The whole animating people thing is silly. People make miserable undead anyway (out of animate dead anyway), so a necromancer would be better served by just animating an animal or even better yet a monster. Or do we have to properly bury every Tiger we kill now to be considered good?
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I disagree. The DM's job is to tell stories and to challenge the pcs and if a tough encounter is coming then give them advance warning of it and let them plan/act accordingly. If they don't then they were warned. The party balance should have no consideration whatsoever as the DM should present a range of different challenges every adventure. Without wishing to derail the thread I see this most often being as a result of there being no rogue in the party in Pathfinder, way more so than divine casters. This is also partly due to traps being more dangerous in my game than in the AP's (where they are generally minor).The presence or absence of the big caster(s) pretty much decides encounters in my opinion. How likely are you going to tackle that Dragon knowing your Cleric is away. Do you dare fight multiple vampires without arcane support?
I know in my case the party has avoided fights because our wizard was away.
Honestly, INMFO, the GM needs to take party capabilities into account. If you don't have a cleric or other good way to handle vampires, then the GM should not throw vampires at the party, or at the very least do so sparingly and keep in mind that weakness so the battle remains fair.
Encounters should be tailored to the PCs, not the other way around.
I'm not going to get into another Rogue argument derail, but I will point out that you can get trapfinding via six other classes than rogue, or even as a trait.
I'm not going to get into another Rogue argument derail, but I will point out that you can get trapfinding via six other classes than rogue, or even as a trait.I disagree. The DM's job is to tell stories and to challenge the pcs and if a tough encounter is coming then give them advance warning of it and let them plan/act accordingly. If they don't then they were warned. The party balance should have no consideration whatsoever as the DM should present a range of different challenges every adventure. Without wishing to derail the thread I see this most often being as a result of there being no rogue in the party in Pathfinder, way more so than divine casters. This is also partly due to traps being more dangerous in my game than in the AP's (where they are generally minor).The presence or absence of the big caster(s) pretty much decides encounters in my opinion. How likely are you going to tackle that Dragon knowing your Cleric is away. Do you dare fight multiple vampires without arcane support?
I know in my case the party has avoided fights because our wizard was away.
Honestly, INMFO, the GM needs to take party capabilities into account. If you don't have a cleric or other good way to handle vampires, then the GM should not throw vampires at the party, or at the very least do so sparingly and keep in mind that weakness so the battle remains fair.
Encounters should be tailored to the PCs, not the other way around.
And even then anyone can use Disable Device to disarm normal traps and anyone can use Dispel Magic to disarm magical traps...
Sorry. If nobody in the party can find/disarm traps, he shouldn't use a lot of traps. If the party can't recover ability damage easily, he shouldn't use a lot of it. If the party is weak on ranged attacks, he shouldn't use encounters where that's the best/only way to fight back.
I file this under 'being fair'.
I think it's unrealistic for all the traps in the world to suddenly stop existing because there's no rogue in the party, the fun is in working out other solutions to traps. Personally in my game I rule that anyone can spot something suspicious (a trap) using perception, disarming it is another problem though.
Back on topic: we don't plan on missing a healer/arcane pc, it's just sometimes players give late notice they can't make a game. So if you've adjourned the game in the middle of a dungeon or are returning to a fight that was initiated last session, changing the encounter doesn't work story wise.
Personally in my game I rule that anyone can spot something suspicious (a trap) using perception, disarming it is another problem though.
Including magical traps, I assume. I assume that magical traps are included because they're the only exception to the games already existing rule that anyone can find a nonmagical trap, assuming they roll high enough.
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As with most things a balance must be struck between what the players want and what the GM wants.
Ideally a GM tailors all of the encounters with each PC in mind, and does his best to give each PC a moment to shine.
Running a home brew game is allot of fun. Especially if you the GM are putting together a story and imagining a dungeon. Its fun to Draw a map. Its fun to fill a dungeon with monsters. I enjoy putting together NPC Villains Monsters. And oh yes I almost forgot rolling on tables and generating random treasure or placing it.
However as someone said up thread, sometimes a GM doesn't have time to tailor his encounters to his players. Sometimes all a GM might have time to do is read and study the next chapter of the Adventure Path he is running, or next chapter of the module he is running.
But like may things, its a give and take between the GM and other players.
Incorrect. Anyone can find a magical trap with a perception check. Only characters with Trapfinding can disarm a magical trap with the Disable Device skill.Personally in my game I rule that anyone can spot something suspicious (a trap) using perception, disarming it is another problem though.Including magical traps, I assume. I assume that magical traps are included because they're the only exception to the games already existing rule that anyone can find a nonmagical trap, assuming they roll high enough.
Of course anyone with Dispel Magic can just dispel it.
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Sometimes GM's dont have time. This is mostly for AP's.The presence or absence of the big caster(s) pretty much decides encounters in my opinion. How likely are you going to tackle that Dragon knowing your Cleric is away. Do you dare fight multiple vampires without arcane support?
I know in my case the party has avoided fights because our wizard was away.
Honestly, INMFO, the GM needs to take party capabilities into account. If you don't have a cleric or other good way to handle vampires, then the GM should not throw vampires at the party, or at the very least do so sparingly and keep in mind that weakness so the battle remains fair.
Encounters should be tailored to the PCs, not the other way around.
And the players can adapt their playstyle to the absence of some specific class in a party.
You have a oracle instead of a cleric? Probably he can spam dispel magic, but it is not a given that he will learn restoration or be capable to use positive channel to damage undead.Depending on his build he can or can't be able to bluff the party. For sure he can't his spell load depending of the probable obstacles.
So, probably, he is less effective against a group of undead than a cleric, but that don't mean that the GM should remove or redo every undead encounter. It is the job of the players to take that into account and adapt their tactics. Wand exist and you can find some with less than full charges for a good price. Or you can buy scrolls.
UMD is a class skill for several classes or you can take a trait to make it a class skill. Potions exist, there are even elixirs of some spell that can't be made into a potion.
Generally what you lose in efficiency for not having a specific class you can get back in other situations from having a character with another class. Some adversary can be a big obstacle if you don't have spellcasters at all, but not insurmountable.
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Of course anyone with Dispel Magic can just dispel it.Incorrect. Anyone can find a magical trap with a perception check. Only characters with Trapfinding can disarm a magical trap with the Disable Device skill.Personally in my game I rule that anyone can spot something suspicious (a trap) using perception, disarming it is another problem though.Including magical traps, I assume. I assume that magical traps are included because they're the only exception to the games already existing rule that anyone can find a nonmagical trap, assuming they roll high enough.
Thinking as the guy defending his home with magical traps, one of their functions is to drain spells from the party.
Place plenty of no cost, long lasting, abjurations around and sprinkle some magical traps in the middle. The party dispel magic will end sooner or later.
Of course anyone with Dispel Magic can just dispel it.Incorrect. Anyone can find a magical trap with a perception check. Only characters with Trapfinding can disarm a magical trap with the Disable Device skill.Personally in my game I rule that anyone can spot something suspicious (a trap) using perception, disarming it is another problem though.Including magical traps, I assume. I assume that magical traps are included because they're the only exception to the games already existing rule that anyone can find a nonmagical trap, assuming they roll high enough.Thinking as the guy defending his home with magical traps, one of their functions is to drain spells from the party.
Place plenty of no cost, long lasting, abjurations around and sprinkle some magical traps in the middle. The party dispel magic will end sooner or later.
Hey, if they want to blow money on a terrible defense like a magic trap that could have been better spent on gear to make them better, I'm all for it. Also realistically, whens the last time you saw more then 5 magic traps in a pre-written adventure that all needed to be bypassed in the same day? And that not even touching on all the spells that can be used to just straight up bypass traps or Aram Zey's Focus which just flat-out lets you disarm magical traps.
Incorrect. Anyone can find a magical trap with a perception check. Only characters with Trapfinding can disarm a magical trap with the Disable Device skill.Personally in my game I rule that anyone can spot something suspicious (a trap) using perception, disarming it is another problem though.Including magical traps, I assume. I assume that magical traps are included because they're the only exception to the games already existing rule that anyone can find a nonmagical trap, assuming they roll high enough.
Whoops, mispoke there.