I haven't taken a look into the book for ages, but from what I recall, the Gleaner is incredibly weak at low levels. The only boni he gets from his souls are for skills, and there is not much you can do with it. But as Parka wrote, the roleplaying opportunities are great. I think Keith Baker wrote the class; maybe you could ask him?
The first mistake while thinking about a D&D movie is thinking it should be a movie about D&D. It is a terrible idea to force a story about a group of RPG characters going on an adventure. It's been done in LotR and The Hobbit. Everything else will be seen as derivative.
I also think they should stay away from Salvatore's books, especially The Crystal Shard. No screenwriter will be able to salvage that mess (not that it will stop anyone to try).
I could talk for days about Eberron. I really miss it.
One of Eberron's big handicaps (to me) is that it has just enough unique traits that make using published, "generic" adventures there challenging. The totally different drow and the comparatively civilized goblins, fer instance, differ from some assumptions in many modules. But some of these APs seem like what Eberron was made for.
Serpent's Skull has Xen'drik written all over it, and I think Skull & Shackles would benefit from Eberron's gonzo magic renaissance setting over trying to squeeze real-world Caribbean tropes into a sword & sorcery setting. I'm even inclined to go take a second look at Carrion Crown. I'm not a fan of gothic horror adventuring, but the talk above about Karrnath and Vol has me really intrigued.
I've got the same problem. My group's default setting is Eberron. So I'll have to either adapt the APs I own to the setting, or introduce them to a new setting plus making my own adjustments to it.
I got to say: I agree with Sheldon (and Tim) here: Babylon 5 is a big pile of [REDACTED]. DS9 might have ripped of the basic idea, but the execution was better.
That doesn't make me like BBT, however.
I disagree with Sheldon and Tim (Tim only said that to get sacked) on Bab 5 but I do agree with Tim on the Phantom Menace.
Who doesn't? (Although I wouldn't want to make children cry.)
I got to say: I agree with Sheldon (and Tim) here: Babylon 5 is a big pile of [REDACTED]. DS9 might have ripped of the basic idea, but the execution was better.
I am no more a psychotically suicidal killer-for pay in the game than I am in real life (you'll be pleased to hear). All my characters are fully rounded individuals with unique personalities which are just as important, if nor more important, than their kill-monsters-take-treasure ability.
I'm skeptical. It's nearly impossible to avoid playing the part of psychotically-suicidal killer-for-pay in D&D or games like it. You habitually fight extremely dangerous monsters, throwing yourself into combat situations with many times more frequency than the most decorated and daring of military groups, and nearly every group finds itself motivated primarily by wealth for at least one of their quests in each campaign. I mean, really, really think about it. If the fantasy world of D&D were real, and you were really an adventurer, everyone would view you as insane and suicidal. There's no other way to put it. "Wait, the four of you are going to purge the catacombs of undead by yourselves just so you can get to the treasure map that might be in one of the crypts?" That's ridiculously self-destructive behavior. And even if, out of sheer determination, you've managed to never create a character who considers adventuring to be a reasonable profession, I'm certain you've had others in your party who fit the bill. But you got along fine with them, probably, because you know that it's better not to look too closely at such things. Making a tabletop fantasy game superficially "real" is fine, but past a certain point you find yourself up against the brick wall of realizing that the core conceits of the game are incredibly unrealistic.
Have you tried Bunnies & Burrows?
If that's anything like "Watership Down", I don't want to have anything to do with it. That stuff gave me nightmares.
I agree that martials need awesome things as they get higher levels.
I don't want those awesome things to be spells or spell like things. I don't even really like the pool of points to power things mechanic for martial types.
Oddly enough, Martial adepts used maneuvers. They could expend them and they had a recover mechanic so they could get them back before the battle ended and easily between. They could even change their loadout in between battles and with a feat they could give up a round to do it in battle. This system actually had a lot of hate when it was released... Melee can't have nice things?
It can. It just shouldn't get a variant spellcasting system.
I'm glad Supernatural came up because I'm an avid fan...well at least of S 1-5. Six kind of eh and 7 has only gotten better toward the end. They're going to make an 8 as well...I also found out from one of their extra videos of them at COMICON (I usually watch Supernatural on their site) that apparently I'm watching this show with along with a bunch of rabid 14 year old Asian girls. I'm not quite sure what this says about me.......
Spoiler:
ANYWHO, Felicia Day has been in a number of episodes. Her IMDB shows 3 episodes but I could swear it was more. I believe she showed up near the end of last season as an employee of "Dick's" corporation and got sucked into the conflict. She was used as a hacker girl to get in and I believe she mentioned she had a tattoo of a naked girl on top of a d20 (she's a lesbian in the show ..not sure about real life). I think she showed up in a finale episode of that season as well to help.
She was in the LARP episode as the queen nerd or whatever and was in the recent one about her comatose mother and the Jin and her daughter.
At first I thought Day was another actress just playing a nerd, but I've since found out that she's a legit nerd like her character (I saw Will Wheton's Table Top Gaming channel with her in apperances)...apparently she double majored in music (violin) and mathematics as well. Before she was just kind of cute, but a legit nerd, smart, and plays a good instrument?
She has elevated herself to sexy..at least in my book.
You do know that season 8 wrapped up last week right?
This has been a quiet thread, considering this is one of the best shows on TV.
I wouldn't go quite that far. There are far better shows on and on hiatus at the moment (Hannibal, Game of Thrones, Justified, The Walking Dead, Vikings, Red Widow, etc.). Even Grimm and Supernatural are better.
However, Arrow is quite fun. It shouldn't work, especially because of all the soapy bits, but it does.
No. I don't want to know the Doctor's name or even think of it. To me that misses the entire point. The question posed in the title is never supposed to be answered, in my personal opinion, and I feel it would ruin it if it ever was.
I agree ENTIRELY. Has anyone ever thought that maybe this was the intent? They are preparing to end the series again?
Seems like it's entirely too profitable a franchise for them to fold now.
Agreed. However I have sort of a sixth sense for this sort of thing at times. Just call it a gut feeling. The same sort of feeling I had with DnD 3.5 and City of Heroes. Perhaps they are having trouble finding a new actor for the Doctor?
Then they should throw all their money at Benedict Cumberbatch. (Yes, I know, he's already Sherlock and Moffat has debunked rumors concerning him, but after watching Sherlock I think he'd make a fine pick.)
In the case of Khan, the character was not previously established in the film canon
Yes he was, in STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and the episode 'Space Seed' before that.
My somewhat snarky point that got lost was, if we ignore Hemidal's appearance in the comics and other material arguing 'film continutiy' then we can ignore Khan's TV/Movie apperances too.
:-)
And I agree Enterprise is still canon in the Abramsverse. In fact I'd love it if we found out Trip was in charge of section 31, after the poor series ending Enterprise got.
I really like* those people who do what a friend of mine once referred to as "island hopping": driving faster than everyone else, overtaking other vehicles and/or changing lanes into the smallest gap, only because they think they get a speed advantage by that.
Speeding in broad daylight within city limits is basically senseless. You have to stop at the next traffic light anyway.
In fact, I'd never heard of it before now. Probably because I live in a country where a lot of people have heard of the actual Black and Tans and they're about as fun as a very not fun thing.
Sorry, I shouldn't be jumping on stuff in Paizo's second best thread but this is just weird. Who ever came up with that name?
Probably some Northern Irish unionist who thought he was being clever.
The nordic trolls are NOT little imps in the caves. They were considered to be a different people, who looked much like humans, with the exception of certain physical traits, like having a tail. There is some confusion about one thing, mainly their size, since there are both remnants of giants and strange humans in their mythology. According to some tales, then, trolls were absolutely enormous and threw huge boulders (called "trollskott") against the churchbells which they did not like the sound of. This was an attempt to explain the presence of such boulders in the middle of a field or a forest, before science understood the effect of the inland glaciers of the last ice age. Other tales tell of children that act Differently, a la the changeling myths.
I had the impression that trolls could be of many sizes. My godmother brought a troll puppet with her from Norway once. It stands in her hallway, and is only about the size of a small halfling. Used to scare me witless when I was little.
First, think of what you're supposed to do in any given situation and then do the most ridiculous opposite thing you can think of.
Have him wildly change the docking fees. Today you're free but that guy... Triple his fee. Whatever. Have his workers randomly un-tie boats from their moorings to make room for more boats. Gosh, that sounds like fun!
Well, it could be more than just changing the fee. He could demand more random stuff, like three overripe melons, or an otyugh's most priced possession.
Why alienate half your fan base, if you can embrace them without affecting the other half at all? "Laziness" or "the half we have are doing it right and the other half are badwrongnofun" are not acceptable answers to me. So, to the people saying "the fighter is fine!", I reply, "it's fine as-is for half of us, but it could easily be made to be fine for all of us. Why not do that?"
Disclaimer first: I read these kind of thread for entertainment purposes (I have too much time on my hands, apparently), so I didn't want to get embroiled in the argument.
However, the claim of alienating "half the fan base" is pure BS. Take a step back and look at the two current threads dealing with caster/martial discrepancy, as well as some of the older ones. There are always the same few people arguing regularly there, with a few others sprinkled in between. The majority of the players - me included - just doesn't care about this issue. You are part of a very vocal minority. Claiming anything else is either major hyperbole or a matter of delusion.
This also starts getting into how rape is about power, not sex.
This is one of those catchphrases that gets thrown around that doesn't seem to have much basis in reality.
Who gets assaulted more men or women? Women. Do they have more power? No. They're who men want to have sex with.
What age category of women gets assaulted more? The category with power? No. 80% of victims are under 30.
I don't think its entirely a coincidence that prevalence of rape corresponds with prime child bearing years. It really is about the sex.
It's not about gaining power, but about feeling powerful. People who want to feel powerful, and see violence as a means to achieve that feeling, obviously target those who they see as weakest, because it's easier to overpower them.
Golarion is an egg shell taped together around a nuclear explosion. It is also just one of countless worlds each god has interest invested in. So they may have bigger things to deal with than Golarion at this moment, and also don't want to accidentally wake up ol' grumpy Rovagug.
Or end like him.
@James Jacobs: Yeah, please don't publish rules for deities.
Repercussions. Any direct divine intervention would provoke a like reaction from one or more opposing deities. Imagine what would happen to world then?
We haven't changed anything related to quoting recently. You might want to check the adjustment on your monitor or possibly a browser style sheet or other configuration on your end. (And for what it's worth, I'm pretty sure the quoting is specified as shades of grey, not blue, so your monitor might need calibrating anyway.)
You're right. I recently tried different screen settings, because mine were too dark. Thanks.
Is it just me, or did the background color of quoted text passages on the board change recently? First quotes are white. Only quotes of quotes are still in blue.
If it was changed globally, can we get back to how it was before? It is almost impossible to distinguish between quotes and original text. Or can we at least get an option to switch back?
Well, according to one of my sources* (wikipedia's a good start, but don't stop there!), it would seem that it'd be the Far Darrig (Fear Dearc, etc.). The name means "red man". But its character is not as malevolent as the Scots Redcap (which is also known as the Bloody Cap!) - it seems more of a trickster than a bloody murderer... Look! A pun! My apologies... :p
Another of my books† refers to an 'identical' Irish goblin (folklore version, not RPG version) called a Fir Larrig. But I'm more inclined to believe that it's either another anglicised version of 'fear dearc' or a misprint.
Interestingly, the Dutch have their own redcaps (that's the gloss of their name, apparently), but their character is more like that of a brownie or household kobold (folklore versions, not RPG versions). And they were the inspiration for the depiction of gnomes (folklore & garden varieties, again not RPG) with tall, pointed red hats!
Of course, folklore about faeries is inconsistent & all over the place. That's what makes it so interesting!
Just a "by the way"...
* Carol, Rose (1998). Spirits, Fairies, Gnomes, and Goblins: an Encyclopedia of the Little People. Highly recommended! A very comprehensive treatment of folklore 'entities' from all over the world. Includes entries for angels and demons/devils, and it has very useful appendix that lists the folklore entries by type, country of origin, and associations (e.g. malevolent, woodlands, the four elements, homes, weather, luck, demons, etc.)
† McCoy, Edain (1996). Faery Folk. Part of the A Witch's Guide to... series. Quite useful, especially as the format for the various entries are akin to those found in RPG bestiaries (no number-stats, though). Also, not many pictures.
Note: There are other sources that I consulted, but Carol's book is highly recommended & McCoy's...
Also, this makes a SCARY amount of sense, unlike the truther videos...
Not really. The video assumes that Vader knew that Leia was his daughter from the beginning (which he doesn't), and that he owns a construction company (not impossible, but he strikes me as someone who would not be interested in stuff like that). Of course, getting facts wrong or making stuff up is standard modus operandi for conspiracy theorists.
Other than Rebel Propoganda, how do you know Anakin Skywalker didn't know Leia was his daughter?
Also, this makes a SCARY amount of sense, unlike the truther videos...
Not really. The video assumes that Vader knew that Leia was his daughter from the beginning (which he doesn't), and that he owns a construction company (not impossible, but he strikes me as someone who would not be interested in stuff like that). Of course, getting facts wrong or making stuff up is standard modus operandi for conspiracy theorists.
Yes I forgot about Kelpies, very famous english monsters, much more famous than Nuckalevee or Redcap together, but in both Pathfinder and D&D they are kinda forgettable for some reason, probably because they are so famous in england and pathfinder/D&D are from America, so kelpies there are less famous, its really a shame that kelpie isn't in this one, because it will probably never see the light of day again in any reviset book now, I was really curious to hear more about kelpies they are kinda unique and strange, much more interesting than little butterfly girls in my opinion :P
Hmm... Kelpies are from Scotland, not England. So are Redcaps (although there is an Irish equivalent) & Nuckelavee. Not sure how America fits into the equation...
Although it is not relevant to how women are portrayed in games, and could be considered a distraction from said point, I'd like to leave a link for those interested:
My standard advice for anything Dwarf related: pick up "Races of Stone" by Wizards of the Coast. It is a really good book. The Dwarf chapter has detailed descriptions of life in a mine, and with a little bit of tweaking, you can use the rules from the book as well.
