Festivus's page

You know, it's silly and I know I should have realized it sooner but "Base Save" is not defined anywhere in the Beta pdf that I could find.

I know, I know. I should have remembered what it was and I finally figured it out but not until after 20 minutes of searching. But I haven't made a 3.x character in a few years, so I was scratching my head for a bit.

Is this defined in the new book? I saw no index in the beta, and I bet with an index I could have figured it out.

Festivus wrote:

Navdi wrote:

Festivus wrote:

I guess I don't see any incentive to run games. I pay (or the FLGS pays)$4 for the module, I read it (time), I study it (time), I learn it to the point that can be smoothly run (time), run it (time)... never get to play it (no fun).

Am I correct in assuming you consider GM:ing a tedious, time-consuming chore? You must be doing something wrong.

No, I rather enjoy DMing, I do it most of the time, hence my concern. If I can't play in mods I have DMed... I'll rarely get to play at all. *That* would not be very fun.

Edit: And my question was why even bother with the rule at all, not if I enjoyed DMing or not.

Perhaps you can use it as incentive for your other group members to take up the mantle of DM from time to time. As in, "I ate the last two scenarios, and now would like to play one. Its your turn to eat one." If everyone takes turns, everyone has fun and stays on a fairly even level.

I can honestly say that if GMs have to eat modules, it's going to be a tough sell to the regular DMs at my meetups. That's not to say that new GMs won't show up and want to run PFS at the meetup, but the existing population probably won't bite. This is my concern with the current setup.

I'd love to see pathfinder succeed at our meetups. I'll wait to see what turns up.

Festivus wrote:

I guess I don't see any incentive to run games. I pay (or the FLGS pays)$4 for the module, I read it (time), I study it (time), I learn it to the point that can be smoothly run (time), run it (time)... never get to play it (no fun).

Am I correct in assuming you consider GM:ing a tedious, time-consuming chore? You must be doing something wrong.

Edit: And my question was why even bother with the rule at all, not if I enjoyed DMing or not.

A GM should be able to play in a module he has run. Be able to have his char advance based on the games ran, so he can play with his players if another GM runs a game. I don't want to GM all the games and then get a chance to play but my char is level 1 and everyone else is level 5.

I've eaten four, "Murder on the Silken Caravan", "Blood at Dralkard Manor", "Stay of Execution" and "Perils of the Pirate Pact".

Since I've now got two dead PCs, one of them with most of the published scenarios under his belt and his body unrecoverable, I'll probably be eating a lot more in the near future, since I have no business playing them with a 2nd-level character.

Is there a point to why someone who has run the adventure can't play in it?

Sorry, didn't mean to derail this conversation. I have "eaten" zero, played two, and probably will never "eat" a module. Perhaps I should find another thread with these concerns, I can't have been the only one to ask this and feel this way.

If you run a scenario for your group and you have not yet played in that scenario, then you are unable to ever have a character play in that scenario. Therefore, you "ate it."

Can someone define "eaten" for me? Sorry, I need to get up on the lingo I guess, but I am hoping to bring Pathfinder orgainzed play to our meetups once the book is out and am just getting started with this.

I wanted to say that after 2+ years, we are embarking on the last leg, the end game, the dawn of a new age. I feel very likely that the group is going to do well, they have thus far but what a ride it has been. 2-3 more sessions and it will be done and I'll have a sense of a void for a short time. I think that those who took the time and played/ran this story end to end, years from now, will look back on the story with a sense that they played one of the greatest stories in D&D history.

If they fail, heck a whole new post-apocolyptic adventure awaits, the "Age of Sun", where the forces of good and light try to make their way into the known world once again, an ancient good and lawfulness, seeking to tip the scales once again in their favor. Players could then be undead minions of Kyuss, seeking to foil this attempt. Oooh, it could even be a d20-modern game... oh the gears do turn.

So thank you to Eric Mona, Mike Mearls, Sean Reynolds, Jason Bulmahn, Tito Leati, Wolfgang Baur, Jesse Decker, Richard Pett, Nick Logue, Greg Vaughan, James Jacobs, and everyone at Paizo that worked on the project for a great couple of years of gaming.

Next on our plate is the Pathfinder Adventure Path "Second Darkness"!

We will run our first actual Pathfinder Beta game tonight, finally. We have been wrapping up pour 3.5 Age of Worms, but not everyone could make todays game and we are at the point where nobody should miss a session (Wormcrawl fissure about to head into you know who's lair).

Players tonight are two who have no interest in 4E, one who I can't gauge but I think really only likes 3.5 and one who has only played 4E. We will be running Hollow's Last Hope, the free RPG day giveaway as it's short and low level... a good start to our gaming in Golarion.

It will be interesting to watch things tonight, I am really looking forward to tonights game, especially after reading the rulebook again this past week.

Cosmo, please don't send me another one. I'll glue mine back down and put some books on top to flatten it back. I was just curious about the edges because my old one never did that and I had spilled water on it before too. The product isn't defective, I wouldn't expect a replacement for something I did.

Since it isn't a defect, it's more of a warning for all flipmat users to be careful.

I love my flip mat. I bought a new one only after my old one finally started giving out having used it hundreds of times.

-JZ

ps: Thanks for the tip about metal minis. We usually base ours on wooden disks but I have once or twice used unbased ones.

I spilled my water onto the flip mat the other night and it curled apart along one edge of it. I never recall my older flipmat doing this, considering it is used with wet erase. It seems like the edges are not sealed. Is this normal? I thought it was laminated and thus could get wet.

Limit the access to splat books. While it was fine at the lower levels, at the higher levels I am finding the party outstrips the monsters to the point where they can handle anything that I throw at them, leaving me with a lot more work to scale things upwards. Many things don't take into account spells like the Orb spells, which bypass SR, making what should be a very difficult encounter not so tough.

I'd also consider limiting access to the leadership feat and companions. In the end, the core party was 4 players, two with leadership (so two characters per player), a druid (with 4 animals, each animal with 4 attacks), and a ranger with an animal companion= a party of 11 (plus some other help summoned to their side). So you can see where combats take forever with many combatants. I took a picture of the party fighting in the Citadel of the Weeping Dragon, right after they got the main objective there. I threw Brazzamel and Gorundul at the same time at the party and they lived, only losing one in the party.

We are just starting into Wormcrawl, and the party is level 19. I will very likely just grab the essential story elements, plus the return of some bad guys who got away earlier (whom I will beef up), but pretty much more than half of this current adventure won't be needed nor seen.

Next on my DMing queue is Savage Tide. That I hope to run in Pathfinder, and it will be restricted to Pathfinder classes only. I'll have 6 months to work on that while the other DM takes the helm for a bit.

Two and a half years we will have been playing Age of Worms biweekly, and it's been a blast too! Thanks to all the writers... Whispering Cairn still sticks in my mind as one of my most favorite adventures in 3.5 edition.

Socks and Underwear!

So happy now that I don't have to wear biblical socks.

edit: Oh yes, and how could I forget... the book "How to s**t in the Woods". No I am not on the naughty list, we are just rather frugal this year with Christmas.

I have moved from doubtful to possible. My friends want to play Savage Tide, I have no interest in running another campaign where I spend more time restatting bad guys to compete with splat books.

However, I'd run Savage Tide in Pathfinder RPG if someone did the homework for me, otherwise I'll run 3.5 core only. Of course if my friends chip in and buy me the books I'll probably run it.

I think I'll drag a stopwatch out for my next game and see how long each round takes.

The staggering number of options to the players makes turns take a while, but also as DM some of the monsters I am running have stat blocks three pages long. Too many options on the other side of the screen as well.

A dispel can take 45 minutes to resolve all the group buff changes that might occur. Stacking of spell effects takes time to figure out if something fits or not. Perhaps something gets dispelled that was overwriting another spell effect... so the bonus isn't gone, but it's lower... long long long time to figure it out.

God forbid a player isn't present and someone else has to play his character.

The only way I can see high level 3.5 playing faster is if everyone at the table is using an excel spreadsheet fired up with some sort of software to track all the spell effects, buffs, etc that the players have on them.

I honestly can't wait to finish with Age of Worms so that I can play something else... either 3.5/PFRPG as a player, or 4E as a DM or a player.

My current group is approaching SoLS (probbaly next session). I was thinking of trimming it down but they have such overbuilt characters (maximized for combat vs undead) that I am not changing a thing.

In fact, they have to fact the occulous demon next session and I was going to increase his difficulty a bit because I think he will be a cakewalk to the party. All along I have been scaling things up for the group, and Spire is the first time I think they will feel even the slightest challenge.

The last time I ran Spire, it was a TPK. The party was very different, smaller and not optimized. They also didn't fare well in the equipment department, so that really was a recipe for disaster for that group.

Monster books is what I look forward to most. If Necromancer can make Tome of Horrors 4E I would buy it.

I really want someone to discuss how high level play goes compared to 3.5. After 12 or 13 levels I begin to loathe running 3.5 games because of the work involved... it's supposed to be fun, not work. I have hope for 4E in that respect. In fact, that was my tipping point between 4E and PFRPG... complexity at higher levels.

As a player, I love what I see in PFRPG, but there is no way I am going to DM that system, I'll let someone else do it... it's just too darn complex for me.

#1 and #4. Hope to see Paizo 4E contributions soon.

Cosmo/Anyone:

I would like to get my remaining transitional (from my Dragon and Dugneon subs) issues of Pathfinder, which will take me through #12 I think. After that, I'd like to cancel.

When you folks decide to publish 4E stuff I'll take a look but I have enough campaign material for 3.5 to last me quite some time.

Thanks, and best of luck with Pathfinder. I may end up playing it as a player when it comes out but it's not what I am looking to run as a DM.

-Festivus

I am house poor at the moment, so I won't be buying it... at least not right away. I'd rather buy a loaf of bread and milk with the money. If I win the lotto I will probably change my mind :)

No worries Cosmo, don't send me another one. It only had a light crease in the cover, I sammiched it between a few books... it will straighten out.

I'll discuss with the post office and give the delvery person one more chance (I brought it to his attention over the weekend).

Thanks for the prompt response.

Paizo does mail Pathfinder in sturdy cardboard envelopes, clearly marked both "USPS Bound Printed Matter" and in even larger and bolder letters, "DO NOT BEND".

My sign by the mailbox this week points it out to the carrier, who's fault it was that it was bent to begin with. Before the next issue is mailed I will put several notes out, one per day after notice from Paizo, that there will be a white envelope coming marked do not bend, and they better not bend it.

I am thinking of waiting by my mailbox today around the time he comes round to discuss it calmly with him, and point out how much nicer things are when they aren't crammed into the mailbox.

Don't know what happened to my last post, so I will try once more.

The postman apparently cannot read. Clearly marked DO NOT BEND I found it folded and put into my mailbox. I would like to know what the replacement cost, plus shipment in a box will be as I plan to march down to the post office tomorrow and complain (and ask for reimbursement for the damaged issue).

I have now put a sign out addressed to the postman asking that they not fold them and cram them into the mailbox.

Yep, bent another issue of Pathfinder, even after I complained. Can I get an estimate of what it would cost to have another issue sent to me in a box? I want to file for damages from the USPS so that they can reimburse me rather than you guys. I plan on going down there with my unopened envelope so that I can show the postmaster how they mangle my mail even though there is a place to put DO NOT BEND items.

Thanks in advance.

Not old hat when I wrote that :) I beat the email to my inbox by about an hour. I'll have to read again what changed.

I was reading the Pathfinder Alpha book last night and something stuck me that I didn't like about it. These "progressive" combat feats, where one has to first use dodge before one can use mobility, and then eventually spring attack (or whatever the progression) means keeping track of more stuff at the table.

One of the things I don't like about 3.5 currently is there is so much stuff to keep track of. Clerical spells, wizard spells, buffs and ongoing effects. So now, we have to keep track of if we used a particular feat in the prior round or not. Ugh.

I can see where this encourages a more realistic scene, but you won't be able to use Spring Attack until round 3 at the soonest. Many combats are done by round 3. Doesn't that seem a bit limiting, given you also had to spend to get the prerequisite feats. I can hear the complaints now about how they can't use their uber feat they spent two earlier feat buys to get every combat.

So why would you want this in your game?

Edit: Mods, if you want to move this to the PF Alpha section... my blinders were on when I posted. :(

Is a tibbet in feline form subject to polymorph rend from a greater doppelganger? I am thinking yes, but wanted to be sure (since it's a racial feature and not a spell.

Festivus,

I will put a replacement in with your next subscription shipment.

Thanks,
cos

Third try, mhy posts aren't appearing for some reason.

I am missing Pathfinder #6, when should I worry abou this not arriving? The download section finally worked so at least I can read it.

I have had the group hear reports of a large black dragon in the area (they hear it's bigger than a horse -- from a group of halflings but that doesnt' tell them much). Anyhow, what I decided to do is instead of there being the draconic kobolds in the egg chamber, I put a young black dragon, one of Ilthane's very own spawn, set there to keep an eye on things. It will likely say things to the party like "Mother will not be pleased". If it gets too low on health it will dive into the long passage, to be encountered later. I also replaced the four potions of cure light wounds in the egg chamber with something 5th level+ PCs would more than likely use, like haste, fly, invisibility and water breathing. This will make them more apt to drink them. The last time I ran this the party never did bother with the potions.

Here's one idea: the road to Blackwall Keep, as written, lies about a day's ride east of Diamond Lake. Move it so that it's west instead. That way, they have to pass it on the way to Greyhawk. Then, on the road, have a group of garrison soldiers (from Greyhawk) pass by on the way to Blackwall - they've gotten word that the Keep is under siege and have been sent as reinforcements - more soldiers will be following in a day or two (takes time to get mobilized, etc.). Being somewhat shorthanded, they would greatly welcome the aid of any adventuring types willing to lend a hand. If your PCs don't take that bait, they should be playing another game. :-)

You may have to add some extra lizardmen to the siege to compensate for the extra soldiers.

Honestly, 30 minutes not counting the time it took to drive to the hardware store and pickup the nuts, bolts and pegboard.

I have had a lot of practice scaling maps up so that never takes me very long. Your mileage may vary. It did take me a few maps before I mastered the map scaling/printing/cutting techniques, but it's not difficult to make something workable.

It becomes really easy if you have the basic tools on hand:

dremel/scrollsaw
drill
color printer
paper cutter

Here are some pictures to give you a better idea of how it looks:

Assembled Tower
Look, you can disassemble the tower without disturbing your minis
Close up of the leg assembly in case my directions above were not clear.

Enjoy!

The group wants to go straight to Greyhawk post TFoE so they can better equip themselves. I'd like for them to still run through Blackwall, but I won't railroad them there.

Alustan is going to the Cairn to check it out, the party is going to Greyhawk to buy gear. Alustan urged them to look up Eligos when they get there and take the artifacts thus far uncovered.

The group is aware that Alustan's associate Marzena in the Mistmarsh has been getting reports of green worms, and I *think* the party is going to bite on that. But just in case, I might need something else to nudge them out there. Any suggestions are most welcome.

The party at the moment is pretending to be friends with Auric's group, while at the same time they have seeded rather nasty rumors about them in Diamond Lake. As a result, Auric and company is headed back to Greyhawk to prepare for the champions belt games. The party has asked to travel with Auric and company, so there should be great conversations on the road to Greyhawk. I way toying with the idea that they could be used as a mechanism to run a side adventure (not that my group needs the exp) of Fiend's Embrace, just as further convincing to head out into the swamp.

I'll likely just end up running a bit form HOHR subbing in thieves for doppels (the doppels didn't work the first time I ran this, I wanted to try something new)

So, Any suggestions for getting them into the swamp if they don't follow my initial breadcrumb?

I took your idea a step further. I tried the cardboard first but found it too flimsy. So I made a few improvements.

You will need:

1" pegboard (this stuff is great for making D&D maps)
12 4.25" x .25" carriage bolts
12 .5" fender washers (I used these for stability)
24 .25" hex nuts
Pressboard (or cereal boxes)
A jigsaw or dremel or something similar to make cuts in the pegboard

Assemble:
1. Scale and print your tower pieces onto paper, cut the tower pieces out.
2. Get some spray glue (light tack), and glue it onto the pressboard.
3. Trace the shape of the cardboard floors onto some 1 inch pegboard
4. Glue the cardboard/paper assembly onto the pegboard
5. Drill four 1/4" holes in each level at each corner (or whereever you want... I did the top floor a bit more on the inside).
6. Assemble bolt by placing a hex nut, followed by the fender washer, followed by one corner of the floor, then a hex nut on top. (it should look similar to the following)

|| <-- bolt
[] <-- nut
== <-- pegboard/paper/pressboard sandwich
-- <-- fender washer
[] <-- nut
|| <-- bolt
||
||
||
[] <-- head of carriage bolt

Repeat until all three upper floors have bolts in all four corners, stack and play. I'll try to take some pictures of it when we play next session.

Yep, the guy who never gets a crit ever, on his first swing crits on the Faceless One... pulls a card from the Critical Hit Deck and asks me how we figure out the DC for the save or be decapitated. His confirmation roll made the DC like 39 or something, no chance for TFO but I rolled anyhow. I rolled a 7.

*Snickt* The head rolls off his shoulders and comes to a stop against the corner of the wall. The iron mask falls off in the process and exposes his face. His body falls to it's knees and then backwards, awkwardly spraying blood in an arc across the ceiling. The Faceless One mouths some words, interpreted as "It's all clear to me now" by one of the players.

It will probably will end up as one of the most memorable moments in combats for my group... ever.

Dear Santa,

I got "Grinched", no card came for me in my PF4 envelope. Just some lousy picture of a lump of coal (ok, so it was really my PF4 issue) and a empty dusty envelope. Likely an oversight, I know those guys at Paizo really like me deep down inside.

Anyhow, for Christmas I would like a Staff of Life, +3 Vorpal Longsword (the one with the green and blue tassel, you know the one) and a reinforced scarf for those cold winter nights when I have to fight goblins. I have been a good Dungeon Master, only having to successfully coup-de-grace four players this past year, and playing through many of the Gamemastery line of adventures (ps: D1 is cruel and unusual punishment).

Thanks Santa, I look forward to your visit down my chimney this year, and perhaps I'll just have to order those Pathfinder Item Cards and TC1 without the discount.

Your pal,

Festivus.

My suggestion would be to play the kobolds as they are and let your players have a "oh, we've fought these before" feel throughout the module. Do this up until you get to Merlokrep and his guards, which I suggest playing as Xerxes from "300". If the combination of skilled fighting AND spellslinging doesn't leave an impression on your PCs, the distinct change from the "yap-yap" voice to a deep, smooth, almost sensual one for the kobold king should do the trick.

Tell them no pizza until the job is done! That'll motivate them.

Those look neat if only to upscale it a bit as you said. Is the flaming burst sword a metal one or an obsidian one?

I had thought of perhaps using some of the plumaweaver/hishnashaper stuff from 2nd Ed Maztica as rewards, but I like yours and may use them as ideas.

The bow was the one thing that really bent the rules and limits. Everything else is around 20k. The reason for the bow was the player only really had ability as an archer, and they were mostly ineffective againt anything (it's been a while so I may not remember everything right). Perhaps in hindsight a endless quiver with cold iron arrows would be better... dunno. Anyhow, that player left the game due to moving, so the item isn't there anymore. :)

What did you use for rewards from Zotzilaha? I'll share what I came up with. They are powerful, but givent hey hadn't seen squat for loot in like two adventures and the next one (Golismora) they were really going to need firepower, I felt ok with this level of items. Also bear in mind my group is level 9-10 right now, behind on experience, so they need every edge they can get.

I built some custom rewards for my players to choose from:

===================================================================
Tlatlatilcuahuitl (Fire Staff)

Orb of Fire, Lesser spell uses 1 charge (deals 5d8 fire damage on successful range touch, no SR)
Orb of Fire, Greater spell uses 2 charges (deals 15d6 fire damage on successful range touch, no SR, Fort save or dazed for one round)
Resist Fire spell uses 1 charge (Fire Resistance 30 for 150 minutes)

50 Charges, Caster Level 15, 20037gp value (Creation cost 9843, 787xp, 20 days)

A long wooden staff made from native trees of the isle of dread, intricate carvings of flames wrap around the length of the stave and terminate in a round opening at the top. Three small bumps around the midpoint of the shaft are cleverly worked into the carvings appear to be some sort of fingerhole.
=====================================================================
Tepetl Mocactia (Fire Mountain Boots)
+10' movement, can ignore difficult terrain (can charge through difficult terrain)
1/day - Haste for 10 rounds (up to 10 allies)
2/day - Can charge as a standard action, but only up to your normal movement speed (not double moving)
=====================================================================
Papatlaca (Tremble, Shiver and Shake)

This is a +1 flaming burst greatsword. Once per day, the sword can blast forth a fiery ray at any target within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. The ray deals 4d6 points of fire damage on a successful hit.
=====================================================================
Momayahui (To Throw Oneself)
+1 Cold Iron Composite Longbow, Flaming, Bane(Outsiders, Chaotic)
Strength 3
A flaming weapon gains 1d6 fire damage
A bane weapon gains +2 attack and 2d6 damage vs. (Ousiders, Chaotic)
Attack Bonus +1 Damage Bonus 1d8+4
=====================================================================
Maitl Ilhuicatl (Hand of the Gods)

Hand of Glory (dmg 258) wearing a ring of swift passage that cannot be removed without destroying the hand. The ring permits you to teleport up to 20 feet in any direction with no chance of error. You must have line of sight to target area. You can activate this ability as a part of a move action 5 times per day.
======================================================================
Cuauhmayo (That has many branches)

Beholder Crown (mic73) except the following:

The crown is made of frozen flames rather than metal stalks. The only rays functional are charm monster, charm person, deep slumber, disintigrate, fear, flesh to stone, slow (all are DC17)

For fun, here is where I got all the names for the items:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/3088/naheng.html

My players smashed a hole in the wall and avoided the entire area. Though they did think there was something in there. Next time I run this I am going to make them think there is something of value across the room.

I play in two groups. One is switching, the other isn't. However I have decided to no longer purchase anything 3rd edition, including adventures, until after I have seen the 4th edition rules and make my mind up. the only adventures I will get are my pathfinder converted issues (if I could put this on hold after Pathfinder 1, and resume later I would be elated, but I suspect that isn't a possibility).

So I voted that the jury is still out.

Yeah, I was looking at those for my homemade Talisman game too, and am curious as to the size.

Ok, so the kobolds have this really nifty weapon called the Flying Talon. Just a few problems with it in the hands of a kobold who tries to use it as their tactics determine.

For starters, they don't have Improved Disarm, so if they are up close they will get an AOO (likely they will be 10 feet back) so this isn't much of an issue.

Size is an issue however... if using the flying talon in an attempt to disarm a medium sized opponent, the defender is going to get a +4 on their opposed attack roll (basically the kobold gets -4 on the shot here)

Additionally, as a light wepon it gets another -4 penalty.

Add the +2 bonus for the talon dokicky and the get a total of essentially a -6 on the opposed attack. It's rarely going to work for them unless they are attacking a gnome.

Am I reading this all wrong? I love the flavor of it all, and perhaps the kobolds are just that dumb to try to do it but wow, what a poor tactical choice versus something like the trip or a straight out attack (assuming I am thinking this through correctly).

Koriatsar wrote:

Must .....have .... PDF

when will it be available to non-subscribers?

It will be available for individual sale on the product's street date, which is next Wednesday.

Edit: I found it, but only via a round about way. You folks might want to take a look at all the places where you list the module, because I could only find the PDF edition from the bestseller thingy on the right side.

Sir_Wulf wrote:

Long before any boardgame, Paul Jaquays was astounding the masses with a D&D scenario of surprising depth and detail... The dreaded Dark Tower.

I remember that dungeon. Anyone know the details of this version (e.g., level-range, author, etc.)? If they've updated the original to 3.5, this is a must-have for me. Whatever happened to Paul Jaquays anyway?

Yeah, same here. Happy day after Mona day.