customizing till the end's page

Has anyone experienced a casterfight? what happens when high level wizards duel?
This seems the right place to post it.
So, what are fights between highlevel wizards like. What have you experienced?
The more detail the better

Record the encounters from this thread
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2t843?Survivors-of-Hell

Alright, so, has anyone survived Tomb of Horrors? If you have, can you give me some tips to make a simular dungeon in pathfinder? What made Tomb of horrors so hard? If you have any funny/epic/weird experiences from Tomb of horrors, please post them!

I have an idea for a new type of... play by post-ish game. To apply, do the following:
1: Create a level 8 character of any race/class combo
2: Post character sheet in this thread
3: Run your character through the following simulation: A portal to all three Hells has oppened. There is no way to close it. Your PCs goal is to hold them off for as long as possible. Monsters arrive in "Waves". You have 1 hour to prepare between waves. You can be anywhere within 1,000 feet of the portal. . A wave lasts for 100 rounds. Every 3 waves, PCs have 8 hours to rest. The purpose of this challenge is to see, which builds can survive the longest? The "goal" here is not to die. A new wave can only start once all monsters from a previous wave have been killed. PCs can not level up between waves. For added fun, form a group, and run the simulation in a play-by-post fassion.
Waves work like this:
Wave 1: Every round 1 HD worth of evil outsiders exit the portal. Every three rounds 3 HD worth of evil outsiders exit the portal. In the last round of the wave, 8 HD worth of evil outsiders leave the portal.
Wave 2 : Every round 3 HD worth of evil outsiders exit the portal. Every three rounds 5 HD worth of evil outsiders exit the portal. In the last round of the wave, 10 HD worth of evil outsiders leave the portal.
Wave 3: Every round 5 HD worth of evil outsiders exit the portal. Every three rounds 7 HD worth of evil outsiders exit the portal. In the last round of the wave, 12 HD worth of evil outsiders leave the portal.

Etc,etc. Let the battles begin!

What are some of the best early game moments you experienced with new players?

Whether it's a hilarious moment, an epic fight or a simple "THIS ROCKS" moment, please post bellow.

For me, it was probably my first gaming session at my friends house. His dad and his sister joined as well.

The party:
" The friend" Thief, a rogue who is an elf who is an idiot
"The sister" Merisiel (she liked the name) a drow summoner
"The dad" ( he played dungeons and dragons when he was a kid) The name of his character is long and complicated, but probably involves a J. He was playing a tengu monk/brawler multiples ( we started this game at level 4)

The beginning involved a tense shadow and mist drake fight, an enjoyable friendly dragon fight, and the sister asking "Can I summon a pipefox? I want to smoke it". The session was awesome, and ended with the PCs solving a riddle where I hand each Player a note changing the way they play their character.
I had: Always lie, Really high, and Wants to die. They had to solve the riddle where one guardian told the truth, and the other one always lied... but there was a third one holding a pipe, who was really drunk but provided (often crazy) hints, swapping between liar and honest at random... They later solved a similar riddle, except I gave the players 2 notes each and had them swap the notes near at random... And the next day they started steamrolling my campaign. Oh well.

Currently, I am having a small issue with my group: Challenge. Every group member excels at their thing, so I'm having trouble coming up with a good challenging encounter.

So far my group is:
Tengu Brawler 2/master of many styles/drunken master/ quingong monk 4 who also carries a Flamethrower

Elf Unchained scout rogue 5 Who TWFs with a knife and a baldeboot and a pard as a pet.

Dow Unchained summoner 6 who has a Wolf eidolon, and a bunch of APL-2 CR monsters.

And they are steamrolling everything. They fought a march giant (CR 8), FOLLOWED BY a cave bear (CR7), and they beat them all... this is after they took out an owl bear and a lion (who the summoner tamed) without too much trouble. The following usually happens: The summoner sets her pets on the enemy Causing a ton of damage... The rogue either shoots or moves into flanking position... And the brawler/monk moves in and PWNS everything. Together they end most things in 3-8 rounds, pausing to heal as necessary.

Any way I can challenge them WITHOUT using "rocks fall everybody dies" scenarios.

Updates sporatically ( not that I know what that means)

Know thy enemy:

A paladins guide to smiting the infernal pits of hell

There are many excellent guides out there on how to be the best paladin ever… but this is a guide on how to handle the units of hell, the abyss, abaddon, and any other evil outsiders… this is a guide to, quite literally, knowing thy enemy.

This guide is about tactics, so I will be highlighting each builds ability to deal with these abominations… and how to destroy them

The builds (they are not rated here, as I will be evaluating them against a particular enemy)

The lancer
Two-hander
Two-weapon-fighter
Archer
Sword and board two-weapon fighting
Sword and board defence
The reach paladin
The combat medic paladin
The sacred fist paladin ( usually a champion of irori)

Bestiary 1:
#1: Devils, the LE corruptors

Devil, Barbed
CR: 11
HP:138
AC: 26

Okay, at CR 11 these are probably going to be among the last enemies you will face, and they are pretty tough.
They have greater teleport as an at-will SLA, so Archers will need to be careful, as this beast can teleport right up to your face. Barbed defence mean that Sacred fist paladins will need to rely on lay on hands quite a bit. It has low HP and high AC so the TWF (Both versions) might face some trouble, and the Two-hander will need to be careful with how he/she spends their power attack. Because this devil can teleport, the Reach paladin will have a bit of trouble. The Sword-and-board build will be better than usual, as the devil does not have such a good to-hit. The real winner here is the Lancer for the following reason: In combat, the barbed devil will probably be greater teleporting all over the place, and the lancer has the best speed. The lancer does great damage with a decent to-hit, and if the lancer roles well, he/she can one round the barbed devil. The Combat medic on the other hand, should be able to tank the devils hits, but because the devil can teleport, getting to weakened allies on time will be a problem.

In general, try to kill this sucker as quickly as possible before it warps to the squishy castys, kills them, and warps away.

Devil, bearded
CR:5
HP: 57
AC:19

This one is tough as well. The Archer has the same teleporting problems as with the Barbed devil, but the sacred fist will keep up with this sucker no sweat. The Two-hander and the Lancer will be powerful enough to put some dents in it, and the combat medic will be able to help negate the bleed damage, but the bearded devil will pressure him/her with it’s significant offence. The others can all keep up with the devil well enough, but because of the devils mobility and offence, will not truly shine.

In general stay cool, and do not retreat- this thing can teleport after you. If you find yourself pressured, ask a friend to ready an action to attack it and heal yourself. A good defence is key to this fight.

Devil, Bone
CR:9
HP:105
AC:25

The bone devil has high AC and high HP, as well as a few defensive options, such as wall of ice and quickened invisibility. The Archer is vulnerable to the devils teleporting trick, but can counter the wall of ice well enough. The Sacred fist will do serious damage, but might have problems getting off full attacks- the Two-hander faces the same problem, but does more damage on single attacks. The major problem here is action economy- the devil has a quickened SLA, and wall of ice will hold off the melee characters, so the others are all orange, except for the combat medic who is more likely to contribute when a wall of ice is between him/her and the Bad guy, and the Reach paladin who can get more AOOs from the devil using it’s SLA while near him, and who can evade more attacks thanks to likely higher DEX, and therefore AC. The sword and board defence paladin will probably need to cover the castys, but will hurt the devil a bit when it appears near him.

IN general, try to find permanent ways of bypassing the walls of ice, rather than wasting precious time attacking the walls of ice that the demon can create at-will, and if the devil goes invisible, move close to the rest of your group- that way you can heal the castys if they go unconscious, while the rest of the team gets a few hits in. Also, surrounding the devil will get a few AOOs and possibly a failed teleport when it tries to escape. Teamwork is critical here!

Devil Erinyes
CR:8
HP:94
AC:23

The erinyes has really low hitpoints in exchange for a small boost in AC. But she can fly, so unless you come into the fight pre-buffed, your castys will need to spend a turn buffing you up, and even then the fallen angel can fly faster than you. Also, try to find a way to keep your castys safe. She has a really nasty ranged touch attack routine, she can entangle and then kill an unprepared wizard or cleric. The Archer is the undisputed king here, being able to full attack without moving while staying close to the castys to heal them in a pinch. The Lancer comes second, due to not relying on full attacks so that he/she can follow the erinyes while she moves away. The sword and board paladin will survive a bit longer, but not really do much else. The Reach paladin will be a real star here, moving as close as possible and possibly getting some sweet AOOs in the process. The Two-hander will suffer from the lack of full attacks, the sacred fist and both two-weapon fighting builds even more so. The combat medic will need a wand of dimension door to keep up with the damage this cruel psychopath wreaks, but will probably negate a few attacks and might get close enough to make her provoke an AOO.

In general, try to protect the squishy members in some way, and be as mobile as possible- it is extremely hard to keep up with at-will greater teleport and a nice fly speed at the same time. Spread out a bit, but not too far apart- you want the wizard to have to move a bit but then be able to buff you, the reason for this is a nasty at-will unholy blight ability.

Horned devil
CR:16
HP:217
AC:35

Very low HP, rather high AC.
This guy can do serious damage in melee, but at range all he really has are suboptimal spells, and some summoning that will not even succeed most of the time. The greater teleport at-will ability makes things a little bit problematic though… Because of this, archers should hang around near a caster class that can do a bit of damage in melee- this means that the archer has some time to retreat, while the caster trades blows and the more dedicated melee PCs join in. All paladins should always be smiting this guy, unless there is an evildoer with a higher CR on the board. The two-hander will take serious damage, as will the two-weapon warrior and the sacred fist. The Sword-and board fighter is a bit more survivable, but the sword and board defence build will get hit eventually, or won’t do enough damage. The Reach paladin has a reach advantage that can not be ignored through using a five-foot step, so that’s good. But the Lancer is the real winner here. With ride-by attack the Horned devil should not be getting any full attacks against you, so that’s nice, and you probably do more damage than the reach paladin. The combat medic will need to stay mobile to survive the enemys onslaught, but he/she should be able to protect the castys long enough for the deicated meleers to get closer.

In general, try to avoid letting it get full attacks, but keep the pressure up or it’s regeneration will start to be a problem.

Ice devil
CR:13
HP:161
AC:32

I think I see a trend with mid-high level devils. Lower HP, higher AC than described in the monster creation section of the bestiary as “appropriate”. This guy is a lot like a bone devil- at will wall of ice, and he can even summon bone devils just like the bone devil! (Except with greater accuracy and twice as many are summoned). With a successfull summoning the walls of ice can really get in the way… The ice devil also has a 10d8 damage cone of cold for pure blasting, and the spear can slow you, meaning that combined with it’s 10 foot reach and combat reflexes, it can dish out some mean AOO damage. If you can avoid AOOs the archer is pretty great. The melee builds all face the same problem- walls of ice can cause them to waste turns hacking through those… damn… walls… But if you a reliable way of teleporting or gaining freedom of movement they become a lot better. The combat medic will need to protect the casters, which won’t be too hard, and cone of cold will only do slightly more damage than your lay on hands can heal.

Devil, Imp
CR:2
HP:16
AC:17

This fight should be pretty easy. The imp can go invisible, but the DC on it’s poison is really low, so all builds should be able to survive it’s hits. The archer comes out on top here, because the moment he/she sees the imp, the imp becomes a pin-cushion. The lancer is a bit weaker due to fly speeds being generally unavailable at this level. The other melee builds should not have no problem keeping up with the imp, but the imps stealth makes this a bit hard. The Reach paladin will have no problem hitting the imp. The combat medic will not have much to do, he/she will mostly be following the imp, trying to land a few hits.

Devil, lemur
CR:1
HP:13
AC:14

The lemure is the weakest devil of the lot, the lemure is slow but has a decent offence. Assuming there is a decent distance between the devil and the paladin at the beginning of the fight, the archer will not have to worry about the enemy closing in for melee. The Lancer will probably one-shot the demon, as will most melee builds, though they might eat a full-attack first. The Reach paladin will rapidly beat the lemur to death, and might not eat a full-attack.

In general, this devil is easy. At level one, you might have to smite this guy, at every other level don’t bother.

Devil, pit fiend

CR:20
HP:350
AC: 38

The key to this fight is a good fort, and will save, as this bad boy is packing piles of save or dies. The archer will be doing a lot of damage, but might have a problem with the disease save. The Two-hander and the lancer should be doing a lot of damage to the pit fiend, but might have trouble with the monsters melee attacks, and the fact that this is a SMACC with incredible mobility might mean that you eat a few ( or a TON) of spells before you can even damage it. The other melee builds will do fine, excluding the Sword and board build which will not do enough damage fast enough, and the pitfiend will completely anihilate it.

In pathfinder gameplay deteriorates after 17th level, so I came up with an alternate system:

In stead of progressing past 17th level you earn:
Combat Points: You earn combat points when the Gm says you do. You can spend combat points for:
An ability gained from an archetype or class- costs 2 combat points per level the archetype gains/ upgrades the ability at. ( but you need evasion for imp.evasion etc.)

1 point abilities:
your CON mod in bonus hit points.
1 extra spell per day

More later:

So, the idea is simple. Post any pathfinder or rpg related jokes you have here. Try to avoid swearing. Off the top of my head:

Yo mamas so old, Chtulu calls her a great old one!

Wizards without spells- use their spell books as weapons.

"He who lives by the sword dies by the sword" so what do bards die of?

In this guide, I will be talking about specific archetypes, ways that designers should improve them, and how to best play one.

#1 The urban barbarian

Class features

Skills: More social skills, less rural skills. Meh.

Crowd control

This is... not such a good ability, and not really worth replacing fast movement for. It can be useful in a social campaign, but aside from that... Fast movement is worth two fleets, while crowd controls combat use is weaker than dodge. Still, if you are going to tank, this might help a tiny bit. The developers really need to buff this, maybe a bonus that scales?

Controlled rage

Let's compare it to rage

pros

+you can apply it to DEX for ranged builds and for extra AC
+you do not get a penalty to AC, making your AC higher than a standard barbarian.
+ you can still use DEX CHA and INT based skills ( RAGING disable device> disable device)

con
-no bonus to will saves
- Only 1/2 the numerical benefit if you apply it to STR and CON

Too improve this, I suggest the developers give it two more points to spend, this would still leave the Barbarian with less pure numerical benefit, but it would be a bit more balanced.

Builds:
( I'll rate them from * to ****, * is the worst, **** is the best)

So, in pathfinder there are many optimization guides. This is not one of them. This is about some new directions you can take your classes into.

Whip fighter

Whips are looked upon as sucky weapons, due to nonlethal damage.But with the right build they can become rather competent. With the whip masteryfeats and with two weapon fighting, you can deal serious damage and still threaten the area around you.

Suggested classes: fighter, sohei monk, paladin.( more to this later)

Feats:

Two weaponfighting: You do not have good damage dice, and Two weapon fighting makes that matter less.

Improved and greater two weapon fighting: You want more attacks.

Exotic weapon proficiency: whip. You need this. Period.

Whip mastery. Get this at level two, or at level three if you are a sohei. This lets you do Lethal damage with a whip, which is the core of the build.

Improved whip mastery: You finally threaten, which is amazing

Greater whip mastery: mostly flavor,but still okay

Weapon focus whip-> Dazzling display: Best for paladins, but okay for anyonewith intimidating prowess or a non-dumped CHA

Combat reflexes: you threaten a large area, so AOOs might be your thing.

Vital strike: It's a trap. Your damage dice suck. No takey

In occult adventures, a new class called the kineticist came out. People were excited about playing an Avatar airbender like charcater,of being truly awesome... So let's have a look at the kineticist

Rating system

**** YES YES YES
*** It's pretty good
** It's okay
* NO! NO GOD NO! PLEASE!

So, the sohei.It has a rather confusing mix of abilities, but with the right build it can be a beast... How would you like to charge and flurry? How about some nice juicy damage? lets begin...

Rating system
**** YES!take this! or so help me...
*** Its a good option, but not always the best...
** Its oay I guess...
* NO! GOD NO! PLEASE!

Sohei abilities:

Skills: handle animal *** If you want amount or something, sure why not.

Weapon and armor prof:**** Much much better. Light armor is good for low point buy games.

Bonus feats: *** Mounted combat is a viable pathfor you to follow so it gives you more options
Devoted guardian **** yup, definitly. A niice juicy bonus to initiative and you can always act in surprise rounds... by comparison, a slayer archetype gets this at level 7, and its still good... definitively worth giving up stunning fist, for.

Unarmed strike * no...but you get other abilities that make up for it.

monastic mount *** so you can boost your mount... thats very nice and you generally will use the temporary hit points to keep your mount from dying.

ki weapon** Not a very good ability, but in situations when youre in an emergency and don't have magic weaponson hand... it can help.

weapon training**** YES! YES! withthis you can flurry with a lance, and with a greatsword, and with pretty much anything you want. A small bonus to damage is also nice.

Other archetypes.

sensei*** surprisingly okay. Think of this as a support cavalier who charges into battle alongside the fighter, and kicks butside by side. With ride by attack you can spam charges and still buff your
allies. You might want to take quingong monk for some nice ki powers.
( EDIT: they can'tactually combine because of fast movement... bummer. Ask your GM if he will let them combine.)

quingong monk: some nice little ki powers, but you hardly have any original features to trade... TRading high jump for barskin is probably a good idea.

Stats

STR>DEX>WIS=CON>CHA>INT

Dexismore important than for others due to you needing it for ride, and try not to dump CHAtoo hard, as you need it for handle animal.

Mounted build ( this build uses handle animal, and you may want to dip into ranger, paladin or cavalier for extra abilities)

1o pb ( lower wisdom, you will be wearing armor)

STR:15 (7) DEX: 13 (3) Con: 13 (3) Wis:8(-2) INt: 7 (-4) CHa: 13(3)

15 pb (still no armor until you get bracers)
str:16(10) Dex:14(5) Con:13 (3) wis:8 (-2) Int:7 (-4) Cha:13(3)

20 pb: (armor until the later levels when you get bracers)
str:17(13) Dex: 13 (3) Con:13(3) wis:10 (0) Int:7 (-4) Cha: 13 (3)

25 pb: str: 18 (17) dex:13 (3) con: 13 (3) wis: 11 (1) INt:7 (-4) cha:13 (3)

So, hi, I am new here. I homebrew a lot,so I have thought of some custom classes.

1. Guardian prestige.

d12 hd. full Bab.
requirements: 2 ranks in craft: construct. 4 ranks in proffesion : soldier. able to cast 1st level prepared arcane spells. Bab+5

Though some warriors fight with magic, and some fight with brute strengh, rarely does a warrior combine the defensive aspect of both classes as well as the guardian. While within the guardians claimed land, he or she excels at being an obstacle impossible to overcome.

Special abilities:

Spells (I'm not an expert at these so bear with me...) while within their claimed land, a guardian can cast a certain selection of arcane spells that need to be prepared in the morning, without needing to attempt a concentration check. While outside their claimed land, a guardian can only cast cantrips. At 9th level a guardian can cast prismatic wall up to three times a day as a swift action. ( Spells are mainly defensive, with a bit of blast and battlefield control thrown in. If anyone has some suggestions, please tell me)

Claim land: A number of times per day equal to half the characters guardian level+ Con modifier, a guardian can claim a plot of land the size of 5ftx5ft + lv /2xlv/2. A guardian adds Con modifier to damage as well as being able to use many other abilities (elaborated on later), and can only have one plot active at a time. claiming a new one results in the old one becoming inactive (fullround action to activate)

that's all dor now, more later. please comment or create your own.