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So here's a question to which I'm rather hoping the answer will be "Hell, NO!" You guys wouldn't ever subject Golarion to the kind of massive rearrangement of damn near every premise of the setting that seems to happen to Krynn every time the writers feel the need to juice things up a bit, would you? I like the Chronicles and Legends, but I'd rather they'd just left the Dragonlance setting alone than kept trying to top what had gone before with Dragons of Summer Flame, then the invasion of the Dragon Overlords, then the War of Souls, then the "Dark Disciple" novels... yeesh. "Ages" should last more than a single generation; after the War of the Lance and Raistlin's attempted apotheosis, that world ought to have been relatively stable for a few centuries, and in Golarion, the death of Aroden wasn't nearly as long ago as the Cataclysm was in Krynn at the time of the original books.
Do you have any doubt at all?
Should I?
Well... you've already deviated pretty significantly from canon; Aroden, as god of humanity, would be HIGHLY unlikely in my opinion to be concerned at all with meddling with Lamashtu stuff. Which is a way of me saying, "If you've gone this far, don't let the fact that we've not provided more info for you stop you from doing more development on your own of the idea."
The human ethnicity from Iblydos is no one we've talked about yet. They're not one from the Inner Sea region (either Avistan OR Garund); they're native to Casmaron. The best bet at this point if you want to do more with Iblydos in your homebrew world would be to just treat the natives of that land as fantasy-versions of Greeks.
Wait...what? I tried to think logically that if the minotaurs indeed used to be humans, Aroden would do something about it if he saw even one wanting to be healed (quite a stretch considering the normal minotaur disposition, I know, but given there was that one true neutral minotaur in Absalom which may or may not have been retconned as well), and Humans of Golarion book mentioned Aroden opposing not only Asmodeus, but also Lamashtu, Rovagug and Urgathoa.
I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that I feel kinda confused by these conflicting sources.
And I am sorry if I am trying to dig into stuff that doesn't exist yet with all the questions related to Iblydos, but I'm just a sort of a perfectionist when incorporating homebrew material to an existing campaign setting (I don't want to leave plot-holes).
So the last question I have for now is...how ancient IS Iblydos? Was it up while Azlant was up? Is it still up in the current timeline?
Any suggestions for things that a GM needs to do differently in a play by post game than a tabletop game? Because I am done playing tabletop. I'm tired of being every player's emotional punching bag.
I've got a suggestion: read through at least some of Aubrey's Rise of the Runelords and Kyrademon's Jade Regent. The latter's discussion thread, in particular, has a lot of good ideas on ways to make the game flow (it works, her party is into the third adventure of the AP already -- they're managing to play it almost as fast as it's being published, which is a heck of a lot faster than my own tabletop RotRL group managed).
Should I?
I hope not. My philosophy is that a riddle shouldn't need confirming.
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4) Weapons that gain energy damage already do this. The base weapon damage still doesn't work, but the extra fire or cold or whatever damage does (at x1.5 as well). A weapon that does full damage against a swarm, though, is unlikely to ever be created by us.
Flyswatter of extermination?
;-)
I'll be super-crusading to get those two qualifiers built into the spell some day... if not as errata (unlikely, since that would increase the spell's footprint in the game and cause significant layout nightmares), but as FAQ clarifications or even as inclusions in some new edition of the game we might or might not do in the future.
I forgot to thank you for the "super-crusading".
The first time I have seen someone in forum suggesting making simulacrons of Efreeti to get wishes I had some stomach ache.Luckily I have good players that don't try that kind of shenanigans, but I think it is a important thing to specify.
as a semi-benign rule lawyer I prefer for this kind of tangle to be unravelled in a official way.
There's PLENTY of monsters I've created for D&D that I'd love to have for Pathfinder. The main one would be Obox-ob, who in my homebrew was the main Chaotic Evil deity. He's one of the most powerful demon lords in D&D now, but if I still had "access" to him, he would have more or less taken Rovagug's place in Golarion and Rovagug would have probably replaced Lamashtu. In the end, I actually like how Lamashtu and Rovagug ended up, though, so now I don't really want Obox-ob back at all. Other monsters I'm particularly proud of creating include the ulitharid, the ulgurstasta, the kaorti, the julajimus, the wendigo template, the lilitu, the wormdrake, the kurge, the rogue eidolon, the teratomorph, and Malcanthet (although I had a fair amount of help from Rob Kuntz on her). I'm sure I'm forgetting a few dozen others, though.
I wouldn't count the witherstench as a misfit. Just a kind of boring one. It's just a skunk!
The babbler probably won't ever show up in a Bestiary at this point, although I wouldn't be surprised to see it show up in an adventure some day. It's in the Tome of Horrors Complete, after all, and now that that book is out, I'm not sure how many more of those monsters we'll be picking up for future bestiaries at all.
I would love to see a misfit monsters manual with both Kercpa and Witherstench.
Witherstench like the Aurumovarax has extreme high possibilities, but nobody does anything with those possibilities... A skunk monster can have so many strange abilities with its stench, magical or acid or even mind-influence and hormones/emotion changing gasses that turn other animals agressive or more like bodyguards to the little skunk.
The Kercpa's problem is that its a good monster, and most good monsters (in my opinion) are just boring, turn it into a evil one that steals anything dire and its much better, I can see an evil crazy hag having hired a group of these evil kercpa's that steal the eyes of their victims for the Hag that hired them.
Another question: What is your favorite dragon?
5) There are magic lighthouses (the Lady's Light in Varisia being the first that comes to mind), but none use light bulbs.
In which product can I find more info on this?
Would it be legal to just copy a creature in appearance and change its name and behavior?
3) Yup; same tilt as Earth exactly, until Paizo hires someone smart enough to tell me how changing that tilt will affect every single element of the world that might come up in play, from seasons to the length of day to solar radiation to astrology to the northern lights to chupacabra migrations.
I would so love that job.
But 'the same tilt as Earth' is a lot easier. ; )
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James, do you miss the old days of this thread, when Mothman would ask you a dozen questions at once, each less intelligible than the last? Or have you moved on and accepted The New Paradigm (TM)?
One of the things I am really enjoying in Skyrim is the crafting, being able to make better and better weapons and armor (and the ability to turn that terrible Flaming Burst Iron Sword into a [Epic] Flaming Burst Iron Sword to hand off to a follower) and potions, enchantments and the like. Do you also enjoy this facet of the game? Or are you too busy off shanking the Thalmor/Bandits/Guards/Dragons/EVERYTHING?
We've done a player's companion on Taldor, but beyond that we haven't had all that much to say on that nation. Beyond that product and the Inner Sea World Guide... that's pretty much it for now. Whether or not she'd be willing or able to start a civil war... that's something that you need to decide for your home campaign. It could certainly go either way.
There's actually a snipper about the Princess (no appearance, though) in one of this month's Pathfinder Society Scenarios (the Something Immortality one).
Hey, James, you're a big bard fan. Why do bards get proficiency in the whip? I'm playing only the second bard PC I've ever run, and the other party members are telling me I should be using a whip. Only she's a Street Performer bard who ran away from an upright lower-middle-class upbringing in her parents' cobbler shop to become a tattooed, pierced, bohemian artsy "Rent" type, and I have no fluff reasons to justify her knowing how to use an exotic weapon. (She has a sap, useful for knocking handsy guys over the head and running like heck, and high Bluff and Stealth for dealing with the authorities.)
Even if she had been trained at a bardic college somewhere, why do they teach all their students how to use the whip? A Temple of Calistria, sure, I can see, but every bard everywhere is trained in the whip? What's the justification for the mechanics? Is it just a holdover from previous editions?
EDIT: Honestly, on further reflection, I think part of my issue is that on Golarion whips are so immediately associted with Calistria that that's the only image I get when I imagine a PC with one. If I were in another campaign setting, maybe I'd just think of lion tamers. But in Golarion, it seems like there is or should be some sort of tie between bards and Calistria. It would make more sense to have bards proficient in the favored weapon of Shelyn, wouldn't it, if it weren't so odd to picture a PC with a lute in one hand and a glaive in the other?
1)Does immunity to diseas(class ability or magic item) still protect against lyconthropy or mummy rot?
2)Other then the Linnorms, Drakes, Imperial Dragons, Faerie Dragon, and the one other "weak dragon", are there any other creatures of the Dragon type in the Beastairy 3?
3)Wich do you like best:2001 A Space Oddyddey, Soylent Green, H.G. Wells The Time Machine(1960s), or Planet of the Apes?
4)Wich do you prefure Starwars or Startrek?
5)What are your hopes/wants for the new american Godzilla movie?
Would it be legal to just copy a creature in appearance and change its name and behavior?
That's really a question to ask of a lawyer who is expert in copyright law, and if you do he'll probably tell you that it depends on the specific circumstances.
Creative Director
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It's strange my sister figure it out before I even finish.
I didn't exactly mean for a gaming session but I understand I'll try to my them easier. Although it's hard to make them unique and easy.
Well... your sister has the advantage of knowing you and your personality. She knows more how you think than I do. And that's actually a SIGNIFICANT advantage in figuring out custom-made riddles.
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Creative Director
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1)Did the Cheshire Cat get into the Beastiary 3?
2)Is the Bandersnatch a Magical Beast?
3)How Many Drakes are in the Beastiary?
4)Are there more then a dozen Fey in the Beastairy 3?
5)Are the Imperial Dragons the only type of Asian style dragons?
6)Is the Ki-rin a Dragon, Magical Beast, or Outsider?
7)Any chance of seeing a Gorynych or Guivre anytime soon?
1) No.
2) If we were to stat it up, I suspect magical beast would be the best choice, depending on how one presents it. There's a LOT of different interpretations of the critter. I could see fey or aberration or even dragon pretty easily.
3) None. Assuming you meant Bestiary 3 and not the first Bestiary (ha! See? I can be pedantic too!) though, there's three.
4) No... but just barely.
5) Yes.
6) It's one word (kirin) and it's a magical beast.
7) Yes and No.
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Creative Director
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So here's a question to which I'm rather hoping the answer will be "Hell, NO!" You guys wouldn't ever subject Golarion to the kind of massive rearrangement of damn near every premise of the setting that seems to happen to Krynn every time the writers feel the need to juice things up a bit, would you? I like the Chronicles and Legends, but I'd rather they'd just left the Dragonlance setting alone than kept trying to top what had gone before with Dragons of Summer Flame, then the invasion of the Dragon Overlords, then the War of Souls, then the "Dark Disciple" novels... yeesh. "Ages" should last more than a single generation; after the War of the Lance and Raistlin's attempted apotheosis, that world ought to have been relatively stable for a few centuries, and in Golarion, the death of Aroden wasn't nearly as long ago as the Cataclysm was in Krynn at the time of the original books.
We've put too much work into Golarion, and are too proud and pleased with how Golarion turned out to even consider doing a massive rearrangement of the world. At this point, I suspect the only way that type of event would happen would be if management of Golarion fell into the hands of a different company or if all of us at Paizo left Paizo and were replaced by other people with different ideas on how to go forward with Golarion.
We've deliberately focused our novels line on "small stories with big characters" rather than do stories that change the nature of the world, for example.
The answer, therefore, is indeed "Hell, NO!"
Are you ever going to release official rules for how to play without magic items? I'm not a large fan of the Christmas Tree Effect in general, and the way my players act when it comes to distributing treasure isn't making me any more fond of them.
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Creative Director
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Wait...what? I tried to think logically that if the minotaurs indeed used to be humans, Aroden would do something about it if he saw even one wanting to be healed (quite a stretch considering the normal minotaur disposition, I know, but given there was that one true neutral minotaur in Absalom which may or may not have been retconned as well), and Humans of Golarion book mentioned Aroden opposing not only Asmodeus, but also Lamashtu, Rovagug and Urgathoa.
I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that I feel kinda confused by these conflicting sources.
And I am sorry if I am trying to dig into stuff that doesn't exist yet with all the questions related to Iblydos, but I'm just a sort of a perfectionist when incorporating homebrew material to an existing campaign setting (I don't want to leave plot-holes).
So the last question I have for now is...how ancient IS Iblydos? Was it up while Azlant was up? Is it still up in the current timeline?
I guess I misunderstood your question/comment. Aroden would certainly be interested in undoing a minotaur curse on humans—I guess I thought you were saying Aroden had something to do with creating minotaurs to punish some Lamashtu cultists who hurt his church. But also... if your Minotaurs are from Azlant, then that works out... but I'm not sure Aroden had any influence at all on Iblydos. He's more of an Inner Sea deity.
Iblydos rose to power many many many centuries after Earthfall... yet it's still pretty ancient. I don't have exact numbers yet and probably won't for a long time.
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They don't call him the Creative Director for nuthin', folks.
Kudos.
Now, game-rule question:
Aside from having him relegated to owner-operator of an anti-magical rust monster farm, what's the best way to stymie a party featuring a profoundly min-maxed warforged spellthief without destroying all the fleshlings?
(Yes, we retrofitted one from 3.5 and put him in my Pathfinder-rules world, as the only one (?) awakened by an explosion and now on a quest for answers -- and cookies.)
You have four minutes.
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Creative Director
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I would love to see a misfit monsters manual with both Kercpa and Witherstench.
Witherstench like the Aurumovarax has extreme high possibilities, but nobody does anything with those possibilities... A skunk monster can have so many strange abilities with its stench, magical or acid or even mind-influence and hormones/emotion changing gasses that turn other animals agressive or more like bodyguards to the little skunk.
The Kercpa's problem is that its a good monster, and most good monsters (in my opinion) are just boring, turn it into a evil one that steals anything dire and its much better, I can see an evil crazy hag having hired a group of these evil kercpa's that steal the eyes of their victims for the Hag that hired them.
Another question: What is your favorite dragon?
The kercpa's problem is that it's squirrell-based, and that makes it silly. I'm semi-sure that they're owned by WotC, but I haven't bothered to do much research into their origins since I really don't like them.
My favorite dragon is the bronze dragon.
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Creative Director
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James, do you miss the old days of this thread, when Mothman would ask you a dozen questions at once, each less intelligible than the last? Or have you moved on and accepted The New Paradigm (TM)?
I don't see much of a difference, honestly. The thread's evolution has been gradual enough that I've adjusted without a problem, I guess. And there are still plenty of relatively or completely unintelligible or nonsensical questions popping up here.
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Creative Director
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One of the things I am really enjoying in Skyrim is the crafting, being able to make better and better weapons and armor (and the ability to turn that terrible Flaming Burst Iron Sword into a [Epic] Flaming Burst Iron Sword to hand off to a follower) and potions, enchantments and the like. Do you also enjoy this facet of the game? Or are you too busy off shanking the Thalmor/Bandits/Guards/Dragons/EVERYTHING?
I do indeed like that aspect of the game a lot. In fact, there's relatively little about Skyrim that I don't find completely compelling and awesome.
MAYBE chopping firewood. But only because lugging around a woodsman's axe is tiring.
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Creative Director
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Hey, James, you're a big bard fan. Why do bards get proficiency in the whip? I'm playing only the second bard PC I've ever run, and the other party members are telling me I should be using a whip. Only she's a Street Performer bard who ran away from an upright lower-middle-class upbringing in her parents' cobbler shop to become a tattooed, pierced, bohemian artsy "Rent" type, and I have no fluff reasons to justify her knowing how to use an exotic weapon. (She has a sap, useful for knocking handsy guys over the head and running like heck, and high Bluff and Stealth for dealing with the authorities.)
Even if she had been trained at a bardic college somewhere, why do they teach all their students how to use the whip? A Temple of Calistria, sure, I can see, but every bard everywhere is trained in the whip? What's the justification for the mechanics? Is it just a holdover from previous editions?
EDIT: Honestly, on further reflection, I think part of my issue is that on Golarion whips are so immediately associted with Calistria that that's the only image I get when I imagine a PC with one. If I were in another campaign setting, maybe I'd just think of lion tamers. But in Golarion, it seems like there is or should be some sort of tie between bards and Calistria. It would make more sense to have bards proficient in the favored weapon of Shelyn, wouldn't it, if it weren't so odd to picture a PC with a lute in one hand and a glaive in the other?
Granting whip proficiency to the bard was something that happened back in the third edition of the game. Honestly, I'm not sure why the designers decided to do that, other than that the whip is a pretty showy weapon, and bards are showy characters.
If other party members are saying you should use a whip because you're a bard, you should say, "Maybe you should play a bard as well and then you can do just that."
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Creative Director
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Is there a connection between Queen Telandia Edasseril and the ancient Thassilonian kingdom of Edasseril?
There absolutely is.
When the first runelord of Envy took over the region (this runelord was NOT Belimarius, but an earlier one who died long before Earthfall), she was super jealous and envious of the beauty of the elves. Chief among them were the nobles of the Edasseril family, the most beautiful of all the elves. The runelord attempted to steal that beauty and popularity and power by launching a pretty brutal but short-lived war against Mierani, and while that runelord failed miserably to get rid of the elves, she WAS successful in establishing the name of her region after the Edasseril family. The Edasserils left Mierani before Earthfall, and were not among the elves who fled into the Darklands when Earthfal struck—they were instead with the elves of Kyonin who fled to Sovyrian. Now, ten thousand years later, one of the descendants of that line rules Kyonin and has some interests in re-estabilishing connections to the ruins of the Mierani nation.
Most of this stuff exists only in the subtext of adventures and supplements in print so far... but I do have a plan for it all some day.
Sorry to bother you with this but this question has come up and didn´t make it to the faq: Does the Ragechemist get the boni from Rage Mutagen on top of the normal mutagen bonus?And if not what happens when he takes greater mutagen or grand mutagen.
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Creative Director
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1)Does immunity to diseas(class ability or magic item) still protect against lyconthropy or mummy rot?
2)Other then the Linnorms, Drakes, Imperial Dragons, Faerie Dragon, and the one other "weak dragon", are there any other creatures of the Dragon type in the Beastairy 3?
3)Wich do you like best:2001 A Space Oddyddey, Soylent Green, H.G. Wells The Time Machine(1960s), or Planet of the Apes?
4)Wich do you prefure Starwars or Startrek?
5)What are your hopes/wants for the new american Godzilla movie?
1) Yes, it does.
2) Yes.
3) 2001.
4) Star Trek.
5) That Godzilla will breathe fire. And that the movie won't end up being one of the worst movies ever made.
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Creative Director
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Are you ever going to release official rules for how to play without magic items? I'm not a large fan of the Christmas Tree Effect in general, and the way my players act when it comes to distributing treasure isn't making me any more fond of them.
Probably not. Magic items are a fundamental part of Pathfinder. Taking them out turns the game into an entirely different game. And if players enjoy getting magic items, not giving them magic items is not a good way to engender player loyalty and cooperation. If you don't like players having magic items, you actually might want to consider playing a different game, honestly, especially if your players are having difficulty disassociating their expectations of what a "sword and sorcery fantasy RPG" type experience should give from the game you want to run.
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Creative Director
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Aside from having him relegated to owner-operator of an anti-magical rust monster farm, what's the best way to stymie a party featuring a profoundly min-maxed warforged spellthief without destroying all the fleshlings?
(Yes, we retrofitted one from 3.5 and put him in my Pathfinder-rules world, as the only one (?) awakened by an explosion and now on a quest for answers -- and cookies.)You have four minutes.
Warforged spellthief?
Start a new campaign and don't allow warforged OR spellthieves.
Only needed 10 seconds. What do I do with the rest of my allocated four minutes?
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Creative Director
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Sorry to bother you with this but this question has come up and didn´t make it to the faq: Does the Ragechemist get the boni from Rage Mutagen on top of the normal mutagen bonus?And if not what happens when he takes greater mutagen or grand mutagen.
Does "boni" mean bonus?
If so, the bonus granted via his Rage Mutagen applies to ALL mutagens that improve Strength. The bonuses granted by Rage Mutagen are not typed, and as such they stack with anything and everything. Greater and grand mutagen don't actually affect rage mutagen directly, since those two things apply to the baseline mutagen, alongside of rage mutagen. In that case, I would say that they would NOT stack; you'd just take the higher of the two, but you could certainly argue that both would stack I guess. I'd rather see it in play first before making a ruling in the end, I guess.
Probably not. Magic items are a fundamental part of Pathfinder. Taking them out turns the game into an entirely different game. And if players enjoy getting magic items, not giving them magic items is not a good way to engender player loyalty and cooperation. If you don't like players having magic items, you actually might want to consider playing a different game, honestly, especially if your players are having difficulty disassociating their expectations of what a "sword and sorcery fantasy RPG" type experience should give from the game you want to run.
Why am I so mad about magic items? I left a metamagic rod in the treasure for the sorcerer. The barbarian and rogue wouldn't let her have it, instead arguing about which of them should have it, despite the fact that it is useless to them. The barbarian got it by threatening to kill the rogue, then the rogue stole it, then the barbarian stole it back, then the rogue stole it again, then the barbarian stole it and broke it to keep the rogue from stealing it. Then the party voted to exclude the monk from all treasure because treasure doesn't fit the monk theme.
I really, really hate my players. Unfortunately, it's the only group I have. I've been thinking about going PBP only (I believe I asked your advice on that), but at the same time if I give up on this group that just proves I'm a s%@#ty GM. I need to figure out some way to corral them. That means getting rid of the stuff that starts fights.
Does "boni" mean bonus?
If so, the bonus granted via his Rage Mutagen applies to ALL mutagens that improve Strength. The bonuses granted by Rage Mutagen are not typed, and as such they stack with anything and everything. Greater and grand mutagen don't actually affect rage mutagen directly, since those two things apply to the baseline mutagen, alongside of rage mutagen. In that case, I would say that they would NOT stack; you'd just take the higher of the two, but you could certainly argue that both would stack I guess. I'd rather see it in play first before making a ruling in the end, I guess.
Thanks for the reply.
But I´m not sure if I got you right. So when I create a normal strength mutagen I get +4 alchemical and +6 untyped right?
Does "boni" mean bonus?
If so, the bonus granted via his Rage Mutagen applies to ALL mutagens that improve Strength. The bonuses granted by Rage Mutagen are not typed, and as such they stack with anything and everything. Greater and grand mutagen don't actually affect rage mutagen directly, since those two things apply to the baseline mutagen, alongside of rage mutagen. In that case, I would say that they would NOT stack; you'd just take the higher of the two, but you could certainly argue that both would stack I guess. I'd rather see it in play first before making a ruling in the end, I guess.
Hey, Just to clarify, it sounds like you are saying that at 2nd level a ragechemist would get +10 to strength, is that correct? (aka that the ragechemist doesn't state you lose the normal benefits of a mutagen, but still gain extra untyped +6 finishing with +10), despite the line in the mutagen section of alchemist that says "The effects of a mutagen don't stack".
Um, no it doesn't. Where on earth did you get that idea?
That's what I've done in the past: try to GM, end up with a really bad group that cheats and fights all the time, then either have the group implode or get tired and eventually stop showing up to game sessions. What does simply giving up and not showing up prove? That I couldn't do it. The fact that it happens with every single group says something about me as a GM. It's time to stick with it and succeed, no matter what I have to do to do it.
Are you ever going to release official rules for how to play without magic items? I'm not a large fan of the Christmas Tree Effect in general, and the way my players act when it comes to distributing treasure isn't making me any more fond of them.
The prettiest question of the last six months. Chapeau.
Yes but the penalty on intelligence would then also stack giving you -4 on top of all the other pretty heavy drawbacks of the archetype I think its balnced
No, it is not. If you are failing will saves of that dc even at low levels then you aren't the sort of person who would argue for this being a legal thing to do.
I am not sure I understand what you mean with that?
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Creative Director
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Why am I so mad about magic items? I left a metamagic rod in the treasure for the sorcerer. The barbarian and rogue wouldn't let her have it, instead arguing about which of them should have it, despite the fact that it is useless to them. The barbarian got it by threatening to kill the rogue, then the rogue stole it, then the barbarian stole it back, then the rogue stole it again, then the barbarian stole it and broke it to keep the rogue from stealing it. Then the party voted to exclude the monk from all treasure because treasure doesn't fit the monk theme.
I really, really hate my players. Unfortunately, it's the only group I have. I've been thinking about going PBP only (I believe I asked your advice on that), but at the same time if I give up on this group that just proves I'm a s$~*ty GM. I need to figure out some way to corral them. That means getting rid of the stuff that starts fights.
Ugh... that's a problem with lame players, alas. And I really think the only option there is to ditch the entire group. It doesn't sound like you have fun playing with them, and if they're otherwise friends, a toxic game environment is no good to that existing relationship.
Giving up on that group does not prove you're a bad GM. It proves you're a wise GM who's getting out of a toxic situation with people who are more interested in being jerks than they are at playing a game where everyone... GAME MASTER INCLUDED... is there to have fun.
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I am not sure I understand what you mean with that?
I'd really rather not see this thread turn into a rules argument with folks discussing different interpretations. I gave my answer, and if that only serves to further fuel a discussion about a particular rule, please divert that into a new thread over on the rules forums. Thanks! :-)
Why am I so mad about magic items? I left a metamagic rod in the treasure for the sorcerer. The barbarian and rogue wouldn't let her have it, instead arguing about which of them should have it, despite the fact that it is useless to them. The barbarian got it by threatening to kill the rogue, then the rogue stole it, then the barbarian stole it back, then the rogue stole it again, then the barbarian stole it and broke it to keep the rogue from stealing it. Then the party voted to exclude the monk from all treasure because treasure doesn't fit the monk theme.
I really, really hate my players. Unfortunately, it's the only group I have. I've been thinking about going PBP only (I believe I asked your advice on that), but at the same time if I give up on this group that just proves I'm a s##$ty GM. I need to figure out some way to corral them. That means getting rid of the stuff that starts fights.
Not James and really don't want to clutter up this thread...but just giving one player a magic item for their characters is not a good idea most of the time. Though it sounds like you have found the worst players in your area possible...so maybe you should look for more.
Have you asked for advice on your GMing woes on other threads?
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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That's what I've done in the past: try to GM, end up with a really bad group that cheats and fights all the time, then either have the group implode or get tired and eventually stop showing up to game sessions. What does simply giving up and not showing up prove? That I couldn't do it. The fact that it happens with every single group says something about me as a GM.
But that "something" is not necessarily going to be remedied by just "pushing through". It might be that you just need to get more familiar with the rules first; just pushing through isn't going to necessarily fix that. Or maybe the problem is your recruiting method, and you really are just getting Big Group of Jerks after Big Group of Jerks, and your GMing skills are actually totally fine; just pushing through definitely won't fix that!
It's time to stick with it and succeed, no matter what I have to do to do it.
Do you really mean "no matter what you have to do"? Or do you really mean "no matter how long I have to put up with it"? Because "what you have to do" might be to quit (and then possibly assess/reassess/try again later with different methods).
Have you asked for advice on your GMing woes on other threads?
Oh, yes. There are a couple fairly long threads about it.
Okay, let's stop derailing the thread with the discussion over my lack of aptitude at my favorite hobby.
James, do you enjoy Portable Hole Full of Beer and it's sequels?