jybil178's page

I have been attempting to place an order for 2nd edition, and I get almost all the way through. However, once I get to the place your order section, when I press the button it only gets the working icon for a few moments or seconds, before disappearing and leaving me on the same page. Once or twice it has gotten to the point where it asks for a security code, but when it gets that far, it will do the same thing after attempting to continue

I've tried several different cards, my main debit and credit cards, and I've checked my address with what is now on file, and what is on file with my bank, and they both appear to be identical

I do not know what is preventing me from going forward, at this point I want to make sure it gets resolve, but I am tempted just to buy from fantasy grounds, then claim my free PDF, as that would be far easier than going through your main store page at this point :P

First thing, this is a fairly long post requesting help. I tend to write a lot, so I apologize ahead of time. I'll try my best to be to the point, but will also have a TL;DR at the bottom for my most important points.

I've been reading through this particular forum for the past few days, lots of great stuff here!! Glad so many people seem to enjoy this one :) Sadly, my players have also played the card game, but I've kept them from ever actually reading any of the flavor text. Regardless, they may be able to recognize some of the enemies as they come up. We will just have to wait and see how that turns out.

Well, some of the big things I'd like to ask for help are on the character creation. I am a bit of a control freak it seems, and have strictly stated that I'll only run this for 4 players, keeping to the AP's structure. I've seen just how much a single player more can really throw of the balance of the game. Luckily, my game group would normally only consist of these 4 players anyway, so thats a plus. I might let another player come in as a kind of recurring character, but I'm still thinking on that.

I also stated that I wanted a much more classic game, and tried to keep it down to a fighter, cleric, rogue and arcane caster. Most of the players where perfectly fine with that, except for one of them. Originally stated they had an awesome idea for a cleric, now states how much they hate and refuse to play one. Also lead to an argument for about an hour of the "fact" that arcane casters, specifically the wizard and sorcerer, are a complete waste of space in a party. Any thing they can "fail" to contribute could either be done better by another class, or eventually, completely replaced by a magical item. I did my best to persuade them that this was not the case, but they still strongly believed in their particular take on the class.

My first issue was how I may be best able to handle this. I know I could just open up the number of classes that could be played, but that would potentially skew away from the party build that I was hoping for. I may be far to controlling of course, but was hoping I could manage. I have not spoken with this particular player in a few days, but last I heard they where "fine" with making a Wizard. I did guide them to a particular post online some people in this forum may be familiar with, Trentmonk's guide to being god "aka wizard." Seems though they may very well just make a copy paste build from that.

How do you think I should try and handle this? First and foremost, does it really feel like the arcane spellcasters are at such a disadvantage in this edition/pathfinder? I've felt they where perfectly fine, just requiring a take on them that is different from the rest of your classes. I was particularly stunned when another one of my players (who is currently playing, and hating the wizard in another game) began to agree full heartily with just how bad wizard and sorcerers are. I'd rather my players have fun of course, first and foremost. I plan to get them together sometime this week to sit and make characters and really talk about it. Hopefully we can come to some understandings...

Now, for the actual character creation, I've opted for the 15 point buy system. I've always disliked rolling for stats, as they can be highly skewed. One player can get crap, one player can get OP. Point buy is always fair to the entire group. I'm tempted to bump that higher to the 20 point build, after I've seen everyone build their characters, but we shall see.

My question is, does this feel like its really the right level of power for this campaign?

Also, since I do strongly want my players to try and survive, I've decided to give them the 2 character traits suggested. For level ups for their HP, I'm stuck between a few different options. Rolling, again, could end up real horrible for the players, which I try and stay away from. I normally run a system suggested in the old d20 star wars system. Max - 2 :P Simple, elegant.. Gives your players a bit more health than normal. I'm also considering the system they have for the pathfinder society. (Max / 2) + 1. This is much less health than the prior for the most part. It is stronger than what you would get on average, and it does provide more health than what the opposition will be granted, albeit not by much.

Again, I'd like some input on how GM's have done this in the past. What would you suggest, and what do you believe may be too much?

While I do intend to make it hard enough to be challenging, I would like my players to try and keep their characters for as long as possible. If a player death where to occur, I'd like them to have enough HP to hopefully not have to worry about sudden death due to a few bad rolls against some random encounter, but in an epic and memorable way. To this effect, I was also considering giving all my players an additional Feat at first lvl, Toughness. This, I hope, will help mitigate some lucky rolls and while allowing players to get the most out of near death situations, and not a bunch of player deaths in the first few games, or over the course of the entire campaign.

Question being, do you believe this is too much? Is it a good idea, a bad idea?

My last two points are not really related at all, just wanted to try and wrap this up beyond the truly big wall of text that I COULD make it, and it is already sizing up to be >.< Hero points, and starting gold. I've never really looked in great detail on hero points, and as such have never really though of using them. I've heard other GMs using it, and some to great effect, some wishing they had not added them to the game. Thoughts? For starting gold, I'm not sure how I should handle it. I believe that I've come to two possible ideas. Have each player start with a set amount of gold, IE 150 ala Pathfinder Society, or take the average gold for their class on page 140 of the core. This is probably a very small detail that will not come to great issue at all in the future, as money begins to become less of an issue, but I was hoping to get a little bit of input none the less to try and help...

Anyway, to all of you that will take the time to read and give your input, I thank you greatly ahead of time now, and will thank you again as I look upon your responses :)

To all who want the bullets, here they are XD

TL:DR

Classes, is wizard and sorcerer ineffective in pathfinder? are they a waste of space in a party, or do they have the ability to contribute as much or more as other classes?

Should I be less of a stickler, and allow more classes? IE, is only allowing a Fighter, Rogue, Cleric and arcane spellcaster too strict? Wanted to have a much more traditional party for my first true campaign, but would this possibly be to much?

Is 15 point buy good for this particular AP? Should I maybe consider bumping it up to 20 points for 4 players?

2 character traits from the players guide for RotRL and the traits list on the paizo site. Do these truly help for character creation and depth, or are they just statistics that end up adding more clutter?

Thinking on giving players a specific feat for free at 1st lvl, toughness. Good idea, bad idea? Wish for players to have enough survivability to get some good mileage out of the campaign

HP, hate rolling for it. Should I go max-2, (max/2)+1 ala pathfinder society, or some other possible way to generate? What has been your experiences

Hero points, yes or no? Worth having for those more difficult encounter, or can it over trivialize some potentially more stressful or epic encounters?

Starting gold. How do you normally handle it? Should I go with average gold amounts from the core, default everyone to 150 as per pathfinder society, or try to come up with another way? Or would this potentially be one of the best places to actually let them roll for it?

Again, thank you for your time and help =) I greatly appreciate it, as will my players!

In Advanced Race Guide, the following standard racial trait reads:

Sprinter: Catfolk gain a
10-foot racial bonus
to their speed when
using the charge, run,
or withdraw actions.

Now, this specific wording to me isn't very clear, I can see it being used a number of ways. First of all, the withdraw action is probably the most potent use of this, but I won't get into that.

What I'm questioning is for Charge and Run. "gain a 10-foot racial bonus to their speed when using charge, run," from this reading, it could indicate that they either add just a simple 10 feet on after they take a charge or run action. Still rather potent for a racial trait, but not too bad. OR they could add that 10 feet on to their base, before they start doing the multiplication. Maybe there is a rule somewhere that would answer this, however, I was mostly concerned, as if this where to follow the previous reading of the rules, it would be an exceptionally powerful racial trait, equivalent and stack-able with class features that improve movement. And it would seem to me well outside the bounds of what should be kept in line with other racial traits, bordering as is with the weakest interpretation, without even going into the Catfolk Exemplar feat enhancement. *shudders*

Sadly, I've been quite out of the loop, and only recently been made aware this was coming out. Most defiantly going to get it, but was also very much wanting to try to get the hard copy AND the pdf.. If I where to order a sub now, would that get me the pdf for it once it ships, or would that no longer work? the exact wording is rather foggy, and says one thing, then says another if you look too closely into it.. And I don't want to take a step without knowing for sure what all I can do.. I'd prefer to have both, but if I can only have one, then well, I'll only get one. I will NOT buy both, as that would be absolutely ridiculousness to do...

And if this is the wrong place to post this, please advise me where I can. I tried in the actual product detail, but I only got one response, and they where not certain it seemed.

Well, basically, I'm going to be running the Carrion Crown AP in the near future. Upon its completion, I'd like to continue on with the rest of the story, but I must admit, I'm stricken with a Strong desire to try to run through the Carrion Hill Module in between part 1 and 2 of Carrion Crown...

Problems being, obviously first of all, the level is a little off.. Players SHOULD be around level 4 or so as they leave Ravengro for their new destination, but Carrion Hill suggests a starting level of 5, with a rather scary end encounter to boot! Honestly, not a blaring problem, and probably the least of my worries...

But of course, the most blaring problem of all, is the simple fact that Lepidstadt AND Ravengro are on opposite sides of the map from Carrion Hill! The journey from Ravengro to Lepidstadt alone is about 100 miles, a decent amount of travel for the level of the party. The journey from Ravengro to Carrion Hill however, would be a bit over twice that, IF you could travel straight through the country! The dangers and stories involved in such a journey could be fun, but overall, would detract and eventually heavily outweigh the problems that would take place in CC (Carrion Crown) part 2..

If you decide to simply fast travel between the two, you take out a huge element of the fact that you are in a place of true, Gothic horror and that you are going through the very center of this cursed place. The land is filled with the things of your nightmares, and ... you travel for 1-2 month, and you reach your destination... Yeah... *yawn*

But, another one of the things I'd have the hardest time with, is... Why would the characters have any reason to take a side trip to the other side of the country? Not only are they setting out to fulfill the last wishes of a man they held dear in life, but they are also going to be paid a fair sum for the act as well. I kinda come up with a blank here...

Had a crappy idea of some form of divine intervention to attempt to place the characters in a place of great need, but I wanna try to keep with the theme of the game, and not get into something too silly :P An atmosphere for a series like this is difficult enough to build up, and put into place. Destroying or damaging this atmosphere once made, is going to be must easier than it was to make it to begin with.

Basic question, how would this metamagic feat interact with this spell?

I'm pretty sure, simply enough, if you made the first Will save, you'd have to reroll.

What I'm NOT sure about, is if you make your Fort save, if you'd have to reroll, YET AGAIN, or if you'd be good..

I'm not sure whether the feat would...

(1) only work on the first save of a spell, so if you failed the first, but made the second, you'd be alright..

(2) would effect the first save you made, so if you made the first, and failed the reroll, but made the third roll, IE the fort roll, you'd be alright..

(3) or nastiest of all, you would have to reroll EVERY save you first make. So altogether, the above spell, would require you to make up to 4 rolls, altogether. Make first will, fail second will, make first fort, have to make a second fort.

I guess this question would apply to other spells as well, which require more than one save. I'm just very curious to overall, how this feat works.. The above is nasty >.<

Basically, I have a player who wants to play a magus. He found a character seeming to wield 2 Elven Curve Blades, and he spent the past 4 or so hours working on photoshop with it. He took the second blade off, and put a spell in its place.

My basic question, it it seems he can take the (S) version of the weapon, and it would become a 1 handed weapon, down from 2 handed. Would he also have to take the -2 for using an item not sized for him, technically, or would he be ok?

Would you think it would be ok to just let him do it, or would that be potentially too much? Its basically an exotic longsword, with an admittedly higher crit range. Also from a balance perspective, I'm dissalowing the Magus's spellstrike ability to use a spell that has been altered by a metamagic feat. I just don't really want that in my game. I also think I'll disallow keen or improved crit to increase the overal crit range of the spell. It'll only effect the weapon itself.

Thoughts, and overall opinion plz?

Basically, I have a player who wants to play a magus. He found a character seeming to wield 2 Elven Curve Blades, and he spent the past 4 or so hours working on photoshop with it. He took the second blade off, and put a spell in its place.

My basic question, it it seems he can take the (S) version of the weapon, and it would become a 1 handed weapon, down from 2 handed. Would he also have to take the -2 for using an item not sized for him, technically, or would he be ok?

Would you think it would be ok to just let him do it, or would that be potentially too much? Its basically an exotic longsword, with an admittedly higher crit range. Also from a balance perspective, I'm dissalowing the Magus's spellstrike ability to use a spell that has been altered by a metamagic feat. I just don't really want that in my game. I also think I'll disallow keen or improved crit to increase the overal crit range of the spell. It'll only effect the weapon itself.

Thoughts, and overall opinion plz?

Well, just a quick couple of questions really..

First off, you have a table in the Bladebound archetype that goes over at what magus lvls your black blade gains int/cha/wis and how much overall ego it will have. But, it also goes over an enhancement bonus that isn't mentioned in the black blade's write up, which is very odd... The CLOSEST thing written up, is the ability a little later on in the write up that costs the blade an arcane point, to increase the damage of your weapon, but that is an unnamed bonus, not an enhancement bonus. Basically, I was just wondering if I should take it as it says in the table, without an explanation, or if this was an oversight. Its just it literally goes over every time it gains a point of int, and cha/wis and ego... Just not the enhancment bonus...

My second big question, is something I kinda felt a little awkward about... Nowhere in the Bladebound write up does it tell you if you can improve upon the Black Blade any other way than lvling up. It kinda goes over that stuff in Intelligent item section, but since this is a class feature, and there isn't anything mentioned of whether you can't mess with it, or whether you can and how... I'm kinda stuck on what to do about that, hehe >.< Anyway, hope i can get some input on these questions real quick.