Chris Shadowens's page

The only way to print them is to go find some evil-doer who's stripped the watermark out and grab the files from them (which of course I don't want to do).

Darn, I was hoping someone'd statted out Jeff Speakman for an NPC. :P

What are the dimensions of this? I'm assuming not life-size. ;)

April?! *sigh* ...the plus side, I guess, is that our games will only suffer the dropped weapons and slipped and fell Fumbles for a little longer.

- Chris Shadowens

One more reason why I'm happy I signed on with Gmail oh so long ago. Can't remember the last time I actually used an ISP's email account (of which Comcast is currently my ISP.)

- Chris Shadowens

A friend who was in our high-school group for years always named his characters the same: Slim Retlaw (his name spelled backwards.) And I think they were always thieves.

And an NPC that appeared in only 1 or 2 sessions, an old man guarding a bridge against passage with his "muscle" backup: a brown dragon, who wasn't terribly smart (and may've been a result of our DM not thinking fast enough) and who, through a short exchange of words, decided his name should be Wagon MugOfAle.

Can't think of any poor names for any of my own characters, not saying every one was a gem, just can't think of a good groaner of a name. Maybe Jyyr'd Fiir'ks't (Fire-kissed), my goblin pyromancer (who, through lack of gaming at the time, only saw 2 sessions of burning everything he could, and who's fiery kukri was named Cha'li..."Charlie", after the character in Firestarter...I love "Easter Eggs"!)? Thankfully I've gotten over my need to add a ridiculous amount of apostrophes in names.

- Chris Shadowens

Bummer, I was all set to add this to my current order so I could finish up the story. Sure, I've got my issues of Dungeon (not sure if my back issues go back to where Book 1 leaves off) but it was so much better to read the story as one cohesive lump instead of the monthly 2-page episodes (or, in the case now, flipping through issue after issue to read the 2 pages.) Oh well, maybe I'll put this on the B-day list for the missus to get me.

- Chris Shadowens

While I have yet to see if my 8-year-old would like to play D&D (we used to play a dice "game" when she was little that consisted of rolling all my dice on the carpet...ah, the simpler times) we have had many "adventures" with the D&D Electronic Board Game. It's fun to play and very visual/aural. Good luck gaming with your child, it sounds fun (and may be something I'll do around our house someday.)

- Chris Shadowens

Man, too many awesome things to buy in January!

- Chris Shadowens

I have lots of magic! Lookit! I can pull my thumb off then put it back on. Ta-daaa! Whoops! How'd that quarter get in your ear?! Hoo-hoo!

Wait, was this about characters we're playing? ;P

- Chris Shadowens

The last couple of mentions still say later this month.

tic-tic-tic

- Chris Shadowens

I'd almost be willing to be that if 4th edition tanks, regardless of what Paizo does, Hasbro is going to get as far away from RPGs as possible, as the whole frustrating thing is that there isn't enough of a profit margin in the industry for them.

- Chris Shadowens

Any estimate of when the coupon will be e-mailed out?

Sometime toward the second half of January.

-Lisa

Thanks, Lisa.
I've been watching my email for that coupon, too, every day.

- Chris Shadowens

And by the way stationary does not mean the same as immobile. In this case I would think that it means it does not move (unlike a cloudkill spell) not that it can't be moved.

- Chris Shadowens

Maybe for the really rarely used skills like balance and forgery. Combining them together...

5 or more ranks gives a +2 synergy bonus to Perform (Calliope).

- Chris Shadowens

I agree eileen. The biggest problem for me(besides lack of good content) is that there is no "magazine".

- Chris Shadowens

I've not sure about the range being touch. Maybe it means it's centered on you (your unaffected by the bats right). I guess putting it on a coin could work but visually it seems weird to me. I would say that it's either centered on you or starts from an adjacent square.

Ah, seems I've possibly found my answer in a mis-read (or just plain missed) line: "The hungry darkness is stationary."

So it would seem that it is as I'd first envisioned it: centered (or at least one of the squares would have to encompass the caster, allowing for a small adjustment to where it's placed) on the character though since it's in a fixed spot the caster could walk out of it unscathed (since the bats don't affect the caster.) I'd originally pictured my warlock sitting in a tavern and when the bill came dropping the hungry darkness then walking out the door, bill unpaid and chaos ensuing behind him.

Still, I think it'd be cool to be able to cast it onto something mobile (then have it fixed in place wherever the object is in the next round) and using that in battle. Like the arrow example I mentioned, seeing the black streak arcing towards the battle then everything is blacked out and the biting begins. Or dropping it down a hole to hit the baddies below.

- Chris Shadowens

My warlock just hit 8th level and I've given him the Hungry Darkness invocation (took Devil's Sight last time around, too, so I can see inside it should I need to.) I'm looking for some clarifications/ideas on some useful ways of dropping it into a fight.

Since it works like Darkness it's range is touch. At first I was thinking that just meant I had to drop it where I was standing but since it can be cast onto something, just like Light, can I cast it on, say, a coin and toss the coin into the battle (grenade-style)? Or onto an arrow and fire it into something or someone?

Also, it says the bat swarm occupies every square of the 20' radius (which differs from the 10' square a bat swarm normally takes up) which is 44 squares versus the 4 the normal swarm takes up. Should the swarm stats be beefed up to account for the additional space they take up or is it assumed there is overall the same amount of bats but they're more spread out?

Any further useful tricks/tactics anyone can share with this invocation?

- Chris Shadowens

Yeah I hear they will not make any more and after they sell out that is it.

I have no idea why this is.

While it's a drag for those who didn't get one of the current designs I'm looking forward to picking up a different one. Can't have enough goblins in my wardrobe!

- Chris Shadowens

I hate mosquitoes

I hated termite season in Hawaii, when the winged, wormy bugs were EVERYWHERE, clouding the sky.

I remember a couple of occurrences, one was when I was in high school up late watching TV and feeling something on my back. The window was open so I thought the wind was blowing the curtain pull-cord, thought that's what it was. Lights were out but for the TV so couldn't initially see anything...then it fell in past the tv, then another and another. I jump up out of bed, and hit the light and there they were, covering nearly the entire window's screen, hundreds, possibly thousands of termites, assumingly attracted to the tv's glow like moths. They'd find their way past the screen and they're wings drop off leaving the creepy-crawly body which is what I'd initially felt. I shut the window and started hunting bugs to squish. *ick*

The other occurrence was when I was living on the Big Island and we were heading home from town one night and needed to stop for gas. There was a Chevron along the way, which I'd never really noticed was kind of there by itself, no other shops nearby. As we're pulling up to it, the bright lights in the ceiling over the pumps a glowing beacon in the blackened night sky (the Hilo side of the island is pretty sparse in areas population-wise) and there they were, like the thickest fog you can imagine but localized in the lighted area only. Being the good kid I was I spared my mom the heinousness of the termite cloud and got out to pump the gas trying my hardest to not completely freak out.

- Chris Shadowens

What made the grapefruit so damned special as to warrant it's own utensil? Why don't more people just peel and eat them? I don't see any orange spoons or tangerine spoons or kumquat spoons.

What on the gods' green earth is a kumquat?

It sounds dirty.

Seriously, though, you wouldn't need a utensil for kumquats as they're tiny and the rind is edible...though I suppose you could use a grapefruit spoon made at dollhouse scale.

- Chris Shadowens

One of our cats does that. She kills mice and then eats all of them except for the heads which she leaves staring up at you on the floor in placs that you're likley to step in the early morning.

- Chris Shadowens

"I'm not advocating violence, I'm just saying it works and I highly
suggest using it."
- Ask A Ninja, askaninja.com

- Chris Shadowens

"We are professionals, we take our jobs seriously, and we never, ever make mistakes. ... How do you turn this f*%*ing camera off..."
- Nathan Fillion

- Chris Shadowens

*BUMP*

- Chris Shadowens

What I hated about the article was when he said they were going to DITCH traps altogether.

Way to go WotC. If you can't fix it in 5 minutes for the new edition, ditch it! That's probably why so many sacred cows were slaughtered in the first place.

As I recall, when 2E was being rolled out it wasn't spitting in the face of 1E, just saying that we've had a long time to look at things and thought a smoothing out was in order. My take on 4E, and it's a very limited-exposure-take as I've purposely avoided nearly all coverage for 4E thusfar, is that they've looked at all the work done with 3.0/3.5 and said it's completely unfun and unplayable, so here's something new. Maybe that thought is skewed from the few anti-4E posts I've read but I get a few updates here and there from my gaming group (who seem glued to EN's boards) and that's what I can gather thusfar. I'm not pro- or anti-4E. I'm pro-D&D and it's been fun for all the iterations I've been playing since 1981 so I find I take some offense when I feel those handling the product dump on its building blocks.

- Chris Shadowens

Sound like the game has been designed by a bunch of soccer mom's who want to make sure everyon gets a trophy.

- Chris Shadowens

If my Black Leaf ever died, I just don't know what I'd do...

Nice!

Or as Cosmo frequently notes,

I see what you did there.

...I can't wait til I'm 13 level...
Or is it 9? I can never remember...

Tch-tch-tch, poor Marcie...hey, can I have that dragon figure since you're not using it anymore?

- Chris Shadowens

I was editing WotC's Magic Item Record Sheet so that the slots would be text fields, for ease of record keeping and I'm running into what I'd think was an easy fix but isn't presenting itself as such.

I've created all the text fields for the item and reference boxes as well as 3 large text fields over the lines in the misc. items box at the bottom of the sheet (with solid white backgrounds and multiple lines selected so one can type whatever into the fields.) The option I'm not figuring out is how to make the text auto-scale to fit within the text fields, which is necessary for printing the sheet out (where a scroll bar obviously wouldn't work.)

Can anyone direct me further? I'm assuming it's something simple that I'm just overlooking but browsing the Help file isn't turning up what I'm looking for.

- Chris Shadowens

I haven't looked: Does skillful have a gp value instead of a + in MIC?

I initiated a similar debate a few months ago and through comparisons we established the cost of a feat at about 5k. Placing it on a magic weapon (and thus not using an item slot) might make it a +1 or +2 adjustment instead.

As I was looking at building it into an Augment Crystal instead I looked at the prices of those to see if something was roughly an equivalent cost. A Crystal of Energy Assault (Lesser) is 3k, adds +1d6 damage which is the same as the various +1 weapon bonuses that add damage. Maybe this is better gauge of cost?

On a different branch, I looked at something as basic as Bull's Strength for simply offsetting the -4 to attacks for being non-proficient (which is really all I'm trying to work around with this magic item). Gauntlets of Ogre Power (which uses Bull's Strength in their creation) give a +2 strength bonus for attacks and damage but if something could instead give +4 to attack, no damage bonus, that could effectively cancel out the non-proficiency penalty. Further, if it's placed into an Augment Crystal it'd have to be attached to a Martial Weapon (Exotic Weapons could have a crystal, too) to be useful and would ultimately only emulate having the appropriate feat, not actually give a +4 bonus. Thusly, it could feasibly still cost 4000gp.

Or am I way off? Man, making magic items is exhausting!

- Chris Shadowens

I'll open with: I've not used the magic item creation tables to make my own magic items despite having played 3.5 for a number of years now. Just haven't had the need to until now and I'm looking for some assistance.

I'm looking to create an item, was thinking initially a ring but after going through the Magic Item Compendium I'm thinking it could be an Augment Crystal.

What I'm looking to do is create an item that'll allow the user to use a weapon they wouldn't otherwise be able to do, effectively giving the user the Martial Weapon Proficiency, either for a specific weapon or have it be generic, allowing the user the "emulated" proficiency with whatever martial weapon the crystal is attached to. Assumingly, it could also be done for Exotic Weapon Proficiency, at a higher cost I imagine.

I guess what I need is to know how to price a feat as accurately as one can.

I did find Gloves of the Balanced Hand (Magic Item Compendium) that emulates the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. Would the cost of that be essentially interchangeable with a Martial Weapon Proficiency (or cost less if it allows only a specific type of weapon instead of whatever it's attached to?).

Or, should all this be for naught, is there a magic item somewhere (even non-WotC-sourced) that does what I'm looking for here?

Thanks to any and all that can help me iron this out.

- Chris Shadowens

*** Reposting below as something happened to my original post (even though it shows up in my Recent Posts section. ***

It doesn't really have to have anything to do with illithids, I just need some flaws for Lame, my changeling rogue. He works as a cunning assassin, and I can't find any flaws that would work. Any ideas?

• Curious or Inattentive - You're easily distracted, especially while studying your intended targets.
  
• Feeble - You've chosen to be an assassin because stalking and slaying from the shadows is favorable to toe-to-toe combat.
  
• Grudge Keeper - You're pissed at yourself that your death attack failed, you can't quite see straight in the ensuing fight.
  
• Haunted - Strange, ghostly sounds uncontrollably emit from you; possibly the restless souls of past marks?
  
• Shaky - Makes it tough to be a sniper.
  
• Skulker - You really prefer to stay in the shadows, so much so you tend to empty your bladder if you have to enter melee.
  
• Unreactive - Your myopic assassin's eye is so focused it leaves you rather susceptible to attacks.
  

That's just from skimming through the list, you may find others that fit the overall feel of your character even better. I didn't include any stats as I wasn't sure if that was okay though I did mention above the issues of Dragon Magazine that had Flaws articles (you can get the ones from the UA from the Hypertext SRD) I hope this helps. I love using Flaws, wish I'd gotten to propose them with character generation in our current campaign. Too late now.

- Chris Shadowens

It doesn't really have to have anything to do with illithids, I just need some flaws for Lame, my changeling rogue. He works as a cunning assassin, and I can't find any flaws that would work. Any ideas?

• Curious or Inattentive - You're easily distracted, especially while studying your intended targets.
  
• Feeble - You've chosen to be an assassin because stalking and slaying from the shadows is favorable to toe-to-toe combat.
  
• Grudge Keeper - You're pissed at yourself that your death attack failed, you can't quite see straight in the ensuing fight.
  
• Haunted - Strange, ghostly sounds uncontrollably emit from you; possibly the restless souls of past marks?
  
• Shaky - Makes it tough to be a sniper.
  
• Skulker - You really prefer to stay in the shadows, so much so you tend to empty your bladder if you have to enter melee.
  
• Unreactive - Your myopic assassin's eye is so focused it leaves you rather susceptible to attacks.
  

That's just from skimming through the list, you may find others that fit the overall feel of your character even better. I didn't include any stats as I wasn't sure if that was okay though I did mention above the issues of Dragon Magazine that had Flaws articles (you can get the ones from the UA from the Hypertext SRD) I hope this helps. I love using Flaws, wish I'd gotten to propose them with character generation in our current campaign. Too late now.

- Chris Shadowens

I framed my card last night and hung it on the wall near the computer (thanks Ikea's frame department!), despite my wife's quizzical looks. Love the art and the song's a definite winner. Thanks, Paizo, and a Happy Winterfest to us all!

- Chris Shadowens

To anyone who owns Q-Workshop dice...is there anything special about them other than the really awesome designs etc. that makes them worth more than twice what a normal set of say, Chessex dice are?

- Chris Shadowens

Hi Chris,

Replying to your email right now! I apologize for the mixup!

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly and for fixing the mixup. As always, Paizo's above and beyond the norm for customer service and having people like you working for them is why! :D

- Chris Shadowens

Hello,

I got my shipment in the mail today (huzzah!) and while everything was lovingly packed I found that an incorrect book was in the box. I received Green Ronin's - Temple Quarter and I'd originally ordered Green Ronin's - Thieves' Quarter. My online invoice says I ordered Thieves' Quarter as does the printout in the box. Can we swap out the books? While temples are interesting structures the thieves, to me, are the bunch I'm really interested in.

== Chris Shadowens

c.c. email

...I find it curiously refreshing to have Nicolas Logue's writing contain dark, dreary, and outright vile scenarios unfold. It's a tremendous change from the PC modules of yore where everyone would kiss at the end of the module because they won the day. Screw that.

- Chris Shadowens

Howdy Paizo Folk,

Was curious as to the status of this order, placed on November 19th and still in pending-mode. Thanks for any info you can impart.

- Chris Shadowens

Crap, I missed out on these (having only recently seen, after buying a box of both booster sets, what a nice resource these cards can be)...is this set getting reprinted?

- Chris Shadowens

The diet drug, which causes “oily discharge.” Yeah, I wouldn’t eat again either.

I don't think she took more than a couple of the pills, she never said why but I think the paranoia got to her.

- Chris Shadowens

Glitter.

If you touch anything with glitter on it, greeting cards are HUGE culprits here, it gets on you. You wipe & wash and still you find it on you. It gets on your clothes, it doesn't come out, just relocates, maybe to the floor but it's still there, and now it'll transfer to your foot then to somewhere else in the house. The worst, of course, is getting it in your eye, which'll only serve to scratch your eye up in the frantic attempts to get it out of there...plus it'll just be stuck to your finger at that point and the cycle continues.

- Chris Shadowens

1) Muppeteer / Puppeteer (preferably the former, chosen around 5 years old)
2) Stunt Man (also around 5 or 6)
3) Comic book artist (didn't come up with that until 11 or 12)

- Chris Shadowens (who's been slinging espresso for the last 14 years)

I don't think anything new soon... he has been having health problems, which are delaying the strips coming out on the website.

- Chris Shadowens

Was wondering if anyone knew if Rich was putting out another collection book any time soon. I've read all 4 books thusfar (yes, I know, one can just read the strips online, I just prefer the books) and would love to sit in my comfy chair with a cup of coffee and the tales of my favorite band of mis-adventurers.

- Chris Shadowens

I've been collecting electrical slugs from construction sites to use as coins.

As for the coins, I agree that's kinda pricey but still cheaper than, from what I understand, having them shipped from Australia to the US. I might pick up a box just to have a set, they are really nice looking.

- Chris Shadowens

Is there a picture of these guys in one of the GameMastery modules or Pathfinder?

I swear I remember seeing a picture somewhere, but can't remember where.

Anyone?

- Chris Shadowens

Interesting, says Davenport is a Writing Desk. My late aunt always referred to the couch as the davenport, especially when we were jumping up and down on it. Hooligans that my brother and I were, I'm sure we wouldn't have jumped on the writing desk. Now the coffee table...

- Chris Shadowens

But at least its for charity:

FreeRice

...finally, my 26 years of D&D pays off! :)

- Chris Shadowens

...went to look at a game product (Dark Tower module) and my shopping cart was filled with 3 items that I'd bought ages ago. I removed them, and all seems fine, but that was weird. Even had Monte Cook's Best of d20 in there (which was auto-removed as it's not available...wish Monte'd compiled subsequent books, it's a great book!) Anyhoo, just thought I'd mention.

- Chris Shadowens