tyweise's page

This is exactly the fix that I would do. Brilliant.

I will definitely check back on Monday for the updated guide. I definitely like the idea of starting up with a new season.

I looked at My Pathfinder Society, and ... oh dear. There's one session up there, and it's not even one that I have a chronicle sheet for. Nor have I ever been to Utah, where that game was reported. :(

I only had one GM that I recall - we mostly played with the same group, and it looks like things were pretty relaxed on the reporting front. But hey, I have my PFS membership number now! I probably could contact my old GM; I don't even know what a Venture Captain is. Incidentally, when I played it was near Pittsburgh, PA - now I'm living near Philadelphia. Is there a list of Captains and contact info by area?

Thanks again for your help.

Hi,

I'm looking to get back into playing Pathfinder Society to play with a friend of mine, after being away since 2010. It looks like a lot has changed - there's a few more factions than I remember. What else did I miss? Is there anything else I should know?

I would also like to play my old character, a level 4 cavalier, but I can't find all of his chronicle sheets. I'm missing 3 out of his 11 chronicles (including #1 and #2 sadly). Is there any way that I can retain some or all of his adventure history?

Thanks in advance!

Still, my point is that, until you get it fixed, you've lost the "proficiency" you had. Until you can get it fixed, you're -4 to all of your attacks, because you're only proficient with that one weapon, not any other weapon of the same type. I feel this is what makes the trait as balanced as any of the other weapon traits around.

Or you just use a weapon that you are proficient with as your backup weapon. Then you're only out the enhancement bonus (which you're losing anyway) and whatever feats you've put into the heirloom weapon type. For anyone other than a fighter that's probably just Weapon Focus, and maybe Improved Critical if you're high enough level.

I played a reasonably successful ranger/rogue through Shackled City (using Pathfinder rules.) It was definitely slow-going early on, but rose up the power curve in later levels. I believe a big part of that however, was due to a large party size and being low on the totem pole for choice items, buffs, etc.

If your party can set you up to leave enemies flat-footed (blind, stun, etc.) then you can go with traditional archery build options. Rapid shot away.

The route I went requires the DM to allow stealth to be used in combat, and for there to be some terrain that will get you concealment or cover on a regular basis. I eventually took Shadowdancer levels, which would have helped earlier if I had a real plan for this guy from the beginning. Darvision and Hide in Plain Sight means you can pull off scouting duty in dungeons, and also gives much more opportunities to use stealth in combat. Improved Precise Shot helps tremendously when you're shooting from/through concealment.

I ended up ranger10/rogue4/shadowdancer2, utilizing Vital Strike, Deadly Aim, Sneak Attack, (and Favored Enemy when applicable) to fire off one good shot per round. Fast Stealth and Favored Terrains helped me stay mobile while keeping a great stealth modifier. When the opportunity arose, I'd let off a full attack on a flat-footed enemy and rack up some really nice damage (even without Rapid Shot.)

I had relatively mediocre stats (we rolled, and I rolled ... poorly, at least compared to the melee beasts) and wasn't a top tier combatant in our group. (Fighter with ridic stats and barbarian stole that show.) But I was able to hit soft targets while the melee was tied up, and Slow Reactions (rogue talent) helped at times for the melee to get in on big creatures with reach. Readied Vital Strike shots from stealth does a number on disrupting casters too.

I'm hoping for the "Antimonk" class. It's all about wearing armor and using weapons. Like yeah...

Or an "Antidruid" if there are good rules for clearing land to build strip malls and parking lots.

"Anti-" class names just sound dumb to me.

We tend to have two types of combats:

Most last about 2-3 rounds, mostly determined by how soon the fighters engage in full attacks. (We currently have a party of 6 15th level characters.)

A handful will end up taking 10-20 rounds. This is almost always the case where only 2 or 3 party members can affect the last bad guy(s) standing (due to SR, DR, resistances, etc.) on top of high defenses (AC, saves, etc.)

It's kind of a grind, especially if you're one of the 'sidelined' characters for that encounter. But the turns at that point go very fast in terms of real time, since it's usually a handful of hits and misses in melee or ranged combat.

Does an ioun stone worn by an ettin orbit in a figure 8?

Can't even imagine the hydra...

Curse you, mdt!

/shakes fist

Shane LeRose wrote:

What do people think about broadening multi-classes? There must be a way for polar opposite classes to mesh better (fighter/wizard, rogue/cleric, bard/barbarian, monk/paladin). Opinions?

I think this is a great idea. Barbarian/Bard is actually pretty realistic since most barbarian like cultures have a strong oral tradition of storytelling (which by extension is perform Oratory). A feat that says something along the lines of Benifit: Your barbarian and bard levels stack for determining the number of rounds a day you may rage and use bardic music

Paladin/monk could be lay hands and ki pool, Paladin/rogue could be lay hands and sneak attack, rogue cleric could be Channel energy and sneak attack, Druid/cleric could be wildshape and channel energy. Although Im not sure how to combine fighters and wizards/sorcerers but I think the best bet would be fighter levels count as levels to determine when you recieve specilization/bloodline powers and wizard/sorcerer levels count for when you can take fighter specific feats (i.e. weapon specialization)

Would it be too much to do something simpler, where each feat is only for a single class's feature but it doesn't matter what they multiclass with. Once you make a single MC class feature crossover feat (MCCFCF ?!) then you're going to have players wanting every class combo to have a feat. Feat bloat.

What I'm thinking is a feat that lets you treat your total character level (or HD) as your class level for a given class feature. So there'd be a paladin feat "Holy Hands" that gives you the Lay on Hands as if you were a full paladin of your level.

Super Sneak, The God Channel, Shifters 'R Us, This Fighter Can Have Nice Things, Bloodlines are Thicker than Water, Track Star or Favorite Enemy in the Whole Wide Word ... the list could go on and on!

But the idea is then, you only need to create one such feat for each class (or per class feature if you like two of them that much.) Now I guess, there's a danger with PrC's that progress class features (rogue/arcane trickster.) So maybe you have to exclude PrC's, which I'd rather not do, or just explicitly state for the feat that the class feature enhanced by the feat supercedes (does not stack) with any other class/PrC that grants that feature.

Support for ranged sneak attack.

Sniping Shot. Double the range, so sneak attack is possible out to 60'.

Exposing Shot. When you hit with a ranged attack, it exposes a vulnerable area of the target, enabling your next attack this round to benefit from Sneak Attack. (Or just treat them as flat-footed, but denying dex as well might be too much.

Unexpected Shot. Feint with a ranged weapon.

Drop the Solo Tactics ability. It seems it should go to the Cavalier. I think it should be replaced by something similar to the ranger's favored enemy ability but linked linked to their Monster Lore ability. For example:

Monster Hunter (Ex): As a standard action, the character studies his foe for weaknesses and makes an appropriate Knowledge check, DC: 15+CR. For every 5 points he beats the DC, he gains a +1 to hit and damage. At 7th level the character may do this as a swift action.

THIS! Or something along these lines, is what I'd like. Inquisitor abilities are about knowing your foe - through mundane knowledge and divine magic - to know just how to take them down. In addition to a bonus to hit and/or damage, perhaps a high enough check to allow them to ignore DR, grant themselves a bonus to saves against its abilities, dodge bonus to ac vs its attacks. Perhaps the Judgements could key off the knowledge checks, so they are more potent the more the Inquisitor understands his foe. Keeping track of "charge up" rounds for judgements seems like it could be a hassle, but I haven't experienced this to know.

I'd like to see them without spells. But not a full BAB/d10 hit die class, or they will make the rangers of the world cry. They can still be divinely-powered, but I'd rather see supernatural/spell-like abilities. I think there's enough on their plate that they don't need spells on top of it all. Damage is delivered through their weaponry, they don't need direct damage spells (but they could channel some spell effects through their weapons, kinda like an arcane archer.) The buffing spells can be replaced by buffing abilities which can be limits per day, or selected each day and persist.

I like the Bane ability, but I don't like that they can change the creature type every round with a swift action. To me, there should be a little more forethought to the ability - a goal and a plan to hunt down this Abomination! Not "oh, a bugbear? 'k Bane goblinoids then." Each day, the Inquisitor could select his Bane type, and at higher levels he could add additional types to his bane for the day, like 1 per 4 levels above 5th. So a higher level Inquisitor can not only put the hurt on the villainous naga, but his orc bodyguards as well.

Evasion swapped for Mettle, or in addition. When it comes to the things that go bump in the night, it's the assaults on mind and internal body that are the real Stuff of Nightmares. That's what they should be steeled against through an iron resolve; not the dancy-fancy leaping out of fireballs. :)

This is a bit rambling and scattered, but I wanted to get some ideas out there. If I have time I can pull it together to something more coherent and cohesive.

I'll just throw this out there, even though it isn't much help to the situation.

I think the problem is in the Wizard.

More specifically, the massive spell lists that cover everything from dropping meteors to dominating minds, from summoning angels and demons (or Tom Hanks!) to seeing in the dark. This also applies to clerics, sorcs, and druids to a lesser extent.

When you've got such an "everything" spellcasting class, it's going to be hard to make new casting classes that aren't seen as just a specialization or thematization of it. Now as was already said, you're not going to see the wizard, sorc, druid, or cleric change to the point of cutting down a lot of their spell versatility. So there's no real solution outta me, just an observation about where the difficulties might lie.

Please no Intelligence/Language dependent challenge.

The challenge power should be about the cavalier, not a suped-up intimidate check. There are plenty of situations where a cavalier will need to ride in an diffuse a major threat that is actually a big dumb monster.

Intelligence/Language dependent challenge seems to be something people are lobbying for because they want to tie it in with a preconception they got from the name of the power.

The power as printed is non-psychological: The advantage is tactical focus at the expense of battlefield awareness. The enemy doesn't enter into it.

Why not both? The effects on the Cavalier happen regardless of target.

If the target isn't mindless, it can either:

A) man up, and accept the same (or similar) effects as the Cavalier; they both go after each other and have a grand old time

B) duck out, giving the Cavalier a free Intimidate check on them (with the possibility of check bonuses, or increased duration, or stepping up the condition a level (shaken to frightened or panicked or whatever it is.)

Septerra Core

I like the idea of starting at 0 Action Points each day, and awarding one after the first fight. Then you can either go back to milestones after each even fight, or make the milestones after each odd-numbered fights.

Also, short rests take "about" 5 minutes. They can certainly be shorter if it makes the plot better. For example, with your fleeing goblin or kobold, he may take a few minutes to round up reinforcements and for those reinforcements to get prepared. You can reward a PC who took the appropriate language (perhaps by spending a feat on Linguist) with the information about the monsters' preparations. If they hear "hurry up and put on your armor, get your spears; you two, GRAB THE BALLISTA!" then the PCs can make a choice: take a few minutes to recoup their strength (short rest) or press the attack immediately and catch the enemy less prepared. (Give the bad guys -2 AC for not being properly armored up, maybe they have to spend the first round after PCs arrive moving to the spear rack, and they keep the ballista crew (use crossbow trap stats, requiring 2 standard actions to load and fire, or just make up some damage dice and roll with it) from bringing it to bear on them.)

And if the PCs leg it, then the bad guys can prepare with Moar Ballistas!

Anything involving > 1 ninja.

Also, a lot of those stormtrooper "misses" were really hits, using the abstraction of hit points (or vitality points, if you prefer pre-Saga) representing near misses and minor scrapes until you're out of them; then that last shot that puts you out was the one that finally got you. However you feel about "hits that aren't really hits", it's a game argument for stormtrooper minions.

Also also, I'd houserule that minions get a save vs automatic damage if you find auto-damaging effects are turning minions into zero effort opponents. If you think that makes them too durable for their role (get hit and die fast) then you can also remove the "no damage from a miss" rule and make them have to save vs miss effect damage.

As I see it re: mats and miniatures.

4th edition has added even more tactical positioning elements to the game, which require a system like a battlemat and miniatures to fully utilize. If you play without them, you do take something away from the tactical elements of the game.

However, you're taking away something that wasn't there before, so at the very worst you're back at the tactical level of whatever previous edition you felt comfortable playing without miniatures and maps.

As long as you're aware of the tactical loss, you can make character choices accordingly. For example, a level 1 Warlock will not get as much out of Diabolic Grasp (a power that slides your enemy) so perhaps they're better off taking Vampiric Embrace (a power that gives you temporary hit points.)

I prefer to roleplay without miniatures or battlemats. How difficult is it to houserule away miniature positioning without breaking the balance of the classes, combat or other rule subsystems?

It will depend on what level of detail (LOD) for positioning you use. D&D is written to run on a pretty fine level of detail, with precise distances, movements, and areas measured to the individual square on the battlemat.

Simply converting 1 square = 5 feet, distances and areas can be pretty easily handled. A power that's an Area Burst 2 would have a diameter of 25 feet; if you prefer to think in terms of area, you'll make area effects slightly smaller if you make Area Burst 2 have a radius of 10 feet. This will weaken area powers and classes that utilize them the most (wizards, and likely the invoker, sorceror, and druid in PHB2 but I haven't read up on them yet) but I don't think it will be a massive effect.

As far as movement goes, the main considerations are Move vs Shift, and forced movement (Push, Pull, Slide.) With movement, you also have Opportunity Attacks, which is something else you'd have to adjudicate on a case by case basis or remove altogether. How you handle those will affect the value of abilities to Shift or make other movement that doesn't provoke.

Forced movement is more drastically affected I think; generally they are shorter distances, and the purpose of them is to set up flanks (another thing you'll have to adjudicate) and move enemies and allies further or closer to each other. Some larger pushes and slides are useful to try and knock enemies into dangerous terrain or off cliff faces. (Without the LOD down to the individual square, a push 1 would be harder to determine if it's enough to push someone off a roof, into a fire, etc.)

Rogues in particular, could potentially be very adversely affected. They often rely on flanking to gain combat advantage for sneak attacks; without precision of combat positions it will mainly fall to the GM's call if they can sneak attack or not. Players may not like the idea of their major class feature being so out of their own control.

Overall, removing the battlemap and miniatures removes much of the tactical aspect of combat. This is fine if you and your players are aware of and okay with it. What effect this has on the classes as written, is to devalue the tactical effects of attacks which means the straight-up damage attacks (which generally do more damage) will be more valuable.

Unfortunately the typical scenario when a Horror breaks the protections on the Kaer or Citadel, it will ravage the entire Kaer, and later down the line the intrepid adventurers will find that corrupted Kaer...

Unless! It is the waning days of the magic cycle when a Horror breaches a kaer, and it knows that the magic levels would not sustain its existence on earth. But within the magical confines of a warded kaer, there is enough of a magical concentration that it can remain this side of the Astral. (I'm can't remember if it was the stronger horrors or weaker ones that had to flee back to the Astral as the magic levels dropped. So it might be this would be a more powerful horror than Verjigorm.)

This horror's whole goal is to keep the kaer closed and powered, at least until it can discover another way to survive in the world, which means it can't destroy the population (they have to keep the wards going) and it can't let them out. So it focuses on corrupting and convincing the town's leadership that the Scourge is still going strong. That gives you a sinister excuse to have the PCs living in a sealed kaer while most of the rest of the world has emerged.

Earthdawn is capital A Awesome!

I have all the old FASA stuff, and I'm really looking forward to RedBrick's 3rd ed.