Cheddar Bearer's page

Done. Although I did love the draconimicon and felt bad seeing it so far behind. Having said that like pathfinder more.

I must admit I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this rule just yet. Without seeing the rest of the system it's hard to guess how it will fit in. I find it a little distateful that monsters don't get this advantage as it seems to make hero automatically 'heroic' just by virue of having class levels. Having said this I can imagine few things more annoying as a DM than having to roll at random for all the monsters reduced to 0hp but not killed from every encounter. Imagine the scene the party walking out of the dungeon having defeated the final BBEG only to run across one lone minion they had already vanquished on 1/4 hp every 4 or 5 rooms. That just sounds a bit silly. Plus I can imagine at 'Cons having to waste preciosu time watching the party individually coup-de-grace every defeated individual.

Still it does seem to give the PC's an unfair advantage. While it does suck to lose a beloved character if there is no fear of death involved in your average combat then where is the fun in meat grindering (sorry about the invented word) your way though a bunch of minions just to get the BBEG who still probably won't manage to kill you. I sort of like the fact that if it all goes wrong you can end up dying in the most inglorious manner possible. Heck the varios obituary threads make for a great read. I just think it may lose the sense of danger and that would IMHO detract from the game.

Having said this there are definate benefits. One of my worst memories as a player was in a mid level combat where my character was knocked down to -1 hp in a BBEG fight and I had to wait 8 rounds for the party cleric to heal me. In real time this fight took 4 and a half hours and I got to do nothing but sit there and wait for someone to heal me. It was not fun. And of coarse because the other players knew I was only on -1 they were in no rush to heal me I just had to watch. The only excitment came when it was the monster go and I had to wonder if my character was this turn going to die in a manner which I could do nothing about.

While it's fair to say the guy playing our cleric was a bit of an ****hole I am sure I am not the only player who has had to watch a great combat from the sidelines just hoping that nothing accidentally steps in his character. In that situation I can see this new system being a big improvement over 3.5 but I am still not entirely sold on it. Guess I'll jut have to wait till 4E hits the shelves.

(Please forgive any spelling mistakes it 2am in rainy Brighton at the moment)

I like him, but I had a split second flashback to Disney's The Rescuers.

I'm so glad to know that at least one other person thought of that. I was the first thing that jumped in to my head as well.

Anyway as for the Gaedren Lamn I think he sounds like a pretty interesing low level villain. More original than the usual goblin/kobold/orc chief (no offence meant to chief ripgut or the kobold king) or small time cult leader.

Grimcleaver you have a very good point there. I looked at it just from what would make the story somewhat easier to explain.

Finally I am not sure on this but do the dragons in pathfinder still stick to their traditional territories based on colour as the articale in pathfinder 4 made no mention of any specific habbitats except for white dragons. If anyone official wants to chime in it to clarify it would be much appreciated.

When I read it my interpretation particularly with the metallics was that the recesive parent affected the look the looks of the dragon somewhat. If memory serves it specifically mentions this in the metallic section.

When I read it I thought this sounded like a really cool idea as it would prove an easy way for dragons to recognise instantly what blood line a dragon was from. For example a brass mothered, bronze fathered dragon (looked it up the bloodline is Lyxstryxl) would be a brass dragon but maybe with the ear flaps of a bronze dragon or would have a bronze dragons softer less pointed snout.

This is probably how I will run dragons heritage in my game but I can see why it would prove a pain to keep track of in pathfinder/gamesmastery product.

Just to ask again was wondering roughly where about the sunken content of Azlant? Is it on or anywhere near the map?

It was always going to be entombed with the pharoahs for me as it is my favourite module as of yet. Plus Osirion is an area just beging to be further explored.

I got to agree with Pen_Dragon that the wallpapers are great. The one for pathfinder 3 spent weeks as my background and it would be a shame to see them go. I personally think it's a pretty cool way to advertise as it really shoes off Pathfinders amazing art. Like I said hope we see more cover art in the blogs as this one just seems to have snuck by without anyone noticing which can't be good.

Hi, not a particularly large problem but I have just posted a review and when I went to post it I tried to post it my the alias I'm using now, Cheddar Bearer. When I tried to post it however it said that the name was in use by another user (ironically enough me) is there any way to get around this or is this just something that just is?

That does sound like A great idea and I think I heard sdomeone mention that they are doing that with the Lost Baron series of modules. At least I think someone mentioned that there would be three.

I still like the idea of maybe doing a small pathfinder path of three my m,ain problem with them doing this in gamesmastery modules is that they are just too short. They are only thirty two pages long and when you throw in background material and appendixs it is even less than that. I really think they could do with adding at least another ten pages to the modules.

Having said this this may be because I have been spoiled by pathfinder. I just find the adventure in pathfinder feel so much more complete. Plus the background articales are always useful. Again you just won't get this in gamesmastery moddules, so I can see why a pathfinder advenmture path would be preferred.

The cover art looks great and I'm really looking forward to the whole Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path. Role on March.

I'd also quite like to see them as desktops. I know its probably a lot of hassle and I rather you guys concetrated on more important issues but the covers do make awesome backgrounds. I'd also love to see the cover for Guide to Korvosa as a desktop background.

Also who did the art for the guide to Korvosa? Its pretty amazing.

Don't really have much to add except wow! The cartography is amazing on this thing. The eye of abendigo looks great even at such low reolution. I like the fact that this is only the tip of two continents and not the entire world map. The fact that there is still so much to be explored is great if ytou really want to just add something without disrupting the whole Golarion canon.

Glad to see that Osirion is such a huge country. I was worried from the map in J1 that maybe it was a very small country but it looks to be pretty large. Also props on the continent of Garund in general it looks really cool. It'll be nice if you manage to pull of an more african style fantasy setting really well as I don't think its really been done before. Not meaning to disrespect the Shaar in FR or anything.

Couple of quick questions if anyone official happens to look in on this thread. Roughly where abouts is the sunken continent of azlant (can't remeber spelling don't have books to hand)? Also what is your favourite country on the map? And finally is this the map for the gazetteer or for the campaign setting? If for the Gazetter will any more of the map be expanded for the campaign setting?

Just curious.

Ahh fair enough I never really thought of it that way. I suppose if they believe in pharasma absolutely then they would believe that there is no greater good than making sure the fate she has laid out for the world comes to fruition. When put like that they wouldn't necessaily act like stereotypical paladins as their plans are far more long term. You got a great idea there.

I also think the more lawful leanings really suit the Abadar paladin. I like the idea that their convinced that the law is righteous that they think by enforcing it they simply must be doing good.

Wow this is a great bit of creative writing on an area which has yet to be really detailed. I really enjoyed reading it. The descriptions in particular are really strong. I can fully imagine a warhammer weilding paladin of Torag resplendant in his own hand crafted armour.

I thought that these where all really strong entries the only criticism I have and it is incredibly minor is that the paladins of Pharasma seems to be more like LN fighters than paladins unholding the greater good. While this is very appropriate for a Goddess of fate I'd think maybe that the paladins could use something to make there actions seem a bit more good. Maybe just a little bit about them trying to protect the innocent from the cruelest twists of fate or some other nice action. Anyway that's just my personal taste. Again really great descriptions of Pharasma paladins. They gave of a mysterious defender of fate vibe with out being creepy despite the whole black armour/uniforms and I don't think creepy and paladin go together very well.

Anyway I am rambling on. Great job on this keep up the good work.

Does sound like a very interesting idea on how to run the module differently. Having said that the Paracount has a lot more political clout and access to resources than I'd generally be comfortable giving them. Having said that I'm sure that would be easy to overcome. I you ran the module this way you should definately post the results. I'd be very interested to see how it went.

The wait for patjfinder is never fun. It always seems to result in me sitting twitchly in front of a computer with nothing better to do than stare at my inbox. Still you have my sympathy.

Sounds like it will work perfectly in your game. I agree with you on place the quest in a dream like realm. It may just be my players but if it where on an actual mountain they would probably go all psycho adventurer and start slaughtering things. "A talking dire wolf offering us a lift, kill it then sell its hide!". Again maybe just my players.

Seems like a really good idea. You've managed to really incorporate a lot of the background information from the articale on the stone giants into this. It should really show the culture of the stone giants, that they are a proud and ancient people not just some monster to hack and slash their way through. It really shows an interesting and very different culture and makes the pc's interct with it. I think that this will be a great roleplaying oppurtunity for your players.
I do have a couple of quick questions. Will the quest be just for the person undertaking it or will the whole party be able to help but the one who has undertaken it will be the only one allowed to actually DO the task? Alo will it be a real quest up a real mountain or take place in a dream or spirit realm?

I live in England and recieved mine nearly a week ago if memory serves me correctly. It was a couple of days before new year.

Have to say I'd love to see a sequel to J1 as well. Personally I would love to see a whole Osirion adventure path but I've always found egypt fascinating so pathfinders take on it had me instantly intrigued. Definately want more Osirion.
A sequel to D2 involving the other swords of sins could be interesting.

Ahh so the reason mine may take longer is because there is a back issue because I only just started my subscriptions. Nuts. I knew I should have done the first couple of modules seperate shipping. I'd probably already have entombed with the pharoahs. Ohh well. Thanks for clearing that up Vic, paizo's customer service really is as good as reputed.

Awesome here's hoping I'll be getting mine through soon as well. Anyway enjoy pathfinder 4 and thanks for letting us know that they're still being sent.

That's what I thought but it makes it even weirder that I haven't had the email yet. Go figure. Guess it's just one of lifes little mysteries.

Ahh I'm international shipping so I don't know if that will help or hinder things. Though I swear they mentioned something about shippin international orders first to make up for the fact they take so much longer to get here. It's weird as normally I get the shipping email quite early on.

SO, poor man's CotCT then... :(

Not meaning to detract from what the guy said but he was the head designer of the cards so his view on the thing may be slighly 'skewed' on their importance. I'm no official source but paizo did say you wouldn't need anything to run Pathfinder except the books and I hope they'll stick by that. I imagine they'll put in an alternative way to do it that'll be just as fun. I hope this mostly cause I don't currently plan on purchasing the Harrow deck either.

Yeah mine hasn't shipped yet. I'm both a gamesmastery and pathfinder subscriber so in theory mine should have been one of the first sent. Still no sign of it though. Have asked someone at customer services about it but I haven't heard back yet. It just seems a bit odd. Can't wait to get hold of all my paizo goodies though.

I really did want to like 4th edition but as the preview go on and on it is sounding less and less to my taste, not that it will necessarily be a bad game but is developing in ways I don' find as interesting or compelling. My personal biggest gripe is with their new approach to monsters. The description about being able to mix and match monster to get a good encounter and that all monter will have a set role to help you out really irritated me. This kind of encounter design seems to not take into account any idea of stoy telling. The way they described it makes it sound as if it will be" Half a dozen orcs as brutes, two nagas as artillery and a mind flayer as a controller". Sure it may make a fun encounter but what the hell are they all doing together? Why would that happen? Why is the next room filled with a completely different seemingly random assortment of monsters?
Many of the previews made me think that they have designed this new edition with a very different mentality to the older ones and one that appeals less to me. While eveyone says it MMORPG I personal notice that the preview remind me far more of Warhammer Quest. It was a not particularly popular GW game made some years ago. It was a basic dungeon crawl game that was entertaining. Having said this was designed so you cou;ld play it with no roleplaying necessary. You had to roll for the inhabbitants of each room ad at the end of each dungeon level there was a Boss Room which had stronger/more opponents. Everything was generated by random tables and the general aim was to kill and loot as much stuff as you can. I only mention this out dated game because I get the impression that 4th edition is being designed with a similiar mentality and because several of the previews have reminded me of Warhammer Quest. If this is the designers approach to D&D so be it 'Quest was a pretty entertaining game, but I would say that when I first played quest I was barely ten and even then found it shallow. It's the reason I found D&D and I'd prefer if D&d din't attempt to become it.
Having said that while the direction they are going in may not be to my taste I'm still sure that they will be able to churn out a perfectly good, usable set of rules for it. I will probably give 4th edition a go but I don't see myself finding it better than third edition, different definatley but not neccessarily better. Still if it is good enough to be used by paizo as they continue to produce Pathfinder (whose design ethos seems to be much more to my liking) then I'll probably switch.

Am waiting for this with baited breath. When it ships it will ship with the last two gamemastery modules as well so I have a massive hall coming. And now I hear that it's a particularly good issue as well. I can't wait. Thanks for posting some nice early reviews.

I have to agree the bestiary of pathfinder 3 was particularly impressive. I really liked the history of Argorth as that has to be one of the coolest monster origins yet. There was one thing that bothered me though, the scale. I really wasn't a fan of the way the Bestiary 'line-up' was out of scale above 10 feet. I know this sounds silly but I really like to get a proper sense of scale and that just threw me. The mother of oblivion should be enormous towering over Valeros profile. Whereas in the bestiary the image looks like it is barely twice his height. Again I know this is a minor quible but it bugged me a bit. Just wondering if anyone else had any opinions on this or if it was just me being weird.
Also another minor question will the silhouette in the bestiary will always be Valeros's profile? Just curious.

Just finished my first read through and I have to say it's a damn fine issue.

The adventure was top notch. It managed to combine the feel of frontier town exploration with some moments of genuine horror and disgust. I really like the new re-imagining of ogres. Genuinely disturbing. The new look Scrag as well seems very cool. I can't figure out how to do spoiler so I can't really go into any more detail. Sufficed to say it is a great adventure and I can't wait to run it.

Th Varisia article was awesome as well. So many really interesting locations to be explored. There are dozens of amazing adventure sites listed and it already sparked loads of ideas for other adventures. Can't wait to see some more of the areas expanded on.

The art I think is also worth a mention as it is for the most part great. I'm still not keen on the cartoony NPC portraits and the opening art of Hook mountain massacre is not particularly amazing but apart from that it's all good. The drawing of viperwall in particular tands out as does wayne reynolds cover art (as ever).

I too like the idea of one pantheon rather than individual racial ones. I also think it would be cool if there where slight differences between how different races and cultures perceived their deities. Kind of equivalent to the multiple branches of a single faith like christianity or islam. I think it could add a bit of realism and could make for some interesting plot hooks.

Just wanted to add my praise. I really enjoy the pathfinder blogs and the feature on gamesmastery modules have nearly convinced me to get a subscription (money is a bit of an issue).
I think the idea of a searchable archive of previous blog post is a good one but I don't really like the idea of the blog posts being regularly scheduled. I think thwy are fine the way they are myself.

Sorry I am a bit of a Noob on the paizo boards but what exactly is this Pathfinder chat?

I thought she was wearing a cloak she just wasn't using it properly.

Have to agree with John Robey that the iconics in this picture aren't as detailed as they usually are. Having said that, that dragon looks truly amazing. I also really like the carved ston giant faces behind the party. Can't wait to see what you guys at paizo are going to do with the Dragons in pathfinder.

Also thought that the way it was so wide was a bit weird but I guess when they put the figure on the left hand side for the cover it will look a bit less odd.

I can get why people think this may be over reacting or jumping the gun a bit but the prologue makes it pretty obvious that there are some big changes on the way.
Again it may be me pessimistically second guessing wizards but the prologue does mention the destruction visited on "Thay, Mulhorand, Sembia". I don't want to see this nations wiped out. The extract explicitly tells us (spoiler alert) that Luskan has been destroyed and implies that either Eilistraee or her cult has been completely destroyed and this is in the prologue alone.
It's not that I really object to the idea, I once considered doing a post apocalypse forgotten realms campaign, but to make it "canon" seems wrong. There have been big events before but nothing that has completely wiped the slate clean.
I also feel that it makes the incredible depth of history of the realms almost obsolete. Again I can't fully judge as I haven't seen these new changes but if the destruction is as complete as the prologue makes it sound (world gone mad, ruins of a dozens of proud city etc) then they have effectively made the history just a side note. No more warring empires, rival churches or bickering city states, just the ruins of the old forgotten realms to plunder.
As for why this upsets people when we can just DM the realms as we feel like. Well I can't claim to speak for everyone but if the setting changes are as bad as I fear then I will probably never buy another forgotten realms product and that is a hell of a thing to lose. I will never get to read up on new interesting plot developments or new characters because this new forgotten realms differs so much from my one as to make it relatively useless to me. I might as well buy eberron as both are completely different campaign settings to the one I am using.

Right rant over sorry about that. Please forgive if it seems unpleasant or troll-like but it's late and it's a rather reactionary post.