Dungeons and Dragons Megathread
- Thread starter Havocfett
- Start date
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Basically, you get a certain number of points each level, which you can spend to take a level in a class. If you have the points, you can gestalt it with as many classes as you can afford. Each class is priced by it's (roughly) relative power on an increasing scale. There are other ways of doing it, but generally to the same affect - players playing less powerful classes have more options, whilst those playing things like full casters have less. In the case of the game I'm currently playing in, running a straight tier 1/0 character is impossible.
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
I've written up specs for a game like that, but it was capped at tier 2. Your feats and stats scaled down if you had higher tier classes, while a T3/T4 character could get feat/level.
Yes, this is very good
I'd totally dig a class made along these lines.
I believe it's from Complete Arcane too.
Somewhat different subject- I knew Pathfinder included LGBT characters in it's paths, but I am surprised how front-and-center they are.
Very start of Wrath of the Righteous. You get dropped down a hole with 3 NPCs, who you're expected to befriend. One of them is a transwoman, who's wife is a half-orc Paladin, who also is one of the major 'befriend-option' NPC allies in the path and who is on the cover of the first book (and the two have a rather sweet backstory together, aww), and there's updates how they can be of use in all 6 books. Like, these characters are very central, and with Adventure Paths being pretty central to Paizo's business (there's both novels and setting books that tie into WotR), so I'm quite pleased.
Very start of Wrath of the Righteous. You get dropped down a hole with 3 NPCs, who you're expected to befriend. One of them is a transwoman, who's wife is a half-orc Paladin, who also is one of the major 'befriend-option' NPC allies in the path and who is on the cover of the first book (and the two have a rather sweet backstory together, aww), and there's updates how they can be of use in all 6 books. Like, these characters are very central, and with Adventure Paths being pretty central to Paizo's business (there's both novels and setting books that tie into WotR), so I'm quite pleased.
- Location
- The Usual Room
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hey, I found this on 1d4chan about Paladins and the prospect of falling...
We've been running our D&D group for quite some time (D&D 3.5), and we were around the 11-13 level range. The game had reached the point where the characters were now 'players' in a kingdom's politics and were national heroes. One of the characters, apaladin, was the youngest son of the now-deposed king. In his youth, he had disappeared for 10 years without a trace and broke his father's heart, the king went into decline and dragged his kingdom with him. Eventually, knowing of the weakness, a coup was launched by a tyrant and the tyrant now rules the kingdom with an iron fist.
6 years after the coup, the youngest son returns, now a paladin. What happened to him for all that time has yet to be revealed, but the player and DM had it all worked out.
So anyway, even though the game had revolved pretty much around us trying to get our paladin buddy to reclaim his rightful throne, and most of the plot was centered around it, the player in question decided he was bored with the character and wanted to roll something new.
The DM was a little pissed at this, but he could hardly force the guy to play the character. So, he let him roll up a new guy and drafted in his buddy Chris, who was staying with him for a few weeks to play the paladin "Sir Peter Fairgrave."
I hadn't gamed with Chris before but he seemed like a pretty cool guy -- no complaints -- and he really wanted to know all the details of the plot and everything about our characters citing that he actually wanted to do a proper job of playing the character and to "not let us down."
I didn't know what to expect, but hey, he seemed really into it. So we played.
Anyway, in terms of the current plot: we were forced to waylay our plans to overthrow the tyrant, as a more serious threat had emerged, that of some form of sinister cult.
We had been dealing with this cult for years, but we had never taken them overly seriously. They were just some messed up guys who occasionally got in over their heads, you know. Often they'd make a bid for power, fuck it up, and we'd have to clean up the deadly deadly mess.
The cult had clearly been playing their Warcraft 3, as they had gotten it into their heads to infect the kingdom's food stores (on a mass scale) with some form of virus that would make the population subservient to some demon the cult venerated.
In game[edit]
It was our 11th hour, we'd hounded the streets for days trying to round up cult agents and get information out of them.
We found out the plague was already in most of the food and water, as they had been at it for months, but a ritual needed to be completed for it to become active.
The cultists were hard to break, and our group (generally not the nicest folks) wanted to torture it out of them. Naturally, Sir Peter was opposed.
"We can't preserve freedom while denying it to others. It's not right, we can't do it, and I won't allow it."
Chris wasn't being a dick, he was just playing the character. As much as our characters might not have liked it, we as players were having lots of fun. The added drama really worked.
We managed to capture a high priest of the cult, someone responsible for conducting the ritual in this part of the land. It turns out the ritual needed to be conducted at the same time in several parts of the kingdom at once, in order to deliver the maximum effect.
We need to know the other locations, or else all our efforts would have just saved one northern barony and not the whole land. He gave us no choice but to beat it out of him.
Sir Peter wanted no part of this: "If you're going to treat a man like some animal for the slaughter, then don't expect me to sit by and watch." He then stormed out, and let us carry on in our work.
We'd been at it hours, and we couldn't get the guy to crack. He just wouldn't tell us anything. He was covered in cuts, had lost a toe at our hands, was dripping in his own blood, but still won't give us want we needed. We were going to give up and try another method, when all of a sudden, our doorway darkens and in walks Sir Peter. He's wearing nothing but his tunic and pants, unarmed, bar for a half drank jug of some form of strong booze in hand.
In steps into the room and announces:
"If you're going to do this, do it right..."
He walks over to the bound cultist, tosses aside his bottle, lifts the chair and sits in front of the beaten man.
Sir Peter:
"I don't want to hurt you, I just need to know the locations of your brethren, then this can be all over for you, I will make sure you are safe and cared for."
Cultist:
"Ha! I know who you are, Sir Peter Fairgrave; kingdom breaker, runaway child, father slayer. You can't threaten me: I know what you are. Your order, your God won't allow you to lay your hands on me, otherwise you'll fall, and you won't be able to help a soul."
Sir Peter:
*sighs* "You seem to be under the misconception about what I am, what I do. I am a paladin, that is true; but as a paladin I don't fear falling... I look forward to it."
The cultist shot a nervous look at the rest of the party, we were all looking at each other, not sure what was about to happen. The cultist opened his mouth to speak, but Sir Peter cut him off.
Sir Peter:
"As a paladin, I walk on a razor's edge. Not between good and evil, I could never be something like you, but between "law" and "justice". The "law" I follow doesn't permit me to harm you, but I could be "justified" in anything I did to you in order to save innocent lives. ANYTHING!"
"You don't know what it is like to be me. You don't know the pain of having to store all your anger, all your fury, all your sense of justice, and hold it inside you, all day every day for the rest of your life. Doing the right thing doesn't mean I get to stop all evil, I just get to trim it when it becomes overgrown. The path I walk is not about vengeance, or what's right; it's about moderation in the face of power, restraint and compassion for scum like you.
"This is why paladins don't fear falling. We don't spend all day looking for ways to prevent ourselves from doing evil and giving in to the darkness -- we actively seek it out. Every time we face evil, we ask ourselves, 'Is this the threat that I'm going to give it all up for? Is this what I am going to give up my ability to help others in the future, in order to bring it down now. Is this the evil that I am willing to forsake my God and my power to stop?!'".
At this point, he stands up suddenly and swings his arm against the chair he was sitting on. Sending it flying and shattered against a wall, he then kicks over the chair the cultist was sitting on, he leaps and straddles his chest, flinging him about for a few seconds in pure rage, before calming once more.
He looks the cultist straight in the face, both their noses just inches from each other.
"What you should be asking yourself now, what you really need to be thinking about, is: 'Is what I'm doing something that will make this guy want to fall?' Because you should know that once I fall, all those rules which protect you from me are gone. No longer will I be able to be stopped by you, or by my order, or by my God. If I give everything, and I mean give everything, I will never stop. If you escape me today, I will hunt you down and grab you into the pits of hell myself. Even if that means that I have to invoke the wrath of every demon in creation, just so they throw open a pit and drag me down where I stand, because when they do drag me down, I will make sure that my fists are wrapped firmly around your ankles and you go down with me. I want you to listen to me now, and I mean really listen, because Hell truly hath no fury like a paladin scorned."
"So I ask you, one last time: tell me where the other rituals are being held, or I swear to all on high that I will fall, and fall hard, just so I can show you what it is that paladin truly keeps his code in order to hold back..."
At this point the player, Chris, just stops talking and looks at us. We are all kind of stunned by his speech, naturally.
He just picks up a D20, looks at the DM and says "I wish to roll intimidate."
6 years after the coup, the youngest son returns, now a paladin. What happened to him for all that time has yet to be revealed, but the player and DM had it all worked out.
So anyway, even though the game had revolved pretty much around us trying to get our paladin buddy to reclaim his rightful throne, and most of the plot was centered around it, the player in question decided he was bored with the character and wanted to roll something new.
The DM was a little pissed at this, but he could hardly force the guy to play the character. So, he let him roll up a new guy and drafted in his buddy Chris, who was staying with him for a few weeks to play the paladin "Sir Peter Fairgrave."
I hadn't gamed with Chris before but he seemed like a pretty cool guy -- no complaints -- and he really wanted to know all the details of the plot and everything about our characters citing that he actually wanted to do a proper job of playing the character and to "not let us down."
I didn't know what to expect, but hey, he seemed really into it. So we played.
Anyway, in terms of the current plot: we were forced to waylay our plans to overthrow the tyrant, as a more serious threat had emerged, that of some form of sinister cult.
We had been dealing with this cult for years, but we had never taken them overly seriously. They were just some messed up guys who occasionally got in over their heads, you know. Often they'd make a bid for power, fuck it up, and we'd have to clean up the deadly deadly mess.
The cult had clearly been playing their Warcraft 3, as they had gotten it into their heads to infect the kingdom's food stores (on a mass scale) with some form of virus that would make the population subservient to some demon the cult venerated.
In game[edit]
It was our 11th hour, we'd hounded the streets for days trying to round up cult agents and get information out of them.
We found out the plague was already in most of the food and water, as they had been at it for months, but a ritual needed to be completed for it to become active.
The cultists were hard to break, and our group (generally not the nicest folks) wanted to torture it out of them. Naturally, Sir Peter was opposed.
"We can't preserve freedom while denying it to others. It's not right, we can't do it, and I won't allow it."
Chris wasn't being a dick, he was just playing the character. As much as our characters might not have liked it, we as players were having lots of fun. The added drama really worked.
We managed to capture a high priest of the cult, someone responsible for conducting the ritual in this part of the land. It turns out the ritual needed to be conducted at the same time in several parts of the kingdom at once, in order to deliver the maximum effect.
We need to know the other locations, or else all our efforts would have just saved one northern barony and not the whole land. He gave us no choice but to beat it out of him.
Sir Peter wanted no part of this: "If you're going to treat a man like some animal for the slaughter, then don't expect me to sit by and watch." He then stormed out, and let us carry on in our work.
We'd been at it hours, and we couldn't get the guy to crack. He just wouldn't tell us anything. He was covered in cuts, had lost a toe at our hands, was dripping in his own blood, but still won't give us want we needed. We were going to give up and try another method, when all of a sudden, our doorway darkens and in walks Sir Peter. He's wearing nothing but his tunic and pants, unarmed, bar for a half drank jug of some form of strong booze in hand.
In steps into the room and announces:
"If you're going to do this, do it right..."
He walks over to the bound cultist, tosses aside his bottle, lifts the chair and sits in front of the beaten man.
Sir Peter:
"I don't want to hurt you, I just need to know the locations of your brethren, then this can be all over for you, I will make sure you are safe and cared for."
Cultist:
"Ha! I know who you are, Sir Peter Fairgrave; kingdom breaker, runaway child, father slayer. You can't threaten me: I know what you are. Your order, your God won't allow you to lay your hands on me, otherwise you'll fall, and you won't be able to help a soul."
Sir Peter:
*sighs* "You seem to be under the misconception about what I am, what I do. I am a paladin, that is true; but as a paladin I don't fear falling... I look forward to it."
The cultist shot a nervous look at the rest of the party, we were all looking at each other, not sure what was about to happen. The cultist opened his mouth to speak, but Sir Peter cut him off.
Sir Peter:
"As a paladin, I walk on a razor's edge. Not between good and evil, I could never be something like you, but between "law" and "justice". The "law" I follow doesn't permit me to harm you, but I could be "justified" in anything I did to you in order to save innocent lives. ANYTHING!"
"You don't know what it is like to be me. You don't know the pain of having to store all your anger, all your fury, all your sense of justice, and hold it inside you, all day every day for the rest of your life. Doing the right thing doesn't mean I get to stop all evil, I just get to trim it when it becomes overgrown. The path I walk is not about vengeance, or what's right; it's about moderation in the face of power, restraint and compassion for scum like you.
"This is why paladins don't fear falling. We don't spend all day looking for ways to prevent ourselves from doing evil and giving in to the darkness -- we actively seek it out. Every time we face evil, we ask ourselves, 'Is this the threat that I'm going to give it all up for? Is this what I am going to give up my ability to help others in the future, in order to bring it down now. Is this the evil that I am willing to forsake my God and my power to stop?!'".
At this point, he stands up suddenly and swings his arm against the chair he was sitting on. Sending it flying and shattered against a wall, he then kicks over the chair the cultist was sitting on, he leaps and straddles his chest, flinging him about for a few seconds in pure rage, before calming once more.
He looks the cultist straight in the face, both their noses just inches from each other.
"What you should be asking yourself now, what you really need to be thinking about, is: 'Is what I'm doing something that will make this guy want to fall?' Because you should know that once I fall, all those rules which protect you from me are gone. No longer will I be able to be stopped by you, or by my order, or by my God. If I give everything, and I mean give everything, I will never stop. If you escape me today, I will hunt you down and grab you into the pits of hell myself. Even if that means that I have to invoke the wrath of every demon in creation, just so they throw open a pit and drag me down where I stand, because when they do drag me down, I will make sure that my fists are wrapped firmly around your ankles and you go down with me. I want you to listen to me now, and I mean really listen, because Hell truly hath no fury like a paladin scorned."
"So I ask you, one last time: tell me where the other rituals are being held, or I swear to all on high that I will fall, and fall hard, just so I can show you what it is that paladin truly keeps his code in order to hold back..."
At this point the player, Chris, just stops talking and looks at us. We are all kind of stunned by his speech, naturally.
He just picks up a D20, looks at the DM and says "I wish to roll intimidate."
- Location
- Somewhere
That story gets shared every once in a while, and it always makes me smile. I love when people play Paladin's well
AuraTwilight
The Sorcerer of Smiles
- Location
- The Silver City
Rule number 1 of Villainy: Do Not Make The Paladin Fall, You Idiot.
The Dark Powers of the Demiplane of Dread go to great pains to avoid doing so even though their holy aura disrupts their plane.
The Dark Powers of the Demiplane of Dread go to great pains to avoid doing so even though their holy aura disrupts their plane.
Chaotic Good is fun good.
You can actually play dumb good and have it make sense (not that I take the alignments too seriously).
Impetuous well-intentioned young cavalier comes across corrupt (minor noble) city guard official doing dastardly things. Proceed to immediately challenge the fucker (as in RP it, not necessarily the rules variant), as per local customs it is accepted for noon the next day.
Now the thing played out pretty boringly, the cavalier is pretty kek in 1-1 fights and effortlessly trashed the noble. Could have been more interesting but the GM was a bit inexperienced and didn't expect such a blatant move by me.
Some of my ideas:
1- have him surrender as soon as he finds himself overmatched, lick his wounds and prestige loss, make him become a major financer of whatever enemies the parties has and will have.
2- (would have been even better if it was a paladin on the party side) Have him pick a champion, preferably a popular, do-gooder rising star that is popular among the people. "your turn, sunshine."
3- Find some obscure ruling that would effectively word the challenge in a "cavalier vs platoon under his command" thing. Although the party could then easily claim he was talking in their name, this could possibly escalate things to a degree that it would be a full-blown war, ergo a higherup intervenes, vetoes the challenge and as per #1, the party made an enemy.
Havign a random guy interested in some extortion schemes suddenly have enough power to mano-a-mano with an adventurer is lame, and so is "muhahaha, face this black knight from my father's retinue!"
I don't personally hunt for a fall as a GM, I do like to erode him/her but I find actual intentional 'pitfalls' lame. If the player starts making morally questionable choices, yeah, sure. Step on the waterslide, see where it goes. But if the player tries to do the best he can, why would I fuck over his character like that?
You can actually play dumb good and have it make sense (not that I take the alignments too seriously).
Impetuous well-intentioned young cavalier comes across corrupt (minor noble) city guard official doing dastardly things. Proceed to immediately challenge the fucker (as in RP it, not necessarily the rules variant), as per local customs it is accepted for noon the next day.
Now the thing played out pretty boringly, the cavalier is pretty kek in 1-1 fights and effortlessly trashed the noble. Could have been more interesting but the GM was a bit inexperienced and didn't expect such a blatant move by me.
Some of my ideas:
1- have him surrender as soon as he finds himself overmatched, lick his wounds and prestige loss, make him become a major financer of whatever enemies the parties has and will have.
2- (would have been even better if it was a paladin on the party side) Have him pick a champion, preferably a popular, do-gooder rising star that is popular among the people. "your turn, sunshine."
3- Find some obscure ruling that would effectively word the challenge in a "cavalier vs platoon under his command" thing. Although the party could then easily claim he was talking in their name, this could possibly escalate things to a degree that it would be a full-blown war, ergo a higherup intervenes, vetoes the challenge and as per #1, the party made an enemy.
Havign a random guy interested in some extortion schemes suddenly have enough power to mano-a-mano with an adventurer is lame, and so is "muhahaha, face this black knight from my father's retinue!"
I don't personally hunt for a fall as a GM, I do like to erode him/her but I find actual intentional 'pitfalls' lame. If the player starts making morally questionable choices, yeah, sure. Step on the waterslide, see where it goes. But if the player tries to do the best he can, why would I fuck over his character like that?
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- Location
- Somewhere
So this fall, I will be playing the new Call of Cthulhu-esque Pathfinder AP with my play group. I will finally get to play and not DM.
The party right now, and it is subject to change, is:
The party right now, and it is subject to change, is:
- Ninja with special GM constructed insanity that causes him to go CE and kill crazy during a fight if he fails a will save
- No nonsense Shaman who is here to investigate the eldritch phenomena
- 3PP Dark Tapestry creature with 3PP fighter style class
- Me playing a Disney Princess style character who will, over the course of the game, get broken and come out like one of those Twisted Disney Princesses
The new AP seems to be drawing a lot of interest.
I like other-world stuff a lot, so I'm one of those. Not necessarily for the Lovecraft specifically, but rumor has it other planets will be involved, and I wonder if the Dominion of the Black (as seen in part four of Iron Gods) will play a role.
I like other-world stuff a lot, so I'm one of those. Not necessarily for the Lovecraft specifically, but rumor has it other planets will be involved, and I wonder if the Dominion of the Black (as seen in part four of Iron Gods) will play a role.
- Location
- Somewhere
So you know how I said I was planning on playing a Disney Princess style character in the new Pathfinder Horror/mind breaking AP?
Well, they just announced that one of the Vigilante flavors is a Magical Girl, with lights and transformation:
paizo.com - Paizo / Paizo Blog
This will be HILARIOUSLY awesome. A magical, naive girl fighting Cthulhu. Thank you Pathfinder, truly you are the best flavor developers
Well, they just announced that one of the Vigilante flavors is a Magical Girl, with lights and transformation:
paizo.com - Paizo / Paizo Blog
This will be HILARIOUSLY awesome. A magical, naive girl fighting Cthulhu. Thank you Pathfinder, truly you are the best flavor developers
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
So you know how I said I was planning on playing a Disney Princess style character in the new Pathfinder Horror/mind breaking AP?
Well, they just announced that one of the Vigilante flavors is a Magical Girl, with lights and transformation:
paizo.com - Paizo / Paizo Blog
This will be HILARIOUSLY awesome. A magical, naive girl fighting Cthulhu. Thank you Pathfinder, truly you are the best flavor developers
Pft, Fans have been doing this stuff for a decade now. Also, Incarnum to Metroid conversion was better.
What was this?
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
- Location
- London, England
Oh yeah. Anevia Tirablade and her wife Irabeth. They are a fun couple of characters. Go all the way up to Level 20 with the party, fight a demon lord at your side, win the day... retire to go live on a farm in marital bliss.
Then there's Sosiel Vaenic, Cleric of Shelyn. Worships the goddess of love and beauty, joined the Crusade to bring something beautiful back to this blighted land, fights in immaculately polished armour, has ranks in Craft (Painting)...
He's basically the Old Spice Guy, if the Old Spice Guy fought demons in melee combat.
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
Having a map of the ship so you can stage shipboard fights helps.
Ask for balance checks during those fights. choppy seas yo.
Generally don't sweat the details too much focus on hat is narratively interesting.
- Location
- Somewhere
The Pathfinder AP Skull and Shackles is all about pirates, and has a lot of stuff on ship to ship combat IIRC, so for looking at how to do it in DnD 3.5 or 3.P, it's a good resource.
Spelljammer books would be helpful for 2E games, just refluff/redo it so they are on the ocean not in space.
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
oh, right, just a reminder that if you like D&D magic girls my quest is doing that.
i usually try not to self-promote so hard, but my vote threshold is only 3 and even then I have to nag people to vote...
and also to roll dice, apparently
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
What's your Quest?oh, right, just a reminder that if you like D&D magic girls my quest is doing that.
i usually try not to self-promote so hard, but my vote threshold is only 3 and even then I have to nag people to vote...
and also to roll dice, apparently
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
Currently, it's Girl out of the Grave quest, but i expect that to change eventually.
(if you were asking for the link it's in my sig)
Which, btw, I've gotten feedback saying it's one of the better APs.
I will fully admit I'm not so much into PF for the rules, but the setting and cool APs.
Possibly 2-3 demons lords, depending on how you play it! (Granted, if you fight three, you're probably doing something pretty stupid and/or desperate)
Hah, I hadn't thought of it that way
Too bad he's not really one of the romance-able characters in the path. Well, not unless things go kinda wrong.
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