Eric Tillemans's page

The issue I always had with converting is that my 1e multiclass characters, who were of an appropriate power level to adventure with 10th level parties, all the sudden ended up at like 15th level when I converted them to 3e. No thanks!

I converted a characters level (multiclass, dual class, and single class) in 1e by totaling all of their XP and then compared that to what level they would have been if they were a straight fighter. That was the level I used to start the conversion process in 3e. I did this because 3e uses a unified XP progression table and character parties tend to work better if they are closely grouped around the same level range.

If someone wanted a lower level conversion they could pick a class with a slower advancement rate to base the conversion process on.

Hmm, Once you get high level as a thief, in 1st edition, there's no surface you can't climb, no lock you can't open, no pocket you can't pick. I don't think that having 18 ranks in climb is equivalent to 99% climb. You're replicating the ability... both characters can climb, yes, but one of them can climb anything, anywhere, at any time.

From the 1st edition DMG:

"Climbing Walls: This is probably the most abused thief function, although hide in shadows vies for this distinction. The ability to climb walls is something which is acquired through training and practice, just as are most of the other functions of the thief. The rate at which vertical or horizontal movement is possible depends upon the texture and other conditions of the surface.

WALL CLIMBING TABLE, FEET PER ROUND OF CLIMBING *

• surface very smooth - few cracks: non-slippery 6', slightly slippery 3', slippery 0'
  
• smooth but cracked - somewhat rough: non-slippery 12', slightly slippery 6', slippery 3'
  
• fairly rough and some cracks - very rough: non-slippery 18', slightly slippery 9', slippery 6'
  
• rough and with ledges or many projections: non-slippery 24', slightly slippery 12', slippery 9'

* SLIGHTLY SLIPPERY surfaces DOUBLE chances of slipping and falling. SLIPPERY surfaces make chances of slipping and falling TEN TIMES more likely. Thus a slippery surface cannot be attempted by a thief under 6th level and even a 10th level thief has a 10% chance per round of slipping and falling."

You can get close... closer than you can with 4th, but it takes a lot of editorial control to get even close, and the PCs will need to buy in with the adjustments that get made, the abilities that get cut away, etc etc.

Yes, there isn't a one-for-one conversion from 1st to 3rd edition - especially when it comes to multiclass characters. I have a stack of old 1st edition characters myself (of the players' characters who I DM'd for) and enjoyed converting them to 3rd edition when we converted my campaign, so I thought I'd take a stab at yours too.

The Drow Magic-User/Thief wouldn't be too difficult as a Wizard/Rogue/Arcane Trickster would come close. The Druid/Thief is more difficult unless the player is happy enough with something like Rogue 1/Druid 14 and putting skill points into rogue skills. The 13th level Cavalier and 8th level barbarian are easy enough, but again the class abilities are somewhat different than what they were in 1st edition.

Edit: Regarding hit points and things like skills, don't forget that high level monsters do MUCH more damage than 1st edition monsters did so the hit points are appropriate. Also, skills try to beat a challenge rating and the base rating for most easy applications of skills is DC15 or lower so the skills are also a good reprensentation depending on what you are trying to do with those skills.

Gellor Rinknor
Elf Male
Medium-sized Humanoid (Elf)
Fighter 7, Assassin 8
____________________________________________________________________
STATISTICS
Str 18 (+4); Dex 21 (+5); Con 14 (+2); Int 17 (+3); Wis 14 (+2); Cha 13 (+1)
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Movement: Ground 30'; Run x4
Senses: Low-light vision
Languages: Common, Elven
Initiative :+5
____________________________________________________________________
SKILLS
Acrobatics +8, Appraise +3, Bluff +1, Climb +13, Craft (untrained) +3, Diplomacy +1, Disable Device +18, Disguise +16, Escape Artist +3, Fly +3, Heal +2, Intimidate +1, Perception +19, Perform (untrained) +1, Ride +3, Sense Motive +2, Sleight of Hand +18, Stealth +23, Survival +2, Swim +2, Use Magic Device +16
____________________________________________________________________
FEATS
Armor proficiency [Light, Medium, Heavy], Blind-fight, Dodge, Double slice, Greater two-weapon fighting, Improved two-weapon fighting, Improved critical (Short Sword), Martial weapon proficiency [all], Shield proficiency, Simple weapon proficiency, Tower shield proficiency, Two-weapon fighting, Two-weapon defense, Two-weapon rend, Weapon focus (Short Sword), Weapon finesse, Weapon specialization (Short Sword)
____________________________________________________________________
TRAITS
Armor Expert
____________________________________________________________________
DEFENSE
HP: 116
AC: 27, touch 16, flat-footed 26 (base +10; armor +11; dex +3; deflect +2; dodge +1)
CMD: 35 (base +10; BAB +13; str +4; dex +5; defl. AC +2; dodge AC +1)
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +13, Will +9; (+2 racial bonus vs enchantments; +2 bonus on will saves vs fear; +4 bonus vs poison)
Immunities: magical sleep
____________________________________________________________________
OFFENSE
Base Attack: +13; CMB +17
Melee: +3 vorpal short sword +21/+16/+11 (1d6+10 / 17-20/x2), +1 bane (reptilian humanoids) short sword +19/+14/+9 (1d6+8 / 17-20/x2)
Ranged: +1 composite longbow (str +4) +19/+14/+9 (1d8+5 / x3)
____________________________________________________________________
SPECIAL ABILITIES
●Favored class benefit: +7 skill points
●Elven Magic: +2 racial bonus on caster level checks made to overcome spell resistance; and +2 racial bonus on Appraise skill checks made to identify the properties of magic items
●Elven keen senses: +2 racial bonus on Perception checks and have a chance to detect secret doors without actively looking
●Bravery: +2 bonus on Will saves vs. fear
●Armor training: Reduce armor check penalty by 2 and increase the maximum Dex bonus allowed by 2 for any armor worn
●Weapon training: Gain bonuses to attack and damage rolls for select weapon groups (Light Blades +1). This bonus is also added to CMB checks made with a weapon in a group, or CMD checks made to defend against weapons from these groups
● +4d6 Sneak Attack
●Death attack: Can choose to paralyze or kill a target with a melee weapon sneak attack, after studying the victim for 3 rounds (studying the victim is a standard action). On a successful hit the target must make a (DC 21) Fort save.
●Poison use: You cannot accidentally poison yourself when applying poison to a blade
●Hidden weapons: Gain a +8 bonus on Sleight of Hands checks when hiding weapons on your body
●True death: Targets slain by you are more difficult to restore life to. Anyone attempting to cast a spell similar to Raise Dead must make a (DC 23) caster level check or the spell fails and the material components are wasted.
●Quiet death: If you kill a creature with your Death Attack during a surprise round, you can also make a Steath check opposed by anyone in the vicinity to prevent them from identifying you as the assailant (its possible that the target's death may not be immediately noticed as well)
●Assassin hide in plain sight: You can use the Stealth skill even while being observed. As long as you are within 10' of a shadow (not yours), you can hide yourself from view in the open without having anything to hide behind.
____________________________________________________________________
GEAR
Arms: +3 vorpal short sword; +1 bane (reptilian humanoids) short sword; +4 dagger; +1 composite longbow (str +4)
Magic Items: ring of ring of protection +2; ring of resistance +2; boots of elvenkind; cloak of elvenkind

Please cancel my 'Pathfinder Campaign Setting' and 'Pathfinder Player Companion' suscriptions.

Good job Sozin, the entire package is very impressive. I especially like the redrawn maps (and unlabeled maps!).

It looks like the PDF file by itself doesn't have stat blocks in it, so anyone wanting those needs to download the entire package and open the master PDF file from within the folder structure provided with the .zip file.

I don't know if it would be too much effort, but including the stat blocks at the end of the PDF file would be a nice addition.

Please cancel my Gamemastery Cards subscription. Thank you.

I won't be able to make it to PaizoCon this year, so can you please refund my ticket?

(*EDIT*) double ninja'd

Eric - I ran the Tomb of Amun-Re for my local crew four years ago and generated a lot of handouts/maps/cool sh*t as a part of that work.

Examples inside the spoiler (players stay out)!
** spoiler omitted **

I'm thinking about running this as part of the Paizocon proper (not after hours), but don't want to steal your show; alternatively, I could assistant DM for you/give you some nice handouts. Let me know. ( sozinsky at gmail dot com is best ). Cheers.

I was going to run the Tomb as an official event this year, but some family obligations came up so I won't be making it to PaizoCon this year.

My future conversion suggestions/wants:

H series You mentioned before something about condensing this series into one adventure and cutting out some of the more difficult to convert plot points - yes please!
A series The slavelords series was always a good time when I ran it, and this one is a low to mid level adventure which may make it a bit easier to convert.
Rod of Seven Parts I bought this right before finding out about 3rd edition and never wound up running it, but as a Pathfinder conversion I'd be all over it.
Night Below Another difficult to convert, huge campaign adventure that I would love to run in Pathfinder.

I'll work on a review of the entire AP at some other point in time, but for now I've put my review of book 3 up on the corresponding product page.

I was perhaps too long winded, but from what I've seen, low-rating reviews tend to be extremely shot, and people tend to dismiss them as some PC holding a grudge. Feel free to push back or argue against me if you think I was too harsh.

Sadly, I think your review was right on target.

I converted the old Rolemaster critical charts to be compatible with d20 if you're interested.

So, am I looking at this wrong or should I make a judgment call like

"any item with a Duration: "instantaneous" effect is not eligible for unlimited charge items."

thanks in advance!

On this table "Table: Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Values", there's a footnote for increasing magic item costs based on spell duration. The factor for a spell whose duration is rounds/level is x4, but nothing is listed for an instantaneous effect.

Given this, I would go with the listing under 'Special' - 'Charges per day' and assume the base price at 5 uses per day. The example from the chart for this method is the Boots of Teleportation which seems to fit for an instantaneous spell such as a healing spell.

So 2nd level spell, 3rd caster level, command word activated, and using up a body slot would cost: 2*3*1800 = 10,800gp and could be used 5 times per day.

I wouldn't allow a healing item to be used an unlimited amount of times per day (and no such item exists in the current rules). I think this is a pretty good compromise and seems to follow the magic item creation rules.

I'll try to get you an advance copy of the final if I have it done before the Con so you can see what evil lies in store..

~D

A copy of the final version would be terrific whether it's before or after the Con :)

Well, it's that time again! I've got the same room, table and libations.

A Paladin in Hell - Part Duex - couple of items I'm considering and would appreciate feedback on:

1. having a Thursday afternoon game to start things off then another session each night (still considering after the banquet or not)
2. number of players
3. the use of pregens
4. some sort of scoring for "best roleplaying" or "saved the party with brilliance" kind of thing. with "prizes"

looks like I may have one or two players join as well. if you're interested in being a player, please let me know as well as when you have availability.

looking forward to it! cheers!

~D

Last year was a lot of fun and before my PaizoCon plans fell through I was going to plan my PaizoCon trip around when this game was running rather than fitting in the game between PaizoCon events.

For anyone wondering whether this will be worth their time, it will be!

Hoping to see some of last years players re-join.
~D

Unfortunately for me, some family obligations have come up and I can't make PaizoCon this year. For anyone considering playing with Daemonslye here, just do it! Last year was a blast and I'm sure this year will be more of the same.

I believe you're proceeding from a faulty assumption. I am a regular customer. I own the books in question, in both PDF and hard copy. Yet I want to see fairly tight controls on the AP contents, because I like being able to put everything I need for a game in a bag without flirting with a hernia. :)

I own pretty much everything Paizo has put out and and agree with Bugleyman completely.

I don't mind new bestiary content not being reprinted in an AP, but looking up those APG abilities that aren't reprinted in an AP in order to prepare for a game is something I'm not looking forward to. (Heck, my ideal adventure would also print all the monster stat blocks but I realize with page limitations I can't have everything)

I support Paizo's adventure paths and modules in order to cut down the amount of work I need to do to run a game. Extra preparation from looking up APG, Ultimate Combat, and Ultimate Magic abilities doesn't appeal to me.

I'd rather have a Core Rulebook NPC (who will likely die in 3 to 5 rounds anyway) who has abilities I know and don't have to put in extra preparation time for, than an NPC with a smidgen more flavor or specialist abilities that requires me to create a sheet of notes for before GMing the weekly gaming session.

It looks like I will be transferring my ticket to Sleep-Walker. Good luck to everyone in getting your tickets!

I am also interested in the ticket if you still have it available...

I'm just going in order of the request, so if I get no response I'll get to you Stonesnake.

Morag, it looks like you're up. Do you still need a ticket?

Sleep-Walker,

It looks like I won't be able to make it to PaizoCon this year, so if you still need a banquet ticket I can transfer it to you.

Oblivisci Cruciari,

Since I haven't heard from Sleep-Walker, are you still in need of a ticket?

Eric Tillemans wrote:

It looks like I won't be able to make it to PaizoCon this year,

Booo. I was looking forward to playing in another of your after-con games this year.

Hope to see you in 2012!

Thanks Kikai, I will definitely try to make it in 2012.

Sleep-Walker,

It looks like I won't be able to make it to PaizoCon this year, so if you still need a banquet ticket I can transfer it to you.

Yet another 3.5 adventure path with a lot of crawling is Shackled City:

Shackled City

There is a shuttle service that runs from the airport to the hotel. When you get off the plane just follow the signs to the shuttle service. The cost is $38 round trip.

How many players should I expect at my table? 5? 6? I need to know how many pregens I should create.

Typically it is 6 players, but as Dragnmoon said if you're running your own game you set the number of players. Some of the games last year were set at 5 players or lower.

Brother Elias and his ape companion seems like a fun character. Just based on the miniature efforts alone I'd have no problems with this in my game.

...The rules assume you are doing this from a spellbook the wizard in question owns, in which said wizard has inscribed spells himself, paying the requisite 50gp per page...

Just a note: the cost isn't 50gp per page anymore, it follows the table of costs under the 'Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook' section.

hmm the rod idea is gaining merit.

I dont think it's a mcguffin hunt, they are supposed to go to these places anyway, just the 'bosses' will have these items with some ancient runes for the witch to read to put it all together that this is some sort of cool 7 part weapon and maybe whatever other information i need the party to have.

So if it is intelligent, is it infused with the spirit of savith?

I have to support Pendagast here. His campaign is bogged down and he needs to try something different. The rod idea does have merit and sounds much more interesting than kill 100 of X creatures as a victory at each ziggurat.

I think he attempt to use life bubble to remain unparalyzed is cool...

..So, tactically you ahve one of the more unique presentations, but you ahve stat block errors and your fluf leaves out some details I feel would be essential in published work...

As Russ and others have stated, he used freedom of movement to avoid paralysis and many of the stat block errors turned out not to be errors.

I voted for 7:
Joel Flank *
Trevor Merback *
Sam Zeitlin *
Cody Coffelt
Ethan Day-Jones
Nick Bolhuis
Marie Small

The ones with the * I liked more than the others. I voted purely on the villans and not on previous work.

Hi, Eric! Are you going to Paizocon 2011? If so, I would absolutely love to do another post-con game! Interested?

Currently I'm trying to figure out my June schedule to see if I can make it. If I do go, then yes I will definitely be interested in another post-con game.

... I'm good for Paizocon again so I'll put up a sign up post in the proper forum soon for any who feel especially masochistic.

Thanks for staying interested in this stuff KV!

~D

I'm have purposefully not looked at your conversions just in case you were going to run it at PaizoCon again. Last year was a lot of fun :)

I have no problem whatever with mature themes. What I object to is the kneejerk assumption that "mature" equates to "bunking up with these horrific creatures over here to fight the slightly more horrific creatures over there, and doing some pretty horrific things yourself in the mean time." You can present mature themes, violence, nipples, and the rest without forcing the PCs to become what they fight. Forcing the PCs to degrade themselves and wallow in wretchedness is lazy, cynical, and dark for the sake of darkness.

For the most part I agree with you Gregg. Occassionally a moral decision that results in bad and worse is ok, but for the most part I prefer my classical D&D good vs. evil plot. An entire AP where players would be forced to live with bad and worse options just doesn't appeal to me.

Count me in for feeling that three more base classes for Ultimate Combat is class bloat that I'd rather not have (and I usually buy pretty much everything Paizo puts out). I don't mind the gunslinger because it does have a niche, but I'd much rather that the ninja and the samurai were smaller APG style archetypes instead of full blown class replacements.

I will try to send out some copies tomorrow or this weekend.

I am busy with a few things. I would LOVE to know if Keep on the Borderlands ever became Open Content. If it did, I would love to have it hosted by D20PFSRD.

It is not open content.

One quibble here...not everyone who wanted Paizo to go with 4E can be written off as "not a fan" -- whatever that even means.

You are correct, my apologies Bugleyman. There were a significant portion of Paizo supporters who wanted Paizo to write adventures for 4th edition AND some who stated they would follow Paizo with whatever decision they made regarding sticking with 3.5 and the OGL or moving on to 4th edition.

I suppose my main point is that Paizo has already exceeded many people's expectations and they should be recognized for the good work they've done regardless of whether Pathfinder RPG ever surpasses the D&D brand or not.

I have said it before and I will say it again. It is imo way too early to celebrate on the success of Pathfinder or any rpg. The true test will be if the game is as popular as it is in another four years. Wotc still has more resources and finances than Pathfinder and imo more fans. Things could change any second.

I am not as big of a fan of 4E or Wotc as I once was. Espcially with their current lackluster release schedule. To claim victory over them as a company and 4E is very premature to say the least.

That being said Paizo will be getting more of my money. As I have zero interest in boardgames or their fortune cards. Makes me wonder how well the boardgames will do. How many gamers does anyone know that are willing to spend that much for a boardgame for it to be profitable for them.

I actually think it's not too early to celebrate the success of Pathfinder RPG. Much of the gaming forum rhetoric at the time of the 4e accouncement and discussions of the decision Paizo made regarding sticking with the OGL centered around just how poor of a decision it was and how WotC was going to crush them with their D&D brand.

Instead of caving in to the pressure of sticking with the tried and true D&D brand, Paizo listened to their fans and took a chance. I think it's turned out pretty darn good so far and deserves some celebration.

So, here's me saying congratulations Paizo! Your dedication to making quality RPG products has paid off!

and the best part is Fiery Dragon already has an extensive line of flat and square tokens to try out.

Personally I do not like the 3D idea. If I want 3D that is when I buy my Metal mini's. A large part of why I like tokens is because of how easy it is to use them and store them. Make them 3D and it cuts down on that. I like being able to grab the right zip lock bag and dump them out and sort. I don't want to do assembly too. Or have to break them back down to store again. I like just scooping them up and putting them back in the bag.

So take it from someone who has been using tokens for over 6 years now, do not do 3D. People who want that can buy mini's.

I agree with Robert here, tokens work great lying flat and are easier to deal with. However, I do like the idea mentioned in one of the earlier posts of colored plastic frames you can put on the tokens to designate various conditions.

Honestly... I would do it! Being a dream job DOES have a HUGE role to play. Being able to wake up in the morning and be excited about going to work is INCREDIBLE. The satisfaction of working at Paizo is the reason I've stayed at the company for longer than I've ever stayed at any job I've ever had (coming up on 8 years now)—it's not because the pay is great. The pay is frosting on the cake for me.

So yeah; apply. And if you get to the interview stage, and if when we talk salary with you what we're saying could effectively be summarized as, "If you come to work for us you'll need to take a 75% pay decrease from your current job" (or however much the salary adjustment works out), then you're still free to make the decision that as great as the job might be, it's not one that you could survive on.

But you won't know until you try.

Awesome James! This is the type of thing that has me supporting Paizo. Good luck to all the candidates and here's to hoping that whoever gets hired has just found their dream job too.

It's a shame that the salary is advertised as entry level, otherwise I'd throw my hat into the ring. I've always wanted to work for a company like Paizo, but the opportunity was never really there, so I went into journalism instead...

So here's a question. I have the necessary qualifications for this job, and would be willing to relocate if the pay was sufficient. I have nearly 12 years experience as a journalist, editor, writer, PR professional and communicator. The thing I don't have is direct experience with working for an RPG company. But there must be some role that people like myself can play in a company like Paizo, no?

Sounds like you'd be great, but everyone in the RPG business makes entry level salaries :P

I converted B2 for 3.5 on Fantasy Grounds for a group of mine. Unfortunately for me I can't print out an adventure on Fantasy Grounds, so I'd love to get a copy of your Pathfinder conversion.

O.o It appears we have a lurker o.O nice!

Yes, I will be lurking from now on - though I'm guessing my stares won't be as uncomfortable as Allerick's when he thinks something kinky is going on.

I'm starting up a Dawn of Defiance campaign this weekend, so as part of my preparations I wanted to read someone else's campaign to see how things played out.

I just wanted to say thanks for the entertaining read, good job by both the GM and the players. :)

As a solution for those wanting to support their FLGS and are thus willing to pay full cover price for a Paizo product, why not get a subscription through Paizo but then 'donate' the subscription saving to the FLGS? You can do this by paying some 'rent' for using the gaming tables or any other excuse you can think of to get the difference between Paizo's subscription price and the full cover price into the FLGS' hands.

Squirmy is a pretty appropriate racial feature - I like it.

Would these happen to be the same attack(s) which require a full round action to utilize?

Yes, all of the extra attacks due to high BAB and due to two weapon fighting require a full round action. That is one advantage of your greatsword/power attack/vital strike plan - only a standard action needed.

... I just wanted to make sure this was something at least a few people would actually be interested in making use of before I went about creating such documents and working out appropriate sharing settings for them.

If this is something you guys like and it seems to work out I wouldn't mind actually creating a real wiki that we can all use and modify, but thats definitely enough work that I'd want to make sure it would see use. ...

It sounds like a good idea but I can see where it may be tough to find time to input data. Even though I think I'll have time to help update a wiki for the game, I'm hesitant to commit considering the the wasted effort in setting it up should I not be able to find time to help update it.

I have heard rumor that this product arrived friday and is now in stock!

Looks like someone drove off with the truck before it got unloaded!