We use social combat like cmb/cmd like this: Social combat defense
Where social status is based on your birthright rating: -1 criminal/outcast/merchant
Obviously, this draws on social standing from a true caste system. Social combat bonus
Where Influence is a point pool derived from cha and int bonus + level. Influence points are
It works really well and encourages RP/intrigue. Again, this is primarily for games where people are not all born equally in the eyes of society and npcs fairly static.
Go w giants dual wielding ogres, dual wielding dwarves, dual wielding halflings, dual wielding battle axes. All raging. Unstoppable!
Off topic but man that is quite a diverse group. Gone are the days where every party was either quasi-european or tolkein-esque. Now we gots Witches along gunslingers with samurai. But I will make a contribution:
Cleric, bowler? (Power attack, imp overrun, greater overrun)
There's a lot of perspective in RP advice. I am 43 and starting playing at age 8. The days of egregious imbalance and uber ambiguous rules were long, but not nearly as disastrous as the young'uns seem to think (no offense to anyone). You can set flavor without imposing rules on players or pulling GM rank. Just make characters as you feel led. Roll or point-buy depends a lot on how heavy you rely on books. If only as reference, as GM you can craft encounters that offset any peaks and valleys in stats/build. If an AP with Bestiary-only encounters, rolling stats and customizing classes can cause some warbles, but usually nothing that will break the table. Then, ask folks to write up their "commoner" background (origins, family, appearance, how/why became a pathfinder) and character sketch. This helps them visualize the role and setting more viscerally, vs as a video game. I find it helpful, as stated above, to either talk to my players and find out how they feel about the amplitude of magic, divine/religion, silliness, races, realism and grit; or, just self-inventory my own desirements. You can do any game you want and tweak these filters to come up with setting flavor, even within the subtext of an AP. Opinion, but there is nothing beyond the core book you will absolutely need.
The two things possibly of concern are poor character development and low game involvement. Are you concerned about one or both? These questions were previously posted on a character development threads. It be good to habe your players answer them: 1. Why are you a Pathfinder? 2. Do you have a name and surname that is not ripped straight out of existing Earth mythology or popular culture? 3. Which nation did you grow up in? How did this nation influence you? 4. What do you look like? What are your wearing? How does this vary when you’re stalking through forests, sewers, deserts or in glittering cities? 5. What do you love? (Treasure and experience doesn’t count) 6. What do you hate? (Unclear and irritating darkness level rules don’t count) 7. Which other Pathfinders (PCs) do you rely on for teamwork, survival and butt-kicking? Do you have a bro? a mentor? a father figure? maybe a rival? 8. How does your race influence your views? Are you a stereotype of a certain race? How are you different from most humans/elves/gnomes/orcs/tengu? 9. What are you afraid of? Do you have any phobias or worries? 10. What is your most treasured possession? Also, try to make each player complete a character sketch and origin story to help visualize themselves. Next, as GM, stop doing recaps. Instead, offer XP for brief written session summaries delivered in the characters voice. Have each player read them with character POV, accents and mannerism at the beginning of ea session. Have NPCs crop up that know the characters to ask questions like:
Also, ensure players are handling dice every 10 minutes.
Here's my take on this (more from a historical view of medieval european conquest than pathfinder per se): 1 sp per level per day per head (base)
All payments are meted over days (not paid up front!) to reduce desertion. You may also wish to hire a campaign warleader to act as sub commander for the lot. Also, consider that ypur forces are likely to be comprised of multiple mercenary forces of warbands of 100 or less men, because as you can see, having 500-1000 soldiers hanging around is not economically viable without lands, fiefs amd incomes. Also, because of economics, having 500 level 1 archers and 500 commoner warriors (conscripts) was common because they harry the enemy, cost less and, nobility thinking... you don't have to pay men who are not likely to survive.
Alchemical rounds might let him apply unique spell affects, damage over time and splash damage. Give him a gem that makes the weapon silent and doubles crit range. let him find a clockwork gun that can auto clear a jam as a swift action once per day with a grit point A few potions of haste for extra attacks .
What if the planes were overflowing into each other. Fire and water merging to form steam elementals, water and earth making unnatural mud elementals. That sort of thing - possibly due to the actions of an evil summoner with a palace in extra dimensional space. Each planar lord offers the PCs an infusion/ring/amulet/etc that makes them an elemental avatar to represent their plane in a battle to vanquish the emerging lords of these new habitats and the summoner behind the madness. Maybe the reward is a wish, a bloodline power, and/or a fortress in extra dimensional space. This idea affords the GM and players a chance to fight exotic creatures in unique environs.
If they are stoned just offer them potato chips.
Agree with all the above, but the difference between an archetypal good bad guy and the "best" bad guy is your players. The notion here is that an emotional response from them makes the villain even better. So, bad guy rules:
He has to get away a lot. You want him to repeat on your players like bad Chinese food. A "lingering" affect like curses or spreading bad rumors about the PCs will make him hard to forget. He should kill or subvert some lovable NPC (innkeep, horse, whatever). Evil voice - sardonic and sarcastic like Jafar from Disney's Alladin or harsh like batman; it doesn't matter. What matters is that its memorable and distinct. Catch phrases and calling cards are always a nice touch. Maybe he leaves tarot cards on the people he kills, or sarcastically encourages the players during combat. The point about being able to identify with his POV is important. A bad guy with a believable or easy to sympathize with agenda will be harder to trivialize. IF/when he dies, have his body be stolen. The idea that he could come back or wasn't even really dead will drive the PCs wild. ************
Through the player's lens however, the village is being plagued by an unusually brazen gang of bandits called the Strawmen, led by a mysterious an ruthless fellow called the Deadman who seems bent on seizing innocent women to use in unsavory rituals. He leaves 100 gold pieces at the site of these woman's abduction, and the few who escape usually have severe cases of grave rot disease. The knight's men claim to have captured and killed the Deadman several times, but apparently he is more resilient than they thought. Anyone who has met him is afraid to speak, but all agree that he announces himself with "I come for the tax", which strikes fear into the peasantry on several levels.
Magic shield/armor bonuses should factor in to touch AC verses guns even if the material does not. I agree that regular folks charging a musket line would get chewed up, but the premise that archaic, wildly inaccurate low velocity musket balls almost never miss (in most cases only if you roll a 1 after 5th level) and are more powerful than magic doesn't seem well thought out or balanced. Oh yeah, and loaded and pointed crossbows should fire before initiative.
Two notions. First, from the old game Ars Magica, there comes an idea of playing 3 character groups at once: your powerhouse or political mage, his specialized companion (bard, torturer, etc), and servants (guards, acolytes, initiates, etc.). You play one or more at a time as befits the storyline, but being all three (virtually) ensures that your characters are acting within a framework of believable motivations to the top guy (or his organization), and it affords the GM a chance to do intrigue, mission or combat centered games that always fit (because the player has one or more characters of different slants to use). Thus you could play, say a Paul, a Duncan or a Fremen, and pick one as fits the scenario de jour. Again just pontificating aloud a mechanism to keep the play style flexible BUT ensure the Herbert flavor is consistently represented. Second, back to the "motivations" topic. A clarification, I said primary, secondary and tertiary motivations because this seemed to be in the books. Jessica, say, had a primary motive to Leto, a secondary to the Bene, and a tertiary to Paul (ma ybe, not sure about that order). Perhaps, to your point, in the vein of all the factions in that universe, a case could be made that traits and defects are enough but "loyalty", particularly the conflicting variety, has no mechanic in PF (not saying it should, only that the novels thrived on it). I appreciate the invite. Perhaps I would play a guild navigator. I have always wanted to fold space...
Good stuff. As a fan of the genre I humbly submit that there is something undefinable missing. Herbert's character's all had "something" going on that can't really be captured in a PF stat, class or feat block. Kinda like Game of Thrones characters, there was always an element of weakness and tragedy mingled with their strengths and motivations. Jessica obsessed over her loved ones, particularly Paul. Leto was blinded by his honor and self-superiority. Gurney was furious when people shirked their duty. Doctor Yueh would do anything for his wife. Duncan had a bard like quality. The Baron blindly hated the Atreides. These qualities drove the characters and were integral to the plot and mood of the setting. This could be addressed with something as complex (and rich) as a merit and flaws system or something as simple as character sheet fields for primary, secondary and tertiary motivations derived from a quintessentially Dune flavored list of "drivers" that come from the character's history, personality, faction, profession, religion, etc. Just a thought. Thanks for your fabulous contribution.
Role driven stories are about eliciting an emotional response and fostering a norm where the player can voice that emotion through their character medium. When this happens your game takes on an incredible quality but unfortunately, it's not a switch you can just flip. As GM you have to foster the climate for it. Here's how: 1. Establish expectation - "dear players, please role-play"
Story Frameworks :
Example:
Jump Start Trick
|
