Playground vs Cheese Grinder redux

[Douglas]

Last year minus about two weeks, I posted this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=211948) asking for optimization help because I was going to Dragon Con and planned to participate in The Cheese Grinder (http://www.thecheesegrinder.com/). It was fun, but between the short time period and my own lack of Pathfinder experience I didn't get a great deal of advice and couldn't make much use of the advice I did get. I'm a lot more used to Pathfinder now, and there's a whole month left before the convention this time, so let's see if we can do better on ROUND TWO.

Some experiences from last time:
1) I ended up going with a self-buffing melee cleric build, only to discover that it Didn't Work. Between having to cast all the buffs actually in the dungeon, only being level 11, the lack of Divine Metamagic in Pathfinder, and the much smaller list of good buff spells in Pathfinder than 3.5, my combat numbers just were not high enough to be relevant. Buffs, if used, should be an extra rather than the foundation of a build.
2) Attack bonus and AC of monsters in the dungeon tends to be very high. For PCs, attack bonus needs to be at least about 30 and AC needs to be at least about 40 for it to do any good. If a build can't reach those numbers, you almost might as well ignore them entirely.
3) High saves are good. Immunities are better. One room I encountered had six gorgons (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/magical-beasts/gorgon) in it. I happened to have heard about this room from another player while I was building my character, and had bought a Necklace of Adaptation specifically because of it. Without that necklace, I may never have gotten the chance to act in that room.
4) Random utility stuff may come in handy. One room had a shambling mound with class levels, which gave it an at will electricity attack. It had been using this on itself for something like half an hour before we arrived. The room was titled something like "Over 9000" both as a reference to the meme and because its hit points actually were literally that high. As it turns out, the exit to the room was in the ground underneath the shambling mound, and any means of moving it or tunneling through the ground would have been much more useful than attempting to batter it into submission as we ended up trying (and failing) to do.

What I want from you guys this time is ideas for builds and ways to improve builds. If anyone wants to put together an entire character for me that would be nice, but I expect to do most of the detail work and actual assemblage of character sheets myself.

Ideas I already have:
1) Caster cleric. Stand back, stay out of melee, and sling spells. I have a few particular spells in mind. Specific aspects I want suggestions on:
Ways to mitigate metamagic. I already know of the Magical Lineage trait. Is there anything else in Pathfinder?

Ways to make a save negates spell harder to resist. I'm already going to take Greater Spell Focus and Persistent Spell. I'd prefer to avoid paying Heighten Spell's cost. Wisdom bonus from race, of course, but if there's an option to get +4 instead of +2 in the allowed sources with no or only +1 level adjustment that would be nice. Any other save DC boosts? All I really need it for is one specific spell.

Advice on domain selection.

Ways to improve my defenses and utility. My primary offense for this character is already chosen.

2) Wizard with an insane number of spells.
The main thing I want for this is a big long list of good spells to use. Offense, defense, battlefield control, utility, etc. Don't worry about how I'm going to prepare and cast them all, that's already taken care of. Up to 7th level spells (though not too many of those), and feat cost (but not spell slot adjustment) of metamagic is not a concern. Feel free to suggest highly situational spells, so long as they are good in their applicable situation; the sole criteria I'm looking for here is that the spells are good, on the wizard list, and 7th level or lower.

Caster level and save DC boosts. Unlike the cleric, caster level may matter and I want boosts that apply to everything. Is there a race that's better for wizard than elf? I could take up to +1 level adjustment if the benefits are good enough, but absolutely no more than that.

High initiative is a high secondary priority, and I'm also going for high bonuses in all the monster identification knowledge skills.

Advice on durability and any other concerns is also welcome.

3) Summoner. The Synthesist archetype is banned, but I've seen a few comments on these boards that it's actually weaker than regular Summoner. Let's see if we can demonstrate that.
How much can we pump up that eidolon? Due to the presence of in game time constraints and those constraints being on out of character time, action efficiency is at a premium. A single impressively powerful summon is better than multiple weaker ones because it takes less time at the table to play a turn.

Beyond that, I don't really have any particular approach planned for this character, so just throw anything that seems powerful at me. Keep in mind that adding additional minions, as someone suggested in last year's thread, is only really good if each individual minion is powerful.

I'm thinking half elf for the bonus evolution points favored class option, and maybe even the Wild Caller racial archetype. Is there anything better than that available? (Oh wait, Wild Caller is in Advanced Race Guide which isn't on the allowed books list yet. I'll have to check if the half elf favored class option is from there too.)

4) Beatstick. You know those attack bonus and AC numbers I mentioned up above in my experiences section? Let's see if we can match or beat them.
Fighter seems the obvious choice, here, though Barbarian gives it some competition. I'd like to have both high offense and high defense, though, and I think Barbarian tends to produce high offense at the expense of defense. If there are ways to change that, great. This is an area I am somewhat less experienced with in Pathfinder.

While high numbers are good, ideally they should be accompanied by a good array of resistances and immunities too. Magic items are the obvious source for these, but a good choice of race could give some too (for example one pregen fighter is a ghoul for all the undead immunities). Monk might help with this, though I don't know how well it can match Fighter and Barbarian for raw numbers.

Any nice combos you can think of to add, especially with all the feats I'd get if this character goes Fighter, would be great too. For example, one of the fights last year was against a Chun Li build, and she had some combination of feats that let her attack once for triple or quadruple damage, then trip you and stomp on you for the same multiplied damage again. There may have been more on top of that as well, the details are a bit fuzzy in my memory.

Any other ideas for types of characters are welcome too. If I see something I like, I'll add it to the list.

Edit: Also, does anyone know how to contact the folks in charge of the Cheese Grinder to ask about adding to the allowed books list? I sent Oge'Xam a PM here, but I have no idea whether he has email notification of PMs turned on and I couldn't find any other way to contact him. There's no email address or contact form on the web site, and I tried the forums but they've got registration turned off.

[Douglas]

What, no one wants to help produce some powergaming that will actually get tested in play? I know there are competent Pathfinder optimizers other than me on these forums...

[Razanir]

Sure, I'll try. I've never optimized PF before, but I'm familiar with the system. And unfortunately it seems Psionics Unleashed is out. But yeah, I'll see what I can do with the summoner as well as trying a tank

[Razanir]

Ghoul Summoner 6
Ghoul Summoner 6
AL Medium undead
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +10

DEFENSE

AC 17, touch 15, flat-footed 12 (+5 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 144
Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +12
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +2; Immune undead traits

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +9 (1d6+3 plus disease and paralysis) and 2 claws +9 (1d6+3 plus paralysis)
Special Attacks paralysis (1d4+1 rounds, DC 13, elves are immune to this effect)

STATISTICS

Str 17, Dex 20, Con —, Int 16, Wis 18, Cha 30
Base Atk +5; CMB +8; CMD 23
Feats Weapon Finesse, Augment Summoning, Resilient Eidolon
Skills Acrobatics +4, Climb +6, Perception +7, Ride +15, Spellcraft +13, Stealth +7, Swim +3, UMD +17
Languages Common, Draconic, Elven, Undercommon

Traits: Adopted by Aasimars, Skeptic, Magical Knack

Class:
4/4/2 spells per day (4/3)
6/5/4/3 spells known (6/4/4)

2,000 gp

Spells:
0: Daze, Detect Magic, Guidance, Light, Read Magic, Resistance

1: Endure Elements, Mage Armor, (Protection from Evil), Lesser Rejuvenate Eidolon, Shield

2: Barkskin, Bull's Strength, Lesser Evolution Surge, Warding Weapon

3: Evolution Surge, Obsidian Flow, Stoneskin

Items: Headband of Alluring Charisma +6, Helm of Underwater Action x2, Lesser Maximize Metamagic Rod

Eidolon
Eidolon
AL Medium outsider
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +8

DEFENSE

AC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+5 Dex, +4 natural, -1 size)
hp 5d10+20 (46 hp)
Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +4

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft., fly 20 ft. average
Melee bite +9 (1d6+5) and tail slap +9 (1d6+5)

STATISTICS

Str 22, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 11
Base Atk +5; CMB +12; CMD 25
Feats Flyby Attack, Wingover, Power Attack
Skills Bluff +8, Disable Device +11, Fly +11, Intimidate +8, Stealth +11

Evolutions: Bite, climb, reach, tail, tail slap, mount, large, flight, grab, lesser surge gives constrict

Note: I don't know if +2 caster levels gives more spells per day and spells known. If it doesn't, use the numbers in parentheses and remove protect from spells known

[Razanir]

Changes I can already think of:

Whoops! Undead are immune to illusions. Replace skeptic with your choice of trait.

IF!!! And this next idea has two big ifs:
1) You can use rich parents to break the 100,000 gp limit, and
2) You're allowed to stab yourself with blowgun darts (1 dmg) with no attack roll

Replace the metamagic rod with 20 spell storing blowgun darts with inflict serious wounds

[Douglas]

Thanks for the effort, but unless there's something missing that will dramatically boost the numbers I don't think that will cut it. With that AC, hp, and attack bonus, the eidolon will go down like a punk without hitting anything remotely threatening, and the summoner himself can't do much to help.

Undead traits are good and all, especially with high charisma, but the cost is waaaaaaaaaaay too high - summoners need their class levels pretty much above all else.

Oh, and all means of getting around WBL in any way are categorically banned.

[Razanir]

Yeah, I tried including a lot of buff spells, but I hope this helps as a starting point! And don't forget the hypodermic needles of healing (created... elsewhere in the playground)

[Douglas]

I'll have to check whether spell storing ammunition is allowed. I'm fairly sure I'd have to load them in the dungeon, though, which would largely negate the point. I'll ask about that too, the worst they can do is say no.

I'll have a bit more fleshed out stats for my own attempts at builds sometime next week. I'll probably do the Summoner first, using half elf.

Another idea I had for a beatstick: Halfling Monk 2/Paladin 9 with Weapon Finesse. At least when using Smite Evil, I think this should be able to actually reach both +30 attack and 40 AC, possibly a little bit higher, and all saves will be through the roof. Some enemies in the dungeon won't be evil, but quite a few will be and I think the dragons, which will likely be the toughest enemies, will generally be chromatic and therefore evil.

Anyone else want to help? Come on, bring on the power builds (subject to Cheese Grinder rules limits)!

[Douglas]

One beatstick build mostly finished, inspired in large part by a thread I found talking about the Shield Master feat.

Halfling Paladin 10/Fighter 1
This 3 feet tall midget with 6 strength is surprisingly good at pummeling the crap out of things with a pair of small sized light shields.
Halfling Paladin 10/Fighter 1
LG Medium Humanoid
Init +7; Senses Perception +3

DEFENSE

AC 35, touch 17, flat-footed 29 (+6 dex, +1 size, +7 armor, +6 shield, +5 natural (potion))
hp 143 (11d10+33)
Fort +24, Ref +20, Will +20
Defensive Abilities Divine Grace, Lay On Hands 12/day (5d6+5), Aura of Courage, Divine Health, Mercy (Sickened, Staggered, Poison), Channel Energy 5d6, Aura of Resolve

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee +22/+22/+17/+17/+12/+12 shield bash (1d2+8)
Special Attacks Detect Evil, Smite Evil 4/day (+7 atk/AC, +10 damage), Divine Bond 2/day (+2), Craven (+1 extra attack bonus when flanking)

STATISTICS

Str 6, Dex 22, Con 16, Int 7, Wis 12, Cha 24
Base Atk +11; CMB +8; CMD 24
Feats Weapon Finesse, Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Shield Bash, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Shield Slam, Shield Master, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting
Skills Perform (Act) +18 (for earning the crowd's favor if I get to the finals)
Languages Common, Halfling

Misc. Abilities: Aura of Good

Traits: Magical Knack, Resilient, Indomitable Faith

Alternative racial traits: Craven, Fleet of Foot

4/3/2 spells per day, Caster level 9

Spells:
1: Divine Favor x3, Hero's Defiance

2: Weapon of Awe x2, Resist Energy

3: Litany of Sight, Dispel Magic

Items: Headband of Alluring Charisma +2, Belt of Dexterity +2, +5 light shield (+1 Agile weapon enhancement) x2, +3 cloak of resistance, +3 mithral chain shirt, Potion of Barkskin (CL 12) x3, Potion of Fly x2

1494 gp remaining.

Ridiculous saves, high AC, respectable attack bonus, Paladin healing and immunities, 6 attacks for 1d2+8 plus a free bull rush, and against evil that turns into 6 attacks for 1d2+18 with an extra +7 on the attack roll and very high AC.

Oh, and don't forget the hilarity potential of a 3 foot tall midget pummeling a dragon 50 times his own size with shields the size of dinner plates for 117 average damage per round (if all attacks hit).

Any suggestions for improving this? Double Slice for an extra 3 damage per hit would be nice, but the only way I could figure out to cram it in was taking another fighter level, which loses a smite evil use, 3rd level spells, 1d6+1 lay on hands, +1 smite damage, and the threshold for +3 from Divine Favor. I also have 1494 gold left to spend, which could get a few low level potions.

[Spuddles]

I know virtually nothing of pathfinder. A guy in my group wants to switch to it for some reason, so I am definitely going to keep my eye on this thread for future powergaming purposes.

[The Gilded Duke]

Based on your experience last year, I'm thinking some sort of druid is the way to go. I'm thinking...

Slyph Sky Druid (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-sylph/sky-druid-druid-sylph)
with:

Huge Air Elemental Wild Shape!


The most important bit is that Sky Druids count as +1 druid level when wild shaping into a flying creature. This bumps the wild shaping level up to 12 and lets you wildshape Elemental Body III to take the form of a Huge Air Elemental. Elemental Body III also makes you immune to Bleed Damage, Critical Hits, and Sneak Attacks.

The Air Elemental's Whirlwind (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/universal-monster-rules#TOC-Whirlwind-Su-) ability also gets you some powerful offenses and defenses. When it touches the ground it makes a cloud of debris with a radius of 25 feet providing concealment further then five feet.

Any creature that comes into contact with you while you are in your whirlwind form has to make two reflex saves (10+1/2 HD + STR Mod) If they fail the first, they take slam damage, if they fail the second they get picked up. Being picked up isn't that much of a debuff, and creatures can still attack you. But the important part is you can drop them off as a free action.

On your turn you use your 120 fly speed to move through all the enemies. They all have to make reflex saves. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Take the enemies you pick up, and then move them and drop them wherever you want. High up in the air, over pit traps, over flames, next to other party members, away from other party members and so on.

Unlike other flying creatures you are immune to magical and natural wind effects thanks to Sky Druid.


You can also use wild shape for other utility, the main one that comes to mind is wild shaping into earth elementals to earth glide past obsticles completely. Now if you use elemental forms, you might not even need natural spell, as elementals have arms and a language.

A high strength and Wisdom is important, wisdom for general druid spell casting, Strength for the Whirlwind DC and damage. Liberation domain looks like the best of the available options, giving you on demand freedom of movement, and the ability to cure allies of debilitating conditions.
Besides that, build as a standard druid.

[Douglas]

That druid could be interesting to try. The non-enhancement bonuses to physical ability scores are nice, and the ability to bypass AC entirely (though allowing a save to replace it) could be useful. I'm a little concerned about friendly fire with the concealment everywhere, though, and whirlwind considerably reduces single target damage... wait. If I'm reading this right, I can move into a creature's space, damaging it (save negates), either fail to pick it up or use a free action to eject it, move out of its space, and then immediately move right back in and repeat the whole thing as many times as I have movement speed for. With 120' fly speed at a minimum, bouncing back and forth in 5' increments and double moving would let me hit 24 times in one round. More if I can boost my movement speed. Ok, I think we've found a piece of cheese. I'm going to have to build that at some point.

Thank you very much for the idea, Gilded Duke. Got any ideas for boosting fly speed? Besides the obvious of Haste, of course.

In the mean time, here's a summoner:
Half Elf Summoner (Wild Caller) 11
NG Medium Humanoid
Init +9; Senses low-light vision; Perception +2

DEFENSE

AC 36, touch 19, flat-footed 30 (+5 dex, +10 armor, +5 natural, +3 deflection, +2 shield, +1 dodge)
hp 123 (11d8+35)
Fort +11, Ref +13, Will +12 (+2 vs enchantment)
Defensive Abilities immune to magic sleep, +2 vs enchantment, Shield Ally, Shadow Blend

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee -
Special Attacks Dancing Lights 1/day, Darkness 1/day, Faerie Fire 1/day, Summon Nature's Ally VI 11/day

STATISTICS

Str 7, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 26
Base Atk +8; CMB +6; CMD 11
Feats Extra Evolution, Dodge, Extra Evolution, Improved Initiative, Resilient Eidolon, Improved Share Spells
Skills Ride +18, Perform (Act) +19
Languages Common, Elven

Misc. Abilities: Life Link, Bond Senses, Maker's Call, Transposition, Aspect

Traits: Accelerated Drinker, Desperate Focus, Focused Mind

Alternative racial traits: Drow Magic

7/6/6/4 spells per day, Caster level 11

Spells Known (6/6/5/4/3):
0: Detect Magic, Light, Read Magic, Mage Hand, Message, Open/Close

1: Grease, Mage Armor, Protection from Evil, Shield, Lesser Rejuvenate Eidolon, Expeditious Retreat

2: Barkskin, Haste, Bull's Strength, Resist Energy, Lesser Evolution Surge

3: Heroism, Rejuvenate Eidolon, Evolution Surge, Fire Shield

4: Greater Evolution Surge, Purified Calling, Vitriolic Mist

Items: Headband of Alluring Charisma +4, Belt of Dexterity +2, +4 mithral breastplate, +3 ring of protection, +3 cloak of resistance
potion of Barkskin (CL 12) x5, potion of mage armor x5, 3 scrolls of Summon Eidolon

And his Eidolon
Eidolon Quadruped
NG Medium outsider
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +12

DEFENSE

AC 40, touch 13, flat-footed 36 (+3 Dex, +18 natural, -1 size, +1 dodge, +4 armor, +5 natural enhancement)
hp 9d10+27 (76 hp)
Fort +7, Ref +8, Will +4 (+4 vs enchantment)
Special abilities: Link, Share Spells, Evasion, Devotion, Shadow Blend

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft., Fly 40 ft. (perfect)
Melee bite +21 (1d8+12), 4 claws +21 (1d6+12)
Special attacks: Rend (1d6+17), pounce

STATISTICS

Str 30, Dex 16, Con 17, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 11
Base Atk +9; CMB +11; CMD 23
Feats Multiattack, Additional Traits (accelerated drinker, Indomitable Faith), Weapon Focus (claws), Dodge, Weapon Focus (bite), Power Attack (-3/+6)
Skills Fly +29, Perception +12, Stealth +11, Sense Motive +12

Items: Amulet of Mighty Fists +2, potion of Mage Armor, potion of Barkskin (CL 12)

Free Evolutions: bite, limbs (legs) x2
22 evolution points (15 base, 5 from Wild Caller and favored class, 2 from Extra Evolution):
4 Large
4 Flight (magical)
2 Limbs (arms)
2 Rend
2 Shadow Blend (on summoner via Aspect)
2 claws x2
3 Improved Natural Armor x3
1 Mount
1 Pounce
1 Skilled (Fly)

Greater Evolution Surge for Ability Increase (str) and Shadow Blend

Options to keep in mind for Evolution Surge:
3 blindsense
3 burrow
3 see in darkness
2 ability increase (dex)
4 ability increase (str or con)
2 Tremorsense
2 Shadow Form
1 bite
1 gills
1 improved damage (claws)
1 swim

The idea here is that in the prep round the eidolon drinks two potions (mage armor and barkskin) and the summoner drinks one (barkskin) and casts Greater Evolution Surge, each using Accelerated Drinker to drink a potion as a move action, and after that the summoner buffs while the eidolon beats on things. Saves are a bit of a weak spot, but I think AC, attack bonus, and damage are all very good, and both of them have 20% miss chance from Shadow Blend all the time. Oh, and Fire Shield and Vitriolic Mist can be hefty discouragement for enemies who might attack me.

I've got a few thousand gold left, and I haven't done a great deal of looking for good feats, so those are probably the areas that could benefit most from suggestions for this character.

[Gnaeus]

I'm not really adding much, because you are competition, but I will critique. I think in the grinder you are usually much better off with one or two big hits, rather than a lot of little ones. Pounce + 5 attacks/round is good but you risk being useless against foes with the wrong DR.

Also I think you need to pay for shadow blend twice if you want it on both casterand pet (via aspect).

Good stuff tho. My summoner was very good in regionals. But I haven't upgraded for advanced race guide and I can see that I need to.

[Eldariel]

Single-classed Barbarian gets Greater Beast Totem for Pounce by level 11. Unfortunately Come Get Me is only level 12 so meh. Still, it seems to me you want at least 10 levels in Barb for Greater Beast Totem and might as well take the 11th at that point.

[The Gilded Duke]

Haste is the main one that comes to mind. Sadly you can't take monster feats by their rules. One interesting thing with the air elemental druid though is you can attack as part of a move action, freeing you up to do things with your standard action. You might want to take natural spell to ensure that you can cast spells in whirlwind form.

A strand of prayer beads (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/a-b/beads-prayer-strand) can get your caster level up to 15. Combined with Control Winds, this lets you make a windstorm that lasts ten minutes a level, checking medium sized creatures, giving penalties on visibility and making non siege ranged attacks impossible. You are immune to magical and mundane wind effects.

Are there any good druid spells that let you ignore concealment, or sense things without sight?

[Douglas]

Working on the wizard right now, but if competitors are looking I think I should hold the details of it in reserve until after the Con. Suffice it to say that I have the main strategy worked out, and if it works the way I think it will it's a very nasty damage+lockdown+survivability combo. This could be inexperience talking, but I suspect this one may be finals material.

I still need to fill out the rest of his spells and equipment, though. I am especially looking for ways to boost caster level for one specific spell. I'm already using Gifted Adept, Spell Specialization, and an Orange Prism Ioun Stone. I know of Varisian Tattoo and Bloatmage Initiate but ran out of feats to cram them in, though there is one feat I might be willing to swap out.

Bead of Karma for +4 would be really nice, and I'll have UMD to activate it, but the action cost plus 1/day limit on top of the price is a major drawback. Are there any other sources of caster level boosts I don't know of yet, preferably from cheap continuously-operating equipment? Bonuses specifically versus spell resistance and dispelling may be useful, but straight up caster level is of course better.

I'm also looking for spells for various utility and backup options, so please give suggestions for those as well.


I'm not really adding much, because you are competition, but I will critique. I think in the grinder you are usually much better off with one or two big hits, rather than a lot of little ones. Pounce + 5 attacks/round is good but you risk being useless against foes with the wrong DR.
Unfortunately I don't really see any way to get significantly bigger individual attacks that doesn't cost a lot more than I think it's worth.


Also I think you need to pay for shadow blend twice if you want it on both casterand pet (via aspect).
I am. The eidolon gets it from Greater Evolution Surge.


Single-classed Barbarian gets Greater Beast Totem for Pounce by level 11. Unfortunately Come Get Me is only level 12 so meh. Still, it seems to me you want at least 10 levels in Barb for Greater Beast Totem and might as well take the 11th at that point.
I'll keep that in mind, though that's low enough on my list of characters to build I may never get to it.


Haste is the main one that comes to mind. Sadly you can't take monster feats by their rules. One interesting thing with the air elemental druid though is you can attack as part of a move action, freeing you up to do things with your standard action. You might want to take natural spell to ensure that you can cast spells in whirlwind form.
Natural Spell is a given, of course, and I'll probably get Boots of Speed even though I'll have to activate them before entering Wild Shape. Too bad about the monster feats, Improved Natural Attack for the slam would have been nice.


A strand of prayer beads (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/a-b/beads-prayer-strand) can get your caster level up to 15. Combined with Control Winds, this lets you make a windstorm that lasts ten minutes a level, checking medium sized creatures, giving penalties on visibility and making non siege ranged attacks impossible. You are immune to magical and mundane wind effects.

Are there any good druid spells that let you ignore concealment, or sense things without sight?
Control Winds has enormous friendly fire issues for the main dungeon, and an action cost I'm not sure I can afford for the finals. Nice thought, though.

I'm browsing the books looking for all kinds of spells right now, so we'll see on that note.

[Monkplayer]

Gamers I've played in this contest 5 times, and no gaming experience has even come remotely close to the intensity and enjoyment! It's truly an amazingly epic level experience!

PENSACON presents Cheesegrinder-RPG Survival Tournament! Sponsored by Bobe's Hobby House!


PENSACON is pleased to welcome The Cheese Grinder RPG Survival Tournament!

The Cheesegrinder has been one of the featured gaming events at DragonCon for the past 12 years, in which over 350 players compete over 48 hours.

The Cheesegrinder now comes to Pensacon 2016 with the same intense, exciting, action packed gaming event. To introduce this unique event to the area, we will be holding a free The Cheese Grinder RPG Survival Tournament! Preview Event on Saturday, November 14 from 10:00am-10:00pm at Bobe’s Hobby House!

Bring your most powerful, most “Cheesed out” 11th level Pathfinder table-top role-playing character (PC), and if your character survives the longest, then you win the tournament! Several different type of “Cheese Points” will also be available to purchase for $1 each. These points can be used for a variety of effects during the game. One of which will allow your PC to change places instantly with another PC at any time.

“The founder of Pensacola Roleplaying Association states, “In my 15 years of gaming, there has been no game session that even comes close to the immense excitement, enjoyment, or intensity of The Cheesegrinder. What you experience at this tournament are encounters you would never see in a normal game session which makes it all the more surprising and fun. It’s a must attend event.”

Your character will face riddles, traps, monsters, and maybe even other PCs in deadly combat, so is your character (PC) tough enough to last longer than the other contestants? When a player’s PC dies then another gamer takes that seat in the tournament. You can even re-enter the tournament with your same PC, once you’ve waited for another gamers character to die.

Pre-made characters will be available for free.

Some current prizes are but more are coming: Medals for 1st through 3rd place d20Pro, Virtual Table Top Software for 1st - 3rd place (http://www.d20pro.com/) random door prizes 1st prize winner also gets; Crystal Caste Dwarven Stone Tiger Eye full size dice set, and the Hrothgar’s Hoard Dice Case with exclusive custom lining. $130 prize 2nd place winner also gets medal and software: a Pathfinder Core Rule Book autographed by Lisa Steven Paizo CEO, Erik Mona Publisher, Jason Bulhman Lead Designer, and Sean. K. Reynolds former game designer. More prizes to be added soon!

For all the details on character building go to: http://thecheesegrinder.com For questions on specifics of the event, contact [email protected] For driving directions to Bobe’s Hobby House go to http://bobeshobbyhouse.com/

The tournament is in Pensacola, FL., (45 minutes from Mobile, AL, 5 1/2 hours from Atlanta, 3 1/2 hours from Jackson, MS, 7 hours from Orlando, 8 hours from Nashville).

Keep the Dice Rollin,

Monkplayer

[nedz]

Thread necromancy

[Monkplayer]

Hey Gamers,

I wanted to thank Wesley for flying all the way from Arizona to host his Pensacola Cheesgrinder-Rpg Survival Tournament, and Tanner (our Pensacola Roleplayers Association member) for helping to host our VIP Wesley L. while he was here! Tanner was really instrumental in the success of our tournament, and making Wesley feel welcome! Thanks Tanner! THANK YOU to Bobe's Hobby House and Pensacon for hosting this incredible tournament!

I wanted to thank all the gamers who watched or participated in our awesome tournament! We had people come from as far away as Fairhope and Mobile! What was even cooler was every participant came to play for between 1-3 hours, but everyone stayed for an additional 3-6 hours, because they were having such a blast! Every gamer except one (they had to leave) re-entered the tournament after their first character died! They HAD to play again, because it was SO FUN! Sometimes gamers had to wait an hour to re-enter, but they didn't mind at all waiting.

The contest winners had to complete the most encounters overall, or the most encounters based on the characters alignment i.e.; the most rooms lawful aligned, evil aligned, or good aligned.

NOTE: Winner's were based on the encounters completed with only ONE of their characters. If you re-entered a tournament with another character, then the rooms/encounters completed started over with your new character.

L. Montgomery won First Place with an impressive completed 7 encounters (re-entered tournament once)

O. Montgomery won second place with 6 encounters (re-entered tournament twice)

Monkplayer won third place with 5 encounters (re-entered once).

If you can think it up, then we probably battled it, or tried to solve the riddle. From epic level trolls, to invisible Jungle Book characters, Wizard of Oz characters, Allips, BALOR, Burning Skeletons riding burning dogs, ""Snow White" Rakshasa" (we thought) & 7 adamantine golem Dwarfs (another riddle), etc. It was AWESOME!

Remember this was an intro-tournament for Pensacon, so be sure to check it out in February 2016! It will run for 48 hours straight, but will be concluding by adding the top six finalists for the arena player-verses-player fight to determine the final winner on Sunday afternoon.

This WEEKEND WINNERS:
The winner receiving 1st place: L. Montgomery (wife): 1st place medal, solid stone, full-sized Crystal Caste, Tiger's Eye solid-stone dice set & Horthgard's padauk wood dice case ($130), Hero lab's ($30 voucher), D20 Pro Virtual Table Top software ($60), D20 Pro exclusive Cheesgrinder D20 die (only 750 made), Fat Dragon Games Ultimate Dice Tower ($8), D&D 5e magnetic Battle Mat ($40). "Smack talking" privledges to husband, and other gamers for life ($1,000,000)!

2nd Place: O. Montgomery (husband): 2nd Place Medal, Pathfinder Core Rule Book signed by Paizo CEO/President; Lisa Stevens, Lead Game Developer/designer; Jason Bulhman, Game Designer; Sean K. Reynolds, Publisher; Erik Mona. Medieval Flail, D20 Pro Virtual Table Top software ($60), D20 Pro exclusive Cheesgrinder D20 die (only 750 made), Fat Dragon Games Ultimate Dice Tower ($8). Smack Talking rights to the wife to reduce her $1,00,000 value, and smack talking to people who don't know his wife beat him in the tournament.

3rd:(Monkplayer (who?)): 3rd Place Medal, D20 Pro Virtual Table Top software ($60), D20 Pro exclusive Cheesgrinder D20 die (only 750 made), Fat Dragon Games Ultimate Dice Tower. Does anyone ever remember who won third place, except their mother?