Alex Draconis's page

Personally, I could care less what dice you use and whether or not I can see them. I assume your neighbors will police each other if I can't see that far. And if not, congratulations, YOU WIN!

As has been said, cheaters gonna cheat, whether that be with the dice, fudging modifiers, gold, prestige, etc. I do not feel it is my job as the GM to police the nuances of a game we are volunteering to be part of.

My only request is that YOU need to be able to read your own dice without picking them up and leave them there, just in case a question comes up to how you succeeded on your action. Don't make it look like you're cheating.

As far as certain dice (spin-down, etc.) being legal or not, if you are going to be a dice nazi, then I suggest you as the GM, test a set of dice (maybe a theoretically perfect set of GameScience dice) for randomness using one of the multi-roll data systems and then require everyone at the table use that set. At least then you'll get consistency from player to player to GM. My only comment is don't be surprised when the players look at you like a douchebag and leave the table.

While I still actively play and GM I will say that a lot of the negativity on the boards and rants are probably a turn off to many folks.

And when more than half of all posts are something along the lines of "OMG archetype/class/spell/combo is so OP, lets change XYZ rule and while we're at it lets change this other rule" Its seems we now spend more time complaining about the game than talking about its merits and the fun experiences we have.

I dont know if this is due to the overall growth of the game or the growth of the rules bloat from all of the products out there.

Lastly, the boards themselves have become a turf of sorts for the 25 or so posters who literally are posting constantly. Their opinions overshadow everyone else's, Its like a tug-of-war to see who can better state their argument (i.e. opinion)

I dont know but these are some of the things i've seen recently.

Probably myself, lol...no character got me into such frustration (independant of campaign or DM), than the paladin. It's safe to say, I hate playing D&D paladins the way they are concepted per default.

Basically, they are party-incompatible with many types of other characters, including rogues. Soem people would say this makes "interesting RP situations", but for me it is important that a party is functional and can work as a team. Plus I do neither want to meta-game (e.g. "look away" when the rogue does, well, rogue-like stuff), nor would I want to give or accept lip service only. So, over time, the only acceptable consequence is to cease the cooperation with said rogue (or druid, assassin, whatever)

Furthermore, Paladins can run non-stop into situations, where you would actually have to write a philosophic dissertation, in order to resolve an in-game situation appropriately.

Plus, due to the extreme strictness, that is required regarding adherence to both Law and Good, often a different understanding of certain aspects between DM and player is guaranteed...see the initial post, where it is basically medieval vs modern concepts. Another example: Some think a Paladin has to be a pacifist, others think, he merely has to ensure not to use "dirty" fighting technique. Again others say, he may basically not inflict lethal damage upon any living being. May a Paladin kill orc-children, that proof evil upon detection ? What about red dragon hatchlings ? (not even talking about situations, where Good and Law conflicts each other...)

Likewise, as DM I would rather accept a player wanting to play a chaotic evil misanthropic serial killer, than I would accept a default-paladin.
If I were to change the official Paladin (which of course I do in my home games), I would make him only required to devote to Good, and only forced to adhere to laws which feature human rights et cetera.

(a) We play it that all attacks can be made with a single weapon.

(b) In my opinion, Paizo designers shouldn't be writing Talmudic commentaries on what the rules technically say as written. They should just state "the intent was X, so that's how it's supposed to work", full stop.

Okay, I was trying to build a Synthesist Summoner for a PFS game that's (finally) getting started near me, and I ran into a few questions. Trolling through the message boards turned up multiple threads on different topics, but I thought I'd put all my questions into one thread in the hopes of getting some clarification. I'm more interested in "official" interpretations of the rules than crowd-sourced ones, but since the Paizo crew don't seem to chime in on Summoner questions, I'll take whatever consensus I can get ;)

Here we go:

Weapons and Equipment

While fused with his eidolon, the synthesist can use all of his own abilities and gear.

1a) While fused, does the synthesist keep any armour bonuses from armour he is wearing? Does this stack with the Eidolon's armor bonus?

1b) While fused, can the summoner use any weapons he is holding, in place of, or in combination with, the Eidolon's natural attacks? What about other items (like wands)? What if the Eidolon doesn't have hands?

Hitpoints

The synthesist gains the eidolon's hit points as temporary hit points. When these hit points reach 0, the eidolon is sent back to its home plane...While fused, the synthesist counts as both his original type and as an outsider for any effect related to type, whichever is worse for the synthesist.

2a) Is there any way of healing the Eidolon (i.e. replacing the temporary hitpoints)? What happens when the synthesist/eidolon is targeted with cure light wounds? What about rejuvenate eidolon? Channeled positive energy? Negative?

Ability Drain/Damage

3a) Assuming the summoner is attacked by a shadow while fused, and his strength is drained, what happens? What about when the Eidolon is dismissed?

3b) If the fused Summoner/Eidolon takes ability damage or drain, can this be healed while remaining fused? Does it persist after the Eidolon is resummoned?

Feel free to add to this list, hopefully in the same format for clarity (e.g "1c" for another Weapon and Equipment question, "2b" for another hitpoint one, "4a" for a new topic, etc).

Thanks in advanced for any clarity the boards can provide.