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Pathfinder General /pfg/ How much do you incorporate charac

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Pathfinder General /pfg/

How much do you incorporate character backstory into the campaign's plot?

If you are asking for build advice, please mention which third-party books are allowed. If you do not say anything, we will assume DSP/SoP is allowed.

Unified /pfg/ link repository:
http://pastebin.com/HwxEjiKW

Previous thread: >>43652765
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>>43664750
>How much do you incorporate character backstory into the campaign's plot?
As much as possible without hogging the spotlight.
>>
>>43664750

All of it. My campaign's plot generally has some metaplot stuff I've written up, but a lot of it will be tied to the party and who the characters are. It's a lot more fun that way. Sometimes the story arc will retroactively become about them after they've written their backstories because it fits better.
>>
Reminder to shut the fuck up about your anime and find an alternative platform to discuss it if you want to keep recommending shit to Gareth.
>>>/a/

Also, congrats Gareth on making your first thread.
>>
First for: Gareth, pick up Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works, One Punch Man, Log Horizon and Maou Maouyuu Yuusha for Tabletop inspiration.
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>>43664750
>Pathfinder General /pfg/
This bit goes in the subject field, Gareth.
>>
>a small, cute campaign where everyone plays as one of the improved familiars
Would you play it?
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(fuck, posted it in the previous thread as well!)

>>43664619
>>43664680
reposting, looking for ideas. paizo and DSP stuff are allowed, other 3pp on a case-by-case basis
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>>43664750
>Gareth making a thread
They grow up so fast.
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Fifth or Sixth for Hobgoblins: best goblins!
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>>43664750
>Gareth makes the new thread

In all seriousness though, so far the only involving of my character's backstories has been on the part of the DM.
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>>43664827
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>Gareth thread

Time to ask about CHA harbinger, psionic animate dead, silver crane knight chandler, psionic race builder options, ask why Ssalarn hasn't appeared with Arcforge yet, and recommend him questionable anime.
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>>43664762
Apparently there's a Daemon by the name of Cixyron who has muskets as his favored weapon.
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>>43664851
>Cha Harbinger
you mean Warlord?
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>>43664837
>In all seriousness though, so far the only involving of my character's backstories has been on the part of the DM.
What the hell does this mean?
>>
God dammit I just want to play in a low level campaign that feel genuine. Every game I play turns into "lol randum" shit. I just want something endearing and dark, not to the point of grimderp, but along that line.

Shit man. Also something with difficult strategic combat. It's not even that they're bad GMs, they just fall into patterns.
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>>43664845
but he wasn't a familiar anon
only witches get familiars
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>>43664865
It means I've made my characters and their backstories, and then the DM has decided to make those backstories relevant to events as they unfold.
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>>43664858
Muskets can't be reloaded as a free action, even with rapid reload. Thus they're not really useable for flurry. Revolver god when.
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>>43664870
My main problem with low-level games is that gold is too scarce. I get not having magic items out the ass, but I want to be able to buy some dumb alchemical shit to lay traps with instead of being limited to the same length of rope because I can't afford a new one.
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>>43664861
He's probably refering to the Chunibinger.
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Xth for cavalier/samurai initiator archetype!
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>>43664858

Portfolio:
>Electricity
>Gunpowder
>Poisonous Metals

I want this guy to be a techno-demon so bad.
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>>43664750
Previous storytime posts from this session
>>43663664
>>43664637

It is at this point that Blue's dad whacks him on the back of the head with an unstrung bow. He explains, as patiently as possible, that he just cost the Lady Commander political capital by calling her out like that and that, yes, it was calling her out and /sweet gods, boy, this is why you are not in line to lead the tribe/.

Blue asks, "Why do you care? I'm not important."

Dad says, "Really? The brave little goblin who went down into that pit? The Hero of the Tribe, who has tallfolk servants, not important? Every goblin and blue eye is on you, and the Black Thorns know it. Not gonna fault you for standing up for your beliefs but you better make sure she's not mad at you."

And so it is that Our Intrepid Heroes, motivated by the only person in the fucking group with a functionally normal conscience, grab something swift to eat before going to face the music.
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>>43664910
No, he's referring to the nonstop complaints a while back on multiple forums that Harbinger wasn't Cha-based.

Because, you know, you have to be Charisma-focused to be powered by emotion.
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>>43664893
Are you guys still on the topic of how to stat Mami from Madoka?

Because she doesn't reload her muskets either. She quickdraw / inventory spams her muskets.
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So, do possessions on another player count as spells? AM BARBARIAN ABLE TO HIT TEAM TO BREAK POSSESSION?
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>>43664921
Cyberdemon!
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>>43664908
I don't have a problem with this as long as they follow WBL.

I should just join a game from the /tg/ gamefinder threads. I just hate doing voice chat with people I don't know though.
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>>43664797
Thanks. Was kinda nervous about it.

>>43664808
...Welp. I'll remember that next time.

>>43664830
Every time someone says this I get a little more scared.

>>43664851
Keep an eye out for Psionics Augmented: Occult.
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/pfg/ I have a question
Paizo has introduced two super heavy monster groups, the behemoths and Kaiju, only three in both introductions but alluded to more.
Have they actually introduced more/or done anything with them since then?

And for that matter has drakania been used in anything? It strikes me as weird they'd make a super high level demonlord tier creature and not at least toss a mention in an ap.
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>>43664750
>How much do you incorporate character backstory into the campaign's plot?

I wanted to do it once but I bitched out because I didn't my character's insanity and antagonistic goals to make the game a brewing pot of interplayer conflict and bad mojo.

Otherwise though, the other PCs would have eventually discovered that they and everyone else were at risk of being assimilated into a greater consciousness for the sake of allowing transhumanity to be able to stay afloat in a universe full of eldritch things.
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>>43664957
>Psionics Augmented: Occult

Psionic JoJo Stands confirmed!
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>>43664957
>Every time someone says this I get a little more scared.

We accept him, one of us! One of us!

Gooble gobble gooble gobble!
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>>43664750
>How much do you incorporate character backstory into the campaign's plot?

This is something I like to do, but I've had a number of good experiences with this and a number of bad ones.

I ran one game where I came up with a rough setting, everyone gave their characters, and then I tailored the entire plot to weave together the backstories of the PCs. It was pretty great and one of the players praised me probably more than I deserved for engaging his character so well, but ultimately it sort of shot me in the foot because the campaign story became too dark and gritty for one of the other players, and they said they really didn't enjoy playing their character, but felt they couldn't just hotswap them out and reroll because of how integrated their character's backstory had become with the plot. So we had to kill the campaign and reboot everything. I still miss my healbot GMPC from that ;_;

Another time I've had it misused against me, I built a fun character just for adventuring and gave the GM a cool backstory with the intention 'that's how she got where she is, but it's all incidental and in the past now'. GM majorly factors it into the plot - which is fine, except he decides to heavily twist it against the original intention and smack me with it, in the vein of "That dead lover who inspired you to become an adventurer? Yeah he never really loved you, had a mistress on the side, and secretly resented you the whole time and now he's back as an undead because of his huge grudge." Was slightly bitter about that.

tl;dr if done well it can be really great but it's also playing with fire.
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>>43664967
>Have they actually introduced more/or done anything with them since then?

Like 70% of everything in the bestiaries is not used in an AP.

Drakaina are not in anything as far as I'm aware.
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>>43664858

Fuck yes. Thanks, anon; looks like I'm rolling up a monk/cleric of Cixyron.

>>43664893
Casting Reloading Hands ameliorates that somewhat. With a a mixture of melee and ranged attacks, it might work.

>>43664935
True, and that makes me think of the eldritch archer magus casting Storm of Blades with a musket:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/s/storm-of-blades

It does specify sword, but I don't think too many GMs would object to refluffing the spell since it does the exact same thing it would normally.
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>>43664750
>>43664784
This, nigga.
>tfw campaign straight-up dies and my Cleric's connections to Sandpoint are never explored.
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>>43664937
Depends on what the possession says, but generally, not unless it specifically says it's a magic jar SLA or some such.

>>43664957
People saying that sort of thing is generally just them being socially inept, either genuinely or as a "joke", and parroting memes to express emotion. They're happy that you're coming more used to /tg/, and so am I. Any specific type of image you'd like to collect? I remember you needing more.
>>
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>>43664893

What if you modified a musket to have a magazine.

What if you had a musket as your implanted weapon.
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>>43664999
Maybe get a Musket of the Infinite Sky to facilitate flurrying?
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>>43665023
Then it'd be a modern firearm or technological weapon, more likely.
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>>43665015

Rise of the Runelords?
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>>43664893
Rapid Reload + Metal Cartridges.
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>>43664893
>Revolver god when

THE PENIS IS EVIL
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>>43665056

Lawful Evil god of gunslingers and frontier justice. I can get behind that.
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>>43665045
...Yes...
I'm fine.
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>>43664827
sure
>>
Do negative levels prevent you from casting your highest level spells?

Why? I am getting into a public spell-duel with a fellow wizard.
>>
>>43664893
>Revolver god
>Not becoming one yourself
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>>43665077
Not in Pathfinder, iirc.
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>>43665056
What the fuck?
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>>43665047
You can't use early firearms with metal carts. They're only for Advanced firearms.
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>>43665082
I kinda want to play a Sleeping Goddess revolver initiator for that.
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>>43665091
Well, to be pedantic, advanced firearms already assume have to be using metal cartridges and don't let you reduce the loading time again.
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>>43665090

The Penis is evil! The Penis shoots Seeds, and makes new Life to poison the Earth with a plague of men, as once it was. But the Gun shoots Death and purifies the Earth of the filth of Brutals. Go forth, and kill! Zardoz has spoken.
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>>43664750
I try to at the beginning of a campaign, but most of the time I am joining an on-going game so my place is to just write something that sounds reasonable and be quietly ushered in.
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>>43665104
>Sleeping Goddess revolver initiator

Played by Keanu Reeves?
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>>43665091
I think he meant alchemical cartridges, which do work for muskets. But that still only reduces it down to a move action.
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>>43665077
>>43665087
Yes, since you need a minimum caster level to cast certain levels of spells. Unless /that/ changed.
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>>43665131
No. The amount of trenchcoat that that'd require would make me default to harbinger, and I want Gunsmoke Mystic.
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>>43665023
>magazine
Then it's not a musket now is it?
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>>43665143
Negative levels don't reduce CL in pathfinder. Also, explicitly don't eat your spells.

>For each negative level a creature has, it takes a cumulative –1 penalty on all ability checks, attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, Combat Maneuver Defense, saving throws, and skill checks. In addition, the creature reduces its current and total hit points by 5 for each negative level it possesses. The creature is also treated as one level lower for the purpose of level-dependent variables (such as spellcasting) for each negative level possessed. Spellcasters do not lose any prepared spells or slots as a result of negative levels. If a creature's negative levels equal or exceed its total Hit Dice, it dies.
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>>43665068
>Lawful Evil god of gunslingers and frontier justice

Anon, once again Tian Xia proves it's Best Setting with a god that's more or less exactly this.

http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Yaezhing

>Yaezhing is the Tian-Shu deity of murder, death, and punishment which exceeds the crime; he is patron of ninja and assassins. He also acts as the enforcer of justice among the gods. His unholy symbol is a shuriken drenched in blood.
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>>43665149
>Mystic with Sleeping Goddess

The golden combination.
Sleeping Goddess style + Psionic Meditation lets you use move actions to bypass the Mystic's random recovery method
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>>43665163
They don't lose prepared spells or slots, but they are a lower level for spellcasting, it says right there.
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>>43665163
Yeah, what you'd wanna do is whack their casting stat until they can't cast back.
>>
Now that you guys mentioned it.

Why AREN'T there an Equilibrium-style Gun-Kata Gunslinger archetype?
>Use guns in melee range
>Attack all targets within line of sight
>Bonus Quick Draw and TWF
>Use Guns to parry melee attacks and redirect ranged attacks
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>>43665169
>Tian Gunslinger out for revenge
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>>43665193
Because Paizo's allergic to cool.
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>>43665193
Because that's a hybrid class of the monk + gunslinger rather than an archetype.
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>>43665193
you can do a little bit of that already with feats like Snap Shot
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>>43665169
Still no guns though.

I dunno about LE though, usually frontier justice is more chaotic and personal.
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>>43665213
Only the old guard is.

New Guard says 'punching catapult boulders out of the way? SURE THING BRO.'
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>>43665233

They really need to figure out better ways to quarantine the old guard, because man are they toxic.
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>>43665169
>He also acts as the enforcer of justice among the gods.
Why the fuck am I not surprised.
But he can't actually do anything, can he, because Iomedae?
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>>43664750
Hey Gareth:

Read A Centaur's Worries, don't bother with Monmusu.
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>>43665229
I think he means, the equilibrium movie's pistol whip+bullet to the head treated as a single attack.
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>>43665193
I think you can do that with the new ranged weapon styles in Weapon Master's Handbook. Empty Quiver in particular. Maybe combine it with Swashbuckler to deflect melee attacks with your guns.
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>>43665249
>But he can't actually do anything, can he, because Iomedae?

He actually does a whole lot of shit, because apparently Iomedae does not hold power in Tian Xia (hence the existence of Daikitsu when she's effectively a non-good version of Erastil.)

Here's an example of how the gods of Tian Xia do compared to Avistan.

>Shizuru, the Empress of Heaven, and the moon god Tsukiyo are lovers; Tsukiyo is the Prince of the Moon and the brother of Fumeiyoshi. Aeons ago, Fumeiyoshi grew jealous of his brother's loving relationship with Shizuru and, on one occasion, grew so angry he murdered Tsukiyo. Shizuru then successfully requested the aid of Qi Zhong, the god of medicine, to resurrect her lover. She then recruited Yaezhing, the punisher of the gods and the enforcer of divine justice, to punish Fumeiyoshi by banishing him to his brother's tomb and stripping him of his position. She stated Fumeiyoshi would forever envy his betters as the undead envy the living and, indeed, Fumeiyoshi is now styled the Lord of Envy and in his portfolio are dishonour, envy, graves, and the undead. In contrast, after his rebirth, Tsukiyo added spirits to his portfolio.
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>>43665257
Centaur's Worries is decent, though be careful not to be put off by its first chapter (Which is uncharacteristically lewd compared to the rest of the manga, probably to drum up initial interest). Its worldbuilding is excellent but lately it feels like it hasn't been going anywhere else.

Really the first manga I'd recommend to fans of DnD and fun is Dungeon Meshi.
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>>43665318
Dungeon Meshi is the best, but it lacks monstergirls.
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>>43665318
Dungeon Meshi is fucking great, but there isn't enough of it out yet.
>>
>>43664804
>No mention of Overlord

Granted, Overlord is pretty generic D&D fantasy, presented well with nothing new to add to the genre.
>>
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>>43664927
They make it to the fort and start heading up to the Commander's office, only to be interrupted by this squire, in her plain black tabard, standing at nervous attention and fumbling her honorifics.

You see, I had thought to myself, "someone has to redirect them to the meeting area, but I don't want it to be a boring scene." I should not have done this, but I did it, and when she stood up straight and actually made eye contact and managed a "The Lady Commander will meet you in the courtyard gardens," as cold and professional as you please, the players decided she was /fucking adorable/ and fell in love.

She escorts them to the gardens, where the Commander is tending to a black rose bush, without her armor and with her back to them. She says that she imagines that Blue's father has yelled at him by now. He agrees and apologizes, saying that he did not mean to challenge her.

The Lady Commander asks him to tell her why she agreed to his request, and when Blue says that he honestly doesn't know, she tells him: "The Defenders of the Realm have a saying of which I am fond: loyalty is a circle. You have provided me with your loyalty, with faithful service and due diligence when the others I called to my banner failed me. I do not regret being loyal to you in turn, but now you've put your foot into a conflict that will see this as an excuse to officially begin. There are elements among my subordinates that don't want to leave Crossroad Glen. They would see us rule here."

The party hands over the map she asked for, and she promises to return it once a copy is made for her archives. "One last thing," she asks. "Why is a longship full of Winterholm sailors coming down my river?"

Astrid runs like fucking hell.
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>>43665304
...And there are campaigns set here, right?
Man, this sounds great.
>>
>>>/a/
Report anime posts
Hide anime posts
Do not reply to anime posts
>>
>>43665379
man, overlord and re:monster are such transparent author-wank it gives me a headache. (especially the LNs they're based off of, jesus christ). story of the shield hero is the same.
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>>43665392
>complaining about anime in a messageboard created originally to discuss anime, using anime reaction images, with posters regularly using anime as inspiration for their class builds, with some DMs using anime plots and settings for their campaigns.

kek
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>>43665379

Literal D&D fantasy, even. The story uses a bunch of reskinned D&D mechanics, including Epic Spellcasting, various spell names directly pulled from D&D (in the novels at least), a bunch of interactions that exist normally within D&D...
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>>43665391
>And there are campaigns set here, right?

No.

There is only half an AP set in Tian Xia and I think like two or three adventures.

The deities are actually very comprehensive and have something for everyone, down to a Lawful Evil version of Shizuru, and the continent itself has a very nice range of countries, many of which are just begging for an adventure.
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>>43665422
>being this fucking retarded
At this point it's not /tg/ related. It's just HEY GARETH WATCH THIS SHIT and arguing over which series are good. I'm cool with "stat X" but not this bullshit. You fucktards can go to /a/ if you want to discuss anime.
>>
>>43665433
Didn't the author play ADnD or something?
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>>43665433
Funny enough - Overlord introduced Weeaboo Book of Fightan Magic in their setting as a way to show martial and caster balance.

The balance still favors the casters
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>>43664804
>Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon
Good
>Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works
Meh
>One Punch Man
Overrated shit
>Log Horizon
Unimaginative Fanwank with a good setting
>Maou Maouyuu Yuusha
Economics, Potatoes and Useless Meats/10
>>
>>43665233

This is important. Are the new guard or the old guard making the Weapon Master's Handbook?
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>>43665503
new guard from the looks of it, since it actually lets martials (even fighters!) do half-competent things.
>>
Post a premise for a campaign, summed up in no more than three sentences. Then watch in amazement as /pfg/ responds with the secret plot twist that will throw your players for a loop!
>>
>>43665131
The Matrix is obviously Riven Hourglass.
Imagine a Gunslinger Initiator with Bullet-time reaction speeds.
>>
>>43665539
Dorfs from Dwarf Fortress get nukes and are sent to Golarion.
>>
How do you feel about Celerity
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>>43665564
Allow me to sum up most people's feelings on giving casters more ways to break the action economy: No.
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>>43665556
Their home world is Golarion in a post-apocalyptic future that they themselves are going to cause as a result of nuking it.
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>>43665556
They're using the nuclear material to make nuclear reactors, since they were tired of all this battery-low shit.
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>>43665524
Most of the book is really "here's how to make the fighter not suck so hard", and it actually does accomplish it to some extent. Advanced Weapon Training is actually useful, as are the feats where Weapon Training is a pre-req.
>>
>>43665593
You know literally nothing about Dwarf Fortress physics. Begone.

>>43665586
Explicitly impossible due to cosmology, such as where Hell is in either world.
>>
>>43665539
The PCs have to stop an evil wizard from taking the power of a god as his own.
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>>43665451
The author played lots of types of D&D, I'd imagine. A bunch of the mechanics and thematics are directly ported from 3.5 though, see above re:epic spells.

Spoilers for the finale of the season and the novels below:

When Shaltear was fighting Ainz in the novels, it's noted that Ainz isn't using his vast arsenal of not!wands and not!scrolls because Shaltear's magic resistance is based on the power of the caster, and those items always cast their spells at the minimum caster level. For the Super-tier spells, they're something that doesn't take spell slots, is done with a long casting time/ritual with a high cost, works off of a skill, and can only be done a couple times per day based on your power. Literally epic spellcasting.

>>43665564
I like the spell but think it's really damn broken. Immediate action things are my favorite things. I'd rather use Wings of Cover though. Emergency Force Sphere is a godawful busted spell that needs to die in a fire.
>>
>>43665616
being able to get functional skill points (at level 5, that doesnt work retroactively for... some reason), AoO incoming ranged/magic attacks, and finally getting a decent use for bravery are all great.
>>
>>43665539
A princess with bard levels, beloved for her singing voice, is captured by the prince of a past enemy nation.
Her paladin sister has recruited you to rescue the princess, and their crippled brother who happens to be a master smith despite his lack of functioning legs promises you enchanted items in return for his sister's safe return.
>>
>>43665659
Did... you actually read Versatile Training? It's based off your BAB. So if you stay full-BAB, those skills just have perma-max ranks.
>>
>>43665674
I feel like I've played this game before.
>>
>>43665539
The world is in the middle of a very, very slow apocalypse. Approximately a hundred square miles of surface disappear daily, slowly enough that people can sort of evacuate with enough warning. The elves have lost ancestral forests and are shitting their pants and singing sad songs, the dorfs have lost mountainholms and are being stoic as usual, and no one knows what's causing it.
>>
>>43665685
I actually made it up myself, but it's probably not a novel idea.
>>
Stat me /pfg/
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>>43665687
The world as it is known is merely a massive plateau.

Over the 'edge' is a new world, just waiting to be explored.
>>
>>43665674

It was an elopement so the paladin wants you to capture them both for a proper church ceremony.
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>>43665383
There's some confusion as to whether they should go after Astrid, but ultimately Peri & Blue decide that she's a big girl who can take care of herself and that they should stock up for the next delve. A great selling of loot and buying of rope and potions happens - some 2,500 feet of hemp rope, in point of fact, from a farmer who is Very Definitely Not Selling Weed to Bandits, That Would Be Illegal Y'heah? And he says, though he Definitely Didn't Hear It From Bandits, that something happened to a local gang - the Splinters. Some priestess, some worshiper of Fenris, she shows up a few months ago and tears her way through them, and then she and the survivors just fucking vanish...and soon after, so does most everyone they ever had a grudge with, one group at a time.

"You're goin' down that big green pit, right?" he asks. "Y'be careful. Y'seem like a good guy."

Meanwhile, Blue decides he wants to meet the new party member, and Adorable Squire is on door duty, because she gets the bitch work (welcome to Lawful Evil, girlie). She manages to get Blue's name wrong, accidentally defer to him three times and walk into a closed door in frustrated nervousness before finally escorting him to the prisoner, who turns out to be a sarcastic asshole claiming to be innocent of any wrongdoing. He's a complete dick to Squire though, and when she gets him with a bucket of ice-cold water through the bars no one involved thinks he didn't deserve it. Informed by him that the Splinters have turned into zealots that don't die when you fucking kill them, Blue goes to meet back up with Peri, with Astrid still unaccounted for.
>>
Can Akashics be healers?
If so which class does it innately? I know viziers can use wands of any spell.

I'm in a small group and i think the ability to heal between fights (and at low levels, combat healing. Combat healing might be shit for most of the game, but at level 1-2 its necessary) seems like it would help a lot.
>>
>>43665640
The god is also evil, and if they're not careful they'll have to stop BOTH coming after their ass.
>>
>>43665687
>>43665703
This is from Golden Sun.
>>
>>43665699
This exact same thing has been posted three times with just 'stat me' as the comment.

Also, that bitch's unchanging expression makes me want to cuntpunt her into next week.
>>
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>>43665020
Honestly? Fantasy art reaction images and/or .gifs. Sci-fi ones also work out great.

>>43665539
The player characters wake up in a strange city, miles away from anywhere they're from, only for everyone to insist that they're different people that actually rule the city they're in.
>>
>>43665727
Well, considering I posted it three times without getting an answer...
>>
>>43665717
Golden Sun did have the world slowly shrinking from the outside, but there wasn't a new world down there. They've never explored what IS, if anything.
>>
>>43665727

I don't even get who it's supposed to be.
>>
>>43665682
"Studied"
"the fighter is well versed in a variety of skills. gain 4 + Int modifier in skill points whenever the fighter levels, instead of 2 + Int modifier (this does not act retroactively)"
>>
>>43665674
>>43665693
When you return with the princess you gain your enchanted weapons as promised, but the paladin sister isn't around. As the PCs adventure, they realize that their equipment is bonding with them and slowly poisoning their minds as a result of some kind of death curse when cursed magic gear is created from a distorted pure soul, i.e. the paladin sister. They return to find the city enthralled by the brother who's walking around like he owns the place as he prepares to tie himself to the true kingdom bloodline and do something suitably evil. He can be either adopted, insinutated himself into the family via magic, or just do incest for gaining throne power.
>>
>>43665640
The evil wizard was originally a god who had his power stolen from him by an equally dick-ass god a few hundred years ago, and the ex-god wizard is simply trying to get it back. The party sees some of the stuff said god does and may decide to help the wizard because he's the less dickish between the two, but still generally a dick.

>>43665674
The prince kidnapped the princess to have her singing voice for himself because it's a nation with an incredibly strong musical culture that will not respect a prince who cannot sing.
The prince had talent but a really raspy voice, so he magically swaps it out with a permanent spell. The public doesn't think it's weird he has a female voice now because he's damn good.
The princess has further complicated things by swapping her new Prince voice for a more normal one, and the prince voice has ended up on the blackmarket. The existence of a magic powerful artifact that is activated by the voice of the country's royalty is unveiled, and the party now needs to go hunt the voice down again before it falls into the wrong hands/throat.
>>
>>43665616

Wait, do people have it already? What are some of the highlights?
>>
>>43665699
Chosen Undead. Other than that I don't know enough about her to make any other calls
>>
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>>43665735
Guess why there's been a lack of interest. No one is interested.

>>43665734
I'll look through what I have. Here's this.
>>
>>43665707
Very limited, but yes. There is the Immaculate Touch veil, some Guru class abilities (depending on which Philosophy), plus the mentioned Item Use via Vizier. Still going to be a stretch, though, when PsyBomb's group playtested Akasha they had a Vitalist with them (WAY back from GitP's playtest threads)
>>
>>43665699
that legendary hero/story-based soulknife AT that's been linked here and there seems a good fit.
>>
>>43665735
Does that maybe tell you something about how much people care?

>>43665758
Fighters and people pretending to be them can punch or otherwise smack ballista bolts, boulders, and cannonfire out of their way.

A Fighter can be as deadly with a dagger as a greatsword.

Bravery to all will saves. Weapon Training bonus to Reflex saves.

Fighters getting to use their BAB in place of their ranks in a few skills, getting to instantly reassign ranks that were already there.
>>
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>>43665772
Filename explains what I imagine it to be saying.
>>
>>43665748
Hooray, the Lore Warden just got better.
Now can we get a fix so the Lore Warden and Eldritch Guardian can be compatible?
>>
Uh so... the level 1 silver crane stance Silver Crane Waltz gives me initiative if i was in it before combat.

Does this mean being in a stance outside of combat all the time is possible? The rules just say they last "indefinitely until changed".
>>
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>>43665706
Okay, I need to sleep. Will finish storytime in the morning. Sorry /pfg/.
>>
>>43665791
>Bravery to all will saves. Weapon Training bonus to Reflex saves.
Don't forget about using their BAB as a replacement for their Reflex bonus or as a replacement for their Will bonus versus single-target spells once per round.
>>
>>43665539
>>43664827

A bunch of wizards left their familiars in an old library while they take a vacation and talk about magic. Goblins raid the library, and the familiars follow their tracks until they find an evil wizard.
This wizard wants to unite all the planes into one big clusterfuck, and something from beyond the stars is helping him.
>>
>>43665816
Possible and intended, yeah. A lot of stances have out of combat abilities, even.
>>
More Spheres optimization fun. This time, Necromancy!
>Android Incanter 1/Spheres Wizard 1/Incanter 3
>All feats (3 Total) go into Extra Magic Talent
>Boons: Overcharge
>General Drawbacks: Magical Signs, Verbal Casting, Somatic Casting x2, Focus Casting: Total +3 Spell Points, +2CL
>Magical Talents:
>Death Sphere Access (Inc 1, via Specialization, +1CL)
>Command Undead (Inc 1)
>Drain (Inc 1)
>Empowered Reanimate (Inc 1)
>Expanded Necromancy (Inc 1)
>Lingering Necromancy (Feat 1)
>Greater Reanimate (Wiz 1)
>Greater Reanimate (Wiz 1)
>Greater Reanimate (Wiz 1, via Specialization, +1 CL )
>Mass Reanimate (Inc 2)
>Killing Curse (Inc 2)
>Manipulate Undeath (Feat 2)
>Inflict Disease (Inc 3)
>Sickening (Inc 3)
>Weakening (Inc 4)
>Summon Spirit (Inc 4)
>Permanent Undead (Feat 3)

This guy uses Death Strike to kill things (Negative levels+CON drain, Diseases, Sickening spam into Killing Curse, etc.), and since Androids are immune to Fatigue, he can Overcharge freely for +2CL. Double Specialization grants +2CL to all his Death abilities, which are all of his abilities, so he's got CL 9 at 5th level. He can control up to CL*5 in Undead, and they last forever if he feels like it. If he doesn't want to or can't control any more Undead, he can make friends with a spooky ghost and shove it into a corpse, and then politely ask it to help him kill stuff. If he can't control a given Undead or wants to dispose of one, Manipulate Undeath is a decent but not great option. All Undead he makes have +4 STR and DEX, making them better at killing things, and he can make a few kinds of special minions if he's willing to have them cost double.

As an aside, in a Spheres-only world, it's rather difficult to actually put down a Bloody Skeleton for good, since Bless is a ritual.
>>
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>>43665717
...Not intentional, I figured the focus would be on all the refugees and the random nature of the disappearances. That said...

>>43665539
The sun has died, and her eternal rival, the moon, has stepped into her shoes to keep some semblance of universal order going. Deal with the fallout of the world getting by on less light, the shakeups in the clergy, and the new enforced public acceptance of the moonblessed.

No, the moon didn't kill, plan to kill, arrange to have killed, or merely-not-interfere-with-the-sun-dying-as-a-final-dick-move.

>>43665734
>>
>>43665754
>walking around like he owns the place

>the crippled brother who happens to be a master smith despite his lack of functioning legs

Plot hole detected.
>>
>>43665734
They've been transported to an alternate universe by a wizard, who is using their absence to cause chaos.
They actually do rule the city in that universe.
>>
>>43665859

The Moon is desperately seeking a way to revive the Sun, but the Drow ain't having none of that.
>>
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>>43665794
Generic 'nope' or 'cleanse the heretic' imagery.
>>
>>43665734
Damn, that's a tough one to twist.
The two obvious outcomes are 'You are the rulers [and your memories were altered because X]' or 'You aren't the rulers [and the real rulers are scheming something because X]', but while the suspense is in finding out which is the truth, neither of them will particularly be a surprise.

The best twist I can come up with is the classic bait and switch, where you put down enough evidence to make them believe that one of them is the answer, when actually the other one is the truth and all the clues are explained by something more far-fetched but not implausible.
>>
>>43665831
Well, you could use it for Fortitude if you wanted. If your Fortitude was crappy.

Reflex, or 'isn't melee and targets only you' is the specific wording.
>>
>>43665838
The "something beyond the stars" are the wizards who went on vacation and got lost since they're of the Discworld variety of bumbling Wizard.
>>
>>43665791

Hot damn, nice things for fighters? Who had to get dragged into an alley and stabbed to death for this to be released?
>>
I don't come to /pfg/ often. Who is Gareth?
>>
>>43665916
One of the Dreamscarred Press authors and as far as I can tell is also their PR guy kind of.
>>
>>43665916
A writer for Dreamscarred Press that /pfg/ likes to fellate and give feedback to DSP through.
>>
>>43665916
One of the Dreamscarred Press developers. Fairly active and helpful, but somewhat new and nervous about /tg/'s more bizarre habits.
>>
>>43665860
No, I said that very intentionally. How often are you going to have actually crippled people in a world where magic exists, especially royalty?
>>
>>43665945
>Oracle with the Lame curse
>>
>>43665945
You have to pay for that shit.
>>
>>43665945
Very often. Magic isn't cheap.
>>
>>43665704
I like this one the best, honestly, even though >>43665755 or even >>43665754 would be more likely to end up Paizo APs.
>>
>>43665914
Probably Buhlman, so expect a lot of magic spells in the Armor Master's Handbook to make up for martials getting nice things.
>>
>>43665890

>smite evil
>not "double Ds of Justice."

Seriously, look at the size of that boobplate (and where the smite juice is coming from.)
>>
>>43665755
All this Voice-stealing reminds me of Superstar Saga.

I wonder how that Super Mario TTRPG ended up?
>>
>>43665992
Yeah, but that's not really a valid reaction.
>>
>>43665992
I can't tell if that lowest curve is boobplate or just the first visible boob-wave.
>>
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>>43665734
As for the prompt, they've been mindswapped with the people, who are probably making a hash of the situation at their home. No illusions, just enchantments. On the other hand, would you leave this city of people to fend for themselves while you find your other you?
>>
>>43665945
Sympathy Points
>>
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Currently playing as a barbarian who I intone every chance I get as this glorious man right here.

Started as a joke but the other players liked it so much I kept it. Any advice on improving the experience?
>>
>>43665953
Considering Oracles get Craft as a skill and Charisma runs in the family, this would probably make the most sense.
>>43665945
I'm guessing the general answer to that question would be something along the lines of
>Check your privilege, shitlord!
>>
>>43666055
Is there really anything to add besides the accent and as much absurd rage as possible?
>>
>>43666055
What do and don't you enjoy about your current game?
>>
>>43665206
Considering it's gun+ sword, and he has a super mode, the answer, as always, is savage technologist.
>>
>>43666021

Holy tits are always relevant, anon.

>>43666024

Looks like boobplate, and you can see the other boob's outline to get a good idea how big they are compared to the armor.

Either she's stacked or the craftsman was a perv, though I'm putting my money on stacked.
>>
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>>43665916
Nice t'meet'cha anon. Gareth (Jade Ripley), game designer & QA for Dreamscarred Press, as well as perpetual project manager because Fucking Reasons, Why Does this Keep Happening To Me. Came to /tg/ to answer customer questions, stayed...well, to answer customer questions, but might as well contribute while I'm here.

If you've got questions, feedback, or curiosities about Dreamscarred Press material I can either help or direct you to the person who can, to the best of my ability. I also write fiction based on our work, and I will shake you down for feedback for it like an angry Mafia goon BECAUSE I NEED FEEDBACK TO FUCKING LIVE YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND.

Look forward to workin' with ya. And again, nice t'meet'cha.

And now I go to bed for real.
>>
>>43666069
I was thinking more character background or personality, how could I make it even better?>>43666072
Nothing I don't enjoy, but I feel like I could be roleplaying him better. Right now it's just the accent for everything.
>>
>>43666106
Do you want to play Conan or Arnold?
>>
>>43665858
>this posting style
We all know its you 2hufag. You're not fooling anyone
>>
>>43666100
Hey Gareth, is there any chance to get half proteans or half (lawful outsider) in any dreamscarred press books?
>>
>>43665699

That is almost exactly like the Living Legend soulknife: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11s0QOvYSzcOZNxyhqrKnJrIg-jROgdUxM0o8jUHRdzM/edit
>>
>>43666127
Only in the form of half-protean half-axiomites. Actually I think it's probably unlikely, though I obviously don't speak as a member of DSP. They've mentioned before that they can't really touch on the outsiders in any significant way because they're setting specific.
>>
>>43666144
Inevitables are OGL though at least, so we could get robopeople.
>>
>>43665858
Holy Water, ya spod. That also puts down bloody skeletons.

And the fact that Bless Water is only a 1st level spell means its in more abundance than in non-spheres world, since a Bless Water ritual would only cost 5 gold as opposed to the spell's component of 25 gp of silver.
>>
>>43666118
Right now it's just a barbarian with an Austrian accent, not sure how to proceed with character development.
>>
>>43666165
cephalopods sent you into a bloodrage until they are but paste before you
>>
>>43666127

You have some generic rules in Bloodforge that may help with that, as they have a heritage feat that gives you a lawful subtype with corresponding benefits.
>>
>>43666133
What is this from, if anything? It looks really interesting.
>>
>>43665924
>>43665940
>>43665941
>>43666100
Neato, it's always cool when companies get involved with the community. Welcome to /tg/ Gareth, its a fun place but try not to catch autism, there's a lot of it floating around in these parts.
>>
>>43666144
>Outsiders
>Setting specific
That's like saying dragons are setting specific. Even if you don't have the same cosmology there's no reason you couldn't have all these outsiders.
>>
>>43666123
Does anyone actually care? I mean, he was a cunt to other players and he keeps making Touhou the OP image, but who still cares about that?
>>
>>43666183

It is a playtest document for DSP's upcoming Psionics Augmented: Occult, which Gareth has referred to here: >>43664957

If I remember correctly, Forrest is the person who wrote that.

So far that's the only thing posted, and presumably they will post a proper thread about it on the Giant in the Playground forums (as well as other places) when they have enough content to share.
>>
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>>43665539
A group of heroes has gone on a grand adventure to replenish the world's magic and bring prosperity to the world. It has been almost an entire year since they left, and rumors are circulating that they have strayed from the path and left the world the rot. For various reasons, the player characters have decided, or been chosen, to go after and learn the truth about the heroes and the fate of the world.

Pic somewhat related.
>>
So I just got told I can't play my character because he has a really expansive backstory. How do I make a simple character?
>>
>>43666210
Ah, thank you very much.
>>
>>43666223
The original heroes never existed, because there is no magic.
This was all a tremendous test to see if the world was worthy for such powers, and your group are the only ones now able to use any magic or supernatural abilities besides the gods themselves.
>>
>>43666202
It's just whenever I see him post, my eyes just glaze over and I feel less motivated to read what he wrote, even if it is sound and helpful.

I don't know why, but for some reason be just pisses me off.
>>
>>43666223
reminds me of FF: crystal chronicles' story (well, relating to your caravan and gurdy/black knight). good stuff, that.
>>
>>43666223
The heroes are dead, and the magic never actually needed replenishing.
A demon Lord killed them, and is using a planar hub to inflict terrible curses across the whole world so he can use every mortal.soul to create an army to crush Heaven.
>>
>>43665446
>I'm cool with "stat X" but not this bullshit.

How can you complain about one type of waste of space and then be fine with another?
>>
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>>43666223
They find the heroes and discover that they HAVE left the world to rot, but for the greater good, or at least what they think is the greater good.

Pic also somewhat related.
>>
>Text-based online game I GM
>The main threat is a race of surreal demons

>Consider giving each demon a theme word like 'Fear', 'Change', 'Secrets', etc, and it will always be engraved somewhere on their body
>All their dialogue will look like gibberish, but it's actually plain english, encoded with the Vignere cipher ( http://rumkin.com/tools/cipher/vigenere.php ) using their theme word as the encryption key. Going through the chat log and decoding what they say will actually give a lot of interesting/useful information.

>I know none of my players will ever put in the effort of figuring this out

;_;
>>
>>43666299
No shit
>>
>>43666299
Zwax jjfmvpg usmt'z acswlqsm bvut.
>>
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Isn't the bestiary 5 pdf out already where it at.
>>
>>43666299
Fucking stealing this, thanks.
>>
>>43666323
Soon
>>
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>>43666299
This is literally the most obscure bullshit possible.

This would be like me complaining that none of my players decodes the old one cultists because I wrote all their dialogue in pig-pen code in romanised Ancient Sumerian.
>>
>>43666123
It's actually not, nor am I BUILDPOSTER.
I'm the anon new to SoP from last thread who had the multiclassing question.
>>
>>43666144
WHST do you think they would be like, if you had to write them?
>>
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>>43666329
>>
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>>43666357
>>
>>43666322
>>43666345
Except the vignere cipher is the most obvious method of keyword encryption imaginable, and encoding/decoding it takes all of two seconds on the linked site.

The encoded message retains enough of its original formatting to be easily recognisable as encrypted code rather than gibberish, and if I make the theme word obvious enough, it's the first thing they'd theoretically try.

But even all that aside, I don't actually mind if they never decrypt it, because encoded not-quite-gibberish text looks subtly unnatural enough to give the pure aesthetic effect I want anyway.
>>
>>43666123
That's definitely not Touhoufag.
>>
>>43666395
Here's a question for you then.

How are the characters supposed to be able to translate SPOKEN DIALOGUE using a cipher for WRITTEN words?
>>
>>43666299
>DM puts me through a puzzle
>Keeps hinting at the number eight
>Then hints about opposites, eight things that have opposites
>Then tells me its a puzzle that mostly works for wizards and that because I'm the wizard i should solve it
>Turns out its 2e fucking opposition schools in pathfinder
>He seriously thought opposition schools still existed
>He hadn't noticed the massive changes to most schools
No, puzzles are always bullsiht. It is never, ever, EVER okay to have a puzzle or a riddle in your campaign, because you, the DM are the stupid one. Your players will cast comprehend languages and you will get upset they didn't translate it normally when there was absolutely no reason for them to believe that they could translate using a COMPLETELY out of game method (why would the characters know how to use a vignere cipher, and why would they memorize the sounds and LETTERING of the demons words to be able to apply it, fuck, WHY WOULD YOUR PLAYERS KNOW?) that makes no fucking sense. Seriously, if you want to do a puzzle you have to explain the rules of the puzzle, its the only way the puzzle is good.

Figuring out the rules of a puzzle by trial and error is bullshit nobody wants to do, a good puzzle is you walk into a room, and a golem or a magic mouth spell or a book or an engraving explains to you how the puzzle works and has you solve it. Like turning mirrors to reflect light onto an engraved map wall or solving a riddle to figure out which lever opens the door and which of the others are traps.
>>
>>43666421

Look at the first line of >>43666299
>>
>>43666395
I have never even heard of it until this point.
I wouldn't be able to tell if that shit was code or not either.

Not everyone knows what you know.
>>
>>43666250
Make personality. Think of three simple events that made them the person they are. Do no more work. Eat pizza/play skyrim/jerk off/do actual work instead.
Show up at game. Explain personality. Make up more shit that fits with that personality and past events when it comes up and not before. Don't press if the DM asks you to change a thing.
Done.
>>
>>43666395
Here's the problem: why would the PCs know what the fuck the vignere cipher is?
>>
>>43666395
Dude not everyone is a cryptography nerd
>>
>>43666437
Yes, but it's the words of the demons.

The demons themselves are SPEAKING the words that are expected to be decoded.

How is the party supposed to be able to decode that?
>>
>>43666395
Ethay ostmay obviousway ethodmay isway efinitelyday otnay away
ignerevay iphercay ouyay idiotway, itsway igpay atinlay.
Most people go their entire lives without ever encountering or using these kinds of codes themselves. Any encryption a person might do is automatically handled by a computer, only one in a hundred people would know what a vignere cipher is, only one in ten thousand would actually think their DM was using one just because there's a word written on a demon who speaks gibberish.
>>43666437
The CHARACTERS. Not the players. Holy shit are you stupid. You are literally encouraging metagaming as the characters have no possible way to learn this information unless you are saying people speak in text in your setting.
>>
>>43666403
>>43666353
Then I would like to apologize for my idiocy. That's what I get for posting just before midnight.

Also, I would like to say that, I don't think that you can double-dip Sphere specialization, just that your effective Incanter levels stack.
>>
>>43666299
You think THAT's bad?

I sent my players treasure hunting into an abandoned manor.
They come across old journals, torn pages of tomes of knowledge, several diaries of the past inhabitants and an ancient lore tapestry.

All written by yours truly.

The players assumed its just a bunch of stuff I wrote for the sake of background and backstory into the history of the manor and never bothered reading any.

Woe betide them when the deeper they go into the manor, they realize its inhabited by the last master of the manor, a nigh-immortal vampire which they couldn't figure out how to kill until the next session when they realized they had to read my lore to find its weakness.

They managed to escape but now they have to split the party between baiting the vampire, and solving the mysteries of the manor.
>>
>>43666473
The party isn't; the players are. Or something. Puzzles like this are dumb unless it's some random extra thing that is not relevant to the game itself.
>>
>>43666488
Then how are the characters getting the knowledge to act on it?

It's directly encouraging metagaming, on top of being stupidly obscure.

This is Children of the Sandler levels of stupid.
>>
>>43666428
I'd use the cipher for exactly one reason, and it's having some sort of extra random thing like >>43666488.
Like a book of lore with prophesies written in cryptic code (half of them translated, the characters finding in-game ways to translate the rest should they be relevant, some of them aren't).
>>
>>43666504

The guy originally posted about it was talking about wanting them to metagame it, yes. IC, it's probably "they players have very good memory, and figured out that it was [some obscure language that happens to have this translation]"
>>
>>43666421
>>43666476
It's a text game, doesn't matter.

The feel I want is basically 'the demon language is incomprehensible with phonemes and sounds completely different from other languages, but it's coherent enough for you to tell that it's actually a language and not just keyboard mashing.'

The fact you can decode it to get lore is just a bonus.

>only one in ten thousand would actually think their DM was using one just because there's a word written on a demon who speaks gibberish.
Except it's such a simple code that it preserves sentence structure and punctuation, anyone seeing enough of it will eventually realize 'wait this might actually be encoded english'. Whether or not they try to figure it out, I don't mind. I'm never going to make understanding them vital to anything. Simply an easter egg.

>>43666445
I didn't know it was called Vignere cipher until I googled it, but the idea is pretty simple.
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>>43666395
How are they meant to guess the key word?

How many synonyms are you expecting them to trawl through using this system you haven't even hinted at?

Why would they ever even think it's encrypted rather than just being in an obscure language?

If you don't care, then why did you bring it up?

Here's a wild guess: You wanted to show off how big your esoteric dick was by not so subtly bringing up your knowledge of ciphers.

It just comes across as un-intuitive at best and autistic at worst.
>>
>>43666504
>Then how are the characters getting the knowledge to act on it?

Ask the wizard to roll knowledge or linguistics.
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>>43666519
What if your players don't care? What if none of them really look into it?
Even if it's text it DOES matter, it relies entirely on a metagaming out-of-character concept.

The idea is stupid.
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>>43666519
It does fucking matter.

Do you want to listen to a guy spitting out a non-lingual string of letters mashed out into speech and try figuring out what letters should go where?
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>>43666486
>Players act perfectly reasonable
>DM puts gimmick puzzle boss that has no reason to exist at the end of the dungeon to punish them for not slogging through his notes
Truly a terrible group if they put up with this shit. Not to mention that books and scrap notes are often the worst way to impart this kind of knowledge. Even if you wanted to do this to your players (which unless it was the main villain of the entire campaign, you shouldn't) you can include something like a ghost or an escaped victim or writing in blood on the wall next to a dead victim or something that can warn them beforehand and tell them to seek out the notes before they ever see the notes. This isn't a failing of your players, this is you failing to make it clear this information is important and writing stuff so boring your players don't want to read it then blaming them for your poor handling of the situation.

Sorry if this is aggressive, but get your head out of your ass man. You made a mistake in handling this, don't say it's the player's fault.
>>43666488
Yay metagaming, the most fun part!
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>>43666527
That makes it kind of pointless to use an actual cipher in that case, you could have written actual gibberish and had the same result.
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>>43666519
Fr'v grnsuwu
Is this code or not?
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>>43664750
>How much do you incorporate character backstory into the campaign's plot?
Depends on the DM's whims, honestly. I always make sure to write a potential plot hook into any character's backstory, but I also make sure that it can still be played non-intrusively while staying in-character.
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>>43666488
It depends on the game, really.
If the party is Dirk Nirkem the human fighter wearing sunglasses and 2E Boltman stuff, Literally The Sorceress From Dragon's Crown, Five Animes Threw Up On This Joke Character, and a tiny psionic cute thing that's so cute it makes heads explode and warps minds, it's probably fine and funny if the series of secret signals to get into the Fortress of Hardhon the Unbending is dancing the macarena.

Otherwise, you should either not use incredibly cleverass puzzles, use reasonably meaningful puzzles (A secret way to a cult's 'paradise' refuge being lying down in a sarcophagus and putting the lid on, which tips you down a chute, for example) or explicitly use local information.
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>>43666519
yhoy wl regtwgllkyg tsd eui twe g zskwihrs ijryub
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>>43664750
>How much do you incorporate character backstory into the campaign's plot?
Proportional to how much the GM has prepared for me to read if I am a player; proportional to how much substance there is if I am the GM.
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>>43666486
Not handled well. Whenever I give the opportunity for optional information, it's just that- optional.
It's not going to kill them if they don't listen to the sage NPC. I go out of the way to tell them required information and do my best to make it seem important.
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>>43666540
Dude, the vampire has always been part of my campaign. They were slogging through the manor missing the obvious clues to counter the vampire lord because they never read any of the lore I wrote. The manor was designed to be both a maze and a large obvious picture if they stepped back and changed their perspective.

They stepped into a giant magic circle and certain rooms hold a relic that keeps the vampire immortal.
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>>43666595
Every experienced adventurer uses Detect Magic on everything before they read it, then reads everything without a magic aura.

The detection is in case of Explosive Runes, Sepia Snake Sigil, etc.
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>>43666464
Problem is, I did. I made an Urban Barbarian who almost died but received a clockwork heart from a witch because the local mob bosses wanted him to continue fighting in an underground ring. He wants to restore his humanity by trying to figure out how to get rid of his clockwork heart to become normal again.

It seemed like a really easy, simple, concept.
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>>43666610
Yeah, I know and expected that. Hence, some of the relics are non-magical and merely a memento of the vampire lord - such as his wife's comb, his father's cane, etc.
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>>43666573
>It's not going to kill them if they don't listen to the sage NPC

You know there are handfuls of legends and myths were disregarding the words of the wise is folly, right?
>>
Bestiary 5: When?
>>
So, what are good enchantments to have on an AM Barbarian's weapon? No third-party stuff, I probably can't use the PFS-version of Duelist, and I already know Courageous doesn't work due to errata. Anything else that's great/still usable other than Furious and some pluses? Maybe something to help keep it from being magically broken or stolen?
>>
These numbers thought.
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>>43666645
Ignoring information should only increase difficulty, not create an impossible situation.
>>
I think they've passed.
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>>43666595
I remember a campaign where a wizard got himself and nearly another character killed because he noticed a magic circle in the abandoned wizard's workshop we were in was made of diamond dust, and he needed that for his summoning spells to keep demons bound.
So he wanted to start scraping it into a bag.
DM asked for a lore roll. He got pretty high.
DM straight up told him it was 99% chance it was part of an active effect, if it was it would be useless for his purposes, and moving it at all would release whatever was in the circle.
Rather than detect magic to see if there was anything in the circle, he just started scraping.
He died a round and a half later, and the rest of us had to figure out what the fuck it was and kill it with silvered lab equipment.
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>>43666645
It's not gonna kill them, it's just not gonna help.
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>>43666534
>Listen to a guy
I don't think you get the concept of a text game, anon.
Demons attack on sight, all their dialogue will be offhand comments. At no point am I going to have one attempt to talk to a player and make it a 'if you knew what he was saying you'll have an advantage here' situation.

>>43666528
>Players should never know anything their character doesn't know, it ruins immersion
>What is dramatic irony/easter eggs

It's easy to justify in-character too. If a player ever figures it out, I say 'the character thinks back to that encounter and the strange words, and how the demon had 'Courage' engraved on their chest. Suddenly, somehow, by thinking of courage and bravery and replaying its words in their mind, they realize they can understand it.'

>>43666544
Probably.
It's not something I'd expect the players to instantly realize, but I imagine the idea might come to them after a good few times, and that's fine.

I think this is still a good idea and pfg is just grossly overestimating the probability of me pulling a 'Oh no everything has gone wrong but you could have avoided this if you cracked the code' deal, which I agree would be stupid.
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>>43666672
If he explicitly was told "yo, this is a bad idea" and did it anyway he deserved what he got.
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>>43666595
>Obvious clues
Notes and books are not obvious clues. A wailing ghost or a haunt that writes in blood is an obvious clue. A corpse clutching a book as though his life depended on it is an obvious clue. A tapestry that moves and tells a story is an obvious clue.

Papers and notes scattered around a mansion are stupid. Though yeah, its not unreasonable to add a research element to fighting a long-term villain, you handled this very poorly.
>>43666645
Unless you live in ireland and heard different folklore, where disregarding their words is in fact the only way to succeed or you come from Australia and know wise men are actually fucking evil ghosts trying to trick you.

One man's wise is another man's stupid. Give players a reason to trust the knowledge beyond that in SOME cultures old people are seen as benevolent helpers.
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>>43666672
>he noticed a magic circle in the abandoned wizard's workshop we were in was made of diamond dust, and he needed that for his summoning spells to keep demons bound.

This is beyond retarded as fuck.
This is also par for the course when you roll a +INT -WIS character too.
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>>43666672
Kind of curious what creature got released, just so I can laugh at the wizard more.
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>>43666688
What he got was staying true to character. After the rest of the party fled in fear from what looked in the dark like a sleeping dragon, i tossed a rock with a light spell near it to see what it actually was.

It was an awake dragon. I REGRET NOTHING.
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>>43666682
It wasn't code.

The problem (or at least mine) is that you're extremely overestimating player knowledge, there is no real reason for them to know any of this cryptography stuff.
Stuff like th I s is good for something like video game where people obsess over the details for a long period of time, and eventually someone will have the idea to try a thing, but it won't work in something like pathfinder.
It's like locking 1000 dollars in a stainless steel case by gluing it with a rare adhesive that only comes off with human blood, and just giving it to some random guy on the street. Not only is he not going to know how to open the box, he doesn't even know there's something useful inside it.
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>>43666716
In my last session my character almost got us caught and murdered by a bunch of golems and air elementals because he was agonizing over trying to break anti-teleportation wards on some of the loot we'd stolen.

Finally got yelled at and snapped out of it by another party member, in the first actual words that character had said in-character in the campaign. We had to drop almost all of the treasure, only getting the plot point loot and one extra thing.
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>>43666727
And that's generally fine, I don't think it's likely the players will get it and that's why I won't put anything too vital in the encoded dialogue, or be upset if they never figure it out.

If any player ever does figure it out though I'm going to come back here to gloat and say 'I told you so' and get called a fag by everyone some more, though.
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>>43666695
>A corpse clutching a book as though his life depended on it is an obvious clue. A tapestry that moves and tells a story is an obvious clue.

Both are in the manor. In fact, the most obvious clue that something omnious was going on I gave to the party was at the beginning of the campaign.

"The moment you stepped foot into the grand hall, you feel a harrowing sense of dread, as what feels like a hundred bloodshot eyes stare at you from the portraits on the walls. Everyone roll your save vs fear."
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>>43666749
In your very first post you were lamenting and getting upset about them not solving it and the game hadn't even started.
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>>43665539
Thousands of people are having recurring dreams in which they take on unilaterally happy roles within an idyllic city-state. Anyone who dies in their sleep while having this dream can't be raised for some reason.
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>>43666763
>Expecting someone to actually be upset when they use ';_;'

The game has started and they're all friends I've known for a while, just no demons encountered in the flesh yet.
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>>43666756
THAT ISN'T A CLUE.
That isn't a reason to investigate notes and papers. Its a reason to search for the source of the fear and monsters and get rid of it.

Traps are not clues anon! Your tapestry and corpse must have been terrible and you are clearly hosting the wrong kind of campaign for your players if you claim the were great clues.
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>>43666780
Not the emoticon, the whining.

Captcha i dont think a shot glass and handcuffs are jewelry but... if you say so.
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>>43666756
That isn't a clue you Windex drinking road roller of a human being
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>>43666756
Anon, all that tells me is "bring holy water", not "pick up and read all the weird notes and books". If anything, that tells me to burn them all and not read them, since they'll eat my sanity.
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>>43666785
>Its a reason to search for the source of the fear and monsters and get rid of it.

Bloodshot eyes, glaring at them from the walls!

Diaries that speak of blood rituals and the ever growing insanity of the master of the house in his quest for immortality!

A Tapestry that shows the ancestry of the house pointing out the obvious rise to power after dealing with the friggin' god of vampires - if they just opened one of the old divinity books scattered everywhere!
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>>43666801
My bad, it was essentially just a self-deprecating comment that wasn't meant to come across as actually mad.

Why are we still continuing this conversation
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>>43666832
It's a slow night.

/pfg/, what's your favorite teleportation spell? Conjuration or otherwise. 3pp, psionics, and 3.5 allowed, I guess.
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>>43666859
Anything from the Cerebrotic spell listings.
Amoebic crawler summoning is a particular favorite.
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>>43666832
Because you are a terrible person and DM and i hate you.

Wait thats a shit reason to keep talking to each other, lets stop.
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How would you handle a PC dying and turning into an outsider?
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>>43666830
So they got information about a god they've never heard of, some eyes glaring from the walls that could have meant ANYTHING, in fact it makes it more likely its a ghost or a haunt than a vampire and a pile of books they had no motivation to read unless they were just very very curious about the library here.

Anon, this is why i encouraged having the ghost warning them to read the books or having the escaped servant do the same. Everything you've described sounds to me like the work of haunts and ghosts, which implies something terrible happened here long ago, not that there's an active mastermind.

I would have been confused at encountering the vampire, because you painted an obvious "this place is haunted after an act of treachery involving some dark god" plotline and gave no hints about a vampire.

Seriously, bloodshot eyes on the walls could mean ANYTHING. Its a common trope for demons and hellish influence as much as it is for cthulhu or ghosts, but definitely not vampires.
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>>43666887
As a player, or GM? Is it my PC in the former case?
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>>43666859

I'm torn between a couple. If I were to list just 1pp things, it'd be Hostile Juxtaposition.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/h/hostile-juxtaposition

If I'm including 3.5 ones, it's Door to Great Evil, followed by Translocation Trick.

Seriously this spell is amazing: http://dndtools.pw/spells/ghostwalk--94/door-to-great-evil--1384/

http://dndtools.pw/spells/spell-compendium--86/translocation-trick--4314/
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>>43666915
Whichever.
It could be your PC if you want.
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>>43666887
Maim and Kill. A Eulogy. And then we divvie his loot.
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>>43666887
Trick question; two of my PCs are already outsiders!
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>>43666887
I would handle it probably through the use of a template and treat it similarly to recieving a powerful magic item or a huge hoard of gold. Its part of your WBL effectively.
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What class can I use to piss my DM off the most? Would it be a bard? Who literally talks shit about his adventure, calling it boring, all while being in character?

Using core rule book, by the way.
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>>43666988
If you're playing to piss off the DM, then you shouldn't play. That makes you an asshole who's actively making the game worse for at least one other person, and likely the entire group.
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>>43666988
but why
I'll help if it's a good reason.
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>>43666988
Core only? Play a Paladin and make sure the party refuses all the loot/donates it to charity. Never allow anyone to use stealth or any other "dishonorable" tactics. Just play lawful stupid. Convince the other players itll be funny for them to join in and have them all multiclass into paladins.
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>>43667000
Because he was trying to make an investigative game that was about investigating haunted houses. I was making a barbarian character because I wanted to play a barbarian. He suggested that I shouldn't.

Yet, our first investigation involved ghosts, spells, and stuff. Which I thought would have my barb great. He further got annoyed when my character had a rich backstory. And stating that I should simplify my character and make a new one.

So I'm trying to make a simple character who will be the best in things that don't involve fights. Yet, also annoy the DM.
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>>43667031

No gaming is better than bad gaming.
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>>43667041
Yeah, except a lot of my friends are involved in it. I don't want to lose time with friends just because one guy is being lame.

We're talking friends who were by my bed side after I got hit by a car, friends. This guy I barely know.
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>>43667031
This sounds like this could really easily be your fault.

Tell us more about the first adventure and your barbarian.

Also tell us about your character's "rich backstory"
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>>43667031
Did you try expressing your frustrations in a calm, non-confrontational manner in private?

If you didn't, you're the one at fault.
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>>43667046
Yeah, sounds like you're gonna ruin everyone's experience at the table by being a prick. Why don't you just talk to the DM about it instead of being a passive aggressive asshat.
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>>43667046

Then handle it out of game. This is not an in-game issue that should be solved with being an asshole. Act like a reasonable person and be the better man here, like >>43667050 suggested.
>>
Whats the best early game familiar for my Magus?

A Scorpion or the Ioun Wyrd?
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>>43667031
Sounds even better to play >>43667030 in.
You can smite the ghosts, plus with your high charisma you can do lots of social stuff. Any traps you encounter whilst investigating will falter against your immunities and saving throws whilst your detect evil can unmask any hidden undead, powerful evil people or outsiders.
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>>43667065
In this regard the scorpion wins hands down. Initiative is very important early game. Also, you should make it as sage/figment, as it's one of the strongest familiar archetype combinations.
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>>43667047
Basically, the character was an underground pit fighter who ran with a group of thugs that called themselves, the Rain Dogs. He was the top fighter of the pit and making a lot of money for the mob bosses who oversighted it.

One day, the character comes down with an inexplicable illness. However, as a barbarian and being superstitious is nature. He didn't wanted any hocus pocus magic trickery to heal him. And if he died, was brought back to life, the illness would still be with him. Yet, the mob bosses didn't care. Their only vision of him was for him to fight, make them money, and keep him around as a tool.

So, the character ends up getting some vital organs replaced against his will with machinery. Ala, cogs and clockwork hearts. Barb is pretty pissed about this, he wants to restore his humanity hence his reason for adventuring, wants to take down the mob bosses if he can(wasn't a must--could have done in another adventure), and eventually show that it's not the machinery that makes the man but what he does kind of thing.

First adventure, I just silently go with the crew and don't interrupt them. Unless they need me, like fighting someone who is possessed by an evil ghost.
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>>43667041
Most people play with their real life friends, not with a gaming group that's just for gaming group. For most people "quit the group" is not a valid option. Teaching the DM a lesson is. As the DM can't quit the group or kick you out either, it will usually lead to compromise when they get pissed and you say "well how do you think i felt?".
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>>43667055
>>43667060
>>43667050
As these folk said, calm down and try talking to him like a reasonable person.

Well, I mean, unless you don't actually have the guts to face him about it and have no other options for games. Then you can just go ahead and cry yourself to sleep.

I've been there. It's not fun.
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>>43667087
>First adventure, I just silently go with the crew and don't interrupt them. Unless they need me, like fighting someone who is possessed by an evil ghost.
This is probably why. You weren't active in the slightest.

Also, did you work with the GM on what getting your organs replaced with machines would entail, because the fact that such things exist has big implications in any setting.
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>>43667088

This is the sort of thing that leads to broken tables and bad practices. If these people are actual friends and the game isn't the only reason they ever see each other, then they will understand that you're not on the same wavelength for the game, or they will TALK OUT OF GAME to discuss and compromise. If saying "you know, I think this campaign isn't for me, I'll join up on the next one" is something that causes you to quit your friends entirely, they're not your friends. They're just randoms you game with.

Walking from the table is /always/ an option. It's the last option for being used if talking like fucking adults isn't working, but spiting the game and "teaching the DM a lesson" is never going to end well. People who do that are part of the reason gamers have such a bad reputation.
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>>43667118

For the record, I guess, I play with my real life friends. This sort of situation (playstyle mismatches, or just not enjoying being on separate sides of the DM screen) has come up a couple times and ended amicably with a player leaving the campaign and hanging out at other times. That's what being friends /means/. Otherwise you're just random acquinatances.
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>>43667115
Yeah, that was already mentioned and he seemed fine with it. I only created it because he said we were in a steampunk environment. Then once I told the group, they all seemed ecstatic. The heart thing was no biggy, at all.

It was just more of him trying to say no to my barbarian. He was asking me why would a barb who is in an underground fighting pit that is illegal be running around with a bunch of PIs? Why would the barb have his heart replaced by a witch? Etc. All of which I gladly explained once he asked.

Of course, he kept asking more questions. Which lead to deeper details. Then he told me my character was too complicated. To make a new, simple one without much detail.

Hence why I am making a new character. And not sticking with my barb.
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>>43667146
Ok, so, here is a thought. Explain to him that you think that the character only became too complicated when over examined during the explanation, that it would be simple enough and that you think what you have fits.

I just want to emphasize, being a passive aggressive fuckface WON'T help.
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>>43667118
>>43667132

I would normally walk away but this is the first time I'm playing with friends. It was something I was really excited about. I even got a friend to join in who thought Pathfinder was completely nerdy. I put a lot of effort into this.

It kinda sucks to see one of your goals that you've had for a while destroyed just because the DM is having issues with you.
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>>43667162
You'll destroy the group by being passive aggressive.
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>>43667162

I wish you luck sorting it out. But passive-aggressiveness isn't going to help, it'll just make it worse. Talk to them, explain like you've been explaining here, and try not to escalate it into blame in any direction I guess.
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>>43667118
Walking away from the table removes any chance of the problem being solved. For most people talking isn't a very convincing thing and most people don't act like "rational reasonable adults". If everyone were to only be friends with rational, reasonable and normal people the world would have 7 billion friendless loners.

Confronting the DM about it through the game is a great way to make sure a table doesn't get broken and to improve the situation for all players. Fuck /tg/ and fuck their "lol this is passive aggressive bullshit" policy. Actions have always and will always speak louder than words and playing the game is a great way to get a message through to other players that time and time again has proven effective for many groups, but nobody remembers the times someone in your group played a character to prove a point they only ever bother to remember the times it went wrong.
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>>43667198
>Confronting the DM about it through the game is a great way to make sure a table doesn't get broken and to improve the situation for all players.
Yeah, I've seen people try and do this, it always ends terribly. I've never seen it improve things.

>Actions have always and will always speak louder than words and playing the game is a great way to get a message through to other players that time and time again has proven effective for many groups, but nobody remembers the times someone in your group played a character to prove a point they only ever bother to remember the times it went wrong.
If this worked for you I'm glad, but I've seen people try and they always fail. I'm not forgetting the ones that succeed. They all failed (in that they all caused the group to become tense and unfun).
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>>43667198
>>43667118
By the way I'm not trying to condemn talking it out, i AM condemning leaving the table. Talking it out is the first resort, but if you want to have a real conversation, be a "passive aggressive dick" for a while, then have a second conversation. You will get further when the other guy realizes that having a shitty game is a two-way street and you both need to compromise.
>>
Occult Realms where?
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>>43667198

The game is meant to be fun. If your fun infringes on the fun of everyone else at the table, then you are the problem, not them. Playstyle mismatches are a thing.

And yeah, most people do, in fact, act like reasonable people if you can get them talking as such. What it comes down to, though, is that tabletop rpgs are built on trust, and fucking with that trust is going to ruin the game for everyone.

If you don't trust your DM to make the best game possible, something went wrong when setting up that campaign. If you don't trust your players to not be assholes, something went wrong when setting up that campaign. Work to make a better game instead of tearing it down to make a point.
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>>43667214
Because when it improves things you don't see it unless you were involved in the two people who were having the disagreement. To you the guy playing the paladin as lawful stupid isn't making a point, the guy playing a rogue and being less effective than everyone else isn't making a point and the guy who decides to play a simple or very complex backstory character isn't making a fucking point. You see all these characters and go "this is normal". But people who get told "stop making your backstory complex" will often go and make a braindead moron in response and point out why they do what they do. Same for many other situations like people accused of playing overpowered third party stuff rolling up wizards. You assume nobody ever does it because you aren't looking for it.
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>>43667224
An argument between one player and one DM is not infringing on everyone's fun, its infringing on two people's fun.
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>>43667244

An argument between one player and one DM that leads to that one playing intentionally playing a disruptive character is infringing on everybody's fun.
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>>43667251
A character offensive to or demonstrating something to the DM in no way has to be disruptive to other players. Playing a dick ass rogue that steals the party funds is disruptive to the other players, playing an optimized barbarian in front of a DM who thinks fighters are OP or playing an energetic spaz that does the first thing that pops into his head when the DM accuses you of not being active enough doesn't hurt the party unless you go out of your way to make it hurt the party.
>>
So, I sent them a message explaining everything in some messages. Even asked them for help on what they expect in this game. Thanks to all the anons telling me not to be a passive-aggressive dick. Now I can say that at least I gave a shot at being responsible instead of a giant manbaby.

Though, I might play a bard just because I actually want to be a bard now. Either that, a cartomancer, or a story summoner.
>>
Hey /pfg/, help me out with something really quick. I could have sworn there was a spell or something similar that could make it look like you were dead without actually being killed. Is that a thing or was I just imagining it?

I'll also accept something that resurrects you a set time after you die, but I'd really prefer the first one.
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>>43667282
You could have handled it in any number of ways, i hope it turns out well for you but interacting with the DM through the game is often necessary to make talking work. Most DM's who have this problem with their players do not understand their player's concerns and require a demonstration, words alone will rarely sway them.

Though going behind their backs and getting everyone to team up on them about it certainly isn't passive-agressive table-breaking bullshit at all.
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>>43667270
Just be a dick to all his key NPCs. Make an extremely petty character that finds absolutely everything annoying, but puts up with it anyway because deep down he likes the party and sticks around for the company because he's lonely.

>>43667287
Technically, a Contingency+Raise Dead set to go off X hours after you die would work, but it'd be very costly to you. Level loss is nasty.
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>>43667251
It should be noted, I was only intending to piss off the DM. Not the other players. I would just happen to know how to actually play. I saw a lot of stuff that they had trouble with. Not being able to speak to ghosts, getting possessed, getting wrecked by said person who got possessed. I would just make it so my team survives, I call his story boring, etc.

I'd still be a team player while also just being a dick to the DM only.

>>43667282

But I tried being an actual grown up over i instead. Not a dick.
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>>43667282

Bards are awesome.

On a more productive note, I think the idea of a bard who thinks of things in the framework of stories would be fairly neat to play. Pretend you're Elan or Tarquin from Order of the Stick and live your life playing the role in some grand story, as it's "supposed" to work.

And then get indignant when things don't work out that way, but not with the goal of being disruptive; instead, it becomes a constructive in-joke between the DM, you, and the other players, as said story-bard bumbles through life.
>>
>>43667300
Yeah, that's why I'd prefer to just not be dead at all to begin with. Probably way cheaper too.
>>
>>43667301
I've been that guy. I've been in groups with that guy. It does spill over. If you make the game worse for the DM, it lowers the quality of the story and the campaign. The DM is just another player, even if his role is slightly more integral to keeping things running, and the whole group can generally feel when someone's not having fun in my experience.

I'm glad you took the high road, though. I wish you luck with it, and hope it gets resolved in a way that doesn't fuck everyone over.
>>
>>43667300
I'm assuming you are trying to mock me. But honestly it's the kind of thing I'd do, i make a character that has to pass two checks in this situation
The first is "does it make my point clear"
The second is "does it work without the point"
If a character i make to send a message to my DM is something i wouldn't play without the message, i don't go through with it, because then its just a toxic character.
>>
>>43667320
Can't you see your hypocrisy though? You are telling him not to be a dick because it will spill over whilst the DM is straight up doing this to him and causing it to spill over. If the DM experiences it as well he will be more sympathetic than whilst he doesn't understand at all. The player also decided to turn the rest of the group on the DM, nothing is high road about that it will make the DM cave (because too many of his players are pushing him) without actually wanting to or seeing what he did wrong. It will build resentment and make the DM feel like an outsider.
>>
>>43667349

Yes. And this is why I've been suggesting to talk it over, and if it doesn't work, to figure out a good way to leave and still be friends. Because it's bad if either the DM is being a dick to the player, or if the player is being a dick to the DM. I assumed that as just obvious. Apparently it wasn't.

Regarding the second point, the DM is just another player at the table. There is nothing special that makes him above the others or able to control the game, except the trust given to him by the other players. The game is a collaboration. Tabletop RPGs are not a monarchy, or a dictatorship; they're a representative democracy.
>>
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Switching gears to something less prone to vitriol.

You're a knight of a witch hunters' order.
All forms of supernatural equipment are severely restricted, if not barred.

You must make do with purely EX equipment and abilities.

What interesting maneuvers, gadgets and traps do you bring to the table to foil the mages you face?
>>
>>43667390
... Out of curiosity, why are all supernatural things barred? It makes zero sense in a D&D or Pathfinder setting. I'd need more information to go on.
>>
>>43667390
Spellscorch. It's cheaper than Whisperwound and easier to apply, plus it makes casting actually hard to do.
>>
>>43667371
My whole point is they have to go through the hegelian dialectic here. DM creates an Abstract, which in this case is his DMing style that is bad for anon. Anon responds with the opposition, the negative, in which he shows the DM the results of his actions. The two contradictions will lead to a resolution, the concrete. The DM who doesn't understand anon's suffering or it's effect on the game will not be in a position to compromise as well as one who does.
>>
>>43667400
This is more of a thought experiment, but imagine that this is a setting where using supernatural effects makes you easier to detect by mages or the order simple relies on alchemy to get by.

It's less 'this is so' and more 'How would you deal with being so severely restricted?"
>>
>>43667371
>>43667420
Oh also i agree about all that representative stuff. In fact I'd reccomend this method for dealing with any player

Talk
Action
Talk again
If that fails talk to other players and expand the issue to party wide from between two people
If that fails, then leave the group.
>>
>>43667309
is it too stupid to play a Goblin Bard?
>>
>>43667428

That works. If 3pp is allowed, I'd go for some sort of nonmagical initiator. If sticking to 1pp, I don't actually know enough off the top of my head to assemble something good. I know my way around Pathfinder but not to the level that I could compete with decently-made mages. Could build one for 3.5 though.
>>
>>43667452
Goblins love to sing. In Golarion, every goblin has their own song and there is also a song for every organization too. Just remember you can't read or write, writing is evil and steals the words from your head.
>>
>>43667462
Yeah, I saw that. But I also have heard that instead of writing, I can draw with poison-inked substances. This way other goblins won't try to eat and steal my knowledge. So I draw little stick figures and stuff.
>>
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>>43667455
Let's assume 3rd party and 3.5 allowed.
The more you can do with gear and feats, the better.

I like to use copper cable, a crossbow with a crank, a tanglefoot or harpoon bolt and a trap to discharge a bottled lightning.
Round tags mage, trigger trap, taze his shit when he tries to cast.
>>
>>43667487
I've literally never heard that. The only "goblin writing" I've heard of is goblin alchemy books, which consist of scrapbooks where each recipe actually has the substances (or representations of the subtanaces) glued to or spilled on the page.

It's also purely psychological and not a racial trait, so you could probably overcome it if you put ranks in linguistics or something.
>>
>>43667488
Oh damn, that gets /fun/. Gimme a couple minutes and I'll have something neat.
>>
>>43667505
Yeah but then other goblins would want to kill me. Because I would have become tainted. So they would eat my flesh. Best to just stay away from words altogether and pass off in society as a leper.
>>
>>43667521
Sounds like a great reason to go join a party of non-goblin adventurers doesn't it?
>>
>>43667510
The ideal scenario here is to use mundane equipment to make dumb, interesting stuff.
>>
>>43666656
I don't think there is anything else vital, just go with fun stuff.
>>
>Hunters are warriors of the wilds that have forged close bonds with trusted animal companions. They focus their tactics on fighting alongside their companion animals as a formidable team of two. Able to cast a wide variety of nature spells and take on the abilities and attributes of beasts, hunters magically improve both themselves and their animal companions.

>Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells: A hunter can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to her own or her deity’s (if she has one).

I have a headache.
>>
>>43667608
>A hunter can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to her own or her deity’s (if she has one).

There's that big IF. which is so goddamn arbitrary.
>>
>>43667537
Okay, so. Build with minimal Su stuff:

>3.5 Ranger 1 (solitary hunting ACF, favored enemy: arcanists ACF)/Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian (pounce, ferocity rage) 1/Unchained Rogue 1/Warblade 4 before going into Warder with Practiced Initiator.

Important feats:
- Darkstalker (3.5) or Lurker in Darkness (Psionic Bestiary) for avoiding special senses. Pump the SHIT out of Stealth, too.
- Craven (this and the rogue dip allows +character level on damage whenever you flank or get the drop on them; in lieu of magic items, we'll need it)
- Deadly Agility (Urogue got us finesse for free)
- Nemesis (Arcanists) - the keystone of the build. When combined with FE: Arcanists, this allows us to automatically sense and pinpoint anyone who can cast arcane spells within 60 feet. Through walls. We also do extra damage against them.

Solitary Hunting gives your Favored Enemy bonuses to attack rolls, since 3.5 ranger only got damage and skills.

Without an easy source of Hide in Plain Sight, it's a bit harder to get the necessary cover to use Stealth, but doable. Warblade is in here because of Iron Heart Surge, which is, of course, amazing. Tanglefoot bags are going to be a must, but as a Dex-focused character, we can get both melee and ranged weapons. The big thing is that this allows you to be an anti-infiltrator character. The bad thing is that your defenses are lacking.

If we're allowed some more supernatural abilities, I'd actually just use 3.5 Ranger and an associated PrC by itself:

3.5 Ranger 4 (Solitary Hunting ACF, FE: Arcanists ACF)/Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian 1 (pounce, ferocity rage)/Stalker of Kharash 2/Ranger 1/Warblade 1/Ranger +10

(continued)
>>
>>43667650
Feats are similar (take Martial Study once to get the prereq to Iron Heart Surge before the warblade level). Spell-less ranger gives us some bonus feats to spend on stuff. However, we need to go to a specific magical location, using the buddy system and a Helm of Opposite Alignment. In Cormyr: the Tearing of the Weave's "extra rules for the game" appendix, there's a place that gives you a buffed version of the Dark template for no LA, in exchange for some risk, some gold, and turning you evil. The Helm is used to turn you back.

In lieu of a combat style, we want the Moon-Warded Ranger ACF from Dragon #340. It gives you the following things:
- level 2: +Wis to AC in light armor
- level 6: shitty DR at night
- level 11: always-on Mind Blank that can be selectively turned off as a non-action against specific spells. This is what we want out of it.

Stalker of Kharash's weird place in that progression is because it gets a special Favored Enemy; Favored Enemy (Evil). It also gets the ability Scent of Evil, which is literally Scent that works based on someone's evil aura. They later get the ability to track people by this aura in a class feature, but by RAW they can do it with the scent /anyway/. Take both Nemesis (Arcanists) and Nemesis (Evil), to autodetect anything that's either of those things and deal extra damage. Then, on each ranger Favored Enemy boost, up the bonus from FE: Evil.

Oh yeah, and in both builds, take Favored Power Attack, which is like Power Attack, but gives a 3x return if you're two-handing against a favored enemy. The Extra Favored Enemy feat is also good.

The end result is a guy who's competent enough in melee and ranged, has insane Stealth abilities and can dodge special senses, is immune to mind-affecting effects, can track people by the scent of their misdeeds, and can instantly detect both evil beings and spellcasters, without line of effect.

Minimal Su abilities, no magic items, no spells.
>>
>>43667675
Mundane equipment would take a lot longer to figure out, but given that ranger has skill points to spare (we really just want some prereqs, Stealth, and Perception), we could get some neat crafting skills and knowledges. I'm tired though so I didn't put thought into the items.

If we can use 3.5's Tower Shields, that'd be hilarious. They were basically portable force field generators and cloaking devices.
>>
Does PF have any playable/decent Tiny races?

Saw that thread about tiny PC's and the one guy who pretended to be someone else's familiar and thought "actually that sounds like a thing I could enjoy doing."
>>
>>43667781
Nothing 1st party, 3rd party I haven't heard of any such a thing, but it probably exists somewhere. It probably wouldn't be too hard to homebrew something.

That reminds me of the wizard in the game I'm playing currently who had his mind permanently swapped with his frog familiar. He seems to be enjoying life as a spellcasting frog, but the frog-brained elf familiar is a bit of a hassle to drag around.
>>
>>43667781
Paizo has yet to print any, as far as I am aware, and DSP hasn't either, but a simple race built with the admittedly garbage Race Points system could turn out well.

Maybe Fey (2RP), Tiny (4RP), Normal Speed (0RP), Flexible (+2 CHA/+2DEX, 2RP), Flight (30', Clumsy, 4RP) for 12RP, or 14RP if you add Verdant Soil or some other Sorcerer-friendly ability. Tack on alternate race features to swap between the various Bloodlines that are Fey-associated.

Basically, it'd be a little flying sorcery-inclined fairy. Pretty basic stuff.
>>
>>43667862
New thread
>>
>>43667488
Are ravages EX? I forget.

If so, blow the budget of a small country on ravages.
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