Search Posts
Thank you, everybody. I have been PFS and SFS curious for many years due to the challenge of getting five adults in a room for four hours, but none of my FLGSs host them. Magic the Gathering and Hasbro's Pathfinder-knockoff are the only choices if there are any. I will re-invigorate my search.
A few years ago, when a long campaign ended, my group decided to run some PFS adventures. It was definitely "disorganized play", but a rich supply of one-shots at a variety of levels allowed us to rotate game masters before the next campaign. The adventures were fun, well designed and served our purpose, but it always feels like I am missing a big part of the story. I've read the Player's Guide to PFS and a fair amount of Golarion lore, but it feels incomplete. The Meta:
Character arsenal:
Past meta:
Role-playing opportunities:
Awesome stories, everyone! I will definitely steal @NerdOver9000 idea for player generated NPCs. It will definitely make the players feel influential and grease the way for the characters to feel integrated. I admire @Mathmuse willingness and ability to bend the plotline to the players. I doubt my ability to wing it that cleanly, but it gives me courage to try. Tying characters to NPCs has worked intermittently for me. Some players were excited to be a secret prince and others accused me of re-writing their characters story.
"A person's greatest strength and biggest weakness are often the same attribute." The strength of an adventure path is a well designed story arc building in significance and magnitude as the party gains in power and status. The weakness of an adventure PATH is the story LINE which can decrease the party's autonomy and character growth. Session 0: "Write up a backstory for your character including motivations for adventure and people/places/things important to you."
The typical response is "A good game master can weave the two together". So, I would like to invite people to tell stories of how they or their GM made the adventure path feel personal. Such as:
Spoilers are probably unavoidable, but I would love to hear good examples that I can model my story telling on.
I want to reiterate my gratitude to all of you. I could only afford one striking rune, so it went on Dumas' pistol ... holy crap did that make a "critical" difference! What I like to think I would do as a DM is use the ABP and then get creative on magic items. "This sword always points east when you drop it. This hammer plays a chord when it hits metal; each note in the chord corresponds to a different metal. This trident can summon fish to fight for you." Okay, the last one came from an AD&D adventure in 1988 and could use some work.
Thank you for further discussion. When I heard about ABP, I figured I would use it when/if I GM. For this campaign, I'll try to see it out with the Core rules.
Thank you, all! I will propose a retroactive purchase of striking runes to my nephew.
I really like the "tight math" (TM) of Pathfinder 2E. My party just hit seventh level and it is nice to see how Attack Bonus and Armor Class track each other. However, damage doesn't seem to track with hit points for my party (the monsters appear to be doing better). My nephew is my DM and I run four characters. They are a fun foursome of goblins wreaking havoc in Outlaws of Alkenstar, but combat against a moderate or severe encounter can feel like Andy Dufresne carving a hole in the prison wall with his rock hammer. Maybe it is the class arrangement, maybe it is my choices or maybe it is working as designed. Asimov the Inventor does Weapon Die + Strength (+ Intelligence if overdrive), which hasn't really changed since level 1. I can buy him a striking weapon when we get back to town, but that is still a small boost. Dumas the Gunslinger is very swingy. If he crits, it is 2d10 + d10 + 1. Other hits are 1d6 + 1. He crits a little more often now, thanks to learned party synergy and powers, but not much more often. Wells the Alchemist is very versatile, but unless he is attacking a weakness the damage is few d6. Being strategic about persistent damage is the only way to start it adding up. Shakespeare the Bard primarily does buff and debuff. I could switch some spells to attack but that feels like a trap. Three times a day, he could do third level spell damage but at the cost of battlefield control. The last BBEG was a ********* with resistance to all physical damage unless ******** with a time limit on the battle. Fortunately, my nephew is a great DM and he supported my creative idea to eliminate the resistance and Dumas rolled four critical hits in seven shots. I don't want to think about what was about to happen otherwise, since we needed a lot of damage in a hurry.
Update: Nothing like hitting submit on a post to make an answer pop up in your Google search. Apparently, the RAW solution is Forbiddance. Are there any other suggestions?
My party killed a Denizen of Leng in an encounter. We now find out that they don't really die, just go back to Leng. The denizen then hired a Leng bounty hunter to chase us down across the planes. How are we supposed to permanently rid ourselves of this pursuer? The rules say that the fast healing and the *BAMF* home upon death are block "on Leng or in areas where planar connections do not function." I have spent a good amount of time trying to figure out an example of "where planar connections do not function" but can't find one. Short of hunting the hunter on Leng, what options do we have? I could tell a good story about using a binding spell to summon it and kill it, but the body might just wait until the binding expires before returning home. The rules don't seem definitive.
Room 5
“As you pass through the portal, you enter a mighty throne room. The majesty of the architecture is impressive, though somewhat diminished by the piles of crates, chests and books strewn around. Up two levels on the main dais, you see a pit fiend devil. He looks a lot like the fireball throwing statue you saw before, except that he is wrapped in chains. His wings are so tangled in chains as to be useless and the links bite into his flesh.”
“MORE PEOPLE! ARE THESE YOUR FRIENDS?” the devil asks the cowering figure. When the figure doesn’t respond, the devil flings his throwing axe which sunders the person in twain. “I WAS GROWING BORED OF HIM ANYWAY” More Information
Resolution:
Once Sargatthaan is separated from the manacle, he disappears. A split second later, the extra-dimensional space collapses. The party is back at the entrance to the dungeon amid a pile of paint filled barrels, chests and all the other items in the throne room. With detect magic, they can quickly locate the McGuffin amidst the debris. Dead bodies of the other party are also there. Between the old books and the magic items on the other party, they get a sizeable gold equivalent reward. And a Scroll of Teleportation to let them get home.
Room 4
“This room is quite different from the previous rooms. You can see the rectangular shape of the room clearly, though the walls and floor are riven by cracks. A few paintings in the style of the forge room can be seen on the wall, but they are scrawled over with black graffiti. The graffiti covers all of the walls.” More information
The fissures in the floors and the walls appear to be holes in the extra-dimensional space you inhabit. Every minute or so, one of them crackles for a round and then erupts in a kinetic explosion. 5d6 damage to anyone within 15 feet. The party is in little danger once they see the pattern, but they can’t rest here.
Room 3
“As you pass through the portal, you find yourself in the forges of Hell … perhaps, literally. Pools of molten lava on floor fill the room with breath-taking heat. A cart full of ore sits on tracks, waiting to be smelted and shaped in the smithy on the far side of the room. A deep pit in the middle of the room leads to places you probably don’t want to know.”
More Information:
Combat:
Room 2
“As you pass through the portal, you find yourself before a mighty fortress. Dozens of chained people are climbing the stairs to the entrance, while devils wielding spiked whips drive them forward. A massive devil in armor stands at the top of the stairs. Over the doorway at the top of the stairs is a coat of arms with a bull head in front of a yellow flame” More information
Combat
Just in case anyone wants to weigh in with final ideas, I am posting my plan for the dungeon. Many thanks to Meirril. Before entering the dungeon, the party will find an empty campsite with still warm coals in the fire. There is another group seeking the McGuffin and they got here first! Room 1
More information
After a few minutes of exploring, they will realize that they are in a large room. The view over the cliffside and the sky above is painted on the walls. A combination of phenomenal painting skills and permanent illusions create the compelling scene. The painter clearly wanted to evoke the beauty and majesty of the area, even though you never want to visit.
Eventually, the portal behind the party will close. A large magma elemental is summoned and appears near the exit door on the opposite side. Its first action will be to burrow into the ground. From there it will use its create magma pool attack to fill the space of the character nearest the exit. It will alternate between (surface and attack) and (attack and burrow). It will alternate between attacking the two characters furthest from the waterfall from the side away from the waterfall. (If one character ended up here alone, give them hints that hiding in the waterfall will protect them.) A few minutes after the elemental is dead, the portal on the opposite side opens. If the party doesn’t go through, it closes and the cycle repeats.
Excellent suggestions. I really like the idea of making bull rush a feature of the sulphur pools. That could be fun. I also like the idea of adamantine being the key to breaking the chains. The devil can have an adamantine throwing axe with the "Called" enhancement. He throws it at the party, aiming to miss as he taunts them, summoning it back into his hand on his next round. This gives the party the opportunity to pick it up and use it in the interval between his turns. When he is freed, he summons it back to Hell.
I have a great idea for a dungeon adventure for my group. I would love to get advice and insights from the brilliant folks on this board, especially in making the encounters feel interesting and fresh. The Party
The Hook/Railroad:
Ten thousand years ago, powerful spellcasters hid and protected the McGuffin to save the world. Now, the situation has changed and the party has to retrieve it to save the world. The Twist:
The spellcasters bound a powerful Devil to protect the McGuffin. It turns out that ten thousand years of solitary confinement is not healthy, even for immortal beings like a devil. As the party descends into the dungeon, it will see evidence of the devil’s descent into madness. The devil desperately wishes to return to the Plane of Hell but is bound to secure the McGuffin in this plane; its insanity is the key for the party to achieve its goal against a foe it could never face in combat. The Flavor:
There are five sequential rooms. The devil was tasked with designing the defenses, but after setting up triggered summonings in the rooms, he got bored. He attempted to hold boredom at bay by taking up art; both painting and sculpture. It was effective for some time, but not for this long.
Room One has beautiful stark landscapes painted on the walls with such verisimilitude that observers momentarily think they are standing in a broad plain. The terrain is bleak and foreboding with a winding river leading to a towering and intimidating city in the hills. Despite the austerity, the view is beautiful; think of Ansel Adams’ photographs of the desert. The homesickness of the artist permeates the work. Room Two captures the view in front of the city gates that were in the distance of the previous room’s picture. The devil has taken up sculpture in this room. The city gates are wrought from iron and twisted into gruesome shapes warning the arriving souls of what awaits. A staggering mob of damned souls are arrayed before the gates, their faces capturing their agony and fear of their fate. A self-portrait statue of the devil towers over the march of the damned, swinging a barbed whip over its head. Think of Rodin’s Gates of Hell and similar works, except the statues have been painted to look lifelike. It takes an inspection by the party to determine that they are all wrought from iron and stone. The pride the devil takes in inflicting damnation permeates the scene. Room Three represents a room inside the first level of Hell and gives the first indications of the artist’s diminishing sanity. The floor is riddled with real boiling pools of sulphured water. The walls are covered in images of damned souls performing their pointless eternal tasks, from smashing rocks to carrying loads. The realism of the previous rooms has begun to fade. The dimensions of the caverns seem warped and disorienting, which is only augmented by the distortion of the steam from the pools. Think of Salvador Dali painting the Guernica. The artist appears to have some sympathy for the mortals trapped in a place they cannot escape and tied to a task they resent. Room Four is a ruined mess. In places on the wall, the party can see images of deeper levels of Hell painted in the Dali-esque style of the previous room, but burn marks sear the walls erasing most of the painting. The statues that were once carved in the room have been smashed into pieces or melted into blobs. A line of permanent flames swoop over the wall behind the party’s entrance writing ‘F**K ASMODEUS” in Infernal. Room Five is where the devil has withdrawn permanently. He can’t bring himself to enter the first three rooms, lest he destroy that artwork in a fit of madness and the fourth room only escalates the madness. The walls of this room are covered in sketches of the earlier works and half made statues litter the ground. Graffiti covers everything, saying in Infernal, “Why am I here?”, “Why must I keep what I don’t want?”, “How do I go home?” If the party gets the chance to inspect, they will also find investigations into the spells which bind the devil, maybe offering a way to break them. The devil is former Duke of Hell who discovered how fickle was the loyalty to him when he was yanked into the Material Plane and bound to these five rooms. Asmodeus has declined to reward the former Duke’s service by organizing a rescue and the creatures he could summon weren’t powerful enough. The key to this encounter is that the devil has been sooooo bored for so long that he wants to toy with the party rather than kill them. He might show them the McGuffin to taunt them. His binding is tied to chains that he wears. His insanity will allow him to accidentally drop hints to the party about how to break the chain despite being commanded otherwise by the ancient spellcasters that captured him. The Game Flow:
The party loves to do the “one battle a day” routine. I want to push them by design, so that I will be impervious to their machinations to camp and rest. For this reason, the sequence in each room will be:
*Entry door stays opens for 10 minutes *Entry door closes. If there are any living beings in the room, summoned creatures/beings appear. *Both doors closed for 10 minutes. (Combat likely) *Exit door opens and stays open for 10 minutes (this is also the entry door the next room) *Exit door closes *Both doors closed for minutes *Repeat If the party stays in the room to rest, the summoned creatures will re-appear. If the creatures are intelligent, they remember the party and can adjust tactics accordingly. If the party retreats back out, they have to go through all the fights again. Request For Help
My friends and I are coming up with a second party, more lighthearted than the main campaign for a change of pace and for those days when the main GM hasn't finished the final touches on the boss battle. As is usual with roleplayers, it was an opportunity to propose crazy ideas. I suggested starting with a Village of Hommlet "won't someone please save our poor town" style adventure except all the characters are all locals who in varying levels of sobriety volunteer to do it themselves. They would all be 1st level Brawlers who discover their destinies as they pummel kobolds. Another player suggested an "All Bard" party. It made me realize that some of you may have actually followed through on your wacky ideas and have stories to tell. I've opened my beer and the popcorn is popping ... please share. My strangest actual adventuring party was an all-dwarf group. It really improved the group cohesion and never worrying about lamps was a real plus, but I don't have any funny tales.
Normally, redundant class features don't stack, but Fast Movement specifically stacks with all other bonuses to speed. Good read on that, Imbicatus. I suspect having a 50' movement would cause consternation around the table and rules lawyers could get bogged down arguing whether the two speed bonuses are separate or the same bonus. Probably best to grab the bonus feat instead and live with a 40' speed.
I am intrigued by the vigilante. The +2 will save and other flavor might be worth the +0 BAB at first level and the d8 hp. I hadn't really read through the Advanced Weapon/Armor Training options which make the higher levels of the fighter more interesting ... I thought Dipso was just losing the +1 to hit/damage. I still think the versatility will be more fun, but that makes it clearer what he is giving up. I tweaked his stats. Int dropped to 8 and Con dropped to 12 to raise Wisdom to 14. Plus, I gave him the Birthmark trait for a bonus against charm and compulsion spells.
I was looking into 1 level dips for a prospective fighter and realized that the martial classes are somewhat front loaded. Which led to ... Dipso was a Barbarian out of the north when he arrived in so-called civilization and fell in with a band of adventurers. In between the kobold killing that is required by all first level characters, he drank a little too much of the too strong city-booze and found himself in a lot of fist fights. His second level came in Brawler. Freed from the restrictions of first level, the party delved underground in search of treasure and glory. Dipso found that his rage resonated in the deep caverns. His third level came in Bloodrager (Earth Elemental Bloodline - Blood Conduit). The party's quest carried them into the wilderness where Dipso's affinity for animals awakened. His fourth level came in Ranger (Wild Hunter) A near TPK in the final boss fight revealed how Dipso felt about his comrades. The discovery of mithril plate in the hoard only reinforced his desire to protect the party. His fifth level came in Cavalier (Order of the Dragon - Standard Bearer). All this dabbling still left Dipso unfulfilled and he finally followed his natural affinity with sixth and later levels in fighter. I did a sixth level build for Dipso using a 20 point buy and the Unchained Automatic Bonus Progression.
Plus the usual feats of weapon focus, power attack, combat reflexes etc.
I chose the archetypes for these reasons:
Questions:
Do you have recommendations for other archetypes or class choices? Do you agree that this would be much more fun than a vanilla fighter? I also looked into Dispo's Lawful Good cousin Diparino, with Unchained Monk and Paladin in place of the barbarian/bloodrager, but the low mental stats were much more limiting.
Thank you all for some great insights. I think the way I have played is closest to what PossibleCabbage said ... I was usually ignoring my character's race, occasionally playing up the stereotype or sometimes trying to invert the stereotype.
But, reading the Advanced Race Guide made me realize my own deficiencies in this regard. If I choose to play a catfolk or a kitsune, I want it to be more than just an excuse to get certain bonuses.
Thank you.
I am making a new character and looking at the Advanced Race Guide. I realized that I don't really roleplay my character's race very much. My dwarves feel like humans who took potion of Darkvision with a chaser of Slow Person (and a few other buffs/nerfs). Their personalities are set mostly by class and the background I wrote up.
In some campaigns, playing a Core race can affect the plot if you run across a group of elves/gnomes/etc. But this seems exceedingly unlikely with the Advanced Races. Playing a catfolk seems like it would mostly cause a few tavern owners to say "you look a little strange" as they hand you your beverage. How do you use your race to influence your role-playing?
Holy crap! Would it have killed Paizo to include the "full attack" specification in the "two-weapon fighting" rules? We have been playing this wrong for seven levels now. The rogue has been devastating with his ability to move to a flanking position and double-dagger enemies with his sneak attack bonus. Then one of the players who also plays Pathfinder Society brought up the rule. I had to come here to figure it out.
A very nice summary that matched my thoughts as well. Boats were one of the first places where I noticed that "one creature per 25 sq ft" really didn't make sense. It got more obvious as I tried to furnish rooms realistically.As you say, I sort of warp Pathfinder space as needed. Depending on the situation, the side of a square can vary in my mental model from 2.5' to 5'. (All range and movement calculations still use 5' a square)
I remember running an adventure where the flavor text said "a small 20x30 room" and one of my players pointed out that it was larger than the apartment we were playing in. Most real buildings have 5 foot corridors and 10x10 rooms but adventure maps have 10 foot corridors and 40x40 rooms. A lived in room would have lots of furniture, yet multiple people would feel comfortable being in it together. An adventure room is going to have little clutter and few beings. Do you ever have your door-kicking party open up a 10x10 barracks with four opponents, two bunk beds, a bench, a table, some boxes used as chairs, a heating brazier, a storage cabinet and a parakeet cage? Or any similar situation which is 'realistically' proportioned but plays havoc with the 5' standards?
Ha! If I ever tried to publish IronFinder as a 3PP, that would be the subtitle.
I think it would be better to use the automatic bonus progression and background skills from Pathfinder Unchained. I bought Unchained for the monk, but didn't read that section. I'll have to look at it. The better the house rules play with Hero Lab, the easier it will be. Thank you! @Sundakan, As for flying creatures, I think that is one reason why things get particularly challenging from 10th level onward. In a perfect game, the players would come up with innovative ideas and the GM would be flexible on the rules in support of innovation. The GM could flavor the setting with opportunities for the players to set ambushes, entangle wings or temporarily acquire flying allies. @SilvercatMoonpaw, thanks for the extra reading ideas. I am always hesitant to switch to a new rule system, since it feels easier to convince players to try "Pathfinder with modifications" than "Read this 300 page book and show up Tuesday with characters". It took me several years to 'unlearn' AD&D and 3rd Ed so I could really feel comfortable with Pathfinder. But, if the new rules are quality and a better fit, I will consider shifting.
There are at least an infinite number of threads on this board on the legendary martial-caster disparity. A common refrain is "If you want low-magic, go play a game designed for it". The problem is that all the well-supported games are high-fantasy. I like the idea of a campaign where there are no magic wielding PCs. There are still dragons, demons and sorcerous liches ... just no PC wizards, clerics, etc. (Remember, there is no "wrong fun". This is just a flavor of ice cream I would like to try). I did run an Iron Heroes campaign for a few sessions. While the philosophy of the rules matched my ideas fairly well, the campaign failed for two reasons:
There is so much richness in the Pathfinder rules and world, heavily play tested and over-analyzed. Even limited to fighters, rogues, barbarians, cavaliers, monks and all their archetypes there is an ability to customize that Iron Heroes never had (7 classes, three of which were useless). If anyone has run a campaign like this, I would love to hear about your particular house rules and how it went. Thanks to some of the discussions on these boards, I think you can make an IronFinder without major surgery. Healing: Adopt the heroic healing from Iron Heroes. [fuzzy memory] Characters have a reserve of hit points based on CON which can be moved into normal HP out of combat and recover quickly with rest [/fuzzy memory]. This isn't "realistic", but it is heroic; it is analogous to John McLain pulling glass out of his feet and then being ready to keep kicking ass. Magic Items, particularly the Big 6: Use Kolokotroni and Brodiggan Gale's idea for avoiding the dependence on magic items. Special magic items which help deal with the lack of flying/teleporting etc will still exist, but should feel special. Damage Reduction: Replace DR/magic with DR/<silver, cold iron, adamantine> as deemed appropriate. Combat Manouvers: I would be inclined to make these more rewarding in order for martials to have more interesting options in combat. I don't have a firm suggestion (easier feat acquisition?), so I consider this optional for now. It seems like with those changes a party would be CR equivalent to a Pathfinder Society Party until level 5. Maybe CR-1 levels 5 to 10. After that, it probably gets bigger. All suggestions and experiences welcome.
I have read Treantmonk's guide. Fantastic stuff. My spell choices are heavily influenced by that. I just felt like I could use an audio-visual role model as well.
There are lots of web videos of gaming groups in action. While I find these to be great inspirations for gameplay, each one is rather long, so it is hard to watch a large number. Does anyone have any recommendations for a particular video with a good demonstration of a wizard being a "battlefield controller"? I don't feel like I am doing a good job at it and would appreciate some role-models to follow.
I think "Hide Campsite" needs to be in our repertoire. Unfortunately, it needs a wand right now because only the Ranger has access to the spell and can't cast it herself until 8th level. I hadn't thought about the limit of 8 in a Rope Trick. If we can convince the ranger's wolf and the cavalier's horse to climb the rope, we have 8! Of course, you have to be wary when leaving in case somebody is laying an ambush because of this strange rope in the forest. I didn't know if rogues and rangers like to set up trip lines or other traps regularly. Thanks for the advice, everyone!
Our party has made it to level 5 with simplistic overnight rituals, "Fighter first watch, Rogue second, Cavalier third ... casters rest" Now that we are pissing off more powerful foes than kobolds, I feel like we should be smarter but am not sure what to do. As the wizard, it feels like my responsibility to be the brains of the group. What actions would you recommend when resting in perilous territory without any specific threats?
What additional actions would you take if you knew someone was actively searching for you?
Thank you for the replies. That matched my instinct for the spell range but sometimes it is hard to find the right verbiage. I was able to talk intelligently with my GM beforehand and the results were fun. Our party was chasing after an ensorcelled party member who had a head start on us. I was worried that we wouldn't be able to follow his trail as fast as he was moving and would lose him. So, we got the direction of the trail, my wizard levitated the high-perception gnome, tied him to the cavalier's horse and sent the cavalier off at high speed. With the extra vantage point, we found him in no time and my wizard was able to bring the gnome down safely even at a distance.
I am specifically thinking of levitate here, but there are other spells which could also fall into this category. Spell range is 25 ft + 5/2 levels or 35 for my 5th level wizard. Wizard casts levitate on an adjacent willing other party member. (No need for save. Range is fine.) Wizard uses a move action to levitate the party member at 20' per round. Is 35' the highest he can lift him or is the range only about the initial casting? After levitating him, the wizard walks away. If he gets further than 35' does the party member fall down? Is the wizard still able to adjust the party members altitude? TL;DR Is range only about the distance at the time of casting or is it also about the wizard's ability to maintain or alter the spell?
Late to the thread, but I just want to say that I love the list! It is almost exactly my ideal setup. (I have been trying to convince my group to do E6 and I am the wizard.) I would find the ambition of one adventure per session challenging. I struggle to anticipate how long the players will spend on activities or in a combat. In addition, the lack of a firm arc to the story means I would probably start too many adventures with "You are all sitting in the bar when ..." How do you overcome those challenges?
The rules are vague on some details, presumably since this is a rare enough game occurrence, circumstances vary (such as which animal) and most campaigns will hand-wave the time and boring work. The rules as I read them are:
How long it takes the animal to go from infant to useful is unstated (probably varies by animal). How much time the handler has to spend with the animal each day is unstated. My opinion: unless the character is trying to build an army of trained wolves or run a business selling tamed aurochs, keep it simple and keep it fun.
making a Bluff check to convince someone of the truth sounds ridiculous to me. You don't have to control your body language to conceal the fact that you are lying (Bluff), you are making a request to an NPC with an attitude of at least indifferent (Diplomacy). Hence my recommendation to give a "telling the truth" bonus to the Bluff check (and my wish to rename the skills). The overlap with Diplomacy is a good point. Maybe the right way to think about it is that Bluff vs. Sense Motive is about the person believing what you say and attitude (w/potential Diplomacy) is what they do about it. PC succeeds at Bluff check. Guard believes her. Roll Diplomacy to see whether/how much he helps her.
Another House Rule which makes sense to me is to incorporate degree of success into the outcome. PC fails by less than 10 = suspicious, "If you would please stand over there while I send a messenger to the royal recorder"
I am not sure if you have been following my recent thread on this very topic or whether great minds just think alike. The recommendation in that thread (and apparently supported by Ultimate Intrigue) is to use Bluff vs. Sense Motive. The PC is still trying to persuade an NPC to believe something he is not inclined to believe. If you want to give a bonus to the PC because it is true, that is a reasonable if not RAW adjustment. I wish that Bluff was named "Persuasion" and Sense Motive was named "Social Perception". That seems to better match all their uses.
Ultimate Intrigue Summary Thank you for this. I will at least browse this section at my FavoriteLocalGamingStore if it isn't OGL and am now more likely to purchase the book. I appreciate the difficulty of making good rules for social interaction. Too few make the game too dependent on the acting abilities of the players or GM. Too many make the personalities feel too constrained by the roll of the dice. My GM is new and, as a result, likes to stick closely to the RAW. The Sense Motive rules, in the CRB, seem incomplete. Combine that with a group of players who love to shout "I sense motive!", and we fall into rule negotiations too often. My recent proposal is that a player saying "I sense motive" is asking for a hunch check, not opposing a bluff. Opposing checks are initiated at the GM's discretion, not the player's.
My opinion is that the rules for Sense Motive vs. Bluff are at best incomplete and probably in need of a massive rewrite. (I am not talking about the "hunch" rules for Sense Motive. That is probably best for another thread.") Situation:
How this situation is handled by the rules and how the rules feel to the players depends a great deal on which one is the PC and whether the fighter is telling the truth. Fighter is the PC and is bluffing
Fighter is the PC and is telling the truth
Captain is the PC and the fighter is bluffing
Captain is the PC and the fighter is telling the truth
I have some ideas for how to modify this, but I would love to hear about house rules that have already been play tested.
Not the answer to what you asked, but I used Hero Forge to make a custom character mini. Very nice if you only want to make a couple minis.
My apologies for restarting a contentious debate. I didn't find the link the BigNorseWolf linked to. That seems to beat this question to death sufficiently. I have one last point of confusion.
In addition, a 7th-level or higher Medium beast rider can select any creature whose natural size is Large or Huge, provided that creature is normally available as a Medium-sized animal companion at 7th level (like a bear). To generate statistics for such a mount, apply the following modifications: Size Large; Ability Scores Str +2, Dex –2, Con +2. Increase the damage of each of the mount's natural attacks by one die size. A beast rider cannot choose a mount that is not capable of bearing his weight, that has fewer than four legs, or that has a fly speed (although the GM may allow mounts with a swim speed in certain environments). I wonder why a Small beast rider could not select a Medium or Large creature which is normally available as a Small-sized animal companion.
You can always take the beast rider archetype which opens up about 15 exotics mounts at level 4. I believe it's in advanced players guide or maybe ultimate combat. Ahh... in Ultimate Combat. That looks like the ticket. No gecko listed, but some pretty nice rides. Thank you.
I have this dream of a gnome cavalier. At low levels, I see him riding a dog. But, at level 4 or so, I would like to upgrade him to something more interesting, such as a gecko (for the climb speed). In an individual campaign, I would beg the GM. How do such things work in PFS?
For mechanics heavy games, I usually use point-buy. I also extend the point-buy system past 18, and give bonus points [as they level]. Now THAT is a rule variation that I would be curious to try. What if, at 4th/8th/12th/16th level, you got 4 "point buy" points instead of +1 to a single stat? Like every rule change, I am sure that it would create as many problems as it solves. (Can you bank them? Do upper level adventures break if you don't have a 20 in your primary stat?) But it seems worth considering.
My tuppence: In order to make this work, I think two things are needed.
The details of the two ways are up for design.
1) If the defender is unaware that there are hostile creatures in attacking range or is unaware that a nearby creature is hostile, the defender's state is "unaware". In this case, the attacker may make a single attack without moving as if the defender were "flatfooted", plus that attack automatically threatens a critical if it hits. (Unseen creatures that have displayed their hostility would not trigger this state. The PC who has secretly been working for the villain would trigger this state.) 2) With an opposed skill check, the attacker can hold the attack and reveal his presence/hostility. As long as the attacker only takes 5 foot steps and free actions, and continues to threaten the defender, he can make the single attack as described above. The opposed skill check can be a game time judgement call based on the situation, but Bluff/Intimidate vs. Will or Stealth vs. Perception might be good options. The defender player can also initiate an attempt to break out of the "unaware" state by an opposed Bluff check of their own. Happy to hear more brainstorming ideas.
As per the OP request, starting a thread on the "Don't move or I'll shoot" idea. See you all there.
In the Missing Tropes thread, posited the following action movie cliche that is hard to recreate in d20:
The OP of that thread asked that if an idea takes off, to make a new thread for it and leave that one for listing more missing ideas. These are some of the comments:
Combat manuver: Hostage. You roll to hit, then stop just short. Add the potential damage to your bluff. If your hostage has initiative on you they can grapple. Withholding an Attack: Whenever you perform a standard action that lets you make a single weapon attack against a single target, you may choose to retroactively withhold that attack after seeing the results of your attack roll and weapon damage roll. If you withhold your attack, you can apply the results of your withheld attack at any time as an immediate action. You lose your withheld attack if you perform any standard or full-round action, or if you become unable to make your attack against your intended target for any reason. How about, if you catch an opponent when it is flat-footed or denied its Dexterity modifier to AC, you threaten a critical hit (but need to confirm it normally). To which Umbral Reaver pointed out: Improved invisibility for unlimited crits?
|
