Chained Spirit

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Organized Play Member. 13 posts. No reviews. 1 list. 1 wishlist.


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I blame Cosmo for Sharper Image going out of business.


I believe I've seen some items (in another game) have enhanced effects / stats when wielded by someone of a particular faith. Perhaps while its a +1 Dagger for anyone it may be a +3 Keen Dagger that let's its wielder cast Dimension Door 1/Day as an SLA if wielded by anyone that worships X Deity.


I think when it comes down to the alignment restrictions of monk (and anything like that) you really need to decide what YOU want the Monk to represent in your world / game.
Whenever I run a game I allow any form of monk as it reflects how I want the monk to play. Personally I am of the opinion that if the Monk had any form of alignment restriction it should be True Neutral but that's based on the view of the Monk that I have.
There really isn't any wrong answer here and any problem with the DR or Fist Alignment stuff can be solved with some minor adjustments here or there.


Cassowary
Dragon Fly (certainly not enough bug familiars)
Humming Bird


Orfamay Quest wrote:
necroon wrote:
Interesting.... I like the Healball idea. Do you think perhaps a rewrite of the current healing spells themselves might help?

Well, I could snidely suggest that it couldn't hurt. But, more helpfully, I think that simply bumping up the amount of damage healed would help substantially. Basically, a third level spell should heal as much as a third level spell would harm. Possibly a little less to allow for saving throws (since those will cut down on the amount of damage taken, but who resists a helping/healing hand?)

So I'd turn Shocking Grasp into Healing Grasp and make it heal 1d6 per level or thereabouts, capped at 5d6 unless you Intensify it. Voila, all of a sudden it's worth spending an action and a first level spell to keep the fighter on his feat.

ETA upon reflection, I think Soothing Grasp is a better name for the spell.

I certainly have noticed that even at a 2:1 ratio a character that is healed by a certain element of damage (fire, ice, ect.) is more easily healed by the party wizard who "accidentally" caught them in a fireball than they are by the cleric who wanted to heal them. I, Personally, would say that does indicate a numerical issue.

Your Soothing Grasp example is dead on and a quickened Healing Grasp would allow a Healer to action economy a bit better: possibly keeping up with a bad round for the party.


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This is horrible, in my opinion.
I GM a lot and never have and never would expect bribes. I do not cater to "pay-to-win" environments and never would play in one myself.
One of my favorite things about Pathfinder is a cost thing. I want to be able to tell my players they need a core rulebook, a copy of anything else they want to pull sources from, a character sheet (or 50 cents to print on at the library down the street), a pencil, and some dice. Period.
Nobody should have to expense for a chocolate cake, 3 cookies, a bag of chips, a coffee (black - I take my coffee black), and that thing on the shelf I have been eyeing in order to stay on the curve with other players.
I believe that a GM should be as impartial as possible. The world he or she is portraying is a sterile environment compared to the real-world and allowing bribes is just another way to ruin the magic and make immersion even harder.


Orfamay Quest wrote:
necroon wrote:
Quote:


While it's possible to play a cleric who prefers healing to any of the other options, that frankly gimps the character, in the same way that a fighter who specializes in "club" is gimped against a similar fighter who specializes in the falcata, or even the longsword.

I would wholeheartedly disagree as a cleric is not the only class capable of casting healing spells: simply the only class that is cursed with a namesake that implys that is what it should be doing.

I don't think you're disagreeing with me. My point is that clerics have lots of options and very rarely is "heal someone" the best one. If you build your cleric around the idea of "heal someone" being the preferred option, you're building a second-tier cleric.

I had realized that a few moments ago. My apologies: we are more-or-less on the same page.

Quote:


It seems the general opinion (from what I have seen) is that healing doesn't work the way that it is. I do not play many other Pen&Paper RPGs except for Pathfinder/D&D: does anyone have any examples of games in which healing works (in combat) on a basis they feels is well implemented?
Quote:

Well, I'm a tremendous fan of the old Ars Magica system, which I think was superior to Pathfinder in many ways. With regard to combat healing,

  • Combat was ablative; someone with only a few hit points left was seriously hampered in combat prior to dying. This made it practical to fight people to the point of surrender when they could no longer seriously contest.
  • Healing was balanced against other options; the game did not particularly favor offense over defense. If I could cast a Healball that did 5d6 of healing to everyone in the burst radius, it would be a lot more practical.
  • At the same time, healing was only temporary unless you spent expensive spell components to make it so. Battlefield/trauma medicine to get someone home was easy, but it wore off at sundown. This kept parties honest; it was hard to die, but easy to get seriously hurt.
  • Spells were non-Vancian, so if you were good enough...
  • Interesting.... I like the Healball idea. Do you think perhaps a rewrite of the current healing spells themselves might help?


    Orfamay Quest wrote:
    necroon wrote:
    I think the discussion here is getting slightly off as the goal was to discuss healing benchmarks not the cleric's role in/out of combat.

    I don't think you can separate the two. The true benchmark -- for healing or any other action -- is "is the proposed action more effective than anything else I can think of to do?" For example, a fighter has the choice of firing his bow or charging with a sword (among other things). Normally the charge would be more effective. It takes substantial work to make an archer that is more effective than a vanilla fighter using a specialized melee weapon.

    It takes very little work to come up with an option for a vanilla cleric that is more effective than casting a Cure spell in combat.

    While it's possible to play a cleric who prefers healing to any of the other options, that frankly gimps the character, in the same way that a fighter who specializes in "club" is gimped against a similar fighter who specializes in the falcata, or even the longsword.

    I would wholeheartedly disagree as a cleric is not the only class capable of casting healing spells: simply the only class that is cursed with a namesake that implys that is what it should be doing.

    It seems the general opinion (from what I have seen) is that healing doesn't work the way that it is. I do not play many other Pen&Paper RPGs except for Pathfinder/D&D: does anyone have any examples of games in which healing works (in combat) on a basis they feels is well implemented?


    I think the discussion here is getting slightly off as the goal was to discuss healing benchmarks not the cleric's role in/out of combat.
    That being said I believe the cleric itself is fine as it is and is perfectly capable of being played a number of ways depending on what kind of character you wish to play and how your group plays. Some people want to play a character that heals and supports their party while others would rather raze pillars of sacred fire upon their foes. Keep in mind that a cleric is a devote worshiper of a deity and should fill whatever "combat role" that best embodies first and foremost.
    I think the healing benchmarks are fine as they are however it would be nice to see maybe a "Heal, Lesser" for some more oomph at the levels where damage starts to curve a bit. Maybe as a 3rd or 4th level spell?


    I am happy with Pathfinder, Yes.
    It is a game that, at it's Core, works for me and the people I play with.
    Have we changed a few things here and there? Yes.
    Do we use a few 3.5 Rules instead of Pathfinder rules when it works for us? Yes.
    I am under the impression that any RPG I play in or run will need to be altered before or as the game progresses to mold to the group and Pathfinder has done a wonderful job being molded into something that is fun and exciting.
    Good Job, Paizo!


    No. The familar rules mention skills as follows: "Skills: For each skill in which either the master or the familiar has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the master's skill ranks, whichever is better. In either case, the familiar uses its own ability modifiers. Regardless of a familiar's total skill modifiers, some skills may remain beyond the familiar's ability to use. Familiars treat Acrobatics, Climb, Fly, Perception, Stealth, and Swim as class skills". Some Familars bestow bonuses to certain skills (and the Alert feat if within a certain distance) but that is all.


    "... The spell can also be used to create a greasy coating on an item. Material objects not in use are always affected by this spell, while an object wielded or employed by a creature requires its bearer to make a Reflex saving throw to avoid the effect. If the initial saving throw fails, the creature immediately drops the item. A saving throw must be made in each round that the creature attempts to pick up or use the greased item. A creature wearing greased armor or clothing gains a +10 circumstance bonus on Escape Artist checks and combat maneuver checks made to escape a grapple, and to their CMD to avoid being grappled."

    The line "A saving throw must be made in each round that the creature attempts to pick up or use the greased item." would imply that is correct: additional saves would be required.


    SO I was thinking of using the armor as damage reduction rule in a game I'm running, and two main questions came to mind.

    First: Touch attacks. How are they resolved? Do "touch attacks" even exist?

    Second: Stacking Damage reduction with existing DR/Alignment and/or material Damage Reduction (Don't believe this is mentioned).

    Any thoughts?

    [edit] to clarify when I say "material damage reduction" I'm referring to, say, a lycanthrope's DR X/Silver