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[Harry Baldman]

Unrelated, but do other DMs here being recurring characters from game to game? I'm sure it happens but not many seem to really talk about it

Sometimes GMs have NPC in-jokes that move from game to game and from character to character. I had a case where one game had an initially throwaway NPC named after the GM (but who turned out to be one of the more interesting ones in the campaign with some development), who I ported to a game that I ran with that GM as a player at his personal request, and who appeared later in a third game with that GM as a throwaway NPC again. As with many in-jokes, it can get pretty convoluted, but then that's the fun of in-jokes to begin with.

[highmax28]

Sometimes, I have a stable of NPCs who see frequent use in my RIFTS games, but I generally roll whole new sets for D&D (but then, I'm usually creating a whole new setting when I run a new campaign in D&D).

I don't usually allow players to 'port' their characters to a new game, as I often advance time by a large margin between campaigns set in the same world (and I don't allow existing characters to be used in a new setting).

As for why people don't talk about it, imagine how someone acts when they talk about their favorite character, then multiply it by the number of NPCs.  It gets old real quick.

Reason being I tend to have an overarching story that is woven into every world i make. Eventually, players who I deemed strong enough to try it could start to look more into it, and it goes into a large quest where even the strongest and grandest of players feel as if this is bigger than they are.

The only recurring thing that happens is one character that, at some point or another, will appear, and they're always under a different name and usually slightly noted if at all because they clearly look off being from another plane (he originates from eberron). Players would at some point, uncover a plot point that mentions that this character isn't what he appears to be. I've only had one party think he's more than some random NPC, and that's because one of the party members f***ed with him.

[Tawa]

I don't remember what it was, but I remember I used to sneak a guy with the same name into every D&D game I ran here. It's been so long I forgot who it was, though.

[MrRoboto75]

A friend of mine would always include a specific tavern at some point, The Fat Dryad.

[Arcvasti]

Unrelated, but do other DMs here being recurring characters from game to game? I'm sure it happens but not many seem to really talk about it

I've got one trickster-type deity who's been in three of my campaigns thus far, under different names and styles. He's only really been a major character in one of them and exists only as a time ghost or a legend in the other two.

[BlackFlyme]

Information on the upcoming Shifter in Pathfinder.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

For those that can't read it, it's summed up as:
Full BAB
Self-Buffer
Primarily uses Natural Attacks
Uses Wildshape along with a dozen different Animal Aspects, eventually turning into animals and mixing animal aspects

The hype is real, it seems. I've a Wish-list of my own for the class.
Main one is for a Barbarian-style Archetype for a Rage-Shaper.
Also ones for different creature types than the apparent default of Animal/Magical Beast, like Aberrations for some body horror, or Elementals.

[Kadzar]

I find that rather silly, personally-- but that is just me exercising some domain knowledge.
(Learned all kinds of fun stuff when I studied magical practice as an independent study of anthropology. One of the avenues I explored was creation of tinctures, potions, poultices, and the like.)

Some very effective "Speed buffing" potions can be brewed very inexpensively IRL, if you dont mind the side effects. Take for instance, a slight bit of a toxic mushroom (Amanita Muscaria), added to a tea made from Ephredra.  Dark age speed in a bottle right there.  Side effects include euphoria, and hallucenations. Routine use can lead to heart and liver damage.

This is exactly the kind of thing I would expect an herbalism specialist witch to know.  As such, I consider the "Cure alls only" restriction absurdly out of touch with the archetype they are going for there. But hey, their game, not mine. 


Maybe I should just sit down one day and crank out a couple fun lists of things that could be cooked up using just a tea kettle and some wild plants some time, and leave it as a community source book. Unless you need to use gold as a reagent, I really don't see a valid reason to require GP expense on potion creation-- aside from if you need to pay somebody to do some ingredient gathering, or to perform some of the process steps for you.  It should be mostly be initial equipment costs, (you DO need some specialist equipment to brew the more interesting potions from dark age literature), and encumbrance from carrying that stuff around.

I get a little annoyed with some of these games' rules sometimes.  (Yes, I understand the gold requirement is to stop you from brewing shitloads of potions and generally ruining the DM's day. Personally, I think that same effect can be obtained by forcing the PC to buy the required bottles to hold the potions in, and forcing them to have to lug equipment around. Abuse of potion would be more interesting to deal with by adding consequences to misuse, such as the side effects, and effects of heavy use, like the potion mentioned above. Not all potions can be stored in clear glass bottles, as some degrade from exposure to light, and need to be in dark brown glass- others can react with metal oxides in colored glass bottles, so that's a very reasonable requirement for some potions right there that would naturally limit abuse. Adding encumbrance for empty bottles, and having the skill tree to make glass bottles not be included in potion maker classes would also naturally limit it in a more organic and less contrived way.  Basically, I really think this can be handled much better, and the game rule makers are either covering for ignorance, or are just being lazy.)

I'd personally be interested in such rules, since I'm currently running a campaign that features magical drugs to some extent, and I'd like some more rules for them. I originally tried looking up for some ideas about how to handle dosage, but apparently most game designers seem to think that addiction is the only important aspect of drugs and don't have rules for how someone could unintentionally overdose.

[Neonivek]

Full BAB

Honestly... I am starting to wonder if outside pure casters... that, that should be how it goes.

If the 3/4ths BAB is a flawed system.

[Jimmy]

Does the class cap at 9th level spells? 1/2 BAB.
Does the class cap at 6th level spells? 3/4 BAB.
Does the class cap at 4th level spells? Full BAB.

Seems fair to me.

[Neonivek]

Does the class cap at 9th level spells? 1/2 BAB.
Does the class cap at 6th level spells? 3/4 BAB.
Does the class cap at 4th level spells? Full BAB.

Seems fair to me.

That system ALSO is highly flawed. Since often times you completely outclass lower level spells. As well quality is far better than quantity. I believe Pathfinder, and to a much further extent 5th edition, tried to alleviate this by making the class spells scale appropriately for that level (So a final tier Paladin spell... Is a good spell for a Paladin to use)

As well "Fair" isn't even close since ultimately what you are doing is making people DOUBLE PAY. They ALREADY take a penalty to combat ability and magic ability, but then you add on more penalties onto of it. Would a Wizard with full BAB be a skilled swordsman? No...

AS WELL there are good reasons why a Wizard or Sorcerer might get 1/2 BAB beyond being a magician and "Benefiting from magic". Since they use touch spells which ignore AC (And VERY few enemies have half-way decent touch AC... especially past CR:7).

Or rather... It isn't about Fair, think of it this way. HOW does 3/4 BAB or 1/2 BAB enhance the experience if it doesn't, ultimately, balance the class other then "But what about me?". What Pathfinder eventually learned was that these traditions were just that, traditions... The same kind that used to say that each class could only reach a certain level.

[Sirus]

I'm not convinced on the usefulness of touch spells myself. Sure most characters have pretty poor Touch AC, but if my (shaky) reading of the rules is correct, in order to actually touch them you need to risk an AoO from the thing you want to touch and anyone else in threat range. When you're an unarmored mage facing a monster with most-likely ludicrous STR, getting hit is something to be avoided if at all possible.

[SOLDIER First]

1. Cast touch spell with Standard Action outside of enemy threat range
2. Approach enemy with Move Action
3. Touch enemy with Free Action
4.
5. Profit

[Sirus]

Oh, is that how it works? I thought you had to cast the spell while standing right next to your target and thus trigger AoOs

I told you my reading of the rules was shaky.

[SOLDIER First]

This seems like the best way to do it (in Pathfinder) from what I've seen, since you can either move - cast - touch, cast - move - touch, or cast - touch - move with most Standard Action touch spells.

[Harry Baldman]

Or get your familiar to do it, that's also a popular option.

Oh, and there's also ranged touch attacks for rays and what have you, those get pretty nasty when used against you but hey, you can also return the favor with certain spells!