Graylith's page

Ettin wrote:

I hope Ryan does for this MMO what the OGL did for D&D.

I would LOVE an MMO of Erotic Fantasy.

But would it be real love? Or just sex?

Uhm, yes!

Looking for a CR 2-3 Large exploding plant / carpet fungus for an underground tunnel. I googled the name "Boom Shroom" and that beastie apparently exists as a crop in the MMO "Wizard 101." What say you critter design pros?

Book says 1 Fame (or, the scenario PFS-specific download)

How to fix? I want my "reported to Paizo Fame" to equal my chronicle sheet fame.

I understand that paper in hand trumps bits on paizo.com/pathfinderRPG . . . but, any way to fix this?

BTW, that module RAWKS.

Thanks, James, for such a quick answer!

None appears listed in the rules as I read them; anyone know this?

I also like PCGen. One reason it works so well for me is that I am a Mac user, and PCGen is written in Java. I like the wide variety of character sheet export and print formats.

Mac users can also use Boot Camp / Parallels and run Windows for Hero Labs

I do wish it had an "ez mode" setting for those without the inclination to learn to use the software, and that OGC data files sources for Paizo products were added a little quicker . . . but I love the price (free)!

Failing a roll can be interesting in role-playing, and lead to fun and interesting things that wouldn't happen if you always roll a natural 20.

This is the lesson I took from my experience. After the experience with my cheat, I worked to make failure of a die roll result in more fun that a successful one. Example: You need to climb up a wall to escape something really bad. Character fails the climb roll. Instead of falling to his doom, I have him make a check. He slips a bit. Make another check. Fail that one, and you slip and fall. Make another roll...succeed and you grab a rock barely holding on by your fingernails. That made for a tension enhancing experience where failing a die roll is not fatal.

Another one: Roll a fumble in combat. You lose your weapon, which flies out of your hand and lands in a strange spot, possibly one threatened by the bad guy. Or you *hit* the guy instead . . . but your weapon is lodged in his armor and you have to make a combat maneuver to get it back.

On this note: If failure teaches more than success, then shouldn't the game's experience systems reflect that?

I've been GMing for over 30 years, and once upon a time, I had a dice cheat.

Not a "misreader", like the OP's player. An honest-to-Odin lying cheat.

First of all, this guy's character sheets were all in pencil, usually with ungodly modifiers instead of the more usual stats. He was seen by other players changing the values on his character sheet st the table while playing after the group had a saving throw to make.

This guy also had the reflexes to "flip" the d20 with his finger after the die was rolled to a better roll if he saw that the d20 roll was going to be too low for his tastes. The numbers were clearly visible.

The guy was also the type to grief other party members, steal their stuff, etc. The other players made it an issue of "Deal with this clown or we all walk."

I warned him about his conduct directly. He denied that he ever cheated. I told him to keep his hand clear once he had rolled the die every time he rolled the die, or he was going to be kicked from my game.

He denied ever intentionally cheating, claimed his "flipping the dice" was a neurological disorder. A couple of his friends told me that was another crock.

The next session at the table was tense. He somehow stopped himself from flipping the die . . .but during the final showdown with the BBEG, he did it. I caught his wrist as he reached for the die to flip it. I kicked him out of my game for good right then and there.

That was over ten years ago. Today I might have given him a greater benefit of the doubt because I've learned a lot in the decade since then about dealing with people. Still, he very well-known in our little gaming community for doing these things all the time.

In the case of the OP's player: I would ask the player, nicely, to please use an opaque die with numbers legible at least one seat away. If the player did not have one, I'd gift him with such a die. If after gifting, the player declined to use such a die, I'd ask him to take his character elsewhere.

Yes, it's a game . . . but if dice are used to determine what happens, it's only fair to not cheat the random number gods.

I never considered the use of alcohol as a poison cloaking device as something the heroes would do . . . but I agree that this is a bad precedent to set.

OK, ordinary booze does not detect as poison. The spell Detect Poison is a divination and senses fel intent but not the details of chemistry unless further checks are made. And, yes, I really do not want to run a Swords and CSI game.

Back to the plotting board....

A variant of the binary poison approach I'm thinking of is an alchemical substance. When administered to a person who is already drunk, the stuff becomes a poison. The alchemical substance is in and of itself relatively harmless, and when mixed with alcohol makes even the best beverage taste like swill.

As a way of making players work to make use of "Part B" if they so choose . . . Part B's ingredients are hard to find and harder to make. It is detectable with detect poison since the spell divines intent and toxicity. When administered to someone who is already intoxicated, the poison strikes.

The effect is like an amplified reaction to the drug Anabuse.

I think this is something I can live with, and having the heroes save her from being poisoned in the first place moves the plot along nicely.

Awesome advice, everyone.

I got the idea for a binary poison from the idea I saw in some modern military reference books about binary nerve gasses. The thing about binary agents is that their very advantage -- being undetectable until combined -- gives a second failure point in the plot. Good point about the ability of Alchemists to make binary poison.

I'm going with "Just about everything you drink either sickens you (the not-so-healthful water) or detects as poison. M'lady! (hands a lead tankard loaded with the finest mead and a couple shots of Toxic Plot Driver) Bottoms up!"

My first post as Paizo.com. Gods help me:

I'm planning an adventure plot where a noblewoman's alcoholic drink is poisoned. This event is not intended to happen offstage where the heroes cannot stop it. The poisoning is survivable even if the victim does not save. Assume for our purpose that the victim is drinking expressly to get drunk, and pounding down the drinks as fast as they can be served. Also assume that the noblewoman is incapable of spellcasting (fighter / Aristocrat type) and has no magical items to warn her.

1. Since alcohol can be considered a poison, would that cause issues with Detect / Delay / Neutralize Poison spells?

Is it reasonable to assuming that the presence of alcohol means that any alcoholic drink detects as poison to the detection spell, the effects can be delayed with the delay spell and hangovers cured with Neutralize Poison.

2. If alcohol does not detect as a poison, I'm thinking of a second idea: a binary poison. Two substances, in and of themselves and in isolation completely harmless and edible. Drink both of them them in succession and they form a nasty two-plus dose ingested poison.

If there are any rules or resources this side of a medical text I'm not considering, I'm looking for pointers, hints, ideas, sneaky bits, etc.

Thanks each and every one of you in advance!