iambobdole1's page

I've been GMing for a two man party for a while now. For them a tank and caster pairing works pretty well. Thus far they've done barbarian/sorcerer, and are now playing with a paladin/druid team.

I tend to avoid swarms. Also I find incorporeal creatures a bit on the unfair side for players (especially a party with no cleric), so I don't often use those either.

As far as the original post, I think many of you have overlooked the fact that the victim in question was an animal. While the situation may be sad from a human perspective, an animal has limited capacity to understand what has happened to its master and the effects of its own actions against the party.
While my character would have left it alone, I still wouldn't say finishing the ape off would warrant anything so drastic as an alignment change. The situation is pretty neutral ground, IMO.

The rules for improvised weapons strike me as being a little wonky. I'm fine with the penalty, but is a -4 really necessary?
Also, I find it hard to believe that a fighter who's great with a staff wouldn't be able to pick up, say, a broom and not have the same kind of results in hitting someone over the head.

Spell materials. While it does lend a little color to the game, using this stuff as written seems like it would be impossibly time consuming and annoying.
Example: wizard - "I cast fireball!"
Gm- "sorry, you don't have any sulfur or a bat guano pellet, so you can't do jack!"

As a GM, my goal is less about the reasons, and more about the how.

When I have people make characters, before they are allowed to tell me their class, their race, or anything, I begin by asking them how they would handle a situation as their character.

"You're trapped in a dark room, there are no visible lights anywhere, although you think you might be seeing a glow from above, as if there was a window several feet above your head that had been boarded shut. What do you do?"

"You're in a dark alley on your way home, when up ahead, you see the hulking silhouette of a rather large humanoid ahead of you, wielding what appears to be a giant hammer... what do you do?"

"You're trekking across the wilderness in an unknown part of the world, when you come across a gaping chasm in the ground. You need to get to the other side according to your maps, how do you circumvent the obstacle?"

These tell me more than a sheet does. And, it tells them what abilities would best be taken at character creation. And oddly, almost no 2 answers are the same.

This is a really great approach! I'll have to remember this next time I'm working on characters with anyone.

Never mind, I just found the wiki today.

I'm looking for a brief overview of the people and nations of Golarion, particularly the inner sea. I would buy the inner sea source book, but I'm a little strapped for cash at the moment. Does anybody know of any free resources for this kind of info?

I'm thinking about adding an NPC to a 2 PC campaign I'm running, but not sure what class would best compliment their skill set. My players are a half-orc barbarian (he has one level of ranger as well), and an elf sorcerer/dragon disciple. I'm thinking a rogue or bard would be a good fit for this group. Your thoughts?

How about receiving a note with a clue about an ancient and or powerful treasure lost and forgotte from a dead relative.. That clue leads to another clue and so on and so forth... National treasure like.... Some require physical some require magical or some require mental challenges to get to the next clue.

I like the direction of this idea. Haven't quite nailed down everything, but I'm considering doing an 'Infinity Gauntlet' sort of artifact, maybe a belt, and have my PC collect the pieces. Still not sure if I want the gems to have powers or anything though.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I'm going to look into some of this stuff a bit further when I have some free time.

That idea isn't half bad actually. I was originally considering using The Maltese Falcon for a plot, but I decided the artifact being a fake would be a terrible payoff.

My ideas so far: I'm considering running First Steps for an introductory adventure. Haven't decided if we'll just do part one, or the full three yet.
At some point during these missions, I'll tell the story of the Thieve's Coin (I'll probably make up a better name later), a coin that's rumored to hold magical properties, allowing its owner to find hidden gold anywhere they might travel, and perhaps other rogue related properties besides (and bragging rights, etc.). After this, I'll have my player come across a dying adventurer who gives her a map to one of several clues to the location of the coin. Some time later, upon the discovery of either a dead adventurer or an attempt on her life, the player will discover a secret plot by either the thieve's guild or one of the PFS factions (not sure which, I still have to read up on those) to cover up the existence of the artifact in the interest of balance of power.
Once the bread crumbs are followed, and the coin is found...who knows?

I've noticed something the longer I've been playing; we project a LOT of things onto the classes that just aren't in the rules. And when someone decides to color outside those pre-conceived notions, while still playing by the rules of the game, people will flip out. Lawful rogues? Paladins with stealth training? Barbarians who like theater?

Agreed, but isn't there actually something in the rules saying rogues have to be an unlawful alignment?

So, I'm planning on starting up a one on one campaign with my future wife sometime after our wedding is done. (A bit less than a month now!) We tried playing once before, but I was very new at GMing and also was trying to run two or more NPCs. Needless to say, it was a disaster, and I'm hoping to redeem myself with this.
I have a rough idea of the tone of story, and she'll likely be playing a rogue. I'm probably going to be adding in an NPC teammate, now that I'm competent enough to do that. Anyway, here are some of the ideas I would like in play for a campaign story, feel free to throw out any ideas I could use!
-ancient civilisations/artifacts
-politics
-secret societies
-conspiracy
-elaborate heist scenarios

I think the key to doing it right is not having things be terribly obvious. The players can notice or ignore any given item in a dungeon, so a lot of it depends on their planning ahead, and/or being creative in combat.

I'm what you might call a forgiving GM, although I think part of this is because I run games with just a 2 PC party. Because of this, I will occasionally give my players an 'out' if I think any encounter might be a bit too challenging for them. Nothing too obvious, but usually something they might notice enough so they can take that extra advantage. For instance, maybe having them come across a barrel of salt before facing a giant slug.
Does anybody else do this kind of thing? If so, what sort of things have you done to help the party along?

Ok, thanks!

Hello!
I'm not super new at Pathfinder, but I decided to join here to get extra advice/occasional products. I currently run a small game with my brother and brother-in-law. (could use some advice on balancing for two PCs) Planning on running No Response From Deepmar for our next few sessions.
I'm also a player with a local group (8 players!) and a much more experienced DM. I'm playing a level 2 monk at the moment, and loving all the crazy moves I can pull off!

Hey everyone!
Long time lurker, first time poster here. Just putting this out there to see if I can figure something out.
I'm planning on possibly using a zombie horse for a future game session with my guys. Would handle animal work on it, or would this situation fall under command undead only?
Thanks!
P.S. If I've posted in the wrong section, please move this if possible.