They jsut had a FAQ about effects centered on "you" or a target creature and above normal sized creatures. basically, they radiate to a radius around them taking their size into account. You don't end up with a perfect sphere, its a shape inline with the creature who cast it/it landed on.
They jsut had a FAQ about effects centered on "you" or a target creature and above normal sized creatures. basically, they radiate to a radius around them taking their size into account. You don't end up with a perfect sphere, its a shape inline with the creature who cast it/it landed on.
I... I think that's exactly what we were just talking about (most specifically with AMF, but in general, too)?
I apologize, I am not connecting to whom you are responding, and thus what the implication of the statement is. Would you explain a little more? Sorry!
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Oh, I'm fully aware of the problems - as I've said in the past, you and I play very different games.(It's worth noting: I actually like their new AMF rules. Yeah, they're terrifying and deadly... but I do like that.)Well-thought-out-stuff.
That's cool too. I was just explaining why it concerns and/or bothers me, because I think explaining why you dislike something is probably more important than simply saying that you dislike it, y'know?
(Similarly, the use of "radius" is problematic, but it's a term that they're kind of stuck with, as it does still function that way in math, and it's otherwise partially similar to being "stuck" with "atheist" - instead of "dytheistic" or "misothestic" - or similar other statements. It's kind of inherited in the spell language and it's going to be really, really difficult to sell different language to folk. That said, it's totally a stealth errata... there's a lot of things that interact via minutiae, and subtle other things that I'm aware cause lots of problems for most folks. I just like it. Not suggesting that it's good. XD)
Well that's the thing, they really aren't stuck with it. A 10 ft. emanation would have worked just fine and there are examples of this in the core rules already. For example, Seliex's cold aura extends 10 ft. in every direction from her. If this was how antimagic field was intended to work, that's how it should have been written.
Also, I may be ignorant here, but could you break down the article that you linked for me? I might just be missing something but I'm not sure how that makes a 10 ft. radius be a 20 ft. radius, because the radius' area is already defined by the spell (10 ft.). I think I'm missing something. :|
It just feels a lot like saying "I center this fireball on the dragon, so the fireball is a 20 ft. radius, but since it's now centered on this dragon that is a 20 ft. gargantuan creature, the fireball extends an additional 20 ft. in every direction". There's no precedent or logical reason why merely centering a spell on a creature should make the spell bigger (which is literally what is happening here).
There are many different ways that they could have made it work if it was supposed to be that way. A 10 ft. emanation from you, an aura that extends 10 ft. from you, or any other method of saying "10 ft. around you".
I'll be honest. I might seem like an idiot jerk for saying so but if my GM told me the dragon's radius was bigger because it was centered on itself, I'd begin targeting my giant fire elemental with other AoE radius effects like fireball and demanding extra coverage for it, because if nothing else, be consistent.
Paizo also admits that this is total BS because...
Source AP91
The rules often assume that creatures are Medium or Small. In the case of a handful of spells or effects with areas that feature a “radius emanation centered on you” such as antimagic field, aura of doom, and zone of silence, as well as some of the spells presented in this section, this can result in an area that is effectively useless when coming from a Large or larger caster. As an optional rule, when a creature casts an emanation or burst spell with the text “centered on you,” treat the creature's entire space as the spell's point of origin, and measure the spell's area or effect from the edge of the creature's space. For instance, an antimagic field cast by a fire giant would extend 10 feet beyond his space (effectively increasing the emanation's radius by 5 feet).
Beyond any mechanical problems, I'm not really against house rules or optional rules. It does bother me when they lie and say it's how it's always been. It's even more frustrating when they've already literally admitted that it doesn't actually work that way.
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Which comes right back to my point. How many pre-written adventures can you name where these kinds of tactics and resources are actually used and/or advised? Off the top of my head really only one or two - the first chapters of Kingmaker and Serpent's Skull.
To be fair, I've only run a few premade adventures, and most of the APs I have or have played in are riddled with errors (some of them really obvious). I understand it happens but I've found the quality of many of them to be lacking in areas (I think this might be compounded by different writers working on the same AP, which can result in it changing drastically). EDIT: Thinking about it further, some my be relics of hurried writing and/or attempts to meet deadlines, or typos that get left in, or any number of other innocent reasons for these issues.
For example, I played in Aratrok's Reign of Winter game and he had to fix countless errors and re-work several of the encounters because really obvious things weren't even taken into account. For example, I remember he commented that RoW literally mentions the issues that PCs face with snow and stuff, but then has an encounter where it says the badguys (who have no special movement rules for handling difficult terrain and/or snow) are expect to charge the PCs during combat.
...No. You cannot charge through difficult terrain. It's right there in how charging actually works. We literally just went over the fact there is snow on the ground and this is no charging, and then you say the NPCs charge. ಠ_ಠ
There's a similar issue in Jade Regent involving a wight that really ground my gears. :P
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Question #1: How do I quote text?
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Make AMF more like obscuring mist? It does not move with you?
Hell, I think making areas magic free would be more fun all around. Pit traps are far more interesting when feather fall will not work and you actually have to climb back out.
Well, if you want to know why I've appreciated antimagic field in the past, it's actually not for its combat purposes but for adventuring purposes. For example, while it has its uses in combat it also has major downsides for characters that use it (you become a monkey again) so it's a big trade off and usually a (very) bad idea to just using willy-nilly.
However, it's awesome for certain exploration purposes. Got some evil magical traps? Some sort of magical doodad blocking your path? Need to pass through a room filled with a cloud of noxious acid? It's a great problem solving spell outside of combat. :o
You can hit the "Reply" on the top right of the quote in question.
Alternately:
[ quote = Tacticslion ] copy/paste the words you want quoted here [ / quote ]
... becomes,
copy/paste the words you want quoted here
... if you take out the spaces.
(Not Ashiel, but I know that one, so I can help!)
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Question #1: How do I quote text?
Type "quote" before and "/quote" after the next, except replace the quotation marks ("") with brackets ([ ]).
Edit: Celestial-ninja'd. XD
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For example, I played in Aratrok's Reign of Winter game and he had to fix countless errors and re-work several of the encounters because really obvious things weren't even taken into account.
MUAHAHAHAH! I figured it out. Ignore Question #1! And by figured it out I mean I was told in Skype.
But seriously :I RoW was really painful. Seriously, why could they not have their maps be consistently oriented. In that one dungeon there were oodles of maps, and each one was rotated a different direction on the physical page, with the cardinal directions also inconsistently rotated as well, so trying to use them as actually useful in game maps was impossible ;_____________; Whaizo you do this to us? T~T
Question #2!
When are we playing next? >3> (Don't ignore this one, or I -will- find you.)
EDIT: Thanks both of you for answering Question #1 :D But Aratrok already beat you both to it. MUAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAAAA
Question #2!
When are we playing next? >3> (Don't ignore this one, or I -will- find you.)
Not sure. Maybe Friday, or next week depending on how my schedule looks and the sleep I can get between shifts.
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Question #3: On a scale of 1 to yes, how worried are you now that I've actually made a Whaizo account and know where you post? Ufufufufu~
Question #3: On a scale of 1 to yes, how worried are you now that I've actually made a Whaizo account and know where you post? Ufufufufu~
About a 7. :)
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Question #4: This one is for Aratrok!
Why do hot dogs come in packs of 8, but hot dog buns come in packs of 12? :|
Question #5: Back to Ash.
What are your thoughts, hopes, and dreams of the upcoming (or is it out already? >_> I don't follow this stuff) Pathfinder Unleashed/Unchained/Unwhatever? You know what I mean :| The new "super special awesome unique snowflake lets make monks/fighters/rogues not suck so much but they'll probably still be pretty bad--also woo new systems for all!" book.
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Get better hot dog packs, we got one last week that came with 12.
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Question #4: This one is for Aratrok!
Why do hot dogs come in packs of 8, but hot dog buns come in packs of 12? :|
Question #5: Back to Ash.
What are your thoughts, hopes, and dreams of the upcoming (or is it out already? >_> I don't follow this stuff) Pathfinder Unleashed/Unchained/Unwhatever? You know what I mean :| The new "super special awesome unique snowflake lets make monks/fighters/rogues not suck so much but they'll probably still be pretty bad--also woo new systems for all!" book.
I haven't gotten a copy of it yet, but if you want a blind prediction...
1. Monks, Fighters, and Rogues are probably still going to suck.
2. Several of the subsystems are probably unfeasible.
3. Summoners may get fixed (I have doubts).
4. The rest of the book probably has good ideas.
5. The artwork is probably really awesome.
And I hope that I'm wrong about 1 & 2.
Aratrok commented that there were similarities between the d20 system we're working on and something they're doing with the rogue, but not implemented in a way that we're particularly excited about.
I'll try to pick up a copy sometime soon.
That's cool too. I was just explaining why it concerns and/or bothers me, because I think explaining why you dislike something is probably more important than simply saying that you dislike it, y'know?
Indeed. One of my favorite things about your posts! :D
(Similarly, the use of "radius" is problematic, but it's a term that they're kind of stuck with, as it does still function that way in math, and it's otherwise partially similar to being "stuck" with "atheist" - instead of "dytheistic" or "misothestic" - or similar other statements. It's kind of inherited in the spell language and it's going to be really, really difficult to sell different language to folk. That said, it's totally a stealth errata... there's a lot of things that interact via minutiae, and subtle other things that I'm aware cause lots of problems for most folks. I just like it. Not suggesting that it's good. XD)
Well that's the thing, they really aren't stuck with it. A 10 ft. emanation would have worked just fine and there are examples of this in the core rules already. For example, Seliex's cold aura extends 10 ft. in every direction from her. If this was how antimagic field was intended to work, that's how it should have been written.
Also, I may be ignorant here, but could you break down the article that you linked for me? I might just be missing something but I'm not sure how that makes a 10 ft. radius be a 20 ft. radius, because the radius' area is already defined by the spell (10 ft.). I think I'm missing something. :|
Not ignorant at all. The point is a "radius" is a "radius" whether it's on an oval or any other body. That is all - just that there is about as much connection between their use of "radius" as to their use of "atheist" and similar terms, i.e. that it's tangentially similar, and has a distinct relation/symmetry towards, but is not a an explicitly correct term.
More very well-thought-out responses
Absolutely. I conscious it differently, myself, however, as I look at it and go, "Fireball, mage's disjunction, and geyser are clearly something you throw at the thing, whereas antimagic Field, protection from Evil, silence, and invisibility sphere are all things emanating from the thing itself."
It's a difference in view.
That said, I'd like to point out: you are, in fact correct.
That doesn't stop me from lovin' my 3.0 ELH with epic spells, and level 230+ HD creatures, though! Now with a layering of MYTHIC! XD
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Get better hot dog packs, we got one last week that came with 12.
WAT!? D: NO WAY DX Hax. :<
I can't get moar Dx I am but le poor collage student, and unlike certain individuals I know. I don't have disposable income. I can only afford the hot-doggies my mommy and daddy bring home ;A;
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That doesn't stop me from lovin' my 3.0 ELH with epic spells, and level 230+ HD creatures, though! Now with a layering of MYTHIC! XD
Oh lord. XD
Man, I <3'd the Epic Level Handbook for a long time before I realized it was hurting my game more than helping. I can understand the appeal. It's got some really cool stuff in it (there's still some things in it that I think are totally awesome and great).
That said, even today I'm a super fan of just adding a s***load of HD onto creatures. I generally feel like the 3.x guidelines for monster advancement by HD were typically better than Paizo's monster creation chart. In 3.x, monster HD kind of meant something because certain types of monsters would have flavored statistics (you knew that if you were dealing with Fey for example that they would have low statistics in X and high statistics in Y, as opposed to their HD being shoehorned into the creation chart).
Increasing HD is one of my favorite ways of buffing major monsters and such in Pathfinder and I when I do, I tend to follow the Monster Manual guidelines instead of Pathfinder's (because the former produces better results and monsters more in like with standard creatures of the new CR).
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@Aratrok - I'm winning the favorites game :33333
5 posts, 7 favorites. I'm awesome. Deal with it :33333
@Ash - When are you and Ara gonna get serious about Alvena Publishing? Seriously. :| There's a lot of untapped potential.
--edit--
6 posts, 8 favorites >w>
@Ash - When are you and Ara gonna get serious about Alvena Publishing? Seriously. :| There's a lot of untapped potential.
Hopefully when I get some time off from work coming up. I've got about 5 different documents open for our d20 system right now, and we've got conceptual parts of the skill system revisions determined. At this point, all that's really left for the core I think is to revise the skill descriptions (a big drag), clean up the combat system (mostly gutting it like a fish), and revising some of the glossary stuff (I might spend some time on the environment rules too and see if I can make mechanical traps more interesting and magic traps a bit less abusive in some aspects).
After that, class prototypes (pre-final) and core magic revisions (which while time consuming won't be difficult since we've already got the conceptual framework laid out).
EDIT: Late-term in the system is basically "(re)build a lot of monsters" but I like doing monsters & statblocks so while Aratrok dreads that part, I'm perfectly happy doing the lion's share of the legwork on that one. :P
I'll work on the Alvena campaign primer for Pathfinder (and make a version for our system when it's ready) for those that are interested. I was working on it a while back but given that you guys already just ask about most anything related to the campaign, I haven't put a lot of time into writing it.
I suspect you will find yourself pleasantly disappointed with the Unchained Monk. Though the Unchained Rogue has (nearly) nothing but good things happening for it.
@Ash - When are you and Ara gonna get serious about Alvena Publishing? Seriously. :| There's a lot of untapped potential.Hopefully when I get some time off from work coming up. I've got about 5 different documents open for our d20 system right now, and we've got conceptual parts of the skill system revisions determined. At this point, all that's really left for the core I think is to revise the skill descriptions (a big drag), clean up the combat system (mostly gutting it like a fish), and revising some of the glossary stuff (I might spend some time on the environment rules too and see if I can make mechanical traps more interesting and magic traps a bit less abusive in some aspects).
After that, class prototypes (pre-final) and core magic revisions (which while time consuming won't be difficult since we've already got the conceptual framework laid out).
EDIT: Late-term in the system is basically "(re)build a lot of monsters" but I like doing monsters & statblocks so while Aratrok dreads that part, I'm perfectly happy doing the lion's share of the legwork on that one. :P
I'll work on the Alvena campaign primer for Pathfinder (and make a version for our system when it's ready) for those that are interested. I was working on it a while back but given that you guys already just ask about most anything related to the campaign, I haven't put a lot of time into writing it.
This is good news!
When you mentioned the core magic revisions, what do you mean by this? As in, revising spells on an individual basis or altering how magic works entirely?
Both.
[/coyanswer]
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THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION TO BE ASKED IN THIS THREAD YET:
Today is mine and Ara's 1-year-dating anniversary. You've been invited to the crumpets and tea party where we wear dapper clothing, fancy hats with monocles, and boisterously laugh while mocking console-gamers, 4e/5e playing peasants, and people that think fighters/monks/rogues are good.
1) What do you wear?
2) Is it sexy? How sexy? ;3
3) What do you bring for the pot luck?
4) Does this bodice make me look fat?
5) What did you get us for our anniversary?
6) Is it sexy?
7) What spells did you prepare today?
8) "Moves like Jagger" starts playing on the phonograph; how do you move?
9) Now it's ->this<-
10) Suddenly it's October 24th, 2009!!
BONUS QUESTION!!1!!JKLjdas#H@K!8937#*($&!67923!!!
11) Do you believe in ghosts?
BONUS BONUS!!!! :DDDDDDDDDDD
12) I like this song. Seriously.
^^ Not a Question ^^
(Yes, we started dating on 4/20 :P It was also Easter. It was also the day he bought me Diablo III. It was also the day all of ->this<- happened!)
(Yes, we started dating on 4/20 :P It was also Easter. It was also the day he bought me Diablo III. It was also the day all of ->this<- happened!)
I would advise you not looking at the list. Most of the things remembered seem to be people dying, sometimes in large quantities.
(Yes, we started dating on 4/20 :P It was also Easter. It was also the day he bought me Diablo III. It was also the day all of ->this<- happened!)I would advise you not looking at the list. Most of the things remembered seem to be people dying, sometimes in large quantities.
OUR ANNIVERSARY IS -LITERALLY- HITLER'S BIRTHDAY XD WOW OMG XD AHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAHAHAAA
It's also the death of Bram Stoker :o Huh. *huge vampire fanatic*
(Yes, we started dating on 4/20 :P It was also Easter. It was also the day he bought me Diablo III. It was also the day all of ->this<- happened!)I would advise you not looking at the list. Most of the things remembered seem to be people dying, sometimes in large quantities.OUR ANNIVERSARY IS -LITERALLY- HITLER'S BIRTHDAY XD WOW OMG XD AHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAHAHAAA
It's also the death of Bram Stoker :o Huh. *huge vampire fanatic*
Hence the reason I advised one not to read that site.
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Both.
[/coyanswer]
Pretty much this. Some certainties that we have for the system are...
1. Casting will scale a little differently for classes (going up to 10th level spells).
2. Spells with have a set spell level regardless of what class or source is referencing them. So if it's a 3rd level spell it's a 3rd level spell. None of this crap where different spells are different levels for different classes.
This means that you will never have troubles figuring out things like spell-like abilities, or having to re-invent the wheel everytime a new class is published (I feel sorry for those poor sods on d20pfsrd.com who have to go through and add individual classes to each spell when a new class is published).
It also shoots some magic item woes in the foot. :)
3. Classes with thematic niches will have options for acquiring and casting certain spells earlier. For example, in the case of classes like the bard that get higher level themed spells than their class allows, they'd be able to access those spells via a class feature (similar to how my psychic monk adds specific psionic powers to their powers known, even though the powers are beyond what they could learn normally).
4. Removing schools of magic as they are currently. Instead of shoehorning every spell into one of several magic schools (which has never worked very well), schools are now subtypes and some spells can have multiple schools. For example, mage armor and shield will now be [Abjuration/Conjuration] spells. So hypothetically, if a specialist wizard has to be pick a spell from their favored school when they level then abjurers and conjurers could take mage armor.
Some metamagic feats may modify your spells as well. For example, if you have a feat that makes 1/2 of your energy damage into positive or negative energy, the spell becomes a [Necromancy] spell in addition to its other types when you cast it.
Some ideas we're developing that will probably make it into the magic core.
1. A revised Concentration mechanic (like the skill-based system I listed before) that applies modifiers to concentrating rather than asking you to make a million little low-DC checks.
2. Classes will not know 100% of their spell list (sorry clerics/druids). Classes may not even have spell lists (we're seriously considering this as this would really suite our design goal of less is more, and being able to use fewer classes to represent broader concepts is a big plus for us). We may also end up allowing you to select groups of known spells in themed packages (for a rough analog, see the witch class in the APG).
3. All casters are spontaneous. If you're a wizard-type you'll have less spells that you can "know" prepared at one time but can change out your currently prepared spells periodically, but you can cast them in any order or combination you desire until you run out of slot-juice for them like sorcerers.
4. Some spells will be consolidated and some scaling mechanics in place. Instead of having charm person, charm animal, charm monster, etc, you'll just have charm and it will scale up depending on what sort of spell-slot you're dealing with.
Similarly, elemental spells like fireball will have multi-elemental versions that you choose between. Damage dealing spells will also scale up as well, similar to the charm example (essentially Intensify spell will be built in to spells like fireball so that when you cast the spell in a higher level slot you get more bang for you buck).
If you haven't noticed, we're really of the mindset that "less that does more is more". A major design goal is to simplify the game so that it's easier for players to learn, easier for GMs and players to run (resolve actions and stuff), and have a greater potential for filling a wider variety of character concepts, and easier to produce additional content for while keeping the game consistent.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION TO BE ASKED IN THIS THREAD YET:
Today is mine and Ara's 1-year-dating anniversary. You've been invited to the crumpets and tea party where we wear dapper clothing, fancy hats with monocles, and boisterously laugh while mocking console-gamers, 4e/5e playing peasants, and people that think fighters/monks/rogues are good.
1) What do you wear?
Clothes usually. Pants are optional.
2) Is it sexy? How sexy? ;3
It's in the eye of the beholder. A hazard of the job I suppose.
3) What do you bring for the pot luck?
Pizza. Or if a literal pot-luck, I'd need to think about it.
4) Does this bodice make me look fat?
Need more study time. :3
5) What did you get us for our anniversary?
My ****. Oh wait, that was plan B. Plan A is a custom BBEG at the end of the campaign.
6) Is it sexy?
Yes and yes.
7) What spells did you prepare today?
Contact other plane.
8) "Moves like Jagger" starts playing on the phonograph; how do you move?
With the groove!
9) Now it's ->this<-
10) Suddenly it's October 24th, 2009!!
That's not a quest--rolled! XD
BONUS QUESTION!!1!!JKLjdas#H@K!8937#*($&!67923!!!
11) Do you believe in ghosts?
Yes. Even if it wasn't part of my religion to believe in ghosts and spirits, I enjoy meeting them enough to not dismiss them.
BONUS BONUS!!!! :DDDDDDDDDDD
12) I like this song. Seriously.^^ Not a Question ^^
This song...is great. :D
(Yes, we started dating on 4/20 :P It was also Easter. It was also the day he bought me Diablo III. It was also the day all of ->this<- happened!)
Hail Romance!! *armraise*
I keep coming back to your skill based casting system and every time I read it, I love it a little bit more.
The only thing that bugs me, is that it kind of ends up shafting spontaneous casters. One of the big draws for those classes is they have more spells to cast each day (in theory), but they don't have as good of a variety.
Drawing from a real Wizard I played in a Mythic game of Legacy of Fire (originally supposed to be NPC blaster Wizard to take the place of the Sorcerer when he couldn't make it but got upgraded to secondary PC for me to run). If I were to convert her to your casting system she'd have the following spells per day:
7th 3 per day
6th 5 per day
5th 6 per day
4th 7 per day
3rd 7 per day
2nd 8 per day
1st 8 per day
0th 4 per day
If I were to roughly convert her over to a Sorcerer with the Elemental (Cold) bloodline of equal level she'd have the following:
6th 7 per day
5th 9 per day
4th 9 per day
3rd 9 per day
2nd 10 per day
1st 10 per day
0th 9
Other than 7th and 0th level spells, at any given level the Sorcerer only has 2 or 3 spells known per day more than the Wizard, but the Wizard can change her spells out each day. This system, unfortunately, kind of obsoletes any spontaneous caster with a prepare counterpart.
I've been considering the following amendment so that Sorcerers and Oracles would be able to stay relevant.
Spontaneous Casters: Spontaneous casters treat their Spells Per Day chart as though it were their Spells Known chart for the purposes of how many 1st through 9th level spells they know (though they follow the spells known chart for cantrips/orisons). Bonus spells granted from having a high ability score can be changed each day after regaining spells. This allows a spontaneous caster to effectively customize their spells known, like a prepared caster, but on a much smaller scale.
I also snuck in the little tidbit about cantrips/orisons so they don't get left out.
I figure, letting the spontaneous casters change their spells known on a small scale each day but targeting the bonus spells would let them stay more relevant. Especially the Sorcerer who can prepare a spell from his entire class list, instead of just from his spell book/familar, which the Wizard or Witch are limited to.
What do you think?
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That seems pretty cool. Makes 'em a bit more flexible to be certain. :)
The biggest reason I wasn't super concerned about sorcerers is because while as written sorcerers in Pathfinder suck compared to wizards, spontaneous casting has this really funny habit of going from "wish I was a wizard" to "phenomenal cosmic power" as you ramp up their spells known, because the added flexibility is surprisingly potent. Unfortunately in standard Pathfinder, sorcerers lack the spells known for extra flexibility.
For example, in my campaigns I offer sorcerers the option to pick two domains instead of a bloodline (all Wis-based effects and references to cleric level now are Cha-based and reference sorcerer level; all the domain spells are added to their spells known), and the +2 spells known at each level is glorious. :P
Of course, I also made it so sorcerers and oracles get their new spells every odd level like wizards so that wizards weren't actually competing with them for spells per day (I always hated that wizards are usually beating sorcerers out for both powers and spells per day at all but the lowest and highest levels). And sorcerers and oracles get their bloodline spells immediately (as in, as soon as that spell level can be cast) because I think it's dumb that you actually have to wait longer than a normal sorcerer to get spells appropriate to your theme.
If you do that, it would probably look a little sexier since it would look like this:
Legend
"Can" = Cantrip
1st Number: Base slots
2nd Number: School/Bloodline/Domains
3rd Number: Bonus Spells (in Parenthesis)
11th level Specialist Wizard (24 Int)
Can: 4+1
1st: 4+1 (2)
2nd: 4+1 (2)
3rd: 4+1 (2)
4th: 3+1 (1)
5th: 2+1 (1)
6th: 1+1 (1)
11th level Bloodline Sorcerer (24 Cha)
Can: 9
1st: 6+1 (2)
2nd: 6+1 (2)
3rd: 6+1 (2)
4th: 6+1 (1)
5th: 5+1 (1)
6th: 3+1 (1)
11th level Domain Sorcerer (24 Cha)
Can: 9
1st: 6+2 (2)
2nd: 6+2 (2)
3rd: 6+2 (2)
4th: 6+2 (1)
5th: 5+2 (1)
6th: 3+2 (1)
In this case, the sorcerers are getting far more love than they have ever gotten in Core because spontaneous casting rewards more spells known in a really major way (like really, really major way :P).
The wizard picks two 6th level spells and adds them to his book with the option of going to a city and adding new spells to his heart's content, but he'll only have 2 of them loaded and ready to go at one time plus his school spell so his loadout might be something like this:
Greater Dispel Magic
Summon Monster VI
Plus one school spell of his choice.
The Wizard may change spells daily.
Now if I'm picking spells for my 11th level sorcerer with these changes in place, my 6th level spells cannot be changed easily but my loadout looks more like this:
Greater Dispel Magic
Summon Monster VI
Globe of Invulnerability
Greater Heroism
Plus one Bloodline spell.
Cannot change spells daily.
If we compare our lower level spells, I'll consistently have about 3 additional spells to prepare when compared to the wizard. Now the reason more spells known + spontaneous is really good is because you can diversify without remorse. Most players, especially good players, can probably pick all the spells they'll ever realistically need out of 7-9 spells of each level.
For example, my "Arcane" bloodline sorcerer's 4th level spells would likely be:
Dimension Door (bloodline)
Fire Shield
Greater Invisibility
Shadow Conjuration
Enervation
Fear
Animate Dead
Secure Shelter
This is a pretty wide list of options to draw from. Not everything is combat-ready but I don't need for it to be anymore (whereas you're gimping yourself in core if you have a sorcerer that takes spells like secure shelter).
The revised casting system roughly keeps the game as mechanically similar to the base game as possible so that it doesn't make massive waves with people's existing characters. If you have house rules that help pull the sorcerer up to the wizard in place, they'll probably still be competitive against the wizard now, whereas if you don't, they might still be overshadowed by the wizard a bit (but not by nearly as much IMHO, because getting 1 spell known on a spontaneous caster a whole spell late is just shameful).
This has been another episode of Ashiel Rambles About Rules. Tune in next time for heaven knows what!
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They jsut had a FAQ about effects centered on "you" or a target creature and above normal sized creatures. basically, they radiate to a radius around them taking their size into account. You don't end up with a perfect sphere, its a shape inline with the creature who cast it/it landed on.
Ahh, sorry. I was at work and skimming.
I read someone mention a gargantuan creature caught in it's own radius, thought I'd mention the FAQ.
Cool! Thanks! (Heaven knows I've been there...) :D
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Lol, I don't think anyone minds when you ramble.
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Gave some (hopefully constructive) feedback. :)
Thinking about it further, I think I might encourage dropping mirror image giving them a constant 20% miss chance when in darkness (which means even creatures with darkvision have some issues hitting them because they melt into the shadows), or even doing something fairly unique can giving them a competence bonus to concealment (a bizarre and not-yet used idea in Pathfinder) wherein they increase the miss-% of any concealment effect by 10% or something (so concealment 20% becomes 30% and concealment 50% becomes 60%).
I'll think about it a bit.
It was constructive, from both of you!
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Here's an early preview of Vengence Best Served. Working on it between prepping for my game and my work schedules.
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You know I have always wondered how I should adjust CR when handling more (or less) party members and on the first page you said to adjust it by 25%... idk why that never occurred to me, but that is genius!
Is Vengeance Best Served a typical representation of an encounter arc/session for your players? Or would you consider it more special/thorough/elaborative/etc.?
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You know I have always wondered how I should adjust CR when handling more (or less) party members and on the first page you said to adjust it by 25%... idk why that never occurred to me, but that is genius!
Thanks. It's one of the reasons that I'm actually a fan of the CR system. Now, even though it's kind of the same in 3.x, the Pathfinder system is waaaay easier to deal with and a great improvement over the 3.x method. While the idea of CR in the 3.x system was a good one, it was grossly confusing trying to create a good encounter in 3.x. It had these weird mixed-monster CR charts, a rather ineloquent explanation of the process, etc. I strongly believe it heavily contributed to a lot of frustrations and single-enemy encounters.
Pathfinder strongly simplified the whole process with what is essentially an XP-budget. It has never been simpler or easier to build great encounters. If I was to pick one change from 3.x to Pathfinder that I feel has been the single best change to the mechanics of the game, I do believe that above all class, spell, and skill changes, the XP/encounter revisions are IMHO the best contributing thing to running a good game.
Is Vengeance Best Served a typical representation of an encounter arc/session for your players? Or would you consider it more special/thorough/elaborative/etc.?
Yeah, probably so. I'll be using the same process and considerations I use when running my own games while writing this. This includes the fact that not every encounter is equal in terms of difficulty and I don't even mean in terms of CR.
For example, the adventure is intended for 11th level parties. However you'll notice that the Yeti and Winter Wolves in the first few encounters have little in terms of answers to things like fly. This is okay. Not every encounter should strain the party tactically and it serves a great function both narratively and psychologically for your party to be able to use their abilities to leverage great advantages in encounters.
This in turn actually makes encounters with more variety stand out more like the bullet points and heightens the sense of excitement and wonder. While the basic trash encounters include simple enemies like one-trick wonders (winter wolves) and simple low-CR brutes (yeti, skeletal undead, etc), when the PCs encounter the classed monsters (such as the yeti cleric, winter wolf druid, and lizardfolk druid) it will make the encounters stand out as the highlights or crescendo of the first major arch in the adventure.
I'm probably going to need to bite the bullet and make some sample maps in GIMP or something at least for illustrative purposes. While I'm a very big proponent of adventures being as lightweight as possible so you can fit them into more games, I want to include bits about making the fights feel more dynamic because of your environment. For example, if the PCs take to the air, the winter wolves might decide to take refuge inside nearby buildings to force PCs to decide between doing stupid things like fireballing the houses, waste time waiting for them to come back out (which means the other invaders have more time to wreck the place), or go in to fight with them (in which case the enemies have re-aligned the battlefield). Likewise, Yeti have a climb speed and I feel like that could be fun to play around with.
ooooooh... exciting!
ooooooh... exciting!
I was just asking my players for feedback yesterday and at least one of them is pretty excited about getting to fight the Marilith that they're attempting to confront and all that would entail.
The first (and so far only) combat encounter that they've had since entering the dungeon was with a patrol of fiend-blooded elven inquisitors (not mechanically inquisitors, they were actually adepts) and a small force of sentry droids with scorching ray guns. Now, by the time that the party has arrived here, they're already like 11th level or so, so they are already in the big leagues so they thoroughly thrashed them with no issue (the sentry droids are only like CR 4 or so, the elves weren't much higher) but it firmly established the PCs as super-heroes and represents how much they can really change in the dungeon-city with their presence. For the first time ever, there's a team of strange outsiders with the apparent power to oppose the "God Queen" and that is big, frightening, exciting news for the inhabitants. They are met with a mixture of fear, wonder, and awe.
Now, Aliizsa Sylvari (for which her forum account is named) is a tiefling that has history with the marilith. Really old and fairly bitter history. See, Aliizsa was once an arch-succubus named Ishtok the Defiler, a general in the same army as the marilith Maraketh. The two were rivals for power and attention of their lord, and during their invasion of the world and the sky cities, Ishtok saw an opportunity to remove her rival from the equation in a rather sinister prank. While Maraketh was still inside the adamantine sky-city, Ishtok engineered the city to plummet into the planet's surface and trapping Maraketh inside of it where she was more or less left since then.
After the demons lost the war, Ishtok was trapped outside of the plane (having too many HD to be called into the world with planar binding spells and having no super-high level mages in the world to get her in otherwise). Her queen (not the marilith but a different demon) was still trapped in the material plane after the gates were sealed and has been hiding and plotting a second attempt at world domination. Naturally, the fiends wanted to get Ishtok back into the world to help wreck stuff but weren't sure how to do so (fiends are not naturally gifted in planeshifting abilities like angels and djinn) so they concocted a different plan.
They decided that sense outsiders are basically souls, they would find a bloodline that was tainted by fiendish blood and attempt a theoretical ritual to allow Ishtok to be born into a mortal body so that she could slip into the plane. Essentially jumping into an unborn tiefling body before a new or reincarnating soul could do so. Well that part of the plan totally worked. What didn't work is that being born kind of wipes your slate and Ishtok immediately suffered chronic super amnesia. She was, for all intents and purposes, just another little tiefling girl. And that's where the plan fell apart.
See, Ishtok -- now Aliizsa Sylvari -- was born to an elven refugee couple long after the war had ended. Having no recollection of her past and plans, she experienced life in the world she was trying to conquer as a citizen of that world. She experienced a lot of new things with a fresh take, including the love of her family, the kindness of strangers, a love of music (she plays the violin really well), and an appreciation for certain simple niceties like candy and piggy-back rides. The demons' plans couldn't have failed more utterly. >_>
Fast forward to the present day. Aliizsa, having had the memories and awareness of who she was thrust upon her, now awakens with lost and forgotten demonic power that wells up from her ancient demon soul. However, now it is not the destruction of this world that she seeks but the defeat of those who would defile it (a bit ironic as she was herself known as the great defiler). However, she needs to determine where her old rival Maraketh stands now and if she is still a threat (note: she's a marilith, everything about her is threatening), but she's really uncertain as to how that is going to go down.
In all fairness, when you drop a city on someone and trap them inside of it for a few hundred years, it'd be hard to blame them if they weren't particularly thrilled to see you...
ummm... is this related to Seliax and dragon winter?
I feel like I missed a transition...
Oh, no, I'm just rambling 'cause you asked if the adventure writeup is similar to how I do my own adventures and somehow I ended up blabbering on. XD
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Here's an early preview of Vengence Best Served. Working on it between prepping for my game and my work schedules.
I'd just like to say that this is pretty fantastic. As a fairly new GM, I find the tactical advice and additional explanation you add very helpful. I wish published adventures contained that kind of stuff.
Keep up the good work!
I also feel like that is a good selling point. When you publish and I purchase I will make that part of the review: "Noobs rejoice! The adventure for your fledgling skills has arrived!"
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Here's an early preview of Vengence Best Served. Working on it between prepping for my game and my work schedules.I'd just like to say that this is pretty fantastic. As a fairly new GM, I find the tactical advice and additional explanation you add very helpful. I wish published adventures contained that kind of stuff.
Keep up the good work!
I also feel like that is a good selling point. When you publish and I purchase I will make that part of the review: "Noobs rejoice! The adventure for your fledgling skills has arrived!"
Thank you both. ^_^
When I try to write adventures in a way that would be useful and convenient for me if I purchased an adventure, not by what's the industry standard. Honestly, the first time I tried to run a prewritten adventure it wasn't pretty. I had no idea what I was doing and the adventure wasn't helping much. :P
When I write stuff for other GMs, I do it in the way I'd like an adventure written for me. I really think the little sideboxes and stuff help a lot in that regard.
Do you think it would be possible to turn the entire Tower fight part of the Dead Fantasy series (up to the bit where everyone gets teleported) into a workable Pathfinder scenario?
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Should one who sucks at math even bother an attempt at 3rd party TTRPG design? How about one who's been gaming for some 20 years and has a kind of pseudo-intuition about it?