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Inactive Let's Play: Way of the Wicked - CURRENTLY ON SESSION #19, Book 4: Of Dragons and Princesses

ERYFKRAD

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Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
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Mrowak

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Project: Eternity
Thought I was gone, didya?

Well, here's what happened. We were expecting to play @ March 27, but I got one of the worst cases of sore throat I've had. As such, we post-poned till May. Then, as you may know, my father passed way.

Well, long story short, we played session #16 on June 5, and here's a summary for y'all!

Good to see ya, bro and thanks for your summary. It's sad to hear about your loss. Hope you are managing.
 

Grunker

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Update! You'll find:

- Updated cohorts in the 'Player Resources' sections
- An updated Evil Organization Sheet
- Some miscellanous tidying up

Furthermore, to accomodate the fact that we are growing older and have less time, it has been necessary to add a seventh player to the group. His name is Amstrup, and he will be playing the character 'Slavoj Zizek' (dat name). You can see his pretty picture, his stats, his character info and so on in the Player Character's section of the OP. I've also added Slavoj's face to the PC-banner in the OP. Also, we played Session #17:

Summary of Session #17
The session began as the group met Tiadora again, who had teleported into the Cathedral of Lathander-Made-Manifest, which the Ninth Knot is now delving through. Tiadora introduced the ninth to Slavoj Zizek, a luskanite merchant of ill repute, who would be the knot's newest member.

After having added Slavoj to the party, the knot began delving further into the cathedral and its catacombs. Here, they found a bunch of tombs hiding oceans of secrets. They found magical objects, an artifact Harrow deck that they promised to find for the Harrower of Thesk, as well as records of the cathedral's history and more.

Having done this amount of dungeon delving, the Ninth Knot finally found out that the cathedral's lord-abbot, Earnan MacCathlain, is planning to ressurect all good-aligned creatures that have ever died in the valley of Valtaerna. With this army of souls at his command, he would be unstoppable. Pressured by this new knowledge, the Ninth Knot resisted the urge to get some rest and pressed on through the catacombs. Earnan MacCathlain was not the only headache the ninth had to deal with, however, as many of the secrets they found in the catacombs mentioned a being named 'Ara Mathra' as someone with the capability to slay all evil.

Further into the catacombs, the knot found a steel door with a lock the like of which Durlar had never seen. The knot decided to visit again later. The knot also defeated She-Who-Is-Forever-Silent, a high ranking deva child. Viktor ate her brain and cast the spell 'Absorb Mind' to recall the angel's memories. This partially succeeded, and among other things, Viktor found out that:

- The phoenix ressurects when it dies, unless the knot can figure out the ritual to making it stay dead.
- Earnan MacCathlain is praying further into the catacombs.
- She-Who-Is-Forever-Silent was apparantly convinced that the knot would ultimately fall to the being known as 'Ara Mathra'.
- The key to the locked steel door can be found in the catacombs.

At this point, we must take a break from the trials of the Ninth Knot, as the city of Sanctum came under attack! The storm giant Anteus along with two Rocs and a horde of hippogriffs charged into the town to take it back from the clutches of evil. The Ninth Knot's cohorts:


(click for larger version)

had to fight for their lives along with Shagoroth Nightmane. The battle was hard and bestial, and the lieutenants had to expend nearly all of their resouces to fight the invaders. They finally manage to fend off Anteus and his army after they succesfully Charm one of the Rocs, but not without Shagoroth spending his 3 scrolls of Raise Dead with accompanying components of ridiculous worth. After this expenditure, the cohorts barely killed Anetus before he permanently slew Grumblejack, Raiju and the others.

Back in the cathedral, the knot was met by three trials, which members of the cathedral's priesthood had to complete in order to become full members of the clergy. These trials now stopped the knot from progression further. The knot found the following clues to progressing:

1: “Give not into greed for it rots the soul and withers the vine. Amongst the humble shall ye find the worthy.”

2: “Despair ye mighty! For by your power and arrogance have ye fallen into darkness. Not amongst the lords of the earth but amongst the servants shall ye find the worthy.”

3: “Beware thy enemy for he stalks you like a wicked serpent ready to consume ye with fire. The worthy knows his foe – his ways and tongues. Amongst those unafraid to speak the enemy’s name shall ye find the worthy.”

After this, the knot faced each trial:

I) First Trial of the Worthy. The knot entered a room with murals of everything from peasants to kings. Tempting the knot was an amulet of high value, which Jandar reached for without consideration. Nearly dying from having his soul sucked out by the amulent, Jandar staggered to his feet. The force of the spell in the amulet would have killed any other member of the party. After a LONG time, Halvard finally solved the first trial by using the records of the cathedral to track down the bones of some apprentice carpenters and bringing them to the room. A hidden door opened as a result.

II) Second Trial of the Worthy. A painting of a grand king stood in this room, underneath which this text was written: "Attend my servants! Who is a greater lord than I?" The knot stated 'Lathander' in the Celestial tongue, and a hidden door opened.

III) Third Trial of the Worthy. In this dark room, white letters were written upon the walls: "Who is thy enemy? Who is the lord of the nine? Know him as he knows himself or be consumed with fire." The knot knew the answer: Asmodeus. Before anyone stated this name, however, Halvard rushed and shouted 'Asmodai' - Asmodeus' name in Infernal. Having answered the riddle correctly, Halvard saved the knot from the fiery death that would have resulted from naming Asmodeus in the wrong tongue.

Following this, the knot moved deeper into the catacombs and found a great ritual room. Here, they finally faced the lord-abbot of the Cathedral of Lathander-Made-Manifest: Earnan MacCathlain. Looking as though he had been expecting the ninth, Earnan readied himself for combat.

UaYOsuM.jpg


And that's how the next session will begin!
Currently, we're scheduled to play the next session on August 7.
 
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Grunker

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Fun fact:

Book 1 - Knot of Thorns took five sessions to complete.

Book 2 - Call Forth Darkness took six sessions to complete.

Book 3 - Tears of the Blessed will take seven sessions to complete (I'm fairly certain the Ninth Knot will complete Book 3 during the next session).

I wonder if that's a pattern that will continue. Likely not, since I have a feeling that the duration of this book has mainly been a result of the constant fighting. Both me and my players are getting a bit tired of combat at this point, and I've even cut a few encounters.
 

Grunker

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The 3-4 followers of this LP will be glad for a prompt update. Sadly, we did not end Book #3 on Session #18 as I had thought. I strongly anticipate The Ninth Knot to finish Book #3 on Session #19 however, which will be played on August 30.

Summary of Session #18
MacCathlain was bathed in light, and in the blink of an eye the lord-abbot was blessed with divine force, granting him the benefit of many spells...

...specifically: greater spell immunity, freedom of movement, protection from energy, frightful aspect, true seeing, blade barrier, aid, align weapon (good), holy aura, divine power, righteous might, shield of dawn and dispel evil

The Ninth Knot hurried to get up close and personal with the priest. Slavoj got in a lucky dispel magic, which peeled away one of MacCathlain's more important spells, the spell immunity. This made it possible for the group's casters to harm the priest. In the next couple of rounds, MacCathlain blinded and deafened most of the ninth via holy word, and used hymn of peace to make it difficult to attack him. However, after a few more rounds of combat the priest was heavily damaged. As he was about to heal himself, a few good saving throws and a couple of critical hits slew the lord-abbot before he managed to get the spell off.

After this, the Ninth Knot desecrated MacCathlains corpse and stole his headband:

Morninglord%27s%20Halo.jpg


In an atypical moment of impulsiveness, Durlar then hurried to a colossal vault door behind the dead priest. He was promptly attacked by the protectors of this vault: two iron golems, who killed the arcane trickster youth.

The rest of the ninth could barely scrath the golems with their exhausted powers. Viktor Silvertongue, however, used a couple of his special skills to wear the golems down after many, many rounds of combat. Inside the vault, the Ninth Knot found a lot of general loot, as well as three unholy artifacts, locked away by Lathander's priesthood. These included:

- The Stygian Mirror, a mirror imprisoning two bone devils, who can be bound to the service of whoever frees them.

- The Chalice of Aurelius Vestromo, the chalice demanded by the vampire prince Gaius of Ghastenhall as payment for allying himself with the ninth.

- The blade from the unholy avenger Helbrand. Currently the legendary sword is missing its hilt and pommel gem, but is still a powerful weapon:

Helbrand.jpg


Having stopped MacCathlain's attempt to summon the martyrs, the Ninth Knot took a well-derserved rest and returned to Ghastenhall. Here, they sold a bunch of valuables and raised Durlar from the dead. Then, they visited the Harrower to deliver the deck they found in the catacombs of the Cathedral-of-Lathander-Made-Manifest.

First, the harrower gave Slavoj an ordinary harrowing. He was told that power would surely come to him, but that neither political craftmanship or power would be instrumental in his ability to keep it. Instead, his skill in staying ahead of the opposition in terms of information would be key. The harrower also told him that all subjects he would ever gain would suffer under his rule.

Then, the harrower gave the ninth their reward for having found the special harrow deck: a unique reading with these cards. The deck turned out to be a Harrow Deck of Many Things, and it had a couple of interesting effects:

Solomon decided to draw four cards. Among other things, he spawned a set of clones within a 20-mile radius, who now haunt the red wizard.

Durlar also chose to draw four cards. His clothes were made into a power magic item.

Tareth drew four cards as well. He was infected with lycanthropy, becoming a werebear, and was permanently deafened.

Viktor, a bit more conservative, drew only three cards. One of those was The Juggler, which allowed him to switch to attributes, gaining a +2 bonus to both.

Slavoj drew four cards and was pretty lucky. He became a nobleman, received a ton of gold and gained a following of 9 extremely clumsy peasant slaves.

Halvard was the most daring of the players, drawing five cards. He was reincarnated as a half-orc and contracted uncurable leprosy, turning the body of Worm even more twisted.

Finally, the Ninth Knot prepared themselves for the fight with the phoenix Suchandra, which they are planning to get done first thing next session.
 
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Grunker

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The group, both players and GM, are suffering from immense combat-fatigue at this point. Book #3 is waaaaay too heavy on the encounters, though if your group just loves dungeon crawling and basically only want to fight, this is definetely a good module to try out...

I even removed most trash fights and added their strength to the main encounters to compensate. Even with that, though, the fights just keep comin'.
 

Havoc

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Did you do that graphic with the sword? Dear god, man, it's barely readable.

Deck of Many Things. The thing that will break or make a party.
 

Grunker

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Did you do that graphic with the sword? Dear god, man, it's barely readable.

As is the case with all things visual crafted by me, it is no doubt fugly. Fortunately, all Tareth needs to know is that is a +3 good outsider-bane bastard sword :P

(if you're commenting on the fonts, Quentin is there for that oldschool AD&D glory, and Alegreya is the Pathfinder font... I really like the latter)

Deck of Many Things. The thing that will break or make a party.

Pathfinder's Deck is actually extremely well-made. Many of the cards drawn have profound effects, but without being as completely finite as some AD&D/D&D cards could be. While you can gain extreme advantages or disadvantages, they're rarely as boring as +4 to a stat or instant disintegration. The public list is here:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/artifacts/minor-artifacts/deck-of-many-things-harrow

Though we used an expanded list with ~540 different outcomes.
 

Erebus

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The group, both players and GM, are suffering from immense combat-fatigue at this point.

I had a look at several PF adventure paths and got the impression that the high amount of combat was a frequent problem. Even if the enemies are diverse, it must feel rather repetitive after a while. In most RPGs, even simple combat encounters can consume a lot of time.
 

Grunker

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I had a look at several PF adventure paths and got the impression that the high amount of combat was a frequent problem. Even if the enemies are diverse, it must feel rather repetitive after a while. In most RPGs, even simple combat encounters can consume a lot of time.

Well, I enjoy a somewhat 50/50 split, which is what most APs I've toyed with before this have had. For WotW we've until now gone with approximately 60/40 in favor of roleplaying, by cutting down a bit. But in Book #3 it's off the hook. Enemies are crawling everywhere.

I have read half of Book#4 closely already to prepare, and it's nowhere near this level fortunately.
 

Grunker

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PS. For some APs it's correct - like Rise of the Runelords - but they are also advertised as combat-heavy.
 

Grunker

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Los updatos!

Summary of Session #19, Part I

After a long period of preparation, the Ninth Knot initiated the final showdowns. The first was to seek out the phoenix Suchandra, who was dispatched fairly easily this time by a well-prepared knot. Protection against flames, cold-based attacks and well-planned tactics soon meant the Ninth Knot were victorious. A few of the group's members were bruised a bit, but none were near death. After this murder, the knot found a number of small and valuable firebird eggs, as well as one true phoenix egg. An invaluable artifact which the Ninth is now planning on selling to outlandish entities such as the genies in the City of Brass or a similar exotic market place.

Following this victory, the Ninth Knot acquired the bones of Saint Macarius and used them to remove the Wall of Holy Fire seperating them from the inner sanctum of Valtaerna's cathedral. Here, they found the last living hero in the vale: the archangel Ara Mathra.

Ara Mathra shed a single tear for the villains who were now beyond all redemption. Then began the ultimate in anticlimatic battles. Ara Mathra was a fairly weak fight compared to many the knot had faced so far, and beyond a few problematic Holy Words, he was cut down with ease.

(I presume the writer's of Way of the Wicked were afraid of putting a full-fledged deva against a team of level 11s, but went overboard with the nerfs.)

Interlude - Mamuska Narration #6
The grandmother threw a glance out of the window. The snow was blowing strongly and the wind howled in the dark night.

"When the last of the valley's inhabitants lost its life," she began, "the temperature in the vale dropped even further. The minions of Asmodai had been victorious, and none were left to shed tears over the dead. The Order of St. Macarius of Lathander's Most Holy was finished. It died with MacCathlain and Ara Mathra. An eternal creature in the form of the immortal Suchandra was gone from the world forever."

In the mean-time, The Stygian Knot, under supervision of Barnabus Thrane, spread The Tears of Achlys in Rashemen. When spring came, Barnabus planted the disease on a few villing worshippers of Talona and sent them to all corners of Rashemen. He sent them with ship to Immilmar and Mulsantir, with caravan to the mountains and on horse to Thasunta. The tears spread themselves with the speed of lightning. Every time the Wychlaran sent hathrans to cure the ill, they miraculously recovered just before the arrival of wise women. It was as if the disease had its own will, for when the sick were alone again and without aid, The Tears of Achlys returned to haunt their victims. Soon, the wagons of medicine men brimming with the dying became a common sight on the roads of Rashemen.

The pilgrim's followed shortly thereafter. Berserkers lead caravans with hundreds of sick Rashemi through The Golden Way to Thesk. The promise of salvation at the hands of Cormyrian priests in Valtaerna drew Rashemi from near and far.

For a short moment, the boy was filled with innocent hope and forgot the story he had just heard. "Were they saved, mamuska?" he asked.

The sorrowful grandmother shuttered, as if the cold from outside had entered the otherwise warm hut. "No, babu. In Valtaerna they found only ashes and death. The light of Lathander had abandoned them."
Summary of Session #19, Part II
(with this session, we begin Book 4: Of Dragons and Princesses)
FRM1004E_500.jpeg

The Ninth Knot soon began preparations to leave Valtaerna. As they came back to the city of Sanctum, they were informed by their minions of grave troubles. The duke of Ghastenhall had assembled an army counting several hundred men and was preparing to root out the evil in Valtaerna. The Ninth Knot decided to vacate the valley as fast as possible. The Knot packed their things and their minions on board The Vulture's Friend (Slavoj's ship), and ran for it.

In the coming years, Cormyr will react extremely harshly to Caladnei's murder, and they will hunt down the culprits with extreme prejudice. This resulted in the Ninth Knot's members having to use tactics, diversions and cunning to divert attention away from their evil organization. In game terms, this still ended up taking a fairly large toll on the organization's attributes.

After fleeing Valtaerna, the Ninth Knot met up with Tiadora, who rewarded them greatly. She also told them that they would receive further orders in a couple of months. In the mean time, they were to travel to Mulsantir - the largest trade metropolis of Rashemen - and assist Sakkarot Fireaxe in sacking the city.

As the Knot arrived, Sakkarot had already started without them. In fact, the city was completely subdued. The Ninth Knot held an audience with the Fireaxe at the palace of Mulsantir's Fyrra. Here, Sakkarot told them that he was sad to have completed the best part without the knot, but that they were welcome to spend some of their spare time sacking and pillaging what was left of Mulsantir.

Sakkarot%20Ild-%C3%98kse%20II.jpg


Despite his victory, the knot sensed that the great bugbear was ill at ease, and started questioning the chieftain's mood. As they did so, the Fireaxe nearly turned desperate. He told them that Thydrim Yvarrg - Iron Lord of all of Rashemen - was coming to Mulsantir with an army numbering nearly 10.000 men - including berserkers and more hathrans than any bugbear can count. This army seemed to the bugbear lord so insanely strong that he could in no way defeat it. As the group drilled further into Sakkarot's concerns, he revealed that the original plan of Adrastus Thorn was that after Sakkarot and his horde won the final battle, he would come to the Rashemi offering a way out. As Cardinal of Asmodeus took control of the lands, he would cure the Tears of Achlys and defeat the Fireaxe and his army in a major battle in which Sakkarot would willingly sacrifice his troops. Thus, Adrastus would seem the saviour and solidify his position as new ruler of Rashemen.

But now... now Sakkarot wasn't so sure anymore. How would they be able to follow such a plan with 10.000 berserkers coming his way to slaughter what remains of his rag-tag band of marauding monsters?

The Ninth Knot gave this conversation a lot of thought and exchanged a few more words with Sakkarot. Following this, they went into the city to plunder. In a few days, they accomplished the following:

In the farming district of Alsuntir, they found Baroness Vandermir, the sister of Baron Vandermir, and her following of thayan knights. On the promise that she would be helped out of the city unharmed, she accepted to serve under Solomon Crowe:

Vanya%20Vandermir.jpg


With her, they also gained access to clan Vandermir's age-old altar of sacrifice:

blood%20altar.jpg


In the district of Khelliara's Horn, the knot exploded a gathering of berserkers in Mulsantir's lodge using fireballs and other volatile spells.

In the district of Ethranit, the knot entered the local hathran enclave, long vacated by its inhabitants, to steal some extremely valuable relics.

In the district of Bhallahome the knot raided Mulsantir's jail and released Irfan Ahmenat. The mulhorandi Irfan claimed to be a member of the Third Knot - The Erebian Knot - a gathering of extremely competent and deadly assassins from Unther, Thay, Mulhorand, Thesk and Narfell. Their mission was to assassinate the huhrong, Thydrim Yvarrg, in his chambers. Unfortunately they were betrayed by their own and Thydrim and his honor guard was ready. The iron lord personally crushed the skull of all members of the Third Knot, with the exception of Irfan, a mulhorandi ex-Hajî-Jin, who was sent to Ravenscar for interrogation.

Irfan is eager for redemption in the eyes of Asmodeus, and agrees to serve under Slavoj as cohort:

Irfan%20Ahmenat.jpg


Irfan%20Ahmenat%202.png


Irfan%20Ahmenat%203.png
 
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Ah finally it was as thought you had disappeared forever.

How do your companions keep up with these sessions so spread out?
 

Grunker

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Ah finally it was as thought you had disappeared forever.

How do your companions keep up with these sessions so spread out?

We play roughly once each month, which is the standard for Danish P&P among adults. Sometimes we miss a month, though in that case we usually play twice in the next. Session #19 was actually played on August 30, and we were supposed to play yesterday (which is the reason I got to making the write-up for Session #19), but I took ill.

I do suspect that writing these summaries and making the character galleries have helped my players keep up though. Sometimes we spend half an hour or so on recapping when we meet as well. 'cause you're right, as we grow older these sessions do get more spread out.
 

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Yeah, the way we rolled stats allowed for some off-kilter results. Solomon's stat range is one of them, also arguably the best array in the party.
Still getting caught up, but this part made me curious. What method of stat-rolling did you use?
 

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After I finish my Mage: Ascension campaign (I already finished Vampire: Dark Ages with my players - 15 sessions), I think I'll start an evil party campaign, with the same premise like this one. Mainly Lawful Evil character, same character building, hatred for a country and getting out of a prison. So thanks, Grunker, for finding this gem for me to use.
 

Grunker

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After I finish my Mage: Ascension campaign (I already finished Vampire: Dark Ages with my players - 15 sessions), I think I'll start an evil party campaign, with the same premise like this one. Mainly Lawful Evil character, same character building, hatred for a country and getting out of a prison. So thanks, Grunker, for finding this gem for me to use.

Best advice you'll ever get: make sure that above all, character creation is spent creating believeable motives for you villains. Motives that can create play through a long campaign.
 

Havoc

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Thanks, this will be my first thing.

Did you do these conversions yourself? I'm looking for conversions for other (evil) classes from FR sourcebooks like Shadow Adept from Player's Guide.

BTW. Can you tell me the logic behind your house rules? Like rouge-type classes high BAB, changes to feats and the like?
 
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Grunker

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Havoc said:
Did you do these conversions yourself? I'm looking for conversions for other (evil) classes from FR sourcebooks like Shadow Adept from Player's Guide.

Yeah. I followed beta development of Pathfinder pretty closely and have it played it for a long time, so I know the "standards" and as such it is easy to take the FR classes and Pathfinder-standardize them. Could probably do some for Codex-bro, but you'd have to be specific. All the FR ones would be a lotta work to do properly :P

Havoc said:
BTW. Can you tell me the logic behind your house rules? Like rouge-type classes high BAB, changes to feats and the like?

Sure, use as you'd like:

Magic Ammunition does not lose its power or is destroyed automatically by hitting. Instead, there is a 10% chance of magic ammunition being destroyed on a hit, and 0% chance on a miss.

Basically, magic ammunition is bad enough as it is. This at least incentivices not selling off all found ammunition.

These classes now have high BAB progression: - Rogue, Ninja.

Besides maybe Druid or non-grapple, non-zen Monk builds, Rogue is widely regarded as the worst core class. Even with the fantastic changes to sneak attack and enemy immunities that made simulationists cry, they're blocked from good feats and combat participation because of BAB.

Simply changing the BAB to high was an experiment we thought would fail, but going on 4 campaigns with the rule it has proven balanced.

If an antipaladin is undead, he may use his Touch of Corruption on himself as a swift action.

Swift healing is one of the chief reasons Paladins are fun and great. This at least makes anti-paladins somewhat competitive in that light.

Feats that had Combat Expertise as a prerequisite no longer do. Instead, they now require any Combat Feat in addition to whatever other prerequisites they had. For example, Improved Trip used to require Combat Expertise and 13 Int. Instead, you now qualify for Improved Trip with just any other Combat Feat (which can be Combat Expertise) and 13 Int. Another example: Blistering Feint has Combat Expertise, Improved Feint and Ifrit as prerequisites. You may substitute the requirement of Combat Expertise with any feat, so that Blistering Feint now requires any Combat Feat in addition to Improved Feint and Ifrit

The Lore Warden may choose Arcane Strike instead of Combat Expertise as his bonus feat from the Expertise class feature, even if he would not normally qualify for the feat. He still needs actual caster levels if he wishes to deal more than 1 bonus damage with the feat.

The Gladiator may now choose any of these feats instead of Combat Expertise as his bonus feat from the Combat Expertise class feature, even if he would not normally qualify for the feat: Acrobatic, Agile Maneuvers, Endurance, Fleet, Intimidating Prowess, Toughness, Weapon Finesse.

Combat Expertise is a meaningless tax on melee fighters.

To penetrate damage reduction requiring specific materials, you must have that material. Enhancement bonus does not help you penetrate damage reduction.

The old rule means party fighters upgrade to high enhancement bonuses as fast as possible.

The new rule means they're more likely to go for fun enhancements and be prepared with multiple weapons for the occation.

Be aware that this is a clear difficulty spike that will make DR more effective which helps enemies 99% of the time. You need players who can be expected to prepare for fights.

In general, all racial requirements for feats can be waivered. Consult your GM before use.

If a really neat feat fits the characters concept and build, why block him with a meaningless "Prereq: Orc"?

The bonus to AC gained from using Combat Expertise is increased by half (+50%), rounded down, if you are using a shield or have an empty off-hand.

A rather small buff to an already not great build.

Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Improved Critical and similar feats bound to a single weapon now applies for all weapons. If a feat is not listed here, always ask the GM, before taking a weapon-specific feat, whether it applies to all weapons.

I like my players finding weird and cool weapons in the world and actually using them instead of arbitrarily going "Not a Greatsword? Well too bad, it looked fun."

Vital Strike, Improved Vital Strike and Greater Vital Strike are merged into a single feat that reads as follows:

Vital Strike (Combat)

You make a single attack that deals significantly more damage than normal.

Prerequisites: Base attack bonus +6.

Benefit: When you use the attack action, you can make one attack at your highest base attack bonus that deals additional damage. Roll the weapon's damage dice for the attack twice and add the results together before adding bonuses from Strength, weapon abilities (such as flaming), precision-based damage, and other damage bonuses. These extra weapon damage dice are not multiplied on a critical hit, but are added to the total. If you have a Base attack bonus of +11 or more, you roll the weapon's damage three times. If you have a Base attack bonus of +16 or more, you roll the weapon's damage four times. Vital Strike is compatible with feats that trigger on making a single attack for the turn, such as Cleave or Spring Attack.

Vital Strike is an awesome idea that was severely hampered by designers understandably being a bit scared about the implications of the feat. Rolling all attacks into one solves a lot of what makes many fighter builds subpar later in the game. This buff WILL be overdoing it and a bit OP if your characters are all poorly built core chars. In that case I suggest making your own house rule that makes the feat costs two feats - one for the initial Vital Strike and one for all other attacks that the first. The former 3-4 feats was way too bad.

A fumble or a critical hit has additional effects! We use the Pathfinder Critical Hit and Pathfinder Critical Fumble card decks and their associated rules.

Any effect of a card that would stun, paralyze or petrify lasts a maximum of 1 round.

We're all oldschool D&D players! We like tables, cards and all that jazz. Besides the nerf to disables, the cards are generally pretty well balanced and make crits different.

To hit a grappling character, you must either take a penalty of -4 or risk hitting the grappling counterpart. If you do not take the -4 penalty, and you miss your intended target, roll again to see if you hit the grappling counterpart.

A nerf to a strategy players can rely upon a bit too easily against certain monsters.

These prestige classes now have high BAB progression: - Assassin, Coastal Pirate, Crimson Assassin, Dark Delver, Guild Agent, Guild Poisoner, Halfling Opportunist, Master Spy, Shadowdancer.

See: Rogue/Ninja BAB.

Hit points: Max HP at 1st level as usual. Reaching further levels, you always roll your hit die twice and select the best result.

I like to use either this or NWN-style HP since it means my players have higher survivability. Since I ramp up the difficulty elsewhere, its needed.
 

Havoc

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Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
Yeah. I followed beta development of Pathfinder pretty closely and have it played it for a long time, so I know the "standards" and as such it is easy to take the FR classes and Pathfinder-standardize them. Could probably do some for Codex-bro, but you'd have to be specific. All the FR ones would be a lotta work to do properly :P

Great! If one of my player will want one of the FR classes, I'll kindly ask for your help.

The house rules seem reasonable. I hope you don't mind me using them and your pdfs?
 

Night Goat

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P. sensible houserules, but this sentence baffles me:

Besides maybe Druid or non-grapple, non-zen Monk builds, Rogue is widely regarded as the worst core class.
Monks are awful, but Druids are a great class even after Pathfinder's nerfs. What gives?
 

Grunker

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Great! If one of my player will want one of the FR classes, I'll kindly ask for your help.

The house rules seem reasonable. I hope you don't mind me using them and your pdfs?

Not at all. I say 'go ahead'. I advice you to keep changing them during play as befits your group and its desires. I'll even send you the document file so you can edit it as you'd like.

If your players are new I would recommend using the normal rules for Damage Reduction though.

Monks are awful, but Druids are a great class even after Pathfinder's nerfs. What gives?

The "problem" with Druid in 3.5 was that it was roughly as strong a fighter as the fighter and as great a caster as the cleric or wizard. Hence the joke "Hi, I'm a druid. I have class features more powerful than your entire class." Add to this an insane amount of flexibility with the ability to shape form into any sort of creature with insanely specific counters to suit any situation.

The Pathfinder Druid was nerfed, of course, as it should have, but in my opinion the PF team messed up here. What they did is they restricted the shapechanging to be subpar to a fighter and the casting to be subpar to a devoted caster while keeping both aspects of the class seperate. That last bit means that at any time, the Druid can choose to be a subpar melee combatant or a subpar caster. What they should have done is merged these two styles so that they completemented each other.
 
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