J.R. Farrington, Esq.'s page

Lots of interesting data in this thread.

If it wouldn't be too much trouble though...

If you've posted in this thread reply and quote your original post and add how long your campaigns took and how frequently (on average) you played.

For me I find that music while gaming can inspire moments and set moods, if timed well. You can play music during gaming, but it needs to fit and can be jarring otherwise. We've carefully groomed our playlists over the last 6-ish years and have weeded out tracks that didn't work.

What I'm also discovering is that certain soundtracks that may not fit in a fantasy game are inspiring me to run other games, or to come up with games just to use that soundtrack while playing.

Most recently it's been the soundtrack to Hanna. Another good one is the Book of Eli soundtrack. I would love to run a game using those two.

I'm surprised nobody's said World of Warcraft yet.

World of Warcraft soundtracks are in our playlists, plus some from Warcraft III and the Diablo series.

Plus a whole slew that I can't recall off the top of my head.

We use a dedicated game soundtrack ipod. It contains a sampling of tracks from our huge library of movie and video game soundtracks.

All the tracks are arranged into playlists that can be shuffled independently. The playlists are created thematically and are titled accordingly. We have the generic Adventuring, Suspense, and Combat, as well as more specific playlists like Town and Tavern. Actually my wife manages the whole thing, so I'm recalling what little I can remember.

We use everything that we think fits, new and old. Video game soundtracks range from the original Baldurs Gate to Skyrim. Many movie soundtracks we use have already been listed above.

This is all group preference really. If music bothers even one player I'd say don't use it. If it works for your group, go for it.

Brap8 wrote:

The only colossal was the red dragon the blue black and white are huge

The blue and white dragons were Gargantuan, if I recall correctly.

You do that very thing. The black, blue, and white are gargantuan, 4x4 spaces.

There sure are Kelsey. While I can't comment on Darby, I can tell you that Missoula has a pretty large gamer community. It's also home to MisCon.

If you're in Montana already try coming up for the MisCon Quarterly Game Day this Saturday, January 21st. I'll be running a Pathfinder game and I'll save you a seat.

Hey guys,

This order contained Gloom: Cthulhu instead of Gloom: Unfortunate Expeditions.

It's not that I don't appreciate the offer of a $25 item for $15, but the copy of Gloom: Cthulhu I ordered already arrived in order #1878749. Thanks anyway, but I'll need to work out some kind of return/exchange.

Thanks in advance.

It's super effective!

Happy Friday, thanks!

So first the good news...all the items that arrived are in great shape! I was worried about the Mouse Guard RPG box set, Campaign Coins package, and the Tome of Horrors Complete all being the same box. I thought for sure something would get mangled or crushed. Nope! Everything that came was in perfect condition, thanks for the great packing job guys!

So then the "other" news...the Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Region Poster Map didn't appear to make it into the shipment at all. It's missing. The other 3 maps were in there, but the Inner Sea map was missing.

Could I get one please?

Whew, ok. Thanks Cos, tell Megan she's swell too.

I guess this will be a short panic thread.

Saw your post on FB and figured I better come to the source to be sure. Just wanted to double check to make sure order I placed this morning, 1800672 is ok.

There was some...weirdness when the order was placed, but Megan assured me in another thread it had been sorted out.

In light of the impending sell-out, I thought I should double check to make sure the order looks ok on your end, and that it'll ship with a subscription shipment when the print copies become available.

I was just coming here to report similar strange behavior while placing an order for the same product, Tome of Horrors Complete Print/PDF bundle (PFRPG).

Order 1800672.

It hung while processing the order and then it just returned to the Paizo home page. It never prompted me to select shipping options, but the order seems to have completed as I have an email receipt and the pdf is in my downloads.

I would like the print copy added to my sidecart for shipping with my next subscription shipment if possible.

Thanks in advance.

Hmmm. Let's see here...

Kaer Maga

You know I'm just not sure.

Kaer Maga

+1 twice

Oh that's weird, deja vu.

Kaer Maga

If only there was a place...

Kaer Maga

that a lot of us could agree on...

Kaer Maga

that seemed to stand out from other options.

Kaer Maga

Someplace that had extensive, intriguing dungeons...

Kaer Maga

with a complex, conveniently located city nearby.

Kaer Maga

I don't know.

Kaer Maga

We have to trust Paizo will come up with something.

Kaer Maga

Hmmm. Yep.

I'd be a big fan - especially if it could be set in the dungeons beneath Kaer Maga, since I think that would provide a nice opportunity for 'breaks' from dungeon delving and would also avoid the problem of loot disposal, training/purchasing of equipment and so forth (plus it's just generally awesome).

I'm on board with what Steve's got going here. I'm a huge fan of Kaer Maga and the sprawling warren of tunnels and ruins below.

I'd love to see an adventure path set in, around, and under Kaer Maga. Adventure path + mega-dungeon = everyone wins!

Again this Nick Logue thing comes up. From a distance it looks to me like the guy ripped a bunch of people off so those people need to examine and eventually pursue their legal options. The guy stole and committed fraud plain and simple.

Now why this keeps popping up on the Paizo boards I'm not sure. Was Mr Logue a Paizo employee at one point? I know he wrote several AP chapters, and maybe some other stuff for Paizo, but if he did that as a freelancer I doubt Paizo can do anything about his fraudulent activity.

However if Mr. Logue ever does do freelance work for Paizo again I would strongly suggest a boycott of whatever he does until he has returned all the money he owes, at the very least.

Based on what I have read of this issue I would certainly support such a boycott. Beyond this I'm not sure what Paizo or even the Paizo community could do to help the victims here.

Nic Logue wrote Hook Mountain Massacre, Hangmans Noose, Crown/Revenge of the Kobold King (and many other contributions to Dragon and Dungeon) for Paizo. He delivered product that people enjoyed and built something of a culty following here.

Threads announcing Sinister Adventures LLC, Indulgences, Ebon Shroud, Razor Coast, Anarchist Gamemaster Cookbook were all posted on these forums. This community was actively solicited.

I feel bad for everyone who has lost money as part of this. I nearly jumped in on Razor Coast. It sounded pretty neat. I'm glad I didn't.

I'm nearly positive that there was an article in Dragon that covered this very topic. I've never been able to come up with the issue number. I'd love it if someone here could remember.

Anyway on topic, I think this is great flavor. I have a cleric in my current campaign that's using an engraved holy relic (weapon) as her holy symbol.

It's rarely a good idea to expect a player to have the same knowledge or skills as their character. Metagaming is generally frowned on in most games, and that's basically what this is asking players to do. It's an in game task (that the character might be great at), but now the player needs to use out of game knowledge (to perform a task they may hate, or not do well).

That said, riddles and puzzles are an original AD&D staple, and some players enjoy the challenge. I think the way to add this is as an option, not a requirement. If you as a GM want your players to do these little puzzles, maybe make an in game reward of some kind? Reward all characters (and players) with a little xp for participating?

I'm doing something like this in a Desert of Desolation 3.5 campaign now. This is an AD&D campaign converted to 3.5, and includes a number of code translation style puzzles...ancient writings to translate. When the group encountered the first puzzle we established the system we would use. Spells and skill checks are always permitted to attempt a translation. However, decoding the text IRL earns the group bonus xp that is shared between all party members. Some players like completing the translations, others don't, but they all like the bonus xp and tend to remain patient while the players who love the puzzles work it out.

The only way this works is if you have the whole group on board. YMMV.

Stopped by to concur with Fatespinners comments about this being damage delivered only on a crit.

Also, Smite Evil is a once a day trick for a 4th level Paladin.

Woo-hoo!!! Just got my subscription copy in the mail today at work!!! Looking forward to reading it today during my lunch break!

Enjoy! I ate mine already.

PS. It was delicious.

Got my subscription copy on the 9th.

After spending a couple days with it I have no problem saying I think it's the best campaign setting book I've ever seen for any system or campaign setting.

No worries : ) I knew you'd get to it.

Can the backordered Santa Mousling and Helper be removed from my sidecart please? I didn't see any way for me to cancel it or remove it myself.

Hi again Liz,

Can the backordered Santa Mousling and Helper be removed from my sidecart please? I didn't see any way for me to cancel it or remove it myself.

Thanks again.

Hmm...same here.

I've been so busy the yearly Paizo card not arriving didn't occur to me until I saw your post.

Hi everybody: how long does it take to a Barbed Devil to use his Summon Barbed Devil/Lemures (Mag.)Ability? A standard action, or 1 round as per the Summon Monster spells? Many thanks!

V.

I've always ruled that it's 1 round per the following lines:

From the description of summon "A creature with the summon ability can summon other specific creatures of its kind much as though casting a summon monster spell"

Then from Spell-Like Abilities: "A spell-like ability has a casting time of 1 standard action unless noted otherwise in the ability or spell description."

And then from Summon Monster: "Casting Time 1 round"

So Summon is a spell-like ability with a casting time of 1 round (as noted in the spell description).

Jeremiziah wrote:

His name was Gandalf.

"When a member of Project Mayhem dies, he has a name. His name... was Gandalf."

Project Superstar.

Can the backordered Santa Mousling and Helper be split off into its own order please?

I'd like the pending items to ship as soon as possible and didn't realize the order was waiting on a backordered product.

Thanks in advance.

Try the Falcons Hollow series. D0 - Hollow's Last Hope, D1 - Crown of the Kobold King, and D1.5 - Revenge of the Kobold King.

That'd take up your 40 hours I bet. I have a small side group that has been working their way through this series and they've been having a blast. With ample roleplaying opportunities in Falcons Hollow they made D0 take about 14 hours.

"Listen, there's no way there could be any more ________'s in here..."

Regularly stated by one player in my ongoing campaign where the blank has been anything from spiders to wraiths, or whatever else just nearly killed them.

If Legos won't do and you've got some money to spend try Dwarven Forge.

Marshall Jansen wrote:

For reference: we also calculated the volume of fireballs in 10' corridors, and calculated falling speeds to determine if you would have time to say the words 'feather fall' before hitting the ground.

I'm going to start looking up your posts, because your war stories are gonna be epic.

No, his war stories are going to be math

Edit: Ok, I stand corrected. Marshall Jansen has some harrowing tales to tell, and brother, so far they ain't pretty.

It sounds like everyone is winging it for the most part. PF characters with the adventure run as written.

This is encouraging since I plan for Savage Tide to be my next campaign, and my group is still up in the air as to what system we're going to use.

I actively run 3.5 / PFRPG on a regular basis.

I DM a 3.5 game (using many house rules adopted from PFRPG) every other week with 7 players.

I also run a Pathfinder session once a month.

The 3.5 game has been our ongoing campaign since well before Pathfinder was even a thing.

Well sonuvacrap...why have I been playing it as a burst all these years? Huh...

OK...forget fireball then; the point still stands, even if the example provided was faulty. An emanation acts like a burst, which is blocked by things that provide cover, which a backpack (or handy haversack would provide, and so the effect would not penetrate to affect creatures on the outside.

At best, one might reasonably argue that loose flaps would allow for the effect to seep out at some given angle (which is the basis for the bulls-eye "silence" lantern idea), but if closed up nice and tight, there would be no effect.

No.

There are too many people disagreeing with this ruling for you to make your post as if it were fact with no further discussion required. Although for me the discussion is nearly done; I'm satisfied with my earlier statements and I'm not sure I'll come up with a new and improved argument 2.0.

Refer to all the statements regarding burqas, hats, shoes and umbrellas. Aren't these silly? If you rule that the emanation can be hidden from a person (with only fabric or leather), then couldn't the person be hidden from the emanation (by...clothing?)? My opinion is that this is an exploit and would allow a second level spell to be defeated by a hat.

Fireball is a "spread" area spell... it goes around corners and trees.

By the rules, your clothing or a backpack or a boot doesn't provide cover so those would be ineffective versus Silence or Fireball in any case.

I agree that a handy haversack would block a Silenced coin simply because once the coin is in the haversack and the sack is closed, it exists in an enclosed extradimensional space. I suppose the spell might "spill out" of the haversack when it was opened, since opening the haversack effectively creates a portal between dimensions that the emanation could travel through.

Or maybe not. :)

I can start getting on board with the idea that an extradimensional space can suppress an emanation spell as you describe.

I'm still not ok with it being suppressed by a mundane backpack, or a shoe, or a hat, or anything along the lines of "if I hide it, it no longer works". A second level spell shouldn't be beaten by a hankie.

So, I would rule that in order to qualify as cover against a burst/emanation the cover has to a) be able to survive the effect (if the blast does damage) and b) the cover must be sufficient to also block Detect Magic.

The above ruling is my favorite so far. It also accounts for a tower shield.

Brother Elias wrote:

Just for clarity. If the silence was not blocked by the backpack, then a light spell on a coin would also not be blocked?

As far as I can tell, the spell light is a different case altogether. It doesn't indicate the illumination generated by the spell's effect to be an emanation at all. The spell creates natural light that extends a defined distance, in a manner similar to that of a mundane source; it creates regular light, and as such it would be blocked by anything that would normally block light.

I think this pretty well answers the Light question.

Upon review, Light isn't an emanation.

Upon further review, neither is Continual Flame.

Just for clarity. If the silence was not blocked by the backpack, then a light spell on a coin would also not be blocked?

So all I have to do to provide light for the party is to put it on a coin, and then I can keep the coin in my backpack, or my pocket, and I'm good?

It's an interesting call one way or another. If you say that silence is not blocked, then you have to say that all emanations and bursts are not blocked. If you say that the silence is blocked, then you have to say that all emanations and bursts are blocked.

I guess the question becomes - at what point is an emanation blocked by intervening material? And at what point is it not?

We're getting dangerously close to the point where we start talking about magic and physics, as covered (or not covered) by RAW. It's a weird place.

Once light is generated by magic it behaves as light does in "the real world"? Once silence is generated by magic it behaves...as magical silence does in the real world? I admit I don't have a good answer for this, but emanations being blocked by either by a tower shield or just a layer of cloth or leather bothers me.

I'll admit, I sort of saw this slippery slope conversation coming, which is why I was hesitant to not start a new thread. My apologies to Zerombr if they feel that I sidetracked their thread.

In the interest of full disclosure, I would rule that the effect of Silence would not be blocked by a backpack. My opinion is that to allow it to be blocked opens the door to later exploitation, which has been danced around with references to burqas and beach umberellas. I also wouldn't allow someone to step on the coin to block the silence effect.

But these suggestions upthread illustrate my point that if you say the effect is blocked by placing the emanation inside something, couldn't someone could block the emanation from themselves? Say, by wearing long hooded robes, gloves, and then turning around so their face isn't directly exposed. Does this person now have complete concealment and cover from an emanation? I don't believe they would.

Maybe I'm entering the realm of houserule, but so be it. I will not have mages placing themselves in anti-silence suits in any game I run.

This is a fascinating discussion. I'm left with a question though (if this is too much of a derail I can take it elsewhere, but I'm staying here for now).

Does the haversack block the silence spell? Does it really? Or does the effect continue to emanate from within? I'm curious what chain of RAW leads to this ruling.

It's also great for muting yourself and all the spellcasters in the party!

Chris, were you saying this is your position as well or am I misunderstanding what you meant here?

I guess I'm not sure I believe a haversack would contain or impede a magical emanation.

as far as i see it, i don't see an imbalance, i just see a monty haul campaign. i see the wealth being equivalent to that of 2 levels higher

The imbalance is that these other characters have 12,000+ GP in wealth, while Bruno's character is about right by WBL. 6,000 GP is what the WBL chart indicates is appropriate for 4th level. These other characters are more than double that.

It sounds like Bruno doesn't want to play in a monty haul campaign, and I can't say that I blame him.

i have always enjoyed playing DnD and i love pathfinder but i have to admit one thing i cant stand is when anyone refers to something in the game as "broken". Sure many DM's chose to remove something from their game if they feel it doesn't work right but in my honest opinion how can you truly enjoy a game if you don't trust the game to work?

My group follows one major rule, If it is in one of the core books (meaning any book released by Paizo) then it is always allowed without question.

How can you comfortably play in a group if you cant assume what you look at in the books is an option for you to use?

How can you truly enjoy a character if it wasn't your first choice but that option isn't allowed in some ones games?

i just feel that the term "Broken" just ruins any real fun i might have in a group, something might seem powerful or wonky to you but others might feel it works just fine.

Agreed. I also think that "broken" is sometimes used in place of "I don't like". As if "broken" is the unbeatable argument winning trump card.

No no, you don't understand...it's broken.

J.R. Farrington, Esq. wrote:

KaeYoss wrote:

It's one thing to criticise your own country, and another entirely to Godwin a thread about Christmas.

Who Godwin'd? Did I miss it? I thought nazi's or hitler needed to be referenced or compared in order to invoke the law.

Ahem...

Digitalelf wrote:

Would you rather be speaking German now???

I didn't think that was a full Godwin, and Kae already explained earlier.

On a scale of 1 to Godwin it was only a 6.Eisenhower.

I realize on forums that humor, like sarcasm, may be unlooked for and unecessary. But whatever.

Oh, thank goodness. I'd forgotten what I said. Please forgive me. /friendly sarcasm, if there be such a creature

See, this is why I tend to stay out of political threads. Sarcasm, however friendly, isn't necessary. No one was questioning anyones rights and I wanted to make that clear. So I'll in turn ask you to forgive me for quoting you where apparently no quoting was required. My bad.

Actually, I agree with you all that there's no need to threadjack the thread. The 'rights' were referring to his right to mock a country without being flamed, but flamed seemed a strong word, so I deleted it.

It never seemed to me he intended to start a discussion, since being American, it was most likely a little jab at America's commercialism which we, as Americans, tend to embrace. I could be wrong, but that's how I interpreted it, and I'm surprised my comment (or his, for that matter)earned this apparent irritation.

I'm not flaming anyone, and I'm not irritated. Imagine that I am completely rational and calm, and simply didn't want to be misunderstood?

I never meant to become involved, I had hoped that my pointing out that one of the 'offenders' wasn't being a crazy racist European might help to cool off this rather heated debate.

I too did not mean to become this involved in this thread. I never assumed anyone was a crazy racist European. I understand that I'm participating in this discussion, but I'm not taking part in the "heated" aspect. It's not productive.

And I'd much rather read anything other than some guy taking a fellow countryman's rant as an excuse to insult a whole continent. Because that's plain hate mongering.

I suspect you weren't referring to me in the above quote, but I want to make sure. Please don't confuse me with Digitalelf, and don't assume that he and I are 100% of the same opinions. I think his intentions may be in the right place, but I can see how the execution is offensive to others. I mentioned this already:

Digitalelf is getting a little wild-eyed and ranty with all the WWI / WWII / UN stuff, but "tired of the "Let's Hate on America" band-wagon" is something I can agree with.

The smitter wrote:

well it is august, what the F^*$. America just get greedier every year

Yes, there it is. But you know, the guy's an American. It's not exactly "European ingratitude" or anything like that. It's a guy who doesn't like his own country.

Yes, there it is. But I don't care where he's from. Point of origin or nationality have no bearing.

Loztastic wrote:

this is in the UK, not the US!

Yes, "US" is in there, but no hate. He merely clarifies that he doesn't talk about the US. He doesn't lay any blame on the US.

I have no issue whatsoever with Loz. He's only trying to clarify his OP. To clear up what Smitters posted, which in my opinion was an

automatic knee-jerk anti-US reactionary attitude

You see, the only "knee-jerk anti-US reactionary attitude" comes form Americans there.

Again, I don't care where the attitude is coming from from. Nationality is no excuse. I don't believe the attitude or behavior is excusable. I will comment on it as I see fit, without judging others. I won't stoop to bigotry or hate speech myself; I don't need to.

This is my single issue in this thread:

I'm tired of the "Let's Hate on America" band-wagon" ... The automatic knee-jerk anti-US reactionary attitude is getting old.

That's the first three posts. And after that, everything else that is said against America is from people who don't mention their nationality, so making assumptions to support your theory is dishonest.

I have made no assumptions regarding any theories or any people in this thread. You implying any dishonesty on my part is rude, and our posts are on display for everyone to read and review. If anyone can find an example of me being dishonest I'd like to see it, so as to improve myself. I don't like the idea that someone believes me to be "dishonest".

I'm tired of the "Let's Hate on America" band-wagon" ... The automatic knee-jerk anti-US reactionary attitude is getting old

This may be my opinion, but it's hardly dishonest.

Eh, you're being to generous to Riptide. While some parts of it were OK...

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[SPOILER ALERT]
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How any modern medical professional could fail to recognize, or even at least suspect, the symptoms of radiation poisoning stretched my credulity far more than any idiocy about the sword or how the traps remained so deadly centuries later.

Yeah, I know. I was excited enough about Oak Island prior to reading Riptide that I was willing to overlook issues like that.

What I disliked the most was

Thanks to Anthony for the pics Now Linkified. This is exactly what I poked my nose in here for.

Yeah, wow...they are all repaints or clear versions.

The Ghost Beholder looks like a clear version of the Beholder Lich from Unhallowed.

The Eye Tyrant is the same one from Dangerous Delves.

And I can't tell which is the "Eye of Shadow" and which is "Snowball"...but I can tell that the models are the Eye of Flame from Dungeons of Dread, and the original Beholder from Deathknell.

Hmmm...I think the possibility of pre-order for me is now is question.

Certainly, nobody said we don't have the right.

Your statement earlier:

Actually, I'm pretty sure Smitter has every right to dislike his own country.

implies (to me at least, maybe I've read too much into it) that you felt his rights were being infringed. Or at least questioned. It seemed to come across to Patrick the same as well.

But since Smitter is American, he can safely mock his own country. It shouldn't be an issue. I mock America all the time, we're a queer breed.

Just to be clear, my issue isn't the critisism itself, it's:

The automatic knee-jerk anti-US reactionary attitude

Which I believe is quite apparent in the first three posts.

I would much rather read two pages of interesting discussion regarding holiday origins or modern consumer/commercialism than just "hurf durf Americans". It's lazy drive-by posting.

I tend to stay out of political discussions on forums. It's a policy that's served me well so far. But I felt compelled to comment on this.

Could we please stop it with all the hate? It's the Christmas Season, after all!!!

Your avatar would look awesome with a holly wreath and big red bow around its neck. Very merry indeed.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

J.R. Farrington, Esq. wrote:

Digitalelf is getting a little wild-eyed and ranty with all the WWI / WWII / UN stuff, but "tired of the "Let's Hate on America" band-wagon" is something I can agree with. The automatic knee-jerk anti-US reactionary attitude is getting old. Go back and read the first two posts in this thread and then tell me that it isn't just precious.

Actually, I'm pretty sure Smitter has every right to dislike his own country.

Absolutely KC. Just as J.R. has every right to dislike his dislike.

Thanks Patrick.

And no one even remotely mentioned whether anyone has or doesn't have the right to say anything? So I'm not sure where this is coming from.

Jam412 wrote:

What do you think a beholder's set of binoculars would look like?

Suspiciously like a telescope, I imagine.

This. This is incredible.