James Thomas's page

Ray - The answer is simple: when you get the chronicles read and enjoy them as usual and then give the ones you don't need to a friend or sell them to a fan! Everybody wins! Heck, I'd buy the Richard Pett one from you myself. Don't cancel your subscription. Spread the joy.

Judges, please give me feedback:

Phantom Flanking Doll
Aura moderate conjuration; CL 9th
Slot —; Price 20,160 gp; Weight –
DESCRIPTION
This featureless tiny rag doll is stitched with arcane runes. Once per day the bearer can hurl the doll up to 30 feet away transforming it into a dark masked figure with rapier at the ready. For stats use Bandit from the Game Mastery Guide p. 258 and add darkvision and the incorporeal subtype. The phantom’s features are indistinct giving it +4 arcane bonus to stealth checks. It can walk upon any surface — even liquids — and takes no penalty traveling on rough terrain. It automatically moves to flank the owner’s opponents and attack using aid other. The phantom flanker can be commanded to fight in other ways but cannot speak. On command or after 10 minutes it reverts to doll form and can be used again after the next midnight.
While activated the phantom flanker can be healed like any other character but if brought to 0 hp it turns back into a doll and the item is destroyed.
CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, shadow conjuration; Cost 10,080 gp

Most killer news!

I offer my request again in hopes it will grab someone's interest: Lennox Revelsome

Darkwood ship is being constructed. It can sail from Golarian to the River Styx and back.

I think an undersea adventure, or part of an adventure would be cool. A lot of people I've gamed with really dig those.

More Sunken Empires (Shore to Sea) themed adventuring!

I too was impressed by the artwork! As good as any RPG publication. But that's just icing on the cake. I was a patron of the design project and if I do say so myself it is very good! I'm not just saying that. The writing is first rate and -- yes, Richard Pett wrote the spooky and dangerous "Rust" adventure. With SIX complete adventures, FIVE locations and a dozen NPCs this is a great buy for the GM who needs gritty material for his game. Oh, and the guy who came up with the Stolen Identity spell and the Shoes of the Shingled Canopy wondrous item should really be commended for his creativity and design aplumb! :^ )

Maure Castle is awesome, but my PFRPG/APG/Ultimate Arcane players skew the CRs for this 3.5 designed adventure. I can't be the only GM who needs to do a conversion to PF. What can any of you GMs share from your own conversions of Maure/Chamber of Antiquities/Greater Halls?

Please accept my request:
Lennox Revelsome is a man of average height and weight of approximately 25 years of age. He lives in Westcrown. His fair skin and black hair are typical of his Chelaxian heritage. He keeps his hair short in the back and long on top. Though tidy after grooming, it flies into a tangle soon after he enters a fight. He has a thin mustache and a short beard on his chin. Coming from a family of entertainers, he follows the fashions popular in the local acting community of Westcrown – though not slavishly. He disdains the traditional robes of wizards and prefers to wear a pair of brown or grey trousers tucked into sturdy, comfortable boots. A white shirt or tunic with a colorful vest and a light cloak and hat finish his usual attire. He carries with him a masterwork walking stick he uses as a club. Its steel knob is fashioned into the face of a weeping fiend. Tied to it by a leather strap is a silver medal: his old barrister’s license. When adventuring he keeps with him a magical haversack and a spell component bag. His leather gloves have wide lapels up his forearm for use as an occasional perch for his owl familiar. Though he would not admit it, he has an odd tendency of using dramatic gestures and exaggerated phrases in everyday conversation – bemusing his companions.

My personal prefrence would be to see a "enchanted forest" type of AP.

Got your enchanted forest right here Dude: Tales of The Old Margreve

It's a complete setting. The best of Open Design! There are adventures by Richard Pett, Tim Connors, and Ben McFarland. I highly recommend it!

More Chelaxian adventures! The setting is unique and the potential for adventure is great.

As a patron of the project and a reader of the final product I am glad it was printed in the USA. I think the quality is better. I have a copy of the PFRPG Core Rulebook that's about 18 months old and the cover is coming off the binding. Lame.
As for next product names, I've already started!
How's this:
Back to the Woods
Forest Dreams (focusing on the Eastern Heart)
Paths of the Margreve
Seasons of the Margreve
Motley Fool's Guide to the Margreve

My own contribution, Hollow, should ensure your PCs should have to endure a few troubling nights without sleep and that's merely the begining of their adventures in the old forest...

Knock, knock.

Knock, knock.

Don't answer the door after dark.

Stitch well your scary Wood Ward effigy people and hope The Hollow Man won't come looking for your head! ... "Hey Rich, is that one looking at us?"

Where would the Necklace of Lovelies go?

From ** spoiler omitted **

I'm afraid I don't have that Pathfinder #, so I couldn't rate it for you. Perhaps you could give a description?

These young pup GMs all need to be spoon fed these days. Back when I was killing my first PCs the modules came in black and white with blueprint maps on the back of the cover! Gary Gygax would give you a room description with the monster name, how many, and he thoughtfully rolled their hit points for you. The rest you looked up in the Monster Manual... AND YOU LIKED IT! If you wanted an alternative you bought Judges Guild(3PP)! JG was about the same only more cheaply published with wonderfully imaginative material and randomly detailed features. The "Judge" (GM) was given a bare-bones adventure supplement and was expected to flesh out the details. Everything was more personalized. If you lacked imagination, rules knowledge or game balance -- your players knew it. Weak GMs squirmed and were jeered at by players and GMs alike. Some were hazed. Some were snagged on. Some, like me, survived. But we can never, never forget!

Come celebrate the macabre and post your own examples for the newly re-calibrated
Pett Scale!

Like Rob mentioned, Hero Lab is currently the only official character management software for both Pathfinder and the Pathfinder Society.

I need something MAC compatible.

James Thomas wrote:

Cmh wrote:

Ok here a quick version of Sewer Sweep that I did. Let me know what you think.

Pretty good. I like the over all look of it. The colors are looking good too. I like how you made it look kinda rusted and the smoking nozzle is a nice touch.

I have a couple of edits in mind: I had envisioned it being shorter and fatter. Secondly, I'd like the nozzle and the red "eye" both on a swiveling head on top. What do you think?

Ok James here it is with the changes made.

You got it man! That is what we want to see!! You practically read my imagination.

Be looking for it here soon.

Ok here a quick version of Sewer Sweep that I did. Let me know what you think.

Pretty good. I like the over all look of it. The colors are looking good too. I like how you made it look kinda rusted and the smoking nozzle is a nice touch.

I have a couple of edits in mind: I had envisioned it being shorter and fatter. Secondly, I'd like the nozzle and the red "eye" both on a swiveling head on top. What do you think?

I've got a new one for you guys. Check out Sewer Sweep.
Any interested takers?

James Thomas wrote:

I love the podcast, and thanks btw, for featuring me on last week's show!

Aha! The Linebacker surfaces!

Your 'team' was one of my favorites to run a GenCon! I had to give you props somehow...

You must have me confused with someone else Azmyth. I was referring to my "letter" in which I complimented your show and also made comments on Steel Wind's audibility issues.

I love the podcast, and thanks btw, for featuring me on last week's show!
How about a "Know Your Game!" segment in which you review a feature of the core rules. You could focus on hard to understand (for some) elements like:
How To Do Poison
What's A Disease?
The Grapple!
The Light/Darkness System
Conditions!
Featured Spell
Etc.

James Thomas wrote:

No rush here. Just to clarify ... Current projects of mine include:

The Enforcers : by Celurian
and
Green Death : by CMH

Ok here is your picture James.

I had some problems with my computer so thats what took so long.

Oh, and if anyone else wants something done let me know.

Thanks again Chris! Be looking for your art on the Pathfinder Database soon!

When I wax nostalgic, I tend to go further back than 3.5, to the hoary days of AD&D or 2nd Edition. That said, I think overall PF is an improvement and natural evolution of 3.5, and strongly approve of most changes.

My only caution is of a general nature. PF did continue what I see as a continuing power creep throughout the entire evolution of the game. PCs have gradually, and sometimes not so gradually, become more powerful with each new edition, necessitating an increase in the power of their opponents to provide the same level of challenge. It has reached the point where many posters here credibly describe the upper levels of PF as more of a superheroes game than a classic heroic fantasy game. I'm fine with this, but I wouldn't want to see the power inflation continue forever. If anything, I would be more interested in a power down. I'm probably swimming against the tide here, as I'm sure the reason the inflation occurs is the heavy demand for more powerful/cooler characters from players, and the fact they snap up products that will make their characters more powerful. I don't think I'm alone in wanting to stop at some point before 1st level characters are able to one-shot Thor.

Dude, I totally agree with you. The power creep is real and it's not a good thing. Wish there was a way to keep it in check.

Many thanks Caedwyr! You have a gift and a passion. We should collaborate some time.

Caedwyr, I couldn't find your Spell Cards on D20PFSRD... I only found the "spell card generator" by Jefferson Jay Thacker. What's the deal?

I saw what you did out there man! It was dynamite baby! Once again, you have killed PCs and made us all smile. My hat, if I had one, is off to you.

I've gone this route for wizard. Here's my personal take:
Scribe scroll - Use it often to collect spells you won't ordinarily want for combat, but are valuable to have handy (mount, levitate, tiny hut, dispel magic, etc.)
Craft Wand - This is great to get at level 5 when you are able to store commonly used spells so you can prepare other spells for the day.
Craft Wondrous Item - Take this at level 3. It's worth it to be able to make cloaks of resistance, pearls of power, and other valuable elixirs and items for you and your party. Well worth it!
Craft Ring - Not worth it in my opinion. Many useful rings are actually made with Divine magic or require you to be very high level to craft them and so don't make a useful call in most cases.
Craft Rod - Similar to Craft Ring, this has limited uses at great cost and only at high level.
Craft Staff - Same here.
Craft Arms and Armor - Useful for getting those magic weapons and armor that your party might be missing from the treasure they collect. Ask the other characters and see if they think it's warranted.

Fellow Posters: Please do me the courtesy of not tearing my opinions above apart. The man asked for advice and I bravely offered mine. Share your own if you have any ideas.

I love this adventure by Richard Pett, but what is in room D31? There is a great description of the room and even an artistic rendering of the encounter, but no stats ... what monster is it?

The Gibbering Mouther is my favorite creepy monster (a '5' on the Pett Scale).

Mr. Dory, from The Styes, is my favorite creepy NPC (a '3' on the Pett Scale, add the creepy environment and his perverted golem companion and a little imagination and it rises to a 4.5).

No rush here. Just to clarify ... Current projects of mine include:
The Enforcers : by Celurian
and
Green Death : by CMH

Join our operation for a piece of the action. You play ball with us, and we'll cut you in for a piece of the pie -- if not, your out: ALL THE WAY OUT!
Know-what-I-mean?

When I'm playing: Golarian (currently Counsel of Thieves ... very good btw).
When I'm GMing, it's my homebrew: Age of Redemption

Ah yes, this is an idea we've played with a few times. My players like the unique challenges the handicap brings since it requires some ingenuity to overcome certain obstacles. And I enjoy the novelty of designing interesting challenges. We've done:

Well, as you may recall, K'daz (Envoker 12) and Keltar (Wizard 12) were the only survivors of the MST. They used the Uzrivoy (Mudship) to "sail" out through the solid rock of the tomb and slowly made their way across land and water to a port called Sullan (think Venice run by syndicate families). There, they were able to get a couple of cohorts raised and a friend cremated. After fitting the Uzrivoy with a "crew" of four servants they set course for Herz-El, an Emirate within the Sultanate of Khan (think moorish Spain in a fantasy world with bound genie servants and elementalist wizards). Fortunately, they had an introduction from a friend who's father is a noble in the Emir's court. The Emir of Herz-El was tremendously pleased to have such illustrious visitors from afar with rare treasures to sell and a fantastic boat that skims through the earth like a dhow on the sea. He fetted them for a week and even arranged good prices in trade for their tomb plunder.
Okay ... so everythings going fine when one morning (after obtaining their spellbooks on board the Uzrivoy for a meeting with an elementalist wizard) a sudden earth tremor yielded the rising of a golden-fleshed giant of a woman: Uzriya, Pasha of S'hale! With black hair like flint and eyes like iridescent, rounded, blue gemstones she carried a large sized scimitar (+3, keen) and had the advenced HD and additional powers of a noble shaitan (earth genie). She had a terse, business-like, demeanor and demanded to speak with Szolo, high-priestess of the Taalese. The activation of the Uzrivoy had alerted her and she now wanted to contact the one who had contracted her services. She had reviewed the agreement (written on silver plates linked together by brass rings) and found that the 1000-year contract had expired 3 mortal years ago and now she had the right to abolish the contract and be free of any further service or obligation. For this, she was required to make her claim personally with the other party: High priestess, Szolo. After some conversation with the mortals present (our wizards), she was told that the high priestess was no longer alive nor was anyone else responsible to the Temple of the Taalese religion. Though somewhat annoyed at mortal ephemeralities upseting her plans, she declared that since no party was present to claim her service, she was free to declare the agreement "Null and Void". And so she did ... with much flourish. She then proceeded to claim the Uzrivoy as her own (since it obviously belongs to no one now). At which, Keltar and K'daz bargained obsequiously for it's ownership on the basis of salvage and offered her one of the wishes from the ring of wishes found in the tomb. Uzriya agreed to consider the offer (she had many times been obliged to grant wishes to mortals - which she was loathed to do, being so undignified - so this was an opportunity to obtain one from a mortal: somehow recompensing her for past humiliations). But before she could inspect the Uzrivoy, Alyolvoy - shooting out of a nearby fountain - splashed onto the scene in fourteen foot glory! A noble marid and Padasha of Acosonda she had blue flesh the color of lakes and oceans which changed color with her mood. Her white hair tossed about like sea billows and her eyes were like black pearls. Her grin was playful, but like the sea she carried an aura of great power ... and danger.

Senator, tell us what city or town you live in. Perhaps one of us is nearby and has a game you can join up with and learn the Pathfinder ropes. I think we all would like to help make a happy ending to your tale.

Celurian, a complete description of what I want illustrated is here: The Enforcers. They are elite constables composed of humans and hobgoblins in the wicked city of Boliske. I'd like to see both a human and a hobgoblin together in the picture if possible.

You know, The Great Depression went a lot longer than it should have, because FDR thought he could tax his way out of it. Those evil rich people had zero incentive to invest and make money, so private sector jobs weren't created. They took their toys and put them where FDR couldn't touch them. Even Keynes said at the time FDR was making a HUGE mistake with his tax policies.

I'll look to real world examples of economic idiocy before I agree with the "progressive" (in quotes because the only Progressive president who ever got it right was Teddy R.) crap I learned in college, the crap that real world examination has proved false.

You speak truth Hustonderek. Many have been deceived about what happened during FDR's administration. Furthermore, if government could create wealth by taxing and spending, then the USSR should've been a roaring success.

After all this I think I finally know what Progressives believe:

They believe in redefining themselves so many different ways that everyone will think he's a Progressive and then everyone votes Progressive!

*And they like hot chicks that sell insurance apparently.

"Guys, your characters just don't know why ... you're just going to have to trust me."

"DC?!" [my gamers are notorious for not telling me the DC when they cast their spells]

"So, what do you do?"

"...." [they are also notorious for just sitting there and doing nothing ... i'm always having to light fires under them]

"No, John, that was 2nd edition."

"It says that in the PFCRB? Are you sure? Show me."

"Next... NEXT!" [my players somehow never seem to know when it's their initiative and get bogged down deciding what to do rather than watching the action and deciding while it's someone else's turn]

Is it just me, or can any of you relate?

Oh crap, I feel like such a stooge! Sorry for getting you two mixed up! Celurian did the Charm of the Street Urchin and you did Mudball. Both you guys are great btw!
Yeah Chris, I liked what you did for Mudball. I want to see what you can do for Green Death.

Uzria & Alyolvoy! Yes Mike the creators of the Mudship - alerted to it's use when the PCs activated it's powers - caught up with the two survivors, K'daz and Keltar, after they had traveled over a thousand miles to a city to sell off treasure and trade spells. The resulting encounter will surprise you...

LOL sounds like my group - veteran RPGers Except we spend 3 hours in meticulous planing and then forget everything and kick in the front door. Most of the time we are lucky and don't die... When I am DMing I have the worst luck with the dice and the guys get away with stuff that should kill them.

Dude! That is me all over. I had a major encounter with four of my players recently and then another one before that ... all crappy rolls! Missed, missed, missed, failed save, failed save, player's wizard made fortitude save vs. my killer poison, player saved vs. my killer spell, missed again, failed save, dead monster, dead bad guy. How do I shake this cursed dice thing man!?

I agree that the players ought to have known better ...
HOWEVER, IMO the GM really ought to have reviewed the challenge rating of the encounter. A 5th level party going up against a 7th level sorceror/vampire plus other specialists of 5th and 7th level, AND 20 2nd level fighters is WAY beyond the game mechanics for a 5th level party. An epic fight for such a party (APL 5+3=8) would be 4800 experience points worth of monsters. I started to add up the amount of experience for this encounter and before I was half-way through I was past 9000 experience points!
Having said that, the players did a lot of damage and limped away with only one dead player and a dead animal companion. Not bad considering. What we can observe from this is that these players were experienced and knew how to get it on when the fighting started, but they were being foolhardy and should have done a recon. I'm guessing, like me, that the GM knows he has smart players and ups the difficulty on a regular basis. I'm perscribing (and I give this perscription to myself as well) that he would do well to use the PF challeng rating tools to help him when designing encounters and use it as a guideline.
Thank you for your attention.

Check you out Celurian: Mud Ball. Credit, plus a link over to your artwork page.

If you'd like, try my most popular spell: Green Death. Love to see what you can do with that!

Here it is, finally finish. Charm of the Street Urchin this is the stand alone version.

And this is the Magic Item Card version, as promise.

I hope you like it and that you spread the word. Free magic Items for everyone hahahaha. Charm of the Street Urchin Item Card

This work is FANTASTIC Celurian!. Thank you, thank you for your art! I will contact the Administrator of the Pathfinder DB and ask him to post your artwork there and include a by line. I also really like the card you made.... with one caveat: when printed, it's way too small for a card front / back. Can you render it larger so when I print it out I can fold it in half and use it as an item card?

I like your artistic style! How are you with the human form? Will you accept any more commissions?!

I've wanted to play a paladin of Erastil ever since I first read his description...and I've never ever been interested in playing a paladin before. I could imagine a family man who had his own farm out in the sticks, then lost his home, wife, and children in a brutal goblin/bandit/evil monster attack - so he takes up his bow and vows to fight back against that evil to protect the rest of his community.

That's easy... how about "The Outlaw Jose Wales"?

Ah, gaming, where there is no sexism (except for the drow matriarchy) or racism (except for PCs wreaking racially-motivated violence against orcs and goblinoids) or religious intolerance (except for places like Razmiran and Rahadoum) or political oppression (except for Galt and Cheliax).

As a native Californian, I got your "Galt" joke. :^ )

If you want to post your gameworld, a good place to do so is here: Pathfinder Database

James Thomas wrote:

Yes, start with that. And if Green Death inspires you, take a stab at it! If I like what I see ... others will know.

Hi, James I have been busy and just saw your post in the old thread. If you would like I was thinking of drawing your mudball or if you would rather I make something else let me know.

And if anybody else would like something done let me know here or at my deviantart site.

That's great! When you have something ready, just email me with a link to your art by using the "Contact the author" instructions on the Mudball page. I'll check it out and let you know if I we can use it!