How much would you price an item that grants fire resistance (or any other) 5?
I figured the price should fall somewhere between 2000-2500.
Likewise, what would even lower numbered resistances cost?
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Hello roleplayers and welcome to my thread of brainstorming for a new campaign. Would you like to pitch a few ideas for me? I am building a pirate themed campaign and since my players might be lurking hereabout Im not going to reveal too much about it. 1) Its a home grown campaign world with unique gods and a couple unique races. The Extra races include a "tree" race, google "Fists of ironwood" for a visual clue to how they look, and a kind of grey-blue skinned elves with fabulously long ears and hooked earlobes. 2)The world has its own set of three gods surrounded in myth. Each god represents several facets of humanity at once, one leaning towards hope and new beginnings, another stability and repitition and the third intuition and bonds. Each god has the capacity for great evil and great good depending on whichever facet of the god is at work for whichever event. Secondary gods increase the complexity further. 3) The players will begin in a coastal area ruled by merchants. The de-factor ruler is a regional king who has very little power because of said merchants. A fertile ground for pirates and their like to feed on. 4) I had thought to have the main enemy for the story be a rival vessel with an opposing party. A couple of ship-to-ship fights will get the players used to fighting on ships, and then the campaign concludes with an especially big ship-to-ship battle. At this stage in the creation process anything goes, and it would be fun to hear other people's ideas, it helps stir myself from my "imagination comfort zone". Do you think you have any new or classic ideas that I might not have thought of myself? Nothing is too cliché and nothing is too new! I would especially like to hear ideas about potential characters to include in my rival pirate crew and interesting one-off water themed bossess, but preferrably not any templates, my last campaign was heavy on vampires and lycanthropes. Undead, elementals and whatever else you might think off is definitely okay though!
This is something that ought to be all-too basic for someone who has played 3.5 and pathfinder for a dozen years now, but for clarity im going to ask anyway. How do you use scrolls in play? Examples of how I've ruled and played it so far: 1) A standard 3rd wizard with Int 15 uses a cl 1 burning hands scroll, the spell is cast without a check and executed at caster level 3rd because the wizards CL is 3. 2) A 5th level Fighter with intelligence 13 and Wisdom 11 has a scroll case with 1st level cleric spells and 1st level wizard spells. To cast said spells he must succeed on a UMD check DC 21 to cast them as CL1 spells, but he is allowed to increase the check DC up to 25 to increase the CL up to his character level. 3) The fighter above can cast 3rd level Wizard spells from scrolls by succeeding on a DC 25 UMD check, but to cast 3rd level cleric spells from scrolls he would need to succeed on two seperate UMD skill checks, one DC25 to cast a CL 5 cleric spell, and another DC 18 check to emulate a wisdom score of 13. Additionally:
Could a level 1 Wizard (or just caster in general) use UMD to emulate a CL higher then their own? For example could the 3rd level wizard above attempt a DC 25 UMD check to cast the scroll as a CL 5 spell?
I am a big fan of stuff that grants energy resistance, just for the flavor if not for the in-game usefulness.
Ring of energy resistance (Any one element) 5.
What I would like to know is the exact numbers and why. I would personally for example reduce the price of the multi-energy protection a bit, sort of a "mass discount", in my games at the moment I charge 39000 for a ring of resistance 10 against the 4 elements. It seems fitting for an often unusued kind of defense, especially considering that 39k worth of CLW Potions and wands would probably serve the team much better in most scenarios. The Ring of resistance (1 element) 5, is especially interesting to me, at the moment I price it at 5500 but that is a price I picked by the ear, a more mathematically justified number would be nice.
So, my character (level 2) just got fragged by the combined effort of an AP boss and his fellow adventurers (funny story explained below). The character in question was a second level Warpriest. She was a sword & boarder but would go into 2-handing once she finished retraining her starter feats into power-attack and furious focus. Getting killed was not part of the plan, I want to make a new character but I would rather not make a new Warpriest just yet. .
The team is, now that i'm dead, mostly neutral but slightly leaning evil. There is a player looking forward to being a master necromancer sometime in the future so I don't want to make a paladin and set the group up for some pretty heavy character conflict (I can be a lenient paladin, but raising an army of the dead is a jarring stretch no matter how I look at it). .
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Those are the current runner ups for next character, I would love to hear some feedback about them and some input. .
The group just entered a shiny new dungeon! There's unlit torches here and there and some signs of an ancient civilization scattered about the floor and walls, we scamper about with me, Misha Brakarlov, a Russia/Linnorm lands themed Warpriest of Water & Strength obsessed with demons. As we explore the terrors wreaked by greenskin raids we happen upon evidence of murder and mystery, and some tiny evidence of demon workship. The group dutifully tracks the evidence twining together the greenskin raids and murders, whils Misha obsesses over demons, until the group finds the current dungeon and delves into it. The mystery deepens as we scamper about and explore, untill we find, a Lamashtu altar! The ecstatic Misha sets about destroying the thing and the murky liquid offering atop it, distracting the whole party from the danger lurking in the corners. The inquisitive investigator jests as Misha fails repeatedly to harm the altar, then suddenly some spell lulls Misha to sleep. For a moment the party is stunned, then the Necromancer springs the idea of a prank, "Lets pour the stinky crap on the altar into her mouth! What could anything brewed by goblins do to a tough chick like her, I bet it tastes awful though!".
Never have I so neatly been killed by my friends by accident, woopsies ;)
So I found myself confronted by a player on the subject that he felt his monk was being overshadowed by a half dragon fighter (adjustment +3 by houserule +4 at 11th level & +5 at 16th). Of course, this is basically a problem where an optimised character is outdoing an unoptimised one (and a monk at that). Regardless I poured over the math to determine if perhaps I had been too lenient to allow a half dragon player and turns out that an equal level fighter without the template had the exact same dpr and a few slurpus HP and feats. I did however find crunch proof for the superiority of two handed weapons in general, especially in combination with high crit. . Though I hate the idea of taking a nice thing away from martials in general, isn't this build, high crit weapon two handed + power attack, just outright better then anything else in terms of martial melee combat? In my next story I'm considering a nerf or alternative build to induce variety. I prefer to build up the other options over nerfing existing ones, so feel free to add some ideas. . Build up, idea 1: Make power attack give +3 damage instead of 2, no benefit for 2-handing.
Nerf+build up, idea 2: Make Keen and Improved critical a flat +2 bonus to critical rate. This simultaneously reduces critical rate for the problem weapons (25% crit rate is just crazy) and incentives players to go for the normally unpopular hammer or axe the weapons. Nerf+build up, idea 3: remove the 2-hand damage boost from power attack and implement the modification in idea #2. Outright nerf 2-handed weapons in general while slightly improving hammers and axes. . Currently I'm leaning towards implementing ideas 1 and 2 combined. Idd rather give out cool things then just take them away. Do you have any thoughts oh great and mighty pathfinder community P'S. I know the dangers of allowing characters with templates, there are some extra house rules undisclosed here affect the math in this scenario. Please focus on the power attack and crit rate discussion from the standpoint of playing with only official pathfinder rules.
Avast! Groteus shines on the Leirville township. His light has reanimated every recent corpse in every recent graveyard, as the players fight the zombie horde an even greater threat looms. Every single dead woodland critter in the woodlands nearby has risen, the tiny beasts and vermin will fall upon Leirville in a mighty horde of epic proportions, unnaturally driven to consume the flesh of all who do not revere Groteus. So, yeah. Now since THAT'S out of the way I can get to my question. For the event above I've made statistics for a couple of undead critter swarms, one groundbound (squirrels and mice) and one aflight (thrushes and crows). Each swarm has 2hd (9hp), cr1, and ac 14. As undead they have no con or int and a distraction save of 11. Most importantly, the component critters are diminutive, Therefor the swarms are immune to weapon damage. For my story this will not be a problem, my players have lots of magic and will have access to alchemical explosives when the swarms arrive. But on a contemplative note, what if they weren't so well equiped?
Are swarms altogether a severely dangerous challenge at such low level.
Given that my google Fu did not reveal this, I ask you, the expert community on such trivial matters. The alchemists bottled ooze discover (UM) lets you throw oozes at people. The questions are:
If you dont think this ability needs a buff, why? My "against" argument is "Its just one discovery, and one discovery isnt suposed to be unbeleivably relably effective throughout a character career, if the Discovery were as good as summon monster what would ever stop you from not spending every round throwing oozes at people?".
Also, on a more theoretical note, do you have any strong opinions about cool uses of this ability? What oozes are your favoritres and why? Heres my theories: Ive noted the cool factor of battlefield control with Gelatinous cubes (Beasty 1). They can move enemies by having them succeed on reflex saves against their engulf, so its a win win ability for a strategic alchemist (Either the creature is engulfed in a deadly jelly monster, or its moved in the direction away from the jelly, hopefully into the jaws of your local beatstick fighter). Ochre jellies gotta be pretty reliable battle field control for their strong grapple. Its my favorite use of this ability, but only in theory, at Cr 5 its kinda high cost for what might be rather inefficient effects at that APL (You get 5th level extracts at level 13, average monster AC at that level is 28 which makes the Jelly´s slam attack bonus of +5 seem pretty meagre). Amoeba's and their swarm type (Beasty 2) are in my opinion probably the very best use of this ability for its effects per the cost. Swarms are OP and the ability to cover your foes in them is good. Slithering trackers get 2 slams and the potential to paralise their victim, that seems REALLY useful, at the level you get it though I highly doubt it can hit anything at only +7 to hit (verus an average monster ac of 24 at the character level you unlock 4th level extracts). Hungry flesh (bestiary 4) is my favorite "non combat" application of this ability. Nowhere does it say that your oozes cant make "spawn", imagine flying over a settlement of an enemy species, peppering it with these horrible things, a few hours later the ill prepared settlement has become a nightmare of oozing flesh horrors!
I am an avid fan of designing my own items and, as my groups DM, i've done quite a bit of seeding my players with home-grown items but ive hit a small idological conundrum that i'd like to ask the larger crowd here before I give the players any ideas. An item that grants the benefits of a level 1 spell are fairly cheap,
Using the formula to create an item that can cast a spell or maintain it constantly (lvl x CL x 2000) You can get: level 1, caster level 1, constant mage armor for 2000 gp. level 1, caster level 1, constant shield for 2000 gp. level 1, caster level 1, unlimited cure light wounds for 2000 gp. The unlimited cure light wounds effect is an obvious ban in my opinion, but the other to are less obvious.
So, opinions? Should I modify the rings to be more expensive or require activation?
I am a bit unsure of the way to interpret the variant channel system, after searching both google and here i've yet to find a sufficient answer. So here is my question: A variant channel affects:
As I understand it: Someone who channels positive energy (A good or neutral caster who chose to channel Positive energy)
Someone who channels negative energy (An evil or neutral caster who chose to channel negative energy)
I really fancy the staff concept, though I find their mechanics a bit ponderous. As the GM of my group i've been wondering if it would be okay to implement the following changes/additions to the way staves work at lower levels and in a broader purpose: 1) The character in possession of the Staff can, as a standard action, charge the staff (unless casting the spell would normally take longer, then the charging duration is the same as the casting time). To do so the character must know the highest levelled spell in the staff and have it prepared (or have unused spell slots of its level) and be able to cast said spell. This triggers the spell energy as if it had been cast, the staff gains as many charges as the spell costs the staff to cast. There is no limit to how many times this can be done in a day. If the spell has a costly material component or a focus the caster must produce and use the materials as if he had cast the spell. 2) there is no longer a minimum limit on the caster level of a staff.
Point 1 means that a staff can be charged back up to full power a LOT faster, however because you need to know the highest levelled spell in the staff to charge it this does not allow a low level mage almost unlimited access to a higher levelled spell beyond his scope, this also favors wizards slightly over sorcerers as wizards will have an easier time knowing the spells of a looted staff. The main feature of charging a staff in this manner is that a character can use his "toy" and still be able to use it again a day or two later, as opposed to having to wait a week before the staff gets back to a reasonable amount of charges. I dont think that this charging mechanism is overpowered because it requires the staff user to know and have ready the highest level spell in the staff. A character using the staff to gain access to an extra bit of spell options (like a sorcerer who fancies himself some defensive magic, but isnt willing to waste his precious spells known on highly situational spells) cannot charge the staff in this manner if he does not know the highest level spell. A character who sought out a staff to gain access to a spell beyond his level (like a level 7 cleric blowing his wad of cash on a staff with flame strike) wont be able to charge the staff and spam said spell until he actually reaches the required level. Point 2 means that, while the benefits of crafting a high level staff remain, the players can exploit cheap staves to cast low level spells in abundance Of course this means that mid-high level mages will hardly ever run out of spells to cast by buying dirt heap staves that contain their most basic spells, but that is hardly a huge issue when said low level spells rarely have a meaningful effect on an important battle.
The requirement to have 2 spells imposes a slight increase in price.
Access to staves at low levels would also help casters deal with their limited allotment of spells at early levels. Issues behind this idea: With these changes a low level staff completely outshines wands that create magical effects at a higher level than their lowest possible.
A caster can effectively double, triple or even quadruple his allotment of spells at a certain level by having a fully charged staff at a given time, though the staff needs to be charged, too quick access to charges might make a key disadvantage for caster characters simply vanish. What do you think of my ideas? OP, UP, Pointless? Are staves perhaps fine as they are and arent meant to find their way into the clutches of low level adventurers in the first place? |