Gurubabaramalamaswami's page

I like how it spotlights Kyra and makes her look powerful. A much more...uh...powerful piece than her icon illo where she looks uncomfortable and stiff holding up her little play doll holy symbol.
This picture kicks ass.

A fairly good concept except for the fact that backwards compatibility means iterative attacks are here to stay. But it looked cool. Thanks for your comments and suggestions.

I was actually wondering if some of you (*cough*yoda*cough*) actually slept at all.

In all honesty I just logged on to start a thread complaining about the goodbye threads. I'm glad I read this first. A few laughs and I'm ready to shrug it off. Like all other flame outbreaks this too shall pass.

In the meantime I'll just enjoy the show.

Set said...Unseelie to the core. That's what I'd like to see them more like - dark fey. Sort of Sluagh and not Drizzt [shudder].

I despise Salvator/Forgotten Realm novel drow. And I loathe beyond all reason any attempts to romanticize them. They're depraved demon-worshipping monsters.

If casters capable of using 9th level spells can't get around a simple Protection from Evil they just aren't doing it right. Dispel Magic. Greater Dispel Magic. Etc.

Honestly I think that changing the barbarian's HD to d10 and then turning around and giving him extra free hit points (at any level) is just plain silly.

Why take away one of his iconic features just to make him fit in a kind of anal little grouping and then turn around and find a more complicated way to give it back to him. Ridiculous.

Sorry if I come across acerbic...but c'mon! Silly!

This thread is a great example of why the whole alignment system should be abandoned. It is totally arbitrary and almost impossible to get two people to agree on what each alignment stands for.

Philosophy, morals, and ethics are subjective to the individual.

This is one system that could be dropped from the game with minimal conversion issues. You can still have good vs. evil in the game without the alignment system. You can still make blasphemy work.

Monte did it. Runequest does it. Call of Cthulhu does it.

cannon fodder wrote:

To me, Paizo = TSR done right.

*Confused* Do you mean T$R?

The thing that leaps out to me: as far as I can tell, all Paizo staffers are also gamers. That makes one hell of a lot of difference. It's not a company that's being run by suits who've never tossed a d20 in their whole frikkin' lives.

Paizo are just a bunch of geeks like us. :)

Gurubabaramalamaswami wrote:

Yay! Gotta love the dots!

Sigh. I think the dots may be causing long page load times....

No problems here! Click! Pop! Go! Dotsdotsdotsdotsdots!

...prepainted (badly) WotC miniature.

I suspect that many problems occur if a party isn't fully prepared. Do they have buffs up or ready? Do they have potions and scrolls ready for backup plans?

I find myself most often kicking my party's asses when they don't do simple buffs like resist energy. It's a pet peeve of mine.

I have to admit some of the regular animal are kind of screwy. It looks like the original designers opted for racial skill bonuses instead of higher Dex.

I think a cat should at least get pounce. Lord knows mine sure has it.

I know what you mean...everytime I sit down to lurk on the boards my kitten Dizzy gets up and starts batting at the mouse cursor. Makes it hard to see what I'm typing.

Yay! Gotta love the dots!

Barbarians+d12=good. Always and forever. Backwards compatibility. Iconic build.

Leave them alone. They've got a lot of abuse to absorb.

A part of me started to yell "Noooooooooooo!" But I stopped for 2 reasons:

A) My wife is asleep. I do not wish to incur her wrath.

B) Mike probably had a good reason for his decision and who am I to second guess him.

I will however miss his presence here.

I'm also dearly hoping we'll be seeing him and his character (or series of characters more likely) in Erik's new campaign which Jason claims he's going to write a journal for.

** spoiler omitted **

Sensei!

To continue:

...a smurf!

GSL compatible

LOL! I bow before a master of the art.

carpenter!

Carry on.

10. People who can’t hit the bowl / urinal with a stream of urine.

9. People who leave water / blood / misc. fluids all over the counters.

8. Public restroom graffiti artists.

7. People who don’t flush after using the toilet.

6. People who attempt to flush non-flushable objects.

5. People who stop up the toilet and then run away.

4. People who talk in restrooms.

3. People who go out of their way to make eye contact in restrooms.

2. Lack of infant changing facilities in men’s restrooms.

1. People who don’t wash their hands after using the restroom.

1-10. Being the poor sonuvab$&~! that's gotta go in and clean that s!%* up. Color me disgruntled.

Magenta's Cat wrote:

Of course because I'm an evil bastard weapons that hit the rust monster would still be at risk! >;P

If monsters get the same number of feats as characters, then the rust monster can be given Combat Reflexes and a special ability to allow it to make attacks of opportunity against melee attacks by metal weapons.

Which would limit it to the number of AoO's it can make in a round and smart PCs will just send in the unarmored characters to provoke them and then a wave of fighters afterwards.

I don't want to totally nerf good old Rusty. He should still rank among the most feared monsters of the game (even more than the tarrasque in some circles).

Ska-dooosh!

logic_poet wrote:

WG7 was published in 1988, and is a good parody. Also, I think the deadly carpet is a tapestry. Right up there with Paranoia's Creatures of the Nightcycle, I'd say.

Not to threadjack, but no, not really, it wasn't a good parody.

It was a circle jerk by mostly blameless freelancers and a bunch of back-slapping douchebags at the office who thought they could do better than Gygax and subsequently ran the company into the creative and financial toilet.

It was unplayable, it was a slap in the face to the creator of the game, it was a bait-and-switch to a segment of the audience who had waited more than a decade for the REAL Castle Greyhawk, and it relied on the lowest sort of pun-based humor culled from the worst indulgences of the RPGA.

It was rubbish.

IMHO, of course. :)

But it had maps!

Or by other way of for instance: should you have, say, a 21 HD half-fiend morkoth, the thing is only CR 13 but has CL 21 for all its SLAs. One caster level higher than the CR 20 balor.

Think about it...the frikkin balor!

I've harped on this before in other threads but: I'd like to see monsters that have Improved Grapple or Improved Trip as racial abilities pick up a racial bonus to their CMB for those specific maneuvers. Just to keep them as moxy as they already are.

No nerfing monsters. Nerfing monsters is bad. Nerfing some spells is meh...but nerfing monsters is blasphemy.

Except for one thing: why would a 30 HD dire bear with the half-fiend template have a more powerful blasphemy than a balor?

Because think about it...a frikkin' balor.

Honestly...looking at fiction in books and on the screen...what hero always has the right thing handy at the right time all the time? Come on. What's the point of DR at all if all you need is just enough plusses.

3.5 DR is challenging and makes some monsters that much more interesting and special.

Plus, if I'm going to invest in stoneskin it had better damn well take an adamantium weapon to bypass it.

Plus...you know...those dreaded words...backwards compatibility.

At best this new rule belongs in a sidebar as a variant rule (as someone up yonder has already suggested).

I've heard that 5th edition macaroni & cheese will mandate low-fat cheddar. *shudder*

I'm still eating 1st Edition eggplant parmesan. And who needs these new-fangled calorie counters? And what the hell is up with all this "low fat" crap!?

So Sebastian...having been flamed by you for starting the long dead "Just say no to 4.0" thread" I'm wondering...

Does the GSL diminish your enthusiasm for 4E. Knowing that Paizo can never support it unless they leave behind everything they've done so far seems like a real wet blanket.

Share your thoughts (about playing 4E - not the GSL). I'm wearing my flame resistant duds.

If you're going to use the simulacrum version of the Faceless One I thing an ideal place to have the real deal pop up is in the Prince of Redhand. Ilthane's Lair makes a good spot and is less obvious than the Well of Triptych Knowledge. Perhaps the true Faceless One is in league with Ilthane's brood to plunder her hoard. Or maybe he's made an ally of the acidwraith. Perhaps he's learned the truth behind the Ebon Triad and has thrown his lot in with Lashonna.

So many choices. So few PCs to kill off...uhh...I mean challenge.

Other than some minor tweaking, most of them are OK. Beguiler, Knight, and Dragon Shaman are fine, other than the minor BAB -> HD linking.

As mentioned above, the Swashbuckler, CW Samurai (horrible), and to a lesser extent Hexblade are all rather anemic. Most of the other extra base classes added in splat books are workable as is without much upgrading.

Scout needs no tweaking (other than a d8 HD), and the Ninja is fairly good, although a level based bonus to stealth and acrobatics akin to the new Monk abilities in PF would be appropriate. The Ninja should also get a few extra Ki based abilities, some of which could be easily lifted from the Monk as well.

The scout already had a d8 HD. In 3.5 terms the scout far outstripped the rogue in the environment he was designed for (i.e. the Great Outdoors). The only modification I would make to the scout to put him on par with the PFRPG rogue would be to give him favored terrains perhaps.

And I'd let the knight keep his d12 hit die. Plus I'd give him a good Fort save because it seem incongrous for him to be weak in that area. I don't think this would be particulary balance breaking since the ranger and paladin have multiple good saves.

I really really like the idea of the Faceless One being a simulacrum. Perhaps that snow/ice he's formed from came from the Black Pool. What side effects might occur from the mixing of arcane magic with eldritch power? Perhaps some sort of wraith or spectre might arise from the pool later on with some vestige of the Faceless One's memory.

It would be a great one-off adventure to run after your Age of Worms campaign is long over with. Just for the nostalgia.

The 4E art is so great that some of it is recycled 3.5 art. Classy.

What about a quasit? Perhaps you could convince the pseudodragon it's not like an imp at all.

I would love to see those stats! Your party is obviously quite effective and I'd like to see what your dealing with.

Great read as always!

Gurubabaramalamaswami wrote:

Seldriss wrote:

That said: beyond matching up the BAB/HD for most classes and adding the unlimited cantrips/orisons thing I think that the only classes in need of any real tweaking are the lackluster swashbuckler and the underpowered ninja (i.e. replace sudden strike with gool old sneak attack).

Bwah ha ha, so then you think the samuri is up to par? or the hexblade? if you upgrade those four classes though I am in complete agreement.

The title of the thread is "Player's Handbook II conversions". I was not addressing all the classes. As a 3.5 class (as opposed to the PFRPG) the samurai does just fine. At least the one in my campaign mows through everything I throw at him.

Variant of ancient saying: It's not the class - it's how you play it.

Do you find yourself having any trouble interweaving things like romance into your game? How about confronting your players with graphic scenes of violence and rape? How do you do it and how did your players handle it?

And lets keep things mature in this thread (i.e. grown-up). Please refrain from vulgar language or using words like boinking etc.

And please don't use this as an opportunity to brag about how your fictional character bagged some fictional hottie.

And thus having set myself up...have at it!

Going back to a 3.0esque different feats for different folks system would be bad bad bad. Backwards compatibility doesn't mean backwards retrogression. Blech!

I vote for full standardization.

Which part of "open playtest" and "nothing is finalized" has not been clearly communicated here?

Pathfinder RPG is still in developement so I think it's premature to duck out now.

And, quite frankly, who else gives enough of a damn about us to make their stuff 3.5 compatible at all? Not WotC. Necromancer is going whole hog for 4E.

So where are you going to go?

Stick around and see the end product. Also, if there's things you don't like find the relevant forum and thread and start posting. You might find yourself making a difference.

Well given that Xanesha's and Lucrecia's areas of operation are fairly close...what if Xanesha is keeping records of her progress in comparison to Lucrecia's. Sort of a soul-stealing competition if you will. What if Xanesha has written a note on one of these records lamenting the fact that Lucrecia's operation has been blessed by a personal representative of the head honcho (i.e. Mokmurian sends Barl to Hook Mountain).

No railroading there.

Granting knighthoods with a public request to venture to Fort Rannick would sort of sweeten the pot a bit.

*puts on his non-core hat*

Off the top of my head.

PHB II classes:
Leave alone

Complete Adventurer:

Ninja, no changes. If you're feeling more energetic, maybe design a ki pool to fuel the ninja abilities.

Scout, add rogue talents to their bonus feat list.

Spell Thief, add cantrips, with limited castings per day. Increase spells known and per day.
*The trio gain the most benefit from skill consolidation. With Balance/Tumble in athletics, Disable device/Open Lock in disable device and Spot/Listen and (grumble) search in perception you get seven 'trademark' skills for 3 points.

Complete Arcane:

Warlock, goes to d8. Maybe allow a sorcerer legacy?

Warmage, Dunno, maybe allow Evocation speciality powers?

Wu jen, goes to d6. I'd guess pick an element and give the wu jen either a specialist tree like ability, or maybe a domain?

Ninja: change sudden strike to sneak attack. d8 HD.

Scout: no changes at all. These guys were already outclassing the rogue in a big way.
Spellthief: unlimited per day cantrips like all other casters who have them. d8 HD.

Warlock: no legacies. These guys are very powerful as it is.
Warmage: ditto. Already very powerful. Already at d6 HD. Already have a bonus feat progression and other goodies.
Wu Jen: yes to HD upgrade of course. Elemental specialist trees would put them on par with wizards.

Hexblade can be fixed by giving them more bonus feats (including the ones from Dragon magazine) and a slightly tweaked spell list. Since they can have familiars they should also have the Arcane Bond option of bonding an item instead - like a magic sword. That would really make them cool and flavorful.

You said you are playing an Alpha 3 monk. Well, with all the house rules that is hardly the case. If you are interested in Alpha 3 playtesting (which is where you put your thread into) then it would not make much sense in changing the rules right from the start. That really is not what playtesting is about.

But that is just my opinion.

I agree. If you are playtesting the Alpha 3 monk then there should be no housrules. Period.

However, as part of playtesting it is perfectly okay to test backwards compatibility by including non-Alpha 3 feats. It's just as important to test how these things mesh together as it is to test the new mechanics themselves.

Moreover, including characters like warlocks and scouts with Alpha 3 classes would be a good idea too to test balance and backwards compatibility in this regard as well.

The Player's Handbook is not in the SRD, and thus cannot be legally used by Paizo to convert its stuff into Pathfinder.

This being said, any player can make his own conversion, but cannot post it here.

Actually you can post your own versions of these classes here. As long as they're just fan conversions and you're not trying to get them published or marketed it's perfectly all right to do so.

That said: beyond matching up the BAB/HD for most classes and adding the unlimited cantrips/orisons thing I think that the only classes in need of any real tweaking are the lackluster swashbuckler and the underpowered ninja (i.e. replace sudden strike with gool old sneak attack).

Now that Combat Feats are out the window does anyone feel that gives a boost to the fighter? In other words: now that he's not restricted to one per round.

Ahem...doesn't Son of Godzilla establish that Godzilla is female? It was that movie I was remembering when I typed my earlier entry. Let me go on record to state that the American Godzilla was an abomination of cinema and should be burned. Long live Cloverfield (now there's a movie for knocking down buildings)!

I enjoyed it myself but my wife thoroughly loathed it. In particular, she very much did not like the vampires' animalistic fangs and behavior. I think she just prefers the glam vampires we normally get. I liked the difference and found it refreshing.

Given the subject matter of the blog post it would seem to me that we're seeing the "sealing" of a contract of some sort. Perhaps the erinyes is this poor soul's reward for making a pact.

Or maybe she's just horny. 'Cause she's a devil...and they have horns, right?

I should be punished. By her.

Opening statement.

Witty, sarcastic remark to endear the reader to the author.

Statement of opinion.

Anecdotal evidence to reinforce opinion.

Allusion to opinion as fact.

Inflammatory remark to engender hostility with other posters and prompt response.

I wonder if this might belong in the Word Games section?

Jumps in an responds to the first post like it's brand new and the greatest frikkin' thing since sliced pizza.

Fails to respond in any meaningful way to the OP.

Goes to the bathroom and forgets to turn off computer.

Comes back next morning, discovers his error, hits "Refresh" and discovers he's been flamed [x] times overnight by lurking posters with no real lives who never sleep (at least one of which turns out to be a Paizo staff member suffering from insomnia and is now totally cranky).

Turned off by the flaming he moves on to either an Alpha board or goes to flame the pro-4E crowd.

Gets flamed by Sebastian for the latter.

The PRIMARY reason these guys have stats at all, in any case, isn't really to give players some characters to play, but because our readers asked for them. Well... they asked for the Dungeon magazine iconics' stats, and while we weren't able to provide those, we were for Pathfinder.

And now a lot of us are requesting an Iconics compilation. Seriously, you didn't just produce cookie cutter characters. Instead you made us really cool characters who've captured our interest.

So here we are now...