martinaj's page

Been GMing for ages, but it's been a few years, and I've got a new campaign starting on Sunday (PF2). 3 players, starting at 2nd level. Party consists of a cleric (warpriest), a wizard (universalist) and a ranger (animal companion and ranged attacks). I'm trying to finish the 1st adventure for Sunday (the 14th), and have the rest of the campaign outlined in broad strokes.

As far as the campaign goes, it's set primarily in Ustalav, around Caliphas, and I've projected 2 shorter adventures and the a few larger arcs.

1st adventure (2nd to 3rd level): Party starts on a ship en route to Caliphas. A rogue wave upends it and they wash up together in the Gravelands. They have to flee a horde of undead and seek refuge in an (apparently) abandonned homestead just across the Path River. They're lured into the basement and trapped by a sadistic bugbear and a handful of goblins he's cowed into helping him prey on travelers and refugees.

2nd adventure (3rd to 4th level): On their way to Caliphas the party is hounded by wild animals (to hint at the next arc) The party has to wait outside of Caliphas for a while before being admitted through the gates. In the meantime, they get roped into looking into a rash of disappearances, which takes them into Nar Voth to foil a cell of Derro that have started snatching people from the surface to run expiriments on.

1st major arc (levels 4-7): I want to do something with a druid villain who is having animals start attacking the city (not just the usually dangerous ones, but also birds, squirrels, etc... becoming weirdly organized and aggressive). Eventually they'll have to enter the wilderness to deal with them.

2nd arc (levels 8-11): The Pharasman Penitence is the major villain. A "priest" (he's actually a witch but doesn't know it - thinks he's talking directly to Pharasma) uses the druid's attack on Caliphas to definitively turn popular opinion against Prince Odranti and effectively seizes control of the city in a populist uprising. Oppression of local elements he deems heretical or unsavory (especially the Kellids and their beliefs) gets turns up, and in desperation, they reach out to some sort of Lovecraftian entity for help. Party will have to deal with both the church and the results of the Kellids' desperation.

3rd arc (levels 11-16): Not certain, but it's Ustalav and I've always like Nosferatu, so I want one to be the villain for this arc. During this arc the party hears rumors of Razmiran invading the River Kingdoms.

Final arc (levels 16-20): Razmir invades Caliphas from Lake Encarthan, his forces bolstered by undead given to him by the Whispering Tyrant (of whom he is a pawn).

Obviously some of these need fleshing out, but I also could use another set of eyes on what I'm planning for my 1st adventure. Outline/questions to follow.

Want to ask here before I pull the trigger on anything.

So I just started at a new high school, and each teacher is supposed to sponsor a once-per-week club. Mine will start next semester and it doesn't have a tabletop club, so that's my strongest leaning right now. If interest is high enough enough among students, I may be able to get a little bit of funding for it.

I think it would be big stretch to get enough for a set of physical rulebooks (I would want to gauge interest of students and use either PF2 or Starfinder), but probably enough for PDFs. But I know that there would probably be legal issues involved there regarding sharing them with students, so I want to see what the situation there would be.

For example, a set of PDFs was purchased with a school account, could they be shared via a google drive with students? That way they would only have access as long as they are students, since they'd lose their school account after graduating.

I believe I'll be launching a, well, let's call it a "hometweaked" rather than a "homebrew" campaign that's going to be retooled to have a pretty heavy space western feel to it. Planning for a party of smugglers or outlaws or something, but one of their early (hopefully) recurring antagonist is going to be a hanging judge style Kasatha sheriff (who will join the Hellknights if he survives the early game), and I got an idea for a weapon I'd like him to have, but I want to keep it both cool and balanced.

Basically, he's going to use a pair of slug pistols and a cable lasso that he can use conventionally, or charge with electricity for stun and/or electric damage to subdue targets, create a laser edge around the inside of the loop for lethal attacks (which, in "cutscenes" could lead to some stylish executions).

But I am at a total loss at how I would stat such an item. Him being a boss level enemy, I don't mind if it feels kind of powerful or overbalanced, but I don't want to overdo it, and want to make sure it's useable and balanced if it ends up in the hands of my PCs.

I've been thinking about trying to launch a campaign set there that is either about Razmir doing his thing, or about the Ivory Labyrinth (loved those guys in WotR)trying to infiltrate/conquer Seven Arches to repurpose their portals to create a new World Wound, but the books that I've got don't have a ton on updates yet, and I kind of stopped following the APs around that one that had Xin in at the end.

So I'm just wondering if there were any big standout events in there? The world guide mentions that Pitax is gone (but it's still on the map), and that the kingdom that was established in Kingmaker is now a thing, but doesn't offer much more detail about it.

So this seems to be RAW, but I'm not sure if it's RAI and was wondering the thoughts of the forum.

The rogue's ruffian racket lets you do extra stuff when making sneak attacks with simple weapons. The orc weapon familiarity feat says that "for you, orc martial weapons are simple weapons." So that would mean that for a half-orc with this feat, the normally-martial orc knuckle dagger could be used with the ruffian racket, right?

I wanted to ask here because it seems that just about every other ancestry weapon familiarity specifically states that you count the racial weapon as one step simpler for purposes of proficiency. The wording on proficiency is absent from the half-orc entry, so I wasn't sure if this was an oversight.

Sorry, general question here - I just want to make sure I ask in the right forums. Where would the proper place be for threads regarding...

1)RAW with slight homebrew stats/mechanics, such as advice on building NPCs and creatures?

2) Suggestions for campaign macrogames or narrative development.

I'm about to start up a new campaign, but the setting as written is a little to shiny for my tastes, so I was wondering how you guys would go about making the setting a bit darker and bit rougher? Generally, I prefer setting in which there aren't really any "good guy" organizations - the PCs might meet good individuals, but the various institutions are generally corrupt or at least highly self-serving, and the impetus is very much on the PCs to be the heroes. So less like Star Wars, more like Dune.

It's starting at a local level on a town I'm making up on Akiton and we're going for a space western theme in the beginning, so I've got some time to flesh out what the greater system looks like, but here were some early ideas I had.

The Pact officially only extends to the Diaspora. Anything beyond that is not a Pact World. The Pact Worlds themselves each vie constantly for political advantage over one another, and sabotage and espionage are very common.

The Kasatha are a lot more militant, and the faction on the Idari that is crying for them to colonize (by force, if necessary) is more vocal and larger than as presented in the core rulebook.

Brethesda is the unofficial intermediary between the Pact Worlds and the Outer Worlds (going out to Aucturn - no one touches Apostae). They have a reputation for being skilled mediators and diplomats but a lot of people are weirded out by them largely because of their non-anthroporphic shape.

The Outer Worlds helped in the war with the Veskarium and against the Swarm, but refused to sign the Pact afterwards due to concerns that their distance from Absolom Station would lead to them being marginalized under the Pact.

The treaty with the Veskarium is tense as heck, and as the years have drawn on, it's starting to look like each side saw it differently. Many people in the Pact Worlds fear that what they felt was an alliance and a trade agreement was seen as a suzerian arrangment to the Veskarium.

There is nothing that even remotely resembles a Pact military. Forces are rallied on, at the widest, a planetary scale. Stewards have a lot of authority but there aren't very many of them. They have the right to commandeer resources and manpower in pursuit of missions when deployed, but they're usually seen as secret police or unwanted federal interference.

Androids are kind of like replicants that also have a fair number of mechanical components. The knowledge of how to make them is known only by the anacites and is one of their most closely guarded secrets. Their sentience and autonomy has been recognized on the Pact Worlds and using them as slave labor is illegal there, but not beyond the Diaspora. Whether or not they actually have souls is still a matter of debate for many people.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

So after watching a bunch of Dimension 20, I wanted to do something a little sillier for a game. So I'm thinking of starting up a starfinder game where the big theme is that the PCs are the red shirts on Starfinder Society vessel. This would definitely not be the RAW Starfinder Society - they're going to be bureaucratic and kind of callous and more of a caricature of the England's golden age of exploration.

But to start characters, I was thinking I'd just make a list of professions that a red shirt might hold. Ship Sanitation Specialist, Officer Refreshment Dispenser, etc. I want to come up with about a dozen of these, and each PC picks a profession that their character ended up filling on the ship (regardless of their actual expertise). Any suggestions for similar job titles?

So I'm sitting down to toss together a few ready-to-use characters for a potential game opportunity, and I'm starting with a fighter going for the Elven Curve Blade. Furious Focus at a casual glance seems like it would be an ideal compliment to it's Forceful quality, but when I actually try to figure out how Furious Focus works, I'm not 100% I'm understanding right. Does functionally bump the -10 of a third attack to -5 on the condition your second attack missed?

Cause I don't see them in the book, which seemed a little weird with a playtest adventure starting in Magnimar. I know that they're concentrated in Korvosa, but if I recall they had really spread out from there. Wasn't Magnimar founded but a group of Chelaxians that wanted to break with the old empire?

I've been away from these boards for a while, but when SF first hit, several "Solarians need a fix" threads were pretty active, mostly concerned over the fact that they were far more MAD than any other class, and as I look over them again, I can definitely see it. It's not so much that they can't be effective, but making one effective seems to call for a much higher level of system mastery than other classes (I mean it's pretty easy to optimize an operative totally by accident), and they seem to have far fewer viable builds than other classes. It still bothers me that their builds aren't really intuitive - I feel like if a reasonably smart person with little system knowledge sat down to build each class, going with what

That was my impression on going back to them, but I was wondering if the community had ever reached a general consensus?

So I'm about to start a campaign on Akiton that will eventually lead to the release of the King of Biting Ants and the party working with a half-senile Jatembe.

Obviously I need to create a Worm that Walks graft to make the BBEG, but I'm not THAT worried about that part, because the rules for doing so are pretty fun, though if anyone has any ideas it would be appreciated!

My bigger issue is that there is a technomancer in the group, and if they're working with Jatembe, I'll bet dollars to donuts he'll be interested at the prospect of learning from this archmage who has pre-gap magic at his command. I feel like just giving a flat out "no" would be kind of a dick move as a GM.

So if I wanted to provide a player-friendly option for "above 6th level magic," what would you suggest? I feel like just trying to copy/paste high level spells from pathfinder would be a trap option, but was thinking of creating a new archtype that causes their BAB to stop progressing at +10, and exchange they get the ability to spend resolve points to do something similar to mythic spellcasting to simulate uncommonly powerful magic, and maybe one or two conditions to refresh resolve (maybe that can only be used to power spells) to make sure they aren't too resource starved?

My party is going to be getting their first ship this weekend, and I decided to do a pokemon situation where they'll have a few different ones to pick from. I decided to emulate the ol' warrior/thief/mage dynamic in ships, and went with the general theme of a warship built mostly for combat, a research vessel focusing on travel, sensors, and labs, and a smuggling vessel that I guess is a little between the two, and also with the fastest thrusters. I just want to make sure I haven't made any glaring design errors before I hand these to my PCs. Ships are all tier 3.

I wasn't sure how important it was to fill all the weapon slots (I did), or how important it was to increase AC at low tiers, since it seems like a huge part of it is based on the skill of the pilot (I gave the gunship +2).

Warship
Medium Transport
Speed: 6, Maneuverability: Average (+1 Piloting, Turn 2), Drift: 1
AC: 12 (Mk 2 Armor), TL: 11
HP: 70, DT: –, CT: 14
Shields: Basic Shields 40 (15)
Attacks (F): Heavy Laser Cannon (4d8 – 10), Tactical Nuclear Missile Launcher (5d8, Limited Fire 5, Irradiate (Low) – 10)
Attacks (A): Flak Thrower (3d4, Point +8)
Attacks (T): Linked Light Laser Cannon (2d8 – 10)
Power Core: Pulse Green (125/150), Thrusters: M6 Thrusters (50) Drift Engine: Signal Basic (75)
Systems: Mk 1 Trinode (10), Mk 1 Defenses (1), Budget Medium-Range Sensors
Expansion Bays: Medical Bay (4), Tech Workshop (3), Escape Pods (2), Cargo Bays x2
Crew: 1/6, Good quarters

Research Vessel
Medium Explorer
Speed: 8, Maneuverability: Good (Turn 1), Drift: 2
AC: 10, TL: 11
HP: 55, DT: –, CT: 11
Shields: Light Shields 60 (20)
Attacks (F): Gyrolaser (1d8, Broad Arc – 10)
Attacks (P): Gyrolaser (1d8, Broad Arc – 10)
Attacks (S): Gyrolaser (1d8, Broad Arc – 10)
Attacks (T): High Explosive Missile Launcher (4d8, Limited Fire 5 – 10)
Power Core: Pulse Red (154/175), Thrusters: M8 Thrusters (60), Drift Engine: Signal Booster (100)
Systems: Mk 2 Mononode (15), Budget Long-Range Sensors, Mk 1 Defenses (1)
Expansion Bays: Science Lab (2), Synthesis Bay (2), Life Boats (5), Cargo Bay
Crew: 1/6, Luxurious Quarters

Smuggler
Medium Explorer
Speed: 10, Maneuverability: Good (Pilot +1, Turn), Drift: 1
AC: 10, TL: 10
HP: 55, DT: –, CT: 11
Shields: Basic Shields 40 (15)
Attacks (F): Coilgun (4d4 – 10)
Attacks (P): Micromissile Battery (2d6, Array, Limited Fire 5 – 10)
Attacks (S): Micromissile Battery (2d6, Array, Limited Fire 5 – 10)
Attacks (T): Flak Thrower (3d4, Point +1 – 10)
Power Core: Pulse Red (150/175), Thrusters: M10 Thrusters (70) Drift Engine: Signal Basic (75)
Systems: Mk 2 Duonode (15), Advanced Medium-Range Sensors, Antipersonnel Weapon (Azumith Artillery Laser)
Expansion Bays: Smuggler Compartment DC 30 (6), Tech Workshop (3), Good Guest Quarters (1), Cargo Hold
Crew: 1/6, Good quarters

So I'm in a party with generally new players, currently level 2, and I wanted to check the build I've got for my character. I am tryi n to build him to be the party's primary anvil, but I am also the most system savvy player in the froup, and I dont want to go for raw optimization to the point that players with lesser system mastery will be left in the dust. It seems like the mesmerist is pretty solid but the arctype is a little sub par, so thats a start. In any case, here is what I am working with now.

Human mesmerist (vexing daredevil)
10 str, 16 dex, 14 con
12 int, 8 wis, 16 cha. Planning on incrwasi ng dex to 18 by level 8, then everythinh else into cha

Feats: Dodge, weapon finesse. Planning on taking Graceful Fwncer at 5. Leadership at 7 if the GM will allow it, otherwise spell focus. Not sure what else would be good.

Skills (all maxed): diplomacy, sense motive, bluff, intimidate, perception, acrobatics, knowledge ( nobilty and local), craft (alchemy). The last one is a lil out there, but I wantes to give him a memento from his time at Lepidstadt University before he was expelled for "lewd dueling."

Cant remember his 0 spells, but for 1st level he has Burst of Adrenaline, Mental Block, and Murderous Command. They all felt like spells that would remain very slot-efficient at higher levels. I avoided the low HD nukes so as not to step on the toes of our sorcerer's color spray.

Mesmerist tricks: havent picked it yet. I like the one that gives you disguise self for the utility and because it would let me drop an extra -2 to a target's will save for a roun, and was goinb to take compel alacrity for my next, probably.

Level I am plannin on the ability that lets me blind on feint, because it gives me some CC that isnt tied to will saves, and the slayer in the party will love it. Overall, I want to build a crowd controlly fencer who has potent single target debuffs and CC. Is this a workable concept for the class, and am I on the right track?

I first just want to say that I love this system. I've been having a LOT of fun tinkering with it. Little adjustments here and there to make npcs a little more unique. I'm in a place where I look at whether or not a guy's numbers add up to be CR-appropriate rather than if he's strictly following RAW (I gave a guy three bonus feats to make him really good at fusillade because I realized that, functionally, he was doing basically just using making full-auto attacks with a level 2 rifle).

But now I've got an idea that would really push the limits, and I wanted your thoughts on whether or not this would tip something too over-the top. I was fiddling around with theorycrafting some different characters and really fell in love with a combat-gear focused technomancer sniper, then decided I could plug such a character in as a bounty hunter after my party.

With the NPC arrays, though, someone using the caster array just isn't going to be any kind of good with a sniper rifle, or any sort of spec-opsy skills (from the angle of a PC this is easy, because a technomancer will probably getting 7-8 skills because of their high int). So I was wondering about nerfing the spells they have access to and using the expert array. I figured that this is the array for other 3/4 BAB classes, but the ones that "traditionally" would have better combat stats than a mage, so they'd have an attack bonus that better reflected "technomancer specced for weapons."

Since a PC doing this would pump dex and sacrifice a little int, I would lower their spell DCs by 1 or 2, and give them 1 less spell known and spell per day of each level. Thoughts?

I honestly don't know if they do need any kind of boost. I think that the fact that they let you consistently deal level-scaling damage that adds weapon specialization is awesome. However, they are a significantly worse option for dealing with a single tough target. While it is fine for this weapon to have this niche, I feel like a lot of people who would be drawn to "shotguns" would be people that would want to deal a lot of damage at short range, and I was wondering if there was a tweak that lets them fill this role with the weapon they want.

What if you gave shotguns the ability to toggle to a narrower spread as a swift action, changing its damage to about the same as a like leveled rifle, but it still has the same range increment of the cone attack (it can fire beyond this range, but in most cases penalties for range would stack fast). Any sort of cover provides full cover against weapons fired in a narrow spread (it's impossible to fire around people).

So in this case, the possible damage output for shotgun weapons would be the same as assault rifles, and they have the alternate option to deal lesser damage in a cone, at the cost of "you will often take a -2 to attack from range penalties, or else have to move and give up your full attack."

I'm finalizing the stats for the my party's first major boss, a CR 3 kasatha soldier with a bit of a gunlsinger thing going on, and I really like the fusillade ability for him, except fusillade seems a little underwhelming. The rules in Alien Archives mention a few times that stats can be adjusted or new abilities created as long as the fiddling is done responsibly, so I wanted to double check a couple ideas I had for giving it a little extra "oomph" here. I'm more concerned with how they work on this specific guy, being CR 3, than how they "balance" against other special abilities. I'm leaning towards making this his most powerful ability, since even though he's following the numbers everywhere else, he's also a soldier specializing in small arms (his shots deal 1d6+4 damage, and he will usually be making full attacks), which is a sub-optimal option, so I figured I could give him a teeny something extra without pushing up his de facto CR.

First idea - base it off of breath weapons As a full action, baddie can fire a volley of bullets in a 30 foot cone (rules say 60 feet, but that's even further than his guns' range) while wielding at least 2 small arms. The attack does damage equal to his weapon's attack, with usual modifier, and adds one extra damage die ("weapon specialization" and bullet barrage in this case, for a total of 2d6+4). This equates to better minimum damage and lower maximum damage than the RAW breath weapon's 4d6 at CR3. Reflex save for half, DC 12 (might make it a little higher? This is the RAW number, but it mentions it being okay to give a small boost to a combat array's biggest ability.

Baddie then uses two of his four arms to reload while he fights normal with his other two, taking 1d4 rounds.

Second idea - Give him an improved quick draw and a bandolier of pistols This would just be a free extra feat, which is a slightly improved version of quickdraw, letting him draw 2 small arms as a swift action. He could then wear a bandolier of like a dozen pistols, toss 4 aside after a fusillade, then start drawing more guns, effectivley allowing him to use it as often as every 3 rounds. Less damage than the first option, but getting the most out of it relies on his attack rolls instead of the party's ref saves, which seems to favor him.

I know that the rules don't mention extra gear, but I was also thinking about giving him jump jets for some extra cool factor.

Party is going to be level 3 when they fight him, and he'll have two CR 1/2 mooks backing him up. He has support from a sniper too, but full cover will be plentiful, so he's more of an environmental hazard that makes positioning important in the fight.

My party is going to find the first piece of a homebrew artifact this Sunday, and I've just about figured out what it does (besides being a macguffin), but I'm still tuning its mechanics.

So I'm still working out what exactly it will do as more pieces of it are brought together, but I've at least got the mechanics figured out for what the one piece will do, but I wanted to double check here to see if I was introducing that would be truly game-breaking into my campaign.

Basically, it's a modular artifact that any character can "plug in" to one of their major class features to give it a boost, but with a cost, and it's generally a difficult-to-control double-edged sword. Here's what I've got for the classes that comprise my party. Any ideas on effects for the remaining three classes would be swell.

So I'm potentially reaching the end of the first act of my campaign this weekend, and now that we've got the rules for statting npcs, I've been working on the climactic encounter. It also introduces what will hopefully be the first recurring villain - a kasatha soldier with a sort of evil space sheriff vibe - so I want the encounter to be memorable. I don't want to tpk these guys, though, so I was wondering if this would be too much for a level 2 or 3 party (haven't figured out which they'll be here yet. Currently level 2 - they may level up first.

Big boss - CR 4 soldier focused on lots of pistol attacks. Bullet barrage, sharpshot style, and I gave him multiweapon fighting and fusillade because I figured it was an okay tradeoff, challenge-wise, for him focusing on small arms.

2 mooks, CR 1/2 combatants. Shotgun mooks with a couple level 1 grenades. Basically there to do a little chipping to the party's SP before they die and maybe draw a little fire.

1 difficult-to-reach CR2 mechanic. He's got the exocortex, I took away heavy army proficiency and gave him sniper proficiency, and he's set up with a 1d10 sniper rifle that he charges with his overload shot for another 1d6. High accuracy and damage, but I'm going to make total cover available in several spots in the arena.

Party consists of...
Melee solarian. Solar weapon and heavy armor.
Healing mystic.
Exocortex mechanic.
Technomancer.

So I've got a solarian in my party in the game I am running, and I want to show the class a little love. I know the debate on whether or not they strictly NEED a buff is ongoing, but it comes up here often enough that I want to give them a tiny boost in my game, and was thinking about making two simple changed. Just wanted to check here to see if these would ameliorate their problems, or if i am missing something amd I'm going too far.

Change 1: 6 skill points per level.

Change 2: Their primary statis Con (a hale and hearty frame has an easier time channeling the power of the cosmos!) I saw there are no classes that use con as their main stat (though maybe that was an intentional choice) and this would be a stat desired by both weapon and armor-based solarions so a 1 level dip into soldier doesnt seem as optimal.

I'm about a week off from the third session of a game I'm running, and I've got them on a relic hunt. Plot-wise, it's the broken up pieces of the Cosmic Principle, taking the form of shards of what appear to be pieces of open space, complete with stars and galaxies swirling through them, and when put together, it's going to have infinity stonesque influence over the cycles of entropy and genesis. Its origins were a mystery even before its existence was lost to the Gap, but it was studied by the Kasatha (or perhaps the Contemplatives of Ashok?) and inspired the first Solarian. The party is going to be chasing the different pieces of it (haven't decided how many there are yet) and racing other factions who want it, but they're going to find their first piece (and really kick off the plot, because they're sort of stumbling across it whilst doing another job) so I need to figure out exaclty what sort of powers these things are gonna have, and was wondering if these boards had any ideas?

Party is currently level 2, and there IS a solarian in the party, so I was thinking, with a single piece, it sends them into cycling, uncontrollable zeniths? A solarion would immediately attune upon putting it into their mote, and on the following round, they become fully attuned (1 round early) but then immediately use their action for the round to activate a zenith revelation (supernova or black hole, in most cases), then they become unattuned. On the following round, they automatically attune to the other aspect and the process begins to repeat. Each time their zenith is unleashed, they must make a DC20 fort save or become fatigued (or exhausted). If they fail this save when already exhausted, they fall unconscious for 10 minutes and the artifact stops functioning. They also cannot easily turn it off voluntarily once they've placed it in their mote, and it requires a DC20 will save to do so.

Is this ability too powerful? Do you think there are other ways it could be made to be useful for other classes? What might it do when more pieces are eventually collected? Appreciate any feedback/ideas.

I just started a starfinder game, and it's going to turn into a relic hunt pretty fast. They party will find the first piece within the next 2 sessions, and I want them to do more than just be macguffins, so I want to make them into interesting toys for the PCs to use. Haven't decided on its final form yet, but it's probably going to be a crystal or something that's split into parts. Each part functions as an identical item that can be utilized differently for each character class, and as they find more pieces, they can either combine them to get a boost to the abilities they offer, or split them up so more people get access to weaker versions. It's going to be able to be split up and reformed at will, so they don't have to lock into either choice.

What I need to figure out is what they're going to do, and I thought I might pick your brain for ideas. I need to come up with options my PCs can use first.. Currently, the party is level 1 and consists of a Solarion (weapon option, and proficient with heavy armor. Melee/tank), an engineer (exocortex), a mystic (can't remember his source, tho), and a technomancer (might build towards a spells through sniper rifle gimmick).

For the Solarian, I figured it could function as a weapon crystal that offers bonuses based on their attunement. For a start, I figured one piece would give a +1 AC bonus with graviton attunement (with different defensive bonuses unlocked with more pieces, since it seems like the game is balanced by very few extra AC boosting items) and giving like 1d3 extra plasma damage when attuned to photons (getting a better damage die and crit ability with more pieces). Obviously would need to come up with something else for armor-focused Solarians.

I figured it could enchance the mechanic's exocortex in some way, maybe starting off by granting a bonus combat feat (and offering lesser benefits with more shards) or a damage bonus on his scanned target (or maybe the ability to use a trick attack on them)?

Technomancer I was thinking about having it let her choose a bonus spell of any level she can cast and add it to her spell list as long as she possesses it, and then it could grant more spells with more shards and maybe function like a pearl of power. Or it could just grant a +2 damage bonus with all of her spells, or something.

Mystic, I have no clue yet. Any ideas here would be most welcome, as would any tips on flaws in the above bonuses and ideas for remaining classes. I want to make sure they give the party abilities that won't be gamebreakers but that players can still get excited about.

I'm trying to put together an adventure for tomorrow, and, much to my dismay, there aren't even any placeholder guides for this in the core rulebook. I've been looking at the sample NPCs they have in the first adventure path and the core rulebook (like the CR 20 goblin), but I can't figure out how they're calculating a lot of things, especially hp.

For example, there is one npc who is a CR 2 operative. Okay, cool, she seems to have most abilities that a level 2 operative would, so I can work with that. Her attack bonuses seem to be in line with what you'd expect from a level 2 operative when her ability bonuses are figured in, but then I see she's got 23 hp. And then the CR 20 goblin technomancer from the core rulebook has 395. I've been trying to reverse engineer what formula they're using, and I can't figure it out. If we took all the hp and sp bonuses from class and race, the CR operative's hp is several points lower than it otherwise would be, while the goblin's is over 100 points higher.

Wondered what other people were doing till alien archive hits?

I'm probably going to be wrapping up a shadowrun game in a couple of months, and when it's finished, I want to run either a swashbuckling game (with Freeport) or a western. Problem is that I do not currently have any good systems or setting for a western RPG, and I was wondering what your suggestions for this might be? I freaking love Cold Steel Reign, for anyone who is familiar, and would like to evoke something similar, but all my books for it are back in the US, and the system was never really completed.

Edit: Would prefer something that I could find affordably either here as a PDF or on Drive-thru-rpg, since I'm living in China and shipping is kinda tricky.

So I had this game a while back (it's over now) where Tsuto had survived Burnt Offerings. One PC in particular made a lifelong enemy of him by taunting him with Nualia's severed head, so I had him escape from his prison convey en route to Magnimaar and was planning on having him become a recurring villain in the AP. I'm gonna be starting a new RoTRL game soon and still like the idea, so how can I preserve Tsuto for a fresh party, and how would you suggest bringing him back?

I still think the idea of him swearing vengeance for Nualia's death makes sense - I just need to make him a little less "my love will raise me" in his attitudes towards retreat or surrender. I figure that he might stalk the party and then try to ambush them later when they're already in deep s&~#, but not sure where. Maybe the Graul farm? Or maybe he shows up with some hired Sczarni thugs?

If he can survive a second run-in with the PCs, I want him to somehow fall in with Karzoug and start working for him for a chance to get back at the PCs. I have this image where he shows up for a final fight magically enhanced, maybe bleeding with fresh runic tattoos, but I can't find a template that would work for this. Any suggestions?

I'm watching one of those Planet Earth documentary series as I read over my Pathfinder library, and though I realize how unfeasible it would be, would kill for some sort of mock documentary series that examines the world of Golarian in the same style. Who else would pay to see something like this?

The Pathfinder SRD says that a skald's raging song lasts "for that ally's turn or until the song ends," and my GM is insisting that this means they gain no benefit from the song when it is NOT that turn, meaning that they gain no benefit from the boosted will save or the effects of the extra con (increased fort saves, hit points), or things like the superstition power.

I am inclined to disagree, as it specifically says "allies gain a bonus to will saves" and the very fact of Greater Skald's Vigor's existence. and he says that for it to work that way, I need to show him something concrete. Has there been any clarification on this? Can someone show me where?

EDIT: Also, can I grant powers I have gained from the Extra Rage Power feat to my allies?

So I'm starting to get bored of my skald, and thinking about talking to talking to the GM about arranging for his heroic death so I can bring in something new. I'm not totally sure what the party needs, though.

Generally speaking, I like to feel like I'm contributing in a meaningful way, and I don't really anymore. My raging song is nice, but we're level 10 and everyone's base proficiency is getting so high that my buffs start to feel like icing on the cake. I certainly have the lowest damage in the party.

More than that, I've always been a fan of trickster characters, and I do like to offer some sort of support, whether it's battlefield control, healing, or crazy buffs.

The current party is....
A barbarian/alchemist. Just focused on hitting stuff as hard as he can with his axe, and does it pretty well.

An investigator/monk. Dude has a crazy AC, and enlarges for some impressive flurries.

An arcanist. Occultist archtype. Summons a lot and is otherwise your typical arcane spellcaster.

A slayer. Dual-wields kukris. Likes to sneak and get crits.

This all in mind, what would you add to the party to both have a good time and round out the holes?

I'm going to be starting up a Razor Coast game tomorrow with 4 players, and I don't want to just drop them all off in Port Shaw and say "Alright guys, go nuts." This approach has been historically bad with this group, so I want a short preliminary adventure to get the party together, and maybe introduce them to some of the factions they are going to meet once they arrive in the city.

I'm moving Port Shaw to Golarion, and saying it's a former holding of Cheliax on the far side of the Eye of Abendego. PCs are all passengers aboard a merchant ship that stopped and took on a few passengers in Magnimar, Westcrown and Absalom, and now is on the way back. Noteworthy crew and passengers on the ship include a half-Tullita sorcerer who handles the ship's arcane needs, a few dragoons guarding a mysterious shipment (no clue what it is), and Shakes Montgomery, who is earning some extra coin as a laborer on this voyage.

So I got a setup, but I'm not sure where to go from here. Does anyone have any suggestions on a short prelude adventure, preferably one that makes sure they will not be leaving the port again on this same ship?

Exactly what the thread says. What are usually the best rage powers for a skald? I will be joining a very small 6th level group soon, that currently only contains an Investigator 4/Arcanist 2 and a Barbarian 6. A fourth guy might be joining, but I'm not sure what he would be playing I'm leaning strongly towards Reckless Abandon right now, since it will help me with my own power attack (and I'm guessing the barbarian will appreciate it as well), and for my other, I'm currently trying to decide between Good for What Ails You (APG) and Auspicious Mark (Ultimate Combat). The latter seems like it would be more useful for a party, but do you think I'd burn through my rounds of raging song too fast? Are there any other powers I should be considering with this party?

So I started this game a couple weeks back, and my PCs are hitting the Grey Garrison this weekend. So far, the adventure as written has been really easy, so I'm tweaking a lot of stats and combining a few encounters to simultaneously result in fewer encounters and more challenging ones (for example, the PCs will be fighting the oracle boss and the fiendish minotaur at the same time, with the oracle lowered to level 6 and tweaked to be more supportive). In any case, the adventure has already been pretty easy for my PCs, and I've heard it just gets easier after Mythic. I don't care about tweaking stuff - in fact, I welcome the chance to put a personal touch on the AP (and I'm going to be rewriting book four entirely to have the PCs going to Avernus instead of the Midnight Isles and allying with Barbatos). What have the biggest pitfalls of this AP and mythic PCs been?

In case it matters, here is the party I am working with...
- Paladin. Uses a greatsword (Radiance was changed to a greatsword in this AP). Player doesn't have the strongest system mastery. I am giving her some build advice, but not totally railroading her character.
- Investigator. Not sure what to expect from this guy. He understand the system better than most of my players, but likes to play jacks of all trades, and will probably end up spreading himself kind of thin. He also has a tendency to find a specific gimmick to exploit that makes him formidable, but usually not game-breaking. Shooting for Trickster
- Wizard, specialized in abjuration, with evocation and necromancy as disabled schools. Also likes conjuration and illusion. This guy probably has the strongest system mastery, and is usually the one I need to watch out for. He pretty much always plays a wizard, and likes to load up on save-or-suck spells and battlefield control. Obviously aiming for archmage.
- Inquisitor. This guy seems to know what he's doing, more or less. I'm not entirely sure what he's going for, but so far he's been competently versatile.
- Ranger. Favored enemy is demons, of course. Going for archery. This guy is a veteran player, but still tends to rely on more system savvy players for build advice. He's had hilariously bad luck with his attack rolls so far.

We are also using a handful of house rules. The biggest potential game changers is probably that we're using the Wounds/Vigor system from ultimate combat, as well as the expanded rules for called shots. I've tweaked a couple feats, most notably weapon finesse (the common house rule that weapons are finessable without the feat. In this game, the feat lets you use int bonus for damage, but it counts as precision damage) and precise shot (the feat doesn't exist. It's benefits apply within 30 ft if you have point blank shot, and at all ranges if you have far shot).

Finally, we're blowing through it a little faster than usual. We've cut out xp and PCs are just leveling at specific points. As such, I'm cutting out most combat encounters that aren't related to the narrative and don't include appreciable loot.

I've been getting more interested in the design element of Pathfinder recently, and am interested in taking a rookie crack at statting up the Archdevils. Before I go ahead with this, I was wondering if we had anything canonical (or close to it) mentioning their power relative to one-another? Historically, the level of hell they rule over has not been a good indicator of CR (which I like), so if there has been nothing official that states or implies their power levels, what would your opinions be?

For my own part, I am reading Belial and Mammon as pretty far down the rung. Geryon might be down their with them, or maybe a little higher.
Moloch, to me, seems somewhere in the mid or high range, but certainly not top dog. Dispater and Baalzebul seem like they'd both be CR 29 or 30 to me, and I get the impression that Mephistophelese is definitely up there. I love Barbatos, but I cannot for the life of me begin to guess at where he'd stand here. Thoughts?

First, let me say how much I love this AP. It just screams "cool" at every turn, and even if there a bit controversial writing (looking at you, Iomedae) most GMs should easily be able to alter those elements to better suit their tastes and those of their players. However, there is one for me that requires a bit more work, and I was wondering the boards might be able to offer any advice.

I hate Nocticula. Absolutely hate her. I think rivalry between demon lords can be pretty cool, but her whole "coyly helping the PCs for vague reasons" thing just seems so contrived, ESPECIALLY the whole redemption of a demon lord thing. Don't get me wrong here, I probably like the idea of redemption almost as much as Mikaze, but the way that Nocticula's potential redemption is set up just reads to me like she woke up one day and thought to herself "I think I'd like to be chaotic neutral for a change." Then there's the whole "she wants to become a deity of out outcasts, artists and midnight. I don't like the idea that a demigod can decide that being a demon lord just isn't working out for them, so maybe they'll try their hand at something else. I'm sure that's not how it's meant to come off, but as-written, the whole thing seems way to easy for her. Also, her name and appearance make her seem more like she belongs in a gentlemen's bar than ruling an abyssal realm.

So when I run this game, I want to move the Nahyndrian crystals to Hell, either into Avernus or Dis, and then either Barbados or Dispater becomes the party's potential fiendish ally. I want to add in a lot of desperate devil worship within the ranks of the crusaders earlier on, and say that the archfiend has so far allowed the demonic forces to harvest these crystals (pretending not to notice) precisely because the resulting conflict on the material plane steers desperate souls towards them. But now things are heating up, and they need those souls. They need mortals to live their lives so they can be corrupted, and they don't want everything swallowed by the worldwound. So they MIGHT help the party at this point.

I haven't gone through the 4th book in super excruciating detail, so I guess I am wondering how much of a rewrite this would be. Can I just reskin most of the encounters, or would I have to rewrite most of the adventure? I suppose I would have to stat up an archdevil as well, eh?

The sun rides high in the sky, its heat sending ripples through the air and painting the wave with glimmering light. To say the morning is hot would be an understatement.

The Tide district of Port Shaw, more commonly called simply "Tide," is where ships make weigh their ancors. Cargo is loaded and unload, and many passengers disembark, whether to wind loose for a night before returning to their vessel or to start a new life in the Razor. Others board ships for distant ports, and a few don't care where they're going, as long as it's away from here. Beyond that, Tide's roads are filled with inns, taverns, brothels, and anything else that sells services a sailor might need for the night, and no small number of merchants have set up shop here. Perhaps they sell wares of special concern to those coming and going, or maybe the hustle and bustle of Tide sends a great number of patrons their way than they would see in Bawd or Silk.

Whatever they may be, today you find yourself with reasons to be in Tide. All along the docks, fishmongers cry their catch, competing for patrons as they might for their last breath. Many distinguish themselves from the general din by mastering lilting calls, melodies, or clever rhymes. Casks of whale oil roll down gangplanks to the waiting arms of muscled laborers. Riding on broad backs, they find their way to any of numerous ships chandlers. Within the chandlers all manner of goods are for sale: oil and baleen, whaling and fishing supplies, rations of dried meat, casks of water, crates of oranges, the latest fashions from far off Akados, the finest black powder weapons from the smithies of the Stone Heart Mountains, and freshly carved ice from the Face of the Frozen God, used to cool a bottle of rare sylvan wine on this blistering summer day.

Ostensibly to ensure the safety of such wares, Municipal Dragoons from Fort Stormshield patrol the docks in number. Fishmongers and workers quickly move aside to let the blue-coated soldiers pass. While a greased palm can coax them to look the other way, they tolerate no disrespect and are known to punish offenders with extreme prejudice. The wide berth given to them by local merchants lends credence to their reputation. If rumors are true, the Commandant can hang miscreants on a whim.

Nevertheless, amongst the disorder, three men in patchwork rags strut like beggar-kings through a maze of cabbage-laden crates left to rot in the sun. Dirt and blood cling to the three, who appear to the novice eye as little more than footpads, but a sharper glance reveals black-handled daggers sheathed at their waists and the flash of fine boiled leather beneath their tattered shrouds of stitched muslin. A rat the size of a mastiff slinks along the shaded crate-tops nearby, scampering behind the men like a child struggling to keep up with its family.

And they are not even on the lowest rung of society in Tide, for not ten yards away from them a dark-skinned Tulita man stands like a statue shadowed by lopsided crates of clay flasks stacked carelessly on a pallet. Between his feet lie a clutch of broken eggs, the yolk running down into the mud below, and pooling around his bare feet like thick urine. His eyes, clouded by some potent narcotic, stare inland towards his ancestral home, where foreign-owned plantations roll towards the mountains. Tear begin to roll down his face and wet his tunic, probably giving the garment the first washing it has seen in weeks.

And out behind him, beyond the cresting waves, the green-blue Razor Sea extends to the horizon. The faint outlines of many mysterious isles lies barely visible, ghostly hints of dreams or nightmares. Who does not wonder over what treasures or terrors await on those faded brushstrokes of grey and brown at the edge of the sea's vast canvas? The ocean lies unsettlingly still. A thick blanket of warm air hangs above the shimmering surface of the Razor. It is the unmistakable calm before a great storm.

Alright guys, putting the gameplay post up in a minute here. Since we have one character, I believe (Ilorian) who is coming into the Razor from elsewhere as the game begins, we'll be starting in the Tide District, on the docks. There is presumably reason for anyone to be there, and a lot tends to happen there. As no one has said anything yet, we are going to assume that you are all currently strangers.

Please keep in mind that this adventure path is far more open ended than most published game. There are few rails here, and the story unfolding for you guys counts on PC action. The earliest parts of the game may seem largely inconsequential, but if something interests you, act on it. The more interest you show, the more you will get of the same flavor, and you will pull yourself towards certain story arcs. Without further ado, ask any questions and make any comments here, and I will get started on the gameplay thread.

Well gentlemen, I know that given my poor track record of sustaining campaigns on these forums probably means my name as a GM is worth roughly mud right now, but what the hell. It's that time of year when I have enough free time and enough unsated Pathfinder cravings that I start up a recruitment thread and pray that there are enough players willing to give me a fifth(?) chance, or enough that are just desperate enough to apply.

In all seriousness, though, I'm really hankering for some Razor Coast, and I've been taking my tabletops a bit more seriously lately. I've just started running an RL Razor Coast campaign, but I've got two problems.
1) I'm out of this area in about 6 months, and I'm worried we might not get to finish it. I'm rushing it and would love a chance to see the whole thing played through naturally.
2) I want to see how another group moves through the game. Replay value ftw, right?

Anyways, this here is the recruitment thread for such a game. I'm looking for 5-6 players, and recruitment will be open for 3 days to 1 week, depending on how many applicants we get (I usually see these fill up fast these days) I'll let everyone know 24 hours in advance when recruitment is closing, though.

So, character creation guidelines....

20 point buy with two traits. All classes from the Core Rulebook are allowed, as are all classes from the APG and the Gunslinger. No ninjas or samurai, please. Classes from the Advanced Classes Guide Playtest are fair game, but you . Clerics and Inquisitors MUwill have to update your character when the actual thing comes outST follow a deity.

PCs begin at 5th level and with 10,500gp to spend on gear. No single item can be worth more than 4,000gp

Allowed sourcebooks are the Core Rulebook, the Advanced Player's Guide, Advanced Races Guide (for feats, archtypes, and alternative race traits only), Ultimate Magic, Ultimate Combat, and the Freebooter's Guide (the player companion to Razor Coast)

I have a few house rules, which I am putting up in Campaign Info, along with essential info for the setting (human ethnicities, gods, altered prices on firearms)

I'd like to get players that can commit to one post per day. Combat will NOT use maps, since I'm in china and can't access most of the popular sites and apps for mapping, so be prepared for some visualization. I will roll initiatives for people when combat breaks out, and if your turn is up and you go more than 16 hours without posting, I will probably co-opt your character for that round in what I deem to be the most effective or realistic way I can.

I'd like to see some cool backstories for characters (you should decide whether you are native to razor coast - see campaign info for help on this) or if you're coming in from elsewhere in the world (in which case most of your backstory will stay in the past, but we get to do some pretty fun exposition). If you want to add in a paragraph or two of in-game text to give me an idea of how you act in game, that's awesome, but please DO NOT clutter the thread by roleplaying amongst yourselves. I feel it creates an unnecessarily competitive atmosphere that quickly degenerates into exclusive cliques.

As far as BASIC campaign info goes, this is a swashbuckling campaign of high fantasy set in what's basically Polynesia with colonialist and Carribean flavor. It's also highly sandboxy. There are several plots you may follow, and you definitely won't be able to take advantage of all of them, so react to what interests you, and dismiss what doesn't. Do it early. It gives me an idea of which arcs and NPCs to include later in the game. Because the campaign is highly site-based (you are coming into Port Shaw and spend basically the whole campaign there) pretty much everyone you meet is going to be recurring unless you or someone else kills them, so if you take an interest in the people that populate the Razor Coast, there will be consequences, some good, some bad.

I keep seeing the stat blocks for cities pop in in various APs, but I don't really know what they mean. I have looked through the Core Rulebook, the Gamemastery Guide, and Ultimate Campaign for the rules on these things, but can't seem to find them anywhere. Can someone please give me the product and page number where the system is detailed?

For years now, Aroden is mentioned as having been a wizard, and as far as I know, every time we see anything approaching crunch for him, it's suggested that he was a single class wizard, in spite of his preference to rock the sword and board. In an earlier thread, JJ said that he was a wizard that used a special type of magic that took advantage of a sword and shield. Alright, not quite my cup of tea, but I guess I'll swallow that.

Thing is, we've been getting more and more art of Aroden lately, and whether he's ready to plant a blow firmly upon Deskari's noggin or he's just swinging his burning sword towards the reader in visual soliloquy, most of the art we have of him is pretty much him using his sword like anyone else would.

Now I'm not saying that he doesn't seem like a wizard - we have plenty of lore to support his mastery of all things arcane. To me though, he comes across as someone who was a very accomplished spellcaster and a very accomplished warrior, and any way you slice it, that sounds like an Eldritch Knight to me.

As mentioned, JJ said that he is a wizard who found a way to use a sword with his magic, but if that means (as artwork would suggest) that he basically used a sword along with his magic, well, isn't that pretty much exactly what the EK is supposed to represent - a spellcaster who has also learned how use weapons?

So the name "Five Storms" pretty clearly implies that there should be five of these guys, right? I'm going through the books and I'm only finding four of them - Kikonu (book 1), Kimandatsu (book 2), Munasukara (book 4), and Anamurumon (book 6). At first I thought that perhaps the Jade Regent was supposed to be the fifth, but the lore seems to imply that they were the Five Storms well before they were imprisoned in the House of Withered Blossoms, and the Regent definitely wasn't in there with them. Is there something I'm missing here?

So here's what's up. I'm planning out a campaign in the River Kingdoms in which a Demon Lord has been placing minions (mostly Invidiaks) in the courts of various River Kingdoms in order to establish cults and sow instability, with a mythic glabrezu orchastrating things from Daggermark. Their ultimate goal is to summon enough demons into the River Kingdoms and exploit the instability to quickly conquer the land and then take advantage of the weakened planar boundaries to attune the arches in Sevenarches to the Abyss, effectively creating a second Worldwound. The PCs, naturally, are going to try to stop this.

My question is, which of the Demon Lords would be most likely to try something like this, and would be the coolest to use in a long-term game? (Rule of Cool trumps all, of course). For the sake of presentation to my players, who are newish, I want a demon lord who is clearly demonic, has a sizable presence on Golarion's surface, and has a diverse sphere of interest and minions. So far I've been considering Abraxas, Nocticula, or Haagenti. Thoughts?

Perhaps this has already been discussed, but if it has, I haven't been able to find it. Even though UM's Word Casting system is less powerful than the standard casting system, would implementing it universally in a game bring casters closer to martials in power level?

Just picked up this product, along with the supplements, and it's kind of blown my soul. I've been pretty absent from these boards for a while, but it got me thinking about returning to PbP, especially given that I don't have much in the way of a regular play group going on over here. My question is, given my poor track record for sticking with PBPs (just check my past posts, folks!), and given a few house rules (I shall post them later, if there is interest), would anyone be interested in playing in a Razor Coast PBP here? I'm spending the next few days reading the book cover to cover. After I've done that, I'll look at how this thread has progressed, and possibly try to start something up.

Not 100% certain if this is the right forum for this, but it seemed the closest. In any case, I'm thinking of starting up a psionics heavy game with Psionics Unleashed and Psionics Expanded, and given that the wilder and the vitalist classes both seem to be heavily reliant on manifesting, I was wondering why they had so few powers known? Would it be unbalancing to increase them by a bit? Has anyone who's played either of these classes ever had an issue with this?

I'm casting Razmir as the BBEG for a campaign I've just started, and even though Inner Sea Magic pegs him as a 19th level wizard, I'm going to run with a suggestion I saw on these boards a while back and cast him as a level 20 sorcerer with the Celestial bloodline, giving him sort of a divne feel. In any case, I'm trying to decide on his spell list, and could really use some help figuring out what this guy would have. The way I figure it, if he wants to pass himself off as a god, he needs spells that can represent the following...

Razmir is a provider. He must be able to demonstrate this to his faithful, since it's a big part of his relgions. I want him to have a few spells that can create something out of nothing. With a wave of his hand, he should be able to generate wealth or construct a tower.

Razmir is glorious. He needs to be able to look impressive, and to be able to give major displays of power. He needs a few spells that simply look impressive, or that have big, impressive effects that can affect a wide area.

Razmir is powerful. This guy can mess up infidels. I feel like he should have a few flashy attack spells that can level a small structure or a band of low-level adenvturers. Ties in closely to the previous point.

Razmir is divine. Razmir has the heavens on his side! I want to play up his celestial heritage and give him a way to summon idyllic-looking outsiders that scream "holy." He also needs to be able to keep them quiet on his true nature while they're working for him.

Razmir can turn a city to ash in a single night. I want to make sure to address this one, because it's a large part of his history. Pathfinder does not have a description for the "Zimbor" spell, so I want to account for how he pulled this off.

Any suggestions?

So I'm about to start a kingmaker game for a couple of my guys (only two of them, using gestalt characters), but I'm only planning on using the first two books. I'm looking for some help on how to expand it from that point. Here's a rough campaign outline so far...

Book one is going to be run almost as-written, save that the hermit Bokken is going to be replaced by a dwarven wizard with a bit of political savvy. My players are a little new, but this is the game I want. This guy will make items for them, and offer them political advice when they want it.

Book 2 is, once again, almost the same - mostly about the PCs developing their kingdom. I'm replacing the bard, however, with a priest of Razmir who's come to convert the populace. The party doesn't know this yet, but he's supposed to be making a beachhead for a later invasion. I'm toying with the notion of having them find an artifact in this adventure (especially one Razmir would want), but I'm not sure exactly what I could give them that could help drive the story and give them a bump in power without breaking the game.

After book 2, it gets complicated. I'm scrapping the whole plotline with Nyrissia, and instead, the PCs are going to be encouraged to attend a meeting of lords in Daggermark, as their kingdom is growing large enough to at least merit their presence. Assuming they attend the meeting, they will hear reports that the activity of Razmir's faithful has been increasing, and they look to be getting ready to expand again. All of the river lords are asked to begin shoring up their defenses and to be ready to put aside petty grievances and march to war should Razmiran invade.

PCs get some time to deal with that as they will. Need some filler here.

Sure enough, Razmiran invades the River Kingdoms, using sleeper agents to swarm over Lambreth. PCs are called upon to participate in the war, but at the same time in Brevoy, Issia gets wind of what Restov is up to and starts cracking down. The Swordlords openly rebel in response, and cash in all favors, calling on the PCs to aid them. So now the players have to choose which war they want to fight, and how, or they might use the opportunity to hunker down and build up their own holdings.

I could really use some input on, like, anything. Any ideas on specific adventure sites, on arcs that could replace one of the Kingmaker books, other plot elements I'll need to consider, or where to go after the wars break out?

I've been jotting down all of my house rules lately, and in general trying to tweak the game for the needs of my group with giving the system a complete overhaul. I don't want to gut any classes, nor am I driven to hit upon the perfect solution for caster/martial disparity (which I don't think is as bad as many believe), but I do feel it could be improved upon a little. Had an idea that, hopefully, will take a little bit of wind out of the higher levels spells without gimping casters early on, and was wondering what the community thought about it.

It's pretty simple - just altering casting time of RAW based on spell level. 1st-3rd level spells are unchanged. 4th-6th level spells have their casting times increased to a full-round action, if they aren't higher already (a special exception to the usual rules, Quicken Spell still makes these a free action). 7th-9th level spells have their casting times increased to 1 round, and can never be quickened.

Thoughts?

I feel we've got this guideline in spellcasting stats that tells us that arcane spellcasters use intelligence, divine spellcasters use wisdom, and spontaneous spellcasters use charisma. I think this is largely a relic of earlier editions, where we had 2 spellcasting classes (or at least spellcasting archtypes), one that always used int and one that always used wisdom, and then we got the sorcerer in 3rd edition. In any case, I was thinking about tweaking these classes a little, and changing their primary casting attribute to reflect the flavor of the class as opposed to the mechanics of it. I just have two questions for the community

1) Would this be relatively balanced?

3) Can you help me settle on appropriate stats for a few classes?

Here's my guideline for determining which stats to assign to which classes...

Intelligence is used when a caster's competence comes from their ability to understand a formula or grasp relatively academic concepts.

Wisdom is used by casters who depend on an understanding and interpretation of a philosophy or abstract power.

Charisma is used when a caster depends on force of will or strength of conviction.

Keeping these guidelines in mind, here's what I've got so far. I confess, I may be taking a few liberties with flavor. I'm not saying everyone needs to go along with it, this is just how I interpret them in my campaign.

Wizard: Intelligence. No change here. Wizards deconstruct magic and approach it from a highly academic perspective.

Magus: Intelligence. For the same reason as wizards.

Alchemist: Intelligence. They're "casting" is based entirely on formulae, equations, and ratios regarding ingredients.

Summoner: Intelligence. Their magic is tied to their understanding of a relationship of the planes of the Great Beyond, and of the outsiders who reside there. I see them as being astrologists and numerologists.

Cleric: Charisma. I want to play up that even though they must serve a god, the strength of their spells is fueled by the strength of their faith and conviction. Channeling energy still uses Cha, and the daily uses of their domain powers uses Wis, depending on a deeper understanding of a specific facet of their deity.

Paladin: Charisma. Fueled by conviction, even if they don't follow a deity.

Druid: Wisdom. The stronger their understanding of the natural world, the stronger their connection to it grows. They might develop different outlooks or philosophies regarding nature, but rarely are these academic in nature.

Ranger: Wisdom. For the same reason as the druid.

Sorcerer: Charisma. Their power is a manifestation of will and an understanding of themselves.

Oracle: Wisdom. Their power depends on their ability to understand and interpret their mystery. Revelations are also based off of wisdom.

I'm not entirely sure about the Witch, Bard, or Inquisitor. I'm leaning towards Wisdom for the witch (a similar change would also be made to their hexes), since I feel like their magic is based on folk wisdom rather than academic studies. Inquisitors and bards present me with a predicament of balance, because I'd LIKE to change inquisitors to Cha for the same reasons as a cleric, and I'd like to make Bards int-based casters (their magic, as in earlier editions, is just something they pick up haphazardly and learn as they go, not necessarily an inborn ability), but both of those classes have a number of mechanics that are tied to Wis and Cha respectively, and I feel like making them more MAD would be an issue.

Thoughts?