Anguish's page

I think dropping the point buy will have the opposite effect that you're looking for. A person creating a character wants the stat that he wants, all you've done is INCREASE the amount of dumping they're going to have to do to get it.

Consider this: Give them a 15 point buy, and after they're done creating the characters, then YOU THE DM assign each additional points or give them 10 more points and tell them they MUST raise the lowest stat at least one and MAY NOT raise the highest one. Assign each character extra skill points that MUST be spent on a profession.

Let's pretend I have a fragance allergy, and all of my friends are aware of this fact. One day, one of them suddenly decides he MUST start wearing a strongly-scented cologne at all times. I would feel betrayed if several of them insisted I was being "unreasonable" in telling him to stop wearing the product.

The same attitude is evident in this gaming group. It's not a question of whose roleplay is stronger, it's the fact that this player feels (rightly so) betrayed by his group. That's a wound that will not heal without an open discussion, and even then it may not.

Pretending this is not a problem is only going to make things worse. The player needs to stick up for themselves, but in a mature, non-aggressive, way. If the end result is the loss of a gaming group, that may be the price of dignity.

Do you comprehend at all the meaning of the words balance, judiciousness, moderation, and restraint? Almost every single one of your posted examples are over-the-top by a country mile, dude.

No. Just . . . no.

Master Arminas

Encourage your DM to audit all of the character sheets immediately (as in, immediately encourage your DM to audit all of the sheets immediately). If he/she finds nothing wrong then find a different game. Good luck!

Let him know that the purpose of the game is for everyone to have fun, not just him. Everyone is playing by a set rules set out by the GM, and it is unfair for him to play by his own rules. In the end, ask him if his fun is more important than everyone else who is playing.

I didn't want this to intrude on the Sinister Adventures thread dealing with the re-emergence of Nic Logue and the fate of Razor Coast or otherwise detract from it, however several people there have mentioned a desire to see more of Messrs. Agresta and Logue in print. I talked to Lou about it, and we thought this might be a good time to let the cat out of the bag while people are looking for something like this rather than later when it might slip past interested parties unnoticed and cause them to miss out on it: [/long preamble]

Forthcoming this summer from Frog God Games is a new adventure by Lou Agresta and Nicolas Logue. It is completely written and sitting on my hard drive right now going through development, so this isn't just vaporware. Ideally I'd like to have it out by Paizo Con (and somehow talk Lou into joining us at Paizo Con), but we'll have to see how long the printing and layout takes with the backlog that Slumbering Tsar has created for us before we'll know for sure.

Just so no one gets the idea that Nic has been secretly co-writing adventures on the side while all this has gone on, this is actually an adventure that the two collaborated on years ago for Dungeon Magazine but that got the axe when the print magazine went away. After sitting in a dusty digital box all this time, it has finally found it's way to the light and will feature the craft of Mr. RPG-FEMA Agresta and Mr. Hook Mountain (OMG I'm still having nightmares!)Logue.

So look for SCORNED from Frog God Games later this summer.

Greg

Reading all this really made my day. I've been skimming the boards for month, hoping to some day find this exact thread, with the good news that things are finally turning for you, Nic. And to have it spiced up with the outstanding actions of Lou just helps me recover a bit of my faith in humanity.

I always had a feeling that it was a bad trip to some personal hell that got the better of you, Nic, and not disregard for the fans and the community. Here's to hoping that those long gazes into the abyss will some day be turned in to yet another soul shaking Logue-adventure, that will once again shatter my faith in humanity.

Lou, I very much respect your efforts in this and the other projects you've taken over. Seriously, you have shown a huge amount of integrity, loyalty, and passion over the past few months and I think it deserves praise.

I know others have tried to take up this torch and it hasn't worked out. I commend you on getting some traction - especially to help make PaizoCon less of a controversy and more of what it should be - an event to enjoy and have fun.

Cheers.

I want to hear more about the other attendees to this year's PaizoCon and the reason why (10th anniversary and the first Adventure Path, Rise of the Runelords). There are enough threads on that other topic already.

It is of course a real coup to have Rich Pett come over to the US, but the return of Steve Greer is also a big deal, in my view. He worked on some of the very earliest Pathfinder modules and it would be great to hear from him on his experiences.

Rules lawyering is always a means, never an end. No one does it just to be doing it. There's another motivation at hand.

Generally, I think "rules lawyering" happens for one of two reasons:

1) The player is trying to get away with something by bending the rules and finding *cough* "creative" ways of interpreting them. So the goal is basically to cheat (which itself is a means, usually with a goal of feeling powerful). Address that, not the rules lawyering. Perhaps give him other ways to feel cool and powerful, or just talk to him about the tone you want in the game.

2) The player feels cheated. Maybe he took a feat to be able to do something that you then let everyone else do for free. Or maybe he had a cool, nontraditional concept in mind and you're blocking him (possibly without knowing it). If this one's the case, then you need to either step up YOUR game to keep from shortchanging him, or else be very flexible in letting him get "refunds" on things you've invalidated or finding ways to accommodate his goals.

Is it so important to protect the distinction between hand-based unarmed attacks and hand-based natural attacks for the purpose of this item? Because that is metagaming. Why not have hand wraps that work on slam attacks too?

Trying to be clever by saying "bludgeoning only" or somesuch is going to have players wrapping their earthbreakers in handwraps. They're handwraps. They should only work on hands.

I would be 100% ok with monsters that had handwraps on their slam attacks. As far as I'm concerned, that makes it easier for me to place them as treasure for monks! Otherwise, they're going to scour every city for a shop that has them, or get them crafted. Why fight it?

We've all had that week where everything's set for a game, but someone bails at the last minute. Not a worry for most GMs. Some give the missing player's character sheet over to another player. Other GMs run the PC that week. Still others have the PC conveniently fade into the background. But one GM I played with a few years back explained away such absences as the manifestations of an unpredictable and remarkable Curse.

The story had to do with some great clash of wizards in the ancient past that disrupted the fabric of reality in such a way that the wizards' threads of existence, their very ties to reality, became frayed, as did those of many of their ancestors. The result was that, occasionally and without forewarning, individuals so affected would periodically wink out of existence. Sometimes such a disappearance would last only a matter of hours, sometimes days or weeks, and sometimes the victim would never be seen again. Most of the time, though, the curse sufferer would snap back into reality after a short absence, and when he did it would be in close proximity to an anchor of his bloodline's reality, aka, an individual or, even more likely, a group of curse sufferers.

Obviously, every PC was a curse sufferer, and every time a player missed out on a session or jumped back in, the PC winked out or back in. It had little to no effect on the players and alleviated the GM of the the concern of dealing with the unmanned character and guessing what the missing player (and, often, his missing character sheet) had subtracted from the group's total resources. At first this seemed a bit forced, but after a few weeks, the curse became just a fact of the world, one more oddity in a world of oddities. Also, once accepted, this explanation lent the game a degree of verisimilitude lacked by some other solutions - like a character mutely fading into the background for a session.

RPGs like Pathfinder account for thousands of eventualities and possibilities that can drive fantasy storytelling, but simply overlook others, particularly metagame (out of game) concerns like the one in the example above.

So I'm wondering, has anyone - or has any played with a GM who has - concocted some elaborate in-game explanation or rule to handle metagame concerns?

I'm not looking for opinions on such systems or insights on why you don't need them - of course they're optional, of course you can just not let such things bother you, of course you can handle things in more traditional ways (heck, I do myself) - rather, I'm interested in hearing how some GMs might have adjusted their games and altered their worlds to accommodate the occasional realities of gaming.

This can go beyond ideas like "The Curse" too, so if you have a special in-world explanation for re-specing your character using new options, or ignoring rules you don't want to deal with (encumbrance? carrying rations? ammo? eating? drinking?), or whatever, I'd love to hear about it.

From the smashing and object section under additional rules: Vulnerability to Certain Attacks: Certain attacks are especially successful against some objects. In such cases, attacks deal double their normal damage and may ignore the object's hardness.

As DM I say that using an axe on a tree is especially successful. Your Commoner does double damage and chops that tree down lickety split.

Somebody is always complaining about something here, all the time. Why single out the hate against wizards? You can find hate for anything, if you look.

Because a well-played Wizard is like having a book critic reading over your shoulder while you write..

"Are you sure you want to use that chasm there, it seems kind of superfluous, after all?"

"Oh, no, a physical threat emerges...whatever shall I do? Oh, woe is me, woe is me...<casts I WIN spell, wins>...hehe, sucker"

The trivialization and forced adaptation of most GM's causes headaches and consternation. Not to mention, if you get too attached to your NPC's, seeing them go down without taking an action is more than a little disheartening.

Removed a post and its replies. We really, really, really are tired of the edition war nonsense. Play the games you want to play, and don't denigrate others because of their preferred game system.

Keep in mind that neither Paizo nor Wizards of the Coast are likely to post in this thread any secret future plans, so everything posted in here is going to be pure speculation, based on pure speculation.

So when you feel like disagreeing with someone (and you probably will, I can tell it has the potential to be that kind of thread), keep in mind that it's just their opinion. They're no more privy to the truth than you are.

And when you post your awesome idea that Paizo absolutely must do or else we're going to go out of business, please have faith in Lisa, Erik and the rest of us that we got to this point because we're not stupid.

Maybe I'm just in the most incredible games imaginable, but when someone says their PC is attractive we say "ok" and move the f+@$ on with our lives and not obsess over making it a stat or trying to minmax it or getting way autistic over what kind of bonuses that should have.

Or maybe I just play with rational adults.

I'd comment on the rest but the kvetching about charisma is the dumbest g$+*#&n thing I have ever seen on these forums.

I just want to say that I'm very grateful that you guys are doing this. This is exactly the kind of stuff I want Paizo to do now that a bunch of stuff is released and out there; tune that stuff to perfection. I'd buy a book full of updates like this, but that might just be me.

At a quick glance, this looks great and I think it's a big improvement to how stealth is currently described.

Because clearly someone else's opinion is worth more than my opinion because you agree with them and are a fanboy of the company.

Oh, Carty. I've already refuted your alleged points many times over. As have others. Sure, there's an actual argument underlying what you're saying, but you don't have any data to support it other than your over-inflated sense of self-importance. It's sad really. Reminds me of the old chestnut about being silent and letting everyone believe you are a fool instead of speaking to remove all doubt.

And yet, you keep speaking. Each time with nothing to offer except your unfounded, self-serving beliefs about the operation of the hobby market. A topic about which you have no background, authority, or credibility. Worse, you somehow believe that the volume and constant repetition of your Very Important Opinion renders you a greater expert than the company that has been most successful at marketing PPMs because of some minor distinction in the type of product. I imagine you also believe you are better than Apple at selling tablet computers with blue plastic cases because Apple only has experience selling tablet computers with white or black plastic cases.

You've lost, the home auidence knows you've lost, why not just admit defeat and quit backing yourself into illogical and indefensible corners based on your "understanding" of what price point constitutes an impulse buy for any particular set of consumers. You don't know anything of substance about this topic and, while neither do many of the others posting on this thread, we at least have the humility and self-awareness to acknowledge the limitations of our expertise.

Frankly, given your view on the Pathfinder rpg's lack of merit, and it's astounding success, I'm somewhat surprised that you haven't grown more cautious in spouting off. Maybe constantly being wrong has made you numb to the sensation. Maybe the wonder of the myopic universe you inhabit allows you to ignore reality. Or, maybe you just live to annoy other people, and these forums allow you an outlet for that. I guess everyone needs a hobby.

I suggest Pathfinder. It's a fun game.

I mean, c'mon how many great products did they produce on a regular basis, and than you complain that loud about one single product?! That's just not fair (but I think that happens if you start to impress people; they expect you to keep that quality forever).

I call it the Curse of Awesomeness.

I'm okay with the occasional blunder - they can't all be winners. There are even a few things Paizo is consistently bad at. Like weapons and armour. Easy enough to remedy, and the things they're awesome in are far more numerous. And these things include their attitude.

Dear, Paizo do you offer your rule books with out the dying fighter art? I am in love with your, products just not the artwork. I am trying to get my boys involved in role playing and am looking for more melee friendly covers. I don't want my boys to be exposed to dying mortally wounded fighters (or being dragged off to his death, and seriously Merisel fighting beetles while Valeros has to deal with THREE wererats??). I understand the market you are going for and I am not judging you at all I just am not a proponent of "heroic deaths" and was wondering if you have alternate covers? Also it doesn’t help to show Valeros with a medium melee weapon and a small one, it is really screwing up the kids feat selections