Amaril's page

Bards get the benefit of an expanded spell list so why not jesters?

With that in mind, what spells from the v3.5 Spell Comepndium do you think should be added to the Jester spell list?

Is there a possibility of a Dragon Compendium Art Gallery being posted somewhere? I use a VTT for my games and would like to create tokens without having to scan images from the book.

I love the bonespitter... a lot! I've used it on two different occasions in Eberron as something that creeps out of the Mournland's Grey Mist, the first being easily bypassed (elemental land cart), the second time just last night which struck fear into the hearts of the players as I described it and as they discovered its abilities.

I had several problems with it as a CR 3 creature though, and most of these problems seem to be centered around assumptions about the party made on behalf of the designer.

1. I don't understand why it has a slam attack at all. The bonespitting attack is ranged, doesn't provoke an opportunity attack, has a higher attack modifier and does more damage. Why would a bonespitter ever choose to use a slam attack?

2. It's DR 5/magic is awful for a second level party. Couple that with its relatively high AC and 50% miss chance and the encounter takes forever! The assumption is that at least one person has a magic weapon, which isn't necessarily the case at lower levels.

3. The creature also has the ability to impose a shakened condition upon the PCs which reduces their effective attack modifier, making it more difficult to hit that relatively high AC.

4. Even if the party chose to employ spells to attack it, the ability to dispel magic as (effectively) an immediate action hinders that approach.

5. It seems that there is also an assumption of a cleric being in the party to turn undead, but even that assumption is met with resistance, +4 turning resistance to be exact. That's pretty significant. Sure heal spells might help against undead, but with the ability to dispel magic, that approach is also diminished.

Overall, there seem to be far too many abilities that oppose most, if not all, forms of attack, and the damage it can dish out is pretty significant for a party of 2nd-level adventurers. A CR 3 encounter should be fairly challenging, but not as deadly as this creature seems to be.

Am I wrong with this assessment?

Not a fan of these. I don't like not being able to use multiple feats at once, and I certainly don't like the limitation of having to use a feat in a previous round to enable the use of a feat in an immediately successive round.

For example, having to use dodge before using mobility in the following round is awful. The dynamics of any given encounter can change the situation dramatically. I might use dodge one round just for the sake of using mobility the following round, but by the time my turn comes, the situation could have changed entirely. I would rather be able to use mobility with a +4 to AC whenever I want.

And why can't I use precise shot and point blank shot in the same round? That's just silly. I either take a -3 for firing into melee within 30ft. or I only get to negate the -4 penalty for firing into melee? It's like having the ability to not use a feat. It just seems like I'm having something taken away from me.

I figured it warranted its own thread.

One think I loathed about v3.5 rules was that despite being proficient with light armor, fighters sucked at tumbling. WTF?! If a fighter decided to wear light armor, why shouldn't he be able to tumble well, especially if that was a fighting style he preferred?

Also, do not roll climb and swim into athletics as suggested by some others. Climbing is a completely different skill from swimming. A character might be an excellent mountain climber having lived in mountainous terrain, but could suck at swimming. Conversely, a creature that has a high swim skill doesn't necessarily make a good climber.

Good call on the increase in feat slots by granting feats at every odd level. I implemented this same house rule in my current campaign.

I also like that the fighter gets a feat at even levels, which is how I accommodated them with the above house rule.

I love the new turning rules! Brilliant. It's like taking the variant in Complete Divine and kicking it up a notch. I always wondered why channeling positive energy in an area effect didn't result in healing. Heck, it even uses a similar solution to turn resistance that I used.

Speaking of turn resistance, I don't know if I care for the 5 for every +2. It seems to go against the grain of streamlining the rules. Additionally, coupling it with a bonus to the will save for half means the half is nearly negligible as it would likely not even break through the resistance.

Going through the skills section, I couldn't help but feel tripped up by the idea of Open Lock being rolled into Theft. Being a mechanical process that allows you to essentially "break" the device, it would make more sense to roll it into Disable Device.

Going through the skills section, I couldn't help but feel tripped up by the idea of Open Lock being rolled into Theft. Being a mechanical process that allows you to essentially "break" the device, it would make more sense to roll it into Disable Device.

What's to become of this book?

A few notes regarding future item card sets:

1) Will all future Item Card sets be associated with Pathfinder or can we look forward to more generic sets? As much as I'm interested in the Rise of the Rune Lords set, I'm relucatant to purchase them because I don't run Pathfinder modules, nor do I need items such as "dog slicers."

2) Please exclude potions, scrolls, wands and other consumables from future sets. I have more of those items than I will ever need, but not enough of other items that I do need, let alone items that have yet to be made into a card.

Along that same thought, I suspect Paizo will see increased sales of older booster packs if they were the only source for such consumable items.

3) When will we see psionic items such as dorjes, psicrowns, power stones, crystal weapons, power stones, cognizance crystals, etc.?

4) While I respect that Paizo listens to the community on these forums, keep in mind that the vocal and active community members are not Paizo's only customers. More accurately, if Paizo makes decisions based on vocal community members only, those specific members will soon be Paizo's only customers. For example, Pathfinder is a great product, but not everyone who enjoys GameMastery products uses Pathfinder material. I suggest Paizo produces generic products, allows Pathfinder products to leverage those generic products, and avoide changing generic product series into Pathfinder products specifically (i.e. - Item Cards).

Any chance of Paizo producing desktop wallpaper of the art on this T-shirt? I'd also be interested in the art for the Dragon T-shirt, too.

Now that I've built up a collection of Item Cards from each of the sets and boosters, I've noticed an overabundance of disposables such as scrolls, potions, wands, and staffs (an issue I've discussed elsewhere in this forum). I'm curious if anyone else has built up such an overstock and finds it frustrating that sets such as Dragon's Trove is nearly half filled with such items. Perhaps I don't have enough spellcasters in my campaign, but it just seems that with every pack I buy, I end up dramatically increasing that collection of items despite their ability to be reused after being consumed. Am I alone with this sentiment?

Has Paizo considered selling individual articles as PDFs for a lower cost than whole magazines? As an example, if I were interested in only PDF copies of Eberron articles for electronic personal archiving, it would be a lot cheaper to obtain those articles at a cost lower than $5 each for a whole issue. Otherwise, that cost would be too high considering that I already have a hardcopy of that issue.

During last night's game, a player had purchased an artificer's monocle, and the player asked for a card for goggles or whatever would be appropriate. I eagerly went to my decently sized collection of cards, which I had seperated by type, went through the worn items section of my wondrous items stack, and I couldn' find a single pair. I then realized, with all of the cards for longswords, potions, armor, scrolls, shields, etc., none of the sets included a single pair of goggles.

As such, I propose we begin a community list of basic items that are essential but missing from the sets released so far.

To start:
- goggles (obviously)
- flint and steel
- smokestick

How do these two compare and contrast with each other? I'm trying to determine whether or not it would be worth buying the backdrop if I already own Dungeon Issue #95.

Has anyone tried playing any of the Dice Games features on WotC's web site? If so, do they play well?

As an aside, I'm curious to see how Inn Fighting plays.

Will we get to see a list of cards for in the Adventure Gear pack?

Just wondering if you're still on target with your release dates for these products. My players love these things since it helps them to keep track of equipment much more easily. I'm eager to get my hands on some new ones to expand on my collection.

As an aside, when can we see a listing for Adventure Gear?

http://www.amazon.com/Drow-Underdark-D-Supplement/dp/0786941510/

Does anyone (Geg A. Vaughn) know if this product is going to be a FR-specific product, or will it bring the drow back to Greyhawk's Vault of the Drow?

I'm very excited to see this product in your catalog! Non-randomized, too!

Do the maps that are not shown in the preview image for "Map Pack: Fortress" combine to make one complete fortress or are they stand alone tiles?

Also, I think preview images of tiles should include all of the tiles, or at least the ones that can be pieced together.

I thought it would be interesting to have a thread in which members can post their favorite obscure web comics (not necessarily RPG related).

I'll start off with a new project started by one of my players and close personal friends:
http://theremonstrance.com/

Drake Emko is also known for his previous project Hackles:
http://www.hackles.org/

I wonder if this article will touch on Vecna's stint in Ravenloft as a tie in to the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. ;)

Just curious what methods other GMs are using for coding their cards.

So I'm almost completely sold on these Item Packs, but I have one issue with them: the descriptions. I'd rather they didn't have descriptive text and I'd rather the items didn't have any significant symbols such as leaves on them (looking at the previews). Is there a possibility for a version of these cards that isn't so detailed? Additionally, if they lacked detail, they could be used for mundane items as well without drawng special attention to them.

Speaking of mundane items, how about a tools item pack. It could have things like rope, crowbars, shovels, etc. Cards such as these could help players understand how much junk they are actually carrying instead of acting like they're Captain Caveman. :P

With all the talk about Adventure Paths, Item Packs, Map Packs, etc., I haven't heard anything in regards to whether or not Volume I was successful enough to warrant a Volume II. Should we look forward to such a product?

Any chance of seeing a preview or a list of content for Countryside before it is released? I just bought the first two Map Packs last week, and I love them. I'd like to see what Countryside has in store before I buy it.

PS - Foretress, Haunted Mansion, and Dungeon Chambers Web site entries still read "...contains 18 full-color map tiles that unite to form a completely customizable outdoor adventuring area."

Will Dungeon magazine feature the new "Delve Format" mentioned on WotC's web site?

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dd/20060317a

Is the area effect of casting healing spells supposed to apply to one target or anyone in the area? The descrption isn't very clear.

Imagine, two Greyhawk books published as a sequel to the successful first releases of Dragon Compendium and Shackled City hardcovers. The marketing could be amazing!

Dragon Compendium II: Legacies of Greyhawk - A collection of Greyhawk material that spans 30 years of Dragon Magazine publications.

Age of Worms - A Greyhawk adventure campaign taking characters from 1st level to 20th level.

(Do you think Paizo bought it?)

So I have one problem with Campaign Workbook, and it's the value that it has to me as a DM.

"But Amaril, that doesn't make sense!"

Sure it does. It's so valuable to me that I find it frustrating that I can't recall what issue a particular article was in, or that the article existed to begin with. An indexed compendium would be extremely helpful and a very useful product.

In fact, this doesn't even have to be a compendium per se. Paizo could publish looseleaf printouts that could be bought seperately and placed into a binder so that DMs could compile their own Campaign Workbook that has only the content they desire. Heck, I'd even buy PDFs.

Imagine an online catalog with a brief synopsis for each article. If an article piques my interest, I buy it and add it to my personal workbook.

Thoughts?

So my subscription should be ending just after the last AoW adventure. I'm debating renewing my subscription, and I'm wondering what Paizo has lined up for Dungeon Magazine after AoWAP is completed.

I ran huge and potentially challenging encounter last night, and I found the PCs pretty much cleaning up the bad guys. Looking back at the NPC and monster information this morning, I realized I forgot to use a lot of special abilities and magic items that the NPCs and monsters had at their disposal. Now I'm beating myself up for screwing up such a potentially challenging encounter and turning it into a cakewalk. Has anyone else had this experience?

In case no one else has caught on yet, Paizo has a copies of Living Greyhawk Journal #2 for sale.

Just curious as to why the Diabolus has been given an LA +1 in the Dragon Compendium when the original article had +0. I'm not arguing that it shouldn't be +1, just curious as to the reasoning behind the decision.

Has anyone had any luck laminating the 4-part maps as one poster properly aligned and overlapped. I have two copies, one laminated individually, the second still folded and safely put away. I was thinking of laminating the second maps as one large poster to hang on a wall and use the first for referencing at the table.

And a question for Paizo, will Paizo ever offer the Greyhawk Maps for sale as one large, single poster?

Is my mind playing tricks on me or did I read that the next issue of Dragon Magazine is going to include a v3.5 animus?

If I read correctly, AWESOME! What perfect timing!

After Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, my campaign is going to move to Old Almor, and I plan on touching on all of the history and current politics of that area post-Greyhawk Wars. Ivid's legacy of madness, death, and destruction continues!

Now, how cool is this?
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20051031a

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

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)

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.

I've been reading a few reports from GenCon here and there, and there have been two instances in which posters have heard statements that WotC is looking to remove Greyhawk as the "core" setting for D&D.

Here are two of such posts:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=488063
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=487108

I'm rather upset about this despite the possibility of Greyhawk being available for third-party licensing when 4e come out (or so the rumor says).

Additionally, I'm not sure I want to wait for a new edition of D&D for my favorite setting to be more strongly supported.

I was rereading the Far Realms article last night after running a session of Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil in which I introduced the Sanity rules from CoC and UA to my campaign and found myself struggling with adjudicating points for losing and gaining sanity. After reading the Far Realm article, I noticed a simple rule that was buried in the article. Make a Will save against a DC and lose one point of Wisdom upon failure. I'm curious what others think about this simplified system in comparison to the complex Sanity rules in UA.

As an additional supplement to the simplified version, I thought of incorporating temporary insanity results (UA) based on extreme failures of the saving throw compared to the DC. Temporary insantiy would be a result of failing the result by four or more or by rolling a 1 (an automatic failure).

http://www.superunicorn.com/erik/2005/05/things-ive-done-since-my-last-blog .html

I'm extremely curious about #4! Care to drop any teasers, Erik?

I recall the duom being an exotic weapon in 3e. Is there a rhyme or reason to it now being a martial weapon in the article about polearms?

Is there any chance of a printer-friendly PDF of the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer Index composed by Jason Zavoda and published in LGJ #12 (June 2002)?

One of my players restored the Tomb of Blood Everflowing as a temple and cairn of Wee Jas. I'm communicating with him over email regarding the benefits of the tattoo-like mark that appears on his body as described in the adventure, but I left my copy at home. Can someone post the benefits of Wee Jas' blessing? I only remember that its effect lasts for one month.

Is there any possibility of having a feature article on Tharizdun and/or his cults to commemorate the 333rd issue of Dragon, which could be thematically tied to the 333 gems that are usually associated with Tharizdun? I think this could be a fun theme for this issue.