zend0g's page

While the new action economy is interesting, there appears to be some debate about all the ramifications and additional house rules needed to get it to work. So, I was wondering if there was a simpler way. Perhaps, we just need to change the way the standard attack action works. With a standard attack action, a character with multiple attacks (BAB 6 or higher) can make multiple consecutive attacks, but as soon as one attack misses, their standard attack action ends. The full attack action remains the same. You get all of your attacks regardless if any of other attacks hit or miss.

Based on some Excel numbers, this is (not surprisingly) a noticeable boost depending on the odds that you need to hit. Against opponents that you are certain to hit, you can afford to move and attach. Against opponents that you may not hit, you won't get all of your attacks but you are likely to get more than just one.

Mind Blank protects you from Divination and could result in a "that is hidden" response since the Divination spell says, "If the die roll fails, you know the spell failed, unless specific magic yielding false information is at work."

Bucklers are NOT worn on the forearm as that would make them completely useless. You might as well say you can wield swords with your feet. Bucklers are held/gripped with the hand.

(Technically wielding a shield also requires a hand as you need to grip it to block incoming attacks, keep it from moving when it is struck, and then use it to open your opponents defenses. This is just one of those D&D-isms where game designers show the same level of understanding about ancient arms and weapons similar to most cows understanding of the internal combustion engine.)

Simplest and the only real answer: Ask your DM.

zend0g wrote:

If 10 is a person with average ...

Average for a medieval peasant. Not average for a modern human being.

And your average peasant was doing manual labor since he was old enough to do it. Working on a farm ain't easy, I will tell you that. So, your average modern white-collar worker? 8 strength to be generous. So, that reed of girl should be more like a 6.

If 10 is a person with average fitness, I would rank her at an 8 - maybe a 10 tops. She has no muscle mass at all and leans towards being anorexic. If we are in Exalted-look-at-my-ten-year-waif-with-a-50-pound-sword mode, then her strength is whatever you want.

If you look though the Inner Sea World Guide and adventure paths, you can see many political systems, institutions and systems that should not according to "RAW" high magic and omnipresent magic items. I would prefer not to rewrite all my settings to resemble the world of Exalted at its height. So, something has to shift. Something has to shift just to keep a "middle magic" world - where PCs can have access to high levels depending on level but the rest of the world has less limited access.

Man, people sure are upset and defensive about how other people want to play the game. Why all the sarcasm, ridicule, and hostility?

I've personally played in and run several low-magic campaigns and they've always worked out just fine. Fun was had by all at the table. To each their own, all right?

NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! Das ist verboten! And RAW CRB isn't broken in the slightest by tier 1 and 2 classes... *BLAM*

Bob Bob Bob wrote:

Special clause in Create Water, "This water disappears after 1 day if not consumed." So the question is does irrigation count as "consumed"?

I would interpret it that if it's absorbed by a living thing (including plants), it stays, but if it's soaked up by something non-living (sand, a towel) it disappears. Which means that if you're trying to irrigate a desert, you'd lose a significant percentage of what you created.

Magic traps, on the other hand, break all the laws of economics. Set up a single auto-resetting Heal trap, and you provide a hospital for an entire city.

For magic traps, house rule that it requires a spell caster that knows the spells contained within the trap to use whatever spells slots necessary to rearm the trap. They are just like some physical traps which would require someone to rearm them. Bing, no more infinite fonts of food and other silliness.

zend0g wrote:

Could I also get a copy if you aren't too busy?

If you include an e-mail, yes.

mblittle at me dot com.

Could I also get a copy if you aren't too busy?

Any GM that wants to be a master at their craft answers "homebrew".

This one is easy. For young offenders (low risk) that commit property crimes against businesses, they have to to indentured work to pay off their damages which is responsible for supporting them. This teaches them employable skills and ties them back into society though social networks. I would take that over the current system where they get sent to prison to be educated on how to be a hardened criminal and isolated from society. The latter is much more evil than the former.

I am sure the criminals put to death will be celebrating your humanitarian nature for saving them from cruel slavery.

Don't worry. We're doing for the best of all possible worlds... Well maybe except for theirs.

You should also consider the what effects of the afterlife on the ability to raise the person. Let's say you were a good king, married to a beautiful queen and had some young sons and daughters. Then you died maybe a little too early. However in reality, being a king was incredibly stressful, your barons sought to topple you, your wife always nagged you and your kids were entitled punks. While kicking back and enjoying your heavenly rewards, you hear the voice of a familiar priest. Oh, you want to raise me? Screw that. Tell my kids, it's time to grow up.

And you have the assurance that your soul won't be demon chow when you die. This assumes a good or neutral person person.

I'm a bit confused.

If you die and your body isn't recoverable...what use is your backup stash to you?

Leaving the attempt at humor aside, in some of those cares, any leftover giblets is enough for a resurrection.

Looking at the gems necessary for certain spells tells me otherwise.

I am looking at the treasure guidelines for gems and jewelry and other valuables. (CRB 400) I guess in theory you could make all your jewelry in your game super duper platinum and studded with huge diamonds. But even that proves my point that you need to go to the extremes to be worth the same as magic items.

I'm not in agreement that magic shops need 10th level Wizards protecting them. If 10th level Wizards are so uncommon, then so are 10th level everything else (including 10th level Rogues and 19th level Fighters). They'll be in high-value neighborhoods (lots of town guards) and you probably don't see what you're looking to buy until you've convinced the owner that you have the money needed and are serious about buying something.

Again how likely is say a retired 5th level wizard going to be able to hold onto mid to high level items from those who can simply take them from him? If I can talk to the owner and his assistants, then they are already screwed.

Securing inventory isn't even hard. Really good secret compartments will foil a host of thieves, especially when backed up by decoys (trapped iron bound chests), guardian animals (barking dogs for a start) and really good locks. Preferably under something heavy that takes a few people to shift.

I don't think any of that would really even stop a mid level party.

Your average professional pulls in 7gp a week, so yeah, a 50gp potion is almost 2 months pay. For a modern equivalent, look at the engagement ring. Almost every guy that gets married scrapes together that kind of money (once), and it doesn't save someone from the brink of death. In a world where stabbing and monsters is a hell of a lot more common, lifesaving magic is a LOT bigger priority. When someone is at negative hit points and dying, you don't have time to run to get a healer.

I thought I had links to all the "How much does a commoner make?" discussions, but I don't and I let this ride. So, you're always carrying around a potion that might get broken or stolen at any time? Yeaaaah. What good does it do you if someone knives you in the back and takes it along with everything else? I guess it's better than no health care at all.

You're seeing it as disposable income. Nobody considers health insurance as part of their 'disposable income' (for...

No, that is why he goes to church. The church is everyone's health insurance. Personally, I am agnostic. But in a fantasy world where gods and clerics are real, then there is a lot of benefits to being a believer.

Still they're not all dropping off their gear are they? WBL is a set of guidelines. I am pretty sure it was not meant to be a straightjacket to screw PCs. Personally, I keep a set of backup gear in case I die and my body isn't recoverable, e.g. lost on another plane, missed a jump by "that" much, eaten by a purple worm, eaten by a dragon, eaten by trolls, etc., etc., etc.

Assuming you're alive to go back and get it.

And the lack of a magic weapon didn't kill you.

The game does expect the PCs to have these things, they balance monsters with it in mind.

Yes, but we may be talking about such an edge case that it might as well be irrelevant. I would have to see an example where a party with some members with +2 weapons would fail against an encounter versus another party with some members with +3 weapons would succeed against the same encounter. What I have usually seen is that former just has to spend more resources or fight more intelligently than the latter.

I can totally see magic shops as a thing that exists. So long as there are shops that sell expensive jewelry, tapestries, rugs and other art objects with essentially ZERO practical value, magic item shops will exist.

You might want to review the cost of jewelry and gems and other things. They top out where magic items get started. Merchants that run those shops just have to protect themselves from generally low level risks. A 19th level warrior is not going to barge into your jewelry shop to steal a gold bracelet worth 500 gp. Magic items shops on the other hand do have to have to worry about higher level threats. Even if the PCs (if neutral or evil aligned) aren't tempted to hit a such a soft target; other NPCs would. Unfortunately, the most common "solution" to this problem is just make the merchant a high enough level to deter theft which results into a plethora of magic shops being run by level 10+ spellcasters which is reminiscent of Forgotten Realm's wonkiness.

Yes, most magic items are insanely expensive, but a lot of the low-end items are literal life-savers. Potion of Cure Light Wounds will save someone's life. Potion of Invisibility is a nearly guaranteed get-away. A Ring of Sustenance gives you 6 more hours a day of useful life. Periapt of Health or Proof Against Poison basically sell themselves.

For who though? Your average commoner still isn't buying them. 50gp is a good chunk of disposable income. He's better off going to a temple and pleading for help that way. People's disposable income is generally not equal to or greater than their monthly income. So, even the "cheap" magic items are still the purview of the wealthy. You also have to remember that permanent magic items are permanent. Once you sold the baron's family a set of periapt of proof against poison, you won't be making any more of those because they can simply hand them down to their descendents and no one else in town can afford them. You won't be making any of them for anyone living in another city because those cities have their own crafters. So it seems very odd that you would stock your shop with such periapts on the odd chance of some PCs coming into town and wanting to buy some. PCs probably wouldn't buy them as they can simply make them themselves for half the price you are selling them. However, PCs might be interested in selling you some extra periapts of proof against poison. Of course, how you will ever sell them is anyone's guess. The life of a magic item merchant may suck.

So-called 'Adventurer Magic' would be less common, of course. The low-end items like +1 swords are going to be bought - there are too many dangerous creatures with DR/Magic in a fantasy world. But the majority of the magic items don't have a huge use in day to day life of 95% of the wealthy population.

If you look at the beastiary list, sort DR and look at say CR of 5 or less, i.e. stuff that won't stomp the average NPC flat regardless if they had a +1 sword or not; silver, bludgeoning and cold iron really do quite well for most of it. The remainder, mephits and other minor outsider creatures, are the main things you need magic.

Zhayne wrote:

More specifically, it's because they don't have a code at all.

Yes, because the core book can't fit in the dogmas of 20 cults. Still, you'd think clerics would be as tightly bound to their religion as paladins are to their code. It would stand to reason the gods wouldn't grant miracles to some layabouts who'd much rather do their own thing when there are hundreds of perfectly devout and proper worshippers, wouldn't you?

To a point. While a LG cleric of some deity might not be that much different from a paladin, NG and CG (as well as other alignments) clerics may have more leeway in how they represent their faith. (Maybe it's more "Anything not permitted is forbidden" versus "Anything not forbidden is permitted".) If I had a PC who worshiped a NG goddess of small children, puppies, sugar and other nice things went around kicking kids out in the street and stealing their snacks, they would very quickly find themselves an ex-cleric.

I think really the biggest problem with paladins is just a disconnect with how the player interprets the class and how the GM interprets the class. Getting those two to talk helps eliminate this problem.

In my campaign, magic items tend to be used for barter for other magic items or property. While I allow item creation feats, the PCs need to find a instructor willing to teach them the feats. Of course, convincing the instructor to do so is a whole other matter to itself. This means that there isn't a huge influx of new magic items into the economy.

Generally only wealthy merchants, mages, nobles and/or priests are authorized by the whatever government to deal in the trade of magic items. Exactly who varies from kingdom to kingdom. Any government is going to keep a careful eye on what magic items gets bought and sold within its borders or else it wouldn't be in power for long. Plus, such dealers would also be tasked with the safekeeping or destruction of any malevolent magic items if possible.

Sometimes adventurers will want to sell magic items. In accordance with the cost of magic items, the only people that can really afford to buy magic items are wealthy merchants, mages, nobles and priests. (Big surprise.) The powerful and the wealthy use their wealth to obtain magic items to equip themselves and their followers to maintain their power and wealth. While exercising this power, sometimes they fail and their items fall into the hands of various creatures which are then in turn killed and looted by adventurers. And thus the circle is complete.

How I handle the trade in magic item is that PCs approach a merchant house (for example) with a magic item to sale. The merchant house will take the magic item from the PCs for their own evaluation. They will give the PCs credit for the magic item (as not many merchants can simply hand over several thousand or tens of thousands of coins in cash in such short notice). However, if the merchant house discovers that that the magic item is cursed or dangerous, it will be destroyed and any credit for the magic item is erased. The merchant house can offer to find other magic items that PCs might seek. The high demand for magic items means that it very rare for large number of magic items to ever be in stock or in one location for long. The time it takes to find magic items in their trade networks is less but proportional to the amount of time that it takes to make the magic item. The merchant house can find magic items that are equal or lower level to their own level (the average level of the guards and members of the merchant house that manage the trade in magic items) as they lack the ability to keep more powerful magic items in their possession from those more stronger than themselves. As a result, trade in magic items diminishes quickly after level 10 or so as I generally don't have level 15 mages acting as shopkeepers.

Any wizard that does not ensure that they have a extra copy of their spellbook secured somewhere more safely than on their person is sadly underplaying their usually very high intelligence. Not taking that precaution is just asking for trouble.

Isn't there two ways to control it? Adventurers are limited by the amount of downtime (which has been debated extensively) and they are limited by the amount of coin that they have. The create items feats are powerful in two ways. One they let you equip yourself with the exact items that you want. Now if the GM allows everything-you-could-want-magic-marts, then this isn't much of an advantage. The other advantage is that they allow you to exceed WBL. Now this may not be much of an advantage depending on how much gold the GM hands out as loot. If the GM doesn't hand out a lot of excess gold, then you don't get much of a chance to surpass WBL.