rg's page

So, I am a longtime GM/DM, & I'm looking for a new system to try out here. I want to run a dark & extremely gritty dieselpunk roleplaying system. I am completely able to add in the dieselpunk world setting myself if the game is generic/universal... It doesn't have to be a free system, but the less books I'd have to purchase the better. What I'm looking for here exactly:

A. A system which has a robust (this doesn't necessarily mean ultra-crunchy) character creation system.
B. A system which can work for a longer campaign.
C. A system which puts the players in real peril (very possible death to PCs if they snowball bad/unlucky choices).
D. A system which is gritty!
E. A system which I haven't played yet...

With my current group we've played:

Angel/Buffy Roleplaying Game
d20
Fate Core
Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game
Nemesis
Pathfinder
Risus
Savage Worlds
Star Wars (D6)
Star Wars (d20)
Star Wars (Fantasy Flight)
Steampunk RPG
True20

What I'd like is to run my very experienced group through a dark/cruel dieselpunk era campaign... I don't really care if it's an old-school game, rules light game, or a highly crunchy game, as long as they are able to have plenty of character options when building or leveling a character.

Any help at all would be fantastic! If you need anything more specific or you have any recommendations please let me know!

Thank you so much in advance!

I am just wondering if my order (#3136886) placed on May 30th, is ever going to actually ship, or stay in pending for the foreseeable future?

This order is a gift for a birthday on July 30th, & the order(s) are still pending, although some of the products were listed as in stock at the time they were placed...

If you can tell me they WILL ship soon, that's fine, otherwise I will probably cancel the order.

I have made more the 50 orders through you guys, & this is the first time I've had this much trouble...

Thank you for any help which you can offer!

rg

So, I have a player who wants to be the group's scout, & he's building a first level character. He hasn't yet decided which class to play yet, maybe a ranger (though he doesn't want to cast, after playing a Witch, a Dread Necromancer, & a Cleric in our last three campaigns)... Anyway, that is in no way the topic of this question, sorry...

Focusing in:

Which Feats would be best for him?

I allow Pathfinder, just about any balanced 3PP, & even some older 3.5 Feats...

He's not looking for combat & fighting feats! He's looking for actual feats which would help him as a SCOUT (not a combatant!)!

The obvious answers of course are:

Alertness
Athletic
Fleet
Skill Focus
& Stealthy

Just looking for any & all other options, as is he...

Please tell me you guys have some ideas? We only really need advice on scout Feats!

Thanks,

ronnie

Hey, I know this probably a stupid question which has been asked a million times, but does anyone know of a good reliable map making software which can be shared with others online?

I am planning on running a multi-level Pathfinder dungeon dive soon on Google+ with a close group of friends from far reaches. What I need the software to do:

Allow me to build & populate my dungeon...
Allow players to see where they are, & where other players are in relation to them...
Only expose the portions of the map to players which they can see via light source or whatnot...

The Software doesn't have to be free or anything...

Recommend your favorites, or just any which work & fit these prerequisites!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Alright, I have four individually quick questions, and three are really more advice than anything else:

One... Two parts, sorry. Somewhere, either in the Paizo PFRPG source materials somewhere, or in a 3PP somewhere, I remember seeing a magic or wondrous item which was a piece of cloth, which you stored items in, the items appeared as if they'd been embroidered into the cloth while stored there. Does anyone know the name of this item & what piece of source material it comes from?

In clarification for the next three questions, here's a little preliminary information: I am running a high-magic campaign, under a slow experience progression, with Hero Point awards, but one where I am being pretty miserly with the awarding of magical items, as we have a character who down the road intends to go the whole craft magical doodad direction in the near future. I have been giving out plenty of gold, jewels, art objects, trade goods, and other general mundane treasures, to make up for it, and keep my players in potions and the other expendables. The party have an arc-ending battle against a single, well equipped, well prepared, opponent coming up in the not so distant future, and now, alright...

Two... What is the earliest in a campaign (I'm asking for an average player level here) at which you would award a group of four players a Portable Hole? They could seriously use the extra carry capacity/other features of one is why I ask...

Three... What is the earliest in a campaign (again, I'm asking for an average player level here) at which you would award a group of four players a Type II Bag of Holding, or Barrel of Holding, or Basket of Holding, as the case may be at my fickle GMing whim when it happens? Same reasoning here. Just to clarify, any way I cut this one it'd essentially be a Type II Bag of Holding, I just think it's a little bit more fun to add some flavor by making it another type of vessel, is all.

Four... Two... What is the earliest in a campaign (I know it's repetitive here, but of course I'm asking for an average player level here, again) at which you would award a group of four players the item I asked about in the first question?

Seriously, sorry for the repetitive nature of this, and thank you all so much for the help, and it really IS a BIG help!

So, I have an upcoming online campaign, and I would greatly like to use Mites as a playable class, but I am having a bit of trouble figuring out what the Mite Racial Traits should be. I am going to try and make them a 10 RP (as defined by the Advanced Race Guide Playtest PDF), or as close as possible. Any idea how you'd do the Mite Racial Traits? Is there more than one option for it? Thanks for any help, honestly! I really could use it!

Alright, I am a long time GM, I've done games in many systems over the years, and found that some are more flawed than others. Our regular Pathfinder game is coming to an end do to people moving out of state, but others have stepped up and proposed that to begin playing a different game completely...

What they are hoping for is a semi-original zombie filled post-apocalyptic roleplaying game, and it's got me fairly excited... I'm writing up an original world synopsis, the only thing we are lacking at the moment is a system in which to run our game. Alright so first let me give you the broad strokes of what the game is to be, after which I will tell you what I want out of a system, and list those systems which I am considering. I hope to get some feedback on what you think of these systems, the upsides and the downsides (if you have experience with them), whether you think the particular system fits my needs, and I'd appreciate if you could steer me towards any system or game which is more fitting than those listed...

The Pitch:

The setting is very near-future earth, the characters are to be survivors but other than that relatively normal humans, in the worst imaginable situation. I am planning on populating this world with a few types of zombies, human cannibals, and probably minor (not completely ridiculous) human and animal mutants. Since the game will be set in the southwest, other adversities I plan on using include lack of water, vital supplies, ammunition, and food stuffs (all pretty standard post-apocalyptic fare). My goal is to make every encounter TRULY perilous, and if not thought through, probably deadly. I figure the zombie problem will have arisen AFTER the apocalyptic disaster, which I figure will be a perfect storm of complete multinational financial collapse, concurrent with a global pandemic (culling roughly 85% of the human population), and unchecked scientific avarice (leading to mutations (NOT superheroes!!! Just speed boosts and strength increases and such) and the zombies). All of my players, and myself, want the entire game to be a struggle to survive.

We are completely happy with this world, and don't want to edit it, or change it for a system! Prepackaged post-apocalyptic settings will most likely not work for us...

What I need from a system:

My players are all experienced roleplayers, and each have been in one game or another with me for the last 20 years or so, and here's what they think the system needs, along with what I know I need. What we are hoping for is a system which is more about roleplaying than "ruleplaying", which will give me the freedom to make the game suspenseful and challenging, even when we are not bashing zombie brains. From the system, ABOVE ALL we need grittiness, realism, and believability; I need a system which can handle the survival horror roleplaying without much trouble, and something which, while allowing us to improve our characters as we progress, is not going to allow us to be able to become overpowered in a few sessions. Lastly, I have to note that I do not intend to use All Flesh Must Be Eaten, because after running a few Buffy the Vampire Slayer games a few years back, by the end of one "season" (less than 6 months of weekly "episodes") all of the PC's were WICKEDLY OVERPOWERED, even though I reduced experience I gave them to the system minimum. I am loathe to use the Uni-system again, even though the rest of the system was truly great.

Here's the possible roleplaying systems I am considering: (PLEASE tell me your opinions on any you've played, PLEASE... I am desperate!)

BESM roleplaying system
Castle Falkenstein roleplaying system
D6 roleplaying system
Risus roleplaying system
Tri-Stat DX roleplaying system

If I'm missing something obvious, let me know please! Thanks for any help, seriously... We can get started as soon as I know what system we are going to use and generate the bad guys, so any help would be AWESOME!

Alright, so I am running a Kingmaker campaign, and have been having nothing but fun with it, but several of my players wanted (and either through feats or through class features should be getting) special mounts or Animal Companions (ACs to use as loyal battle and exploration mounts for the most part)... My entire group (out of character, heh) really don't particularly like horses, and though they have been riding warhorses and camels none of them particularly care about their mounts. I decided I wanted to reward their excellent roleplaying and interesting critical thinking (which of course makes my job as a GM much more fun!) with reasonable, but unique and utilitarian animals to suit their needs... I told them that if it was within reason, fit the setting, and was within my power to find, I'd allow them to choose something particularly special to each of them.

In character mind you, while camping in the Greenbelt, they talked through what they thought the ideal creatures to service them would be, and the result was that the entire group wanted to have some semblance of uniformity and would like to have very similar ACs and mounts. After lengthy (mostly IC with a few OC) discussions over several session, they decided they'd all like some form of weasel as a mount or AC. To my chagrin, there isn't a dire weasel companion in Pathfinder at the moment, and there really isn't a lot that is similar.

In an attempt to give them what they want (and rightfully deserve in my opinion), I am attempting to create a few variations on the theme of a "giant weasel animal companion"... I am no expert in homebrewing, and HONESTLY, this is my first (and probably only) attempt at creating a balanced Animal Companion. I NEED feedback to make sure this isn't completely ridiculous. Here's the needs, and why I chose to do what I did:

I needed companions which could be ridden at 4th level by medium sized characters, and not just once they got a 7th level advancement.

I needed companions strong enough to carry the player characters and their very standard gear.

I needed a smaller version of the companions which was not intended as a mount (for a druid character who's companion just fell in battle, and is planning on taking the feat Signature Mount (Tripod Machine – Adventuring Classes)) but rather as a sidekick.

And, I needed companions which seemed like weasels (not just a camel, bear or badger redone).

Please tell me if these three are feasibly playable, comply with my needs, and if they seem to be weaselly enough...

Savage Ermine

Starting Statistics: Size Large; Speed 70ft.; AC +1 Natural Armor; Attack Bite (1d8 plus trip); Ability Scores Str 12, Dex 23, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 12; Special Qualities low-light vision, scent.
7th-Level Advancement: Attack Bite (1d10 plus trip); Ability Scores Str +6, Con +2; Special Qualities Grab, Pounce, Sprint.

Dire Mink

Starting Statistics: Size Large; Speed 50ft.; AC +1 Natural Armor; Attack Bite (1d8); Ability Scores Str 13, Dex 19, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 15; Special Qualities scent.
7th-Level Advancement: Size Huge; Attack Bite (2d6); Ability Scores Str +8, Dex -2, Con +4; Special Qualities Grab, Pounce.

Giant Stoat

Starting Statistics: Size Small; Speed 50ft.; AC +1 Natural Armor; Attack Bite (1d6); Ability Scores Str 15, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 13; Special Qualities Grab, Scent.
4th-Level Advancement: Size Medium; Speed 60ft.; Attack Bite (1d8); Ability Scores Str +6; Special Qualities Pounce, Powerful Charge, Sprint.

If any of them seem overpowered, underpowered, badly balanced, or whatever, please let me know! I am still wodering whether or not the Natural Armor bonus is fitting, but I left it in... I wish I knew better what I was doing, but having never really run Pathfinder until we started Kingmaker, I truly am just a little lost when it comes to homebrewing...

Thanks for any help!

To save my sanity (and I feel stupid for not knowing), where's the best place to find information on Brevoy, Restov, and the Sword Lords... Playing through Kingmaker, and this time around (without a bard wouldn't you know) my players are PLAGUED with questions about the area. Last time around, everyone just wrote off that information as unimportant to the stabbings!

Anyway, the information that was easy to pass on (that which is listed in the Kingmaker AP books and the TINY amount which is in the Guide to the River Kingdoms) but they are wanting more information, and I want to give them what they want...

Lastly, after seeing a large map (not the player the PC) one of my players want to go on the war path and continue the "exploration" into Mivon and Pitax, and the others are thinking of going along for the ride... Any MAJOR problems with this?

Hey, I was wondering, in order to juice a few creatures up, does anyone know of a good template which increases a creature's speed? Doubling would be awesome, but really whatever there is would be great! And if there is, what book would I find it in?

Thanks everyone!

So, I've been running a Kingmaker game for a while now, and am enjoying it IMMENSELY! I have 3 players who are on the verge of getting either a Special Mount or an Animal Companion, and would like to award these players for GREAT game play! Anyway, my question is this... What would you recommend as a good Special Mount for a Kingmaker player? Horses are too mundane to seem like an award, so I don't know what to use... Giant Elk, Camels, and Bison all met to less than excited reactions when they were floated to the players (personally I find the idea of riding a Giant Elk to be AWESOME!), but I want something wild... I considered an Eagle or a Giant Raven (HoH I believe), but don't know how a flying mount might mess with the dynamics, exploration, or whatnot... Any ideas that'd be fun, and cool, and still not unbalanced would be GREATLY appreciated!

Also, one player is picking up an animal companion, and he wants something aside from those listed in the core book or Kingmaker Players Guide, but which is findable in the Greenbelt or nearby... Any insights?

Thanks for any help at all!

So, now that I am using the Oleg's map so frequently, running Kingmaker, what other maps would be useful enough to warrant purchasing them for Kingmaker?

Thanks for any help!

Alright, so after a fatal encounter during a Kingmaker session, one of my players is rolling up a new character... He decided on an alchemist, and even after reading through the Core Rulebook, the APG, and SGG's KK's Alchemical Surplus we both realized that there are WOEFULLY few actual alchemical items to choose from (Maybe two dozen that a low-level character could both use and afford), and so I bring my query here... He wishes to play a little bit of a steampunky alchemist, and has said he intends to use his two starting feats (human) to get EWP's in battle poi and in flaskthrower. Seems reasonable enough to me... SO, is there any PFRPG/3.5 source AT ALL (third party is perfectly acceptable!), which gives a good solid list of alchemical items? I am loathe to allow homebrew stuff but pretty much anything else is cool...

He is starting at level four, that known are there any feats which would be completely indispensable?

Thanks everyone!

I feel like a bit of a fool for not knowing this, but do any other PFRPG/3.5 base classes (not looking for prestige classes at the moment), including from ANY third party materials, contain the "special mount" class feature that Paladin gets, or any feasibly analogous class feature (NOT including the likes of a Druid's Animal Companion)?

Thanks for any help, please let me know the source if you know of one!

So, in an upcoming Kingmaker reset (after a TPK and a months break), one of my characters is lobbying to play a Dread Necromancer... After reading the entire AP once again, and the class multiple times, I am pretty sure I am going to allow it, and I would like to toss him just one or two more spells (which of course must FIT the class and its other spells) at each level... If it were you, which spells would you most lean toward adding (I'd love to see some useful or cool third party spells on this list as well!)?

Thanks for the help, and please tell me the source of any spell you list!

So, assuming that Ultimate Combat has an equipment section with some weapons (a fair assumption being that we know there'll be Katana and the like in there), what five weapons would you most like to see included in the list?

My list:

Fencing Foil (For YEARS I've really yearned to see stats for both the lethal and non-lethal versions!)
Gunsen (Who wouldn't want a folding war fan!)
Kusarigama (I'd VERY much like to see stats for both the weighted end style and double kusarigama!)
Nagamaki (Who needs more polearms? I DO! I mean a sword on a stick is my kind of FUN!)
Tomahawk (Both as a hand ax and a thrown weapon, though I could SWEAR this was somewhere in PFRPG already...)

That's just my two cents, please let me know what you'd like to see!

Thanks!

A few weapons almost made my list, here they are:

Atlatl (as both a club-like weapon and a spear thrower...)
Iklwa Spear (a short spear renowned for it's razor sharp blades effective for both thrusting and slashing!)
Multi-barreled firearms (two- and four- barreled pistols and double guns... Maybe with useful shotgun spread rules...)

So I have a very simple question, is there a feat or class feature in the PFRPG/3.5 system analogous to Evasion, but for Fortitude saves...

I could SWEAR I'd read of one somewhere...

Alright, so I am building a LARGE dungeon for an upcoming PFRPG adventure... I have decided to populate the dungeon almost entirely with aberrations, and while I am finding a great deal of creatures to fill the lower depths of the dungeon, I am coming up short with lower level aberrations to use in the earliest part of the dungeon. As I am pretty new to PFRPG, I'd greatly like some help creating a few low-level aberrations to toss at my players...

What I am looking for here ideally is a diverse handful of smaller/weaker creatures analogous to the larger creatures which they will find later (the VAST majority of the monsters I am including later in the adventure are of the subset of aberration like chokers & otyughs (grapple and squeeze types))... I am not looking for beholder-like creatures, and I am not looking for insectoid aberrations, just the tentacled horrors...

Optimally speaking, what I am shooting for is a group of aberrations in the CR ¼ to CR ½ level range... And I truly hope that you can help me out, as I seem unable to create any smaller aberrations which actually work!

ANY help would be extremely appreciated! And I am sure my players will thank you as well, as any feasible/balanced monster will be included in their dungeon adventuring!

Thanks immensely!

In addendum, any advice on monster design for PFRPG is VASTLY useful to me!

Is there a resource for 3.5/PFRPG which includes racial stat adjustments and racial abilities for Ithilids, so that they may be used as a playable class?

Is this even feasible?

Thanks for any help!

I was just wondering, is there anywhere where the Grig has stats presented, which are usable for the creation of Grig player characters? I have a player who has shown interest in playing one, so I became curious...

Hey, so I have a small group of players, all of whom are old school gamers (and I mean most of them had never seen a WotC D&D sourcebook; the player who'd played D&D most recently had been in a Spring 1997 AD&D campaign), and all of whom who have been begging me (BEGGING ME!) for two years now to get a new D&D campaign going. I decided to go with a PFRPG game, but didn't want to go with an adventure path. I started them on kobolds, and the like for the first five levels, and they all screamed at me for a REAL challenge...

I have been playing a continuous d20 Star Wars campaign with these players for seven years, and have watched them always rise to any challenge I've thrown at them with quick thinking, preternatural tenacity, and dice bags FULL of sheer DUMB LUCK! And let me tell you, I have gone above and beyond to test the wills of these amazing players as they truly RELISHED the constant (and at times palpable) feeling that their characters were in real mortal danger!

As for PFRPG, when I finally caved and said I'd run this for them they told me, in no uncertain terms, that they don't want any punches pulled and would love to be run through a great series of meat grinder type adventures, just to test their mettle, seriously! I have long wondered, since they ran this idea past me, and begged me NOT to go easy on them, what other GMs would do given carte blanche of this type... I originally asked on the boards what modules people would run, and I downloaded a few of the promising candidates, but honestly, for my group the only one which rang true was The Seven Swords of Sin, which I've decided to place in the campaign at seventh level, where it's meant to be... I'm allowing them to stick with their current fifth characters, or rebuild a new fifth level character (including in their options the classes from the APG and a few select third party products, which weren't out or hadn't been purchased when they'd originally built their characters), and knowing these guys and the lengths they go to in over thinking I know I can expect an IMPECABLY balanced party...

I've decided to build a complex, trap laden, skill testing, homespun dungeon for their characters to dive, playing to their strengths as players (not as characters!), and I'm going to want to populate said dungeon with a few well chosen, and if at all possible, cohesively themed, monsters. I want the monster encounters to be memorable and ultimately just this side of unsurvivable, even if it's going to require near perfect playing to be survivable! I need this dungeon to carry them all the way through fifth and sixth levels, and I don't want to toss hoards of monsters at them, lest I be cracked over the head with a ruler for being a lazy DM! I'd rather have one long single monster encounter here and there, than many small encounters... All in all, I seriously only need a few monsters, and once again, I'd really like there to be SOME kind of theme between them, though I don't really care what that theme is...

Alright, so all of the above was to go about asking these three simple questions: What would you throw at them? Why? Where can I find said monster?

Thanks for all the help everyone! And SERIOUSLY, I'm sorry for my tendency to ramble, I just hope it was coherent!

So, I am planning a PFRPG campaign in the near future, and my players (all old school gamers, none of whom have done D&D for at least 13 years) are extremely excited about trying Pathfinder out! I ran a Star Wars d20 campaign for them a while back, in which they were constantly pushed to the breaking point (and past), only to narrowly avoid death with quick thinking, clever gaming, sheer tenacity, and great quantities of DUMB LUCK! They loved the constant (and palpable at times) feeling that their characters were in real mortal danger... They have told me they don't want any punches pulled and would love to be run through a great series of meat grinder type adventures, just to test their mettle, seriously! I have long wondered, since they ran this idea past me, and begged me NOT to go easy on them, what other GMs would do given carte blanche of this type...

I would like to run them through a series of modules ideally, filling in with some homespun adventures where required, starting them around level 5 or 6, and bringing them up through at least level 12, if not higher... And hoping to drag them through Curse of the Riven Sky...

So, given that there are not a crazy amount of modules for 3.5/PFRPG available from Paizo with which modules would you start (assuming level 5 or 6 for a start) and which would you slot in where, and why... Feel free to include third party modules, especially if they're available here... Just wondering what other meat grinders are available...

Thanks for the opinions!

So, really simple question here... Is there a PFRPG/3.5 Feat to allow a character to cast a spell with a range of “Personal” on somebody else?

Thanks for the information...

Aside from Improved Initiative, which other PFRPG/3.5 feats add a bonus to Initiative rolls? I am working on a character built with the dice pool method described in the PFRPG Core Rulebook, and ended up with a Dexterity penalty, I am trying to offset it a bit... Any help would be much appreciated...

Oh, and for the record, I really don't hate the dice pool method, it's been good to me in the past, just got screwed over this time!

Hey, so I don’t know if this is posted in the right forum, but I need a little help with an idea for where to start a campaign.

So I know its par for the course to start off with an adventure involving goblins or kobolds, but I am the starting a campaign soon, and need some good ideas for where to start a campaign...

I don’t have a lot of DMing expertise, but have run a Star Wars RPG campaign since 2002, and I have run other campaigns including Buffy RPG and LotR RPG. I have run D&D but not for a VERY long time...

So here is my question, I have some extremely savvy gamers, who are ho hum about goblins, and kobolds, having run adventures involving them for 10 or more years, what I need is something that a campaign of first level players could handle, with more than a little difficulty (we have very much enjoyed REALISTIC challenges), that might be surprising, unusual or memorable to a group made up of long time players, mostly made up of cynical former and current DMs/GMs...

I just need help with the ideas and maybe the names of the books any of those creatures are in, as I am still acclimating to all of the books, and trying to find stuff can be a hassle on the fly, so I don’t intend to do that...

Lastly, I have to say that most printed game modules, though I find them fun to run, end entirely differently for my group of gamers than the intended path lays out. In Star Wars so far they have fought when a mission was obviously set up for them to run, they have run when negotiation seemed the best option, they have negotiated when fighting was their best bet, and for instances like this I LOVE my group of gamers, since I have to be on the ball at all times, being that the way I expect things to go is VERY rarely the way things end up, but a decent GM can always cobble the broken pieces of an adventure into something usable. There is NO WAY I would reign in my gamers, they would be annoyed and feel railroaded...

That said, I just need any ideas that might help me out... Much appreciated...