"Look, it's an attractive girl who chooses not to have sex. She simply must be mocked! I mean, if she is not mocked, why... I may have to examine my own life and the decisions I have made. But we all know that I made all the right decisions. All the ones with no baggage attached, all the ones the are acceptably normal. Yep. So, certainly it is this girl who is making silly choices. I mean, jeez. She believes in God and everything. So, silly and foolish..."
You know, this is the second time in the past week that I have been reminded of this.
Crabs in a Bucket metaphor:
There's a very powerful metaphor of crabs in a bucket. Supposedly, if you put one crab in a bucket, it'll eventually find a way to leverage itself out of the bucket. But if you put a bunch of crabs in a bucket, none will ever get out because as soon as one crab gets up near the top, the others reach up, grab onto it and pull it back.
I don't think the crabs are really thinking critically about this, but it's a very human metaphor because people often, when they see someone getting ahead or see somebody who's taking a different path, the tendency is to reach out and try to pull that person back. And if they resist, then to punish them in a whole variety of ways.
One of the ironic things is that often the people who pull you back are those who are close to you. I think one of the reasons is because they see your accomplishments and achievements and individuality as a negative reflection on themselves. It's like holding a mirror up to themselves and by comparison they feel like they're suffering. Their way of dealing with it, instead of themselves trying to achieve, is to try to pull you back.
-John Chaffee
Get over it folks. Whatever her reasons, there are no real risks to choosing to stay a virgin (zomg but it feels so awesome! really doesn't cut it. sorry.), while there are innumerable dangers and complications in choosing not to.
Now how to lure a group of PC's there without simply making them one of the units that were sent in...
Ten years ago, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Glithe underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... The A-Team.
Take an example like Valeros. It's not even Char Op at this point, but everyone knows two weapon fighting only makes sense if you use the same weapon in both hands, so you can get maximum use from your feats. Everyone knows you have to stack as many damage modifiers as you can on that weapon.
Everyone also knows about will saves and fighters and 3.5/Pathfinder. Iron Will and probably Improved Iron Will HAVE to be in every build, along with those Gloves of Dueling.
So if I have a player in my game that has a Fighter without Iron Will and GoD am I to ram forks into their eyes, set them on fire and throw them out of the window because they duh, don't deserve to breathe or something? Hint: I have 2 such players in different groups I run.
Look, it's your "everyone" argument flying away. :)
I'm glad that the pregens were not paragons of perfection designed to please the Theorycrafting Number Crunching Gods of Olympic DPR. It gives me a sense that the AP's were not designed with Min-Maxing PC's as the expected standard, and that I can tell my players that they actually have more freedom to design their characters than what's allowed at a WOW Raiding Guild.
In retrospect , I also see that eliminating the iconic pregens was a wise if unforunately warranted move thanks to the incredibly vocal minority who are the reason we can't have certain nice things.
You don't like pregens as they are? Don't use them or modify them to your taste. I think at this juncture there's no way we'll ever see them back again unless an unforeseeable change occurs within the climate of this venue.
Part of the reason we quit putting the pregenerated iconics in there is precisely because of this reaction.
I'm actually not at all interested in trying to make the most over-the-top numbercrunched optimized characters... be it in a game I'm running or as sample PCs. Partially because it's kind of soul-numbing, but also because it's pretty hard to sift through every possible spell option and try to perfect a stat block that, in the case of those sample PCs, is being done at the last minute anyway.
In fact, we often picked spells for the PCs based ENTIRELY on the length of the spell, since too many long-named spells would make the spells prepared not fit in the space we had available. In other cases, we'd pick spells (and feats and the like) that might not be "optimized" for a specific build, but are the perfect feats for that particular character.
For example as well... Merisiel is wearing studded leather armor because that's what she's wearing in her artwork.
The iconic stat blocks had FAR more masters to serve than the "Optimization Master." to the extent that serving the "Optimization Master" was never on the to-do list in the first place.
AKA: Those pregenerated characters are NOT intended to be optimized, but folks who want or expect them to be get worked up and therefore threads like these start up. So we quit doing it.
If you're looking for a better representation to how we build high-level wizards, a better place to look than the prebuilt PCs is to any high-level wizard NPCs in the adventure. Of course... those are built as NPCs with specific story goals and requirements their stats must serve first before any other master... and they've got worse stats than most PCs most of the time, so maybe not.
I can see implementing a potion offensively as part of a dirty trick maneuver.
Or with Beguiling Gift :D
"HERE! Drink this!"
Or by combining a Greater Steal maneuver with successfully planting a similar item. "We've secretly replaced this hero's regular potions with new Fowlgyr's brand instant ghoul touch crystals."
Anyway, any DM who doesn't have the time to write an entire system is a lazy DM.
Agreed.
Plus, Combat Expertise is already one of the best feats in the game. Removing the Int requirement will make all fighters impossible to hit.
I don't know about that. It's up to +6 to the AC which is good but there are plenty of other options, such as AoE and spells that require Will saves.
Yeah, but with their bonus feats, fighters can take Iron Will, which effectively negates Will based spells altogether. As for AoE, they have plenty of hp to soak the damage.
The real problem is the fighter class itself, which is the most powerful in the game. Unlike the casters, they never need to rest, and can dish out a large amount of damage all day long. Making them harder to hit compounds the problem because now they can stay in combat even longer.
I can’t be bothered with reading the entire thread, so just assume I made some arrogant statements which some people agreed with and which ticked off a bunch of other people.
I personally find it annoying when my clients try and tell me how to do my job better (they're nearly always wrong). If they began with an opening gambit of wishing me violence, I'd be even less inclined to engage with them.
The hell do I care? It's not like they're going to suddenly learn how to do math or care to produce a quality product.
Also, their forum interface is terrible.
Yeah, and their moderation policies are too lenient.
I envision such a conversation between Adivion and the PCs in his townhouse in Caliphas, or perhaps his estate in Ardeal, over tea, sometime between the end of book 3 and the start of book 6.
-----------
I did not write the "Carrion Crown" poem. It was Petros that discovered it, almost nine years ago, back when he was putting together the Order's records on the Whispering Way. We studied it together, him and I, and concluded that it was written during the lifetime of Tar-Baphon. Or rather, during his undead years, but before his destruction, if you can call that a "lifetime." It seems to describe a way to constitute a new phylactery.
We decided that such a treasure would be immeasurably tempting to any members of the Whispering Way. So I took advantage of the role I previously held at the Quarterfaux Archives, and I had it published under my name. I even joined the Whispering Way during this time. Disgusting organization, really, if you can even call it that. It is a shadow of whatever it once was, a fully decentralized mess of necromancers and other wretches with delusions of grandeur. It is not run like a sophisticated, modern organization should be run. It turns out obsession with dead people doesn't translate over into logistical finesse with living ones.
I digress. My role in joining the Whispering Way was to fish out any real threats within it, and keep tabs on them. The Carrion Crown poem was the bait. Petros had affection for this sort of opposition research, as I'm sure you are aware. All manner of necrophiles sought me out to learn more, or try to coordinate work on assembling the ingredients. Some even managed to get quite far under my guiding hand. Petros and I didn't feel any threat from having the poem "out there", as it had been in quite wide circulation for some time immediately after Tar-Baphon's defeat, and it gave him no boon then. However, as an added protection, I was there to mentor the would-be reborn-Tyrants to "guide" their progress. Sometimes this was straight into the waiting arms of Pharasmin Inquisitors. *smug grin*
So, the case of one Mr Vrood. The Order, as you know, has its fingers in many pies, particularly in the northwest. It was time for a change of power in the Shudderwood. The details and motivations for this, are, how do you say, "Esoteric." I gave Mr Vrood an invitation to Ascanor Lodge so that he could retrieve the packlord's heart for me. This plan, as you are doubtlessly keenly aware, was a complete disaster. Not only did the fool Vrood fail to actually deliver the heart to me, but the only worthwhile mind in all Ustalav had to pay the price of his crude insolence.
Why didn't you tell the Professor about your arrangement with Vrood?
You must understand, my involvement with Mr Vrood centered around Ascanor and the Heart. He did not reveal his other ventures to me, and he moved quite quickly to enact them. I first learned of Vrood's activities in Ravengro from Petros via pigeon, but before I could encode a response, I was already being invited to his funeral. This is where I gave in to vengeance and sought out your services. Vrood had gone too far, and he needed to be eliminated.
What do the other lines of the poem refer to?
Petros and I came to the conclusion that the stanzas of the poem do not each strictly refer to a specific object, but more generally refer to abstract concepts that were key elements in the life of Tar-Baphon. However, I would imagine for the poem to be successful, the bar would be quite high.
Where are the components now?
Doubtlessly with one of Vrood's lackeys who escaped your blade. Likely hiding in a hole somewhere. A hole, no doubt, blocked by divination magics. I am anxious to discover where they have gone. Perhaps you can help me in this?
I understand Hawkrin's Ghost, the Packlord's Heart, and the Feldgrau Skull are all part of the poem, but how does the Seasage Effigy fit into this?
It is clearly not a component that the poem describes. The Way often Whispers mysteriously. It is obviously very important to them. I will reach out to Professor Crawl in Lepidstadt to see what we can learn from him.
(This is the truncated version, with added dialog bits, of the information doled out prior to character generation for a STAP campaign that should begin within the next two weekends.)
" A Dummies' Guide to the Savage Tide Adventure Path "
" Listen up you primitive screwheads!! You're all fresh and shiny from your apprenticeships and alleyways and eggshells and mercenary regimental guard duties. That's nice and cute and furry - and will get your sorry butts fragged quicker than a mind flayer snacking on an inattentive gold dragon's noggin!!
" In order to survive, I have been tasked with given you pre-packaged self-propelled field rations enough information to maybe not die fifty feet outside the town gates. Or, in some parts of town, fifty feet outside the front door of the local bar. So, since someone asked me all nice and purty-like, I'm givin' you chowderheads the following tidbits of advice.
" Lesson #1: Do not assume. If you cannot figure this one out, well ... you are monster kibble waiting to happen.
" Lesson #2: Carry a variety of weapons. Not counting whatever your fancy shmancy nancy 'weapon of choice' is, carrying just one weapon is a surefire ticket to getting the tag 'CHOW' tattooed on your forehead. Since most of you chowderheads are at least proficient with the simpler weapons, we'll stick to what almost all of you know how to use without stabbing yourself in the foot.
" Always, always carry a dagger. If nothing else, that is what you probably eat with. In a pinch, a dagger is a throwable weapon at close quarters and that dagger may be what keeps you from finding out what the inside of a gullet looks like.
" Get - at a minimum a club, or some other wooden bludgeoning weapon. A club is free, isn't too too heavy and can - like a dagger - also be thrown. They are your best weapon of last resort in melee when your pappy's fancy sword is scraping off the ribcage of a skeleton or turning into rusty flakes from some spell. And, they are free.
" Obviously, just about all of you will have a primary melee weapon you fancy. Presuming you are not familiar with a Martial Weapon, you might wish to take a close look at either the morning star or the old peasant standby, the spear. The former does two of the three basic damage types, and can take advantage of a reasonably strong person when swung two-handed. Not a bad way to finish a downed foe. The spear is cheap, can be thrown and can be set to receive a charge.
" Now, here is the lesson I do not generally see ever being learned. Carry 2 to 4 javelins for throwing as a group. That's right - all of you can probably chuck a javelin, so all of you should be packing some. It is better to go to loot your foes' corpses than it is to have to spend perfectly good cure spells and healers' kits to repair damage you could have avoided.
" Lastly, everyone should carry a projectile weapon. Barring a rash of impoverished characters, this should be the venerable light crossbow. Packing a reasonably accurate range increment, capable of being locked and loaded as you trail behind your point-snack, this gives your entire party the capability of perforating foes as they come to you. And for the love of the gawds, carry BOLTS too ... lugging around a crossbow does you no good if you don't have any ammunition.
" You will not always have a full compliment of spells and magical dooflichies available to you with which to wreck havoc and kill things. That is where the weapons come in. Unless you or your foes break them, weapons can always kill things that want to kill you.
" Lesson #3: Basic Tactics. Not counting cramped underground environments, you chowderheads are likely to encounter significant amounts of hostiles at a surprising distance. Unless you all have pointy ears, it is likely you have one or maybe two real archers in the team and the rest of you hopefully are toting light crossbows as mentioned above. Unless there is a really, really pressing reason, do not ever charge to engage your foes unless there is no alternative. Let them come to you. Fill them full of crossbow bolts and arrows. When they get a bit closer, chuck those javelins I told you to get and fill them with those too. Never assume your foes will walk to you. You may find yourselves having no terrain that is conducive to engaging in melee, so you will be forced into a shooting duel. Other times of course your bows and crossbows will be more of a hindrance than a help. Adjust, adapt and think.
" Lesson #4: Gear load management. Just because you can afford everything in the general store, the smithys and the jewellers store does not mean you should carry everything. Strive to keep your gear to as light a load as you can. The trick, of course, is bringing enough gear to survive and thrive but not so much gear that a snail can chase you down and barf on your face. Basic gear is essential. Rope, a hammer, a few spikes, a crowbar, one or more light sources, a bedroll to sleep on, a spare change of clothes, and at least two sacks to carry loot or you buddy's head back out in are crucial. Two waterskins and food are also a really good idea unless you plan to drink whatever water you can find while subsisting on your own toe fungus.
" Lesson #5: Those who learn to run away can come back and kill things to take thier stuff later. Do not be afraid to run away when the odds are pretty clearly not in your favor. As a subset of this lesson, do not charge in blindy and hope you won't get your head lopped off. Otherwise, your buddies will probably be taking your head back in a sack.
" Lesson #6: You are all from a seaport and have spent time crewing and otherwise making yourselves useful on boats and ships. I rather suspect this knowledge will make the difference between whether you come back as heroes or whether you come back at all. [At this point, this is when the players find out that thier characters receive bonus ranks in Profession (sailor) in accordance with thier class as well as bonus ranks in either Craft or Knowledge. The first caps at 12 ranks, the latter is indefinite.]
" Lesson #7: There are a number of so-called affiliations available to you should you be so inclined. Some times these guys actually know what they are talking about. Part of this concept also includes such novelties as becoming a regular patron of a church of your choice of patron gawd, or for the heathens, even amongst the 'domains'. Over time, and with proper 'tithing', the divine affiliations even teach you a few nifty abilities than can make the difference between what brand of kibble you are.
" Lesson #8: Practice, practice, practice. Develope teamwork drills. [Referring to the Teamwork Benefits from PHB 2.] You never know when you chowderheads' teamwork will figure out that something bad is behind that door or that there is a secret door none of you would have otherwise singly been able to find. Do not forget to hone a trick or two that plays up to your own unique strengths. [Referring to the skill tricks from Complete Scoundrel.] Finally, get your team's spiritual leader(s) to pow-wow about a companion spirit that shores up your weakest or most feared area. [Again, referring to the Companion Spirits from PHB 2.] The more of these kinds of things you chowderheads learn how to do, the likelier it is you will get to die of old age.
" Lesson #9: Secret intelligence that is way above your non-existent divine rank gives us some vague idea of the kinds of threats you will be facing. " [This is where they are informed of the following recommended skill bonuses to be had. The physical ones listed are the bonuses recommended after armor check penalties are accounted for.
Balance at +5 / Climb at +10 / Swim at +5 / Craft (carpentry) at a +10 or so / Profession (sailor) at about a +15 / Knowledge (geography) at a +12 or better by at least one character / 5 or more ranks in each of the following additional Knowledge skills : arcane, local, nature, nobility & royalty, religion and the planes / Survival at about a +10 / Search at about a +10. The trapfinder/lockpicker will need about a +20 to Open Locks. The 'face' will need about a +15 Diplomacy bonus as well as about a +10 Gather Information. Spell-lobbers will want at least some modicum of Spellcraft.
Obviously, it is not possible to have all of these skills at the higher bonuses at 1st level. But it is a clue to the players to keep in mind the kinds of things they can be expecting to have to deal with.]]
" Lesson #10: Do not let your melee guys get more than a simple move again ahead of the cleric or curative spellcasters. If you chowderheads do go charging off pell mell in order to wade into combat with a pack of little toothy goblins - and then you get your legs hacked off - the odds are it is because you charged in and left the healers too far behind to do your reckless butt any good. Think about your spacing and reach. Heck, form a shield wall with the spellhuckers packing longspears - which double nicely as 10 ft poles - jabbing the bad guys in front of you. It can prove surprisingly effective.
" That's all - no get out of my sight! I'd like a pleasant memory to go to sleep with tonight. "
Hi all,
I just finally had some time to sync my online storage with my work for my CC campaign.
If you have look around in langenhan.info/RPG you will find some new and some old (updated) items.
I introduced Version numbers for all Docs so it easy to see if you have the current version.
Anyways...here the NEW stuff
4712.pdf = a complete Calendar of the yar 4712 (done with MSWord2010 Template)
Ustalav_Climat.pdf = a discussion about how to introduce some weather into ones campaign
Windspirits_Campain_Calendar_player.pdf = The calendar for my campaign (over Winter)
Windspirits_Campaign_weather-forecast.pdf = Weather Forecast for my CC campaign (over Winter)
Right so here now the old Stuff:
HoH_GM_Material.pdf = Haunting of Harrowstone GM Material
TotB_GM_Material.pdf = Trial of the Beast GM Material
BM_GM_Material.pdf = Broken Moon GM Material
Ustalav_Roads.jpg = Roads in Ustalav (New version)
Sleep_and_Rest-GM_Material.pdf = Summery of Sleep and Rest rules + some homebrew
BuyTable.pdf = Pre calculated Buy Tables for 20 ,15 and 10 points
BaseCharacter.pdf = my own version of the Character templates (New version)
And that’s it so far. Happy to get feedback. If you want to mail me you can either use PAZIO’s new MAIL function, reply here or mail me directly (see contact.html)
My group started the HoH on Pharast 16, so the following weekend was the Firstbloom fstival. I wrote up the following handout (in nice script on vellum) but I do not have any accounts to post pdfs, so I thought I would offer the text here. A big thanks goes to my friend Jeff Ibach and his Ultimate Toolbox for some inspiration.
The PC's had a great time on Fireday and then Starday before the zombies attacked. This was much more interesting than the town hall meeting.
Firstbloom Festival
Hear Ye, Hear Ye,
Citizens of Ravengro, come one, come all to the Annual FirstBloom Festival, 20-22 Pharast, 4711.
Schedule of Events
Fireday, 20 Pharast
4pm - Wedding of Erlantz & Iskra, Presided by Father Grimburrow, Central Gazebo
5pm - 9pm- Open Air Market and entertainers
6pm - Rooster Fights, Dragomir Farm
6pm - Cake bake Off, Bastista's Bakery
9pm - Performance of "Legend of the Shudderwood" by the Tamrivena Players
Starday, 21 Pharast
7am - Service, Temple of Pharasma
8am - 4 pm - Open Air Market and entertainers
10am - 12pm - Seed trading & harvest yield planning, Ravengro Grain Exchange
1pm 2 pm - Canterwall County Quilt Display, Town Hall
5pm - Ale Tasting and Brewing Competition, The Laughing Demon
7pm - Pharismin Candle Ceremony, Father Grimburrow, riverside
9pm - Battle of the Bards, Outward Inn basement tavern
Sunday, 22 Pharast
9am - Service, Temple of Pharasma
11am - Sausage Cook-off, Outward Inn Beergarten
12pm - Awards Presentation, Town Council, Central Gazebo
Best Cakes
Best Sausage
Best Flower Arrangement
Best Quilt
Best Ale
1 pm - Apprenticeship Announcements, Central Gazebo
Jorfa, smithng, Ravengro Forge
Luramin Taigh, Jeweler, The Silk Purse
Lau Feng, rope and netmaking, Master netmaker
Gabon Jasone of the Cooper's Guild of Ravengro
Alendru Ghoroven, wizarding
2pm:-Closing Remarks, Councilman Hearthmount, Central Gazebo
As a moon-god, and a patron of madness, I see him as a proponent of the belief that what you see is *not* necessarily what you get. The books cover may be a lie, just as the moon is always the moon, no matter if you see all of it, half of it or none of it.
The moon never changes, only what you can see of it changes, and any judgments you make of the moon say more about yourself, than the moon.
A priest (or paladin) of Tsukiyo might seem, especially to more dogmatic lawful sorts, maddeningly cautious and 'non-judgmental,' as they insist that just because something *seems* obviously black or white, right or wrong, doesn't mean that one is seeing the deeper truth of the matter.
Wait two weeks, they say, and the moon appears to be a very different thing than when you first saw it. If you had leapt to judgment when the moon was dark, you would have made a terrible mistake. The seasons are similarly deceptive. Come to Minkai in the dead of winter, and it might seem a bleak and lifeless place, colorless and inhospitable. Months later, blossoms are wafting fragrance through the air and birds fill the air with song. The winter is revealed as a lie. And, many months later, the spring and summer and fall will have passed, and winter will again be truth. There is the secret of the 'madness' of Tsukiyo.
Everything is a lie. Everything is true. It's all a matter of where you stand (and what blocks your view, distorting the appearance of what you gaze upon).
The paladin of Tsukiyo cannot simply reject the darkness within himself (and within all men), cannot proudly deny rage or desire, for that way lies *true* madness. He must recognize that men are like the moon, and that you never see them all at once, a simple truth, for they are more complicated than that. Everything changes. People, like the seasons, change, and what can be said truly about a man today, may not have been true yesterday, and may be a lie tomorrow.
The life of a priest or paladin of Tsukiyo is an exercise in self-exploration. Rather than pretend that he never has an impure thought, he accepts that impure thought, and symbolically pulls such things into the light. Rather than seeing the dark side of his own spirit as unwholesome or shameful (something to deny, and therefore never truly face or conquer), he sees it as the worldly aspect that he must transcend, and regards acknowledgement of his faults as a source of strength, being admonished that the worst hypocrites are the ones who claim purity of self, and engage in scurrilous or dishonorable deeds under the cover of night, staining both themselves and the night with their inequity and self-deception.
To the paladin of Tsukiyo, the warrior or cleric who never admits to fault, is setting himself up to never be able to rise above the most worldly and unjust parts of their own natures. Each revelation about the self is a challenge to be acknowledged, confronted and overcome, as tricky to find as a skulking goblin and as dangerous to grapple with as an oni.
Woe be to the evildoer who thinks that a paladin of Tsukiyo will never draw steel. He is not the god of redemption. 'The moon has horns,' some say, and a servant of Tsukiyo will take swift action, when he feels that it is necessary, refusing to show mercy to those who have neglected to confront their own inner darkness, and allow themselves to wallow in unjust or malicious ways. The existence of the paladin of Tsukiyo is proof that a person can overcome such things, and those who do not even try are held in low regard. Like the moon, one can shine with inner light, or be obscured with shadow, and while Tsukiyo looks askance at those who deny the darkness (and so give it power over themselves), he has even less patience for those who surrender entirely to self-deception, or mire themselves in inequity, living a life without balance between shadow and self-illumination, worldly matters and spiritual concerns.
Given the time limit imposed on the players, this is the first time I've actually mapped the starting month (using the templates here: http://www.wincalendar.com/word-calendar-templates.htm). I had the party arrive in Ravengro on the 2nd of Pharast (March), 4711. Pharast has a few great hooks for starting Carrion Crown:
-Lorrimor's Will is dated Calistril, last month. Adds resonance to know that he was thinking of the PCs just before his untimely demise.
-Holidays. Pharast has two, Pharasma's Day of Bones (in which the recently dead are somberly paraded through town, great time for an Event 4) and Firstbloom (spring ceremony, good time for An event 3 or 4). Both fit very well.
-Weather. I mapped out the weather for the month, and made sure to note movement and combat rules. Early spring means lots of rain and fog, which add to the atmosphere. I've even planned for a little snow, just because I like the image of adventures fighting skeletons or dealing with creepy haunts against a stark white background. You can also have PCs use the snow to track something into the woods, only to be caught in a downpour that erases the tracks of both the party and the pursued.
-Timing. Given six adventure paths (and maybe Carrion Hill), I figure the party will take about 7 or 8 months, with travel, downtime and personal side quests. I like the idea of using Lamashan (October) in Carrion Crown, but I like it even more for the end of the campaign. The players fight against death itself as everything around them withers and dies!
I made an Excel calendar generator for Golarion that works for any year from 1 A.R. with moon phases, leap days and the holidays in Campaign Setting all marked in. My version differs from Lilith's in 2 major ways:
1) It synchs with the date mentioned in Second Darkness, in that 14 Arodus 4708 IS Oathday.
2) I marked the solstices and equinoxes closer to our real calendar, on the 20/21/22 of the first month of the season, as I think that's what the Pathfinder authors have in mind when they mention things like "first day of autumn" in the AP's. Because the Campaign Setting delineates the seasons clearly by month, I've kept Lilith's method of marking the start of a season on the first day of the relevant month.
There's a moon font included in the zip. You need to install that to see the moon phases correctly. To generate the calendar for a particular year, just type the year number into the yellow box on the first page.
This being Excel, the calendar isn't as pretty as the one that Lilith and Fray made, but it does work for any year into the future. If anyone with more artistic talent wants to take it and make pretty swimsuit calendars out of the output, be my guest.
I am confused. For some reason I am only coming up with 8 trust points that can earned. There are a million ways to loose them, but few ways to gain them. And cannot seem to figure out how the player could possibly get 31 points. What am I missing?
Places to earn trust points include:
Spoiler:
Talking the initial mob out of the fight: +1 (page 12)
Giving a moving speech at the burial: +1 (page 12)
Stopping Gibs without killing him: +2 (page 22)
Befriending the kids: +1 (page 23)
Saving the town hall from the fire: +3 (page 25)
Directing crowd in fire to safety/saving at least one victim from the fire: +1 (page 25)
Letting the moneylenders know that they have an ioun stone for sale: +4 (page 62)
So that implies a maximum score of +13, which still isn't enough to get you to 36. What happened? A simple math error compounded by a miscommunication—the trust mechanic was added to the adventure late during development as a way to track PC success in befriending the town. As a result, I just didn't put enough trust awards into the adventure, unfortunately. A simple solution would be to simply double all of the trust awards in the adventure (with the exception of the ioun stone one).
A better solution would be this one: Another element that was intended to be put into the adventure but got left out was the suggestion that GMs award trust points to the PCs whenever they do something above and beyond what's in the adventure to help the town. Providing healing for free to townsfolk, befrending people by making townsfolk helpful via Diplomacy, and being generous with money are all great ways to earn trust point awards of +1 here and there.
Or we could merge South Carolina with North Carolina, because almost everyone not from there thinks they're the same state anyway. Likewise for the Dakotas.
Oh heck no. I refuse to be in the same state as those SC barbarians with their mustard based bbq abomination* and cheap fireworks. ;)
*(because only vinegar based pulled pork bbq is the true type of carolina bbq)
Conversely, Atheists can be some of the worst sheeple. As they say, a little bit of knowledge is the most dangerous thing.
I think the problem comes from when people think they know it all. Most humans are susceptible, regardless of what forces they believe control the world. I used to blame religion too, then I looked at atheists, I use to blame my country for being stupid, but then I looked at all the failures other countries were capable of, and then it clicked. The world is full of stupid people, and everyone is stupid at some point.
We don't have infinite time to check and verify everything and so in order to delve and focus in one area, we tend to neglect another so we have to rely on trusting that someone else who's spent a significant amount of time on their selected subject. Sometimes that other person we trust is family, sometimes it's a priest, sometimes it is a scientist with credentials.
Who you trust with what information is important. Anyone who trusts a single source for large quantities of information is doomed to be a tool. Atheist or theist.
I had a young man ask me if he could GM the Pathfinder Society modules, etc. He will be 18 in 6 months & has been gaming (3.5, 4th ed, Pathfinder, & the systems that use the percentage die + d10's)for 4 to 5 yrs.
If the man is old enough to carry a side arm, then he's old enough to defend himself from players at the table.
I sort of begrudgingly accept a world where prestige classes are kind of weaksauce as being a better alternative to a world where Fighter 15 is considered just straight worse than Fighter 5/Thraben Crusade Punk 5/Visiswisi Bladewarden 5 or whatever, and every other PC fighter is veering off into what are theoretically sort of specialist things.
Now, why don't they just aim to make PrCs equal to base classes, rather than intentionally aiming a bit short? Here's the thing: balance isn't an exact science. If you aim for a bullseye, even if you're really good at darts, you're going to hit a bit high sometimes, and you're going to hit a bit low sometimes. Sometimes if you're rushed - an inevitable feature of RPG sourcebook writing - you'll hit REALLY high. And suddenly every wizard under the sun is a Gromulan Pukemage, or they're grudgingly playing below potential. So they aim a little low, produce a lot of content that's not considered very seriously by mechanics-focused players.
In a dream world, it'd be the case that straight-classing to 20 was a solid, strong option, but taking a PrC was a nice varient that didn't just lure in everyone but wasn't just throwing aways character power for the abilty to get a tiny diplomacy bonus in one specific pub. And it might be possible to get a little closer to that ideal than they currently are, but if I have to take "clearly underpowered PrCs is the standard" in order to avoid "Ranger 10/Tattooed Centipedehat 10 is the new Ranger 20", I'll take it.
Today, nobody escapes society's demands on them, demands that may hurt quite a lot, especially over time. Women are treated badly. Men are treated badly. Women feel pressured to fit in. Men feel pressured to fit in. Venting about this, claiming that "everything is the fault of the privileged other sex!" solves nothing. Men can't appreciate how difficult it is to be sexually harassed. Women can't understand the dynamics of physical violence in what men are typically subjected to.
Privilege is the wrong word - we are talking about two scales here. On the scale of companies, rulesets, modules and the like, sex sells whether anyone likes it or not. The contents of images and such will only change if the gamer customer base changes in composition, something that IS happening even today. On the other scale, the gaming table, we are talking about small groups of friends. As has been noted several times, being a douchebag in such settings comes with a pretty high risk of being kicked out. If you read enough in the Advice forum, you will see what I am talking about.
As an amusing anecdote, the five of us who play WoW all raid in the same raid team. When we did 25 man raids, in the interim during trash pulls, breaks, runs back from wipes and boring fights, we would talk about D&D over Ventrilo. Pretty much every time we talked about it, one of the other 20 people in the raid would stop and ask "Hey, what're you guys talking about? What is this?" and when I told them D&D, they'd say, "D&D? But isn't that for nerds?"
Even amongst nerds, there is a pecking order. One must always remember to refer to the geek hierarchy.
Anything and everything that improves attack rolls improves CMB checks. Inspire courage, flanking, charges, bless, Weapon Focus (if the CM in question can be performed with the weapon), everything. Moreover, anything that is subtracted (and a whole bunch of things that are added) to AC impact CMD. For instance, a 1st level barbarian's CMD does not change when she rages, because the +2 Str modifier is exactly cancelled by the -2 AC penalty from the rage.
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