Pathfinder General /pfg/

Regardless of source it fits any fantasy paladin pretty well.

Doesn't she sometimes will them to start being driders, though?

I believe that's a punishment, to keep them around as the 'tried really hard, but failed' warning.

Correct it is a punishment.

No problem.

Essentially that archetype lets you play as a semi magic gunslinger.

What level of firearm tech are they using, out of curiousity?

Would someone mind posting the scans of Shield Mastery feats from the Armor Masters Handbook? I can't download from the trove right now.

Here's your reminder that the best armor for spellcasters is a skintight metal suit.

Since Dhampirs have been popular recently, what's everyone's favorite Dhampir heritage?

Nosferatu-born is the only proper answer.

Depends what you want them for.

Jiang-Shi-born makes good maguses. (Though imo, they're the worst of the four)
Moroi makes good paladins
Vetala make good wizards
Nosferatu make good stalkers.

Jiangshi is pretty neat, and I still want to make a Lunar Enlightened Philosopher Oracle, with the Noble Lineage Feat for Cha-to-Initiative so I can properly dump Dex into the dirt. Playing a stiff kek ex-noble would be fun.

A shame every time I go look for Jiangshi pictures it's either a shitty monstergirl or pic-related.

Does Aegis have decent ranged attack v melee attack balance?
One of my players is trying to recreate the Guyver,and my lack of experience with DSP (and manga, in the middle of researching the series) is hampering me.

Yes most of what it can do for melee it can do for ranged, size increases, stat increases, unless you mean the built in ranged attacks you can take as customizations, those always looked very meh to me.

The ranged attack customization is shit, but they can use ranged weapons fine.

They don't really have good support for ranged. Sure, you CAN make a ranged aegis, but many of their abilities(like size increases) definitely benefit melee more.

Right, can someone please explain how I determine kingdom size, because ultimate campaign ain't giving me any explanation.

Eh, what I expected and feared. Most of the attacks would be built in shit. At least the melee part is covered. I see the size increases, does it go to colossal?

"Lead evil by example, and one day we need no longer put the boots to those that stray off the path of goodness into the muck and bile of villainy and track great bloody footprints across our lily white tiles! Boo will have clean wood shavings you evil bastards!"

I'm pretty sure Kingdom Size is just the number of hexes in your kingdom. Count them up, and there's your size.

The Host of Heroes aegis and its holofield wizard suit can do the ranged stuff fine (with maneuvers, even), but otherwise it's bad, yeah.

Well.... Initiator soul for Primal Fury, The Size increase customization, and powerful build customization. You would hit four size categories larger then your base form to get colossal, or if you eventually take the double size increase customization it is Colossal +1

I've created an NPC with 5 levels in PC Classes and a +3 CR Template.

So, her CR is 8? I'm missing something?

CR calculation looks so abstract sometimes...

Advanced firearms.

>Size: This is how many hexes the kingdom claims. a new kingdom's Size is 1.
d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/kingdom-building

It depends on whether you are using the PC ability score array and PC WBL. If so then it is CR 8, if not then it is CR 7.

That's because it is.

It should be CR 7.

NPCs with PC levels count as CR equal to level - 1.

Post yfw the GM tells you it's time to get on the boat to cross the ocean in the middle of a campaign and you use full plate/tower shield when you're still low level.

I wagered IS was a nobrainer.
What he is looking for is:
Flight
Strong melee options, preferably without outside weapons (refluffed claws I figure)
Fairly fast
Size increases later down the line
Ranged potential, but that may have to be scrapped.
What the player doesn't know is that I am pulling his nemesis from the manga and creating a rival guyver.

I see some very weird conflicting desires from /pfg/. I see a lot of people buttmad about their game not being difficult enough. However I also see people very angry about encounter design that is tipped in the enemy's favor (or enemies who are good at their job).

What actually seems desired is an illusion of difficulty, not actual difficulty. Kinda like a video game where there is never any real doubt that victory is attainable by the player.

...

Most players want at least a snowball's chance against most foes.
If an enemy outclasses you, there should at least be signs you may be in over your head.

Oh, I see. Many thanks.

Another question... Racial Points are a factor in the CR? Because the NPC in question is part of a custom Orc Race with 20 RP. The CR still is 7?

>All you need is a gay black transmale muslim CG quirky rebel fighting against the straight white male LE tyrant.

I would have legit worked for the bbeg just to troll the rest of my group before betraying them in the final fight. I'm a wizard as well so I'd probably do a pretty good job of it.

Racial points normally aren't enough to make the difference, but tell us what you're adding and we'll make a judgement.

Honestly CR is very bad to base things off, you can take two things, same level, same stat modifier, same race, and they can be wildly different in power, with the same cr.
That is why most people will tell you CR is bullshit.

Question for the DSPs regarding Avant Garde:
Are you still considered to be "accepting burn" if the cost is reduced to 0 by meditation, for the purpose of other feats,etc?

>Anything CR 10+ with no means of handling airborne enemies

Not outclasses them, but fighting someone of equal skill to them. Or even fighting individuals weaker than them using even a semblance of tactics.

What I have seen from GMing for many groups is that most folks want to front load their tactics. Tactics are made when they design the character and it should be able to do all of its things out of the box without needing case by case tactics. When enemies use case by case tactics (traps designed to kill these PCs in particular if they have the time and knowledge to make them or ambushes playing against the PC's strengths) a lot of folks will cry fowl and never actually try and do the same.

A good example was the enemies using this simple set of tactics:
>Don't approach the PCs, build big bonfire to attract them
>have two archers climb trees and aim and who is silhouetted by the flame
>have two guys waiting in the bushed at the tree line
>have to other guys hiding in the bushes across the way to flank once the PCs some into contact with the first two hidden guys

They were a group of three hobgoblins and three goblins against six level 2 characters. The PCs ran right into the ambush and half the party was butchered before the tides began turning. The PCs even got mad when the enemies cut their losses, grabbed one of their downed and left the other before scattering into the woods.

She is a Siegebreaker Mutagenic Warrior 5 with Elite array without any magic items (but we use the Automatic Bonus Progression).

The race is a custom Orc, the "Golgagh Orcs", you can see the full stats here: docs.google.com/document/d/1W9VYidossoGgjW9Ka7EAiYy049I_O6Nuhh9r60yE49Y/

The template is Giantblooded Creature (Stone Giant).

The whole thing of her is to crash the enemy lines causing enough chaos to make the foot soldiers to be able to reach the enemies.

I'm thinking if I should put the CR 8, because she hits really hard and the party don't have any full casters.

/pfg/, how do I challenge a necromancer cleric? Send Paladins after them?

The trick is that the Aegis, unless Host of Heroes (Even then, while viable, the Host of Heroes archmage weapon isn't all that great.), needs a ranged weapon from elsewhere than its own abilities, that would be perfectly viable if the Aegis were not there.

SO LONG as you fulfill this requirement, the Aegis becomes an exceptionally dangerous core for the wielding of this weapon.

For basics, there's obviously the longbow, which will be at *least* counting as huge by level 6+

A Warsoul or Living Legend can handle it quite well - this is feat intensive due to SotAS and Fighter's Blade - very well though at high levels you'll have to leave aegis mostly behind lest your weapon fall apart. You do lose more multiclassing living legend than other soulknives though.

You could also use the Aegis as the support-overlay for one of the actual Mech classes (biped medium is just power armor and there's a +dex/health option instead of getting bigger if you choose) and use whatever weapons are mounted there.

>Playing Rise of the Runelords.
>Party consisted of bard titsune, swashbuckler aasimar, investigator vanara, warpriest dorf and druid snow elf.
>About to fight Barl Bonebreaker.
>Barl incapacitates swashbuckler by ray of enfeeblement.
>Druid pet engages stone giant bodyguard.
>Druid grows into a gargantuan giantess and engages Barl in melee.
>Barl trips Druid with earthbreaker.
>Druid pet spinosaur comes to the rescue.
>Barl one hit kills it with a critical blow.
>Does the same with Druid when she tries to get up.
>Player rage quits because is bullshit a necrommancer can do so much damage in melee.

Is a FUCKING STONE GIANT YOU NUTBUTTER CHUGGER!!!

Does DSP have anything for the Vigilante yet?

That's 13 RP, not 20, count again.

Well, the early levels are called Rusty Dagger Shanktown for a reason-a single lucky attack might turn your carefully written and well-planned character into a bloody smear, which hardly ever seems fair when it happens.

As for whether or not the group ever uses tactics, there's a very easy way you make sure they will-tell them to. At the start of the campaign, warn them that you're not going to do them any favors or cut them any slack. They'll either learn to play it smart, or die, and if the latter, they won't have a leg to stand on when they complain, because you fucking told them and they didn't listen.

>My Paladin

> is an older man, not the oldest of his Order but by no means the youngest. He is tired of platitudes and the pretense that normally is found in Paladin Orders, to the point where he has several reprimands about general demeanor, were it not for his talented ability in the art of war and his dedication to the Order things may be different. As it stands, he has a reputation of verbally abusing the teaching staff, excessive rough handing of the Squires and almost contemptable disregard for most forms of etiquette. While such actions have made him quite popular with the newly ordained Paladins, the most senior rarely find reason to have him stay in their presence for long.

>might turn your carefully written and well-planned character into a bloody smear, which hardly ever seems fair when it happens.
That's called being a big baby. I have almost universally found that people who can't handle character death are terrible people to play with and GM for.

>At the start of the campaign, warn them that you're not going to do them any favors or cut them any slack.
If I wasn't doing them any favors it would be a lost worse than this. Enemies are doing the absolute bare minimum of critical thinking before going into combat. That isn't something that you should have to tell people before a game. Players are retarded, I get that, but there is only one way they're gonna learn to act cautiously. Especially at levels where resurrection is too expensive to be feasible.

Aberration (3 RP)
Medium (0 RP)
Slow Speed (–1 RP)
Paragon: +4 Str, -2 Int, -2 Wis, -2 Cha (1 RP)
Advanced Strenght (+2) (4 RP)
Static Bonus Feat (Endurance, Toughness) (4 RP)
Xenophobic (0 RP)
Hardy (3 RP)
Ferocity (4 RP)
Toxic (1 RP)
Natural Attack: Gore (1 RP)
Frenzy (2 RP)
Light Blindness (–2 RP)

20 RP, no?

3-1=4+1=5+2=7+4=11+3=14+4=18+1=19+1=20+2=22-2=20

Checks out.

Is there a way to sheathe, not draw, weapons as a free action? I'm not allowed to Mwk Transformation my heirloom weapon for some reason and I kinda wanna know if I can salvage that somehow so I can get the CMB bonus.

Well, considering you killed half your party in one encounter, I'd say you made your point inescapably clear. I'm just wondering if that couldn't have all been avoided with five minutes' warning during startup.

What you do not mention is whether or not the battle was designed based on metaknowledge (yes, the gm CAN metagame against the players poorly) or based on insetting knowledge and tendencies.
For example, how did this group, with it's very specific makeup, know where the pcs were going to set a trap for them? How did they know that hiding in certain bushes would put them in place to flank the party just so?
Were opposing checks made to see if the party noticed the hidden npcs?
How much of the battle was adjusted on the fly behind the screen, versus the setpiece being made and playing out as it put down?
Battles like what you mentioned usually end up being anti-pc creations, not coming about organically.
Even then, it was an ambush situation against low level characters, I'm surprised it wasn't a tpk. Iirc, an ambush pushes CR up at least 3 pips, sometimes more depending on traps at play.

So /pfg/ I've been away from civilization and more importantly, internet for 2 and a half weeks. What have I missed in the world of Paizo?

Any new leaks?

If path of war is allowed yes.
What are you building that needs to sheath as a free action, and why won't masterwork transformation work?

I have tried warning people in the past, generally they don't get it until characters start dying due to their lack of thought. Better to learn by doing.

Don't forget the 'transmale' can't be any closer to male than "ugly chick with a mustache, an obvious chest and wearing pants because the only hope for a face like that is to pretend you were always supposed to be a man" since if 'she' becomes truly a man then that means a penisrapist patriarch and that's more evil again.

Because the GM banned the spell entirely for some reason. I just wanna do Dirty Tricks.

Depends on the cleric. Who else is therein the party?

It totally could have. Some DMs just like to power trip.

Is he a LOOSE CANNON PALADIN ON THE EDGE WHO DOESN'T PLAY BY THE RULES?

>Because the GM banned the spell entirely
What the actual fuck.
Anyways going to guess the character is made so you can't take a less shitty trait that will start you with a masterwork weapon.

Nobody since the other two are indescisive fuckwits. I understand that I want to limit prime reanimation targets like dire animals, and the campaign is shaping up to be an evil one. Is it excessively mean to throw a paladin squad at him every now and then to actually kill bloody skeletons?

My first Paladin. How else are we meant to make a Paladin that isn't an unbending, retarded, fuckwit?

Send a Marut if you want to scare him shitless.

Yes.

Suppose the reason why I need to be able to sheath as a free action is so I can freely switch between my heirloom weapon and my main weapon in the middle of my iteratives, ideally, so my CMB benefits from the +2 when I need it. I'm just curious about if it is possible, as I'm planning on taking a Maneuver Master dip.

>What you do not mention is whether or not the battle was designed based on metaknowledge (yes, the gm CAN metagame against the players poorly) or based on insetting knowledge and tendencies.
The PCs had been killing the outlying camps for these goblinoid military incursion. They let several escape on their first two strikes. Word got out and these lot knew they were the closest and set up an ambush rather than sit around their camp, and sent the survivor along to bring word to the main camp while they tried to slow the PCs down.

>For example, how did this group, with it's very specific makeup, know where the pcs were going to set a trap for them? How did they know that hiding in certain bushes would put them in place to flank the party just so?

Pic related is how it worked. They pulled the PCs towards them because the arrows were coming from behind them, they knew the PCs would run towards the archers.

>Were opposing checks made to see if the party noticed the hidden npcs?
Of course.

>How much of the battle was adjusted on the fly behind the screen, versus the setpiece being made and playing out as it put down?
Once the pieces were in place the only adjustment I did was change it was switching it from two goblins in the trees to a goblin and a hobgoblin so each group of two was mixed.

>Battles like what you mentioned usually end up being anti-pc creations, not coming about organically.
The fuck does this even mean? Enemies set up an ambush.

Like I said, I never see people learn until it actually happens. Out of the six people two quit and four learned, that's a good ratio.

If it is an evil campaign, you do not need to rely on paladins, as once they get too well known, the good churches will set sights on them.
Yes, tho, send paladins at them every so often, but never more than 2 at a time, because paladins are supposed to be fairly rare at any rate.
By being a person that simply tries to do their best? Is reasonable, not infallible, holds others and himself responsible for deeds made?

>They were a group of three hobgoblins and three goblins against six level 2 characters.
In so attacked from ambush with six creatures. In an encounter designed to kill pcs for killing your goblins. You were a dick the moment you designed an encounter to kill pcs.

You keep saying that they never learn, but what do you have to teach? The fact that you can kill the character they worked on at any time? If so, you should probably consider the fact that you are an awful teacher if no one wants to learn the lesson you're offering.

Bit boring isn't it? Might as well be a regular lawful good fighter.

Not who you're responding to, but I want to disagree with you. I feel like PCs often rely too much on GMs not being dicks. Just myself the other day, I allowed a party member of mine to get CDG'd because they were unconcious and I didn't expect the GM to go for it, but the elemental just shrugged off our AoO damage with DR and went for the kill. It taught me to actually be more serious about the game.

Or the other four are still willing to give you a chance until you try that bullshit again. Killing pcs in an encounter designed to kill them is shit tier dming I would have walked out of your shit game too. I have lost pcs before, it's not a big deal, but to think that kind of shit is clever and acting so smug about it. You are that gm. I hope your players wise up and find a better game.

>The fuck does this even mean?
It means that GMs often use ambushes based on metaknowledge, versus what npcs know and operate on.
As it stands, most gms don't use tactica like this because most creatures in settings do not. Hobgoblins are some of the only creatures in d20 settings to actually use military tactics.

That is the difference though that is an enemy going for the kill, the elemental was not designed and run in a way to kill you all.
The difference is design goal. The elemental was there to fight and challenge this other horse shit was made with the express purpose of killing pcs.

I am teaching them to use basis tactics and critical thinking. Their characters are risking their lives, they should act like it.

>Killing pcs in an encounter designed to kill them is shit tier dming I would have walked out of your shit game too.
What encounter is designed to not try and kill PCs? Do you just wave your hands around and lie about dice rolls to make sure no one dies and no one's feelings get hurt? I have seen GMs who do. It's a cheap way to play the game, well they're essentially not even playing the game at that point.

If someone can not deal with a character dying during the course of play I don't want them in my group, especially if they make no effort to the keep the character alive.

You can go for the 'kindly grandpa', the guy who is genuinely good and forgiving, or for the reveangeancer, whose only aim in life is to kill evil, burn his house to the ground, and give no fucks about rendemption.

A DM should, unless the players have extensive warning (I'm talking PCs who are told that the character will wreck the party because their character would know this plus NPCs who are stronger than the PCs warning them against it and making the enemy hard to find) they should never run into an encounter that is expressly designed to kill them unless it's done in character by NPCs who the party knows they've got gunning for them. One can challenge the players with an encounter designed to fuck them (and I mean all or most, not targeting a single player unless that player is an ass to the group as a whole) up but not necessarily kill them. It's a DM's job to keep the players engaged and happy without violating the world, it's the players' job to keep the DM happy enough to not try to murder you all while also not making the game unfun for the other players. If that contract is breached then somebody should probably be walking away, be it players from a shit DM or a DM from a shit group. That's part of why I try to only play with friends and only let my friends who can think objectively and aren't complete asswipes DM (learned that lesson the hard way with a DM who would railroad everything and threaten TPKs for not following the written plot, we were basically playing a novel).

So what exactly do you think a paladin is?
So far, it seems you are bound to either do it wrong, thinking you are creative, or end up being That Paladin shittalked about on Veeky Forums.
Why was the point to kill them, rather than driving them off, or trying to capture them to find out who sent them?
You used intelligent foes, but didn't have an intelligent end goal, which ended up being that of dumb animals. You never said this was a H/K squad, and military intelligence stresses gaining information as often as possible.

And they were fighting hobgoblins.

And how was I using meta knowledge? I described the encounter above?

They set up the encounter assuming the PCs would approach the bonfire from the direction the last camp that went down was. The PCs didn't say they circled around so that's exactly what they did. The hobgoblins came up with this plan based on testimony from a survivor from another camp.

What metaknowledge m8?

>I am teaching them to use basis tactics and critical thinking. Their characters are risking their lives, they should act like it.
And a not-shit DM can teach them how to do that without chasing players away through BS encounters designed to kill them.

On top of that hobgoblins like to take slaves and torture in most settings so they would always go for the KO on a low level party.

Designed to kill is diffrent then try to kill you fucking mongoloid. You made an encounter expressly to kill pcs and can not see the difference between that and things trying to kill them. Guess that means every npc wizard better be loaded up with save or suck too.

>expressly designed to kill them
What does this even mean? An encounter where enemies want to survive? An encounter when the enemies are trying to win?

>Why was the point to kill them, rather than driving them off, or trying to capture them to find out who sent them?
Did you not read what I said? The hobgoblins were trying to slow them down, took down three and ran taking their own wounded away.

>You used intelligent foes, but didn't have an intelligent end goal, which ended up being that of dumb animals. You never said this was a H/K squad, and military intelligence stresses gaining information as often as possible.
If they thought they could have taken all the PCs down they would have kept 1-2 alive for questioning. In the heat of battle they didn't get the chance and had to cut their losses and run. I already stated this.

Kek

>roll a DC2 wisdom check
>fail
>"You don't realise that in a world of magic, you can hire the services of a mage to make you as attractive as you like"

or, even worse

>I know that I can, but I refuse to be cajoled by the cisheteronormative patriarchal standards imposed on me by today's society!

Tell me, what about the encounter design is BS. Please tell me what in it is so offensive. People keep shouting it was designed to kill them, what did the goblinoids do that was so out of the norm.

Really, tell me how it was designed to kill them? Go on. I am curious of your reasoning.

He is just a smug shit, probably rubbing his neck beard over about how clever he is for out smarting those dirty players for killing his precious npcs.

The NPCs should always have goals fitting what they are but the DM should never purposely make an encounter to kill the NPCs except in the case where the NPCs have the metaknowledge and capability to do exactly that and even then the players should have some sort of warning that it's going to happen (for example rumors or an information gathering squad that's being scryed and a few can easily be taken alive).

>>Banning masterwork transformation outright

That is fucking stupid. I can understand it might be abused with stuff like blood money, but the culprit there is blood money, not masterwork transformation.

I mean, shit, the DM could at least have a blacksmith/wizard guy who can use the spell. At a bare minimum allow it as an NPC-only spell.