Iziak's page

10. DON'T believe Balance is the begin-all and end-all precept of the game. When balance gets in the way of the entertainment the game provides, trash it.

11. DO listen to your players feedback, what they like and don't like, and build the game around it. By providing the type of entertainment the players seek, you are reaching for excellence in DMing.

12. DO understand this is not "your" game, and these aren't "your" players. This is everyone's game, and the players are people just like you. They don't owe you respect. This is something you have to earn by aiming for excellence, fairness, knowledge, dynamism in DMing.

13. DON'T, EVER, say "no" to a player, particularly concerning character building and options, player's feedback, initiative and imagination without explaining the reasons why you say so. This might have to be explained after the game session (or campaign) is over (it's probably better that way, so as to not interrupt the flow of the game itself), but do take the time to explain the reasons behind your rulings. See #11 from there.

I have to agree with all of these.

Iziak wrote:

Because if there are 5-7 people on at the same time constantly posting, it would mostly take up the "recent posts" bar on various pages of the website... If you guys would rather not have a game like that, I understand completely.

People who have forums closed (via the little triangle thingy) don't see posts in those forums in their view of recent posts... so as long as folks are using the triangles, it's not a big problem.

Iziak wrote:

...if nothing is posted for a week or so in a thread and it drops down below the bottom of the page, is it still accessible? Is it gone forever? I just don't see any obvious "next page" buttons.

Older threads go into the archive; there's a link to browse each forum's archive at the top of each forum.

Thanks Vic, but I've decided it's a better idea to do a standard PbP. However, both of these are nice to know for future reference. Thanks!

Combat Focus feats were in Player's Handbook II.

I wouldn't mind seeing some feats that allow fighters to do more depending on the weapons they are wielding (like dazing or crushing armor for bludgeoning weapons), but I don't want it going too far into Book of Nine Swords/4th Edition territory with fighters getting wierd supernatural powers that are beyond the realm of typical fantasy (so no magic DR, no regeneration, etc).

Ah... Combat Focus feats would be good. There are Combat Style (or something) feats in Complete Warrior. I thought that he was referring to them... I had forgotten the Focus feats.

And ditto the "no supernatural stuff." (although I must note that 4E had very little supernatural martial powers... that mostly Bo9S).

The combat form/style feats are a very good option. These feats allow you to adopt stances that grant you bonuses and can be used a number of timer per day according to the number of feats you devote to those stances. I think they are listed in complete adventurer, but can't remember. Someone help me pointing the right source please.

I believe it was Complete Warrior, but that's not quite what I'm thinking of. Those feats required the use of certain weapons... and typically two different weapons at the same time. I'm thinking more of feats that can be used with any weapon (although maybe they'd gain a bonus based on the type of weapon). Alternatively, they could have a broader range of weapons that they could be used with (Weapon Finesse would be a good example of this).

The biggest thing that had drawn me to 4th edition before scraping it for Pathfinder was the "all classes have powers" concept. I love it. And I was thinking... Paizo's already done something with it in the form of the Vital Strike feats, but is there any chance that we could get maybe 25-50 combat feats that allow alternate types of attacks with additional benefits (balanced by equal penalties)? It would still be backwards compatible, and it might help draw some of the 4E players over to PRPG.

Just my ramblings. Anybody else have ideas about this?

Unless the players deserve it by doing something stupid or blatantly antagonistic to the story, like if they attack the King in his throne room, or somehow gain infinite wealth and expect not to get noticed.

This is true.

First, it's not really tied to Golarian more than very loosely, no more so than the D&D core rules were tied to Greyhawk. The only real Golarian tie in I know of is the domains and dieties section.

So they have a choice, tie it to their world or make up some generic gods and tie it to that.... really, do you even need to ask that? Much like the D&D PHB was useful for Eberron, Greyhawk, and Forgotten Realms the PRPG core book will be usable for all three.

Edit: I'm not sure what you are talking about w/ regards to the races. I think the races are tied in quite will with their historic D&D roles.

Ditto this. I also want to mention that there is nothing in the Beta that refers to any geographical landmark or nation, or to any person or famous magical item that wasn't referred to in v3.5.

-DON'T TPK except in extreme circumstances, such as when fighting the BBEG.

I'd really like it if Zoltan Boros & Gabor Sziskai (sorry if I spelled that wrong) did some art for Pathfinder... I think that they do some of the best Magic: The Gathering art that there is.

There should indeed be a door between areas 27 and 28.

Sorry, my bad.

On the second floor of the Gold Goblin, I understand why the record room (room 26) may have a secret door to the owner's room (28); however I find it hard to believe that the owner would have to enter his own place via a secret door from a record room in his office.

Shouldn't there be a door leading to the owner's bedroom from the dining room (27)?

I don't own PF13 yet, but based on what I know of the Gold Goblin, the owner would not want an obvious door leading to his chambers. Of course, I could easily be mistaken.

A slightly humorous campaign, eh? Have you thought about having him spontaneously polymorph into a sm * rf?

I don't know if it's included with a normal order, but subscribers get the SDPG with PF #13...

People who order without subscribing do not receive the Player's Guide for free.

The real problem here is that it seems they are actually behind schedule and yet they intend to start charging. Now I have no problems with paying for the content as I think its well worth $5 a month but I think they really should be in a situation were they have several months content all lined up and ready to go. Does not really seem to be the situation they are in.

Wizards is not behind schedule on Dragon or Dungeon.

The goal is to have both magazines done near the start of the month after the issue's month.

Although it is sad that all the Dungeon adventures came out at the same time, Wizards is not running late.

NOTE: I am note defending Wizards in this statement. I am just saying what the situation is as I see it.

I don't think it would be an issue with the lots of posting, the recent posts just does that recent threads, not individual posts I think..

For this type of game I would recommend thinking about doing it in a chat room (you can use www.dmtools.org/chat and look fo r the command on the left to create more room and invite others to them.) and then at the end of your session, post a log of what was siad in the chat. (maybe to the campaign journals part of the messageboards) remember what your thread's name is, so if it does fall off the page you can use the search function on the top left of the page.

Thanks!

Hi-

My previous post seems to have completely dissapeared, so I'll try again:

I'm considering starting a PbP game (still haven't quite decided) but if I do I wanted to try and have an actual meeting time where everyone in the group is on and active for 3-4 hours or whatever, instead of having a slow and stilted kind of game the way the most PbP games are (at least the one's that I've viewed on this site). This, however, brings up two questions:

1) Is Paizo okay with this? Because if there are 5-7 people on at the same time constantly posting, it would mostly take up the "recent posts" bar on various pages of the website... If you guys would rather not have a game like that, I understand completely.

2) Provided Paizo doesn't mind, I have to wonder how you access additional pages of the messageboards... if nothing is posted for a week or so in a thread and it drops down below the bottom of the page, is it still accessible? Is it gone forever? I just don't see any obvious "next page" buttons.

Thanks!

EDIT: My previous post appears to have popped back into existence. I've deleted it.

I just have a few questions:

1) Is the artwork on the cover of this only going to be on this book, or will it also be seen in books later in the adventure path the way it was for RotR?

2) Does the interior of this book contain both the art pieces from the standard edition? Just one of them? Neither?

3) If Paizo's willing to share, how many of these do you have left in stock? I'm just curious because I haven't yet reached Second Darkness and am wondering if I should order this now or later (although based mostly on question #1 I might just get the normal cover from my FLGS).

Thanks!

I know that adding new races to the game is not Paizo's goal with the Pathfinder RPG, but I think that adding in some MM races/subraces to the core rules would be nice, namely: drow (just getting rid of their SR and spell-like abilities should make the LA +1, which is about the equivalent of all the Beta races), high elves, orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, KOBOLDS!, lizardfolk, etc.

Obviously, they'd probably have some disclaimer saying that they were usable by the GM's permission only, but I think that making those races more accessible would be a good idea... I know that a lot of players don't buy monster books, so having information on those races (especially the kobolds) would be great.

Does anyone else have thoughts about either adding in MM races or creating all-new races for PRPG?

I haven't gotten my hands on PF13 yet (just getting to the end of CoCT), but from what I've heard that would be AWESOME.

The cover art is up in the Paizo Blog... wow. When do you think that we can see the final, full cover?

Gary goes to a lot of effort to make sure that the images we use look good at 90x90 pixels—squashing, scaling, or arbitrarily cropping random images to that size wouldn't look very good.

Ah... that makes sense. Thanks for letting me know.

How do Pathfinder goblins differ from D&D goblins in the rules (if they do at all)?

Pathfinder goblins in the adventure paths and modules written so far have the same statistics as those in the Monster Manual. Once the Pathfinder RPG comes out, there statistics will change slightly to reflect the new rules.

actually there is about 4 RPS (which i know directly and that come to mind) that use Stealth instead of having hide and move silently, or use stealth to group this(even if they divide it for skills)

Yes, I had thought that there would be other RPGs that used that also. It's just that I'm only really familar with D&D and Pathfinder (and the handful of games that I picked up at Free RPG Day).

I certainly haven't run out of ideas (not that I've ever posted any here since I just signed up 2 days ago). Right now I'm actually working on what I hope ends up as a Pathfinder Chronicles-sized Guide to Sandpoint (and the Hinterlands). I've also not been writing D&D stuff as much because I'm not currently participating in my game group (long story) and because for a while (from about December until a week ago) I was a firm supporter of 4th Edition. It's really just recently that I jumped on the PRPG bandwagon (which means that I need to really catch up on CoCT, SD, and some Chronicles books).

Although I can't give an official response, it's my take you can use some things. I think that Stealth would be fine, since it is used in 4th edition and is a very common term anyway. So would Acrobatics and Perception.

Some other skills-the new once kind of developed for Pathfinder, such as Lingustics and Fly-I'm not so sure about.

Feats could be really tricky, since many of the new feats, like Vital Strike, I haven't seen used elsewhere.

Of course, I can assume that you plan to use the OGL to publish your book, in which case following the rules of the OGL would work fine. Paizo has announced plans for a Pathfinder RPG Compatibility Logo, but that's all the information that we have, so we don't know whether or not that will have additional licensing requirements for the use of certain game terms.

Also, I personally might recommend trying to hold off on the use of rules mechanics in your book until the final RPG is released, because if you want it to be fully compatible, you'd need to go over all your material looking for the minute changed that need to be made to upgrade from the Beta to the final.

In the interim between now and the release of the PRPG hardcover, it is my belief that you can write anything, as long as you don't distribute it in any way... over the internet or in printed form (except maybe on these messageboards, but in doing that I believe you forfeit your own right to use the material since Paizo can use, modify, and distribute anything posted on the boards).

Once again THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. I am not a lawyer, nor do I work for Paizo. These are just the guidelines that I believe to be accurate.

An actual response from Paizo on this would be nice.

No clue if this is the proper place for this or not, but there's a couple of features I'd love for the messageboards to have.

1. Thread in the "add new reply" page--put it under the area where I'm typing in my post, order from newest to oldest so that the post immediately previous to mine is at the top and they go backwards from there. Can filter so it's just the last ~10 or so messages in the thread if db hits are a concern. Would help the flipping and extra window/tab opening I have to do to see what I'm replying to in the thread.

2. A thread bookmark feature. I'd love to be able to bookmark a thread and have it add to a page (somewhere off my account page, perhaps) that has all of the threads I've bookmarked. Would make it a LOT easier to find threads that I'm interested in. And yes, I know about the RSS feed, but I'd like something that aggregates all the threads into one page on the site.

3. Jump to Unread Post. I'd love to have the ability to click a button next to the thread subject and jump to the first post that I haven't read. It's a phenomenal timesaver, particularly in long threads.

Thanks. :)

#1 would be excellent... I'm still pretty new here, but am already kind of bugged because of how weird the reply system is.

Hey Gary-

I just have a brief question regarding avatars. I don't know how it would work, but could you possibly implement some way to grab a picture from anywhere on the Paizo website and use it as an avatar? I really couldn't find one that really fit Iziak (the character I used to play), which would be something like a drow arcane guard.

As I said, I don't know the computer technicalities, but that could just be a nice feature and it would prevent as much doubling of avatars (I'm the fifteenth person to use the Scribbler!)

Slightly off topic: Does anyone have any clue as to why Roll vs. Role is in Dragon and not Dungeon? Come on, it's just a small, fill-in-the-gaps adventure.

...just from a personal standpoint, I like the idea of a magically-blooded half-orc shaman (sorcerer) or war-cry shouting battle-drummer (bard). :)

Agreed. And I also just realized that orcs not having a Cha penalty is more or less the same as giving them their +2 Wis... I get it now.

I can't wait for this... I'm very interested in Osirion and any parts of the Legacy of Fire that take place around it.

Although there hasn't been an official announcement, I'm guessing (and hoping) that Paizo will publish some sort of Monster Manual be the end of 2009.

As it is, although I know that they have announced that there are no plans to do this, I would love to see even just 20 pages or so of monsters in the core book... all of them below CR 5 and most of them having obvious usefulness (kobold, orc, goblin... maybe some humans, etc.)

Just looking through the spells and magic items chapters, I need to ask if you could maybe reformat the stat blocks. For spells, maybe you could just say that "all casting times are standard actions unless otherwise noted," which would save a lot of space. You could also only put the Saving throw entry in if a save is actually allowed, and maybe just write SR is spell resistance is allowed, and have nothing if it isn't.

For magic items, I've mainly just noticed that the first two lines and the construction section uses a larger font then the rest of the description... could this be made smaller so that you can fit more stuff in in the final PRPG rules?

Just some suggestions.

As I see a new free "Dungeon" adventure over on WoTC, I wonder how much longer they can give it away for free.

They have to be paying all the writers, artists, layout people, etc.
This can't go on forever.

Thoughts?

Wizards has announced (In Digital Insider 2 or 3, if I remember correctly), that they plan to start charging for subscriptions in about one or two months, but at about half of the originally planned price. This half-price subscription will contain only Dragon, Dungeon, the D&D Compendium, and bonus tools (like the ability generator, encounter generator, and soon the monster builder).

I've been keeping an eye on 4th Edition, and DDI especially, before I decided that Pathfinder RPG was a better way to go for me. Let me know if you have other questions!

I know that the spells & magic item enhancement is already available, but does anybody have any idea of when we'll get the prestige classes/cursed and intelligent items/Game Master rules mentioned on page 403 of the Beta?

The title really says it all. V3.5 half-orcs have +2 Str, -2 Int, and -2 Cha. PRPG half-orcs have +2 Str, +2 Wis, and -2 Int.

I know that this is mainly to keep most races in the +2/+2/-2 structure, but still... a Cha penalty seems fair for a half-orc. Actually, I think it would be a better penalty than Int.

We need more worlds with smart orcs, more playable orcs, and a half-race that isn't borderline psychotic/suicidal.

Yes. I agree with you completely on this.

In a nutshell rule 0 is the understanding that the DM has the last word and can change anything he wants.

Ahh... I get it now. Thanks for the fast reply!

As a general admonishment to anyone producing DM screens:

Use the True20 hardcover-like material (recently wisely copied by WOTC) rather than the older flimsy construction as seen in the D&D 3.5 screen (and just about every other screen ever produced). Having used the 4E screen, there is just no going back!

YES!

We used a different printer to print the Beta. The rest of our books are still going through our regular printer so won't be affected. The final RPG hardcover will more than likely also go through our regular printer.

-Lisa

Thanks for the reply!

Hey, I'm kind of new around here and was wondering... what is "Rule 0?"

Thanks!

Not just the monk. Lots of classes have powers/abilities now. Balancing them both within and between classes is the trick.

I know that all the classes have new features, and I think that this is, for the most part, good. I'm just concerned about the monk and bard because they seemed overly complicated, at least to me, in v3.5. Adding more abilities could scare away new players from those classes. Adding new things to the spellcasting classes is actually easier, because all of the spells follow a similar pattern, but the monk and bard have so many features that are like small sub-systems.

I think that all of the above are great ideas, but I also want to add a few comments (I own the Eberron DM Screen, so comments are based off of my experience with that):

• You should have the Influencing NPC Attitudes table, or something similar.
• Golarion-specific information might be nice, even if the screen is a "generic" Pathfinder RPG Screen. I'd like to see the "gods" table and information such as the months of the year.
• PLEASE have at least a partial table of conditions.
• I don't think need the "Actions in Combat" table that the Eberron screen has... I have never found use for it, myself.

Have you looked at spell points? It's an alternate magic system for people (like you) you wanted to avoid spell slots.

The psionics rules set is another system that I, personally, think does a better job then spell points, since it is built around the concept rather than having the points used as a "patch."

I think that spell points and the like are excellent, but I don't want to see them used in the Pathfinder RPG for backwards-compatibility reasons. It could be good for a PRPG supplement though, as a variant option.

I think that Ki pool is a great mechanic... but does the monk really need more abilities than it already had in v3.5?

Of course, some of us didn't need to wait until the 4th Edition DMG came out to think of this idea. I'm jusy sayin'.

Fair enough... it had just never occurred to me before.

I just noticed that on the Pathfinder RPG main page, there is a link to see an FAQ about the Pathfinder RPG, but this link only takes you to the top of the same page. Is this supposed to go somewhere and either the link isn't working or is this an old link from when the Alpha was still up or something and it's no longer supposed to work.

Quick question: I just got my copy of this and the cover paper seems to be much lighter and flimsier than that on the Pathfinder APs and Chronicles, and on such a long book it's kind of annoying. Don't get me wrong... I love the contents, but I'm just wondering if this new cover quality is just for this (probably since it is only supposed to last a year and to keep costs down on the Beta) or if all Pathfinder books will be switching to it.

Thanks!

This is one point where I thank that Pathfinder can actually learn from 4th Edition... in this case the "Wish List" idea. In 4E, the DMG recommends getting a "magic item wish list" from each player and putting those items, or items like them, into the game. Something like this would be great, because then players aren't as dissatisfied with (and underpowered because of) their magic item selection.

On a similar note, I think that the random magic item generation system needs a major overhaul. Something like what is in 4E or the v3.5 Magic Item Compendium would be good and could help adventure designers with this problem... although neither of those methods are OGC (of course).

At least many posters that I have seen here are assuming the "purchase" method for determining ability scores, and I think that that is the best method you have presented. Although not exactly a type, then, maybe you should change the order that the methods are listed in in chapter 2 so that they are: Purchase, Modern, Heroic, Classic. In this way, it goes (for the most part) from most-balanced to least-balanced, because rolling is always luck. I'm just not sure which should be first... Modern or Heroic.

I also think that you might want to add a note saying that the game rules assume the use of Purchase, but the other three methods can also be used.

Of course, I don't actually know if you are using the Purchase method as the baseline or not (I just assume such since you use it for Pathfinder Society).

Orcs are such a horribly maligned race. In virtually every campaign world they're stupid, ugly, and out to kill everything - possibly themselves. They often follow evil deities and act as a general nuisance to everyone else. I hate that stereotype, and I'm not sure how a half-orc fits completely into things. They aren't exactly old having only appeared for the first time with 3.0. I think half-orcs have to be the single most interally conflicted race in any setting where orcs follow the general stereotype. I mean if they aren't killed by their parents as kids, it's a wonder they don't commit suicide or get killed being run out of town as a general reminder of half their parentage... But I think I'm getting way off topic.

Half-Orcs, I think, deserve at least one keen sense, but I'm not sure what that sense should be. Scent is as good as any, but I think Sound is a better choice. Check out the ears in their illustration.

I'm not a big fan of the "orc stereotype" either, but many people do consider orcs (and, to a slightly lesser degree, half-orcs) as savages in many ways... Pathfinder #8 and #10's journals should be representative of that. I would certainly like to see half-orcs (maybe orcs, too?) in most game worlds that completely go against this stereotype... maybe an LG half-orc or orc farmer who has never wielded a weapon for combat (that could be a good PC background, too).

Anyway, under the assumption that orcs are, for the most part, savage, I have to guess that they will have developed a keener sense of small as a genetic part of their race. Pathfinder #10's journal is evidence, to some extent, of this.

Personally, it doesn't matter to me what Keen Sense half-orcs get. Scent was just the first thing that came to my mind. Hearing could work, too, but probably not Feel or Sight.

(by the way, the 1st edition AD&D Monster Manual contained a paragraph on half-orcs on page 76... they had the same game statistics as orcs; I'm not sure if they were in 2nd edition, however).