Salamanders and Giants and Gnolls (Oh My!)

well, i prsonally think there should be "non-magical", cheaper versions of cujo's armours as well as the high-powered ones.
i mean, a mercenary, barbarian or agent of evil should be able to wear something with the name of "marauder armour", and still have the budget of a common member of a relatively normal group of murderous villains

 

Hmmm...I wonder what the poor murderers are wearing this season...?

 

A possibility would be to leave the normal versions at current cost and crank them down to by the book stats (max dex mods and check penalties in-line with their AC bonus. No skill bonuses.) and turn the masterwork versions into +1 versions with all the bells, whistles and appropriate cost. Lets "poor" baddies get the look without the illegal bonuses, and if players want all the cool toys associated with the armor currently, they have to pay for it.

 

yip sounds good - non masterwork = lower stats, masterwork = increase price

Q "Hmmm...I wonder what the poor murderers are wearing this season...?"
A "Your jacket"

 

Okay, I'll look into doing that.

Documenting everything I've done so far is slow-going. I haven't even had a chance to work on fixing any new monsters. The last few days have been spent poring over my updated protos and comparing it to the old one to document the changes I've made. I'm still in the B's. That said, it has allowed me to find a couple mistakes and even some monsters/NPCs I missed either on accident or due not remembering where I had left off before a protos corruption.

This change log is going to be frickin' huge.

 

In the C's. Pishella is now a Sorcerer 1/Wizard 1, as discussed here. Her extra spells were folded into the Wizard side. I axed the Magical Affinity and Spell Penetration feats, since she shouldn't have them at 2nd level. (Her first-level feat is Martial Proficiency: Warhammer and she gets the Scribe Scroll feat from her 1st level of Wizard. And that's all the Feats she should have.)

I was looking at the Carpetenter's brother, comparing my protos to the original and thinking about how he should be an Expert and not a fighter, when it dawned on me that I could probably cludge it into place. The game already gives unclassed creatures a 3/4 BAB when using a weapon. Everything else is plugged into the protos. So I turned Marek into an Expert. He has 1d6 hitpoints, a CR of 0 (1/2 in PNP terms), 28 Skillpoints and two feats, plus light armor proficiency and simple weapon proficiency.

The question is, do we care? Does it matter that the majority of Homlett's population is 1st level Fighters? Or should I cludge them into NPC classes as much as possible? Expert and Aristocrat are easy. Adept is impossible due to the spellcasting. I mean, I suppose I give them some spells via the "domain_special" tag, but it wouldn't work right and I can't think of anyone who would qualify anyway. Commoners would have all Simple Weapons (the game seems to give this by default) instead of 1 Simple Weapon Prof and a higher BAB, though if they're only level 1 it wouldn't matter. Warriors would have too low of a BAB. Though I could make a cludge using the Ranger class *waits for everyone to finish their panic attack at the "R" word* by short-changing them skills and giving them medium and heavy armor proficiency. All the Badgers should really be warriors, not fighters. Same goes for most of the militia members.

I realize, the last thing I really need to be doing is finding more work for myself, since this is already taking far longer than I anticipated. It's just another way we can make the game more accurate.

On a side note, when I cast Suggestion on Marek, he used the +2 Will save I gave him in the protos. But once Suggestion made him part of my party, his Will Save bonus vanished.

 

On a sort of side note maybe she should get Martial Proficiency (Warhammer) for free as I think its important to the game and as a wiz/sor you would probably pick a different feat <shrug>

 

I think it is silly for her to have Martial Proficiency (Warhammer) just so she can use the Granite Maul to destroy the Orb, and that is the only reason I can see that she has it in the first place. Give her a feat that makes sense for her class.

 

Expert and Aristocrat (along with Adept, Warrior, and Commoner) classes are NPC classes used in D&D 3.0 and 3.5 for everyone of the pc races who doesn't have a PC class.

Experts have d6 for HP, BAB as Rogue, Good Will saves, skill points 6+int mod/level (x4 at first level),with a choice of any ten skills to be class skills. Proficient in all simple weapons and with light armour but not with shields.

Aristocrats have d8 HP, BAB as Rogue, Good Will saves, skill points 4 +int mod/level (x4 at first level) (I'll skip listing the class skills). Proficient in all simple and martial weapons, and with all types of armour and shields.

To make this complete:

Adepts have d6 HP, BAB as Wizard, Good Will saves, skill points 2 +int mod/level (x4 at first level)(skipping skills list) Proficient in simple weapons and no armour or shield. They also have access to a variety of Arcane and Divine spells which they prepare the same way a Cleric does, but they cannot spontaneously cast cure or inflict spells. Their spell selection is smaller than and their spells per day are less than a Cleric or Wizard.

Commoners have d4 HP, BAB as Wizard, no good saves, skill points as adept, (skipping skills list), Proficient with one simple weapon only, and with no armour or shield.

Warriors have d8 HP, BAB as rogue, good Fortitude saves, skill points as adept (skipping skills list), Proficient with all weapons and all armor and shields.

None of the NPC classes get any bonus feats or access to any other special abilities beyond what is noted above.

Darmagon

 

Do we know if she actually requires the proficiency in order to destroy the Orb? If not, there's no point in her having it and I can happily switch it out for Spell Penetration or Magical Affinity. I think the former would be more useful.

Nope. You only get your 1st level feat at 1st character level, not class level. After that you get one every third character level (and/or hit die) and whatever bonus feats (if any) your class provides at the appropriate class level.

Thanks for quoting the NPC class rules, darmagon.

When I made Marek, he ended up with some "worthless" skills and feats just because the list of ones that are actually in the game weren't all logical for a carpetenter. So he has a bunch of ranks in Craft (Carpentry), Swim, Jump and the like and one of his feats is Skill Focus (Craft). The game doesn't actually recognize them, but he would have them.

I made Rik last night as well as a third level Expert. So he's actually tougher than he was as a 1st level fighter, but not by a lot. And it would make sense if he was the main carpenter for the villiage that he'd have an extra level or two. Maybe I should drop him to level 2, since Homlett is pretty small.

Anyways, ted (and others) to make a 1st level Expert, simply remove any existing class levels.

CR 0
Reflex Save: 0
Fort Save: 0
Will Save: 2
Hitpoints: 1d6
Armor: 0

Skills: Any 6 skills at 8 ranks (to make up for the engine automatically counting any skill possessed by creatures without character levels as cross-classed.) Add 1 more skill (at 8 ranks) for being human and 1 more skill for each point of intelligence bonus. (This is easier than calculating 6+Int Mod x4 skill points, adding 4 if human and then divying the points up, remembering to double the amount afterwards. I figure most NPCs, if they have a skill, are going to max it out anyway.)

Feats: 1 feat of any kind. 1 more if human. Armor Proficiency (Light)

If you want to make them higher than 1st level, add 1d6 HP per level, raise each skill 2 points per additional level, give them an extra feat every level divisible by 3, consult the Wizard chart to determine their saving throws and change their CR to current level -1 (So a 3rd level expert would be CR 2.)

I can detail how to make the other NPC classes if people want.

Like I said, it works as long as you don't drop a suggestion or other spell on them that makes them into a party member. At that point things get weird.

ETA: Actually, I think I'll start a thread about NPC classes.

 

Finished documenting and correcting mistakes in the C's. I've converted the villager NPCs I've come across since last time to NPC classes as appropriate. Will have to go back and get the other ones later.

Crystal Oozes got a boost from my last tweak. Pulled out my old 2E Monstrous Compendium and saw they were supposed to be more-powerful, aquatic versions of Gray Oozes. So they got some ability score boosts to go with that knowledge.

So in short, it looks like killing innocent villagers will be easier (though you'll get less XP for it). Killing monsters, not so much.

 

Actually, it doesn't make much sense that Burne's apprentice would be doing this, anyway. Sure, she might be getting the stuff together for him to do it, but, you don't have to be a wizard to smash it...it just helps.

Proficiency in maul is not required to destroy the Orb; but a maul made entirely of Granite is. This is but one of the 4 things required; 'fireball' isn't either, for that matter...the orb merely has to be subjected to very hot (1000 degree) flame; subjected to high wind; immersed in cold water; then hit with the maul...in rapid succession, and with all gems installed. The Orb will then shatter. Seems like a blacksmith could do it with the help of a few friends. The high wind is the real trick, I suppose. That would definetly get the heat of a forge well above 1k degrees.

Just a few thoughts.