Hassan al-Sabah's page

Speaking generally—which is all I can really do—sales of high-level chapters have been lower than sales of low- and mid-level chapters in every AP where we approach high level.

Interesting. Do you interpret this as being because there is less interest in higher level play, or because there is less incentive for new consumers to buy into an AP mid-way through? Naturally, it may be a little of both, but I am curious if you believe one factor is dominant.

I, and several of my friends, have been long-time buyers of Dungeon. However, I and several others became committed subscribers upon the release of the APs. Amongst the many other attractions, the fact that it took PCs to the pinnacle of nonepic power (level 20) was paramount.

Since PF has arisen, I have purchased many, many products, but I have yet to subscribe to the APs (I have bought a couple of issues though). The only thing holding me back is the fact that the campaigns end so early (relative to the old APs) -and seem to be ending even earlier!

I appreciate all the financial logistics, and thus understand why the majority of the above suggestions are untenable. However, I would suggest that PF does an AP that takes players from level 1 to 20 once every three years. In between that time, run the normal 12ish level APs. That way, you have 4 'normal' APs, then 1 'mega' AP. Of the former four, one could even be a pseudo-sequel AP that begins at level 12ish and ends at 20ish, thus catering to those who would like a return to an old AP as well as those who like higher level gaming. As all of these APs would be monthly installments, there would be no price increase. Did sales decrease when you ran the Dungeon APs? If not, I don't think you would lose subscribers during the level 1-20 adventure. Also, the 'return' AP shouldn't require a DM or players to play the 'prequel'; it would, I think, generate interest in DMs buying back-issues or keeping subscribers subscribing since they know that one of their APs will be revisted every 2-3 years. I know you possess the talent to create such level 1-20 campaigns -you have done so before (3 times) and each one was stellar! From personal experience, I know there is interest.

I, for one, would immediately subscribe if I heard Paizo commit to such a policy or something like unto it.

Thanks. I assumed their race upon first reading of them, but it is nice to know confirmation exists.

What about the level of the highest NPC? I'm curious as to the relative power level of Katapesh, especially after lucky Faoud's fluff implied epic, or near epic, stats, but was somehow paired with CR 6 stats... so I'm curious as to the upper tier of power (level-wise) of listed NPCs.

Curious -does the book list the identities of the Pactmasters in terms of race, class, and level? What is the highest level of a listed NPC? Second highest?

wardragon wrote:

Why are all the legends barbarians? Why not fighters, or paladins?

Read the entry for the Horn of Valhalla

Horn of Valhalla

You're missing the forest for the trees, Leress. WarDragon knows what the HoV do and are. The point is that bards don't just regale the tales of barbarians. Their isn't a strong enough link to the two classes or the magic item.

Besides rolling all the attack rolls for some fodder is tedious. Better for it to keep the Will save, and make have the character make a perform check versus a number of targets AC as a wave of 'conjured legendary heroes swarm his or her foes', dealing some scaling damage.

Anyways,

Arcane Archer: Death Arrow is useless.

Pretty much. I'm not sure what the perfect answer would be, but even making it be 10+class level+spellcasting ability modifier would be a lot better. Not only would it then naturally scale into epic, but it would profit those who continued as well as reflect a higher DC which it needs.

Imbue Arrow

This is an improvement, but they need to take it one step further.

Essentially, they need to do what they did to the paladin's celestial weapon ability. Instead of saying you pick between flaming, frost, etc, they should allow you to just pick any +1 enhancement ability. Thus, later at 9th level of so, you should be able to add a total of +5 abilities in whatever combination you choose. The design is not only more elegant, but it offers more choices for players, and makes further products more meaningful to the class (i.e. every weapon enhancement is something a player of this class would be interested in looking at). Soulbows and soulknives already have this ability from 3.5, and PF gave it to paladins in a similar manner in Beta.

Seeker Arrow, Phase Arrow, and Hail of Arrows are cute gimmicks, but only being 1/day, they don't actually bring much to the table. I might suggest a number of "trick shots" or something, that can power them all, with daily uses equal to (half?) the class level.

I'm fine with them the way they are. I agree that making a list of 'archer talents' like rogue or fighter talents would be a good idea, with seeker, phase, and hail being some of those choices.

I agree with the people who've said that some spellcasting advancement would make the class much more playable.

It would add power to the class for sure. Not sure it would be necessary if they made the other changes. Even if not, it probably wouldn't hurt.

Arcane Trickster: Not much change.

That's a good thing, imo. The class was solid and powerful as it was. I'm glad they didn't mess with it, as it would have been all too easy to mess it up.

Assassin:Quiet Death is awesome. So is Swift Death

Agreed on both accounts.

I personally approve of them ditching the spells. Hidden Weapons is cool: a nice piece of flavor-centric mechanic.

Dragon Disciple:this class rocks

Agreed. The old class was so awesome in terms of flavor, but so sucky in crunch. This one actually delivers on both. I was curious on how they'd handle it, what with bloodlines already in play. Well done.

My only issue is with the lack of boost to Cha. For a spellcasting class that uses Cha, and for Dragons and half-dragons who have higher Charisma, you'd think they'd give the +2 Cha, even if that meant not giving the Int or as much of the Str boost.

Duelist: I would allow them to use slashing weapons in addition to piercing, but that's just personal taste.

Well, you'd have to word it in a certain way so that characters wielding bastard swords or dwarven axes in one hand wouldn't apply. But yes, I would think that someone using a scimitar or longsword shouldn't certainly be able to make use of these abilities.

Anything that Sneak Attack applies to, Canny Strike should apply to, as well.

Do you mean Piercing Strike? If so, I agree, since the same reasoning would seem to apply to their reasons for expanding sneak attack for rogues.

Parry is nice, but the penalties seem to stack up very quickly...

True. If monks get basically an extra attack for free, the duelist should be able to eventually get an extra attack at their highest attack bonus -but only to parry.

Since most Duelists will probably crit quite often, Crippling Critical is very, very nice.

Indeed.

All in all, the revision is an improvement to the DMG one. I'm still not sure it is up to par though, especially when compared to the new, better base classes of Beta.

Eldritch Knight: Nicely boosted, but still seems kind of... bland, at least before 10th level. I think they really need some kind of armored casting ability, probably just like the Bard's. Arcane Armor Training/Mastery consume your swift action, meaning you can't use Spell Critical or a Quickened Spell that round, and not wearing armor means he's terribly fragile for a front-liner.

Ditto on the analysis. With classes like Duskblade around, this one needs some boosting. The Spell Critical is nice, but they needed more stuff like that. They either need to be able to wear some form of armor (like Duskblade can), or gain an ability that them gain 'spell armor'. They could do that either by just granting them a class ability that allows them to craft a scaling 'mage armor' variant that was always active or by allowing them to sack a spell to gain an armor bonus equal to their class level + the spell sacked.

Loremaster

Nothing really changed here, save for the expected conversion of the lore ability to match Beta bards. Can't say what I would want different (maybe bonus on divination spells?).

Mystic Theurge: Combined Spells

That's a nice ability. I'm not sure if it is a little too rigid, but maybe that's to force people from dipping to power game.

Spell Synthesis... wow. That ability was really awesome, until I saw the 1/day line. Now they can be fully effective... for round round a day. I'd say at least 3 times; if the class needs harsher prerequisites to balance that, so be it.

Or make it so that it is taxing. (i.e. following round, they cast spells at CL-2 or something). I'd still think putting a max on it would be good, just like clerics and channeling energy. However, choosing which ability score to tie it to would be sticky due to all the combinations, so maybe make it 1/2 class level/day. I'd give it to them earlier instead of a capstone, but only if some taxing or cost existed (not XP or gp though).

Shadowdancer

They failed me on this one. The class didn't change at all as far as I could tell. It looks only like a good class to dip into to gain HiPS, or maybe the second level. It's a class that has a lot of potential, but they didn't make anything of it beyond what it already was.

It does indeed; thank you -that was exactly the sort of information I was seeking.

Perhaps James or someone else could clarify: will there be subraces of elves specific to Golarion (and will they be introduced in this book?) For instance, are the elves of Mordant Spire like gray elves (mechanically and conceptually -like how FR Sun elf is like unto a Gray) or are they Gray Elves(crunch and flavor-wise)?

A similar question could be asked relative to the aquatic elves around Azlanti ruins.

*Also, I'm still very curious about an elven pantheon and how that works with the hitherto stated devotion to beings like Desna and the Savored Sting.

Perhaps my question wasn't clear enough: how much flavor or what new info will be included about the 'main gods' that is not already in the Campaign Setting?

Detailed descriptions of the core twenty deities of the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting, complete with symbols and full illustrations

Besides a full illustration of the deity (which is cool), what more does this section have as compared to what is already in the Campaign Setting?

When it mentions an elven pantheon, is it referring to gods other than those found in the Campaign Setting?

Also, will Pathfinder have different subraces of elves? (in a similar way that Oerth has Grey, High, etc, and Faerun has Star, Moon, Sun, etc). Obviously, a drow subrace exists, so besides that.