiom might sum up your character nicely:

The laws of man pale in comparison to the laws of nature.

You could also turn your disgust/revulsion towards arcane spellcasters, as it is a clear disruption of nature's balance.

A "Johnny Appleseed" of Pathfinder is an excellent and creative idea though.

As druids get Create Water as a cantrip, may I suggest you go around watering plants compulsively?

The minor deity Groetus.

Why? Because he's a giant floating skull god whose followers are the weird people who stand on the street corner spouting off gibberish about the end times.

And he's just creepy.

Best thing to do would be referencing the Game Mastery Guide for quick stat blocks.

Equipment wise, there is little published regarding Numeria specific equipment. Check around online for steam punk/techno junk stuff and you should be good to go.

Laser wands, medical scanners, coins that shimmer in the dark, and mech-like armors are good examples of what might be found there.

- The behemoths are nice kaiju-like creatures.

- Scorpions, crabs, spiders, centipedes, cockroachs, jellyfishes, solifugids and anemones have Colossal counterparts.
- Some dragons are Colossal.
- The linnorms are Colossal.
- A deep crimson worm (purple worm variant) is Colossal.
- A carnivorous blob is Colossal.
- A mu spore is Colossal.
- A nightwave is Colossal.
- A iathavos qlippoth is Colossal.
- A sard is Colossal.
- Titans are Colossal.
- A great white whale is Colossal.
- A humbaba is Colossal.
- A charnel colossus is Colossal.
- A deadly mantis is Colossal.
- Spawns of Rovagug are Colossal.

Y'know, now that I recheck this, the work from Rovagug could work very well with your desire to have Kaiju monsters. According to Gods & Magic, it is said that Rovagug can be responsible for causing volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and storms, all of which can cause a planar rift. If you apply the fiendish or half-fiend Template to a Colossal vermin, you essentially got yourself a believable kaiju as a Messenger of Rovagug. You can add Colossal/advanced ants, beetles, leeches, slugs, wasps, bees, dragonflies, flies, mosquitos, ticks, ant lions and rot grubs to the swarm as well.

Have the PCs seek the aid of a group of Azruverdas to stop the vermin.

As for other kinds of kaiju, this template can help.

As for the machines... hmmm... I've been working on this lately.

Hope that helps :)

I like your robot template. I need to figure out a way to introduce impressive mechs without going overboard.

You actually don't need stats. You just need to establish a means by which the players can win.

Pull the ancient medusas head from the bag. Have them unleash a powerful canon that only shoots once. Drop a flying castle on it. Etc.

If you really want to have them fight it, a mech-like vehicle that the whole party can use with combat options for each player would work. Like a chest lens that amplifies the wizard's spells. A giant bolt launcher the rogue could fire from surprise. A transducer that lets the cleric use positive energy to repair the mech. Finally, the fighter at the helm using a pair of slam attacks that mimic his weapons of choice (with all applicable bonus').

Then you'd need some stats, or an aquatic tarrasque.

I'm thinking of letting my players capture one of the "Annihilator" Robots from the Inner Sea Bestiary...using the Construct Armor ability they would be able to climb inside and do battle with monstrous things from beyond the beyond.

A few things I'm trying for my own giant (or at least really big) monster rules to capture the feel of giant monsters from video games (especially monster hunter)

1)When they hit things, they should go flying. Let them use awesome blow as a free action whenever they do damage, maybe even improve the distance thrown.
2)When they make an attack, it doesn't just hit one enemy, it's an aoe. I dunno how to do this one. great cleave could work, or make them attack everything in a cone equal to their reach.
3)When they move, they should knock aside everything in their path. give them improved/greater overrun and let them do it as a free action as part of any move (not a 5'step).
4)They should be fast, even a single move for them they should outpace a double-moving pc. Let them 5' step more than 5'.
5)Difficult terrain? Hah, not for something this big. Maybe a building or piece of terrain they have to smash through.
6)Built in ranged attack. Combine with points 1 and 2. Effective max range is 'can it see you?'

Other stuff like that that gives the feel of 'we are flies to this thing'

Great ideas. Awesome Blow is a necessity.

I want to introduce kaiju into my game in a manner similar to that in Pacific Rim (coming through a planar rift). I know that they would need to be Colossal size, but other than that...any thoughts?

I'm running a Numerian campaign right now, and I plan on going planet hopping in the future.

She could be from Absalom- it's an island that's full of mystery and wonder. Or she could be from the River Kingdoms- it would be fairly easy to explain why you are a princess if that's where your character is from.

No Numeria stuff? I'm disappointed.

Good job on the handbook...I want to run an Epic game now.

Err... baronbloodbath, you seem to have wandered into the Pathfinder Society forums without noticing it. In PFS, we have to run the published scenarios as written, so this isn't an issue of a sadistic GM, just a nasty scenario and some bad luck and/or tactics...

Yeah, guilty as charged. PFS seems pretty brutal.

Jayne's hat adds +5 to Diplomacy checks.

So I had my first PFS TPK last night. Without giving away too much about the scenario, there was a pretty much instant death condition with a Fort DC of 11. Two players rolled natural 2s (and the summoner also rolled nat 2 for his pet) none of which increased to 11. The other insta killed player, who had bad Con, rolled a 9 and got a 10. One did get a shirt re-roll, which saved him, but then he and the last player proceeded to fight the remainder of the encounter to their ultimate demise.

Two of the players were devastated, two of the players thought it was hilarious. I just feel bad for all concerned.

When you have had player death (and, especially, massive player death), how have you handled it? What are good ways to approach it for the enjoyment of the players?

If everyone instantly died on a DC 11 Fort save, it tells me a few things:

1. Players were either 1st or 2nd level.
2. Whatever it wast hat killed them was at least a CR3.

First, low level characters are incredibly squishy. Still, I feel that a DM who would lead PCs into a bloodbath like what you described is either inept or sociopathic. Possibly both.

The best way to approach a TPK for the enjoyment of the players? Don't.

Ask yourself how you would feel if you spent two hours making a character, fleshing out a backstory, selecting gear, and transcribing a character sheet for the DM to say "Everyone died. No raise dead. Make a new character."

I always plan for character death because one of my DMs is barbaric, but TPKs are show stoppers. Totally ruin a session.