Ever since picking up the card game I thought a spinning playboard to hold the cards would be nice, since there can be a lot of locations and it can be hard to read/reach them all from a single point around a table.
It has spots for all location and their decks, and the blessings deck/discard pile. The tray holding the blessings deck can be removed, in the event you want to place it near a single person that handles advancing the blessings (which is how my group plays). The foamcore is thick enough that it can hold 12-13 sleeved cards before you have to worry about them sliding around (and even then you have to be pretty careless with how you turn the board). Since location decks start with 11 cards...you got room for the villain to run a few times before a location is overflowing.
There are no locations for the current adventure path/scenario cards, but we tend to have those laying off to the side anyway. There also aren't any locations for the character cards, but my group plays with either minis or pawns of their respective characters that we stand on the location card.
The whole thing is 23.5" in diameter, and is made from two layers of foamcore with a printed poster on top for the design. The first layer of foamcore has the inserts cut out so that the cards can be placed in and not move around when the board spins. The board itself is attached to a turntable meant for being placed under a TV, so it's not as free spinning as your typical tabletop "lazy susan" which is perfect because it doesn't drift when you turn it...you spin it to your desired location, and it stops. All slots are designed to fit sleeved cards.
Sorry I don't have any shots of it in play...haven't had a chance to actually do a game with it.
Turntable (via Amazon) - 9.99
Black Foam Core 20x30 (x4) (Walmart) - 2.97/each (Couldn't find anywhere local that had 24x? to fit the whole board...had to create each layer as two pieces)
24x36 Poster printed at Office Depot - 19.99+tax
Board is attached to turntable via 3M Command Strips (the kind for hanging picture frames) so that it can be detached from the turntable and then the turntable can be used for playboards of other games.
Lessons learned:
- Cutting foamcore with an exacto knife sucks because you have to make multiple cuts over the same location due to it's construction
- Cutting 1 inch circles (or half-circles in this case) in foamcore sucks even more because it's tedious and difficult (if I were to make another, my half-circle notches would become squares)
- The location card is a single card and lays flat in a full depth slot. A remake would probably have the card laying at an angle (with the top of the card higher than the base of the board) which could shave a few inches around the overall diameter of the board (maybe even getting it within the 20" size of the foamcore I used)
- Cutting foamcore sucks
- The poster print was the most expensive part and is cosmetic only, next time I think I'd plan better and find a cheaper place online than Office Depot (or not print one at all)...but I got it printed the day I wanted to make it, so there's that.
- Cutting foamcore sucks
Oops! I totally forgot to do my overlay. Here it is with my typical style of overlay. Ill do another with a full grid I suppose.
Edit :
Ok in doing the grid overlay I figured out what the issue was. There were a small border cut off of the left and right side of the map for some reason. I replaced it with white filler... hardly noticeable... but it should line up right now. Not sure How I managed to mess it up in exactly that way but... here are the fixed maps.
Oh...wow. I haven't hit this thread up in ages...come back to find that my extension of Cinchbug's Cathedral has turned into a fully detailed battlemap. Awesome work!
So to answer the question about changing deities, I feel once again that you are not abreast of the entire situation.
I figured as much.
TrustNo1 wrote:
He chose a deity that was outside of the pantheon that my universe supported. I asked him to change to one within the story. Not only did he change, but he changed domains as well. I told him that the change in domains would result in a momentary loss of inquisitor abilities and that he would have to role-play the change (which he did and regained his abilities later). This was not a permanent change, I was just trying to adjust the game to deal with inconsistency.
TrustNo1 wrote:
Fair enough. I was punishing the change of domains rather than the change of deities.
I'm with The Alkenstarian on this one. If the deity existed outside of the pantheon of your universe, it should have changed before a session ever happened. In the event that wasn't possible due to time constraints, a retcon (with appropriate domain power changes) is the best solution.
How exactly did it happen that a character came to exist in your game with an inappropriate deity? Were characters created outside of a game session? Were you unable to review characters before the start of play? Were the players made aware of what deities existed? Answering these may provide answers for avoiding such an issue later.
As many others have mentioned, the "No Evil Characters" rule is common. I use it in my campaigns usually.
I can understand the rulings on the actions being evil, when considering everything that happened. I agree with the earlier post (I'm going to be too lazy to find the exact quote) about killing the ringmaster being Neutral, framing the strong man as being mildly evil, etc. It was mentioned in the OP that you "shifted" the alignment, and didn't change it (something I think some have overlooked). That counts as sufficient warning in my book. I think that if they had just killed the ringmaster...that's not exactly evil, just neutral (her certainly didn't appear to be innocent) but there is a lot more to the picture.
I'm actually much more interested in something else in the thread...and that's the request to change deity. If I understand this correctly, the GM (TrustNo1) asked the player (arcanine) to change their deity for no other reason than the GM didn't like it? And when the player agreed, treated the character as if it became an ex-inquisitor? That seems off...I certainly hope there is more to it than that.
Finally, there is this:
TrustNo1 wrote:
However, unless a developer clarifies a rule, I have a hard time accepting the ruling of the forums. No offense guys, but you are just a drop of sugar in a sea of vinegar. By that, I mean that anyone can have an opinion, but I prefer an official ruling before I change the rules.
I can agree that you shouldn't blindly change your way of thinking because of the forums. Hopefully though, you do consider the information that the the pool of experience provides in your decisions when controversy is at hand. It has been my experience that no matter how much I think I am right on something, someone who views it from a different perspective can add some much needed light to an otherwise questionable ruling. Ultimately, you are the voice of rules in your campaign, but that voice need not lack ears.
4 - Because they are trying to emulate the table top.
I've seen this tossed out there for the idea of touch-based healing on more than one occasion (so don't take this as me pointing at you, you just provided a good quote for this thread)...
That's great, it is. But...not everything about a tabletop game translates well to an MMO.
Pathfinder tabletop has turn based actions with grid based movement. The MMO is real time and is not confined to a grid. This means that moving into touch range and healing is more problematic than the tabletop equivalent.
Also, the "trying to emulate the tabletop" excuse seems to be tossed around as is convenient. In my table top games monsters drop loot, coin can be used to buy equipment, there are classes, and XP isn't earned at a static rate. They went away from "emulating" Pathfinder a long time ago. If we can cherry pick those things, we can cherry pick touch based healing...
After looking over the Improved Targeting of the Dev Blog I have some questions/concerns/etc.
Quote:
Increase tab and click targeting range to 80 meters. You should be able to target anything you can see.
Is this needed? Right now the target box on models seems to be very small, making click targeting problematic. When fighting a group, it is hard to click-target the next mob that you want to kill, making it so you have to tab through the cycle of targets. Sometimes you have to tab through the targets of a nearby group before you get back to the target you really want to attack...adding range to the tab system is going to make this worse. Also, I can't see what I have targeted at the current maximum range because there is either no text identifying the target or it is so small it is unreadable, I assume this would be the same with additional range.
Targeting box needs to be increased, as well as the size of text floating above a target's name. A target hud would also be nice.
Quote:
Tab targeting will include hostile player characters.
Great. Have the various bugs with accidentally targeting players been fixed (like the click-thru hud bug?) If not, I see this tab targeting change coupled with bugs/misclicks simply leading to more misclicks and more lost reputation.
Quote:
The system will autotarget anything that attacks you if you have no current target.
I see both positives and negatives with this. On one hand, I've encountered the problem of clearing groups (or thinking I had cleared a group) and there is still an archer targeting me that I have to track down...this will help in that. It will also help if players ambush other players, the victim(s) will have a chance to see where the attackers are and react. The question is should this be how it works?
Quote:
Shift+Tab will let you tab through player characters but not NPCs, monsters or resource nodes.
This is great. Can we maybe add to and adjust this some? Might I recommend the following (or some variation of):
In addition, a hotkey or two could be added as per a suggestion I seen in another thread that targets "nearest", it could use the secondary keys as well. So, if we were to use say "Q" for this key it would like:
* Q targets nearest mob
* Shift+Q targets nearest friendly player
* Ctrl+Q targets nearest hostile player
* Alt+Q targets nearest resource node
The definition of a thing seldom depends on characteristics of other things but on the characteristics of that thing itself. Strategy is strategy regardless whether there is or isn't any counter.
Paying 5000 dollars someone to betray his guild is strategic too, it doesn't mean that it has any place in the game.
If someone can log-off and wait for days, your only option is to stay connected for days, waiting for him to come back. That's not strategic, that's just exploit.
Actually Cynge said the part about 'it isn't strategy if there's no counter'. I said the next line. You said the paying 5000 dollars part. And actually paying the 5000 would be a tactic: why you paid 5000 dollars would be part of your strategy.
No offense, but arguing semantics over a few words is really detracting from the talking points of the conversation.
Audoucet's point, as does mine, still remains. The validity of the tactic or strategy in regards to game mechanics is less relevant than whether the ability to do so should exist within the game in the first place. Whether it falls within the definition of tactic or strategy isn't relevant at all.
If I'm wandering around and I snag a node that I didn't realize was in an owned hex or an owned hex that restricted such things, why should I be penalized?
Ignorance of a given law isn't an excuse...unless there is no way to find out the given law. Good rule of thumb, don't mine the node unless you know it's safe...
Now, if there's no way to view what the give laws for a settlement are...it can be bad. I would hope there would be a way to look at a settlement's hex and see what laws are applicable to their controlled hexes.
That or, as you said, the UI that says "Hey doing that is bad"
I've had a projector sitting in my closet for over a year now...waiting to be hooked up for use in my Pathfinder games. This week I finally got around to building the framework for the display as well as the contraption (there really is no better word for it) for hanging the projector and mirror from the ceiling....
It gets tested in an actual game next weekend...should be fun!
Info on the setup:
Using Roll20 as the VTT software with the following hardware:
InFocus LP120 Projector - picked up for $50 from my ex-employer's going out of business sale, projects at 1024x768 resolution (nothing fancy...but cheap!)
32'x48' Markerboard from the local big name lumber store for display surface...ran $10.51 and the surface is dry erasable (bonus!)
Wood for frame from same local big named lumber store...ran about $10...
The surface is mounted to the frame using 3M command strips for mounting frames...that way I didn't have to nail through the display and it makes it easy to remove the surface from the frame if it gets damaged, or if I want to swap it out with a different topper.
The mirror is mounted to a piece of plywood (same 3M strips) that is screwed into the ceiling...from that I have four eye-hooks for hanging the projector cradle. The cradle is just a wooden box so the projector points up at the mirror...hung using a bit of small-link chain so that I an adjust the height a bit if needed and also put it up/take it down with ease and repeatability. (Sorry no pictures of the cradle...didn't think of it at the time.)
Shayliss hit up the party fighter in my campaign...or what the group thought was the party fighter.
After they made a trip to the swamp and the fighter got captured (and subsequently tortured and killed) by the Licktoad goblins, the group mounted a successful rescue attempt and brought back a Faceless Stalker to Sandpoint as the party fighter.
He awoke in his room to a half-naked Shayliss that wanted to reward him properly for everything he had done to help Sandpoint and her family. They got together at least one other time after that.
During the trip into the Glassworks, and their encounter with Tsuto (who knew the fact that the fighter was actually a Faceless Stalker under Nualia's control) the Faceless Stalker turned on the party, who managed to kill him.
The post-combat realization that Shayliss hadn't slept with their fighter but instead a shape changing aberration was fairly entertaining. They are all convinced that Shayliss is pregnant with a demon spawn, which one PC has declared dibs on (something about it being a perfect fit for the mercenary group he wants to start).
High quality items are those that have a DC higher then 10
Can you cite the source that states DC 10 is high quality?
Aelryinth wrote:
'High Quality' is not DC 15
As per the craft rules, a high quality item has a DC 15. This is the only source that I have seen that specifically calls out High Quality and includes a DC. I'm not saying there aren't others, just that I haven't seen them.
As I said before, you've pointed out on a few occasions that any interpretation other than your own is a house rule, yet you aren't giving any credible source for this reason.
For what it's worth...I agree with part of your interpretation of Fabricate. You can't cast it twice for the same item. You can't use it to make a normal item into a masterwork item (i.e. a longsword into a masterwork longsword). I don't see anything in the spell description that denies ANY masterwork item from being created however.
EldonG wrote:
Cool, he's saying he's lenient, and that's what he'd allow. I doubt he's thought it through to the logical conclusion.
Are you saying that since the "logical conclusion" is that Fabricate can ruin an economy that means the rules state it can't create Masterwork items? That's kind of flawed. Balance issues shouldn't factor into a strict interpretation of the rules...they should factor into house ruling the crap out of it so the player wizard doesn't make a fortune.
Aelryinth, I can respect your stance on this and for the most part you have some solid information. However, you have a hard stance that you claim is from a strict RAW angle and that "any other reasoning is a house rule". However, you seem to imply that every use of the Fabricate spell requires a craft check.
Aelryinth wrote:
To make anything with Fabricate, you have to make a craft check or the spell fails to spin your raw materials together properly.
This is not in the spell description. The spell description specifically says that a craft check is required on items requiring a high degree of craftsmanship. If it does not require such a high degree, no check is made. What can be debated is what constitutes "high degree" (as someone else mentioned).
You also take a stance that Plate is of higher quality than Chainmail. Can you show me where this is stated in the rules? I'm not asking for the DCs either, the DC defines how hard the item is to make...not it's quality. If DC defined quality, then our only point of references would be that anything of DC 15 or higher is considered "high quality" as per the Craft rules that point out "high quality item (bell)" as having a DC 15.
Assuming that DC 15 = High Quality is what is intended, then Fabricate could still create Masterwork items....but only if the original item was less than a DC 15. A chain shirt is a DC 14, so Fabricate could be used to create one of masterwork quality, requiring a single craft check on the DC 20 masterwork component.
If DC 15 != High Quality, then the only point of reference we have for quality is masterwork which means that Fabricate could create any masterwork item requiring a craft check for the masterwork component.
I happen to be of the opinion (though not a fan of the idea) that Fabricate can create Masterwork items and that this constitutes the "high degree of craftsmanship" that would then require the DC 20 masterwork check. Economy breaking? Yeah. But that's magic, it has a tendency to screw everything up.
I think no matter how we look at this...it's a good candidate for a FAQ. Someone care to write up a post that has information clear enough (not this debate) for FAQing?
So no one knows about the speeches for the Swallowtail Festival?
I have a somewhat long winded introduction that I plan on giving to my players. The portions of the speech were borrowed from a source sometime ago...I can't recall the source (iirc it was a play-by-forum version of Runelords). It's below in a Spoiler tag due to size.
The timing of the start for my campaign is the speeches will be occurring right around lunch time, rather than in the morning, so you'll notice some variations on what is happening compared to the sequence provided in the book. The map referenced can be found here. I also made up dragon icons for the dragon races game which can be found here. For info on the games, check out the Swallowtail Festival Games thread.
Edit: The PDF version of the map has some graphic issues...if you have MS Publisher you can download the original file here.
Spoiler:
The Swallowtail Festival has officially arrived upon the town of Sandpoint, and in the time you’ve spent here you’ve come to realize the importance this moment has on the citizens of this quaint town. It brings closure to a series of events from five years ago, referred to as “the Late Unpleasantness”, when a seemingly harmless eccentric named Jarvis Stoot snapped, embarking on a killing spree that would have been shocking and unsettling in Magnimar, and was catastrophic in sleepy Sandpoint. Nearly two dozen people were stalked and killed before ‘Chopper’ died resisting arrest. His body had barely cooled before the townspeople had to deal with another tragedy: an accidental fire that destroyed the northernmost quarter of town - starting with the cathedral, where beloved priest Ezakien Tobyn, his daughter, and several acolytes perished.
For five years, the faithful of Sandpoint have attended church in smaller wooden structures hastily rebuilt after the fire, and while their new pastor, Father Zantus, was helpful, kind, and wise, it just wasn’t the same. Now, the new stone cathedral is finally done. All that remains is for the Swallowtail Festival to renew the site’s blessings from the gods.
It is now the first day of fall, and the entire population is gathered in front of the main doors on the western side of the building. Flanking those doors, tall stained glass windows honor Shelyn and Gozreh, whose worshippers share the western chapel. Several merchant tents feature food, clothes, local crafts, and souvenirs. Some of the detritus of construction still lies scattered about, but most of the old scaffolding and waste wood have been repurposed in the construction of the high dais in the southeastern corner of the open square in front of the church. Welcome speeches should begin soon, and in four chairs on the dais can be seen a slender middle-aged woman with short auburn hair, a burly, bald Shoanti man in the uniform of the town Guard, a flamboyant man whose bright clothing is at the height of Magnimar fashion, and, of course, a pleasant-looking cleric whose fine linen robes are elaborately and tastefully embroidered in a repeating pattern of blue butterflies. The first of these individuals stands at half-past eleven, and the crowd quiets.
"It is so delightful to see so many faces here today, both new and familiar," she begins. "To those of you from out of town, I am Kendra Deverin, mayor of Sandpoint, and you are most welcome!" She pauses as the crowd shouts its agreement.
"To those who already know me, I'm glad you could all spare a day to celebrate. I'm sure only Rovansky, our tanner, is too busy to - oh look! Friends, here in the first row, Larz is here!" Loud laughter ripples through the crowd, especially among those who sit close enough to the tanner to see his unamused expression.
"Anyway, I can smell the lunch our tavern keepers are cooking already. A round of applause to Ameiko, Garridan, Cracktooth, and Jargie! I'm sure Father Zantus can spare an extra prayer that they don't burn anything before we get to eat it." More cheering erupts: the aromas drifting over the crowd are glorious.
"Now, since you have three more of us to stand there through, I'm going to sit down. No business today! This is my favorite time of year!"
The next two speeches go just as quickly as the mayor’s. Sherrif Hemlock is as usual far too serious, reminding everyone to be safe around this evening’s bonfire and requesting a moment of silence to remember those who perished in the fire that destroyed the old church.
Cyrdak Drokkus brings the mood back up with a hilarious recap of the long process the town went through to finance and construct the new building. He throws a bit of self-promotion at the end, inviting the townsfolk and visitors to attend his new production of “The Harpy’s Curse” tomorrow night. The lead role of Avisera the harpy queen will be played by none other than the famous Magnimarian diva Allishanda, a definate coup for a theater so far from the city.
Finally, Father Zantus takes the stage to officially open the ceremony. “Today ushers in a new season, many would call this season Autumn. The season which makes summer give way to winter, bring cool air and brightly colored trees to the canvas of the world. But others would refer to this season as Fall...and there is good reason for that. For today also marks the day that Desna fell from the heavens after doing battle with Lamashtu.
Lamashtu gloated as she began to ransack Desna’s palace, laughing all the way as her body fell into the sea below. Though all the world wept for the loss of the goddess, and of dreams, it is said that she survived, wounded, washed up on the rocks of the sea. She was discovered there, on the rocks, by a blind orphan, forgotten and cast aside by all the world. Though the orphan knew not of who she had discovered and could do little for the wounded goddess, she still stayed there by her side, holding a vigil on the beach, praying and tending to her as best she could. And though she tired and knew that the goddess had little chance to recover, she remained all throughout the night and into the week, praying and keeping faith.
And eventually, Desna did recover, though all the world thought her lost; and to thank the child who had prayed for her health, she transformed her into an immortal butterfly to forever remain with her in her palace in the heavens”
Father Zantus motions toward the newly finished cathedral, the sunlight glittering off the stained glass windows. “This story reminds us that tragedy is just a setback, not an end. Though our place of worship was destroyed, and our previous priest, Father Tobyn, perished in the flame, we have persevered as Desna would desire, and built anew. In celebration of our new grand cathedral, let the Swallowtail Festival begin.”
With that, several of the priest’s acolytes throw off the canvas of a nearby wagon, revealing a thousand swallowtail butterflies...the Children of Desna. The butterflies flutter in every direction, eager children chasing them in a futile attempt to catch one.
The crowd begins to disperse to partake in the festival activities. A sign near the podium shows a basic map of sandpoint, with various attractions labeled on the map. In addition to the food stands provided by the taverns that dot the immediate area, the map outlines several games and even a fortune teller. While many of the games are highlighted on the map with markers and painted signs, one is labeled simply with a pinned note.
These are great and I intend to use these in my upcoming Runelords campaign. I've written up the encounters with a couple of adjustments/flavor. First of all, most of the games include the primary award and the "trinkets" usually consist of wooden butterflies, stuff goblin dolls, and wooden swords. Brief descriptions below in spoiler tags since it eludes to the character personalities as they come up.
The Devil Hunt:
Ven Vinder is running The Devil Hunt (I seen someone else on the forum was using him as the operator) and wrote up a roleplay encounter that includes his daughter Shayliss assisting. While the players are interacting, Ven sends his daughter to fetch more pies from her mother...it's obvious by the way she was acting at the game that she wants to be elsewhere and when sent on the errand has no plans to return. Ven is oblivious to this. Set it up this way to foreshadow how the characters play out later.
Lighthouse Smash:
In addition to Aesrick running this game, I included the family from the Monster in the Closet encounter (their name eludes me atm). The son is playing as Aesrick helps him aim, he ends up winning a trinket and picks the sword...to which the mother complains a little and the father states to leave him be, that men don't play with dolls. Again, trying to establish personalities of people that come up again later.
The campaign doesn't start for about a month, but I'll report back on how they went over when it does. If anyone is interested in seeing the full write ups, let me know and I'll post them later.
3 people marked this as FAQ candidate.
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Ok...so I know this has come up in a couple different threads, but I haven't seen this exact thing and I'm a little confused.
Can an arcane caster (say, Sorcerer) use a scroll that has a divine spell that is not on his spell list? (Say, Cure Light Wounds) If so, what would be the necessary UMD checks(s)?
Scrolls wrote:
To have any chance of activating a scroll spell, the scroll user must meet the following requirements.
The spell must be of the correct type (arcane or divine). Arcane spellcasters (wizards, sorcerers, and bards) can only use scrolls containing arcane spells, and divine spellcasters (clerics, druids, paladins, and rangers) can only use scrolls containing divine spells. (The type of scroll a character creates is also determined by his class.)
The user must have the spell on her class list.
The user must have the requisite ability score.
This states three criteria...for the sake of simplicity, let's assume that the third bullet point (ability score) is covered by the natural ability of the sorcerer. This leaves the first two bullet points, I'll cover my understanding/confusion in reverse order.
The user must have the spell on her class list.
Ok. This is pretty black and white. The sorcerer does not. So a UMD check is required.
Use Magic Device wrote:
Use a Scroll: Normally, to cast a spell from a scroll, you must have the scroll's spell on your class spell list. Use Magic Device allows you to use a scroll as if you had a particular spell on your class spell list. The DC is equal to 20 + the caster level of the spell you are trying to cast from the scroll. In addition, casting a spell from a scroll requires a minimum score (10 + spell level) in the appropriate ability. If you don't have a sufficient score in that ability, you must emulate the ability score with a separate Use Magic Device check.
So a DC in this case (assuming all Lvl-1) would be 21. Ok, so if my understanding is clear on that...this part would be covered.
The spell must be of the correct type...
This is the part that I'm not clear on. I get the difference between arcane/divine, but does this mean it is outright banned and that not even a UMD check can accomplish the casting? If a UMD check is allowed, would it be the base "Use Scroll" check (above) or would the sorcerer need to make a check to emulate a class feature? If they have to emulate a class feature, does this mean that two checks are made (1 for the class feature, and 1 for the scroll usage)?
