I don’t mind being stuffed into a box full of bad guys, it will be a challenge to get out alive. I just have to survive the first three rounds of combat. If you are thinking of putting players in a situation like this without letting them do it to themselves, be ready for some pissed off people. The last thing we as players want to hear is “Oh the last encounter was just a dream you are actually grappled, and having your head sucked on by mindflayer”, even though we have rings of freedom of movement, and a zillion skills and feats to prevent this, somehow we are “box texted” by a module into being in this impossible situation.

If you like your players, don’t do it.

We are all 14th level, so it should not be too bad of a fight. The first round will be the worst.

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If you look at the D20 SRD for 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons the fighter has the following weapon and armor proficiency already:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency (3.5 SRD)
A fighter is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and shields (including tower shields).

It is similar for the Pathfinder game:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency (Pathfinder SRD)
A fighter is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, light, and medium) and shields (including tower shields).

I was just thinking about my time in the military and how important it was for my to understand the weapons I used and how to keep them operational. Now swords and shields and armor are fairly simple weapons compared to scud missiles, but they still required expertise to create. A fighter in an RPG game is already a hero among the masses so why can’t that hero make his own weapon?

My solution is that anything a character is proficient with is also something he can make without having ranks in the Skill, this way he can use those precious skill points for something like swim or something cross class. If he really wants to be great at it, he can spend ranks get even better.

In my home game, a Pathfinder fighter can make all simple and martial weapons and all armor (heavy, light, and medium) and shields (including tower shields). His skill check is based on his class level. If he has multiple classes, the effect does not stack, but if one class is higher than the other and they both offer the same proficiency, say in light armor, the higher level would be used to determine success. If a player really wants to, they can still take ranks in craft, but would have to specify specifically what specialty, “craft light armor” and this would stack as would any feat that improves a skill.

A 1st level fighter with an intelligence of 10 (+0) would have +4 to make light armor (3 for proficiency +1 for his level and +0 for intelligence). A 5th level fighter with an intelligence of 10 (+0) would have +8 to make light armor (3 for proficiency +5 for his level and +0 for intelligence). 5th level fighter with two ranks in Craft Armor with an intelligence of 10 (+0) would have +10 to make light armor (3 for proficiency +1 for his level and +0 for intelligence and +2 for ranks).

I explain it like this, because making mundane equipment is cheaper than buying, at least in my home game, and in some of my games, the players start with virtually no money and have to be really creative to survive. Games in the City of Alidor are like this, players start with copper pieces equivalent of starting cash. In other games, players may loose gear and I always like to have an option available when times get tough.

I see this as way to use the craft skill more efficiently within the game. Some players like to do everything others not so much. With this house rule I can let players decide more efficiently what to do with those limited skill points each level…

Plus I want to see my players make stuff, I think this is incentive enough.

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30 years of books:

1980 to 1999 these are the books I bought to support my hobby:

I bought nearly every module made for AD&D and focused a lot on the Forgotten Realms, I also have a huge collection of Dungeon magazines.

2000-2008 I was way into 3e of the game I bought all of these, somehow I am missing about 10 books, so the stack should be higher.

Here from 2000-2008, I deviated a bit, I stopped consuming extra game material, and created Alidor for my game world and bought maybe 4 modules and three dungeon magazines. I started playing in the RPGA in 2003 and got all my modules for free after that.

2008-2009 Wow, it is so bizarre how many books I bought in such a short time, and had I not just, “up and quit”, 4e altogether, I’d most likely be buying the Players Handbook 3 this month…

2009-2010 Two books and my final goodbye to my favorite franchise.

Pathfinder picks up were 3e left off, but they added adventure paths like the Council of Thieves, where you can run complete campaigns from 1st level straight out to retirement at oh, about 15th level+. I am vague on the the whole adventure path things still. I can say, that for the first time in ten years, I have actually thought about buying more than the first three modules written for a game system. Paizo must be doing something right.

The best part about all those 4e books, when I traded them in, I got 100 bucks worth of cool “in store” credit, I told the guy I could honestly only take 80 bucks for the stuff, If I took more I wouldn’t sleep well at night. With my credit, I grabbed these two games to try:

Good bye 4e! Goodbye Dungeons and Dragons! The first 29years were great, last year not so much…

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Jeff’s Gameblog is also a cool spot to visit…

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So in my chance to play, I opted for a Palidin. We are a small group so I am also playing a wizard too. “This is going to be fun! I’m going to be a one man wrecking crew!” I thought. In my character creation my ability scores worked out to Str – 18, Dex – 16, Con – 13, Int – 11, Wis – 8, Cha – 18 and I dropped my +2 ability bonus for being a human in Charisma bringing that to a score of 20. Incredible scores! I couldn’t have asked for any better! Ok, the wisdom is a bit low but I’ll play it.

The first battle we encountered, I tanked a group of goblins and a bugbear and we won handily. We eventually got to the next battle and that’s where the wheels flew off the axles because I made a couple errors in judgment.

First, we decided to explore a tight cavern allowing passage of only one person at a time. The Paladin was in the lead. We heard some rustling up ahead and it was time to roll initiative. I opted to hold my action and wait for the battle to come to me. Not a bad strategy until the two ghouls came around the bend and attacked my Paladin with two claws and a bite. The bite was a hit and I saved against the disease but failed on paralysis dropping my AC to 14.

Desperate, I could still smite evil while paralyzed and I did so to bring my AC back up to 19 against the foul beast. That was error number two. I should have saved it for the second ghoul because the swift hunter decided to shoot around me, rolled max damage and dropped my smited opponent. With my AC at 14 again, the second ghoul casually shambled up to my frozen body and made minced meat out of me, dropping my hit points to 0. Not an official death per se, but down and out nonetheless.

That had about wrapped up the evening and we had a great time gaming. It was my first time as a player in Pathfinder and I learned quickly (the hard way) don’t get overconfident with the Pathfinder abilities, no matter how incredible they appear. I am not the Unstoppable Force.

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