Hey everyone,
Ok so here is something I have encountered in my last campaign in 3.5 and I repeat LAST:
One of my gamers had a pretty thick fighter build with a weapon that did a times four crit, reach, it was oversized(He was a lycanthrope and changed form into a strength freak), and he had a 17-20 crit ratio.
I realized I sowed my own poison so dont rub it in.
I found ways to challenge him despite the ridiculous crits he could dish out (one was 156 damage and he gets multiple crits sometimes).
It wasnt much of an issue I got to let him be good at what he does and the other members where equally formidable.
However, once I switched things over to pathfinder I didnt know what to do because NOTHING is immune to crits exept oozes and lets face it oozes dont make much for story line villains.
My main question is, especially since seeing the falcata, if a players criticals/sneak attack start getting a little out of hand what are some curveballs you can throw at them without making it seem like you are inhibiting there character in particular on purpose.
he never did anything wrong and I certainly let the power creep hit knowingly, kinda to challenge myself to handle it, but at times I was at a loss for what to do except to say "he drops"
he never did anything wrong and I certainly let the power creep hit knowingly, kinda to challenge myself to handle it, but at times I was at a loss for what to do except to say "he drops"
Either fix your campaign (as in in the process of 'converting' to Pathfinder, fix the broken things that are causing the problem in the first place) or start a new one with more conservative guidelines on character creation, or let someone else run the game for a while.
That fact that your posting about the issue shows your neither happy nor comfortable with it. If your not having fun playing why play? Especially as a ref.
Explain to your group that power creep and some bad rules decisions have allowed the campaign mechanics to become out of hand and that your no longer having fun running it as is and see if they are open to reworking things in a more balanced manner.
If they say no, then just use the same tactics against them in the game. Have your bad guys use the same weapons and feats that allow the werewolf to monster crit. After all if it is that effective, everyone WOULD do it.
Hey everyone,
Ok so here is something I have encountered in my last campaign in 3.5 and I repeat LAST:
One of my gamers had a pretty thick fighter build with a weapon that did a times four crit, reach, it was oversized(He was a lycanthrope and changed form into a strength freak), and he had a 17-20 crit ratio.
I realized I sowed my own poison so dont rub it in.
I found ways to challenge him despite the ridiculous crits he could dish out (one was 156 damage and he gets multiple crits sometimes).
It wasnt much of an issue I got to let him be good at what he does and the other members where equally formidable.
However, once I switched things over to pathfinder I didnt know what to do because NOTHING is immune to crits exept oozes and lets face it oozes dont make much for story line villains.
My main question is, especially since seeing the falcata, if a players criticals/sneak attack start getting a little out of hand what are some curveballs you can throw at them without making it seem like you are inhibiting there character in particular on purpose.
he never did anything wrong and I certainly let the power creep hit knowingly, kinda to challenge myself to handle it, but at times I was at a loss for what to do except to say "he drops"
Oozes, elementals, and incorporeal creatures don't worry about crits/sneak attacks. They are all made of homogeneous materials and generally immune because one part is truly just the same as another. For sneak attacks, concealment is your friend at thwarting these. Also, sneak attacks can be slowed down with uncanny dodge and if you keep the rogue from flanking or at range.
For intelligent enemies, don't forget fortification. If 17-20/x4 crit multipliers exist and are as effective as you describe, the fortification armor enhancement is likely to become a very popular choice.
Also, a large number of lower-level enemies can be felled as easily by normal hits as by crits, and favor characters that can spread out their damage better over characters that hit hard on a focused target.
But, as others have said, let the players of high-damage characters have fun with them.
Incorporeal creatures and elementals are also immune to critical hits and sneak attack. Still probably not the best options for a main villian.
Until the APG, concealment was good for defeating sneak attack. However, there is a feat in the APG which lets a rogue sneak attack a concealed opponent, so that is less effective now.
High level rogues and barbarians can also make sneak attack difficult with improved uncanny dodge.
Fortification armor will stop crits and sneak attack. Bracers of armor can also get fortification.
he never did anything wrong and I certainly let the power creep hit knowingly, kinda to challenge myself to handle it, but at times I was at a loss for what to do except to say "he drops"Either fix your campaign (as in in the process of 'converting' to Pathfinder, fix the broken things that are causing the problem in the first place) or start a new one with more conservative guidelines on character creation, or let someone else run the game for a while.
That fact that your posting about the issue shows your neither happy nor comfortable with it. If your not having fun playing why play? Especially as a ref.
Explain to your group that power creep and some bad rules decisions have allowed the campaign mechanics to become out of hand and that your no longer having fun running it as is and see if they are open to reworking things in a more balanced manner.
If they say no, then just use the same tactics against them in the game. Have your bad guys use the same weapons and feats that allow the werewolf to monster crit. After all if it is that effective, everyone WOULD do it.
Well let me explain the situation.
These guys are my really close friends and we had been playing this campaign for a good six months, over the summer we often got in four 5 hour sessions... I HAVE A PROBLEM
anyways
they have played these characters through fifteen levels and are really immersed in the story right now. If I took away powers I would feel like a jerk but at the same time the challenges they are getting are WAY above their CR, so really it balances out I guess.
Bottom line I am still having fun but I could always use another trick in my bag for when I encounter problems like this.
Thanks for the concealment bit I totally forgot about that one
Careful -- concealment negates sneak attack damage but not critical hits. A critical threat is still a critical threat even against an invisible enemy.
he never did anything wrong and I certainly let the power creep hit knowingly, kinda to challenge myself to handle it, but at times I was at a loss for what to do except to say "he drops"Either fix your campaign (as in in the process of 'converting' to Pathfinder, fix the broken things that are causing the problem in the first place) or start a new one with more conservative guidelines on character creation, or let someone else run the game for a while.
That fact that your posting about the issue shows your neither happy nor comfortable with it. If your not having fun playing why play? Especially as a ref.
Explain to your group that power creep and some bad rules decisions have allowed the campaign mechanics to become out of hand and that your no longer having fun running it as is and see if they are open to reworking things in a more balanced manner.
If they say no, then just use the same tactics against them in the game. Have your bad guys use the same weapons and feats that allow the werewolf to monster crit. After all if it is that effective, everyone WOULD do it.
I largely agree. However, it is very difficult to make rule changes in an existing campaign, even to scale back things that are clearly out of control. People get attached to their characters, and generally resent it when nerfed, even if they may intellectually agree with you on why it is necessary. Better to kind of chalk this up in the lessons learned corner (my own personal corner is overflowing due to mistakes made), and start a new campaign if it isn't fun for you anymore. Best way to do this, in my experience, is to develop a really cool idea for a campaign and get them hooked on it, then once they are hooked but definitely before character creation, let them know how you are going to do things different this time.
Careful -- concealment negates sneak attack damage but not critical hits. A critical threat is still a critical threat even against an invisible enemy.
You're right, I should have phrased that better.
Careful -- concealment negates sneak attack damage but not critical hits. A critical threat is still a critical threat even against an invisible enemy.
Yeah I realize this but concealment is still a miss chance, it means he can not neccesarily he will.
his strength is ridiculous so there is no AC boost i can really do to make him not hit, he almost always hits but thats really most fighters at fifteenth level let alone Were-Ape Lycanthrope.
Fortification is a good one though but it unfortunately does s+*& for my great wyrm Red Dragon
Gaseous Form negates critical hits, as does the Abberation bloodline.
I largely agree. However, it is very difficult to make rule changes in an existing campaign, even to scale back things that are clearly out of control. People get attached to their characters, and generally resent it when nerfed, even if they may intellectually agree with you on why it is necessary. Better to kind of chalk this up in the lessons learned corner (my own personal corner is overflowing due to mistakes made), and start a new campaign if it isn't fun for you anymore. Best way to do this, in my experience, is to develop a really cool idea for a campaign and get them hooked on it, then once they are hooked but definitely before character creation, let them know how you are going to do things different this time.he never did anything wrong and I certainly let the power creep hit knowingly, kinda to challenge myself to handle it, but at times I was at a loss for what to do except to say "he drops"Either fix your campaign (as in in the process of 'converting' to Pathfinder, fix the broken things that are causing the problem in the first place) or start a new one with more conservative guidelines on character creation, or let someone else run the game for a while.
That fact that your posting about the issue shows your neither happy nor comfortable with it. If your not having fun playing why play? Especially as a ref.
Explain to your group that power creep and some bad rules decisions have allowed the campaign mechanics to become out of hand and that your no longer having fun running it as is and see if they are open to reworking things in a more balanced manner.
If they say no, then just use the same tactics against them in the game. Have your bad guys use the same weapons and feats that allow the werewolf to monster crit. After all if it is that effective, everyone WOULD do it.
Actually its funny this is exactly whats going on.
The four characters were as such
Sabir "The Prophet" (an ex druid who basically became a priest of CTHULU)
Skippy Kalishnikov (A vampiric Barovian gnome assassin and sheriff of area 6 in Barovia now)
Lucine Posthumus (An ex-human Demi-Lich(two splits) cleric of Nerul and ruler of the Caracovian Icelands)
Prontu Bannanana (A missing ex-general were ape clan leader of the Cinterian Island Tribe half orc)
The top three were evil to the bone and the critical character was neutral
Guess who are the main bad guys in my new pathfinder campaign :)
recurring characters are a must in my opinion.
"It's your friendly neighborhood Pit Fiend, Buddy the Arch Duke!"
Gaseous Form negates critical hits, as does the Abberation bloodline.
hmmmm the abberation bloodline is a good one
gaseous form is rarely applicable to combat unless its to hall it off tho
Also, since crits are more luck-based than other things, there are a lot of abilities (fate and luck abilities, curses, etc) that can force the character to re-roll that critical threat.
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Fortification is a good one though but it unfortunately does s%~# for my great wyrm Red Dragon
Ahh... But there is nothing preventing said dragon from putting on a pair of bracers that have fortification enchanted into them. I mean seriously are you not equipping your dragons? :) They need and can use cloaks, bracers, amulets, boots, rings, and belts just like any other bad guys... ;)
Fortification is a good one though but it unfortunately does s*&~ for my great wyrm Red Dragon
and who says that the Highly Intelligent Great wyrm Red Dragon Is not wearing Bracers of Armor with Fortification???? or an amulet of natural Armor with Fortification or Tattoos of Fortification of even a personally created spell of Fortification it is a Great wyrm after all it has survived a very long time and will always have a few sneaky tricks up its scaly arm.
remember a smart bad guy always looks after its own hide first
Also, a large number of lower-level enemies can be felled as easily by normal hits as by crits, and favor characters that can spread out their damage better over characters that hit hard on a focused target.
This will help keep Captain Critmaster from outshining the rest of the group. A CR X encounter can just as easily be 10 CR Y monsters instead of one CR Y monster. And that lets the other PCs use area attacks, tactics, and so on.
But as Avalon said, it's also nice to let the character shine at what he's good at. Playing Zorro isn't fun if you're never allowed to slash a "Z" on an opponent's chest....
Also, since crits are more luck-based than other things, there are a lot of abilities (fate and luck abilities, curses, etc) that can force the character to re-roll that critical threat.Yeah, like high level pugwampi witches with the misfortune hex... ;)
when do those release??
I am sooooo positive its in the new bestiary 2... possibly the cover art
are they statted somewhere else already?
Fortification is a good one though but it unfortunately does s*&~ for my great wyrm Red Dragon
and who says that the Highly Intelligent Great wyrm Red Dragon Is not wearing Bracers of Armor with Fortification???? or an amulet of natural Armor with Fortification or Tattoos of Fortification of even a personally created spell of Fortification it is a Great wyrm after all it has survived a very long time and will always have a few sneaky tricks up its scaly arm.
remember a smart bad guy always looks after its own hide first
See I dont like this arguement for giving a Dragon magical items.
I dont give any creature in my game magic items unless it fits into two categories:
1 it serves a very mundane purpose that replaces something in modern day technology (example: using the message spell instead of a cell)
or
2 The magic item is something precious and there is a story behind why the creature has it
granted this doesnt mean my red dragon cant have some bracers of armor with fortification enchanted on them but doesnt that seem like I am really targeting crit master guy? plus what relevant story background can I give for why a dragon would have or want said bracers without just rationalizing so that he could wear them against crit master?
It just doesnt work like that for me
"So and so is good at X? well ill make sure said creature has Y"
it might solve a one battle problem but it would feel ridiculous to give all my powerful creatures bracers of armor with fortification
that was my view on it
Fortification is a good one though but it unfortunately does s*&~ for my great wyrm Red Dragon
and who says that the Highly Intelligent Great wyrm Red Dragon Is not wearing Bracers of Armor with Fortification???? or an amulet of natural Armor with Fortification or Tattoos of Fortification of even a personally created spell of Fortification it is a Great wyrm after all it has survived a very long time and will always have a few sneaky tricks up its scaly arm.
remember a smart bad guy always looks after its own hide first
See I dont like this arguement for giving a Dragon magical items.
I dont give any creature in my game magic items unless it fits into two categories:
1 it serves a very mundane purpose that replaces something in modern day technology (example: using the message spell instead of a cell)
or
2 The magic item is something precious and there is a story behind why the creature has it
granted this doesnt mean my red dragon cant have some bracers of armor with fortification enchanted on them but doesnt that seem like I am really targeting crit master guy? plus what relevant story background can I give for why a dragon would have or want said bracers without just rationalizing so that he could wear them against crit master?
It just doesnt work like that for me
"So and so is good at X? well ill make sure said creature has Y"
it might solve a one battle problem but it would feel ridiculous to give all my powerful creatures bracers of armor with fortification
that was my view on it
I can see your point a little bit. Still even with that I can see a dragon having something like that, in fact multiple somethings like that.
By the time a dragon gets to Great Wyrm status they have probably been in a LOT of fights. Maybe the dragon's thoughys went something like "G&& d@&n it getting stabbed, hacked, bitten and gored hurts like hell. I'm a dragon, I can cast magic, I can probably make myself some magic items. let's see what I can make to make it hurt less next time."
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Also, since crits are more luck-based than other things, there are a lot of abilities (fate and luck abilities, curses, etc) that can force the character to re-roll that critical threat.Yeah, like high level pugwampi witches with the misfortune hex... ;)when do those release??
I am sooooo positive its in the new bestiary 2... possibly the cover art
are they statted somewhere else already?
Legacy of Fire Adventure Path, Volume 1 has stats for the pugwumpi, an excessively annoying creature that makes all around it roll 2 d20's and take the worse result. Unspeakable evil, I tell you, use with caution.
Also, since crits are more luck-based than other things, there are a lot of abilities (fate and luck abilities, curses, etc) that can force the character to re-roll that critical threat.Yeah, like high level pugwampi witches with the misfortune hex... ;)when do those release??
I am sooooo positive its in the new bestiary 2... possibly the cover art
are they statted somewhere else already?
Legacy of Fire Adventure Path, Volume 1 has stats for the pugwumpi, an excessively annoying creature that makes all around it roll 2 d20's and take the worse result. Unspeakable evil, I tell you, use with caution.
wow
that is so awesome...I feel like I should make them like extra cuddly
like care bear pugwampis and then have them hug him to death as he struggles to turn them into stuffing hahahaha
I can see your point a little bit. Still even with that I can see a dragon having something like that, in fact multiple somethings like that.
By the time a dragon gets to Great Wyrm status they have probably been in a LOT of fights. Maybe the dragon's thoughys went something like "g&% d*%n it getting stabbed, hacked, bitten and gored hurts like hell. I'm a dragon, I can cast magic, I...
Right like I said I can probably do that for one or two
but if everyone he fights has bracers for armor with fortification... thats pretty targeting. It pretty much says, I think your too powerful so instead of us actually letting you play your character I am going to pick on you so battle last longer
I can see your point a little bit. Still even with that I can see a dragon having something like that, in fact multiple somethings like that.
By the time a dragon gets to Great Wyrm status they have probably been in a LOT of fights. Maybe the dragon's thoughys went something like "g&% d*%n it getting stabbed, hacked, bitten and gored hurts like hell. I'm a dragon, I can cast magic, I...
Right like I said I can probably do that for one or two
but if everyone he fights has bracers for armor with fortification... thats pretty targeting. It pretty much says, I think your too powerful so instead of us actually letting you play your character I am going to pick on you so battle last longer
There is one simple solution since it sounds like the main problem is damage output. Give the critters more HP. You might want the increases to start of slowly. If you haven't been giving them max hp, start doing so. Then give them a extra +2 to +4 hp per HD/level. If that still isn't enough to make the fights take long enough go ahead and just give them a 50% or 100% increase. If they have enough HP they will take a while to do down.
I'd also go with multiple mooks to take the edge of the crit-machine, occassionally throwing in a big guy for him to flex his muscles.
For a little verisimilitude word can get around there's a one-hit-will-you fighter in the land which will do two things:
1. Smart bad guys who know he's coming will prepare. If items can't made ready in time more mundane means of keeping him at bay will be used.
2. Every wannabe with a few levels and a magic sword is going to want to take down the toughest guy in town...
Cheers
Mark
I'd also go with multiple mooks to take the edge of the crit-machine, occassionally throwing in a big guy for him to flex his muscles.
For a little verisimilitude word can get around there's a one-hit-will-you fighter in the land which will do two things:
1. Smart bad guys who know he's coming will prepare. If items can't made ready in time more mundane means of keeping him at bay will be used.
2. Every wannabe with a few levels and a magic sword is going to want to take down the toughest guy in town...
Cheers
Mark
This seems to be the way to go. Not picking on him, almost making him more important so he will get a fat ego boost along with a dose of reality and responsibility (if there is such a thing in an rpg)
Also, if he was developed in 3.5, there are prestige classes (I don't remember which, exactly, but they are there) that were allowed to ignore critical hits. Not something you could do for everything, but one would make a nice BBEG.
I also have used the suggestion to increase HP to provide a challenge. We're used to barbarians/dwarves with axes doing 108+ on a crit, not that much less than what your guy is doing.Another point - if the dragon is an ancient red wyrm, I see several possibilities - simplest, mirror image. But it also could have studied the party as they came for it, and added fortification specifically for them. You say it seems like you are tailoring just to stop the were-ape. Don't make that a bad thing, do it as a positive thing - a challenge to the PCs. A wyrm could/will have spies, servants, access to scrying - there are many ways he could know that he needs fortification.
That is also a good point.
To be honest its not just him hahaha but there isnt much else I can do about "The Prophet"
He is an exdruid blighter basically except a spin on the abilities so that it matches cthulu (he is my brother and we are both huge fans, couldnt resist)
He is just a really good at casting... like really good.
he doesnt optimize his build he optimizes his spell combos... just ridiculous, but the great GM in the sky invented SR so that isnt always a problem. I just wish there was SR for critical hits hahaha
with that said the spies and minions aspect is probably the way to go, use the weak guys to make the strong guy stronger
Critical Madness... Awesome band/song name. Just sayin'.
I can see your point a little bit. Still even with that I can see a dragon having something like that, in fact multiple somethings like that.
By the time a dragon gets to Great Wyrm status they have probably been in a LOT of fights. Maybe the dragon's thoughys went something like "g&% d*%n it getting stabbed, hacked, bitten and gored hurts like hell. I'm a dragon, I can cast magic, I...
Right like I said I can probably do that for one or two
but if everyone he fights has bracers for armor with fortification... thats pretty targeting. It pretty much says, I think your too powerful so instead of us actually letting you play your character I am going to pick on you so battle last longer There is one simple solution since it sounds like the main problem is damage output. Give the critters more HP. You might want the increases to start of slowly. If you haven't been giving them max hp, start doing so. Then give them a extra +2 to +4 hp per HD/level. If that still isn't enough to make the fights take long enough go ahead and just give them a 50% or 100% increase. If they have enough HP they will take a while to do down.
Safe, easy, solves the problem.
Not bad advice at all.
Right like I said I can probably do that for one or two ... but if everyone he fights has bracers for armor with fortification... thats pretty targeting.
Depends on your view of a world that has magic and thousands of years of history.
Acient Wyrms are, well ANCIENT. The assumption is that they are smart enough to get to a thousand to two thousand years old, meaning they have surivived, literally, dozens of adventuer attacks and won, dealt with their own kind and survived, etc.
They have run through the powerplays of the regional power groups and either made friends with them or destroyed them or made them fear the dragon enough to never bother them.
ANY adventurer, as they gain levels and expierience (real life in game) will pick up information on successful strategies and equipment for survival. For example, Fighters will learn from veterans that +5 weapons and armor are best, no matter what they are called in game, the crafters who make them have to have SOME terminology to represent the weapons potency. After THOUSANDS of years of these magic items existing and fighters biuying them, what works will get around. Same, and even MORESO for higher level and or ancient opponents.
They GOT THERE because they survived and learned. Fortification, if one can possibly get it, would be almost standard on a Great Wyrm, as well as many potent protective devices. They have huge wealth, influence, power, intelligence and magic ability. Why would they not prepare themselves defensively as any PC would?
Also, with fame, comes people KNOWING why your deadly. Your fighting style gets around. Folks who know your in the area will start to prepare for you.
I am not saying have EVERY foe they face have fortification. But looked at logically, almost every IMPORTANT foe who has the resources to do so certainly would and not just to counter the one character. It stops sneak attack as well an what BBRG is NOT paranoid about thieves and assassins? It is not singling him out, it is preparing themselves for survival as best they can in an intelligent manner in a world that has had literally multiple thousands of years to learn what works from martal magic items and pass that knowledge on.
Old soldiers in OUR world write books on their experiences and what worked and tactics and equipment. There is 0 reason such passing of knowledge and tactics does not happen in a living game world.
Right like I said I can probably do that for one or two ... but if everyone he fights has bracers for armor with fortification... thats pretty targeting.Depends on your view of a world that has magic and thousands of years of history.
Acient Wyrms are, well ANCIENT. The assumption is that they are smart enough to get to a thousand to two thousand years old, meaning they have surivived, literally, dozens of adventuer attacks and won, dealt with their own kind and survived, etc.
They have run through the powerplays of the regional power groups and either made friends with them or destroyed them or made them fear the dragon enough to never bother them.
ANY adventurer, as they gain levels and expierience (real life in game) will pick up information on successful strategies and equipment for survival. For example, Fighters will learn from veterans that +5 weapons and armor are best, no matter what they are called in game, the crafters who make them have to have SOME terminology to represent the weapons potency. After THOUSANDS of years of these magic items existing and fighters biuying them, what works will get around. Same, and even MORESO for higher level and or ancient opponents.
They GOT THERE because they survived and learned. Fortification, if one can possibly get it, would be almost standard on a Great Wyrm, as well as many potent protective devices. They have huge wealth, influence, power, intelligence and magic ability. Why would they not prepare themselves defensively as any PC would?
Also, with fame, comes people KNOWING why your deadly. Your fighting style gets around. Folks who know your in the area will start to prepare for you.
I am not saying have EVERY foe they face have fortification. But looked at logically, almost every IMPORTANT foe who has the resources to do so certainly would and not just to counter the one character. It stops sneak attack as well an what BBRG is NOT paranoid about thieves and assassins? It is not singling him out,...
that is true
infact there is a sandman(bard archetype was a spellthief in 3.5) with five levels in assassin as well so it wouldnt be singling I suppose
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Midnightoker I had a similar character in my group who built a damage dealing machine based off Leap Attack. Add a crit to any charge he made and I had him dropping over 300 points of damage in one swing.
Building encounters that would survive against that kind of offensive firepower is tricky. You want to challenge all the players without feeling like you're specifically nerfing their abilities.
1. Don't gimp yourself out of the gate by not having monsters use their treasure! It's just bad design to say only certain monsters use magic items. All intelligent creatures should use them!
2. Try to avoid a single powerful monster. Economy of actions will favor the PC's if you do this. Your best planned monster can and will fall in one round if you let the entire party gang up on it.
3. Mobility and terrain are key. Shape the battlefield to your monsters advantage.
Now one caveat to number 2. My PC's ALWAYS go straight for the BBEG in any fight. Mooks can be mopped up after you cut off the head. I've often used this against them, especially if the BBEG knows their tactics. Use trickery, sucker them into wasting their mojo on decoys or illusions. Also make sure the mooks are more dangerous if ignored. Nothing say OUCH like a trio of Tengu Shadowdancers that turn out to be Vrocks boogieing a Dance of Ruin while the PC's are engaging the BBEG Succubus Queen.
--School of Vrock!
Try using sunder on his weapon from time to time, or have black puddings or rust monsters or similar monster guard the entrance to the bbeg lair. Weapons with the broken condition only crit on a nat 20 and have a x2 multiplier
Midnightoker I had a similar character in my group who built a damage dealing machine based off Leap Attack. Add a crit to any charge he made and I had him dropping over 300 points of damage in one swing.
Holy s&!@.
3. Mobility and terrain are key. Shape the battlefield to your monsters advantage.
I love using terrain. My belief is that even if you are facing the exact same monster at the exact same strength the encounter should be so entirely different its incomparable. Terrain is how I do this. From fighting on a raft in the ocean to a blizzard in an arctic wasteland of Ice worms Terrain is the DMs friend.
Plus its so awesome when your party starts talking about areas they know and why they dont want to go there and its not because of a monster haha (The antimagic fields of the northern coast have no monsters and that almost killed them)
Good advice though. I cant imagine with your damage dealer what you did.
I am not a big treasure guy is all. I feel like every major character should have a character defining magic items, and not many of them. Bilbo had the Ring and Sting, Luke Skywalker had his lightsaber and R2, Indiana Jones had his whip and hat, that kinda thing.
Try using sunder on his weapon from time to time, or have black puddings or rust monsters or similar monster guard the entrance to the bbeg lair. Weapons with the broken condition only crit on a nat 20 and have a x2 multiplier
His weapon is particularly powerful when it comes to magic (his defining magic item) and I would almost feel ridiculous to try and destroy that. Plus that frustrates the player which is not what I want to do, challenge and frustrate dabble in the same area but not the same thing. Since its his defining item its almost underhanded to break it even for only an encounter.
also
his criticals do ridiculous damage despite the weapon because he is a were-ape... two claws and a bite.. if both claws hit theres a rend attack. the damage is over-whelming.
Don't gimp yourself out of the gate by not having monsters use their treasure! It's just bad design to say only certain monsters use magic items. All intelligent creatures should use them!
--School of Vrock!
+1
Hell yes. I always follow that rules myself. I think it's more satifying for the players to get the cool magic item if they got hit by it a few times themselves.
I had them sneaking into a troll cave once. They expected a pretty easy fight. What they got a troll cleric who had dropped mass resist fire just before they got in the door. When the charged forward the one on the ceiling with slippers of spider climbing and the one with a ring of invisibility ambushed them.
Try using sunder on his weapon from time to time, or have black puddings or rust monsters or similar monster guard the entrance to the bbeg lair. Weapons with the broken condition only crit on a nat 20 and have a x2 multiplierHis weapon is particularly powerful when it comes to magic (his defining magic item) and I would almost feel ridiculous to try and destroy that. Plus that frustrates the player which is not what I want to do, challenge and frustrate dabble in the same area but not the same thing. Since its his defining item its almost underhanded to break it even for only an encounter.
also
his criticals do ridiculous damage despite the weapon because he is a were-ape... two claws and a bite.. if both claws hit theres a rend attack. the damage is over-whelming.
At least once, just for fun, disarm him and then use the weapon on him. And remember the rend doesn't get crits.
At least once, just for fun, disarm him and then use the weapon on him. And remember the rend doesn't get crits.
most definitely hahahah
So, this 2,000 year old red dragon has a mate, right? And kids? And their mates? And grandkids...?
Should be fun.
several actually. A bit of a man whore back in his first millenia
Madness? THIS! IS! PATHFINDER!
*kicks Midnightoker down a well*
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Madness? THIS! IS! PATHFINDER!
*kicks Midnightoker down a well*
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
dude..
that was the best thing I have read all day..
I willingly plummet while smiling... man this is gonna hurt
I can be more helpful if you can tell me what...
The four characters were as such
Sabir "The Prophet" (an ex druid who basically became a priest of CTHULU)Skippy Kalishnikov (A vampiric Barovian gnome assassin and sheriff of area 6 in Barovia now)
Lucine Posthumus (An ex-human Demi-Lich(two splits) cleric of Nerul and ruler of the Caracovian Icelands)
Prontu Bannanana (A missing ex-general were ape clan leader of the Cinterian Island Tribe half orc)
they were actually given the nickname in the "Gremlin Gazette" one of the big cities newspapers as "The Four Horseman" hahaha
I love all of them almost as much as the players do. I have taken them places and even at times totally connected with each character and player on them.
The top one is my brother and is particularly lethal, not an optimizer with his builds an optimizer with spell combinations.. its a sight.
All of them are a different race, the top one is something of a half-illithid but different in his own right.
More of The crit master guy was one of my problems. here is the big problem:
The characters are effectively CR 16. They are all level 12 and each has either the standard or a slightly enhanced or nerfed race to match (vampire nerf, lycanthrop boost with no bonus HD)
The problem is they are really really good players in battle. They use the terrain, they think on their feet, they are creative. Even crit master man has thrown down his sharash (old 3.5 weapon) jumped from a moving ship onto a seamonster and played grapple tag.
so effectively the CR they are is lik 19 or 20.
back to the problem
The problem is things below this CR are too easy and things at 19 or 20 are impossible to kill( some of them literally such as the tarrasque).
I was trying to find a simpler less work intensive way to always creating unique monsters (Ive made several to this point like an oversized magical Ice Golem, and a Giant mechanical adamantine snake)
Unique monsters are fun to make and always work out perfectly but sometimes i just wanna crack a book open and use a stat block ya know?
check here for a list of ways to be immune to crits I paticularly like tailsman of undying fortitude as it only lasts 3 rounds.
check here for a list of ways to be immune to crits I paticularly like tailsman of undying fortitude as it only lasts 3 rounds.
alot of those are a no go though because they call for races like undead and plant which arent immune to crits or sneak anymore.