One very important detail that a lot of people miss is that having multiple abjuration spells up and running in 3e/PF1 sets a DC 25 Perception to notice this effect ...Huh, that's a first I hear of that. A quick search brings up nothing, other than:
If one abjuration spell is active within 10 feet of another for 24 hours or more, the magical fields interfere with each other and create barely visible energy fluctuations. The DC to find such spells with the Perception skill drops by 4.Can you cite the rule, or give a link?
What the ... when did that get ninja'd in? My hard copy CRB did not survive after its 5th or 6th year. I'll see if my wife has hers floating around where I can read it. Just this past session in our Giantslayer campaign this came up. The GM was "oh yeah, that's right, I'd forgotten about that", in reference to the DC 25 Perception thing. Without it ... we'd have been TPK'd.
Ugh, it is driving me absolutely bat dung crazy that I can't find where we got this from and have been using since .... I dunno, 2003 I think?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
my problem with buffs in roleplaying is when they feel more like mandatory number chains that must be carefully calculated and applied to characters in order for them to be functional, rather than awesome powers that characters get when needed to accomplish extraordinary tasks. Mage Armor, for example, in PF1, sounds like it should be something cool, but in reality it is just a default level 1 spell that every caster has to have in order not to die in combat. That is very boring, and I would rather casters just have a default magical bonus to AC that is always present, that would only go away when actively countered, baking it in to the character, so to speak, and only making it something to calculate when it is taken away. I would rather have buffs like bull's strength act more like enlarge person, increasing your damage dice and directly stating the amount you can carry or throw, then giving you a random numerical bonus to an attribute that means recalculating everything you can do with that attribute, but only for a set amount of time. This would also cut down on the overlapping and non-stacking bonus issues, because that stuff is a nightmare to keep track of, especially on a round by round basis.
Ugh, it is driving me absolutely bat dung crazy that I can't find where we got this from and have been using since .... I dunno, 2003 I think?
Caaarefuuul... if it doesn't exist, then in all fairness you should've been TPKd during last session. Focus, my young padawan, the destiny of a whole AP is at stake (intense look).
Ugh, it is driving me absolutely bat dung crazy that I can't find where we got this from and have been using since .... I dunno, 2003 I think?Caaarefuuul... if it doesn't exist, then in all fairness you should've been TPKd during last session. Focus, my young padawan, the destiny of a whole AP is at stake (intense look).
contingency + create undead at CL 18th + pile of "reagents" = gnome arcane caster with the mummy lord template. ;)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
my problem with buffs in roleplaying is when they feel more like mandatory number chains that must be carefully calculated and applied to characters in order for them to be functional, rather than awesome powers that characters get when needed to accomplish extraordinary tasks. Mage Armor, for example, in PF1, sounds like it should be something cool, but in reality it is just a default level 1 spell that every caster has to have in order not to die in combat. That is very boring, and I would rather casters just have a default magical bonus to AC that is always present, that would only go away when actively countered, baking it in to the character, so to speak, and only making it something to calculate when it is taken away. I would rather have buffs like bull's strength act more like enlarge person, increasing your damage dice and directly stating the amount you can carry or throw, then giving you a random numerical bonus to an attribute that means recalculating everything you can do with that attribute, but only for a set amount of time. This would also cut down on the overlapping and non-stacking bonus issues, because that stuff is a nightmare to keep track of, especially on a round by round basis.
Agreed, and I really like your idea for Bull's Strength. I'd like all Nature Aspect spells to do something visible - Bull's Strength could make you a giant as you say, or make visible muscles appear on your whole body, make you grow, make you exhale puffs of smoke from your nostrils. Owl's Wisdom might make your eyes go blank or midnight blue filled with constellations, and give you an echoing voice. Fox's Cunning could plant a mischievous grin on your face, give you a fox's tail and hindlegs and tracks of burning flame. Eagle's Splendor might surround you in a shining halo like an angel, with gently floating hair and impossibly graceful movements. Stuff like that.
contingency + create undead at CL 18th + pile of "reagents" = gnome arcane caster with the mummy lord template. ;)Ugh, it is driving me absolutely bat dung crazy that I can't find where we got this from and have been using since .... I dunno, 2003 I think?Caaarefuuul... if it doesn't exist, then in all fairness you should've been TPKd during last session. Focus, my young padawan, the destiny of a whole AP is at stake (intense look).
You mean you were actually able to contingency your gnome into a mummy lord in the event you died??!
Plz clarify n00bz here
Also, tell me a little about your character. I know no one ever really means it, but I like characters, I'm a GM after all. Do you have a sheet around? Or can you give me some details?
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Transmutations in general could benefit greatly from flavor text like that. It's a transmutation - so what are the visual effects from being transmogrified?
Also, a KISS approach to transmutations and other "buff" spells with a duration could be along these lines:
You get one. Make the transmutation awesome for the spell level ... but you get ONE. Same concept as (polymorph) spells, just writ larger. Perhaps the others are there layered beneath them, but the strongest (highest level) transmutation of the target's choice is what is in effect.
Maybe apply the same thing with Abjurations - you get one. If you get more than one, the strongest (highest level) abjuration suppresses the rest of them.
Or the caster realizes that that school of spells will either overwrite or not take effect (lose the action, keep the spell) on the target.
Instantaneous effects such as dispel magic, baleful polymorph or transmute to jellyfish are not subject to this consideration.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
contingency + create undead at CL 18th + pile of "reagents" = gnome arcane caster with the mummy lord template. ;)Ugh, it is driving me absolutely bat dung crazy that I can't find where we got this from and have been using since .... I dunno, 2003 I think?Caaarefuuul... if it doesn't exist, then in all fairness you should've been TPKd during last session. Focus, my young padawan, the destiny of a whole AP is at stake (intense look).You mean you were actually able to contingency your gnome into a mummy lord in the event you died??!
Plz clarify n00bz here
Also, tell me a little about your character. I know no one ever really means it, but I like characters, I'm a GM after all. Do you have a sheet around? Or can you give me some details?
Death patron Witch, original intent was to straddle the line between Neutral and Neutral Evil as an animator of the corpses/bones of the enemies that the group violently rendered deceased into meat shields / catapult fodder against the rest of the bad guys.
Back-story-wise, this is a character in a Giantslayer campaign. She was out with her childhood sweetheart when some big ol' mean giants came along and stomped her beau into toe-jam along with a bunch of other gnomes. Lying there in the rubble, bleeding and broken, her prayers to the Gawds went unanswered.
A voice from her poppet - until then a children's ragged play toy - did answer. *Pouf*, Witch with the Gravehwalker archetype.
Since then she has sworn vengeance upon the giants, at any cost. She (wrongly) figures that the Gawds are silent, so the afterlife is of no consequence.
contingency making create undead activate at the moment of death seems a reasonable interpretation of contingency. The trigger is unequivocal - you have to die for it to activate - and since the 10 minute casting time of create undead is part of the time to cast contingency, only the final M component cost has to be 'payable' at the time of death for it to work.
Assuming a bad guy doesn't dispel it, of course.
I do have a sheet. I can share it later once we're either messily deceased with no way back from the demise or the campaign has concluded, if you like.
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I think that # of buffs are excessive but currently Pathfinder BBEGs require buff spells for them to handle "hard counters" from PCs like greater invisibility or fly.
I think this is going to be redone in PF2 because buff spells are getting a pretty big nerf. I doubt that we are going to see many BBEG Wizard's without a bunch of minion blockers in the new edition.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
That Overlord fight was pretty cool. I might check that anime out if it is on Netflix or Hulu. Help keep me sated with "world that runs on D&D rules" fiction with the massive delays on Rat Queens and Order of the Stick.
Having a maximum of 3 (maybe 5) buff spells makes sense to me. Anything that requires actions (like Bless or Bard songs) should not be limited.
I think this thread has a good point, especially since PF2 doesn't seem to get going until around level 6, which means there will be more high level games.
That Overlord fight was pretty cool. I might check that anime out if it is on Netflix or Hulu. Help keep me sated with "world that runs on D&D rules" fiction with the massive delays on Rat Queens and Order of the Stick.
Hulu has you covered. Enjoy!
** spoiler omitted **...contingency + create undead at CL 18th + pile of "reagents" = gnome arcane caster with the mummy lord template. ;)Ugh, it is driving me absolutely bat dung crazy that I can't find where we got this from and have been using since .... I dunno, 2003 I think?Caaarefuuul... if it doesn't exist, then in all fairness you should've been TPKd during last session. Focus, my young padawan, the destiny of a whole AP is at stake (intense look).You mean you were actually able to contingency your gnome into a mummy lord in the event you died??!
Plz clarify n00bz here
Also, tell me a little about your character. I know no one ever really means it, but I like characters, I'm a GM after all. Do you have a sheet around? Or can you give me some details?
I love her!! She's an awesome character, Comrade, kudos! Yeah, if you feel like share the sheet, even though I won't understand everything I like to look at character stat blocks. Do you have some art too? I'm a very visual-thinking kind of person. And what did you call her?
Yeah, I've been playing with a variant of this for a good while. For my groups, you can have three buffs up from other casters and as many of your own as you want. This prevents overbuffing, but keeps buffs relevant for the casters themselves (since some classes, like wizards and sorcerers, heavily depend on stuff like Fly and Mirror Image to protect themselves in combat).
This still allows for important buffs like Haste, Resist Energy and Blessing of Fervor to be up on the entire group, but prevents ridiculous overbuffing with 10-15 buff spells on the entire group, which I've seen happen in various campaigns at the higher levels.
(Recoils in horror).
10-15 BUFF SPELLS ON THE ENTIRE GROUP
(Runs away).
15?
When our group went into the final rooms of Mummy’s Mask, we had time to prepare *properly*. Our Mystic Theurge, who was our primary buffer, by herself cast 62 buff spells on the rest of the party (with the help of a generous amount of Pearls of Power donated by other party members). My Oracle only cast about a dozen or so, as I recall. (I recall the Mystic Theurge’s 62, because I made a special note of it.)
This was a bit of an extreme, but pretty much indicative of our standard Modus Operandi, and with a generous helping of buffs our fighters rocked through the entire AP - especially in the later parts. We see buffing and support as an important part of teamwork - and I am a bit worried about what will happen to this in PF2...
...
...
... S I X T Y - T W O
...
...
We'd like to compliment Mats! It appears he managed to finally break our Roswynn! Collect your prize at the Claim Center, and contact us for any further information! Have a Good Day!
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Great, I appreciate the effort, but the situation is still there, especially with determined casters in the party.I guess, and there are other ways, greater teleport, etc.That require some questionable reading of how Teleport work.I hope they rein in the pre-buff, scry, teleport, kill deal.
Thread derail:
Teleport and greater teleport require you to know where is the destination. Generally, an image of the interior of a room or an area of the countryside that is 10' around the target isn't enough to know where is the location. Unless there is some recognizable feature that identify the location it is not enough to teleport.
[quoe=Teleport]You must have some clear idea of the location and layout of the destination.
This spell functions like teleport, except that there is no range limit and there is no chance you arrive off target. In addition, you need not have seen the destination, but in that case you must have at least a reliable description of the place to which you are teleporting. If you attempt to teleport with insufficient information (or with misleading information), you disappear and simply reappear in your original location. Interplanar travel is not possible.
Teleport: Teleport is like dimension door, but adds considerably to the range and versatility. However, it is important to note that teleport has several special limitations built into the spell.
For one thing, the caster needs to know both the layout of the destination as well as where it is physically located. If the caster has managed to use divinations to see the layout of a secret hideout, it still won’t do any good unless she knows where it is.
Second, areas of strong physical and magical energy may make teleportation more hazardous or even impossible. Many GMs forget this important component, which actually gives the villain a good in-game reason to establish a secret volcano lair or build her fortress on a ley line. This advice applies equally well to greater teleport, although the
results of a failed teleportation are less dire.
|
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dxICJHd518 Clearly the level of buffing we want from this game right here.Sounds impossible to believe considering it's YT, but it's the comments that really seal the deal for me. They had me almost piss my pants laughing.
Anyways, I can see buffing being the shtick of a character, I was thinking. Totally. Just one, though, not that every. single. caster you meet hears you coming and starts the Buff Routine like they were gonna solo a world boss. Show a little confidence, villains of Golarion.
(BTW, do you know if she one-shots him after all that jazz?).
Ainz against the dominated Shalltear. Overlord is a great Anime.
Ainz won.BTW, he has written a guide on how to use pre-combat buffs to fight against enemies with high magic resistance when you are a spellcaster.
I love her!! She's an awesome character, Comrade, kudos! Yeah, if you feel like share the sheet, even though I won't understand everything I like to look at character stat blocks. Do you have some art too? I'm a very visual-thinking kind of person. And what did you call her?** spoiler omitted **...contingency + create undead at CL 18th + pile of "reagents" = gnome arcane caster with the mummy lord template. ;)Ugh, it is driving me absolutely bat dung crazy that I can't find where we got this from and have been using since .... I dunno, 2003 I think?Caaarefuuul... if it doesn't exist, then in all fairness you should've been TPKd during last session. Focus, my young padawan, the destiny of a whole AP is at stake (intense look).You mean you were actually able to contingency your gnome into a mummy lord in the event you died??!
Plz clarify n00bz here
Also, tell me a little about your character. I know no one ever really means it, but I like characters, I'm a GM after all. Do you have a sheet around? Or can you give me some details?
Over the past few years the other players have taken to naming all of the PCs after a "theme". It was candy bars for Shattered Star, thus was born the Candybar Brigade: Snickers (no-dachi Fighter), Kit-Kat (sorceress), Viole(n)t Crumble (sniper rogue gnome, aka the Gnomish Gatling Gun), etc.
For Giantslayer they went for authors. Since I'm a player in this campaign, her name is Anne Radcliffe de Sade. The other characters are Chaucer, Rudyard K and (when attending) ... Orwell, I believe.
I do try to find artwork for the characters. Sometimes I use memes made into motivational posters when they fit.
deviant art linky, SFW. I like this one for Anne.
Anne's googledocs sheet. I've not noted the contingency or create undead since those are on her equipment sheet. There is a separate spell sheet. All told there are 4 of these sheets that can be interlinked to "talk" to each other. I've been learning as I go on spreadsheet-fu with these sheets over the past 2 months or so - my first time doing anything particularly extensive (our Giantslayer GM is Da Man with spreadsheets, so prior to using these he dealt with the spreadsheet-fu for the entire group).
I'm also a big fan of audio (music, lyrical or otherwise) to help add some ambiance to a scene or character. In the case of Anne ...
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You're absolutely right, I should've spoilered that whole stuff in the first post... I'm sorry, I don't think I can edit it anymore, too much time has passed (said like that it seems like I wrote it back in the 19th century). If anyone has advice on fixing it, or maybe a mod has 2 seconds they can spare, that'd be pretty nice?When I get to be the player and not the GM I play whatever I can. We spend about 2 years on an AP, so there are plenty of them I haven't jet done.G@#~&$mit, Diego, you still playing Reign of Winter? Sheesh - I can't edit the post, there's no edit thingie! Don't look at it!Spoiler please! I am playing that AP and I don't think I am the only one.Hey guys, I was re-reading an old adventure - Rasputin Must Die! (btw, all manners of awesome).
But something is bothering me.
You see, when you come face to face with the evil monk, he casts on himself a lot of buffs - .....
You can flag it to the moderators for spoilers. I have already done it. You can change a post in the forum after an hour has passed.
I was mostly writing that for the future. There is plenty of people that are starting old APs now, or updated versions (like Rise of the Runelords or Curse of the Crimson Throne), so something that seems old stuff for the one writing is a spoiler for the reader.
There was no real damage done.
|
|
Is it on YouTube by any chance? What should I google for? Also, please tell me again the name of this anime, I might want to watch it while I wait for 2e.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dxICJHd518 Clearly the level of buffing we want from this game right here.Sounds impossible to believe considering it's YT, but it's the comments that really seal the deal for me. They had me almost piss my pants laughing.
Anyways, I can see buffing being the shtick of a character, I was thinking. Totally. Just one, though, not that every. single. caster you meet hears you coming and starts the Buff Routine like they were gonna solo a world boss. Show a little confidence, villains of Golarion.
(BTW, do you know if she one-shots him after all that jazz?).
(I enjoyed them going through the pre-fight buffs, but this is from one of my favorite shows. It's a little less silly in context.)
The actual fight is pretty epic, and hinges on one of the pre-combat buffs.
Overlord: http://www.animeshow.tv/Overlord/
So far I have looked only the first season, but it is interesting. You can download tons of animes from that site.
I'll note Overlord is currently going into Season 3.
One very important detail that a lot of people miss is that having multiple abjuration spells up and running in 3e/PF1 sets a DC 25 Perception to notice this effect ...Huh, that's a first I hear of that. A quick search brings up nothing, other than:
If one abjuration spell is active within 10 feet of another for 24 hours or more, the magical fields interfere with each other and create barely visible energy fluctuations. The DC to find such spells with the Perception skill drops by 4.Can you cite the rule, or give a link?Ugh, it is driving me absolutely bat dung crazy that I can't find where we got this from and have been using since .... I dunno, 2003 I think?What the ... when did that get ninja'd in? My hard copy CRB did not survive after its 5th or 6th year. I'll see if my wife has hers floating around where I can read it. Just this past session in our Giantslayer campaign this came up. The GM was "oh yeah, that's right, I'd forgotten about that", in reference to the DC 25 Perception thing. Without it ... we'd have been TPK'd.
I'm looking too. It's very odd, since the quote Franz found indicates it should be somewhere, but isn't. *goes back to googling*
Maybe we lifted it from Pathfinder Beta and/or Pathfinder Alpha and never looked back?
We imported the earlier version of channel energy that way. Might be that's where we got it from ...
Over the past few years the other players have taken to naming all of the PCs after a "theme". It was candy bars for Shattered Star, thus was born the Candybar Brigade: Snickers (no-dachi Fighter), Kit-Kat (sorceress), Viole(n)t Crumble (sniper rogue gnome, aka the Gnomish Gatling Gun), etc.
For Giantslayer they went for authors. Since I'm a player in this campaign, her name is Anne Radcliffe de Sade. The other characters are Chaucer, Rudyard K and (when attending) ... Orwell, I believe.
I do try to find artwork for the characters. Sometimes I use memes made into motivational posters when they fit.
rummages around:
deviant art linky, SFW. I like this one for Anne.
Anne's googledocs sheet. I've not noted the contingency or create undead since those are on her equipment sheet. There is a separate spell sheet. All told there are 4 of these sheets that can be interlinked to "talk" to each other. I've been learning as I go on spreadsheet-fu with these sheets over the past 2 months or so - my first time doing anything particularly extensive (our Giantslayer GM is Da Man with spreadsheets, so prior to using these he dealt with the spreadsheet-fu for the entire group).I'm also a big fan of audio (music, lyrical or otherwise) to help add some ambiance to a scene or character. In the case of Anne ...
Anne's current theme:
Betrayal by Tangerine Dream. YouTube linky, pure audio with a simple pic for the 'video' element.
Wow.
Okay, the choice of names is... XD ... Weird people...
She's real pretty! I like that pic!
So that's 1 of her 4 sheets... that talk to each other. Okay, from what my limited mind can comprehend, I rather like her. That said, I pray any god or demon who might be listening not to let PF2 necessitate spreadsheets like that. I really, really wanna be able to make a normal character sheet for my npcs, or pcs, or monsters, or anything. I swear, if I ever have to again contemplate the idea of 4 spreadsheets like that one all talking to each other I'm out of here and going back to 5e in a friggin' flash, and I swear I'm not jokin' XD
Sorry Comrade, just... I'd actually play Fate instead of that ;P
Anyways. Yeah, I'm a big music fan too, but my tastes are a lot tamer than yours. That kind of music really isn't for me, I tend to like songs from musicals, or Sara Bareilles, or Francesca Michielin, nothing that sophisticated, really. And solely instrumental songs really bore me to tears XD Unless it's Gustavo Santaolalla's main theme for The Last of Us, that one is absolutely beautiful. Or other themes from games. Or from movies. But stuff like that, all electronic, I suppose it was all synthesizer? Not for me (shrugs) =)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You can flag it to the moderators for spoilers. I have already done it. You can change a post in the forum after an hour has passed.
I was mostly writing that for the future. There is plenty of people that are starting old APs now, or updated versions (like Rise of the Runelords or Curse of the Crimson Throne), so something that seems old stuff for the one writing is a spoiler for the reader.
There was no real damage done.
You're right! Anyways, it appears I still can't edit it, but I did flag it for spoilers, I didn't remember you could specify the *reason* you'd flag a post... Like, I must've imagined mods appear, cast a divination ritual, and immediately they understand what's wrong with a post X)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
;) The others enjoy it, who am I to say no? Certainly not any weirder than Stillbug Toegobbler.
The sheet I linked is the main sheet. A smidge of editing and you can do everything from the one sheet. On other sheets I drop in hyperlinks (you should have seen one such for her neck slot item), especially for spells or anything I don't know by memory.
I'd about given up on PF tbh ... I can run / play HERO and GURPS from the back of a napkin with 3d6 or Call of Cthulhu with a single standard set of polyhedral dice.
Pathfinder has soooo many bits and pieces that a spreadsheet keeps me sane. Plug things in as I go, voila, no more worrying about most of the fiddly bits.
I pick music that won't disrupt the game if I play it at a table. Lyrical music tends to yank things out of "playing mode" I've found. Soundtracks from movies are often my preferred source.
Some soundtracks are ideal to help convey an impression about a character, monster or NPC because of the mental association many will have with something in the film(s) that the music is a part of. The film Sorcerer - where Betrayal originally came from IIRC - features something of the pseudo-angst in Anne's backstory.
I'm looking too. It's very odd, since the quote Franz found indicates it should be somewhere, but isn't. *goes back to googling*One very important detail that a lot of people miss is that having multiple abjuration spells up and running in 3e/PF1 sets a DC 25 Perception to notice this effect ...Huh, that's a first I hear of that. A quick search brings up nothing, other than:
If one abjuration spell is active within 10 feet of another for 24 hours or more, the magical fields interfere with each other and create barely visible energy fluctuations. The DC to find such spells with the Perception skill drops by 4.Can you cite the rule, or give a link?Ugh, it is driving me absolutely bat dung crazy that I can't find where we got this from and have been using since .... I dunno, 2003 I think?What the ... when did that get ninja'd in? My hard copy CRB did not survive after its 5th or 6th year. I'll see if my wife has hers floating around where I can read it. Just this past session in our Giantslayer campaign this came up. The GM was "oh yeah, that's right, I'd forgotten about that", in reference to the DC 25 Perception thing. Without it ... we'd have been TPK'd.
That quote I found would rather indicate the opposite, I think: it’s saying that ongoing spells (24 hours or more) close to each other are a bit easier to notice (DC drops by 4).
It says nothing about multiple short duration spells, so that would indicate they use the normal DC to notice. Too bad that Perception doesn’t list the normal DC to notice an ongoing abjuration spell.
That's what I mean. There was obviously a DC to notice abjuration spells, somewhere. It could be DC 25 if you have multiple ones, it might not, who knows? What none of us can find is that base DC and what else might modify it.
3.5 lists a DC of 25+Spell Level (Rogue only) in the Search Skill entry.
So that’s another of those Editor mistakes that was never cleaned up.
3.5 lists a DC of 25+Spell Level (Rogue only) in the Search Skill entry.
That's specifically for magical traps via Search, which is replicated in Pathfinder's Perception skill.
3.5 lists a DC of 25+Spell Level (Rogue only) in the Search Skill entry.That's specifically for magical traps via Search, which is replicated in Pathfinder's Perception skill.
Abjuration Spells are magical traps (amongst other things). Explosive Runes in PF lists the DC, but Perception does not.
Abjuration Spells are magical traps (amongst other things). Explosive Runes in PF lists the DC, but Perception does not.3.5 lists a DC of 25+Spell Level (Rogue only) in the Search Skill entry.That's specifically for magical traps via Search, which is replicated in Pathfinder's Perception skill.
It's the "among other things" part that has me pulling out what hair I have left by the roots.
Maybe, at one point, it read along the lines of:
"Multiple abjuration spells with a duration of 10 minutes per level or longer than are within 10 feet of each other can be perceived at a Perception DC of 25 plus distance modifiers. [insert 24-hour or longer duration stuff here, reducing the DC by 4 to 21]"
;) The others enjoy it, who am I to say no? Certainly not any weirder than Stillbug Toegobbler.
The sheet I linked is the main sheet. A smidge of editing and you can do everything from the one sheet. On other sheets I drop in hyperlinks (you should have seen one such for her neck slot item), especially for spells or anything I don't know by memory.
I'd about given up on PF tbh ... I can run / play HERO and GURPS from the back of a napkin with 3d6 or Call of Cthulhu with a single standard set of polyhedral dice.
Pathfinder has soooo many bits and pieces that a spreadsheet keeps me sane. Plug things in as I go, voila, no more worrying about most of the fiddly bits.
I pick music that won't disrupt the game if I play it at a table. Lyrical music tends to yank things out of "playing mode" I've found. Soundtracks from movies are often my preferred source.
Some soundtracks are ideal to help convey an impression about a character, monster or NPC because of the mental association many will have with something in the film(s) that the music is a part of. The film Sorcerer - where Betrayal originally came from IIRC - features something of the pseudo-angst in Anne's backstory.
Aww come on, some gnomish names are downright pretty! But Anne is pretty too, honestly. And sure, if your group likes to name themselves like candies or famous writers, I don't get it but I'm certainly not trying to stop you =)
Okay, the fact that is the main sheet alleviates a tiny bit of anguish from my poor heart. Still... too much. Really, this must be playable on a dead tree character sheet. I'm digging my heels in.
Wait... Call of Cthulhu, yeah, that's an easy system iirc, but GURPS? From a napkin? GURPS gives you *less* problems than PF?... But without any optional rule? Because I love the core check mechanic in GURPS, but other than that it too is rather complex - and if you use the options that make combat more interesting and realistic... it's a bit crazy. Unless you have a pretty hyperactive brain, I guess.
Oh, yeah, when we play I use music too, and try to avoid lyrical music just like you do, I mostly go with game and movie OSTs. I just dislike heavy use of synthesizers, or heavily electronic music - I'm not a music expert, I don't know if I'm using random terms here X) - and I pick only music I really like, and I try to make it fitting. Sometimes I slide in a lyrical piece if it's just too awesome, like Malukah's Reignite, a reinterpretation of the ME3 main theme.
I also asked my guys soundtracks for their characters in the last adventure we played, one went with a theme from God of War, the other with Plainsong by Cure, which has vocals, but very subdued, and was very cool in any case.
Now I'm wondering what song I could pick for my signature alchemist... I really don't know. Perhaps Reignite. Or something along those lines, thematically. She's that kind of girl =)
Abjuration Spells are magical traps (amongst other things). Explosive Runes in PF lists the DC, but Perception does not.3.5 lists a DC of 25+Spell Level (Rogue only) in the Search Skill entry.That's specifically for magical traps via Search, which is replicated in Pathfinder's Perception skill.It's the "among other things" part that has me pulling out what hair I have left by the roots.
Maybe, at one point, it read along the lines of:
"Multiple abjuration spells with a duration of 10 minutes per level or longer than are within 10 feet of each other can be perceived at a Perception DC of 25 plus distance modifiers. [insert 24-hour or longer duration stuff here, reducing the DC by 4 to 21]"
The text is a direct copy from 3.5 (with Search replaced by Perception). I think you just misremembered or had a house rule.
Regardless, we now have a DC to notice abjuration spells: 25 + spell level.
Abjuration Spells are magical traps (amongst other things). Explosive Runes in PF lists the DC, but Perception does not.3.5 lists a DC of 25+Spell Level (Rogue only) in the Search Skill entry.That's specifically for magical traps via Search, which is replicated in Pathfinder's Perception skill.It's the "among other things" part that has me pulling out what hair I have left by the roots.
Maybe, at one point, it read along the lines of:
"Multiple abjuration spells with a duration of 10 minutes per level or longer than are within 10 feet of each other can be perceived at a Perception DC of 25 plus distance modifiers. [insert 24-hour or longer duration stuff here, reducing the DC by 4 to 21]"
The text is a direct copy from 3.5 (with Search replaced by Perception). I think you just misremembered or had a house rule.
Regardless, we now have a DC to notice abjuration spells: 25 + spell level.
This is true, dropping to 21 + spell level for those sporting mind blank and [insert 24-hour+ duration abjuration spell]. :)
The DM/GM playing music would be a precarious point for me, thank god it's never happened; I mean, even if I liked the music, it could feel awkward, but if I don't like the music...
I dunno, I've never had this problem. I played mostly songs I knew everybody loved, and a few *I* loved and turned out to be if not hits at least agreeable.
Aww come on, some gnomish names are downright pretty! But Anne is pretty too, honestly. And sure, if your group likes to name themselves like candies or famous writers, I don't get it but I'm certainly not trying to stop you =)
Okay, the fact that is the main sheet alleviates a tiny bit of anguish from my poor heart. Still... too much. Really, this must be playable on a dead tree character sheet. I'm digging my heels in.
Wait... Call of Cthulhu, yeah, that's an easy system iirc, but GURPS? From a napkin? GURPS gives you *less* problems than PF?... But without any optional rule? Because I love the core check mechanic in GURPS, but other than that it too is rather complex - and if you use the options that make combat more interesting and realistic... it's a bit crazy. Unless you have a pretty hyperactive brain, I guess.
Oh, yeah, when we play I use music too, and try to avoid lyrical music just like you do, I mostly go with game and movie OSTs. I just dislike heavy use of synthesizers, or heavily electronic music - I'm not a music expert, I don't know if I'm using random terms here X) - and I pick only music I really like, and I try to make it fitting. Sometimes I slide in a lyrical piece if it's just too awesome, like Malukah's Reignite, a reinterpretation of the ME3 main theme.
I also asked my guys soundtracks for their characters in the last adventure we played, one went with a theme from God of War, the other with Plainsong by Cure, which has vocals, but very subdued, and was very cool in any case.
Now I'm wondering what song I could pick for my signature alchemist... I really don't know. Perhaps Reignite. Or something along those lines, thematically. She's that kind of girl =)
GURPS' core mechanic - and much the same with HERO - is "rolling low on 3d6 is Always a Good Thing, rolling boxcars is Bad, sometimes Very Bad". This makes the game super-easy for me to run off a napkin, scratch pad or anything similarly useful for scribbling random notes as I go. I can wing things very easily (How good are the mooks? 10 or less? Sounds good!) and not worry too much about the fiddly bits that are annoying. GURPS is all about the personalities of the characters.
Usually I use bits of the optional complex combat system, but for the most part it gets in the way of having a fun game: 1/2D range, Acc, targeted locations, not much else.
The only system I've found to be easier and quite entertaining to run is Teenagers from Outer Space (TFOS for short).
Certain lyrical pieces are too awesome to pass up when appropriate to the scene (or, rarely, character).
Sorrow from Gladiator is incredibly poignant when properly timed.
For your alchemist ... hrmmmmm .... well, there's always Light It Up. If she goes full cyborg there is of course the first 75 seconds or so of The Escape from Major Dundee to convey the "WTF is wrong with this one?!" vibe.
Regarding the main sheet: print it in landscape, adjust to fit. I've sent it as PDFs that way before to the google-sheet-challenged I know. ;)
Stillbug Toegobbler is more of a goblin name I think ...
I think I couldn't run GURPS the way you do - I would get lost in all the minutiae. I see them as too integral to the game, right from the start, when you're building a character, you have a lot of variables to consider, and they go into a lot of details about everything, even stuff like social status, military rank, swim speed, amount of fat tissue, carrying strength... If I needed a generic system, right now I would probably choose Fate, but even in that case I'd unify the 4 actions - overcome/create advantage/attack/defense - and streamline a couple other things too.
Aww, I don't like that direction for Fall Out Boys, I loved Sugar We're Going Down. No, my alchemist isn't a cyborg. The main elements to her character are her genius-level intelligence (Einstein, Da Vinci) and the fact that while she's often shy and conflicted, once she's motivated you can't bring her down, you can't intimidate her, she becomes The Determinator trope. So Malukah's Reignite is actually a pretty good theme for her. Right now I can't think of a more appropriate one, I'd have to research.
Oh btw I really like to spring ME2's End Run on unsuspecting players when there's a super climatic/final boss fight. Awesome music. Oh and of course GoT's main theme by Ramin Djawadi is freakin' beautiful, more for triumphant moments though.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I've never played any of the Mass Effect games, so the music is a pleasant surprise.
"The Escape" is a unique track (well, its first ~75 seconds are) - for its time (more than 50 years ago) it is a welcome surprise from the usual fare of soundtracks of that era.
I think I couldn't run GURPS the way you do - I would get lost in all the minutiae. I see them as too integral to the game, right from the start, when you're building a character, you have a lot of variables to consider, and they go into a lot of details about everything, even stuff like social status, military rank, swim speed, amount of fat tissue, carrying strength... If I needed a generic system, right now I would probably choose Fate, but even in that case I'd unify the 4 actions - overcome/create advantage/attack/defense - and streamline a couple other things too.
The players do all of the hard work in GURPS/HERO ... they make the characters. I only have to worry about some kind of a story and the NPCs within it. IF I need a detailed NPC, then I worry about their minutae. For the most part, it doesn't matter over much.
Well-rounded GURPS/HERO characters come to you as the GM with all of the necessary plot-hooks built right into them. Most of the time I've ad-libbed entire campaigns based on what their disadvantages (and sometimes advantages) are.
You may have, for example, four players that decided to collectively select one major Enemy and a scattering of Rivals, other piddly Enemies and what have you. Depending on how many points they elected to milk from these kinds of disadvantages, you can improv a campaign for a dozen or more sessions just from a handful of different Enemies, Rivals et al. Listen to the color commentary while they're making their characters. Sometimes that in combination with their character sheets will combine to unleash a creative torrent. Sometimes, not so much.
Continuing this example, let's use what I can recall from the last campaign.
The players collectively managed to select, in a fantasy-style genre, Enemy (The Church), Rival (Black Knight), Rival (Spurned ex-Lover), Enemy (Cult [unknown]), Status -1 and a smattering of skills in Things the Church Does Not Approve Of.
*Pouf*, a group of low-life scum/adventurers, ex-communicated by the Church that need to gather the evidence to repudiate their status from a Cult they know little about. Along the way Guinevere - the "spurned lover" - has joined forces with the Black Knight - a devout landless knight with a lecherous streak - who are out to collect Our Heroes, not as heads in lime-filled baskets, but to capture them for a Baronetcy of their own.
Who or what is this mysterious Cult? How far does their insidious influence reach? How far up do their tentacles sprawl into the corrupted hearts of some of the Church elders? Only the campaign will tell ... or Our Heroes shall burn at the stake for their supposed blasphemies!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
A bit on-topic ;)
If PF2 makes long-duration buffs that you can prepare far in advance rarer, it might help.
Because with 3 actions per round and spells with variable casting duration you CAN quickly buff yourself when combat starts.
In PF1 you can cast 1 spell + 1 low level spell with quicken per round.
If PF2 Heal is an indication and more casting actions add range or mass-effects then a caster could cast 3 high-level buffs on themselves in one round if the 1-action casting is "only on you and only 1 minute".
So there you'll have the scenario that the BBEG begins to float and glow as the party enters the room.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The DM/GM playing music would be a precarious point for me, thank god it's never happened; I mean, even if I liked the music, it could feel awkward, but if I don't like the music...I dunno, I've never had this problem. I played mostly songs I knew everybody loved, and a few *I* loved and turned out to be if not hits at least agreeable.
I am usually too clueless about music to choose some, though my 5e players pushed me into playing the Pacific Rim theme on loop for a boss battle against a storm giant quintessent at level 4. That was a fun session, albeit less fun than the one with the constant screaming.
A bit on-topic ;)
If PF2 makes long-duration buffs that you can prepare far in advance rarer, it might help.
Because with 3 actions per round and spells with variable casting duration you CAN quickly buff yourself when combat starts.In PF1 you can cast 1 spell + 1 low level spell with quicken per round.
If PF2 Heal is an indication and more casting actions add range or mass-effects then a caster could cast 3 high-level buffs on themselves in one round if the 1-action casting is "only on you and only 1 minute".So there you'll have the scenario that the BBEG begins to float and glow as the party enters the room.
Awesomesauce, that means 1) with fewer slots per level you won't have so many buffs and 2) with buffs being generally quicker to cast, as you point out, a writer or GM won't feel overburdened with the need to make a caster pre-buff, and instead will tend to have them cast a couple buffs on the 1st round, right then and there in front of the PCs. This is awesome. It's the game I wanna play.
Oh, also, sorry but: "HURR HURR, YOU SAID MASS-EFFECTS!" - Sorry, fanGirls Just Wanna Have Fun.
I've never played any of the Mass Effect games, so the music is a pleasant surprise.
"The Escape" is a unique track (well, its first ~75 seconds are) - for its time (more than 50 years ago) it is a welcome surprise from the usual fare of soundtracks of that era.
ME is a great franchise. The 1st 3 games are simply great, even though the 1st is very old (but still has decent graphics) and the 3rd ends... stupidly, because EA and BioWare simply messed up. But the gameplay is absolutely great, and also, the 2nd is in some aspects even better.
Just avoid Andromeda. It was the typical example of EA being a s@+*ty company. Let's hope when they start working on a 4th title either EA has gone the way of the dodo or they have *significantly* changed their ethical values and business practices (and CEO!), or it's gonna be yet another Andromeda, and then the franchise might really die. You can come back from the brink once, but twice, well, it would require some serious, CDPR-level balls/ovaries.
I think I couldn't run GURPS the way you do - I would get lost in all the minutiae. I see them as too integral to the game, right from the start, when you're building a character, you have a lot of variables to consider, and they go into a lot of details about everything, even stuff like social status, military rank, swim speed, amount of fat tissue, carrying strength... If I needed a generic system, right now I would probably choose Fate, but even in that case I'd unify the 4 actions - overcome/create advantage/attack/defense - and streamline a couple other things too.The players do all of the hard work in GURPS/HERO ... they make the characters. I only have to worry about some kind of a story and the NPCs within it. IF I need a detailed NPC, then I worry about their minutae. For the most part, it doesn't matter over much.
Well-rounded GURPS/HERO characters come to you as the GM with all of the necessary plot-hooks built right into them. Most of the time I've ad-libbed entire campaigns based on what their disadvantages (and sometimes advantages) are.
You may have, for example, four players that decided to collectively select one major Enemy and a scattering of Rivals, other piddly Enemies and what have you. Depending on how many points they elected to milk from these kinds of disadvantages, you can improv a campaign for a dozen or more sessions just from a handful of different Enemies, Rivals et al. Listen to the color commentary while they're making their characters. Sometimes that in combination with their character sheets will combine to unleash a creative torrent. Sometimes, not so much.
Continuing this example, let's use what I can recall from the last campaign.
The players collectively managed to select, in a fantasy-style genre, Enemy (The Church), Rival (Black Knight), Rival (Spurned ex-Lover), Enemy (Cult [unknown]), Status -1 and a smattering of skills in Things the Church Does Not Approve Of.
*Pouf*, a group of low-life scum/adventurers, ex-communicated by the Church that need to gather the evidence to repudiate their status from a Cult they know little about. Along the way Guinevere - the "spurned lover" - has joined forces with the Black Knight - a devout landless knight with a lecherous streak - who are out to collect Our Heroes, not as heads in lime-filled baskets, but to capture them for a Baronetcy of their own.
Who or what is this mysterious Cult? How far does their insidious influence reach? How far up do their tentacles sprawl into the corrupted hearts of some of the Church elders? Only the campaign will tell ... or Our Heroes shall burn at the stake for their supposed blasphemies!
Well, my players are awesome role-players, but they don't really care about new rules systems unless it's D&D or PF, they'd actually mostly prefer a completely narrative, freestyle experience, no rules/dice/nothing.
At least that's what they say, of course when they crit or take lots of damage you see the excitement or fear in their face and voice. Once an npc was dying and Morris told me "I was so worried when Leda went down, I swear!", and I was laughing, "I wasn't at all, because 1) it's only fair that a big white dragon downs somebody in a fight, and 2) she had just failed a single save and was in no immediate danger, plus you had revive!", and he: "Yeah but still! I've grown so attached to her, and she's such a dreadnought, I was almost panicking!".
Now tell me how in all hell you'd get results like this with wholly freestyle narrative with no rules and dice ;P
But still, they won't read game rules unless it's D&D/PF, so I could never trust them to make characters in GURPS. They just wouldn't, they'd refuse. They'd say it's too complex and boring and full of silly stuff and let's play diceless instead or D&D. They're my best male friends but jeez, they don't make it easy on me.
Also, how would I make some really cool, detailed npcs? I like making npcs. But the rules need to be simpler than this.
Finally, I need a setting. I actually can't improv a game worth s#+@. And the better the setting is delineated, the better I can run it. With just the few info you mention I wouldn't know what to do. Of course I could use already existing settings. Exalted still has a great setting even though the rules suck (at least imo, and that of a rather vocal minority as well), but it's still woefully incomplete with the pace they're publishing stuff. Eberron is an incredible setting. Golarion is very nice. Eclipse Phase is another masterpiece.
Here's the deal though: when I run a game I need to know as much as I can about the setting. If it's an AP, as for Doomsday Dawn, I can do with less. I reread my pdfs, gathered various info, I'm still in the process, but all in all I'm more than ready to run that baby, I'll just need to look at the rules and adventure and I'll be more than fine.
Eberron, though, I have no ready campaign. Same for Eclipse Phase. So I'll have to really study them in their entirety, and they're not fluff-light games (if they were I wouldn't like it). And Exalted, yeah, I can try, but I'd rather run it when all the fluff will have been published (and with different rules of course).
So there it is.
I have tried Apocalypse World for instance, and the improv part of the game really doesn't sit well at all with me. I'm just too OCD for that - I take after my mother ;)
I *do* still have a lot of GURPS pdfs though, because those books are like graduate theses - extremely well researched and realistic. I love them. I could probably use them too as settings - GURPS Aztecs, Vikings, China, Banestorm... awesome stuff. With the technology supplements, thaumaturgy, martial arts? Incredible. I'll never be able to actually run GURPS, but I learned a lot of stuff by just reading it =)
If you really know everyone and their taste, then I could see it working. Do these songs have lyrics, or instrumental? What genre?The DM/GM playing music would be a precarious point for me, thank god it's never happened; I mean, even if I liked the music, it could feel awkward, but if I don't like the music...I dunno, I've never had this problem. I played mostly songs I knew everybody loved, and a few *I* loved and turned out to be if not hits at least agreeable.
Okay, this was for Exalted, in a custom-made city state with strong Classical Greek flavor. Summarizing, almost all instrumental themes, from:
Battlestar Galactica (plus the beautiful Gayatri Mantra intro, a Hindu prayer to the sun we played before each session as a kind of silly ritual), 300, God of War (all the games but the latest), Conan (the '80s movie... I was surprised at how really great the music was), Dragon's Dogma, Horizon Zero Dawn, The Witcher 3, Wonder Woman, The Last of Us, Pacific Rim, Gladiator, and Sunshine, plus just a couple songs with vocals like Malukah's Reignite, all divided according to: action, ambient, foreboding, and triumphant.
So 99% instrumentals from OSTs of movies, shows and games. I don't think genre really applies with OSTs (although I'm not sure), but you can see there are fast and powerful songs, others which are more mellow for moments of reflection, others still that sound like ballads or even a passacaglia, some electronica-influenced tunes, lots of full orchestras, and just a couple filk ballads, in case.
Btw, I also had some of these - Tabletop Audio is a site specializing in RPG themes. They're a bit generic and not nearly enough for a pair of ears with feet like me, but they're very well done, on point and contain even sound effects appropriate to the situation at hand. I didn't use them much, but still good stuff, worth supporting.
I am usually too clueless about music to choose some, though my 5e players pushed me into playing the Pacific Rim theme on loop for a boss battleThe DM/GM playing music would be a precarious point for me, thank god it's never happened; I mean, even if I liked the music, it could feel awkward, but if I don't like the music...I dunno, I've never had this problem. I played mostly songs I knew everybody loved, and a few *I* loved and turned out to be if not hits at least agreeable.against a storm giant quintessentat level 4. That was a fun session, albeit less fun than the one with the constant screaming.
I love storm giant quintessents. And fire giant dreadnoughts. And cloud giant laughing ones.
Yeah, I can see your campaign is so incredibly overpowered you'd have them face a quintessent at level 4 X)
Good choice on Pacific Rim, epic OST.
... Constant screaming?... You got it sis, I'm biting. Do tell ;)