If Your Dice Are Cursed, Consider Building A Character Who Doesn't Roll

I've mentioned this a time or two on this blog over the past decade and change, but I am cursed. Any dice I roll regardless of the method, who handed them to me, or which game I'm playing will give me some of the worse possible results I could ever hope for nine times out of ten. I once rolled so many natural 1s that I started counting them as a streak (I hit 11 in a row before it finally broke, in case you're wondering), and it was one of the most horribly entrancing things I've ever done.

Also, irritatingly, this curse doesn't apply to me as a GM, because all of a sudden my dice wake up and remember how to be lethal when I'm sitting in the big chair.

Anyway, this curse is what taught me to mix max and point crunch any character I make, because I need to be able to actually succeed and participate even if I'm rolling somewhere between a 2 and a 5 for a majority of the night. And while I do take a certain amount of enjoyment in digging through a game to find every bonus and tool I can to help me combat fate (it's why I have an entire Character Conversions archive, after all), there is another solution for folks who are frustrated that their dice won't cooperate.

Play a character who rarely, if ever, has to roll a die to participate in the game.

Oh dearie... I'm not rolling dice. You are. Give me that save, won't you?

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Bonuses, Debuffs, And Controlling The Battlefield

Generally speaking, the sort of character I'm going to describe is going to be a spellcaster (for fantasy games), and likely some sort of psionic or technomancer for a more sci-fi related game. Exact mileage will vary, but keep in mind that this is meant to be a shift in perspective and strategy more than it is a recommendation for a specific particular class in a specific particular game, even if the following examples are from Pathfinder since I feel they make my point concisely.

All right? All right.

Now then, most RPGs that have you roll dice give you a bunch of bonuses and negatives, and you then have to either beat your enemy's roll, or you have to overcome some arbitrary number set as the difficulty. If you're attempting to persuade a door guard to let you into the tavern, you need to hit a certain number on your Diplomacy or Intimidate roll, or if you're swinging a power sword at a chaos space marine you need to have more successes than he has to parry your attack.

These are the situations where a dice curse can be an issue. Because no matter how much the odds are in your favor, there is always a chance that something goes wrong and your action is wasted. You miss your shot, you fail to persuade an NPC to your point of view, and so on, and so forth... and that's really the most frustrating part of things. You just aren't having an effect on the game, and you feel like you might as well be sitting there blowing raspberries instead of wasting everyone's time.

I believe that is where I come in.

One of the most visual examples of the character who doesn't roll, yet can still be the MVP of an encounter, is the bard. Seen across various editions (as well as in the Tactician caste in my own RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic), the bard is typically thought of as a party booster. Their music grants bonuses to their allies, they can inspire courage and suppress fear, and they gain access to spells that can heal allies and hinder their foes even further. And while the enemy might receive a saving throw against these spells, the bard often doesn't have to roll anything (except for how many hit points they give back to an ally).

However, bards aren't the only class capable of this kind of play. Consider a transmuter wizard who is constantly enhancing the attributes of her allies through various buffing spells, or who reveals all the enemies with a well-placed glitterdust spell (which might even blind her foes, turning a fight into a rout very quickly). The sorcerer might have adhesive spittle on-hand, able to entangle a foe and stick them in place so they can become easy prey for the martial members of the party (since entangled foes receive negatives to attack, Dexterity, speed, and several other factors). A witch might have the ability to hex an enemy, forcing them to use the worst of 2d20 rolls when they attack, make saves, and so on, thus allowing their allies to avoid harm, and score more devastating attacks with their own spells.

I talked about more specifics in Vulgar Displays of Power as well as in Don't Underestimate Battlefield Control Spells for folks interested in more PF-centric advice.

With that said, if you want to avoid rolling dice for your character, then some of the things you should build your strategy around include:

- Granting bonuses to your allies (as well as healing), which tend to be automatic successes.

- Debuffing enemies in ways they cannot ignore, even on a failed saving throw (though there may be a lesser penalty on a successful save).

- Shifting the terrain of the battlefield entirely (creating pits, summoning walls, and so on).

An important thing to remember is that this strategy largely requires an individual to step out of the spotlight, and to act as the assist for other players to be the ones who clinch glory. That can be tough to accept, but it is often extremely satisfying knowing that your character is the power behind the throne, and that it is through your efforts that everyone else is succeeding (or at least avoiding death).

Lastly, it's important to remember that you can never remove dice rolls entirely from a character. Even if you primarily boost your allies in their endeavors (both in and out of combat), or your strategy is to force your enemies to work at a disadvantage, you're still going to have to make an occasional skill check, saving throw, etc. Still, there are a great deal of situations where you can absolutely leave a task up to someone else who doesn't have untrustworthy dice... and you can give them an extra slap on the back and a +1 for good luck if you have a spare spell slot!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Crunch post! To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Which Classes Mesh Well With "Way of The Shooting Star"? (Pathfinder Advice)

A little while back I put out the blog post Divine Fighting Technique: An Often-Overlooked Pathfinder Feat, and I was honestly surprised at the reaction. Because while this is a feat that hasn't seen a lot of love at my tables, it's apparently seen a lot of love from the community in general. That's on me... I got that one wrong. However, what really surprised me was that the favorite among everyone seemed to be Way of The Shooting Star, the feat associated with Desna and the starknife. That confused the hell out of me... but the more I thought about it, the more potential I saw in it.

So, I've seen the light on this one, and I thought I'd share some of the thoughts that came to me while it was rolling around in my head. I'm sure these will be old hat for a lot of folks, but for all the folks who were in the same boat as I was, I figured this might help mark out a few interesting paths for them to check out and explore!

This particular version of the feat should be in Divine Anthology, for those who want a copy.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

What Is "Way of The Shooting Star"?

For those who aren't familiar, the Divine Fighting Technique feat comes in two varieties. The one taken from Divine Anthology requires you to have the deity associated with the feat as a patron deity. The first ability this feat gives you when you take it (which can also be taken in place of a versatile performance if one is a chaotic good bard) is that when you make an attack with a starknife that you use your Charisma modifier for both attack and damage. The advanced benefit (which requires a Dexterity of 17, Point Blank Shot, Diving Fighting Technique, Rapid Shot, and Base Attack Bonus +11 or 11 ranks of Sleight of Hand or being a chaotic good bard at level 10 and replacing one of your versatile performances) allows you to throw a starknife as a full-round action, and if you hit roll 1d4 to see how many of the weapon's spikes strike the target. 

And, as a caveat, precision damage and critical hits only count once, even if you strike 4 times. So that does put something of a damper on the broken power of this feat's secondary ability.

Now, for my two cents, I'm not going to be focusing on the second ability of this feat. Sure, it's a fun trick, but the limitations on it can make it tough to really turn into a spinning death cloud (though if you have a combination that works really well for you, please leave it in the comments below!). I'm going to largely focus on the lower-level ability, as it's something you can build quite a solid character around if you choose to.

Which Classes & Abilities Pair Well With This Feat?

The ability to fight with your Charisma right out of the gate is a serious boon to high-Charisma builds. After all, if you can only have 1 attribute at a 20 (and you're going to focus on bulking it up as large as you can), then getting that +5 (or more) on attack and damage is a great way to compensate for the starknife's paltry damage die.

However, that solid start lends itself to some interesting class abilities. For instance...

Things are going to get a little... unusual.

One of the options at the top of my recommendation list is the Arcane Duelist bard archetype from the Advanced Player's Guide. Something of a proto-magus, this archetype lets you use the chaotic good bard option for both parts of the feat if you desire, and it gives you the ability Bladethirst. This class feature lets you add magical ability to your (and later to your companions') weapon, letting you make your starknife more deadly as situations unfold. And if you choose to get the larger ability of this feat, one of the abilities you can put on your starknife is returning, which can be very useful if you intend to be slinging it around the field.

When combined with spell storing put onto a starknife for a little extra oomph, this is one of my top-tier recommendations.

Speaking of the magus, another solid combination is the Eldritch Scion archetype from the Advanced Class Guide. This limits the spells you can cast per day, but it allows you to cast from your Charisma score, and it gives you a bloodline similar to a sorcerer. For those who want to make the use of the magus's spell combat feature, their ability to wear armor, and who like to be able to add magical abilities to their starknife in the midst of combat, this is another solid option to pursue.

My next recommendation is the swashbuckler, and for folks who want to get particular, the Flying Blade archetype from the Advanced Class Guide. While a standard swashbuckler will get a great deal of mileage out of focusing on sheer Charisma and using a starknife, combining that with their Precise Strike deed to get some extra damage out of such a relatively small weapon. The ability to use their biggest stat as the basis for their parry also makes the swashbuckler a fine choice defensively, as well as offensively. However, the Flying Blade archetype limits you to daggers and starknives, but it provides you with a list of interesting deed options, and lets you get more benefit out of throwing your blades (which will be particularly useful if you do want to use your starknife as a thrown weapon in combat).

While the swashbuckler lacks the magical options of the first two class choices, it makes up for it in martial versatility in a lot of ways that shouldn't be dismissed out of hand... especially since these abilities start out strong at first level, and grow with the character as the game progresses.

These were, personally, my top 3 choices for class combination based on the abilities. However, there are several that I'd give honorable mention to, while stating that these are not bad choices if you want to go that route (especially since more than a few of these came up in folks' favored picks).

- Oracle: Oracles are pretty solid in melee, and they're Charisma casters. When combined with an appropriate mystery like Battle, this helps give them a leg up over other divine casters who mix it up in melee. (EDIT: Choosing the mysteries Lunar, Nature, or Lore provides you some of the best benefits for this class. Prophetic Armor lets you use Charisma instead of Dexterity for your AC and Reflex saves, Nature's Whispers allows you to use Charisma instead of Dexterity for your AC and CMB, and Sidestep Secret allows you to use your Charisma instead of Dexterity for your AC and Reflex saves).

- Skald: With a lot of the same advantages as bards, skalds are a solid fall back choice. Their raging song, however, is a lot less useful if you're relying on your Charisma for your attacks and damage.. but if you have a lot of characters with Rage class features in your party, this could still be a smart choice. (EDIT: The Court Poet archetype from Heroes of The High Court alters Raging Song so it boosts Intelligence and Charisma, which can boost the skald up in effectiveness for this strategy.)

Before I finish out this section, I wanted to add the caveat that I am certain I missed certain class archetypes or features for clerics, cavaliers, rangers, slayers, and even fighters and bloodragers that make them ideal for this feat. There may even be a way to get a warpriest to cast off Charisma that I don't know... if you do know it, though, please leave it in the comments below with what book it's from (Paizo books only, please) so I can expand this list!

Feats and Boosts

Your character class isn't the only consideration when it comes to how effectively you can put this feat into play. You should ask what other feats support it, and how you can put them all together.

- Weapon Focus and Improved Weapon Focus: If you're going to be using a starknife nearly exclusively, might as well get the most bang for your buck with it.

- Weapon Specialization and Improved Weapon Specialization: If you qualify for it (and that's a big if) these can help you boost your individual attacks' damage.

- Pirahna Strike: While this one does have Weapon Finesse as a prerequisite (which you won't be using), the bonus damage is extremely helpful. This is basically a gimme option for swashbucklers, since Swashbuckler's Finesse qualifies you for this feat.

- Combat Reflexes: Though technically good for anyone with the feat slots to spare, this one is particularly important for swashbucklers (as well as any archetype with the parry deed).

There is also one, last trick I'd suggest for anyone planning to use this feat, and it comes in the form of one of my few, genuine contributions to Pathfinder as a game, and Golarion as a setting. In Bastards of Golarion I created a potent drug called Silvertongue. It provides a 1d2 alchemical bonus to your Charisma, in addition to granting a +2 alchemical bonus against mind affecting effects. The former bonus lasts for 1 hour, while the latter bonus lasts for 4. It does have some noticeable effects (1d4 Constitution damage and a DC 16 Fortitude save to avoid addiction), but it's not a bad thing to keep in your back pocket, especially if your Charisma is on one of those odd numbers and you're guaranteed that a dose will give you that extra +1 you need in a pinch.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Crunch post. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Should I Start Up My Character Conversions Once Again?

I've been creating RPG content for quite a number of years, now. I've worked for companies big and small, I've dabbled in half a dozen systems, added to existing settings, and made one of my own. However, if I look back to where it all got started, I can trace my career (such as it is) back to my Character Conversions project... something that started as a lark, but became something more.

You never know the places you'll go.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!

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How It All Got Started

This whole, sordid tale actually goes back to one of my earliest gaming stories, Don't Ever Field a One-Eyed Dragon. During the course of this game there was something of an arms race between myself and the GM, who had a bad habit of letting far more players than he could handle join the table, and then scrambling to come up with appropriate challenges for that many adventurers. This led to my acquiring a cohort via the Leadership feat, and I built him using one of the earlier drafts of my Incredible Hulk character conversion guide. I enjoyed the character so much (and there were so many shenanigans) that I turned the build I'd used into an early draft of that guide, and threw it online on a website called Associated Content that hasn't been around for a long, long time.

And folks really liked that guide. So much so that I was getting a dozen or more requests for other characters. That was when I realized I might have opened up a Pandora's box; I could either struggle to close it, or throw the lid wide open and see where it went.

I went with the latter option, for those who are curious.

The first thing I did was put together other members of the Avengers, such as Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Thor. I spiraled out from there, touching on characters from the DC Universe, Game of Thrones, figures from history, horror movies, action films, and toward the end of my active run, from the Warhammer 40K universe. The project currently has about 60 or so guides in it, and it spans more than 6 years. Not only that, but it was started on Associated Content, which then became Yahoo! Voices. That site closed and I started moving the guides to HubPages, but Google banned my AdSense profile, so I was no longer allowed to make money with that site. I moved them to InfoBarrel, which is also now defunct, and eventually they found a new home over on Vocal.

That was a lot of work to both move the old guides (which were updated and remastered when they went up on Vocal), but I can honestly say that without them I probably wouldn't have half the career I do today as a game designer. It was these guides that got me noticed by Azukail Games, who is the primary publisher I work with. It's also what got me a gig with Louis Porter Junior when I put together the entry Lucia Krille: Enemies of NeoExodus, which was a direct riff on the character of Absorbing Man from Marvel Comics.

One frustrating thing about this project, though, is that every time it started getting close to really building momentum, something went wrong. Just as my Gotham guides were really getting a lot of attention, Yahoo! decided to deep six the site, which sent my searchability plummeting. I got half of them back up on HubPages, and then they were no longer allowed to pay my bills. I got them on InfoBarrel, and a site update that was never fixed tanked both creator tools, and made articles almost impossible to find via a search. Then I got them all up on Vocal, and Pathfinder announced a new edition was coming out, telling me that once more the project's days were numbered.

Would Readers Like To See It Return?

While there have been a couple of updates to the project, such as my guides for The Mandalorian, or the soldiers of 40k's Death Korps of Krieg, my character conversions have more or less been in cold storage for 2022. And the reason for that has been, honestly, new installments just didn't get the views I needed to justify the time, energy, and effort to keep the hits coming. For context, I make $6 for every 1,000 reads an article gets. When guides were getting 5k reads, I was more than happy to spend the 2+ hours it takes to put them together. When they get 250 reads, though, not so much.

With that said, writing these guides is something I did long enough that I sort of miss it now... so I figured I'd ask if it's something my readers would like to see make one more triumphant return?

There are, however, some provisos here.

Before anyone leaves a comment below, or on social media where you found this link, I want to make something clear. If I do bring this project back and start adding to it once again, I will more than likely continue these write ups in Pathfinder Classic. While it's possible to write some guides for DND 5E, I do not have access to the material for that edition (it doesn't have a complete SRD like Pathfinder does), and I feel that it is much too limited, mechanically, for the sorts of tricks and tips that I feel is necessary for the deep dive into a character's abilities that is the series' main selling point. While it might be possible to start making guides for Pathfinder's second edition, I am extremely reluctant to do so. I did not care for the playtest, and while there were changes made afterward, none of them served to make me eager to create anything for that system the more I read about its finalized version.

With that said, if there's folks who want to sponsor guides for particular characters in a particular edition, I'm always happy to listen to business proposals. But I wanted to be clear about the direction that I would take things if left to my own devices so that folks know what they're supporting/asking for.

If you're still with me, there are a couple of things I would like you to do in order to help let me know this is a project you want to come back:

- Leave a Comment: Either below or on social media is fine, just put it somewhere I'll see it. Feel free to make a character request in your comment if I haven't covered them yet!

- Share a Guide: Increased traffic is what really gets my attention. So share which guide you like best, or just the Character Conversion master list to help get it seen by folks.

That's it!

I'll be reading the comments and checking the numbers. If enough people are willing to help me break the seal and take this one out of cold storage, then it's something I'm happy to do in the coming months!

Lastly, if you're someone who's been thinking about trying their hand at writing a character conversion, I'd recommend reading through Tips For Writing RPG Character Conversions. I basically boiled down my process, what I learned, and how I was able to keep things going as long as I did.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

You Don't Win The Next Encounter By Preparing For The Last One

"The best way to lose the next war is to spend all your time learning how to best fight the last one."

There are a dozen different varieties of this sentiment out there, but even a brief study of history (or a look at today's headlines) proves exactly how true this can be. The introduction of the crossbow in large numbers put power into the hands of people who didn't need decades of training, and it allowed them to pierce even heavy armor. Infantry and cavalry charges had been extremely effective for centuries, but sprinting across no-man's-land during the days of WWI meant that huge numbers of exposed troops would be wiped out by machine gun fire. Tanks, and then fighter jets, were each considered huge threats on the battlefield in their day, but these days they're often no more than big, expensive targets for drones.

What does all of this have to do with RPGs? Well, because many players will kneecap themselves by looking backwards when it comes to their PCs' mechanics and abilities, instead of looking at what might be coming next.

All right... let's see those goblins handle this!

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!

Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Look Forward, Not Backward

Let me paint a scenario for you. It's a Pathfinder game, and you're playing a ranger. You started off with undead as a favored enemy, but the whole first arc of the campaign is your party fighting goblins. You're at something of a disadvantage, but you manage to get through it with good teamwork, liberal use of alchemist fire, and a few lucky critical hits. When the smoke clears, and the hobgoblin leader lies dead at your feet, you know what to do with your class features. You've spent the past few levels fighting goblins, after all, so you decide you should make your next favored enemy goblins.

And then for the rest of the campaign you never fight goblins again. Not even once.

What the hell do you mean, "We're going dragon hunting?"

Whether it's dropping a huge amount of gold on a bane weapon for a creature type you aren't going to see again, buying up potions of cold resistance when that's not a hazard you're going to face going forward, or adding piecemeal feats because they might have helped in the past, there are few better ways to sabotage yourself than to ensure you're perfectly kitted out to fight an enemy you've already beaten, rather than the one that lies ahead of you.

And since I can hear the keys clicking in the comments, let me be explicit. I am not saying that players should metagame their campaigns. You shouldn't read ahead if you're playing a prewritten module, or beg your GM to confirm that your choices for your character are going to be useful in the future. What I am saying is that you need to look at the decisions you're making regarding your character, and weighing their practicality. Because you only have so many resources to spend throughout the campaign, and if you spend them for taking on the past, then what comes around the corner may just flatten you.

A Couple of Questions You Should Ask Yourself

While the example I gave above is for Pathfinder, this is something that can happen in any RPG with more than a creamy peanut butter ruleset. You're going to make choices when it comes to your resources, and those choices will determine what your character can do, and what they probably can't do. So before you commit to a given course, simply ask yourself the following questions:

- Does this ability mesh with my character's overall skill set?

- Does this choice require a very specific set of circumstances to work?

There are more potential questions, but we'll stick with these for now.

The first question is one we rarely think about, but which we see being ignored all the time in our games. For example, say that the greatsword fighter wants to take a level in wizard. Not because they have a plan for how this multiclass is going to dovetail into a warrior mage, or because there's a particular build that will make this combination work... they just want access to mage hand. While the customer is always right in matters of taste, that's a rather large expenditure of resources just to get an ability that doesn't really jive with swinging around a two-handed sword.

For the second question, consider how rare the circumstances are for this ability to function. Whether it's a feat that only goes off when you score a critical hit, or a magic weapon that only works against a specific type of creature, or an ability that only protects you against a specific kind of element, you need to consider how often you're going to come into contact with that situation. Because abilities you never have the opportunity to use may as well not be on your sheet, even if you paid for them.

Generally speaking, you want abilities that make your character better at the role you've chosen for them, and that they're going to be able to use often.

Because it's easy to look at your previous battles against the giant spider hoard, and to think tricking yourself out for cracking off an enemy's natural armor, getting bonuses against foes with 6 legs or more, and becoming immune to one, specific kind of poison are great investments. But if you have to switch your focus to fighting an uprising of stone giants in the north, then you've just tied one hand behind your back because you're focusing on how to fight your last enemy instead of your next one.

Recommended Reading

If you enjoyed this week's update, consider checking out some of the following articles:

- How Long Does It Take For Your Character To Go From 0-60? We often ignore how long it takes us to get up to speed, and that can be a critical factor in our games.

- Everything in an RPG is Situational... Everything Every ability, every spell, and every power has its place... the key is making sure that you're using them when they're going to be most effective.

- 5 Challenges You Have To Deal With in Every Pathfinder Adventure Path Because I've played my share of these things at this point, and all of them present you a few basic challenges sooner or later.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Let's Talk About Non-Lethal Damage in Pathfinder

Pathfinder is a game with a huge amount of options and diversity, and every time you think you've mastered everything it has to offer you turn over a rock and find yet another element you haven't really put to the test yet. This week I wanted to talk about one of the most basic elements of the game that seldom gets the love and attention it really deserves... nonlethal damage.

Often forgotten until the party is faced with a human shield, nonlethal damage is more than just an annoyance to be overcome. It is, in my opinion, something we should all be using a great deal more of in our games.

The champ's never lost a fight. Not only that, he's never killed anybody.

Before we get into the details this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!

Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

How Does Nonlethal Damage Work, Again?

Most of us don't actually bother reading up on nonlethal damage, so a refresher is probably a good thing to have at this point. The short version is that nonlethal damage is its own category of damage, tracked separately from your lethal damage. When your nonlethal damage meets your current hit points, you are staggered, and when it exceeds your current hit points you fall unconscious.

So far so normal, right?

What you'll notice, though, is that non-lethal damage doesn't cause someone to bleed out. Additionally, nonlethal damage that exceeds a creature's current hit point total just rolls over and becomes lethal damage (barring regeneration, which is a special case). Additionally, nonlethal damage heals at a different rate than lethal damage does. Nonlethal damage heals at a rate of character level per hour, as opposed to per long rest. Not only that, but spells and abilities which heal damage heal lethal damage, and then an equal amount of nonlethal damage.

No worries, I'll be right as rain in no time.

Okay... So What Do You Do With It?

At first blush, nonlethal damage seems like one of those extraneous things you'd never bother with. Sure, it's a good way to represent damage done by harsh environments and forced marching, but for a lot of players it feels like just one more thing to track. After all, if you're going to roll initiative, why would you bother with beating and bruising an enemy?

And the answer to that question is one that opens a lot of doors... for players and Game Masters alike.

I told you... stay down.

How many times have you, as a Game Master, wanted to capture the party rather than killing them? And if you've found yourself in that scenario, how easy was it to mess up and to do too much lethal damage, outright killing them before your bad guys could tie them up and haul them off (especially if your group rolls in full view)? Well, if you focus on nonlethal damage (or a generous mix of lethal and nonlethal damage) you can knock the PCs out without worrying about them bleeding out on you. Not only that, but if you use this as a prequel to a jail break or escape arc, then you won't have to wait for literal weeks of in-game time as their bodies knit together; even a brutal beating is going to heal up in no more than a day or so, allowing you to get back into the action while the bruises fade.

Nonlethal damage is also particularly good for changing up your challenges without worrying about going too far. For example, say you've got party members who want to train with one another. Or they just want to throw down to settle a grudge. Using nonlethal damage is a good way to have that fight without needing to get the cleric involved afterward. You could even use this for prize fights, public duels, or other challenges that are meant as an aside or a distraction. Bar fights are also a good place to bring out nonlethal damage, allowing your party to get in on the action without worrying about cleaving through half a dozen townsfolk with every blow.

Lastly, there are a number of valid character builds one can use involving nonlethal damage. Perhaps the most infamous is the Sap Master feat tree, which gives bonuses on sneak attack damage to those using bludgeoning weapons to deal nonlethal damage (which can be paired with the feat Bludgeoner to expand your range of weapons). Another handy use is the Enforcer feat, which allows you to make an Intimidate check against a foe as a free action whenever you deal nonlethal damage with a melee weapon, leaving them shaken for a number of rounds equal to damage dealt. Not an insignificant thing, if you want to give enemies long-term debuffs that will haunt them for an entire combat.

The difficult part is, of course, that you need to plan for using nonlethal damage. Whether it's carrying a nonlethal weapon like a sap, having a weapon enchantment that allows you to deal nonlethal damage at-will, or getting a feat like Bludgeoner or Improved Unarmed Strike (or just the class feature from monk or brawler) are a few examples. Everyone else has to take a -4 penalty on attacks, because it's harder than you'd think to use a lethal weapon to incapacitate someone than to just kill them.

It's All The Rage in Kintargo Right Now, Though!

While a lot of Pathfinder games utterly eschew nonlethal damage, it's proven extremely useful in my current Hell's Rebels campaign. Aside from undead, outsiders, and NPC antagonists who were utterly evil and debased beyond the point of redemption, one could count the number of NPC deaths in this campaign on one hand. Which is saying something given that we've led jail breaks, smashed the base of support for the Chelish Citizen's Group, destroyed a cult, and have done enough damage to the city's police force that they utterly refuse to go into an entire district without hellknight supervision/backup.

Incidentally, for those who are curious, the Silver Raven Chronicles has 4 installments at time of writing. I'd like to keep it going, but that requires readers and demand... so check it out if you're of a mind!

- Part One: Devil's Night: A mysterious vigilante prowls the streets of Kintargo.

- Part Two: From The Ashes: A protest becomes a riot as the new "mayor" attempts to establish control.

- Part Three: The Raven's Nest: The burgeoning rebellion establishes a secret base.

- Part Four: Circles in Salt: The Ghost joins the Silver Ravens, striking a blow against Thrune.

Like, Share, and Follow For More!

That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.

Players, Be Specific When Asking For Help With Your Characters

As someone who has run my share of RPGs, and who spends most of my time on forums and social media pages dedicated to various games, I've lost count of the number of players I've seen asking for advice on how to make a "good" character. What feats do you take to make a good fighter, what spells do you need to make a good wizard, what rogue talents make me the best rogue, and so on, and so forth.

The reason these requests always generate so many disagreements, though, is lack of specificity. Because what is "good" to one person giving advice is going to be useless to another, and vice versa. So if you take nothing else away from this week's update, remember this. Be specific when you ask for advice, and you might actually get tips that are useful for accomplishing your goals.

Narrow your goal, and you'll get targeted advice.

Before we get into it this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!

Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

What is "Good" Anyway?

The problem you'll run into when you ask for advice for making a "good" character (not capital-G Good, that's alignment, morality, etc.) is that there is no universal definition of what makes a character effective. Consider the age-old example of judging every animal by how well it can climb a tree... great if your goal is climbing trees smoothly and quickly, not so good if your goal is doing anything other than that.

I appreciate you can swim really well... but I need to leap this chasm.

Before the metaphor gets away from me, consider the question of what spells do you take to make a "good" wizard? You could ask a dozen different players, and get a dozen different answers. Some will lay out the best metamagic feats and evocation spells that will let you deal massive amounts of area-of-effect damage. Others will focus on spells that destroy single targets one at a time. Still others will lay out wizard spellbooks specifically made to weaken and debuff opponents, while different players will have a list that's entirely built to buff and protect their allies from harm.

All of these are valid options. The problem is that "good" is completely subjective here. One player heard it as, "make the biggest fireball/lightning bolt you can," while another heard, "reduce the enemy effectiveness so your allies can more easily mop them up." Another player heard, "one spell, one kill," while another interpreted it as, "turn your allies into titans!" None of these are wrong, but whether the listener's definition of a "good" build meshes with the definition of the person asking for advice can be sort of hit-or-miss.

That's why it's a good idea to think about what you actually want your character to be able to accomplish before you ask for advice. Whether you're going to a forum of 100k players, or just asking your Game Master for their input, results are always better when you ask specific questions.

For example:

- How do I deal the most damage with a melee weapon?

- What methods can I use as X class to increase my defense?

- What feats and archetypes for a cleric should I use to maximize my healing spells?

- What feats and rogue talents increase my ability to use the Stealth skill effectively?

You could get even more specific than these, or a little less specific if you have a particular goal (deal the most damage with a greatsword, for example) but you haven't locked in any specifics like class, species, etc. At the end of the day, however, you need to provide the parameters for what kind of advice you're actually looking for to be sure that you and your responders both have the same goals in mind.

You're probably still going to get your share of responders who ignore your specifics and just post what they think is a better solution (the "yeah, I know you're looking for fighter advice, but what you really want is a rogue/barbarian/alchemist with X, Y, and Z combos for this," folks) but it's easier to ignore them when they stepped outside the bounds that you laid for your request.

Speaking of "Better" Builds...

If you're looking for fresh tricks, I've got you covered.

I talked about this splat when it first dropped, but I don't want it vanishing into obscurity just yet. Sellswords of Sundara details 10 mercenary companies, providing their histories, uniform styles, combat doctrine, notable NPCs, as well as whispers and rumors about them to really add mystery to the game. And since we're talking about achieving specific goals today, each company has an archetype or subclass (depending on if you prefer the Pathfinder Classic or Dungeons and Dragons 5E version) that gives you unique abilities.

From characters who can be resurrected using animate dead, to monks that can punch spells out of the air, to old soldiers who can turn their age negatives into bonuses, there's all kinds of fun things in here you should check out. If you want a more in-depth discussion, take a look at my last Crunch post Breaking Down The New Tricks Available in "Sellswords of Sundara"!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

In Defense of The Humble Sling (in Pathfinder)

Every now and again I'll see someone claim that a class, a spell, or a weapon in Pathfinder is useless. "Why would anyone waste their time with this thing?" is the typical question, and it's led me to write posts like Aid Another in Pathfinder is More Powerful Than You Think (one of my highest-viewed posts, by the by) in defense of certain aspects of the game. Recently I came across a post of someone bad-mouthing the sling. Why would anyone use such a stupid weapon when crossbows and longbows are available?

Well, ask a stupid question...

Since I hadn't used a sling as a PC before, I figured I'd look into this complaint and see how valid I thought it was. And hoo boy do I have some new character plans after doing this bit of research.

What's The Big Deal About A Sling?

All right, we'll begin at the beginning. A sling is a simple weapon that has a 50 foot range, and it can be fired (though not loaded) with one hand. You can apply your Strength modifier to damage with a sling, which gets a lot of folks' ears to perk up. It takes a move action to load, too, which is where a lot of players start edging away from it. It has no crit range and only does 1d4 damage for a Medium sling, and 1d3 damage for a Small sling. Not great, but the ease of use means it's something any character can pick up and use when they need a ranged weapon.

Most of the time a character has a sling on them as a back-up weapon, or as something cheap to use at low levels when they had no gold left after hitting the armor shop.

Of course, there are ways to make it better.

The big benefit to a sling is, of course, that you can add your Strength modifier to your damage. The negatives are its relative lack of oomph when it comes to damage, and the reloading time. So before we get to the first concern, let's address the second one.

When it comes to re-loading a sling, there are two major solutions:

- Warslinger halfling trait: This halfling trait lets you reload a sling as a free action. It replaces sure-footed, but reloading still takes 2 hands, and provokes an attack of opportunity.

- Ammo Drop and Juggle Ammo: Ammo Drop allows you to load a sling or one end of a double sling as a swift or move action using only one hand. Juggle Ammo lets you reload as a free action, giving you full rate of fire with a sling.

Both of these options might seem like a lot of work to get the most out of a weapon that only deals 1d3 or 1d4 damage, depending on your character's size. However, if you're willing to invest in them, you then have the task of figuring out how to get the most out of your sling.

Beefing Up The Sling

If you want your sling to do more damage, the first thing you need to do is to take the usual battery of ranged attack feats. Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, etc. Rapid Shot is something that will take some work to get off, but you could also use it with a stone bow if that's your jam. That one is a fun weapon too, and worth looking into if you like bullets but don't want to deal with the restrictions of the sling itself.

Your class features are going to be one of the big ways you beef up your sling damage. Fighters can choose the sling's group as a favored weapon, increasing their damage and accuracy with it. The barbarian archetype Savage Technologist alters your Rage to boost your Strength and your Dexterity, which makes it a lovely dip for slingers who want you really put their shoulder into a shot (though higher level abilities are meant more for firearms). A rogue's sneak attack can be devastating when delivered with a sling, as well.

You didn't see that coming, did you?

The other thing to consider with the sling is how you can modify its damage with magic (either magic used by someone in the party, or from a handy magic item). Some of the spells and magic items that I recommend for a slinger include:

- Magic Stone: A low-level spell that lasts for half an hour, it makes 3 pieces of ammo into +1 weapons that deal 1d6 points of damage. 2d6+2 against undead, which can get heinous if you can rocket off all three shots in one turn against that lich.

- Alchemist's Bullet: This +1 magic bullet can be merged with an alchemical item, and both items hit at once. Useful for when you want to deal additional damage with alchemist's fire or acid over and above the normal bullet. Bonus, if you miss with this item, you can retrieve it and use it again later!

- Boulder Bullet: A shrunken piece of artillery, as soon as it's fired, these bullets grow to be significantly bigger. Like Ant-Man, the joke never gets old!

- Soakstone Sling Bullets: These porous stones can be filled with poison or lamp oil. If the former, a hit delivers the contact poison. If the latter, they deal 1d2 fire damage on a hit. Not great, but hey, every little bit counts!

- Frostbite Sling: A +1 frost sling that, 3 times per day, lets you fling a magic snowball that does subdual damage, and makes the target fatigued. A handy little debuff.

These are just a few of the handy things I came across when tricking out a sling. The major problems, aside of course from cost, are that lots of feats and spells that normally increase the damage on ranged attacks (Rapid Shot, Gravity Bow, things like that) just don't apply to slings. On the other hand, feats like Sling Flail allow you to make melee attacks with a loaded sling, dealing whatever the damage of the enchanted ammunition was in addition to treating it as a flail. A handy feat for pinch-hitting fighters, if that's what you're built around.

Useless? No. Great? Eh...

If you want to build your character around using a sling, it is totally possible for you to do that. With the right feats, enchantments, magic ammunition, and other stuff, you can even do some seriously impressive damage with a sling (boost your strength score, enchant the bullets, get a magic sling, use class features to do more flat damage, etc.). However, wielding a sling takes a lot of resources and dedication; it's not something you're going to slay with right out of the gate, contrary to what David would tell you.

Then again, if you're a half-orc with a medium-sized sling and a +5 Strength score, then then 1d4 from the bullet is just gravy, really. And if you add in weapon training and other bonuses, it will be pretty respectable by the time you hit double digit levels.

Just know there's a long road ahead of you on this one.

Final Thoughts

Building a sling-based character is already a little unusual... but consider all the possibilities you could explore with it! Rather than your usual shepherds and local, small-town heroes, perhaps ask if he used to be a pirate (particularly with the burning bullets mentioned above)? Was your slinger part of a mercenary legion, using this unexpected weapon to devastating effect? Or perhaps he used to be a bandit, carrying such a common weapon to make sure no one could pick him out of a local crowd?

If any of those sound appealing, you should check out:

- 100 Pirates to Encounter

- 100 Random Mercenary Companies

- 100 Random Bandits to Meet

Each of these supplements is by yours truly, and they're full of NPCs you could tie your character and background to, helping you fully flesh out an adventurer with such an unexpected weapon of choice.

Just a thought!

That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.

Want To Do A Lot of Damage? Stack Your Dice, Your Bonuses, or Both!

One of the first questions players in RPGs often ask is how they can do a lot of damage. After all, there are few things as satisfying as the one-shot-kill.

Boom! Head shot.

There are generally two choices you have when it comes to finding a solution to this problem, and if you approach the game and all of its associated material with these things in mind you'll do fine. You either need to stack a lot of bonuses on your side (which ensures you always do a respectable amount of damage regardless of your damage rolls), or you need to make sure you're rolling a lot of dice when you actually hit (to be sure the sheer weight of the roll averages out to a big hit).

The Bonus Approach

Here comes the pain train!

Bonuses to your damage are reliable, and they help ensure that when you hit you always hit hard. Not only that, but you already recognize how this mechanic works, so the pattern is easy to spot.

For example, in a lot of games your Strength modifier is added to the damage you deal with melee attacks as a bonus. So if you want to make sure your target feels it when you hit them, you naturally want the highest Strength score you can get. And some games will even allow you to add 1.5 times your Strength score if you're two-handing your weapon. This means you can't wield a shield, but if maximum damage output is your goal, then that's a sacrifice you make.

If you look at your class options, you'll often find bonuses there, too. In Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, barbarians gain a straight bonus to melee damage when they're raging. In Pathfinder, fighters can pick different subgroups of weapons to specialize in, giving them bonuses to hit as well as bonuses to damage when wielding those weapons. Evokers get a bonus to damage with evocation spells in Pathfinder, as well, based on their level, and paladins also get to add their level to the damage dealt to subjects of their smite. Many cavalier orders also grant you bonus damage when you use your challenge on a particular foe.

Then there are the bonuses from your gear, from your feats, and from spells or special abilities. For example, a Belt of Giant's Strength increases your Strength (at least in theory), and therefore your damage output with melee attacks. A magic weapon adds the "+" modifier to your attack and damage. In Pathfinder feats like Weapon Specialization automatically add +2 damage to strikes made with specific weapons, and Power Attack and Deadly Aim allow you to deal bonus damage while taking penalties to your attack roll. 5th Edition has feats like Charger, which gives you +5 damage if you move at least 10 feet in a straight line while taking the Dash action before slamming into your target. Then there are class features like bardic music, or spells like Deadly Juggernaut which improve your attack and damage.

The key is to stack as many of these in your favor as possible so that no matter what the damage die for your weapon rolls, the sheer amount of bonuses you're adding makes you a viable threat. Because sure, you rolled a 1 for the damage. But between a high Strength modifier, the right class features, ongoing spells, magic items, and feats, you could still deal more than 20 damage with that minimal strike.

The Swimming Pool of Dice Approach

Someone's gonna get it...

If you roll one die, you might get a bad result. But if you roll all of your dice, then the sheer amount of damage is going to add up. Or that's the basic theory, at least.

This method requires a little more deviousness, but is no less effective. For example, let's go back to that Pathfinder evoker. Now take a spell like fireball; it deals 1d6 for every caster level you have. Normally that's going to be your character level if you're a straight wizard, but you can bump that up with feats like Varisian Tattoo, adding even more dice to that pool by increasing your caster level for certain schools of magic. There are also metamagic feats that let you increase how much damage that spell could do over and above its normal cap, letting you throw 15 or more d6s onto the table instead of the usual maximum of 10.

There are also options like taking rogue levels to add sneak attack dice onto your attack. Because you might need to meet some specific circumstances in order for those dice to count, but when they do your short sword's 1d6 suddenly has 6 or 7 friends who want to come and play. This is also the idea behind paladin smite in 5th Edition; you blow a spell slot to supercharge your strike, adding bonus d8s based on the level of the spell slot you used, and on whether the target is undead or a fiend.

In addition to class features and feats, gear is often used as a way to grab bonus dice for non-spellcasters. Because a regular longsword deals a d8 of damage, but a flaming greatsword deals an addition d6 of fire damage. You could add shocking to that to stack a d6 of electricity damage, too, and so on and so forth.

Adding more dice also increases your minimum possible damage. After all, if you're rolling 6 dice, then your new minimum damage is 6. But the maximum goes up, too.

Of Course, You Can Combine The Two Approaches

If you want to really dole out the harshness, then you should look for ways you can combine these two philosophies in your character. For example, say you're playing 5th Edition. Give your rogue a single level dip in barbarian, and max out their Strength score. Then give them the Charger feat. If you Dash into battle and hit an enemy with advantage (or if they're being threatened by one of your allies), then you get to roll the damage die for your weapon, and your sneak attack damage, but on top of that you get to add your Strength modifier, as well as the bonus damage from your Rage, and the +5 from charging into the fray.

And that is something your target is going to notice.

Just hope it takes them out before they respond in kind.

Every game is going to be different, but as long as you keep these two approaches in mind when you examine how to put a hurt on your enemies, chances are good that you'll do just fine.

That's all for this week's Crunch installment! If you'd like to see more of my work, then check out my Vocal and Gamers archive, as well as the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or, if you'd prefer to see some of my fiction, stop by My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Lastly, to help support me, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or going to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a patron. Every little bit helps!