Best rules abuse for levelling...

[maouse]

I was discussing splash weapons in another thread and the general consensus of people is that splash weapons affect every creature within 5' of where they land (and the square they hit if not a directed attack).

So, as a SCHMOOOOZE to see how well one could level, I decided to see what the cheapest way to level using the core rulebooks is.

Vipers are CR 1/2. 225 of these tiny critters can fit in a 15'x15' pit.

Two Splash weapons at Point Blank Range (with PBS) or three without would kill all the vipers in the pit.

45,000 XP. That gets you to level 7 on medium.

Now, how much did this cost? 5 gp per Viper = 1125 GP. Which you could get to using the "Rich Parents" trait (900 of it) and perhaps a good roll on your background money (225 more)?

Alternately, you could use rats or cats (CR 1/4): But you would only get 22,500 per pit full. (cost 1cp and 3cp x 225 = 225cp to 675cp - affordable on anyone's salary). (using rats is only 160 pits full to hit level 20... well, sorta - because you don't get any more XP after the first or second pit full, right?)

Rat swarms would be ideal (perhaps starting with rats and somehow making the swarm?) as they are CR 2. (but with 16 HP you would need 8-16 splash weapons/rounds unless you are an alchemist). But 60,000 XP in a few rounds might be well worth the investment. (higher level, so XP reduction for next pit is "better")

Anyone have any other cheap ways to level and "SCHOOOOOZE" the "system"? Just for fun, post your most ludicrous VIABLE method of leveling. Speed counts (and casting usually summons things you don't get XP for, recall) - as does viability (use by everyone - specialists can speed it up, but everyone should be able to level using the methods posted).

GM's don't exist... just pure SCHOOOOOZE... ;)

[Bob Bob Bob]

As I posted in the last one, if you're fighting 225 vipers then they get to roll initiative 225 times. On average 11.25 will get a natural 20 on initiative, 0.5625 of those will get a nat 20 on their attack roll (automatically hitting). Since they have a climb speed the pit doesn't stop them. Oh, and technically I don't think they can occupy the full 15 x 15 pit, as they can't be supported just by other creatures so the center and upper middle square don't support any creatures. Which means you can't target that middle square because there's nothing in it, so you can never actually hit the full 15 x 15 cube. Your options are target a creature or target a grid intersection.

If you're trying to sneak up on them or sneak attack them same problem, only with perception instead of initiative.

In a fight of you vs 225 vipers, I'd bet on the vipers. I figure about 100 beat your initiative, another 20 or 30 hit you, and you fail 6 or 7 fort saves. That gives you a DC 21-23 Fort Save or keep taking 1d2 Con damage for 27-30 rounds.

[darkwarriorkarg]

So you get overwhelmed by a 15 HD viper swarm...

[KuntaSS]

Why a pit? Why not a cage, which you drop off a cliff?

[RedDogMT]

This is just a silly mathematical exercise...and a pretty pointless one.

As you said, there is no GM, so there would be no XP, so there would be no leveling.

[maouse]

The rats/vipers can't see the thrower, so they have no reason to leave the safety of the pit... Yes, it is absolutely a silly mathematical exercise.

Pointless? Let me think about that.

For 2.25 gp in PFS you can buy 225 rats. For about 1 GP you can hire a ditch digger to dig a pit to put them in. For 20 GP you can buy an alchemical fire. It is 100% PFS legal to do all of this... You just have to survive the wrath of the GM....

For about 360 GP (Rich Parents trait works - I think it is PFS legal anyway) you can repeat this until you are the first level 20 character in PF play. You might have to find a new GM every time you try it... lol.

[Durngrun Stonebreaker]

PFS doesn't use standard XP.

[Bob Bob Bob]

Perception wrote:

Perception covers all five senses, including sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.

Vipers also have Scent which gives them +8 to perception. So do rats. Both have a climb speed. Both swarm over your level 1 PC and slowly nibble you to death. If they don't attack you then they're not actually a combatant and not worth exp. Otherwise a level X character could simply kill their party members (with their consent) to gain exp that way.

You also haven't addressed the fact that the middle and upper middle cubes are not actually supported and therefore 16 of your rats/vipers are actually flying, which they aren't allowed to do. And without that middle cube you can only hit 18 cubes, not 27.

And I just realized this, you're probably also filling the cubes as if you can put a viper on top of a viper. You can't. They need to be in contact with a surface otherwise they're flying. Creatures don't count as a surface unless you've mounted them and you can't mount something the same size as you without Undersized Mount. You're actually looking at 136 vipers, which is almost half as much. And again, you need to target a grid intersection or a creature and it hits everything within 5 feet. This means you're hitting 43 in the best case scenario I can find (targeting a creature on the bottom middle square hits two walls and 5x5 creatures on the floor, a grid intersection only gets us 4x4).

So that would get you to level 4 but definitely piss off the other 93 vipers/rats, probably you have enough health to survive their counterattack by then (depending on how instantaneous leveling is) and your reward is... level 5. With none of the gear of a level 5. Probably someone hunting you down to figure out what you were doing with a hundred vipers/rats (sounds like the start of a plague to me). Maybe an angry druid or two. And when the story comes out, a reputation as "the guy who shot fish in a barrel and still almost lost".

And that's assuming a rat/viper pile doesn't just upgrade to a rat swarm/snake swarm, which you'd then have to roll initiative against, it automatically hits you (and tries to disease/poison you) if it gets a turn, and killing it would get you only 1200 exp at best.

[Chemlak]

Unfortunately...

Zero XP, even if you did it.

It wasn't an encounter. You don't get XP for just killing things in PF, but for overcoming encounters.