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#41
General Info / PF MECHANICS: Have a Nice Trip...
Last post by Johan - February 03, 2016, 10:34:25 AM
Is this a HOUSE RULE, or a core PF Mechanic? Also, it is my understanding that a PRONE combatant can not make attacks of opportunity...is this correct?
#42
General Info / PF MECHANICS: A Little Help Fr...
Last post by Johan - February 03, 2016, 08:37:35 AM
Nice...is that a core mechanic of PF, or is that from some other source?
#43
In Character Discussions / Gnarcheon's Festival at the Gr...
Last post by Wildfire - February 02, 2016, 10:28:02 PM
"My sisters and brothers of Mahiya, I am Ashe Clearwater, son of Zachary Clearwater of the Valley Chosen and of Zebulon. My greetings to you." A murmur washed over the crowd after his introduction. Everyone knew of the legendary ascension of Zachary Clearwater to Zebulon, the Champion of Mahiya. Zebulon had not manifested for scores of generations and the fact that Zachary Clearwater had, some years ago, been chosen to harbor that consciousness and battle Zyxu Archeon, the Champion of The Void, spoke to his purity of devotion and strength of character. Liam Clearwater was Ashe's grandson and protégé and he also ascended to become Mahiya's champion recently. Ashe was the son and sire of legends and one of the most powerful and respected Druids alive- a fact that was completely lost on Ashe.

Ashe continued his account, "As has been spoken, we are at the threshold of great change." Ashe felt himself clever for his play on the word "threshold" and hoped someone would appreciate the joke and the deeper meaning. "I bring joyous news from the mouth of the Valley of Mist." Ashe glanced at Maragarn hoping that he would find solace in the news he was about to impart. "The once lost Ring of Mists has been revealed." The only sounds that cold be heard apart from Ashe were the occasional crackles of the fire and the creaking of top boughs in the wind. "The Ring was being defiled and taken by agents of Zyxu and with the reliable help of stalwart and trusted friends, Maccabeus of the Dale of Wolves, one of our own Gnarcheon and descendant of honored Shankaria, was victorious in its salvation. How the agents found the Ring of Mists I do not know but they did not prevail." Ashe paused a moment to allow time for the information to be acknowledged. No one spoke during that moment. "Maccabeus is now the steward of the Ring of Mists and I am continuing Shankaria's good work by ushering his knowledge in the ways of Mahiya..." Ashe thought a moment and added, "...well, me and another."

So much had happened in the last few months that Ashe wondered if he could recount it all. Some of the slightest details could hold profound significance to someone and he didn't want to overlook any of it. Detailed recollection through elegant oration was indeed an art form and Ashe always felt clumsy doing it. "I'm honored to tell you also that the wisdom of the Mother Tree has spread beyond the mountain walls of the Valley of Mist. A mighty Vallenwood now grows strong and majestic at the Ring of Mists. It is being nourished by elemental founts that reflect the Ring so that it drinks the liquid embodiment of Kossuth, Grumbar, Akadi, and Istisha. It is a Vallenwood the manner of which has likely never been seen by anyone alive today. Indeed, Mahiya is speaking directly to us through these events." Ashe was no stranger to the diversity of the world. He had seen that others also cared for the sovereignty of Mahiya, especially when faced with something as seemingly small as a dry Brak (Summer) or something as devastating as the ash fields of Zyxu's minions- The Archea, even if they weren't druids. He knew that it wasn't just the province of druids to counter the destruction but rather, the responsibility of everyone. "When I say, 'us' I mean everyone, not just Gnarcheon." That revelation caused a quiet stir among many in the throng. Curiously, Ashe sought the face of Eswarth the noble centaur. Eswarth was standing next to Bal-Johr and both returned Ashe's gaze with an approving nod.  
#44
General Info / PF MECHANICS: A Little Help Fr...
Last post by Wildfire - February 02, 2016, 05:26:30 PM
Sometimes opponents are just frustratingly tough. They have pesky things like Armor, Dexterity, protection spells, and bad breath. Other times characters can't seem to hit. This is either by players being serially bad dice rollers despite the bonuses their characters have (*looks at the Griznuqs*), their melee attack just isn't great, or some other mysterious reason (honestly, the possibilities are endless). Well if you find you're getting your rump roast handed to you by the eager orcish butcher then ask for some help! Here's one way help can help...

Aid Another

In melee combat, you can help a friend attack or defend by distracting or interfering with an opponent. If you're in position to make a melee attack on an opponent that is engaging a friend in melee combat, you can attempt to aid your friend as a standard action. You make an attack roll against AC 10. If you succeed, your friend gains either a +2 bonus on his next attack roll against that opponent or a +2 bonus to AC against that opponent's next attack (your choice), as long as that attack comes before the beginning of your next turn. Multiple characters can aid the same friend, and similar bonuses stack.

You can also use this standard action to help a friend in other ways, such as when he is affected by a spell, or to assist another character's skill check.
____________________

Many prescribe to having a good offense as being the best defense and many times that's true. On the occasion that you need some help hitting something that everyone is missing isn't it nice to pool your efforts to get the job done? Consider this one more tool in the toolbox!
#45
In Character Discussions / Gnarcheon's Festival at the Gr...
Last post by Wildfire - February 01, 2016, 08:00:52 PM
Ashe looked down at the diminutive Shankaria with an uneasy smile. He was there at the meeting in The Grove of Needles where no human had ever made a formal address until this night. Indeed change was unfolding before everyone's eyes! That which had never been now...was.

Shankaria looked up at Ashe with her deep eyes telling him she knew precisely what he was thinking at that moment. They had only met recently but they had always been mysteriously connected in some way. Ashe could not appreciate that relation until the moment Shankaria gazed at him with complete confidence. She gave him a soft smile and a gentle nod- a nod that told him he was worthy of his immediate task. A smile that told him he belonged there no matter what precedent history had in place. Ashe came to understand that he wasn't there speaking as a human, he was there speaking as a Gnarcheon...a Hierophant...a child of Mahiya.

Ashe looked out across the sea of eager faces and among them noticed Varshya's stone cold stare. He was certain he would have to contend with her at a later point. Her ire with humans was well known and this breach of tradition would likely not soften her outlook. Every one in the crowd was showered by the colorful fires and anxious to hear him speak. He cleared his throat and stepped forward into the circle.

#46
In Character Discussions / Gnarcheon's Festival at the Gr...
Last post by Johan - August 09, 2015, 08:08:38 PM
Kaltya's lesson was well delivered, greatly needed, and made Shankaria more than happy. In fact, Kaltya had greatly alleviated Shankaria's burden, since the little feral gnome had been struggling with how she might deliver just such a message: change was not to be feared, but should be seen as an opportunity, and seized like a wild mount to be ridden according to your own bidding.

Shankaria lowered her face to the earth, hiding her smile lest the assembly mis-read her to be frivolous. She had always loved Kaltya, but in that moment, her affection for the Fra Shathor filled her nigh  to bursting.

She breathed deep, gathering her wits, and once again took the Grove.

"We have all been the beneficiaries of change." She said. "We have grown, learned, befriended, loved, birthed, and more."

"Granted, we have also been at times the victim of change. We have had loved ones die, we have perhaps been maimed, and we have perhaps lost our purpose at one time or another." She concentrated on not looking at Maragarn as she spoke. It was clear to her that some unwanted change had befallen her friend, and such a statement, while necessary, might just be incendiary to him.

"On this night," she continued, "we have remarkable change to consider, and on the forefront of that change is a most esteemed visitor." She turned and held her tiny arm wide in Ashe's direction, beckoning him forward.

"Ashe Clearwater." She announced. "Come. Speak to us of change."
#47
In Character Discussions / Gnarcheon's Festival at the Gr...
Last post by Johan - May 23, 2015, 11:02:45 AM
Most of those gathered at the Grove of Needles tonight understood that Kaltya was different from other soldiers. She had clearly been a dryad at birth, but to the eye, in contrast to the normal elegance that is the hallmark of those sylvan tribes, Kaltya was quite ugly to look at. While not misshapen, she did have numerous bulbous cysts about her body that were reminiscent of tree burls.

Also, there was a sheen to Kaltya's grayish flesh that made her look like she was slightly wet. As long as Bal-Jhor had known her that sheen had always been there. Though, aware of her sylvan ancestry as he was, he was confident that she was born either very pale or slightly green as any other dryad he had ever encountered or heard about.

Those who were familiar with sylvan languages and dialects understood that Kaltya was ancient, even by sylvan standards. Fra Shathor is what Kaltya's people's tongue called the Gnarcheon, and that title, Bal-Jhor knew, had fallen out of use long before the birth of any currently living elf. For the past few thousand years, the most of the sylvan races favored terms such as the elves did: Tra'Baellyan, or that of the sprites: Sho-Atraliar as in the case of Varshya or Mirriam.

A small part of those gathered tonight also knew Kaltya as the Lady of the Spore. Kaltya had walked the Lichen Path, and now lived in a symbiotic relationship with the Fungal world. Few understood what the meant, exactly. Shankaria likely did, but it was far beyond the ken of Bal-Jhor.

But then, there was something that Bal-Jhor knew about Kalta that few others could...possibly not even Kaltya herself, and that was that Kalya's spirit was completely tangled with that of the fungal world. She was inextricably one with the world of mushrooms, lichen, molds, and such. By the astonished look on the half-orc's face, Bal-Jhor understood that this newcomer saw what Bal-Jhor saw as Kaltya moved to take the audience.

"Caterpillars." She said in her leathern voice. After a pause, she added, "Tadpoles." Then, after another pause she added, "Kossuth's descent". Pause. "An erupting volcanoe." Pause. "Venric." Pause. "Puberty." Pause. "The Blood Tear." Long pause.

Bal-Jhor was confused, and the brief murmur that spread through Grove of Needles told him that he was not alone. A lesson was coming, surely, but what lesson?

At length, Kaltya continued. "The lesson of the tadpole is the same as that of the erupting volcano. It is the same as that of the caterpillar or Kossuth's descent: change is at Mahiya's foundation." She let that sink in. "Change is not a thing that we should fear; it is everywhere about us and it is vital to life...without it, there is nothing. Stagnance, leading to withering, leading to oblivion...to the Void of Zxyxu."

"The question in many minds is why do we fear the volcano, but not the tadpole? Why do we fear the Blood Tear but not the caterpillar?" Bal-Jhor felt very much like a new acolyte just then.

"The answer," Kaltya said, "is because we lack the certainty of understanding. We know that the change that the caterpillar goes through will result in a butterfly. The tadpole will be a frog. But what of the volcano? What change will that create? We know that ultimately it will create new land, but what will be destroyed in the making? We can't know."

"What change will come on the heels of the Blood Tear?" She asked no one and everyone. "We can't know. No one can, and so the Blood Tear sows fear."

She paused even longer now. Looking directly at all the gathered assembly at once. Through the power of the ritual, she scrutinized all faces simultaneously. "Let us fear only the Void." She said. "Let us not fear the Blood Tear. The change that is heralded is yet to be wrought...let us make it as we wish it to be...as we understand Her will for the change to be."

"The only other lesson that I have for you tonight, children, is that of the leaf." She held high an oak leaf in her hand. As to be expected this time of the year, it was large and green. "The lesson of the leaf is this: Do your work well, and age with grace and dignity." In her up-stretched hand the leaf began to curl slightly, then it changed colors from its brilliant green into the splotchy but beautiful reddish-yellow of Rynnyx.

As it changed to deeper red and brown, Kaltya completed her lesson, saying, "...and be ready to depart when She shall call." She let the browned leaf fall to the floor of the Grove. It drifted into the white pine needles.

Even the wind and the peepers were silent as Kaltya ceded the audience.

One of the great lessons the fall of the leaf teaches, is this: Do your work well and then be ready to depart when God shall call.
~Tyron Edwards
#48
General Info / PF MECHANICS: Have a Nice Trip...
Last post by Wildfire - March 12, 2015, 12:51:31 PM
Have a Nice Trip!

Often in the heat of the moment we can forget that there are options in d20/Pathfinder melee that go beyond the "swing-hit-get hit" back and forth of combat (I like to imagine it being more like a dance with a series of attacks and defenses rather than just trading punches to the nuts). Sometimes in combat it's hard to get the upper hand against a foe that is currently more than your match. Among many Combat Maneuvers is the "Trip". The Trip Maneuver will knock an opponent prone and that's just where you'll want them in order to turn the tide of battle.

Trip

You can attempt to trip your opponent in place of a melee attack. You can only trip an opponent who is no more than one size category larger than you. If you do not have the Improved Trip feat, or a similar ability, initiating a trip provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver.

If your attack exceeds the target's CMD, the target is knocked prone. If your attack fails by 10 or more, you are knocked prone instead. If the target has more than two legs, add +2 to the DC of the combat maneuver attack roll for each additional leg it has. Some creatures—such as oozes, creatures without legs, and flying creatures—cannot be tripped.

Prone

The character is lying on the ground. A prone attacker has a –4 penalty on melee attack rolls and cannot use a ranged weapon (except for a crossbow). A prone defender gains a +4 bonus to Armor Class against ranged attacks, but takes a –4 penalty to AC against melee attacks.

Standing up is a move-equivalent action that provokes an attack of opportunity.
#49
General Info / PF MECHANICS: Be Defensive, Be...
Last post by Wildfire - March 10, 2015, 01:13:20 PM
Often in the heat of the moment we can forget that there are options in d20/Pathfinder melee that goes beyond the "swing-hit-get hit" back and forth of combat (I like to imagine it being more like a dance with a series of attacks and defenses rather than just trading punches to the nuts). Sometimes in combat you just need a little bit more defense, other times you're really desperate and are hoping you don't get hit before the cleric arrives, and other times you just need to withdraw from combat altogether.
So here's some options that you might use when the time is right.

Total Defense

You can defend yourself as a standard action. You get a +4 dodge bonus to your AC for 1 round. Your AC improves at the start of this action. You can't combine total defense with fighting defensively or with the benefit of the Combat Expertise feat. You can't make attacks of opportunity while using total defense.

Fighting Defensively as a Standard Action
 
You can choose to fight defensively when attacking. If you do so, you take a –4 penalty on all attacks in a round to gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC until the start of your next turn.

Withdraw

Withdrawing from melee combat is a full-round action. When you withdraw, you can move up to double your speed. The square you start out in is not considered threatened by any opponent you can see, and therefore visible enemies do not get attacks of opportunity against you when you move from that square. Invisible enemies still get attacks of opportunity against you, and you can't withdraw from combat if you're blinded. You can't take a 5-foot step during the same round in which you withdraw.

If, during the process of withdrawing, you move out of a threatened square (other than the one you started in), enemies get attacks of opportunity as normal.

You may not withdraw using a form of movement for which you don't have a listed speed.

Note that despite the name of this action, you don't actually have to leave combat entirely.

Restricted Withdraw: If you are limited to taking only a standard action each round you can withdraw as a standard action. In this case, you may move up to your speed.
#50
In Character Discussions / Gnarcheon's Festival at the Gr...
Last post by Wildfire - November 03, 2014, 07:42:14 PM
Cailyder listened to Mirriam's report with an unwavering intensity. Her province was also part of the Great Forest and the political events could, in some way affect her. After Mirriam told his tale of events there was a somber cloud hanging over the group of Mahiya's children. Shankaria herself, a delightful soul, even seemed to take a reserved air.

Cailyder looked over the crowd illuminated by the glow of the chromatic fires. Their faces seemed almost ghostly in the primal light. These were the faces of the past and the future. Eventually some would return to the cycle and others would carry their knowledge. Each generation building on the last and hopefully not repeating their mistakes. She could count on the children of Mahiya to honor the wisdom of that course for the most part but the children of civilization she doubted would. So often they repeated their ancestors ways as was evident by Mirriam's tale.

Cailyder then saw Eswarth, who was clearly taller than anyone embracing the fire, step forward. He had his part of recent events to tell his brothers and sisters. He began, in his bass voice, by telling the tale of a magnificent champion of Mahiya, a centaur of utmost devotion and conviction. His name was Teruss and he was the warden of a forest which is now in the northern city state of Maruchek. Though he was a child of Mahiya he was a devotee of Istisha. Through Istisha did he perform incredible acts of healing, healing the very forest itself.

Eswarth, the mighty centaur, continued with a notably regrettable tone. Cailyder, feeling this story perhaps better than most could, listened with unshakable attention. Terrus, Eswarth explained, fell into a foul melancholy. To this day it has never been understood why this happpend. Some speculated that he was corrupted by The Void and others say he became too protective of his forest and to prevent it from dying he grew closer to death. His melancholy grew into despair and then a burning hatred. It was rumored that Istisha, feeling that Teruss had lost his way, abandoned him. Others maintained that it was Teruss that abandoned Istisha. In either case, Terrus became that which he, at one time, would have most despised- a blighter...a fallen druid that destroyed rather than protected. Even his very form began to change, Eswarth explained. Once a proud, majestic centaur, Teruss twisted into what collectively was known as The White Demon. A corrupted version of what he once was. The Teruss that once protected the forest was now gone.

Eswarth looked at the ground and to Cailyder seemed to offer himself and Teruss some self reflection and a prayer. He was not ashamed of what his kin had done for he knew that there were no accidents. Rather he pondered the potential of what could have been. Perhaps everything was in the right and a plan was proceeding as it should have. Maybe, Teruss was chosen.

Eswarth's demeanor changed as he told the story. He further explained that The white Demon had become obsessed with pain and death but wanted to procure those things that were life. In his pursuit he found Istisha's Tear. Istisha's Tear was one piece of three that formed the Eye of Istisha. The White Demon reveled in his perceived victory. In his greed for life, The White Demon, Eswarth explained, was now trapped in an obscure seaside cave. Since Teruss had chosen the way of death and brought death to the forest he once protected he would now suffer with protecting life. He would be the guardian of the Tear of Istisha.

The tall centaur looked to the stars as he told the rest of his story. It was as though he gave Istisha thanks, and more importantly, understanding as the final revelation of his telling. Eswarth explained that The White Demon had been defeated by those that would see the Eye of Istisha once again rejoined. He suspected it was the Shadowhunters that Varshya had spoken of. Cailyder never expected to see the mighty Eswarth nearly brought to tears when he explained that The White Demon, Teruss, had, in his death, been forgiven by Istisha for his transgression and was accepted in the healing embrace of the green moon. It was that embrace that caused Istisha, the green moon to briefly move out of place. It was Teruss returning home.

Eswarth looked up to the crowd as if waking from a trance. Bal-Jhor, Cailyder saw, brought his right hand to his chest as though to salute the proud centaur. Cailyder's appreciation for the mysterious ways of the divinities grew wider after Eswath's story.