so, this is both a brag and an appeal for ideas... in one of the Pathfinder games i'm playing, my sorcerer currently has +46 Diplomacy. we're currently level 15, which is pretty high-level, but that's still ridiculous. the breakdown: Spoiler: how i accomplished such a ridiculous number skill ranks: 15 class trained: 3 CHA mod: 10* Friends in Every Town trait: 1 (trait) Mulberry Pentacle Ioun Stone: 5 (competence) Mesmerizing Tattoo: 2 (circumstance) Persuasive feat: 4 (untyped) Skill Focus feat: 6 (untyped) *i got to 20 CHA via normal ability increases, i bought a headband of +8 CHA, and most recently invested in a Tome for an extra +2, bringing me to functionally 30 charisma. it should be noted that this is a crazy high-paying game that i've been able to afford all that shit. and this is even an official Paizo adventure path! the appeal, to anyone who knows Pathfinder well: we're going to level up two more times before the game ends. i will of course be continuing to put a point in Diplomacy each time... which will bring me to +48. and, despite being a stupid amount of Diplomacy for anyone to have, i really really would like to get it to a round 50! the problem is that you can't have multiple bonuses of the same type (or, well, you can, but they don't stack; only the highest applies.) so. does anyone have any suggestions for items, feats, spells, literally anything that adds to Diplomacy without being a competence or circumstance bonus? (or provide a higher bonus than what i'm currently rolling with?)
beg your dm for custom items/blessings I got my ranger to +60 eventually (level 20+ eventually), but ngl it's because my dm regularly gives us OP custom shit for funsies, I'm not sure how it would be managed in By The Book pathfinder
haha good point! the dm did give us custom items, like, half a campaign ago... blessings would thematically make sense for the campaign, but my character isn't super religious so i'm not sure how to justify that in-character. HONESTLY though even if you're going strictly by the book, which we mostly are, Pathfinder can already get pretty OP on its own. (the consequence of 10+ years of various adventure paths and campaign books being released, none of which are balanced to each other.)
Just spent all evening helping players make characters while spending my downtime hand-crafting some magical items for them, including such gems as the Stone of Wood, the Bone(?) Ring, the Awkward Axe, and the Perfectly Normal Deck of Cards. If people are so inclined, I can type up most of them (some went home with players, as each player got to draw two and choose one from between them over the course of the night, for what they're getting sent out with). EDIT: I made, like, 40 of the things, which is why I'm not just typing them all up unless anyone is curious about weird magic items.
Spoiler: The Perfectly Normal Deck of Cards A deck of 22 ordinary-looking cards in a fancy leather case. On the back of this case is written "Perfectly Normal Deck of Cards" in Common, Elvish, Dwarvish, Draconic, and Gnomish (even though Gnomish shares Dwarven script, the words are different). Whenever a card is drawn from the deck, tell the DM, and tell them how many. Spoiler: DM's Response Roll 1d6 for each card. On a 1-3, it's legitimately a perfectly normal card! On a 4-5, draw as though it were from a Deck of Illusion. On a 6, draw as though it were from a full-sized Deck of Many Things. Spoiler: Bone(?) Ring A ring that seems to be made of bone, but feels like it might be squirming. No one else seems to notice. Deal +2 damage to undead while wearing this ring. There are 3 tick marks on the card with the item. Every time the bearer (not wearer!) encounters one or more undead creatures, add 1d3 ticks to the card. Every time an undead creature is destroyed within 60 feet of the bearer of this ring, roll 1d100. If the number is lower than the number of ticks, tell the DM. Spoiler: DM's Response It turns into a Squirm-Bone Dagger, which is a bone dagger that squirms in the presence of undead, and has +1 to hit and +2 damage against them. It begins with 1/4 the ticks that the Bone(?) Ring had, and gains them/rolls about them in the same way. When it triggers, it turns into a skull that will attach to corpses to use animate dead on them 1/day. Spoiler: Stone of Wood A small pebble made out of petrified wood. If you shake it, you can feel (but not hear) something rattle inside. The Stone of Wood can be thrown or used in a sling for 1d6+1+your modifier damage, and can be thrown 60 feet by hand. Each time you use it (or treat it roughly), you add 1d4 ticks to the 7 already on the card. If there are 20 or more ticks, the stone cracks open. If the stone breaks, tell the DM. Spoiler: DM's Response Did you ever want a pet twig blight? Because now you have one. Spoiler: Radiant Rod A glass rod filled with a dull green liquid. Use a bonus action to cause the item to shed 10 feet of bright light, with 10 feet of dim light beyond it (or to stop it from glowing). When you turn it on, and every hour you have it on, add 1d4 ticks to the 4 that it starts with. Roll 1d100. If you break it, or roll under the number of ticks on the card, tell the DM. Spoiler: DM's Response Everything in a 5 foot radius of the rod takes 1d4+1 acid damage, and glows dimly until it's washed off. Ingesting anything so covered deals 2d4+2 poison damage. You broke your glowstick. Spoiler: Awkward Axe This greataxe is a little too large and oddly weighted to wield comfortably, but otherwise looks pretty normal. Aside from the crying faces engraved on each side of the blades. A +1 greataxe. When used against living creatures, it has -2 to hit (total -1) but deals an extra 4 damage (total +4). When you kill something using it, or deal 15 or more damage in one hit, add a tick and tell the DM how many that is. Spoiler: DM's Response When the number of ticks is 47, a Perception check of DC 19 is made to hear a quiet wail of "No..." When the number of ticks is 63, a DC 18 check will let the bearer hear "I'm sorry!" When the number is 78, the player can make a DC 16 Perception check to hear "Not like this... Please, not like this!" When the number is 91, the mournful axe explodes, dealing 4d12+6 damage to the wielder. For items given to a 1st-level party heading into an unknown dungeon, they feel like the right mix of useful and useless, or powerful and punishing. A little edge for now, but generally nothing that can be relied upon in the long term, meaning that new gear will need to be found... and more cards pulled from the stack.
I like it so much. Especially how it's creepy, but not because it's, like, evil? It just doesn't want to kill things and is very good at killing things it hits. Also, I didn't type it up because it's long, but there's a Self-Drawing Shortbow, too. The way I did the "assignment" of items to players is that each got to draw two at random, then choose between them. Fully half of the players drew the Self-Drawing Shortbow.
i predict an accidental npc backstory about the maker of those bows, and how they started mass producing them and got in trouble for upsetting the magic item economy :D
speaking of questionable magic items, @seebs has this thing in our online game where the pivotal npc, shuarin, an ancient and long-dead elf mage who caused ALL THE PROBLEMS just by being a well-meaning nerd with no brakes, had a habit of turning his friends into artifacts. it would be the worst kind of fridge horror except that they seem... pretty ok with it? like, when you die, would you rather stay dead, or become a holy avenger sword that can shapeshift into any kind of weapon? tough call! 'sarge' decided to be a sword, and i can't say i blame her. she got stuck in a cave for a thousand years but now she's being a crossbow and going on adventures with cute dorks. possibly worth it. though i have to say i feel very sorry for the guy who is just an eyeball. i mean, it is an eyeball that can see literally anything, so i'm sure he had plenty of tv to watch, but he can't... go anywhere... or blink.
I guess it depends on if the ability in question is to see anything or everything. With the first, you can just go chill and watch the void of space for a bit, get some rest from all the stimulus. If it's the latter, it's just begging for sensory overload all day every day, I feel like.
fortunately, it's 'anything', not 'everything'. so he could perv on locker rooms or snoop on state secrets or whatever. he's a nerd, tho, so i think he mostly watched concerts and lectures.
I forgot to mention the Sphere of Safety! It's a glass sphere with an indistinct, shadowy figure within, with the only clear parts being its glowing eyes, which tend to alternate between being tired and annoyed. Spoiler: The Joke The monster is in the sphere, so everyone is safe.
new campaign i'm working on! Celestial Spheres setting - players will roll a d8 prior to starting to determine which layer they start out on earth centric model 1 - Luna 2 - Mercurii 3 - Veneris 4 - Solis 5 - Martis 6 - Iovis 7 - Saturni 8 - Stars - Zodiac patterns Stars and sun are burning hot and painful to go near and blast you with mathematics that with high perception and knowledge rolls can be kinda sorta reconciled as speech. Fantasy Earth industrial revolution manufactured magic standardization of all sorts of things but pretty much no regulations some people are advocating against this! faulty products such as suit of armor that, contrary to advertisements, gives a -2 to all constitution saving throws, and otherwise does not effect the user in any way Luna sentient pervasive feeling of being watched have to roll v high perception check to hear her speaks images directly into brain - old style illuminations constantly humming Queen tries really hard to be helpful! is bad at it. the rest i'm still working on
Very Important info: Martis is a misspelling on the part of the solar system; it is not, as supposed by earthlings, anything to do with men, but rather, Martes. Just. Completely overrun with Martens. So many. Immortal Martens made of various elements. Players must befriend them to get anywhere, but they're only semi-sentient and have to be approached individually. Cute, though!
FOUND IT LADS https://aonprd.com/MagicWeaponsDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Luthier's Rapier grants, among other things, a +4 sacred bonus to charisma! juuuuuust enough to bring it the diplomacy to 50! the character even worships Cayden Cailean! and yeah, they're a sorcerer and don't actually, you know, have proficiency with rapiers... but it never says you have to be wielding it to use the magic abilities. and they are absolutely the type to carry a fashion sword. now i just have to afford it.
Why? Just tell them to give it to you. You have +48 diplomacy. I mean, yes, that is complete cheese, but your GM already allowed you to get +48 diplomacy, so... (I note, also, that they fixed Wall of Iron and don't have Wall of Salt (good god, Wall of Salt)... but they didn't adjust Wall of Stone. So... infinite money engine ahoy?)
haha true. partly i don't want to push my luck, i guess. ultimately the dm is letting me trade in an item i recently bought but haven't used yet for full price, which feels plenty permissive enough to me.
