redelic's page

Taking a slightly different tack, you could use Katreza as a sort of a maguffin - let him have a vision of Skreed and what he's doing, perhaps the tiniest insight as to why or some grand, hazy visions of the consequences of having him succeed... then it could be a race to track him down and recover the gem (and other artifacts) from him. that way the overall campaign doesn't change so much and Melira is still vengeful.

Using Katreza in that way doesn't sound like a terrible idea. I'm thinking that since the group is bringing in a totally new set of characters that they might not arrive for at least a couple days, giving Skreed a pretty sizable lead on them.

Definitely think the Shadowrat Swarm (and Shadowrats for that matter) should be one of those things GM's swap out if their PC's don't have a realistic way of dealing with them.

I can agree with that. They didn't really struggle too much with the first set of rats. I figured they'd have a bit of trouble with the swarm but they had way more trouble than I thought they would. I also screwed up and had them dealing their normal damage while in incorporeal form but I think that the strength damage would have added up and they would have ended up retreating anyway.

I'd be much obliged if someone could give me some guidance on just what the consequences should be for not stopping Skreed in Trunau. The group I'm running it for had a lot of trouble with the shadow rat swarm in Uskroth's Tomb and ultimately decided to retire the group as a whole to bring in new characters. They'd been struggling mightily up to this point and the shadow rat swarm was the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak.

At any rate, it feels like a pretty significant thing, to not stop Skreed from absconding with the gem/map, so I'm looking to do the significance of the event justice. Without Skreed dying, obviously Melira doesn't attack the group in book 2 so that's an immediate change.

Speaking of Melira, if Skreed isn't even dead, is she even on the boat in book 2? I feel like she maybe shouldn't be but should instead be with Skreed where ever the group encounters him next. That's also assuming he's even still part of the AP. Maybe Grenseldek tells him his services are no longer needed and he leaves with Melira to do his own thing, effectively removing him from the AP. On the flip side, maybe she finds a place for him as her right hand or something, meaning both him and Melira stick around for a bit.

Let's say that Melira and Skreed are both present in Redlake Fort. Would it be acceptable to maybe give them a small boost to their difficulty in the form of another class level or something?

I'm really kind of out of my element here. I'd love any kind of direction or assistance that anyone could offer in terms of figuring out just how it affects the AP to not stop Skreed from getting the map our of Trunau. Thanks!

My suggestion is to send them in a level earlier if you want to make it tougher without rewriting stuff. They will get a little more loot but it will be more challenging.

That's probably not a terrible suggestion either. Perhaps doing that and then making adjustments on the fly is the way to go about it.

After a bit of a hiatus from DM'ing, I've decided to jump back into it and give my previous DM a chance to play after he put up with us for all of Jade Regent. My group of friends is much more interested in the combat and tactical aspects of Pathfinder. We find that RP has its place and we make a reasonable effort to keep in-character but we're not the type of people to spend hours making a compelling and unique backstory.

After looking into Rappan Athuk, I've decided that it sounds like it will be fun for my group to play. I know my group of friends and they're pretty good about making powerful characters. I'd rather not restrict their character creation, I'd rather not have to spend time verifying that every change they're making is within the allowable material, so that's where this post comes in.

I've been told by numerous sources that Rappan Athuk is already fairly difficult on its own. However, I don't think that will be quite difficult enough for my friends. I'd like for the campaign to kind of rival Dark Souls when it comes to the difficulty. I guess a good way to put it is that I don't want to feel like I'm "on the defensive" as the DM. I've run a few games, and been a player in a few as well, where it seems like even a small amount of optimization would be enough to just trivialize any combat situations. I'm not setting out with the goal to just slaughter and annihilate my players but I definitely want to pressure them and make it difficult for them while keeping things winnable.

How does the loot for Rappan Athuk work out? Is there a reasonable amount of it? Too much? Not enough? Ideally they'll have to use what they find in the dungeon but if there just isn't enough of it to go around then that might run the risk of making it too hard. I know that limiting their access to magical items will really hurt a martial character more than a caster but I was planning on using these house rules to reduce that disparity.

Any other suggestions or house rules for turning up the difficulty while keeping it winnable are welcome. Thanks in advance for any input!

BzAli, you make very good points sir. Thank you for your response. I especially like your Arcane Strike suggestion. At first I thought it was an enhancement bonus and wouldn't stack with (G)MF or an Amulet of Mighty Fists but I now see that it's an untyped bonus and that is amazing. I also think I'm going to just take Power Attack for my level 1 feat since 1 evolution point for Power Attack is a perfectly fine trade to me.

I don't mean to clutter the board up with a Synthesist thread, as I'm sure they make their appearance daily. However, I tried using the search feature but I wasn't able to find anything easily enough so I decided to just make a post myself. I've just joined a Way of the Wicked group, which is something I'm very excited about, and I've decided to play a Half-Elf Synthesist. I have a few questions/concerns regarding some things and I'm hoping that you fine people might be able to help me. I posted on reddit asking for help but I'm getting more or less no response there.

1) The age old debate of natural weapons vs a two-handed weapon. Has anyone come to a solid conclusion on which is going to end up being better? I feel like they're both kind of lackluster options because of they both have fairly significant "problems". A two-handed weapon would be great but I feel like it ends up falling behind due to a lack of feats and class features to support it. Natural attacks are supported a bit better with the evolutions, and their lack of scaling iteratives is mitigated a bit, but I can't help but feel like creatures with a decent amount of DR will render my character all but useless. I could take power attack but being a 3/4 BAB class, and using natural attacks, seems like it won't benefit me very much. I'm not expecting to keep pace with a raging Barbarian but not feeling like I'm completely worthless against mobs with decent DR would be great.

2) What feats do you recommend? As I mentioned above I'm currently thinking of going Half-Elf for the favored class bonus. I'm also going to be taking Extra Evolution at every opportunity. I'm a little concerned that I might end up feeling like I've got too many evolution points and that maybe I should use those feats on other stuff. The DM okay'd me to take Rending Fury at 9 and Improved Rending Fury at 13 even though I, as the Summoner, don't actually have a rend attack so I am definitely going to be taking those feats. I'm also taking Leadership at 7 to get a magic item crafting cohort. I'm open to any and all suggestions in regards to feats so I'd love to get some suggestions on what I should take.

3) How do the size increases work? Does your character actually become that size? Someone on reddit has said that you stay medium sized while your eidolon takes up space equivalent to whatever size they are. He seems to be implying that because that's how it works that you don't have to worry about the logistical problems that come up when you're sized large or larger. Is that really how it works? My instinct is to say that it isn't because it feels like it creates more questions than it answers. If that is how it's done however, that would definitely change things for how I was planning to play my character.

I can't really think of anything else right now but thanks for reading and I look forward to your responses!