Summon Nature's Ally says no such thing; Summon monster doesn't either, but the nature of an extraplanar being does; if it dies on the material plane, it just returns. The natural guys have no such qualifier; so I rule somewhere in the jungles of Golarian there are hundreds of rotting, decomposing monkeys until someone can prove otherwise :).
This displeases the great monkey god.
Summon Nature's Ally says no such thing; Summon monster doesn't either, but the nature of an extraplanar being does; if it dies on the material plane, it just returns. The natural guys have no such qualifier; so I rule somewhere in the jungles of Golarian there are hundreds of rotting, decomposing monkeys until someone can prove otherwise :).This displeases the great monkey god.
This little tidbit should please him again.
A summoning spell instantly brings a creature or object to a place you designate. When the spell ends or is dispelled, a summoned creature is instantly sent back to where it came from, but a summoned object is not sent back unless the spell description specifically indicates this. A summoned creature also goes away if it is killed or if its hit points drop to 0 or lower, but it is not really dead. It takes 24 hours for the creature to reform, during which time it can't be summoned again.
Expert.
I don't know why my players don't jump on being able to choose their class skills.
.
.Maybe if it was like the Expert Generic class in Unearthed Arcana...
Came in to say NPC class
And where are you going to get all the bodies for undead minions? Orphaned chimps, of course!Druid: I summon a monkey and order it to open the door...That was one of the funniest things I've read lately. Bravo.Yeah that's hilarious. Good thing that summoned monsters aren't actually hurt. They're not called, just avatars. At least summons have that going for them. Otherwise it would definitely be cruel and unusual. :P
Then again, if it was like that, then at least we have undead minions for the morally conscious.
Actually, it depends. There are several options of varying degrees of morality. My favorite for low-level necromancers is just using your food. I mean, your ranger kills a deer, or a fox, or a wolf, or something, you guys eat it or donate the food to a poor family. You then animate the skeletal remains, and presto, you have a useful undead minion who can trip traps or carry your equipment without needing to be fed or become tired. It's no different than more primitive races using bones to make tools.
For the truly vegan necromancer, you generally need either a convenient death (as in a creature that died of illness, old age, or accident), or a bit more magic. There are round about ways of animating undead, including crafting a skeletal corpse with fabricate or polymorph any object, or even using clone spells to produce a usable corpse. However, most of these options require too much to be used for simple trap springing.
But that is the price you pay for desiring entirely synthetic corpses instead of using natural homegrown ones. Personally, I prefer raising oxen and donating a side of beef to orphanages each time I need a new undead minion. Oxen are 15 gp, have a lot of meat (which literally just falls right off the bones when you animate them) and can be killed gently (cast sleep on the oxen and then coup de grace it).
Some kids get a nice beef stew for some protein they probably don't regularly get, since poor meals usually consist of watered down vegetable soups and such, and I get my minion, and it's at no more morally reprehensible than your druid friend's use of leather armor.
Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games
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For the truly vegan necromancer, you generally need either a convenient death (as in a creature that died of illness, old age, or accident), or a bit more magic.
I don't know why, but I find the notion of a vegan Necromancer somewhat amusing. Meat is murder, so I won't eat animals...but it's OK if I use the animal's corpse as a companion...
(I'm sure there are vegans out there who are vegans for reasons other than animal rights, the vegans I know (both of them) fit the animal rights description to a "T"...)
To the OP: Our group tends to shy away from Wizards and Barbarians. Out players prefer Sorcerors to Wizards, and Fighters/Paladins/Rangers to Barbarians.
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Maybe if it was like the Expert Generic class in Unearthed Arcana...
Pshaw, that's no class! That's the DM saying 'Make it up as you go along!' :P
Pshaw, that's no class! That's the DM saying 'Make it up as you go along!' :P
Maybe if it was like the Expert Generic class in Unearthed Arcana...
.
.Fine, how is this:
"The Adventurer"
BAB: +1
Good Saves: Fort, Ref
Hit Dice: 1d10
Class Skills: Choose 25 skills to be class skills (craft, knowledge, perform and profession skills must be taken separately)
Skill Ranks per Level: 8 + Intelligence modifier.
"The Adventurer" choose 10 Armors type and/or Shield Type and/or Weapons Proficiencies.
2nd : Evasion (ex)
4th : uncanny Dodge (ex)
8th : Improved Uncanny Dodge (ex)
10th : Improved Evasion (ex)
...
Might add more later.
?
Poor weak-willed Adventurer, getting dominated/mazed/whatever Will save spell you prefer.
:)
That can still be fixed, somehow...
Pshaw, that's no class! That's the DM saying 'Make it up as you go along!' :P
Maybe if it was like the Expert Generic class in Unearthed Arcana...
Truly, that's not actually a bad thing. I myself have been exploring some options similar to d20 modern or SW Saga edition in terms of class design for my home games, as an alternative to Archtypes and such. I'm a big fan of options, and being able to make more than one concept with a single class is a big plus for me from a design ideals standpoint. :)
I don't know why, but I find the notion of a vegan Necromancer somewhat amusing. Meat is murder, so I won't eat animals...but it's OK if I use the animal's corpse as a companion...
(I'm sure there are vegans out there who are vegans for reasons other than animal rights, the vegans I know (both of them) fit the animal rights description to a "T"...)
To the OP: Our group tends to shy away from Wizards and Barbarians. Out players prefer Sorcerors to Wizards, and Fighters/Paladins/Rangers to Barbarians.
Well I'm of the belief that a good necromancer has to respect life, like a good evoker has to respect fire. Back in 3E, I developed a great fondness for white necromancers (that is good necromancers); because necromancy offers more to society than almost any other school of magic.
Necromancers are the best builds to fight undead with (moreso than Paladins, and necromancer clerics deal with them better than positive energy clerics). They allow societies to function with great productivity without resorting to slave castes for mundane grunt work. And of course, they are very useful in an adventuring. Undead animals are less likely to be eaten by wild animals, don't get tired, don't need to be fed, can't get sick, don't mind entering dungeons, aren't afraid of heights, can't be spooked, can't be stolen (they don't listen to anyone but their master or who they have been instructed to listen to), can navigate in the dark, and are often stronger or more durable than their living counterparts (a zombie ox for example has extra strength and extra hit dice).
One of the most recent necromancers I played was one of these white necromancers. She was actually living in a country that was anti-necromancy and undead. She herself was actually undead, and lived on the fringes of a small town, passing herself off as human and making simple alchemical remedies for the locals who saw her as an eccentric witch. At the beginning of the adventure, the party went to visit her because the locals said she might know something about a zombie outbreak in an elven village in mountain forests.
Upon hearing their story of encountering a zombie plague, she volunteered to leave her little hovel and apple orchard, take her spell fixings, and travel with them to put an end to the zombies, as she saw it as an obvious misuse, recognized the danger they posed to people, and of course wanted to quell anything that would add more anti-undead sentiments. The party discovered she herself was undead when she took an arrow through the chest and stood back up.
Later, she animated a horse and due to a feat (which I have posted below for your perusal), gave it sentience and a few speed boosts. She dubbed the horse Chain Lightning and he became her steady cohort, steed, and friend. I invested ranks into Ride so she could more effectively team up with her steed, and she often used the trick of using your mount for cover, as the horse was a regenerating skeleton and made a good meatshield. The horse also had ranks in Disguise (a class skill for undead) which allowed him to pretend to be a normal horse in public, under his leather barding. Kind of like Mr. Ed. :P
Corpseshaper (General)
You can make special modifications to undead you create.
Benefit: When you create undead (with spells, rituals, or other abilities) you may grant the undead one of the following special qualities, chosen at the time of creation. Once chosen the choice cannot be changed.
Dread Resistance (Ex): The undead creature has energy resistance 5 against one type of energy (acid, fire, cold, electricity, or sonic).
Dread Swiftness (Ex): The undead creature gains a +2 racial bonus to Initiative checks and increases one of its movement speeds (including burrow, climb, or swim) by +10ft.
Enchanted Body (Su): The undead creature's natural attacks are treated as having an enhancement bonus equal to 1/5th the undead's HD (minimum +1, maximum +5).
Enduring Body (Ex): The undead creature gains a +2 resistance bonus to all saving throws.
Negative Burst (Ex): The undead creature explodes when it is destroyed, dealing 1d6 negative energy damage per 2 HD of the undead creature (minimum 1d6) to everything within 10ft of the creature. Undead are instead healed by this burst. Creatures are allowed a Reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 the undead's HD + undead's Charisma modifier) to take half damage. You cannot apply this trait to the same undead creature multiple times.
Regenerating (Ex): The undead creature gains fast healing 1.
Sentience (Ex): The undead creature gains a +2 inherent modifier to its Intelligence score. If it was mindless, it instead gains Intelligence 3 and its alignment matches your own. It immediately gains a number of skill points as appropriate for its Intelligence and Hit Dice which you may allocate as desired. The newly sentient undead has class skills appropriate for its type.
Strength of the Dead (Ex): The undead creature gains a +2 inherent modifier to its Strength and Charisma scores.
Unbreakable (Ex): The undead creature gains damage reduction 2/-.
Unnatural Toughness (Ex): The undead creature increases its natural armor by +2.
Special: You may take this feat multiple times. Each time you do, you may apply an additional special quality to the undead (or the same special quality again). The effects of special qualities stack with two exceptions: Negative Burst does not stack, and inherent modifiers cannot exceed +5 (so an undead with Strength of the Dead three times only gains +5 strength instead of +6). The Challenge Rating of undead with these special qualities increases by +1 for every 3 special qualities added.
Brave Sir RobinThe fact that bards abilities revolve around playing music is the reason none of the players in my group have the slightest interest in them. The bard is the butt of many a joke in my group.The reports of people not seeing bards distresses me.
I must work harder to fix that.
Or you could have Preform (Oratory) and be like William Wallace from Braveheart.
I think some classes would be used a bit more if the class skills lists were more flexible. (kinda like the Expert)
Nothing's stopping you from dipping a level into Expert to pick all the class skills you want, if they're so super important.
They may take our lives, but they will never take... OUR TROUSERS!!!
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Since starting Pathfinder we've seen the following classes played:
Homebrew: Ranger, Barbarian, Paladin, Rogue, Cleric, Wizard, Alchemist, Summoner
We Be Goblins: Summoner, Oracle, Rogue, Fighter, Sorcerer
Jade Regent: Ninja, Cavalier, Wizard, Druid, Cleric
So that's
witch 0
alchemist 1
barbarian 1
bard 0
cavalier 1
druid 1
inquisitor 0
magus 0
monk 0
oracle 1
paladin 1
summoner 2
fighter 1
sorcerer 1
wizard 2
cleric 2
ranger 1
rogue 2
I've never had any Druid in a serious group. Neither a Bard. And no Paladins (we hate that moral stuff)
Sorcerers are also rare as well as Oracles because of their lagging available Spell Level.
Oh... and the redundant classes like the Samurai, Cavalier and so on are not getting played out of obvious reasons I think.
Barbarian gets really often multiclassed for emergency rage and faster movement speed...