roccojr's page

As written, Kingmaker is the most crafting-friendly AP I've ever seen. You have your base of operations and you know you're going to be in the area. Sometimes months can pass where you can concentrate on crafting, research, etc. And I would imagine, since you're building a kingdom, you can attract the sort of NPC's that can help out or even do some of those tasks for hire. The magic items that are a part of the Economy rolls have to come from somewhere, right? So you an likely customize your items to facilitate any perceived gap your party might have... if not in other campaigns, definitely in Kingmaker, as written.

I'm running a Kingmaker campaign for a couple of years now. There has never been a cleric in the party except for one NPC for one very quick "escort" task very early on. They've had to pay out of pocket for some Restorations and Raises at a relatively close major city but, for the most part, they've gotten on very well.

More important than healers, in Kingmaker, you need outdoorsy types (Rangers, Druids), horses (or other mounts), and at least one Perception Monkey (the guy who spots the ambush, finds the ruins hidden within the dense forest, sniffs out the trolls, etc.).

And SMARTS! Its a sandbox! My players had a troll encounter at 1st level. You can end up facing your own Kobiyashi Maru several times over and you can't necessarily pull a Kirk every time. That's just how it goes. DO NOT ASSUME THERE IS A SAFE WAY OUT OF EVERY ENCOUNTER! In fact, assume there isn't long before you get into one.

His powers are beyond our comprehension.

One of my favorite names was my friend's gnome Frothingslosh (off a can of some weird beer). Hanslan Frothingslosh. We ALL thought it was the greatest name ever... Until encointer 1, he introduces himself, "I am the gnome.... Hanslan... Get it? Gnome Hanslan.... No mans land!"

..... Groan ......

Frothingslosh was still too good so we let him get away with Hanslan if he never introduced himself that way again.

A couple of tactics I use:

I use real name lists a lot but I tend to shorten and combine names. Saying them aloud definitely helps since Uress Melson might look great when you write it but when you say it and realize it sounds like you're commenting on the olfactory quality of your son's posterior, you might want to change it. It will never pass the table test as soon as someone else realizes it... And they will.

Take real names and swap or add a letter, two or three. Its still close enough to the original to sound like a name to you but just different enough to contain some fantasy exoticness. Eric becomes Ervic, Becca becomes Kessa, Alexander becomes Xander, etc.

PFSRD: If a bag of holding is overloaded, or if sharp objects pierce it (from inside or outside), the bag immediately ruptures and is ruined, and all contents are lost forever.

Eureka!

Though... if this happened to someone the PC's cared to look for, I can't say I wouldn't give them the chance to find their buddy.

I figure the PC's should get the benefit of some favorable consideration from time to time. IMO, they're the main characters in my universe. We're telling their story. There has to be a reason they were chosen out of all the other possible choices, no? George Lucas didn't make a movie about Owen's Adventures In Moisture Farming, after all.

I can't know what the PC's will build up front but I generally roll events months in advance and then weave those together into a cohesive plot, if I can. The Events, as written, offer a quick & dirty method for handling them and the repercussions they might represent. I just use those as guidelines... and thus I can build in all the intrigue and drama I want and fit the repercussions (penalties to rolls, Unrest, loss of BP's, etc.) to the situation.

Early on, the PC's had allowed bandits they'd captured alive to repent, accept a brand, and find honest work. As they later founded their own kingdom, many of these reformed bandits came to their lands to pitch in, grateful for the opportunity to go on breathing and loving the idea of getting in on the ground floor, so to speak. They've formed what's come to be known as The Lodge which is shaping up to be something of a labor union... though with enough fantasy slant to be fitting for the game and setting.

They've grown significantly in power. To offset them, merchants gathered into their own Merchant's Guild. To add intrigue, Kressle (yeah... her) is the Counselor in my PC's kingdom (and that was a pretty interesting story on its own). Naturally, the Merchant Guild assumes she'll side with The Lodge whenever they need to dispute something she gets involved in. So far, that was all simmering in the background.

At some point, the PC's, had made a terrible error and killed a nymph. They paid (pulled BP's for the money) to raise her but their relationship with the fey became seriously strained. They managed to come to an agreement to avoid future mistakes by pretty much surrendering a good amount of their claimed territory to the fey - forest and rivers that will never be developed or exploited in any way.

So now there's a supply issue which the Merchant's Guild is blaming on The Lodge. The Lodge is increasingly upset with the fey (those woodsmen that Melianse confronted were members of The Lodge in my campaign) and now having choice lands made off-limits slots The Lodge off even more (wait... did I use Shadowrun slang there???).

And all of this actually sprang into being because of a couple of die rolls months ago that I took some dramatic license with.

One more thing I do that seems to help... I write a newsletter for my players that covers events that don't always make it to the gaming table, foreshadow things to come, and present some of those MMO type "fetch" quests. The newsletter also describes reactions from the population to things that might have happened during a session. Fixing up after a certain beastie attacked the town, for example, wasn't just a matter of dumping BP's. They got to read about people in town that were killed, the resulting hardship and difficulties, etc. Its also a great place to plant seeds for potential plotlines, see what the players seem interested in and then flesh those out.

I had a player that seemed to tell all kinds of tall tales about himself. He'd show to a game session with a story of how he stopped a fleeing burglar in an apartment building where his friend lived by yanking a fire extinguisher off a wall and tossing it down a stairwell only to hit the burglar several floors below. Then he came to another session with a story about how he had to leap from a (albeit slow) moving train to escape muggers who seemed ready to do him harm to steal the computer he had just purchased. One discussion about a rather rotund npc's ability to do something fairly acrobatic led to this same guy explaing how he, at about 5' 10" and 300 pounds, could do balance beam and uneven bar routines. The stories went on... And on...

Oddly, as I ended up knowing this guy for several years, I also ended up meeting person after person who would eventuallly verify that each one of these stories was true. I even watched him do a gymnastics routine complete with moves no man his size should even be allowed to imagine, let alone accomplish.

The Peoples Front of Judea
Don't bother statting them... They will meet and fight (cont'd)

The Judean Peoples Front
(from above) And they will mutually destroy one another save one (cont'd)

Highly Trained Suicide Squad
(from above) Who will bear witness to the result of this army's training

I've enjoyed countless hours of reading these and other boards. As such I've come upon couple of questions that I really can't phantom an answer for.

“The thing about an elf... it's got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes. When it comes at you it doesn't seem to be livin'... until he bites you, and those black eyes roll over white.”

89) Non-humans multiclass... Humans Dual-Class.

90) Elf has levels.

91) 1gp = 1xp

92) Morgan Ironwolf....

I do not see the dismissal of an animal companion as cruel or disrespectful and think it is even flavorful, allowing for subpar combat choices.

I'd only have issues with it if the druid is dismissing creatures in environments where they are not at all likely to survive on their own.

Who is the hottest?

As if they'd let me choose...

And, really... I'm ok with that. They can decide for me. Let them duke it out... in a vat of jello. Just let me sell tickets.

It sounds like you need a new therapist.

+1

Pathfinder doesn't promote devil worship any more than Monopoly promotes tossing families out of their homes to build hotels.

Part of my 'social contract' is that the players have to agree to make characters that will work together. I'm ok with a little friction and melodrama. They don't have to make the party into a lovefest. But, if one of them is going to play a Paladin and one of them is playing a cleric of Asmodeus, they need to work out-of-character to find some way to get those characters to work together BEFORE they're introduced in the game. If they can't, someone has to make an adjustment. I don't even need to be a part of the discussion until they've figured it out and want to insert the characters (and the nice plotline they've probably created) into the game.

As a DM, I don't feel compelled to let players play everything they can cook up. In lieu of a contract with your players (not always possible, particularly with pick up groups), simply telling him, "That's a cool concept and it might be interesting but its not going to work for the story I'd like you to be a part of." He has the option to adjust his thinking a little... or take his character elsewhere.