Mostly copy-pasting from another thread:
I'm just starting running the RotRL adventure path today. The pc troupe is somewhat unorthodox:
* Elf Ranger 1
* Elf Barbarian 1
* Human Monk 1
* Human Ranger 1
All of the above are lightly armored "skirmisher" -type characters with little (well, at this level, none whatsoever) magic at their disposal. The group is heavily into roleplaying, which I hope will help in compensating for the party's shortcomings (no healing magic, no arcane knowledges, no trapfinding). We'll be using the Pathfinder Alpha 3 rules pretty much as written, which should also give them somewhat of a boost. Yes, there are some major villains later on in the story which would absolutely murder this party as it stands and I've among other things pondered on the possibility of adding a cleric NPC to the party. I guess we'll see how it turns out.
We used the racial bonus hit points -option. The encounters were played as is. House ruled that the racial bonus hit points apply to all heroic class characters (that is, including the NPC).
Right,
Got the first session of Burnt Offerings behind us now.
Comments:
* I really like the more hit points at lvl 1. The players mostly aggree.
* The CR of encounters seems a bit off unless the NPC are given a boost as well.
* The CMB-rules still seem a bit difficult to use. Also, many of the maneuvers now seem to be quite a bit more difficult than they would've been in 3.5.
* The Barbarian rage points and powers are quite neat. The player seems to enjoy them as well.
* The Monk still seems a bit underpowered when compared to some of the other martial classes. I'll let the player of said character comment on this if he happens by here.
Note that NPCs without racial hit dice have a lower CR in Pathfinder (CR = class level - 2).
What rage powers did your barbarian use?
What rage powers did your barbarian use?
Well, since the character was lvl 1 during that game session, none. He did use rage points to Rage as per normal, though. His opinion on the powers is that there are some nice, flavourful ones in there, although a few seem a bit redundant and/or underpowered. I'll ask him to comment on this later on.
Also, had to house rule the feat Totem Spirit (Shadde-Quah) from Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide. As written the feat gives +1 rd of raging and a +2 to intimidate. House ruled that the feat gives 2 extra rage points per level.
At level up after the game session he chose to take Intimidating Glare as his first rage power.
* The Monk still seems a bit underpowered when compared to some of the other martial classes. I'll let the player of said character comment on this if he happens by here.
The party build skews things a bit but I (the monk player) tend to agree.
In this party the monk has the lowest BAB, lowest hit die, lowest damage output, the least skill points (tied with the barbarian), and the inability to wear armor or carry shields. This is compensated with Flurry of Blows and a bonus feat - I chose Stunning Fist.
So far we've had fights where the opponents had relatively high AC so the Flurry of Blows was more or less useless. Stunning Fist hit but the save was made so no comments on that.
Second session.
Erylium proved to be a real pain in the a$$ thanks to her high AC, mobility and invisibility. Eventually the monk got the grapple on the little bugger and managed to tie her into a knot.
Comments:
* I'm still a bit confused about the CMB and Grappling rules. The monk player probably knew what he was doing, though, so everything's peachy.
* The barbarian used the intimidating glare -rage power on the BBEG. We were at somewhat of a loss as to how to work this. What exactly is the DC and what does "shaken" mean?
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Second session.
** spoiler omitted **
Comments:
* I'm still a bit confused about the CMB and Grappling rules. The monk player probably knew what he was doing, though, so everything's peachy.
* The barbarian used the intimidating glare -rage power on the BBEG. We were at somewhat of a loss as to how to work this. What exactly is the DC and what does "shaken" mean?
It's a condition -- see p. 153 under "Fear" (-2 to most rolls).
Played our 3rd session last week.
The character's were alerted to Old Light to investigate a missing child and a possible haunting. Suspecting the emergence of Chopper's ghost, the characters were quite wary going in (no cleric, only one magic weapon in the party). Turns out the "ghost" was just a bandit dressed up as a ghost, painted with fluorescent fungal matter to give off an eerie, ghostlike glow. The Old Light had become a hideout for a group of bandits/smugglers. The ghost was just to scare of the superstitious locals.
Obviously, a mini-scenario tribute to both Scooby-Do and The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind. ;) Also a red herring of sorts, a sidequest that had virtually nothing at all to do with the main RotRL-story.
Lots of low-level mooks to beat up here. The monk's mobility was of great benefit in closing in with the bandits. Lots of skill checks (climbing, perception, etc). No complaints with anything rules-related.
Returning to the Rusty Dragon, the party discovered that someone had snuck into their rooms at the inn and stolen most of their hard-earned loot. A few Survival (tracking) rolls and a few Gather Information checks later the party managed to track the thief to the tavern Fatman's Feedbag.
Some nice acrobatic combat maneuvers in a enclosed space (the tavern) by the monk, a succesful stunning blow and a grapple. This really seems to be the monk's forté. The other members of the party had no problems dealing with the lightly armed and armored mooks. Of course, had the gang boss really wanted, he'd most likely have made shishkebab out of the characters.
Part three of the game session took the characters (finally!) to Thistletop.
Again, problem issues with the rules were few or none. The barbarian player commented on the rage powers: There are some nice ones and some powerful ones in there. He'd like a few more picks of these to be able to take some of the flavorful ones instead of just the ones that are actually worth their salt. Also, the rage powers are atm too expensive when compared to the benefits that just plain raging gives the character. He also commented that the combo he has in mind for later (Surprise Accuracy + Devastating Blow + Crit x3 2h Weapon) seems quite powerful indeed combined with the rage power that lets him add his class level to damage.
More comments from the monk player can be found in this thread
Some nice acrobatic combat maneuvers in a enclosed space (the tavern) by the monk, a succesful stunning blow and a grapple. This really seems to be the monk's forté.
I'd like to point out that the monk has the second lowest CMB in the party. He isn't really supposed to be a grappler. It's a standard action, you can't Flurry while grappling, and monks aren't even that good at grappling.
Setting up the grapple with Stunning Fist is another thing. That's what monks do best. The save DC feels low, and it lasts only one round, but otherwise it's a nice trick.
About maneuvering. I think the Mobility feat is over the top. One feat prerequisite, and you can maneuver anywhere without AoO? Another option is to max out Acrobatics, and succeed about half the time. Anyway, the feat is going to be changed in Beta. Let's see how.
Also, the rage powers are atm too expensive when compared to the benefits that just plain raging gives the character.
Or, the conventional rage is too cheap. Halving the rage points and the cost for rage powers could do the trick.
I'd still like to hear how many rage points the Axe Clan Totem from RotRL should give in Alpha 3. That might change things somehow.
Session 4: Thistletop
Starting where we left off, the party made short work of the rest of the goblins, including Ripnugget. After interrogating the poor fellow, the party's favored enemy: goblinoids -ranger took off the little tyke's head and attached it to the front gate.
Entering the lower levels the party was attacked thrice:
* Bruthazmus and an NPC of my own from the monk character's backstory (replaced Orik). Not much of a contest here. The Pathfinder-built characters gave the (relatively tough) NPC:s a righteous stomping without breaking a sweat.
* The Tentamort was a cool and interesting critter that allowed me to use the new CMB-rules to full effect. I think I've got a decent enough handle on the CMB-rules now, and they seem to be working out quite nicely. One problem we had was this: A character got nabbed by the tentamort, which proceded to liquefy said character's organs. Another character decided to try and release the grappled character. How should this kind of situation be handled ruleswise? The on the spot -ruling we used was this: 1) The tentamort gets a free AOO as the other character closes to grab (grapple against tentamort) the grappled character's legs. 2) A resisted STR roll to see who gets the flesh pinata.
* Poor Lyrie was left all alone and proved no match at all for the party. No new rules used here, just plain old smashing things 'till they stop moving.
Next session, the rest of the dungeon, the BBEG, and possibly the "Goblin God" ;)
Session 5: Thistletop continued
Session 6:
A Magnimarian sidequest involving stolen loot, a cult of killers and a few halfling vampires. The first PC kill of the campaign occurs when the vampire manages a grapple, which proves impossible to shake. This seems to be a slight problem with grapple, especially with this kind of stat-draining critters.
Session 7:
Skinsaw Murders starts. Lots of investigation, a grizzly murder scene, a madman and a father insane with grief. Not a single combat scene during the whole session. Lots of legwork, diplomacy and sense motive, though.
Session 8:
The party leveled after the cornfield massacre. Currently the party looks like this:
* Human Monk 5
* Elf Barbarian 5
* Human Ranger 2 / Rogue 3
* Elf Ranger 4 / Wizard 1
Session 9: The Misgivings
A classic haunted house -scenario with bucket-loads of mood and atmosphere. The haunts were pretty much hit or miss with the party monk acing most of the Will saves forced by the haunts and the rest of the party pretty much spending most of their time re-living memories of former occupants and getting smacked around by haunting effects.
So far so good.
The Ranger multi-classing into wizard started showcasing the problems associated with free-use 0-level spells. The character cast Resistance and Dancing Light about once a minute each, which tended to slow down game-play quite a bit. Obviously, every room and every item that seemed even remotely interesting got hit with Detect Magic as well.