Personally I'd put Halfling on a par with gnome, in terms of races for the Sorcerer class, simply because a higher Dexterity score means that you get a higher initiative result and if you go before the enemy you may not have to eat a Fortitude save or lose hit points...
Umm, with regard to feats I'm not very clear on why should it matter what a Wizard thinks of the Craft Magic Arms & Armour to a Sorcerer?
Sorcerer guide wrote:
...Craft Magic Arms and Armor: The most common magic items to find in the game, however, there could be some definite value to this if someone in your party uses a rare style of weapon, and you can't buy magic items, but for most wizards this isn't worthwhile...
I'm not sure if you're saying maybe the sorcerer should take the feat because the wizard likely won't take it, or if you have mixed up Wizard and Sorcerer?
I would have liked to have seen some commentary/reflection on the roles available to a sorcerer, not least because an Arcane bloodline Sorcerer has a better chance of making enemies fail a save in their favourite class of spells than the Wizard does (all other things such as prime stat for spellcasting, items, and feats for Spell Focus being equal). To a lesser extent, so do Fey and Infernal bloodline Sorcerers, although I do not rate these so highly as there are a lot of creatures out there respectively immune to either compulsions or to charms.
(By the way, I don't know where you get the figure of +6 to DC which you cite in your thoughts on School Power for Arcane Bloodline: School Power is +2, Spell Focus +1, Greater Spell Focus +1; Indeed Spell Focus & Greater Spell Focus have each been only +1 since 3.5, although I think that they may have been +2 back in 3.0...)
Treantmonk:
Hmm. In your opinion does globe of invulnerability (or the lesser variant) hedge out low level summoned creatures conjured up beyond its confines, or dimensional lock prevent the summoning or calling of creatures within its bounds?
Quiejenoth:
I am a little confused by your example situation. As far as I can make out the chain of events you propose goes like this:
1) Party encounters ogre.
2) Cavalier uses Challenge ability on ogre.
3) Ogre (maybe after taking some hits) runs.
At this point, as far as I can see the combat with the ogre has ended, and therefore the Cavalier's Challenge also ends. Whether or not the party has done enough to defeat the ogre and earn XP is a matter for the GM, and what comes later.
4) Party gives pursuit.
5) Party encounters goblins blocking pursuit.
6) New combat begins, Cavalier has option of whether to use Challenge in such a goblin mooks situation or not. The party spellcasters in any case have a golden opportunity to drop an area effect spell on goblins all nicely bunched up like that (glitterdust or sleep for example) so some of them may be incapable of fighting effectively or outright comatose.
Granted things may be a little more complicated if the party are in a forest glade rather than a dungeon setting, harrassed from all sides as part of one combat by an ogre and his goblin minions, before the ogre leaves the scene early. It might be useful to have some clarification on a Challenge being ended prematurely by one or more of those involved deciding to drop out of such a fight for a while.
Edit:
As a GM if a Cavalier's Challenged foe leaves the scene during a complicated melee, I would have to assume the Cavalier has an option to treat the foe as if either dead or unconcious and the Challenge thus over, if the Cavalier so wishes; if however the Cavalier chooses to obsessively look for the apparently departed enemy, irrespective of everything else going on, to maintain the Challenge, then so be it.
Welcome to the Paizo boards, Elliander. Usually any use of the word 'smurf' in a post, or certain variants thereof, award you a random smurf avatar to accompany that post, irrespective of whether or not you usually have an avatar. The change is usually (unless the PostMonster General has decided to have some fun at your expense) only temporary and for such posts.
I just carried out a quick test in a suitable thread down in the Off Topic Discussion forum, and it seems that ' get's "Morphic ' in your second post on this thread earned that post a smurf avatar, and then you used the word 'smurfed' in your third post on this thread, so that got one too...
It used to be just the plain word 'smurf', but the PMG likes to keep everyone on their toes...
Edit:
If, whilst you are signed in, you click on the 'My Account' option at the very top of the screen, you should (though you may be asked for your password again if it is some time since you signed in) get a page where one of the boxes regards 'Messageboard Settings'. At least one of the options here ('click here to change your messageboard settings') will allow you to pick from the modest selection of avatars available for use.
First off... I'm not a big fan of saying what you can and can't do in your home game. And as a result, I'm generally hesitant to lay down the law for things like this, since I can see the attraction to go either way. What it really boils down to is if the GM wants to let wizards qualify for the class... that's cool. Arcane bond's power to allow a wizard to cast an additional spell was not intended to let wizards "sneak" into prestige classes that do this, but there's no game balance reason as to why they shouldn't be able to do it.
But for materials we're publishing, though, and for building NPCs who might have this class, being able to cast arcane spells spontaneously means "being a bard or a sorcerer" at this point.
Until the oracle is set in stone, I'm not ready to reveal how they function in Golarion. We'll be doing SOMETHING someday that talks about how ALL of the APG classes fit in to Golarion though.
[funpoke] We already know how oracles function on Golarion, Dread Lord! As was explained in Pathfinder #2, they turn into Lamia Matriarchs who - thanks to the APHB - no longer need to worry about silly sorcerer bloodlines because the APHB will sell even BETTER than the core rules that would allow them to just be sorcerers... ;)
[/funpoke]
As to the name of the class I have already said sufficient on it elsewhere. At this point I will be happy with a handy sidebar acknowledging the real world origins. (Yay for educational sidebars! :D )
With regard to being in a 'den of thieves' situation, if your character is outnumbered and surrounded by rogues would you rather he/she:
1) Be flanked and sneak-attacked by enemies, and doing normal damage back to the multiple tormentors?
2) Be flanked and sneak-attacked by enemies, but doing extra damage to one of the tormentors thereby enabling the character to kill one of them off much faster?
I really don't think the 'you count as flanked' aspect of the Challenge is much of a penalty in terms of taking additional sneak attacks from rogues. If your character is in an extreme situation (such as an adventure path where the mere title suggests that rogues may be crawling out of the sewers, swinging from the rafters, and dimension-dooring in from all directions) where he/she is fighting wave after wave of sneak-attacking rogues, as far as I can see he/she is going to end up on the receiving end of multiple sneak-attacks irrespective of whether they're a Cavalier using a Challenge ability.
Cavalier Playtest wrote:
Challenging a foe requires much of the cavalier’s concentration. Melee attacks made against the cavalier, except those made by the target of his challenge, treat the cavalier as if he is flanked. Such attacks receive a +2 flanking bonus. Improved uncanny dodge, and similar abilities, do not protect a cavalier from being flanked as the result of a challenge.
The '+2 bonus to attack rolls to hit you' aspect of being flanked seems to me to be more of a problem for a Cavalier using Challenge, but if a Cavalier is in melee combat (which is where the 'flanked by other foes as result of Challenge' condition applies) with more than two enemies at the same time then he/she is possibly going to end up flanked anyway.
Would you rather have a character flanked and in melee with no kinds of bonuses, or flanked and in melee but with extra damage against one of their enemies and possibly additional bonuses from oaths/orders selected?
The most important question, it seems to me, regarding how much of a penalty or hindrance the 'flanked in melee' is, is in how many situations when engaged with multiple opponents in melee would your character be flanked anyway by some or all of those opponents, and how does this compare to the number of situations in such a melee where your character would not count as flanked by some or all of those opponents?
1. Use our setting details to make your own story, don't cram your story so full of our canon that it reads like a Frankenstein's monster of other authors' work. Read this post for an example.
2. Understand that Pathfinder Society is not a good-aligned organization, nor is it evil. Also understand that evil characters are not allowed in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. Also understand that all scenarios must be PG-13.
3. Avoid child endangerment stories. It's cheap, it's trite, and I'm tired of reading them.
4. Not really looking for comedies.
5. I am really looking for high adventure stories with drama, action, and roleplay.
6. Speaking of roleplay, I'd love for someone to knock me dead with a good murder mystery scenario. And I mean really good in the sense that after 4 hours of game play at a convention every class of player walks away from the table satisfied. Tall order, I know, but I'd love to see it happen.
7. #5 and #6 do not mean that all I want to see are high adventure stories and murder mysteries. If you have a really good idea that's neither of those two, I want to see it.
8. Only send me your best ideas and your (very important) BEST-WRITTEN ideas. You may send more than one idea.
9. NO EASTER EGGS. What I mean by that is this: don't be cute and include a reference to your favorite comic book/movie/song/etc. If we catch it, you're done. If we don't catch it, we could get the pants sued off of us. Just don't do it.
10. Passive voice is a rejection in the making. Read this website and this thread to understand passive voice.
Joshua J. Frost wrote:
So, the new open call format was announced today. You can read about it on the blog or here. I'm curious how everyone feels about it. Instead of a formulaic 750-word submission, you can send a sub 500-word query or, for the brave and perhaps previously published, a full adventure scenario for my perusal. I hope this promotes better entries, more frequent entries, and results in some fantastic scenario proposals and final adventures.
What do you think?
You do realise that you've just thrown down the gauntlet for anyone out there even crazier than me to write a murder-mystery which finishes with frankenstein's monster being battled on the back of a flying dragon after taking in along the way a series of crimes commited by circus clowns against their former childhood tormentors (although the Van Helsing 'tribute' references may at least be cut)?
:)
Edit:
Best of luck to all those who are about to submit.
[rant:stabbity:] 'Reins in', not 'reigns in'... It derives from the control of mounts such as horses by use of reins.
(And I've been surprised to see some quite prominent posters on these boards goofing this one up.)
[/rant:stabbity:]
The homepage of the Oerth Journal appears to have been hacked (at the time of the posting of this message). Does anyone know if the message that the hacker left identifies them as the same hacker that has attacked Sinister?
Edit:
Checking some of the old threads it seems someone claiming to be FatiH from Turkey hacked Sinister on one of the occasions Sinister was hacked, but I find no references to who was responsible on other occasions.
Whoever it is who has hacked the Oerth Journal has left some sort of message in a script I am not familiar with and (in English) the claim that they are called 'LOphtiran' and are an 'Iranian Hacker'.
DEADLINE: October 31st. All entries will be handled on a first come, first serve basis. Unlike the first Wayfinder, there will be a set limit on the number of articles, and your article may be rejected. I will announce when submissions are closed for Wayfinder #2, however, keep those submissions handy. Something…else…will be afoot. ;)
Clarification requested:
I have seen nothing further on the subject of that 'Something…else…'. Did it fall through, and if not is there a specific date assigned to it?
The pieces have not been put in play for that yet, alas.
Excerpt from the journal of Her Serene Highness, Princess of the Third March, Lady Warden of the Umbral Ports, Grand-protectoress & heir apparent of the Parabarony of Echelhurst, Alyssa thân Agrochal Esmerelda Thrune
Spoiler:
Dear Diary,
Today I present the results of our initial foray onto Perciwick Island in search of the fort and treasure of the wizard Soldor, as we had agreed to assist the captain of the Osirion privateer vessel, Nefetiti, with in exchange for passage on his ship.
Overnight we had anchored off Perciwick, some distance remote from the shore for fear of uncharted reefs or other hazards that the map stolen from the Qadirans might not show. By daylight the island could be clearly seen, a series of forested ridges and deep valleys orientated approximately east-west and with a group of stone towers possible to discern rising above the trees on the end of the nearest ridge. About half a mile from the towers a long jetty projected into the sea.
We weighed anchor and under light sail, with a lookout at the bows taking frequent soundings, we began to cautiously approach the jetty. As we drew nearer obstructions could be seen in the waters about the jetty, resembling spars and masts – Methrir made some comment at this point about these likely being the remains of the ships of the soldiers the church of Aroden had sent after Soldor a century earlier, just before reports of Soldor’s activities ceased. It would have been helpful if he had mentioned this particular snippet of information before we left Sargava – I would like to think that if the subject of a missing previous expedition had been on the table back then, that someone would have had the sense to raise the possibility that they might be ‘missing as in dead as in now-their-unquiet-spirits-haunt-the-places-where-they-fell’ and we could have made purchases accordingly.
Anyway, the captain deemed it too hazardous to go closer to shore without proper charts or to further approach the jetty, so we dropped anchor again and an exploration party was rowed ashore in relays in the ship’s jolly boat. The party consisted of:
Myself, Princess Alyssa thân Agrochal Esmerelda Thrune, pathfinder.
Methrir Elrose, pathfinder.
Sonia Dauviloff, elf. Sonia left her pet giant bumblebee on board for reasons that would later become apparent.
Ship’s lieutenant Mustafa Khan. A pompous idiot, but one with an enchanted cutlass.
Mas’ukah, the assistant of the ship’s cleric.
Eight others drawn from the Nefetiti’s crew, only one of whom possessed any enchanted weapon.
On shore we found an old trail near the jetty, the winding course of which we followed up through the surrounding trees to the gates of the fortress. The remains of some sort of enchantments appeared to have kept the trail clear of the worst of the sub-tropical undergrowth and predators.
The thirty foot wide crater in front of the fortress gates, which exposed the bedrock ten feet down, provoked some debate. The fortress itself was in a state of apparent dilapidation, what remained of the gates hanging loosely from their pins, two of the towers having partially collapsed, and absent slates forming impromptu skylights into many upper rooms. The castle itself was curiously free of any plant growth however, other than a couple of vines that Sonia identified as being of abyssal origin – in another context we might have taken that to be a sign of something odd; as it was we assumed it to be the result of more magic by the original occupier and – despite Sonia’s reservations – entered.
Inside the castle courtyard the distinctive fracture patterns in some of the stonework and the rusted metal scraps scattered here and there were suggestive of some bygone battle, although any mortal remains had long since decayed or been picked away by scavengers. The corners of a cynical smile twitched at Sonia’s lips and both Methrir and I felt the sense of being watched by unquiet spirits and called things to a halt whilst we insisted Mas’ukah do what he could to bless the site and members of the party before continuing.
The unease I experienced continued however, as we proceeded into the ruins proper to search rooms where threads that might once have been sumptuous tapestries dangled rotting from the walls, and decayed furnishings littered the corridors and chambers. Smashing open what was left of chests and doors, more than one of the sailors discovered traps rendered decrepit by time and climate, but little harm was taken or loot discovered.
Due to collapsed stairwells the higher chambers of several towers proved impossible to get to, but we otherwise thoroughly explored the upper reaches of the castle before turning our attentions to the levels below the ground – at which point, we finally ran into undead. Perhaps they didn’t like the daylight up above, but in the weird angles of the basement – the original architect of the subterranean levels seemed to have had a fetish for geometry that made the eyes water – the shades of the dead attacked us, billowing out of walls, floors, and ceilings into the pale light of our sunrods and lanterns.
Methrir fell back on that ridiculous repeating hand crossbow of his, given the uncertainties of employing his whip against things with no physical substance. His toy either works better in a warm climate, or he has had it completely rebuilt since I last saw him use it, as I observed it jam only three times in total during the series of skirmishes that followed and the volleys of force-bolts certainly proved efficacious. Sonia flourished her rapier with her usual panache and skill, deadly even to the echoes of men and women in the fashion of templars of a past century. Lacking Sonia’s nimbleness of hand and foot I was obliged to draw my Thrune blade and employ a defensive technique against the threat of soul-freezing contact from those bodiless shades. The two members of the ship’s crew present with enchanted weapons did their best to contribute, whilst the others huddled together useless for any purpose other than holding lights aloft for those of us without elven sight. Mas’ukah was the worst of the lot: a supposed initiate of the sea goddess, one would have expected him to be good for blasting the undead with waves of holy power, but he just gibbered in a corner in terror.
After what seemed to be the last of the ghosts were vanquished, a fresh menace presented itself, a pair of vaguely humanoid creatures with bulbous dark eyes bounding seemingly from the very angles of the corridors. They raked their gazes over us, and a number of the sailors cried out as deep gashes ripped open in their arms and faces. Sonia snorted, muttered something that sounded like ‘bloody hounds of Tindalos’, and stepped forwards, cloak billowing for a moment like great wings, to confront them. Her mere boldness arrested their advance and as she stood her ground, glowering at them, their confidence seemed to slowly ebb away. At last, howling miserably, they turned and slunk away back into whatever dimension they had crawled forth from.
We eventually found a large stone door covered with complicated carvings and indentations, which one of the crew members insisted upon dealing with, claiming to be an expert in locks and puzzles. Whilst Methrir and I left the amateur to mumble things to himself as he fiddled with the locks, occasionally glancing at a scrap of parchment we had not seen before, Sonia smiled brightly at the crew and launched into an intriguing tale wherein the members of a ship’s crew had marooned a druid on an island a number of years earlier, but neglected to put ashore the druid’s animal companion – whereupon the seemingly harmless hedgehog proceeded to wreak terror aboard the ship.
Little by little it dawned on me that there may have been some plan to abandon Methrir, Sonia, and myself upon this island, once our usefulness was at an end, and a quick probe of the thoughts of the sailors now listening in horrible fascination to Sonia’s tale confirmed that such ideas had indeed been uppermost in their minds – although their imaginations were now busily supplying much more pressing details of the vengeance Sonia’s pet giant bumblebee might wreak if its mistress failed to return to the ship.
By the time that the crewman at the door (who had been listening too) finished with his work, any notions of marooning us on Perciwick had well and truly dissipated.
We proceeded past the door into what looked to have once been a treasury. Most of the contents appeared to have been ransacked years earlier, although some large, cumbersome, items of interest had been left behind. We conveyed a couple of large ornate pieces of carved ivory back to the shore and from thence to the ship, where an irate discussion with much furious gesticulation took place between the captain and Mustafa. The captain had not been expecting to see myself, Methrir, and Sonia back aboard, but – since we were – apparently now felt compelled by his code of honor to actually see us safe to Magnimar.
DEADLINE: October 31st. All entries will be handled on a first come, first serve basis. Unlike the first Wayfinder, there will be a set limit on the number of articles, and your article may be rejected. I will announce when submissions are closed for Wayfinder #2, however, keep those submissions handy. Something…else…will be afoot. ;)
Clarification requested:
I have seen nothing further on the subject of that 'Something…else…'. Did it fall through, and if not is there a specific date assigned to it?
Oph boff snoffengloff. Ag neif sneigler. Zaph mi gretzi oglimor, nogovand troglider. Oglehammer, Troglegrond; 'Wordbreaker', darzeganschmidiver. Zarg arsch min dwov li crats aulb zinwideivarman.
Troschul cribor, izmun grazimar, snibbit tren slag moh rivenwohdar. Agh hurdul roben sobridor, wurkul odor swiva.
Never again. Forfeit. Goodbye and goodnight.
It is conceivable that some combinations of letters will randomly resemble words of recognisable languages. With the exception of Oglehammer, Troglegrond (borrowed from something I had written elsewhere), 'Wordbreaker', and the last line in italics, nothing in particular was meant by any of the words used in the above rant, beyond the context of words shaped by white hot molten fury, although during the writing it did occur to me that slag is actually an English word, though the usage made here is not.
...My books aren't at hand, but a beholder may even be (Su) for fly, which means it is like a giant meatball on the ground...
In the 3.5 Monster Manual, the beholder's flight was an (Ex) ability, due to the gases they contained.
In an antimagic field the 3.5 beholder was basically reduced to a rather feeble bite attack and whatever allies it might have to hand with pointy bits of metal or bows...
I'm not kidding about our hatred of authors trying to sneak easter eggs by us. I know that sometimes when I mention things here that causes a weird ripple effect with writers trying to prove me wrong by forming things like flumph support groups or save the dwarves campaigns.
I'm not at all interested in seeing a "Stump the editor" movement starting in which freelancers try to sneak easter eggs by us into print. Anyone who does that intentionally will be blacklisted—aka they won't write for Paizo again. So don't do it.
Please remember to send this email to the RPGSuperstar entrants this year... :)
4
* Granted the one loaded with summon spells may well be the party cleric, who has reason to take School Focus: (Conjuration) anyway, given their ability at higher levels to spontaneously unload mass heal spells4
Clerics=spontaneously cast 'cure' spells, not any spell that happens to heal HP damage (like Heal, etc.)
Cure spells=spells with the word 'cure' in the name.
Lich-Loved: While that AMF trick may protect you from magic in a way, it removes all your magic items and defensive buffs most of the time. I'd often rather be invisible, myself. If you're mauled by a giant while in the AMF, you're pretty much defenseless.
I'm not a huge fan of AMF but you generally wouldn't cast it while attacking a giant. The point is you use it to deny magic from foes that rely on magic more than you.
I haven't poked at using it on the familiar but it might work. It does paint a HUGE target on your familiar though.
Hmm, but if your Improved Familiar flies naturally and has Damage Reduction of almost any kind...
Something that can't fly or use effective ranged attacks is just dead against a flying party. No reason to waste summoning spells, or invisibility spells for that matter.
(much edited)
Given the impact of special ammunition on party budgets and the time delay involved in teleporting to the nearest arms dealer to sell loot and reload, sometimes it's a case of no reason to waste the Rogue's cold-iron evil outsider bane arrows when one of the party casters is loaded up with summon spells.
Although these days, ack, the bow enchantment might be enough to bypass the DR, without the need of special material ammunition, keeping the costs down slightly.
I don't miss much about 3.5, being more of a 2nd edition player/DM, but I do miss when DR 5 or 10/cold iron meant cold iron. Adventurers have it too easy these days...
Ah well. At least PFRPG put fire immunity back on the succubus. :)
(edited)
Treantmonk:
A couple of things I'd like to comment on:
1) Invisibility sphere deserves better than orange in my opinion because everyone affected by it can see one another. The tightly clumped party travelling under cover of this one can see one another, which seems to me to be better than four different castings (or potions) of regular invisibility allow for. (At higher levels the party Bard or UMD specialist can cast Zone of Silence off a scroll too, so your party has the benefit of being both invisible and inaudible as they infiltrate a pre-scryed location then buff up.)
2) Metamagic Rods of Maximize (Regular/Greater) are maybe worthy of Blue status, not least because they save you from bothering to roll the dice when you use a high-level Summon Monster to get 1d4+1 minions of a lower level. Being certain of getting five 'lower level' creatures every time you use the rod on a Summon Monster spell is worth a lot, in my opinion. The Lesser version of the rod is however much less useful for this specific purpose, as you can only use it effectively on Summon Monster III.
I'm afraid that I too am a fan of Lantern Archons. Particularly when you have a flying invisible party out of doors, and the wizard whips up a bunch of Lantern Archons, so the party can hover around eating popcorn and placing bets as the annoying flying things zap some patrol or random huge monster lacking in effective ranged attacks against Lantern Archons to death with their ranged touch attacks.
Sort of related I compiled a list of the monsters which were mentioned in the random encounter lists at the end of each book, for which no stat-block had been provided in that book or elsewhere in the Arc. I have copied and pasted it straight from the Word document to present it here:
Spoiler:
Unstatted (i.e. ‘see MM/other source outside the current path) monsters referenced in Curse of the Crimson Throne AP
PF #7
Jigsaw Shark (Medium Shark)
Dog
Drain Spider (Tiny Monstrous Spider)
Alligator (Crocodile)
Imp
Boar
Pseudodragon
Ettercap
Ogre Spider (Medium Monstrous Spider)
Human Skeleton
Owlbear Skeleton
Derro
Otyugh
Stirge
Dire Rat
Rat
Bat Swarm
*goblin snake (PF #1)
Tunnel Terror (Large Monstrous Spider)
Shrieker
Goblin
Rat Swarm
Violet Fungus
Wererat
Ochre Jelly
Will-o’-Wisp
PF #9
Wolverine
Rakshasa
Large Water Elemental
Elephant
Gargantuan Animated Object
Fiendish (template)
Giant Preying Mantis
Aurochs (bison)
Leopard
Donkey
Cat
Choker
Succubus
Vampire, 5th level human fighter
Dark Naga
Shadow
Night Hag
PF #10
Bulette
Gargoyle
Hyena
Akyrak (Dire Bear)
Tiny Viper
Large Monstrous Scorpion
*giant gecko (PF #1)
Giant Fire Beetle
Blink Dog
Large Viper
Badger
Roc
Medium Monstrous Centipede
Basilisk
Ankheg
Chimera
Wyvern
Stone Giant
Purple Worm
Dragonne
Orc
Adult Red Dragon
PF #11
Greater Shadow
Dread Wraith
Nessian Warhound
Barbed Devil
Chain Devil
Bone Devil
Mummy Lord
Nightwing
Erinyes
Cockatrice
Word
Dire Wolf
Manticore
Ettin
Cloud Giant
Dinosaur or Dire Animal
Red Dragon (unspecified age category, but at least adult)
PF #12
Bodak
Horned Devil
*boggard champion (PF #2)
Werebear
Elder Air Elemental
Genie
Formian Warrior
*land lamprey (TH)
*bonesnapper (TH)
Assassin Vine
*bunyip (TH)
*kelpie (TH)
*giant leeches (TH)
*goblin dog (PF #1)
*forester’s bane (TH)
*mosquito swarm (W2)
*amphisbaenas (TH)
Giant Constrictor Snake
Shambling Mound
*tentamort (TH)
Black Pudding
*faceless stalker (PF #2)
Scrag
Shocker Lizard
*giant slug (TH)
Green Hag
Tendriculose
Troll
*wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing (TH)
*giant dire frog (TH)
Harpy
*dracolisk (TH)
*marsh giant (PF #5)
Elder Black Pudding
*froghemoth (TH)
Ten Headed Hydra
Dragon (unspecified, black or green)
Creatures already counted in an earlier module for the purpose of this exercise have not been registered again.
Not everyone uses the random encounter table, I appreciate. For the record 'PF #x' refers to a monster statted in the Rise of the Runelords arc, and 'TH' indicates a monster from the Tome of Horrors. Unfortunately, I have not listed monsters which do feature in adventures but for which stats were given in the Adventure Path on these lists. :(
A couple of suggestions/ideas I had and made in a post on another thread (*link*) seem like they might be pertinent here:
Charles Evans 25 wrote:
...
2) Drop the '1 Challenge per combat' and instead implement something like a monk's ki pool, based on Charisma, which the Cavalier can use to issue challenges. He uses his force of will to drive him forward to extra exertions against his enemies, but can only draw on those reserves so much in a day.
3) Drop or decrease the bonus-to-damage effect of the Challenge. In line with the ki pool, instead give the Cavalier the option to burn points to do things like trip an opponent, taunt a sentient opponent so severely that they have to make a Will save or make a rash attack next round, or jump up and grab a chandelier and launch a flying kick across the room at an opponent's chest. What I'm thinking of here is making Cavaliers more like the Musketeers from the various films based on Alexander Dumas' books, and less someone who simply does super-damage against one enemy a fight...
The actual, for real London. In the United Kingdom.
:)
Don't forget, if you have the time and somewhere with internet access over here, you may be able to watch some recent BBC programmes on the BBC Website...
Bleh. I wonder if Russell T. Davies has been swapping notes with the Spooks writers?
I thought that the first three quarters of an hour were pretty good, but I felt that the last few minutes were a mess, that Tennant was unable to work with properly. Ecclestone might have been able to carry it through convincingly, but not Tennant.
Still only a couple of more episodes to go, and then we get a new Doctor and Steven Moffat in charge.
I made a lengthy post regarding the Cavalier's Challenge ability over on the Cavalier: First Impressions thread: *Link*
With regard to what Kolokotroni posted about a Rogue, at higher levels the Cavelier has a greater BAB and more attacks than the Rogue, so although the rogue is hitting for more damage with a sneak attack, the Cavalier statistically hits a Challenged foe more frequently than the Rogue does the same target. Is it preferable to be the 13th level rogue with a Base attack progression of +9/+4 who might hit once for +7d6 sneak, or the 13th level Cavalier (under the effects of a Challenge) who has a Base attack progression of +13/+8/+4 and who might hit the same target twice at +5d6 precision each time?
Mechanically, the Paladin's smite seems to me to be superior to the Cavalier's Challenge in that besides additional damage the smite gives an increase in chance to hit, but there are only so many times in a day a Paladin can use it; whereas the Cavalier, as currently written, can go on Challenging in combat, after combat, after combat, singling out an enemy for extra damage in each long after the Paladin has either run out of smites or thrown down her sword and gone home in disgust at the large number of non-evil enemies encountered today.
True, the Cavalier has difficulty getting much out of his Challenge against a horde of low level mooks, but that's what his Fighter henchman and fellow adventurers are there to deal with.
Edit:
I'm not sufficiently familiar with Monk builds to feel comfortable making a comparision between a Cavalier and Monk.
Charles Evans: In regards to your misgivings on the "flanked" condition while Challenging and ways to munchkin out of it. From the Challenge description: "Improved uncanny dodge, and similar abilities, do not protect the cavalier form being flanked as the result of a challenge".
Cheers
Which seems to go with my feeling that it was a mistake to use the word 'flanked' with regard to the Challenge ability in the first place, if what is apparently meant is 'it's-like-being-flanked-only-some-of-the-normal-methods-of-specifically-no t-being-flanked-granted-by-other-classes-don't-actually-work-in-these-circu mstances'...
:(
I'll be a special guest at Dragonmeet in London on November 28th of this year. I'd like to have some "walking around" money on the trip, so I've decided to put some of my extra RPG and D&D collectibles on a "London Fund" eBay auction/fundraiser.
Please take a minute to check out my auction. There's a lot of really rare stuff there, including some GREYHAWK oddities, the ultra-rare DUNE: CHRONICLES OF THE IMPERIUM RPG, and other really fun stuff.
I also tried to include some fun anecdotes in the product descriptions, to make reading them worth your while.
(Please note that this auction is not in any way affiliated with Paizo, which is why I'm posting here in the off-topic area.)
Could you please clarify which country 'London' is in, please, to cruelly dash the hopes of those of us who live in a country with a London which you will not be attending? I saw 'London', and almost fired off a round of emails to some fellow UK citizens alerting them to your presence on our shores, before it occured to me that there might be places called 'London' in other countries, too... :(
Edit:
As far as I can make out, this event appears to be in London, the UK?
(edited, rephrased)
Can'tFindthePath:
Thanks for reminding me: I should have made clear in my comparison between the 19th level Cavalier and the 19th level Fighter in terms of the damage that they were dealing on a successful hit that the Cavalier did at least have regular Weapon Focus with whatever weapon both he and the fighter were using. If the Cavalier doesn't, then the otherwise identically statted and equipped Fighter who has maximum training, and Greater Weapon Focus & Specialization in that weapon has 1.5 more points of damage when power attacking on each successful hit and the same chance to hit as the Cavalier instead of being 1 point behind on the to hit rolls.
But it seemed fair for the purpose of comparison to assume that the Cavalier would have Weapon Focus since he doesn't have a shortage of feats, and as I had assumed that the Fighter had optimised to some extent with feats with regard to chances to hit and damage.
Either way, he sucks. At least no one has mentioned OotBI and that stupid, I want to be like melee dudes with a bow, level 2 ability that I can't bring myself to mention!
Yeah, elves in Tolkien were basically perfect. Tolkien was extremely religious, and Elves were supposed to be a representation of what humans would have been without original sin or something to that effect.
Me, I like sin :)
You haven't read The Silmarillion have you? I have four words for you: Fëanor and his sons.
Wrath, greed, pride, lust, envy. They have those in spades. Maybe not gluttony and sloth, but they have all the other classic 'seven deadly sins'. Those are bad elves.
Sorry about the nerdy threadjack; please resume your ranger discussions. :)
(edited, tidied up & clarified)
The Challenge ability of the Cavalier in my opinion encroaches on the territory of the Fighter who was (for a few glorious months during the Beta Playtest) actually the king of melee, but who has since been having his supremacy nibbled away at, piece by piece, as other classes invade his turf.
Each of those dice of extra damage against a challenged foe is worth, on average, 3.5 extra damage per successful hit. As currently written the 19th level cavalier, against a challenged foe, scores on average an extra 24.5 points of precision damage on each successful strike.
The 19th level fighter, identically equipped and statted, only gets 8 extra damage between weapon training, and specialisation, assuming he is using his favourite type of weapon in which he is greater focused and specialised. Granted such a 19th level fighter is 5 points of BAB more likely to hit, and could power attack for extra damage, but without the flexibility in Power Attack in PFRPG the 19th level Fighter has to take a -6 to his chance to hit for +18 damage (26 extra damage total, assuming both he and the cavalier are using a two handed weapon) which leaves the fighter doing 1.5 points of extra damage more than the cavalier on a successful hit, whilst now having a 1 point worse chance of hitting. The Fighter needs to hope that he crits for his extra feats (and weapon training, if that multiplies on a crit) to count to be able to beat the Cavalier for damage against a specific foe.
The Cavalier counting as being 'flanked', whilst issuing a challenge, by other foes is a minimal penalty in my opinion. The sort of foe which you most seriously need that level of extra damage against is often a solitaire monster, with few henchman/associates - and a PC cavalier is in any case likely travelling with an adventuring party, and his companions can handle any mooks or apply magic to him (greater invisibility?) to obviate any problem that this might cause. If an in-game reason exists for which counting as being flanked is a serious problem, the Cavalier can sacrifice two dice of precision damage (7 damage, on average, per successful hit) and class-dip barbarian for five levels to pick up Uncanny Dodge, or acquire a magic item which gives the Uncanny Dodge ability if/when such an item becomes available - although I concede that this commitment of resources to target a specific concern would put the Cavalier back on a more equal footing with the Fighter.
The Fighter, however, is still restricted to using his favourite weapon in terms of specialisation, focus, and weapon training for maximum effectiveness against an enemy. The Cavalier can select an enemy in any fight, challenge it, and beat it to death with a sword, axe, warhammer, or even a chair leg, if necessary (although the latter would suffer improvised weapon penalties, unless the cavalier had appropriate feats).
I also have some concerns about the use of Challenge against inanimate objects. Can the Cavalier announce that he is fighting and issuing a 'Challenge' to a mithral door that is blocking the party's way, to be able to carve through it extra fast?
In summary, the concerns I have thus far are these:
1) As it stands the Challenge allows the Cavalier to out-damage the Fighter, in the absence of critical hits. Basically, in a party with a Cavalier and a Fighter, the Fighter's role is reduced to going after the mooks, whilst the Cavalier carves the baddest enemy into salami. The Fighter seems to me to have been reduced to the part of Cavalier's henchman, there to protect his back.
2) I have not gone into this above, but the Cavalier can go on issuing Challenges for however long the day lasts, in combat after combat going after the most appropriate foe in each. The Paladin's Smite Evil ability, for comparison, is usable only a limited number of times a day, and only against evil foes, although the Paladin's Smite does give a bonus to hit alongside extra damage.
3) The flanking 'penalty' for issuing a challenge against an enemy may not be a sufficiently serious penalty, and in any case there will be ways for an adventuring party to obviate it without too much effort.
4) Clarification is needed over just who/what and in what circumstances a Cavalier can issue a challenge and get the bonuses against.
I do not like the Cavalier as it stands. The Challenge is too flexible (for me) in terms of being able to select and then deal high damage against a target; too much better than the options to which the Fighter has access. Unlike the Rogue who can (circumstances permitting) deal sneak damage in bucket loads, the Cavalier has a BAB progression and number of attacks to match the Fighter's. I have not yet properly looked over the oaths and orders but it seems to me possible that they may heighten disparities or tread on the toes of other classes.
What I would prefer to see:
1) Drop the specific reference to flanking in the Cavalier's Challenge. If being flanked is a problem, a player will find a magic item which negates flanking, a spell from another PC, or class-dip into another class to get around it. Make this a flat penalty instead. EG 'Whilst so distracted a Cavalier is at a -2 penalty to armour class from attacks from any other enemies, and his attack rolls to hit, or damage rolls against them are identically penalised'.
2) Drop the '1 Challenge per combat' and instead implement something like a monk's ki pool, based on Charisma, which the Cavalier can use to issue challenges. He uses his force of will to drive him forward to extra exertions against his enemies, but can only draw on those reserves so much in a day.
3) Drop or decrease the bonus-to-damage effect of the Challenge. In line with the ki pool, instead give the Cavalier the option to burn points to do things like trip an opponent, taunt a sentient opponent so severely that they have to make a Will save or make a rash attack next round, or jump up and grab a chandelier and launch a flying kick across the room at an opponent's chest. What I'm thinking of here is making Cavaliers more like the Musketeers from the various films based on Alexander Dumas' books, and less someone who simply does super-damage against one enemy a fight.
Anyway, that's my initial impression and feedback.
Seriously though, I was told by an editor far wiser than I that more often than not, it's best to fire and forget. There's no point in hammering yourself with things after they've seen print.
Darn. I didn't realise Wayfinder #2 had actually come out, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered anyone with that last suggested adjustment. Linkie to the Wayfinder #2 download, please???
(edited)
Scott:
Umm, yes, but a number of groups have been left this way by the opening of the Crimson Throne path. The way that the opening is set up, making so much of Lamm, has been a major contributing factor to problems for unwary/inexperienced GMs.
Advice on how to cope has been requested.
Well if they're still at Zellara's house, with the corpse, then maybe a city guard agent has trailed them back there after someone reported suspicious activities at Lamm's lair, and a group of city guards burst in and catch the PCs red-handed having just commited murder. (Bloke tied up helpless with a crossbow bolt in him, it certainly looks like murder.) Sure, it might have been a bad guy that they just killed, and speak with the dead might even prove it, but they can either cool their heels in prison for a while, or volunteer to accept geases and work off their debt to the city carrying out some errands for the field-marshal...
I was impressed by the manner in which Byers got inside the heads of both Sammaster and Dorn with his 'The Year of Rogue Dragons' trilogy, and the contrasting directions in which their situations had taken them.
I am also a fan of Lynne Abbey for 'The Simbul's Gift', and 'The Nether Scroll', which both struck me as incredibly enticing reads, populated by people acting entirely truly to their natures.
Dave Gross (since he is posting!) has the occasional memorable one-liner moment in his Forgotten Realms works which I have read, such as the classic moment in 'Lord of Stormweather' where Larajin simultaneously administers the brush off and a dispel magic to the Hulorn's henchman wizard in the big showdown near the end. Subject to delays in shipping and other problems, I am not really acquainted yet with his Golarion work.
I also liked Jeff Grubb's Tertius stories in the 'Realms of...' line, and find Elaine Cunningham's Channa Ti on a par with Elaith Craulnober. (Sorry, but I'm simply not a big Arilyn or Danilo fan, but the conflicted Elaith interests me, greatly, as does the complicated Golarion druid.)
The piece on Dragons is in Pathfinder #4 and includes a story about the origins of the draconic race, and how they eventually came to Golarion. Whilst there are some (mythic?) comments on the origin of the planes and good and eveil in this article, it doesn't go into specifics about Golarion's origins.
Things like a deity that died (and is suppossed to return?) I want to say Andoran. I don't know there are some more things, I just can't think of names off hand. Is there anything really on the origin of the setting (beyond a few sentences)?
Aroden? Unfortunately information on Aroden is piecemeal at present, because Paizo have not done a specific article on his faith yet (there have been hints in Tuesday night Chats that his demise is a part of something very much bigger which they're keeping secret thus far) and what there is is scattered around various products. Off the top of my head besides the obvious (dead) deity paragraphs regarding Aroden in the Religion chapter in the Campaign Setting and in the Gods & Magic book, mentions are made in articles about Cheliax (because that was where Aroden was expected to show up according to various prophecies just before he went missing instead) and may well feature in pieces about Absalom (since he raised the Isle of Kortes from the floor of the Inner Sea) and Taldor (where he was the patron deity for a long time).
If there's anything about the origin of the world, I'd guess it might be in the planes book, but I do not have that one. There is some stuff about Rovagug trying to destroy the world scattered here and there through sources, and being imprisoned at the world's core instead; The articles on Sarenrae and Rovagug which accompanied the Legacy of Fire Path looked at this amongst other things - but the world was clearly already in existence by then, for Rovagug to come along and try to destroy it, and this isn't so much creation mythology as very early (mythic?) history...
It is known (however the world came into being) that Golarion's solar system seems to function much like our own at present, with planets orbitting (under gravity) a star that burns by means of nuclear fusion. Some of the other planets were touched on very generally in an article which accompanied the Second Darkness path.
I hope this is helpful... :)
Edit:
There was an article on dragons which accompanied the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path and which included a story about the first dragons...
In the spirit of Snorter's 'last minute corrections', if whomever is editing Lady of Winter (if it's considered for inclusion) decides to run with just the story section and skip the introduction, then:
Charles Evans 25 wrote:
...This was a time, my daughter, when if the Emperor of Taldor wished to review his troops, the first soldier tramped past at the rising of the sun, and the very last was marching still, when the moon was scaling the heavens...
probably needs to lose the 'my daughter', as it will lack context.
With regard to mythology, each of the deity articles in the Pathfinder line (so far occuring in the second and fifth installments of any particular Adventure Path and about deities appropriate to that path who haven't already been covered by a previous article) usually has a couple of stories in amongst the other fluff at the back after the main adventure.
As Yoda says, is there anything in particular which you are looking for, as we may be able to provide more specific direction if we know what you are particularly interested in?
Edit:
So far, apart from specific articles in Pathfinder a lot of things in the Chronicles and Companions lines have been very general overviews.
Product: Seeker of Secrets. Page: Look up Boon Companion in the index.
Thanks. I don't have that book yet, which explains why the feat is unfamiliar to me. If it's in 'Seekers of Secrets', though, I think that makes it legal for organised play...
...Also the pathfinder chronicler came out with an ability that let's a ranger treat it's companion as 4 levels higher (up to his hit dice), so they can have just as many abilities on their companion as a druid.
...Also there are a lot of tricks listed in the book that you can teach them. Going over the relative benefits and disadvantages for each companion might be good too.
I concur that the addition of a section assessing trainable tricks would be a good idea.
tbug:
I have spotted someone I take to be a player asking if there have been goblins in any parties for Rise of the Runelords? I have hesitated to link to this journal, since the poster in question seems to be still actually playing the path, but I did indicate that there had been goblins in a party in some campaigns, and mentioned your name...
*Link to thread*
One of the regular posters on the Adventure Path Forums, tbug, in fact ran an all-goblin Rise of the Runelords party. There were many frequent stops for food and a tendency for the PCs to get distracted easily.
I hesitate to say much more about this though (mostly because of spoiler risk), since you seem to be playing the path at the moment, and the goblins did get some of the things done which more regular PCs achieve.
