I have to jump in here and add my extreme enthusiasm for the Tiefling article! It was so amazing I actually yelled out loud, "That's Awesome!" when I got to #67 (See in Darkness! Heck Yeah!)

But I post to add more than just my appreciation. I would do anything to see an article like this on the Aasimer. I really like angelic characters, Paladins, all that kind of thing. It would be so incredible to play a variant Aasimer.

In fact, I think I'll head over to the messageboards right now. Maybe the community can jump-start this bandwagon with a few cool ideas.

(Sorry if I sound pushy, it really is just my enthusiasm getting the better of me)

Thanks for listening!

I'm currently prepping to run this AP tomorrow night, and so far, I'm loving the solid balance between ROLE-playing and ROLL-playing. I've always felt that D&D (OGL or proprietary) had a large tendency to deteriorate mostly into hack-n-slash and left out the actual role-playing part of the game I love so much. But this AP is wonderfully balanced, as previously mentioned, and I thank Paizo for its dedication.

I do have to profess, though, that I'm a pedant and there's an error on page 40 in the "Creatures" description of area B3 that could actually affect gameplay (editing errors that generally don't affect gameplay, I tend to let slide... though spelling errors still do grate on me lol). Anyway, in that description, it mentions that the tiefling in the bell tower (B3) can only use his darkvision up to "about 30 feet from the temple." That 30 feet estimation fails simple geometry - the Pythagorean Theorem of A^2 + B^2 = C^2 where A is the distance from the building to the edge of the tiefling's lateral darkvision, B is the total height at which the tiefling stands above ground, and C is the linear distance from the tiefling to the edge of his darkvision. So, visually, we have:

|\
| \ C
|B \
|___\
A

For this model, I'm making a general assumption of B = 45 feet [40 feet for the height of the 2nd story floor, and 5 feet for the height of the tiefling's eyes (yes, this is probably a conservative estimate, but it's close enough for this effort)] and C = 60 feet (the distance of the tiefling's darkvision, which is an absolute). Now, we have to figure for A given the formula listed above.

A^2 + 45^2 = 60^2
A^2 + 2025 = 3600
A^2 = 1575
A = 1575^.5
A = 39.69 feet, or, a closer (usable) estimate would be ~40 feet.

Or, assuming, a probably more accurate eye-height of the tiefling of 5.5 feet (giving us B = 45.5), you'd end up with A = 39.11 or ~39 feet. So, 40 feet still winds up more easily usable in game terms.

Yes, I realize that I'm probably the only person who bothered to go about proving the original estimate of 30 feet incorrect; and, yes, I realize I probably have too much time on my hands. However, if your PCs decided to strike the temple during the night, that extra 10 feet of darkvision could play a rather important part in detecting your PCs.

Yes, I realize that I'm probably the only person who bothered to go about proving the original estimate of 30 feet incorrect; and, yes, I realize I probably have too much time on my hands.

Heck no. The Pythagorean Theorem is the most-used mathematical calculation used during our games. If it's not used at least once or twice during our sessions, something's wrong. Terribly wrong.

That 30 feet estimation fails simple geometry...

Only if you assume

* that the tiefling's is leaning out into the window so his eyes are exactly at the same location as the edge of the building (when really he's going to spend his time in his square, which not only restricts the distance a little bit, but restricts the angle at which he can see the ground)
* that the tiefling spends all of his time at one particular window, rather than alternating looking out the south and north windows

And only if you ignore
* that the tiefling's absolute darkvision range isn't like seeing something with a light source. If you're on a level floor, and someone is 61 feet away from you, you cannot see them with darkvision. At all. So, in this tiefling's example, he absolutely can see someone at 30 feet, may be able to see someone at 35 feet (largely depending on inch-based variables like his height and position relative to the window, which we generally ignore because it slows down the game), and absolutely cannot see anyone at 40 feet because it doesn't matter if his darkvision's range is 39.5 feet, 39.9 feet, or 39.999999 feet, he can't see something 40 feet away.

I chose 30 feet because that was definitely within the lookout's sight radius; there's a narrow border area that's questionable, and unless the PCs are going to bust out a slide rule and do some quick calculations in the dark to determine whether the lookout's range is 30, 35, or 40 feet, 30 is is a nice, safe range for them to avoid.

I recently constructed a miniature Torble that is roughly 1/2 an inch high. Go here to check it out:
www.ogresoubliettes.blogspot.com

Everyone's been raving about the Tiefling article... can someone please give me some hints as to what, exactly, makes it so magnificent?

Hey, Paizo achieved the formerly impossible by making me want to play gnomes and half-orcs at some point; I might as well find out what they did to make tieflings cool.

Everyone's been raving about the Tiefling article... can someone please give me some hints as to what, exactly, makes it so magnificent?

Hey, Paizo achieved the formerly impossible by making me want to play gnomes and half-orcs at some point; I might as well find out what they did to make tieflings cool.

- Ten different set of stat adjustments (rolled randomly) based on devil/demon/rakshahsa etc parentage

- one hundred different abilities to replace darkness

- one hundred different physical quirks.

Plus some decent fluff

Wow. That DOES sound amazing.

Thanks for the answer. Yet another book on my "must buy soonest" list...

In Arael's stat block it states that he has the Pick Alignment feat. What is this exactly? It doesn't appear to be in either the Core Rulebook or the Advanced Player's Guide. Is it supposed to be Selective Channeling?

It is an error in the statblock. It seems to be a placeholder, for someone to pick an alignment for the Alignment Channel feat.

I have deliberately NOT read any of this thread as I will soon be starting this AP as a PC, so I don't want any spoilers, but I have a character creation questions...

I'm trying to make a character that will be interesting for me. I really don't like to play humans because I love the fantasy aspect of RPG's and since I'm already a human, it's not an exciting race for me. Try as I might, though, I cannot think of a single reason why any race but the humans would give a crap about returning Cheliax to its former glory. Sure, there are dwarves who trade with them and would want that trade to remain in place, but those would be traders, not adventurers. Halflings are slaves, why would they fight for their captors except by compulsion? Gnomes might get involved for the fun of it, I guess. Elves wouldn't give a crap. Is this a humans-only adventure or do I have no imagination? (I'm prepared to accept either.) PLEASE, NO SPOILERS!