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Where I'm at right now after having talked with the PC, voiced my concerns, and delivered my warning, is that I am going to step back and let the game progress. I will address those in the party that expressed a concern during our next session before we start to inform them that i have talked with the PC in question and that they should act as their characters see fit should the behavior continue. I also warned the PC that should a situation arise that jeopardizes the party because of his cowardice, to a degree that i have to alter the story to negate a TPK then i will ask that he re-roll a character that better meshes with the party. I think that after addressing the other players concerns, and my own that now plenty of warning has been given and it is entirely up to him to implement a change in his characters personality or else run the risk of losing the character.

What is the story behind his cowardice? I'm actually playing a cowardly PC in a pbp, where some situations he excels but in combat he lacks but initially gains courage from his group. Is there any story that can build up his courage or is he just runs to make sure his character is at risk?

it is simply a tendency to run from a fight that proves more than an easy win, attempts at handling simple challenges suited for the party strikers while leaving the jobs only a tank could do to them out of fear of death, a general lack of conviction when it comes to ensuring party safety and dealing with problems he created.

While this is coming out a tad harsher than I intended, none of it is untrue. there have been several instances where he preformed admirably, however in each occasion the chance of incurring serious penalty for failure was almost non-existent, or else an easy escape route was available.

I agree with you VM mercenario, and you Odraude. I had a talk with the PC in question earlier today and he is very stubbornly clinging to the idea that it doesn't matter what the party feels so long as he is playing true to his character design. I tried to impress upon him that he needed to be aware of the fact that this is a team based game and everyone's play styles needed to be considered as well, but he is refusing to back down on this subject. In the end I was only able to warn him that if his play style continued to disrupt the party as a whole that i would force a re-roll in order to put an end to the problem. I feel that there is a very basic rule in effect in this, and all RPGs; If you cannot play nicely with others, than you shouldn't be playing at all.

He hasn't ever fled in a situation were he did not have an escape route. in fact more often the not the behavior in question takes place out in the open (fields, forests, plains) where is ability to fly lets him evade most challenges i haven't carefully crafted to negate such abilities, and urban encounters that allow him numerous avenues of probable escape. When in a dungeon setting, he has shown considerably more mettle. I think this is to be expected as fleeing in that situation would likely mean the death of his comrades and an eventual stalking kill from the threat in question.

This is all great advice. As to the PC becoming a buffer, I cant really see it based on his personality but it is worth suggesting to him and would be an elegant solution to the problem. Another issue is the exact nature of his cowardice. he does not refuse to fight, in fact he is often the first to strike, sadly he is also the first to suggest flight or else to retreat should he take too much damage or if the foe(s) turn out to be more of a threat than anticipated. the main reason the other PCs are getting frustrated is because they are all willing to engage in some small self sacrifice to save each other while he appears to look out for himself first and everyone else second.

Normally I would agree with you Zhayne, but this player is a synthesis summoner who has built his eidolon form to be a tank/utility build with a high AC. Out of all my players he has the highest survivability due to his ability to self heal and having combined hit points.

That's kind of what i was thinking, as far as letting him know how some of the party is feeling and suggesting a change. As to having the party make more realistic RP choices I can only encourage them to do so. while they have expressed a worry to me and a lack of faith in the cowardly PC I don't know if they're quiet at a point to threaten him with being left behind. I suppose I wont know much of anything until i actually meet and discuss the problem with the PC in question. My fingers are crossed that he will acknowledge the problem and make a shift in play style so that more direct measures need not be taken.

I am having a bit of trouble figuring out how to handle one of my players. He has already expressed to me that his character is, at heart, a coward and has shown this twice now when he used allies as scapegoats or else was prepared to leave them behind. Other players in the party are beginning to feel frustrated because they can't rely on him. I plan to have a discussion with him soon to establish if this disposition is one he plans to change as his character and the rest of the party travel together (it is rather early, only a 5th level group), or if this will be his characters default personality throughout the campaign. What I would like is some advice on how to handle a cowardly PC so that the rest of the party can still enjoy game play without worrying about this player as a liability. If I have to I can simply tell him he needs to change his characters personality a bit but I loath dictating how a player can and can't play their character and so view it as a last resort.

Sorry that i wasn't to clear in the previous post, i was simply referring to the sorcerer and wizard spell lists, not that i wanted to multi-class. Also while the campaign is outsider based, the players do not necessarily have to be outsiders. Lastly while the rest of what you said was good advice, the problem I'm currently facing is that even if i get past a creatures spell resistance I'm faced with the strong possibility of an immunity towards the energy type I'm dealing or else a heavy resistance. I'm looking for a method of overcoming, or bypassing these immunities and resistances. Failing that I'm looking for spell or feat alternatives that allow me to keep pace with the damage of my fellow players.

Hey all, i haven't played many caster classes so i am only semi versed in their abilities and quirks. That being said it looks as though most damage focused spells on the wizard/sorcerer spell list appear to be of elemental energy types with a few exceptions. Our DM has informed us that the campaign we will be playing in will be an outsider focused campaign. Most outsiders i have looked at, especially at higher CRs tend to be immune to at least 1 if not 2 elemental energy types as well as resistant to 1 or more energy types in addition. With that in mind, can anyone help me figure out how to be an effective DPS caster at higher levels and not get left behind in terms of damage by every front-line class with any means of overcoming damage reduction?

Hey all, i haven't played many caster classes so i am only semi versed in their abilities and quirks. That being said it looks as though most damage focused spells on the wizard/sorcerer spell list appear to be of elemental energy types with a few exceptions. Our DM has informed us that the campaign we will be playing in will be an outsider focused campaign. Most outsiders i have looked at, especially at higher CRs tend to be immune to at least 1 if not 2 elemental energy types as well as resistant to 1 or more energy types in addition. With that in mind, can anyone help me figure out how to be an effective DPS caster at higher levels and not get left behind in terms of damage by every front-line class with any means of overcoming damage reduction?

alright, my initial thought was to allow for grappling up to two size categories larger that way a medium creature can grapple a huge but not a gargantuan or colossal. similarly a tiny creature can grapple a small or medium but not a large or huge creature.

as to the creativity of grappling, that's kinda why my group was on my side with this one. I try to make every battle as cinematic as possible with my descriptions, i also try to let my players be creative in their attempts to overcome challenges. because of this, how i describe a situation might allow a player an advantage or disadvantage that wouldn't otherwise exist. the example of the cyclops being held by the nose ring is a good one until one of my players points out that it should no longer have reach in the squares behind it due to its positioning (we do use facing rules in my campaigns).

Im willing to put certain flair into the descriptions of breaking a grapple i.e. a character breaking a finger of a colossal creature holding it in order to escape the grapple. but it just seems a bit comical to imagine a 6ft person restricting the movement of something upwards of 40ft tall in any significant way.

I'm just starting a third campaign for a group of players I've been DMing for for several years. In the last campaign i ran we stumbled across a rather annoying problem in regards to the grapple rule. I was consistently having a barbarian player grapple foes who were several size categories larger than she was. I talked with my players and we all decided that a medium creature immobilizing a gargantuan creature was a bit ridiculous. The trouble now is my group cant come to a consensus as to how many size categories above the players they can grapple effectively.

Also just to avoid confusion, anyone grappled by a larger foe can still make the normal CMB checks to gain control of the grapple, we're simply looking for an agreed upon size in which "gain control" is equivalent to "drop as free action".

as far as the rules are concerned your all right, the mount should count as an ally so long as the inquisitor is adjacent to it, not riding it. I attempt to have my campaigns make as much sense as pathfinder or any other rpg will allow however, because of that i think i the only limit ill put on the teamwork feats is that the ally must have at least a 10 INT or be a magical creature to count for teamwork feats regarding spell-casting.

that's a good point, i suppose there's not a lot i can do about some of those teamwork feats not making a lot of sense but by and large i think he should be able to use his mount for teamwork feats requiring him to be adjacent to an ally.

Then does it apply to all of the teamwork feats? I have a hard time justifying a +2 bonus to overcoming spell resistance because your standing next to a horse. . .

In addition unless the horse is bonded to the PC such as a cavaliers mount or a paladins then any successful handle animal check should alter the mount from an ally to an enemy. I simply see more problems arising from using a mount for those purposes than not.

I have a player who has an Inquisitor character. He wants to be able to use he mount as an ally so that he can make use of his teamwork feats so long as he is adjacent to or riding his mount. I am having problems with the wording of the solo tactics ability since I am unsure if a mount with animal level intelligence could be considered an "ally". in addition I had thought that solo tactics only applied to allies who were capable of taking teamwork feats, which to my knowledge animals cannot. I'm inclined to limit the solo tactics to other PCs or friendly NPCs but I'd like a few other perspectives before making the call.

The dragon disciple stat increases are in addition to any other increases gained by leveling.

But how does that add up? where is the balance by comparison to other players? the class already gets barbarian health and natural armor to boot. on top of that they also get nearly 3 times as many stat increases? i guess i don't see the balance.

I have a character who is interested in playing a human dragon disciple. the concern i have is that the dragon disciple gains a permanent +2 to his strength, constitution, and intelligence stats as the character progresses. the question i have is whether these stats replace normal character stat increases at every fourth level. if not the dragon disciple would gain 13 stat points by level 20. but if normal stats increases were replaced, then the character would still gain double what any other character would but the dragon disciple would not get to pick where the new stat increases go.

alright ill probably just add fighter lvls until the CR is appropriate. thanks all for the help.

well the character they killed was 14th lvl fighter, so i was hoping to give them a challenge while throwing in the curve ball of it being undead. i want the revenant to be stronger than the npc it came from, but not by much. maybe 1 or 2 CR higher. because there is no template for making a revenant should i simply add 1-2 lvls of fighter health, give it undead traits and revenant abilities and have done?

ok so my players just killed an antagonist in my story who hated them enough to come back as a revenant. the bestiary 2 does not cover creation of a revenant that i saw. should i just apply the ghost template to the character sheet and simply substitute the ghost abilities for the revenants? any help would be appreciated.

ill have to look into the witch option, although a fighter or barbarian might be a nice addition. Thanks for the help, im pretty sure i can work the new character in using the old characters exit.

First off, help the new player make his character. Make it a simple character if they have no experience. I'd suggest actually a Reincarnating Druid from the UM. If they die, they reincarnate automatically in the next week. This gives them some cushion. Get them to take a domain, so they don't have to keep track of the AC, and use another archetype that get's rid of the wildshape, to keep things simple.

As far as putting them into the story, add a side quest right after the old player's character leaves. Make it something to do with the old character if possible, a quest to get him out of trouble or jail or something into an area that is highly dangerous. Let them hire the new character as a guide into the area, let him know it already. That gives them a reason to pick him up, makes sense that he's high level, etc.

Alright i might be able to make that work. do you have any other suggestions aside from druid as a good starting character? my party already has 2 and if the new player becomes a druid then it will be 3 druids and an arcane archer. the only classes that aren't allowed in my game are paladins and monks.

Due to unfortunate circumstances one of my player had to move to another state and consequently dropped out of the game. my players need a new addition in order to get their party back up to its previous numbers. The problem im running into is that the characters are about to break level 10 and nearly half the story has gone by. I have several people lined up who would like to play but i am unsure how to smoothly incorporate them. all the potential players have little or no RP experience and would need to be helped along at first. im worried that their inexperience will heavily hamper game play. i am also having trouble finding a way to suddenly have a 10th level character come out of the wood works and join the party without jarring the story over much.

Any help or advise would be appreciated, thanks.

I've got a player doing a similar thing in my current game. He recently received a +1 Greatsword. The party just didn't tell him IC that it was magical. His character is convinced that "it's sharper."

Barring that, any other PCs with high Diplomacy in the party? Maybe a roleplaying scene wherein they convince the barb of the necessity of magic for some kind of "greater good" (whatever will appeal to the barb's specific morals/ethics), even if it can be a bad thing if misused.

That is another method i could employ as several of my players are rather diplomatic. I'm not certain she could effectively be lied to however as she has a 17 int for her barbarian... why she put her 17 there i don't know, but there you have it.

Warlords of the Accordlands had a barbarian that was similar to this. Basically he got to add enhancement bonuses to nonmagical equipment in exchange for never using magic. I think it was +1/5 levels or something? What made this brutal was the character easily had enough cash on hand to afford a mountain of adamantine gear.

Now, magical healing/removal of status effects, that becomes problematic.

That makes more sense, I could probably adapt her to that style and it would solve my problem of her falling behind the party.

As far as healing goes the group I'm GMing for decided they wanted 2 druids and a cleric, so healing isn't a big deal for them.

How about instead of her character finding a magic +1 axe created by some demon-spawned civilized wizard she finds a long-lost axe created by her tribe's greatest smith and blessed by their shaman to never go dull?

That might be acceptable to her character.

That's more or less the rout I've been taking with it. however there are only so many times she can come across the tribes "blessed" item before it becomes overused. currently she is using a hammer "blessed" by her tribes shaman, and some armor fashioned from a creature.

I'm worried that if they ever decide to go on a longer dungeon crawl that there will be no way for me to realistically provide new items for her.

3.5 has something called "vow of poverty." It's in the exalted deeds book I think. Try googling it. That may help.

That's the monk thing that allows a monk player to take almost no loot ever but makes him into the terminator by level 15 right? I'll take a look at it but I'm not sure how it will mesh with a barbarian.

I don't get it. Why should the Superstitious Barbarian do not get any loot?

He's just reistant to spells, even friendly ones.

No the superstitious barbarian itself would normally get magic items and just not particularly trust magic over all. The PC who is playing the superstitious barbarian has woven it into her back story that she will not use anything she knows to be magical.

If this continues for another level or so then ill probably just talk to her and tell her she needs to alter her story a bit in order to keep pace with the rest of the party. But if i can find a workable solution then I'd rather let her keep the character true to how she wanted it.

Alright so one of my players has taken the superstitious barbarian subclass and chosen to be superstitious of all magic. This means she is beginning to fall behind the rest of the party in terms of power scale. While the rest of the party is gaining magical loot from encounters that boost their stats and damage she is not. I've been able to give her some magic items in the guise of the item being constructed from a creature that had an ability. But I'm starting to run out of ideas for her that are appropriate level. Anyone have any suggestions or dealt with a similar problem?

OK then. Have it scale slower for one thing, +1d6 per 2 levels. From a game building stand point, Fewer strong (or fire resistant)enemies make it less appealing, as well as multiple enemies that are very spread out.

Alright ill try that and see if it works smoothly. I'm glad i have some time before my next session to test this. Thanks.

Cohorts advance by class level, not HD, templates, etc. So normally this would not come up unless you are making an exception.

I was going to try to make an exception if i was able to balance it. as far as advancements go it is still going to be restricted to class levels. I'm just looking to let its breath weapon stay more or less intact without decimating the challenge scale.

Ok so my problem is that one of my players is going for a hell hound as his cohort. I'm fine with it and I've gone over the leveling processes and how to level the hound. the only hitch I'm running into is its breath weapon special ability. At the level he will acquire it at the hound will only be dealing 2d6, but at 8th level when its a CR9 (hell hound Nessian) its supposed to be doing 10d6 every 1-4 rounds. I have a party of 5 already and i feel that if they get something with that much fire power they are going to tear through enemies far to quickly. Any ideas on how to deal with this problem without crippling the hell hound?