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 Recent Posts
Chapter One - Burnt Offerings
p11 - dogslicer (x3)
I'm in the process of running this path and found a few things lacking that I would like to have. Sooo... I took the initiative. First, I'd love some assistance in the following if you happen to be able to help. I've heard that there was a list (perhaps made available by James Jacobs at some point) that matched the RotRL cards with the items in the books. I'd LOVE to have this list. :) My two hours of fighting with the message board search function (I'm SO DANG TIRED of only getting people's profiles as results), I've given up on finding it myself for now. My goal is to have loot lists (inspired by Gamer Girrl's for CotCT), then linking cards to the magic/special stuff with those lists. I'm also going to take a crack at Knowledge Checks, with the end result hopefully going towards the making of small card handouts for my players.
Oh, certainly! Spoiler:
My current plans (subject to change as usual) are that she will send a sinspawn or two which causes issues in the town - no one but the party will really know where they came from. :)
Hence, they will easily handle the spawn and have reason to go back in there and finish her off. By the time that happens they should be almost 4th level with a much better handle on their characters and the like.
Except . . . ** spoiler omitted ** I thought about that before I did it, but in the end I conceded to the following: Spoiler:
I have a table with brand-new-to-table-top-RPGs players. At this point, I want to use her as a device to illustrate that actions have consequences which will spill over. Having her just stay there would feel too much like a video game where everyone just stays in their spot and you can run away and come back whenever you want.
Additionally, my players had already started worrying out loud that she was going to wreak havoc on the town after they escaped. I'd hate to let them down. ;) I haven't had to determine exactly what she's going to do yet - my players are still in the middle of Thistletop for at least two more sessions. However, *something* is going to happen as a result of them running from her... and it's definitely not going to be a picnic! As a general rule, I always change anything in modules if it flows better for my group. Nothing is so sacred that I can't (and shouldn't!) change it in the name of more fun for my players. :)
{snip} So I say, don't convert! Try her out with the current stats and see how it works! I did just that a few weeks ago. :) The party (a Fighter, Bard, Rogue, & Cleric) had just gotten to 2nd level before they moved in to fight her after finishing up the glassworks. She mopped the floor with them. I think a good chunk of that was the fighter, who really was the only one who could pour on the damage fast enough to beat her down, was not able to roll double-digits for attacks. So... they retreated, got followed invisibly by Erylium out into the world and will be messing around with the town shortly as the party is away at Thistletop. Perhaps she will be able to do enough to get another level in the meantime. Those four CR2s were a juicy bump for her... ;)
Huzzah! Thank you for looking into it for me. :)...Your icon is creepy as heck. ;)
I am really looking forward to this one. Additionally, I have absolutely no interest or place in my campaign for iconics, and would be very sad if they comprised more than 25% of the available miniatures for any adventure path. I've purchased all of the miniatures that are not iconics and plan on keeping that up as you release them. Each of them have looked fantastic and have been a joy to paint! Crocodile Games has really won me over with their product quality as well - I only wish they had something akin to the Dark Legends line for use in my Pathfinder games! :) Unfortunately, I'm not into wargaming and do not have a Dark Sun or Egyptian based game. :(
That is what I figured. :( Obviously that's the better option for the business, but it kind of thwarts the end result I'm looking to get. So the only way I can show my interest in these pre-order miniatures without paying $100 dollars for shipping, for now, would be to post "yay!" in their threads? Would that be considered as pre-orders might?
I have been following some of your products, most notably the Pathfinder Rise of the Runelords miniatures from Crocodile Games (which are filled with awesome!). I've gotten almost all of them as they have been released. I understand that pre-orders are made not only as a convenience to the consumer, but as a yard-stick of interest and committed funds for the manufacturer to better determine interest and the quantity they want to order. As such, I try to pre-order things that I am interested in to help keep those numbers "true". However, when I do this through your online system, I am forced to pay full shipping on each piece just to tag them. While I understand the reason for this to keep the money straight in general, it makes doing a number of pre-orders vastly more expensive than if I just waited for them to be released. In my mind, that would kind of negate the (what I see as crucial) point that I want you and Crocodile to know I REALLY want them to be made! When an order is made, the in-stock items have the option to ship together or wait until all of them are available with the pre-orders/out-of-stock items. Would it be possible to break the pre-orders out to their own group? Then have the option to set them "wait til all are available to ship" and set only one shipping cost for the pre-orders, independent of the in-stock stuff? My intent is to show that I have interest in the product and put money behind that interest. I'm sensitive to the issue that a check box saying "yay!" is NOT the same in business as having paid in advance!
After this wave, Crocodile is dropping the "one volume per wave" concept; the next wave includes iconics and villains from a few different places. What does "a few different places" mean? Does that mean across Adventure Paths with a few iconics from each path in one set, or will it be the "Rise of the Runelords set" and then a "Crimson Throne set"?
This is a question really for all of the Pathfinder Mini line, not just this new (awesome) Ogre. I was wondering what the release schedule is going to be for future minis? I've been really impressed by the quality of the sculpting from Crocodile Games. I'm pretty committed to buying almost anything they make for the Pathfinder line. However, I'm just now running the Rise of the Runelords twice a month and I know I'm going to outpace the miniatures provided pretty soon. Due to the speed at which these have been created, I'd really like to see at least the major villains/set-piece enemies of the whole adventure path put out as a "batch" for the next three batches. I was thinking that you may be able to catch up with the adventure paths that way, and give all of your customers cool minis to grace their tables with. Is there anything like this in plan? Is there a plan that you can share? Are they just going to micro-create these minis at this glacial pace compared to the modules? I can't speak for everyone, but I'm more inclined to purchase something for my game if I can get it before I run the appropriate parts for the mini than if it comes out after I've run it... and I know I'm well behind a lot of customers.
Maybe I missunderstood the chapter so that there are the listed domain powers, but if this is so where are the domain spells? Can anybody please help me. Domains are being handled a bit differently in Pathfinder than in 3.5 OGL: 3.5: Each Domain had a spell to choose from, from 1st to 9th. These were existing spells, sometimes mirroring arcane spells, that your character could choose to memorize as a "bonus" spell. PRPG: Each Domain has a number of "powers" that sometimes function like spells but are not spells per se. It is a bit confusing, however this gives some added flexibility to the concept of domains without having to add extra spells which could potentially cause overall balance issues. Also allows for each "power" to have scaling components so that they can remain effective throughout a character's adventuring career. Domains and the powers gained from them are outlined in Chapter 11, starting at page 176 with the Air Domain.
... After talking about it a little with some of my players, I think I'm leaning towards going to this. Thank you for explaining! I'm sure Piazo is glad to see so many people using the crit / fumble decks. They are a bit too brutal for my tastes currently. If I were going to do anything like that, I'd go back to the devestating MERP charts. :) Thanks to everyone for answering. Please continue! I'm interested in hearing everyone's opinions / way of doing this even if it's just "I follow RAW". I'll put up stat percentages after we hit 50 replies! :)
Basically I'm curious as to who still confirms their criticals and who has decided to house-rule that out and let all combat 20s crit? Obviously pre-3rd edition confirmation was unnecessary. Additionally, having run SAGA Star Wars since launch, I'm really seeing critical confirming as an anti-climatic, miniature time-sink.
As a long time player of Clerics in D&D (through-out since Basic; from 1st level to ~18 multiple times), I have to agree with the sentiment of Hooray for Unlimited Orisons. I don't think most of them should "scale", otherwise you're opening a huge can of worms in terms of balance and possibly bookeeping in the long term for very little benefit. Now as to more to choose from... that I'm on the fence about. Is there something in particular you had in mind that seems like a hole in need of a patch?
It means that if you touch a mundane lantern, torch, candle, small campfire, etc. using this ability, the fire will extinguish. Which lanterns/torches? Normal ones, such as those from the Equipment section of the Beta. Also, what does "Touching a creature affected by this ability causes the duration to reset but does not stack." mean? It means to say that it will not get cumulative effects of the -2 penalty for each casting of the spell on the target. For example, say you are a fourth level cleric and cast it on an Orc and give it a -2 for four rounds. You then use it again on the same orc three rounds later - it still only has -2 (Not a -4 from two instances of -2 "stacking"), but now it will last another four rounds. Another example: You are the same cleric and cast it on a bugbear. He now has -2 and it will last for four rounds. Mr.I'mtheAwesomeNPC, who is a 7th level cleric with the same ability, ALSO casts it on the same Orc on the next round. The Orc still only has a -2 (not a -4), but it now lasts seven rounds from that round, instead of the original four. Who's touch? A second touch by the Cleric? Anyone with that ability - it could be the same Cleric, another Cleric, or anything else that ends up with that ability. A couple of other powers have this same line about not stacking. What Stacking is and how to deal with it is detailed on 156-157 of the Beta.
Personally I've never liked round tables. Too egalitarian. As a DM I always feel like anywhere I sit is incorrect. Interesting. I hadn't considered your point at all, really. I see DMing as arbitration position that doesn't require me to be "at the head of the table". In fact, one of the primary draws I have to a circular table is that most people are relatively closer to me as DM - saves on problems with people not being able to hear what I say. It also creates more space in the center for game maps / minis. Have you tried playing at a kidney-bean-shaped table?
I currently have an 8'x4' wooden train-layout table that I use(d?) for gaming. I used to run 6-7 player tables, in which this worked great for. However, over the past three years or so, not only has my group shrank down to 4 players (so 5 total people instead of 8) but so has my inclination to be 8' away from my players. One day about a year ago the game room became unavailable so I ended up playing at my (smaller) rectangular dining room table. We never moved back. Being closer together made the game more enjoyable - or at least that's how it felt. I then went to GenCon and ran at a 6' circular table for the first time. Now I want to get back to the game room and revamp the space and I'm having a hard time deciding: Circular table or smaller rectangle?
I'm thinking a 5' or 5-1/2' circular table would be ideal for a table of 5 people. Anyone with experience or opinion on this matter, I'd love to hear it. Thanks!
I would like to second this - I print the photos of NPCs out on 4x6 photo paper to show my players instead of trying to cover half of the module spoiler text so that they can see who they are talking to. I don't do different voices very well, so this use is key to my GMing multiple NPCs; especially in town-centric adventures where I may switch roles dozens of times in a session.
This is a hard-to-answer question in the respect that you're asking something that is personal preference and persepective. However, with that caveat in mind, I will offer my opinions. I have run every version of Star Wars RPGs. D6 was good, especially the later editions, and d20/d20Rev. was horrible. The primary game killers for me were specifically the Jedi were WAY overpowered compared to other classes and the Starship system was unviable and simply not fun. D20 Revised was better than d20, but neither fixed those two main problems and so neither were good. I don't really see Force Powers as being "weaksace", as you put it, in d20/d20Rev - my experience was that if you had only one Jedi in the party, everyone was just watching them do everything. If you had a party of Jedi, it was mega-beat-stick time. SAGA is a breath of fresh air. I started running it from launch and just recently ran seven slots of it for GenCon '08 under the RPGA, so I have just as much experience as anyone not on the Dev team does. :) Star Wars, to me, is supposed to be epic space opera that is cinematic in feel. That translates as something that is fast moving, mostly balanced across the board, but with enough flexibility to do outrageous things and make it work on the fly. It succeeds in all of that and more. I love the system, and think it is perfect for Star Wars. There are some nit-picky things I can bring up, but all-in-all, a great system that is getting better with every book. I would say the only open question in your list is the "potential" of Force Powers. For this I would point to my opening warning - it depends on what you expect out of Force Powers and how you perceive how powerful it "should be". I don't see the Force as giving someone god-like powers; even Yoda had to take a breather in a good fight. However, for mechanics and overall game balance (i.e. making a Jedi character compelling and fun to play without making everyone else seem useless at the same time), it works very well for my group. As to the 4e correlation, I see that as two totally different things. I like my D&D experience to be more as a Midieval Simulation (more grit and realism appropriate) and Star Wars as a Cinematic Space Opera (fantastic and free-flowing). My primary issue with 4e, and the whole reason I'm going with Pathfinder incedently, is that I don't want D&D to essentially be like Star Wars. :)
It is not - I believe the issue is you're trying to liken it erroneously to something that has free will (animal comp.) or separate/personal locomotion (magic missile) from something that is being controlled like a puppet. The animal companion gets its own set of moves because it is a living creature. It has its own standard action to use for an attack - having it go on the Druids action just makes it easier for people to keep track of. The magic missile is targeted from creation and only has one outcome which it does automatically. HotA does nothing unless concentrated on, which means you're using it as an extension of your body and it is not animated independently of the caster. The caster has to sink their own standard action making it attack - they are treated as the same action and you only get one of those a round. If the act of bringing it into existance takes the one standard the caster has, you have to wait until a time when you have another standard to use for an attack - hence the next round.
With HotA, I ran into this in literally the first round of the first combat in the first game I GM'd. In a surprise round, no less. :) The way I ruled it was that the Hand can appear anywhere within 30', however it has to draw the weapon from the caster so doing so is almost pointless. -Edit Suggestion: just make the text show clearly that the hand always appears adjacent to the caster. I would not let it attack immediately for balance reasons. As Mr. Reynolds points out, it needs a standard action to attack. So 1st round, hand appears and draws a weapon for free. 2nd round, it can move and attack OR simply move OR simply attack if within reach. As I explained to the cleric, you want that extra round for the fighter/meat shield to be between you and the target before you're hitting it anyway. ;)
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