Amaril's page

So how about a free PDF version of the Dragon Compendium as consolation for those of us who pre-ordered well before the shipping update announcement? I'm even willing to pay for a discounted version of a PDF in addition to keeping my pre-order.

Later Iggwilv frees Zugttmoy from some prison and takes control of a Thoerpart which can release Tharzidun from his own prison. Am I correct?

Not sure about this last part. Where did you read that?

Are there any plans to release City of Greyhawk and The Adventure Begins as a PDF? I'm looking to buy it, but would only want either the PDF (from Paizo) or a hard copy off of E-bay.

RPGNow.com has them as PDF files.

Paizo also has The Adventure Begins.
http://paizo.com/store/downloads/wizardsOfTheCoast/aDAndD2/greyhawk/v5748bt py7mnc

Chris Shadowens wrote:

Do the various articles list where the original source material comes from (I liked the way Necromancer Games did that with Tome of Horrors 1)?

that would be super sweet! :)

i guess we will all find out in a few days... :)

As shown in the preview spread, they do. Do bad we won't see it in print until December though. Uber-Boo!

That was in September.

But it still holds true.

You could never have too many monsters for me!

GGG

While I'm sincerely dissappointed by the shipping delay, I like the layout and design of the preview. Any chance those of us who pre-ordered could be charged for the book and receive requested sections in PDF format? :P

Okay, we finally found a victim, er, volunteer who was willing to brave the terror.

Behold the fearsome puking dragon!!

ROFL!!!

So has any heard anything about when the feats are coming out oh and does anyone play LG around Saint John, New Brunswick?

See thorindale's post above.

One of my players wants to play a Paladin through the Shackled City AP. I told him that it is primarily dungeon and city based so a "mount" may not be much use to him. I also promised that I would look for an alternative to a mount. Does anyone know of any variants to a paladin taking a mount? Thank you in advance for any advice.

Defenders of the Faith has a collection of new mounts and presents rules for acquiring them.

Honestly, let him have his mount. He can't use it all the time, but at least he can summon it when he needs can/wants to. Paladin's mounts can already dissappear and be summoned, and they return carrying any gear they had on them beforehand.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/paladin.htm#specialMount

http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&am p;pid=3

So what would happen if they were DMing their own Eberron campaign while playing in yours? You couldn't forbid them from reading the DM section.

James, a few notes from RttToEE.

While Tharizdun was imprisoned far away, he used powerful demon lords such as Zuggtmoy, Lolth, and Demogorgon as conduits to transfer power to his clerics. In some instances, the demon did not even know what was happening, while in others it believed itself to be the object of reverence by the worshiper in question. In days past, when Lareth the Beautiful commanded the moathouse (the outpost for the Temple of Elemental Evil), both Zuggtmoy and Lolth believed him to be their priest — when really he served none other than the Elder Elemental Eye (and Tharizdun).

...the clerics of Tharizdun were having much more success among the ranks of those serving Zuggtmoy (ironically, an enemy and competitor of Lolth). Not surprisingly, being the patron of fungi and mold, this demon had few worshipers among the surface-dwelling peoples. Tharizdun’s infiltrators among her clerical servants convinced her that a religion based on Elemental Evil would have more appeal than one dealing with her own mush-rooms and slime. Zuggtmoy appreciated the wisdom of this advice — each of the four elements would draw a different group of worshipers, and the elements’ competitive nature would hone the skills and power of the cult quickly.

So successful were these efforts that the infiltrators decided the Zuggtmoy-backed religion of Elemental Evil could also help recover some of the ancient shrines to Tharizdun, created by time-lost followers of the Dark God when it was still possible for them to operate in the open. The greatest of these places of power was located in the Kron Hills, buried deep under the earth for centuries. A few whispered suggestions later, the forces of Elemental Evil began erecting a grand temple directly over this ancient location of dark power. Zuggtmoy could sense the power in the area, but instead of being suspicious, she believed she could tap into and exploit it. She did not realize its real nature, nor that she in fact would be the conduit through which that power would once again be unleashed upon the world.

However, this isn't so much an issue for me anymore. I've been able to adapt the history to meet my needs.

As a sort of side encounter, I'm turning Tarren, the druid found in the fungi grove (Area 102 in the Crater Ridge Mines) into a Thrall of Zuggtmoy. I'm creating his background story to include him as a one-time member of the Elemental Cult. Basically, his true allegiance lies with Zuggtmoy, and as such, he has taken residence within the mines and hopes to supplant this newer incarnation of the cult of Elemental Evil and eventually free Zuggtmoy's trapped essence.

Thanks for all of the ideas presented in your article. It's really helped to round off the module and bring things back to a more complete full circle.

On the subject of MMII, do you think MMII and/or MMIII are worth buying? I've been considering them off and on for a while now.

Absolutely. I own them both and use them frequently. Just make sure to get the 3.5 conversion doc for MMII from WotC's site.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the write up for Zuggtmouy and plan on using the Thrall of Zuggtmouy PrC, I was a little dissappointed at the haphazard approach to explaining the relationship with the Elder Elemental Eye, Tharizdun and the Eye of Fire symbolism from the original ToEE module. There's still some rather large holes in the connection between Monte's RttToEE and the original ToEE adventures. No one has really explained how Zuggtmoy got duped into creating a cult based on Elemental Evil and how it was really a worshipping of the Elder Elemental Eye/God or the reasons for the different symbols (triangle with inverted Y and actualy "eye of fire"). I know the real world reasons, but I still have no in-game explanations concrete enough to really make it beleivable.

I've created my own relationship but it involves the use of Ghaunadar, which is FR, as the third part of a triad that includes the Elder Elemental God/Eye and Tharizdun and Zuggtmoy being to Ghaunadar as Orcus is to Nerull. I've been tempted to use The Patient One (BoVD and LoM), too, but it seems extraneous. Sometimes I toy with having the Patient One as a psuedonym for Tharizdun.

Still, it'd be nice to see something official.

I emailed customer service, and they sent me another copy. My original never arrived. Meh, not dissappointed or anything.

Amen to that, although I agree with the other comment, not as good as the book. Love the bad guys, love the Viking leader, the little guy and the archer, love the quote about "seeing my father before me".

I ran an adventure based on this, switching the Bear Clan for Grimlocks, it was fun.

You're right. I prefer the journalistic documentary narrative of the book, but Erik's editorial wasn't talking about books. ;)

I'll second The 13th Warrior. It was the first D&D-like movie I owned and has always been a primary source of inspiration. In fact, the soudntrack is amazing when played during game sessions. It was the first soundtrack I bought specifically for that purpose.

Now if only the online supplements would include the Maps of Mystery. :)

Me too, Rill. If I don't get mine by say, next Monday (I don't mean tommarrow monday, of course), I'll contact customer service. But, Vic, when would be the "cutoff point" when we should contact you about a missing issue?

Thanks,

WaterdhavianFlapjack

I haven't received mine either. I'm in Florida and I usually get my issue two weeks after the shipping date.

Did #128 ship late or something? I haven't received my copy yet, and I usually get it about 2 weeks after shipment

...But the wizard wold have to have the dagger already drawn to make the AoO.

Personally, if a mage I was running found himself in melee without a weapon in hand, I would consider myself as having already failed as a wizard... but that's just me.

M

Easily fixed. "My character always has a dagger in his hands unless he is doing something that obviously would require him to remove the dagger from his hands."

Seriously, the wizard could just carry a dagger and have the same result.

but when you have a mage that has a high concentration. and can do a defensive casting concentration check to ignore the free attack thats when it gets annoying that hes using claw bracers to ignore no weapon attack of opportunity?

Technically, he only needs one hand free to cast spells with a somatic component. It would be no different if he always held a dagger in one hand.

as we have a mage in the party with claw bracers without being proficient in them, and he only uses them to stop attacks of opportunity and thus he never has to put his weapon away to cast spells, and in a way it is power gaming on his side.

so we thought we would bring in the above house rule to stop him and any others doinf similar things

As a wizard with a -4 penalty to attack, it shouldn't be a problem. If the wizard is engaging in melee combat, he should be getting the tar beat out of him.

no i meant would the attacker get an attack of opportunity against the wizard as he isn't prpficient with a bastard sword, as if he was using his hands without unarmed combat profiency the attacker would get a free attack as he isn't profient. i think it would make sense that if you are not proficient with a weapon your attacker should get a free attack as because you are not proficient with the weapon how would you know how to defend yourself with it?

The attack of opportunity does not come from not being proficient with a weapon. It's just an inherent rule of attacking with an unarmed attack.

One could say the mechanics involved have to do with a fist being a tiny weapon and thus have a reach of less than 5 feet. An unarmed attack basically means the character has to move through the 5-foot threatened area to make the attack. Having Improved Unarmed Attack, which a 1st-level monk has, negates the attack of opportunity for moving through that threatened space.

I'll be going out of town exactly two weeks after it ships, which is about how long it takes for me to get my copy. I just hope it'll arrive that Monday instead of on Tuesday. Otherwise, I'll have to wait until I get back.

Shocker Lizard, wyrmling brass or copper dragons...uhh....

any of the mephits, lantern archon, blink dog, homunculous, pseudodragon, small elementals, arrowhawk, cheetah, krenshar, monkey, stirge.

(I'm winging it here because I don't quite remember the improved familiar rules...)

Unfortunately, there are alignment restrictions involved with improved familiars.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#improvedFamiliar

PS - I considered using a standard familiar and applying the Anarchic Creature template from the Planar Handbook.

I'm having a hard time picking an improved familiar for my 9th-level diabolus sorcerer. Diaboli are outsiders (native) with the chaotic subtype. My character is chaotic-good. Any suggestions?

(Edited for typos)

Erik,

If you have a folder of just Greyhawk stuff, is that because you intend to have a Volume of just Greyhawk stuff OR is something very nefarious (glorious) occuring with Greyhawk?

Thanks,

Erik's post in the thread below (page 2), might answer your question.

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/dragon/compendium/previews

Does anyone in their game system actually use psionics on a regular basis (including psionic combat)? We play 2nd ED and psionic combat by the book is horrible at best, and I've read through 3ED (not 3.5) and it didn't look any better. In the end I ended up completely rewriting psionic combat pretty much from scratch with a whole lot of house rules, but it's still as slow as watching golf on T.V. I'm curious how other DMs have delt with this problem.

3.5 eliminates psionic combat altogether, and yes, I use the Expanded Psionics Handbook (3.5 psionics). If you're worried about psionics in 2e and 3e, you should definitely check out the Expanded Psionics Handbook. Even most die-hard psionic fans prefer 3.5 psionics as well as the removal of psionic combat. Most, if not all, of the psionic combat modes were transformed into psionic powers.

Erik Mona wrote:

Yamo wrote:

I hope so. But I don't see why the people interested in the esoteric stuff are going to be inclined to purchase a volumn two if there's so little for them here.

Well, they'll have to look at it and decide if they want it, I guess. Your comment is sort of like saying "Well, Deities & Demigods sucked, so why would anyone want to buy the Manual of the Planes?"

If it's cool, people will buy it.

--Erik

Well, it is "sort of" like that, but for that analogy to be entirely accurate the MoP would have to be called "Dieties & Demigods: Volumn Two."

If we're arguing about the accuracy of an analogy, then the analogy of buying a DVD of a movie sequel based in the quality of its predecessor is inaccurate for at least two reasons.

1) Movie sequels usually rely on information presented in the first movie. Volume II would not rely on the content presented in Volume I.

2) The quality of an original movie is not necessarily a predictor of the quality of a sequel. Compare Raiders of the Lost Ark with Temple of Doom. Compare Star Trek with Star Trek II. Compare Star Wars: Episode V with Episode I.

Let us know what you think!

- rob

I'm sold. My order is submitted and confirmed.

I apologize for sounding cynical, but it's probably the typical set of 'special prestige classes/special feats/special core classes/regional monsters/special spells/etc. etc.' that you would find in all the other race-specific books.

Personally, I don't rely on these types of books - too little commonly usable material (as in, most sessions, as opposed to rarely) to justify the cost.

My gut tells me that there will be other books dug out of this deep mine of material...

I might just buy the "Book of Gith"...should there ever be one... ;-)

M

Actually, it's nothing like that. Have you read the product descriptions and reviews?

I just saw the news blurb for Dragon #337, and I have to say I'm pretty excited about this issue!

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/news/20050928a

I'm particularly interested in the Demonomicon entry for Zuggtmoy, as I'm currently running Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil and would like to add in more content related to her.

You might also want to look through Paizo's collection of Dungeon Magazine Supplement PDFs available on this site. They contain maps from the adventures in the respective issues.

I'm excited about the Dragon Compendium product, and plan on getting it. However, I am really, really pumped about the Best of Oerth Journal Hardback. I hear the original editor-in-chief is coming back to head the project. Is this true?

That was one great periodical.

What are you referring to? I haven't heard anything about an Oerth Journal Hardcover. Do you have a URL?

Likewise, I have compiled folders full of all of the Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms articles ever published by the magazine, and it is my hope that these too may form the basis of their own volumes (whereas this first is aimed at the most general audience possible).

Please, Erik, if the success of Volume I is as you hope it to be, release the Greyhawk compilation next. I think you understand as much as any other Greyhawk fanatic that this is desired more than anything else.

On a related question, do the Dragon Compendiums include 3e/v3.5 material as well as pre-3e articles?

The Malhavoc Press psionic stuff is spiffy, as well

http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?products_psionics

Hyperconcious is Malhavoc. ;)

I only use WotC products, so I'm holding out for Complete Psionic. I use a lot of the resources from WotC's Mind's Eye articles at wizards.com. I heard Hyperconcious, also written by Bruce Cordell, is good, too.

I think from all the evidence in the The Shackled City and Age of Worms (overload) adventure paths the Paizo Staff has been building up to this one.

In one the other threads James Jacobs stated that in the Shackled City AP it was about outsiders and other planes. While in Age of Worms the focus is on Undead. For the third adventure path they wanted to go in another direction. I think all the clues are right in front of us. The return of the Spell Weavers is on the horizon.

I'd prefer something dealing with aberrations, so that I could make heavy use of Lords of Madness.

Something with a heavy focus on Dragons would be neat, too.

Robert Head wrote:

Amaril wrote:

So given the new PDF backissue products available from Paizo, will we be seeing LGJs as PDFs, too?

Hmm. We'll look into it!

- rob

Any news?

*bump*

My idea of doing away with classes would even include generic ones; reducing classes to a set of feats & skills would be a step away from going to a point-based skillset system employed by some of the modern gaming systems.

I think the toughest part of that conversion would be how to handle spellcasting; perhaps convert spellcasting ability into feats by grouping them by spell level...(1 feat slot=2 levels of spellcasting ability, etc.)
..*thoughts trailing...*

M

You might want to try this system.

http://www.netflash.net/llanade/redleafgames/dliberation20.php

I don't know how well it works, though, as I've never used it.

Marc Chin wrote:

My beef: Runaway prestige classes across vendors.

There are so many variations on character classes now, why don't we just do away with the concept of a "character class" and have all characters be no more than a set of feats?

Classes/prestige classes are no more than titles given to a 'kit' of feats...it would be a very small change to simply wipe out the titles and keep the feats.

M

I agree with you completely. It's not the "class" you choose that makes you a paladin or a ranger, it's how you play your character. Maybe the classes should just be used as guidelines or templates for NPCs.

You mean like generic classes?

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/genericClasses.htm

You are making absolute sense Ultradan! I agree with you. The only difference at first level should be how the character fights. Whether he uses a weapon or magic is about all you really need to know when you frist play a character. The real interesting points of playing come out as he/she progresses in levels.

I like how you progress from Cleric to Paladin and from Fighter to Ranger. It's an interesting thought, I may incorporate that into my gaming group. I'll propose it to them and see what they think!

There's a system for this already.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/genericClasses.htm

Hex rules are presented in Unearthed Arcana.

Perhaps it is better to say that they introduced the mechanic to D&D, which isn't quite the same as "d20".

We're going a bit off-topic here, but technically, d20 and d20 modern are not the same system. Thus, action points were introduced to d20 and D&D in Unearthed Arcana. ;)

*bump*

Psionics. I love them. Really, I do. It's just the rules are so "AAAAARRRRGGGGH!!!"

Actually, they're not that bad. I play psionics and while the 3.0 psionics were nasty to deal with, the 3.5 (sorry, Jade) Expanded Psionics Handbook was much more streamlined. The most important rule to remember is that you can't spend an amount of power points manifesting a power than you have manifester levels. If you have 5 manifester levels, you can spend up to 5 power points. Everything else is fairly transparent (don't bother witht he psionics are different variant unless you are playing in a psionics-heavy game).

Grapple. I hate Grapple rules. They need to present a flow chart or something and state more clearly which actions are considered attacks which actions are considered free/automatic actions.

We are absolutely still interested in Greyhawk proposals. That said, it's got to be a good adventure first and a Greyhawk adventure second, but that's ideally true of any of our setting-specific adventures and articles.

We just green-lit several Greyhawk adventure proposals on Friday.

--Erik

Care to give any hints on what they are about and their locations?