Gurubabaramalamaswami's page

I'd like to see the rest of the monsters that got left out. Gricks for instance. I think anything that was in the Core monster book for 3.5 should have priority over "newbies."

Example: the rest of the sphinxes.

What would qualify the warlock to have Acrobatics?

Wait...I see, the stupid decision to roll Jump into a single Dex-based skill. Gosh, now the warlock could balance, jump, and tumble for one skill investment! What a great design decision.

Sorry...that turned into a threadjack.

I'd lose the Acrobatics skill.

I suspect the Alchemist will be mechanically similar to the Binder from "Tome of Magic." He'll drink elixirs instead of binding vestiges, but he will still get a suite of powers that he can change every day, making him highly versatile.

I also think the alchemist might be a good candidate for a skill monkey (6 or 8 skill ranks/level) that doesn't step on the rogue's toes.

As an aside Binder might be a better description of what they say the Summoner is and does.

In 3.5 I believe the Sage somewhere sometime confirmed that smite is multiplied on a critical. No big whoop back then...now, however, I believe a ruling by Mr. Buhlman is in order as he is now the defacto Pathfinder Sage.

So is a child born of Norgorber-worshiping parents called a Norgorber Baby?

I apologize fervently.

Will the upcoming new base classes be OGL and therefore usable by other publishers in their products?

In regards to Vital Strike and critical hits, if I read it right and I'm playing a half-orc barbarian with a +1 flaming greataxe and I use Vital Strike and roll and confirm a critical hit I do: 4d12 + Str bonus x3 plus 1d6 fire. Yes...no?

I argued against changing the 3.5 DR system at all. I hated the idea of enough plusses overcoming things like DR/evil or DR/adamantite. As the basis for my counter-argument I pointed out that Greater Magic Weapon would guarantee bypassing DR at certain levels.

So Greater Magic Weapon doesn't bypass DR. But it's the basis for creating magic weapons with Craft Magic Arms and Armor. That balances the spell but kind of creates a question of logic about why it can bypass DR when its used to enchant weapons permanently.

I hate that. But it's a small thing.

The "Dummies" books are hardly dumb. The D&D for Dummies and Dungeon Masters for Dummies were really very good reading. The title "Dummies" is self-deprecating humor. Being too highbrow to look past a title on the cover is a little...lowbrow.

In order for Pathfinder to survive it will need new players. Not just converted players. Publishing a quick and easy introductory book is a good idea on every level.

As a (tongue in cheek) quick fix I offer the following new Half-orcs only flaw:

Orc Regression
You are butt ugly and sharp as a marble.
Effect:You take a -2 penalty to Intelligence and Charisma.
Special:Gnomish bards with Perform (Comedy) are always making "Your momma is so fat..." jokes whenever you are around them.

Just keep hitting the "check back" button (but not too many times in a short period). You'll get there eventually.

Hmmm...having them carrying thunderstones is pure evil. Can't even hearthe buggers if you're deaf.

Agreed. At least they kept the part where you don't die until you reach minus your Con.

Hmmm... Neat.

I like bringing it back to the original inspiration.

What's a palandin?

Well...why not do a Pathfinder RPG for Dummies book? They've got a couple for 3.5, at least one for 4E, and I've seen one for GURPS. It seems to be fairly easy to get the Dummies folks to let you do one.

They're certainly lighter than most of the hardcovers.

Lol! I read it. I just didn't agree with it.

But...we can agree to disagree because its a matter of personal preference in this case.

And ultimately we've got what we got. Maybe Paizo will give us an "Orcish Upbringing" trait or something to recapture the classic half-orc of yore.

Somewhere around here Vic said the PDF bookmarks (and other bugs) would be fixed after Gen Con was done. He also mentioned we'd be emailed when it was done.

I think there was no real common consensus on which way worked best and the designers decided that any variation from 3.5 would best be left for GMs to houserule as they saw fit.

As a side note, while I approve of the direct removal of save or die effects, I would prefer if instead of 10 damage per CL it dropped foes to -8 or -9 hit points.

I think in some ways you are making a mountain out of a molehill. Your argument about making a character against type is true in reverse - you can still very much make a half-orc to type. Whether by point buy or by dice roll it's still completely plausible to have a dumb and ugly half-orc.

But why mandate that the half-orc be dumb and ugly?

The tengu was a pleasant surprise indeed! And the crag linnorm is appropriately monstrous.

Now, as for complaints... the riding dog is CR 1/2. The wolf is CR 1.

The riding dog does an average of 2 more points of damage per attack. The wolf has an AC 1 higher and 10 feet more movement speed.

Explain to me how this makes sense.

Awesome! I'm so glad that PFRPG has kenk...uh...tengu! I love these guys! The sword thing is really cool, as is the Linguistics thing.

Don't know what I'm talking about? It's in the free Bestiary preview.

Well, there's the whole "unruly savage" thing that they have going for them too (with which orc ferocity helps), but you could get that by playing a savage human with diehard. Every setting has at least one flavor of human barbarian; some have several.

I'm really curious about this. If you say they're still orky 'nuff for you, then what do you think it is that makes them so?

They've lost none of those things (if you put your +2 into Strength). They've gained orc ferocity and a bonus to Intimidate.

The only thing they've lost is penalties. If you want your "classic" half-orc, use point-buy character generation to lower Intelligence and Charisma in favor of physical attributes.

But now you can create half-orcs that favor their human side too.

Lost: penalties. Gained: flexibility.

Yup. Just keep clicking "check back". It took me two hours to do mine - at 1 in the morning.

It took me a couple hours of constant refreshing to get to download the PDF last night so I can heartily sypmpathize with all those still waiting.

As for cats and reading...mine generally will lay down on my book so I'll pay more attention to them. :)

The PDF is not without its little bugs. While reading the section on grappling several of the links that are supposed to take you to the "grappled" status condition in the appendices weren't working for me. Anyone else experience this with theirs or is it just my crappy PC?

...is a thing of wonder. I especially like all the little linkies scattered around in it. Very helpful, especially the ones found in the spell lists that take me right to the spell description. Uber cool.

No more stupid or ugly half-orcs (unless you want them to be). Hello half-orc bards, sorcerers, and wizards!

Awesome!

I refer of course to the new and improved half-orc of the PFRPG Core Rules. Bravo!

So...any word yet? Anyone at Gen Con get the low-down?

The Wand of Gravestrike trick won't work. Casting it from a wand increases the casting time to a standard action. Imbue With Spell Ability would let the rogue cast it however.

Dragotha's got a big hoard and his mantra should be "Monkey see, monkey do."

I'm preparing to launch this thing - maybe tonight and I'm really interested to read what other DMs have done with their skulks.

This thread is already too damn long to read all the way through. Can someone tell me if damage reduction works as it did in 3.5 or did they go with the Beta "enough plusses can still overcome most things" rule and if they did that how does Greater Magic Weapon apply to the equation?

Enquiring minds want to know.

Wow! Avianna you're the loveliest undead nurse I've ever seen. Great costuming.

Avianna wrote:

You always discuss doing these costume contests when I'm working on other costumes.

Let's just get out of the way now.

Will there be a costume contest at PaizoCon or GenCon next year? I'll need that much of an advanced notice to do Seoni or Queen Ileosa Arabasti.

Wow. Was just looking at your site, your Silent Hill nurses are awesome!

Basically, yes, the predator cloak is basically the description I gave to my PCs when they first saw one of these guys in Ghelve's Locks. Mechanically I had them act as hidden until someone made the spot check to see them. Once that spot check was made they were "visible" enough to be hit normally, but only for that round because they could move and hide again during their next turn (at a significant minus since they were already seen).

When running these guys during the first adventure, remember that the party is essentially in a completely dark dungeon and that when the skulks are standing still they are essentially undetectable. If the party is using light sources then the skulks can sit out of range of 60-ft. darkvision and just plink away the illunimated heroes. Any time they ARE spotted, they can just take off around a corner and stop moving the hide again. They are incrediablly annoying monsters that can really drive your party batty as the PCs can walk right over them without seeing them.

An observation: the skulks themselves do not have darkvision and need light to see by.

Curious to know how the Paizo DMs handle this sort of thing. I cast Summon Sean K Reynolds and/or James Jacobs, Erik Mona, Any Other Paizonian (Epic-level spell).

How do you adjudicate the skulks' peerless camouflage ability in regards to combat. The description says they can move and run while Hiding. Would this then imply that if a PC can't make a Spot check vs. a skulk's Hide check (and most never will make this) that an attacking skulk would at least have concealment (20% miss chance) during combat? Or even total concealment (50% miss chance).

Kind of like the predator with his cloaking device active.

I'm just wondering if this is why the wimps are CR 2.

I imagine they'll do the next four classes from the SRD: Psion, Psychic Warrior, Soulknife, and Wilder.

There are more than four oriental-themed classes so I doubt it'll be them. As for others like the warlock...they obviously can't make anything that in any way duplicates or borrows from WotC intellectual property so I wouldn't hold out for any of those.

But they have said they want to do the Blackguard as a full class. Other possiblities in the direction of omitted prestige classes that could be developed this way include Dwarven defender, Hierophant, and Thaumaturge.

Ahem! Yes...welcome to the boards and all that. Forgive my horrified reaction. It was a horrible flashback.

Character optimization is okey-dokey by me. As a DM, I find that optimizers and "munchkins" challenge me to a greater familiarity with the rules and the different ways of manipulating them. I myself am guilty of abusing the concept of "non-associated levels" which is a polite way of referring to DM optimization.

I'd like to see adventures that tie in to the APs after they're run but with new characters. For instance, an adventure that involves the dungeon beneath Sandpoint. The PCs of the RotRL AP have thrashed the top levels but what if something still lurks down there? An adventure for 7th level PCs that have no relation to the Heroes of Sandpoint.

Stuff like that.

Aaaaa! No! Don't start the Stormwind thing up again! Please!

It would be nice if he refrained from putting himself into any of the scenes, too. He can't act worth a damn.

I actually liked The Village. Not a classic by any means but I liked the way he surprised me by switching main characters so suddenly.

Spire of Long Shadows gets mentioned as a TPK festival alot. But what I keep thinking about is that at the start of the adventure, if the group has a piece of the Rod of Seven Parts, Tenser will give each party member an item of up to 40000 gp in value. The first thought that pops into my head is: Ring of Freedom of Movement. No swallowing whole with that baby on!

Besides...what high-level fighting type isn't wearing spiked armor or spiked gauntlets?

Grumpy linguistic moment:
** spoiler omitted **

If it wasn't you...Stop it anyway!

James -- is Merisiel bisexual or is that just the way you're playing her. That bathhouse picture is still in my head.

My cat just pulled a move I thought only dogs did: Ye Olde Wipe My Poopy Ass All Over the Living Room Carpet trick.

Is that a feat or a Combat Maneuver?

Damn cat.

I do believe, looking at a couple of beanie critters sitting on my game map next to me, that the typical beanie critter is a Huge critter in 1" = 5' game scale...

EDIT: Glad you liked it / I made you spew through orofices Gurububarestofyourname!! Your avatar name is SUCH a pain in the tucas, FYI. :P Just sayin'...

^_^

Work is in progress on Pawfinder, so ideas are being gleefully mined, pillaged, stolen and mutated.

That's a totally awesome diorama Andrew!

I like these tiles. My wife bought me a couple. I don't really care for the ones that feature piles of bodies and I wish the "river" was more than ten feet wide.

I'd like to see WotC put out some terrain tiles like: all water tiles, all sand/desert tiles, all rocky/hilly-looking tiles and so forth.

Is the saving throw to resist the temptation of catnip a Will roll or a Fortitude roll?

Will the Pawfinder rules include miniatures rules that provide adaptations for usage of plushies like Pound Puppies and Pound Purries?

Doombunny wrote:

So the Cult of the Cathuggers and the Temple of the Doglovers have finally brought their war to Golarion. I've seen it all before.

Our world will be torn asunder as thousands of 'Hang In There' posters start to adorn the walls of wizard towers everywhere and riding dogs suddenly find themselves wearing knitted sweaters into battle. Cat's Grace will be replaced by Doggie Dexterity in some parts of the land, while the heavens themselves shake as hound archons begin switching to Meow Mix.

Can anyone discover the secret behind these disturbances in time to save our home?

An adventure designed for four 1st-level characters.

A 3-chapter adventure path in the making.

In the player's guide, the all-gnome party discovers that their frat siblings have gone missing. The only clue they find is a mysterious collar in the odd shape of a paw print amidst the rubble of what appears otherwise to be a 'start of the season' party gone tragically wrong.

In Chapter 1 "Hairballs of Horror" our stumpy action heroes find that a sinister Cult of Clawthulhu is behind the almost-cover-up of the frat party massacre at Glassteel Lake. They four-legged feline cultists performed a dread ritual to stir the ire of the gnome-hating undead ranger from his unmarked grave at the bottom of the lake.

Once they deal with the masked machete-wielding bedroll-grappling lake revenant, our traumatized heroes follow the catnip trail from the site of the ritual to the local catnip dealer. The trail leads from the addicted dealer of catnip to a sacred Cult temple complex in an ancient, enormous bath house ruin known as Hwarf'yeh. Yet a final clue leads them to ...

Chapter 2 "Doggies of Doom" the clue found at Hwarf'yeh directs our stumpy action heroes to tangle with the doggy minions of Al'poh, an obscure canine gawd of kitty slaughter and hedonistic doggy pleasures. Our heroes' last stand against the wrath of Al'poh is in a tree fort in a pitched battle with the local cult leader, a druidic...