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Censorship is censorship. It doesn't matter who's doing the censoring.

Adjule wrote:

One thing I like is that it looks like they are moving away from high numbers and so many modifiers. It will be strange getting used to a fighter and a wizard having the same to hit roll, but I am sure it won't take long.

That is actually something I DON'T like about 5E: proficiency bonus being applied unilaterally to all classes for every situation. A wizard should not have the same bonus to hit that a fighter has because a fighter has trained really hard to be good at fighting, a wizard has not.

I would have preferred to see a continuation of the 3.X/PF system of unique progression by class for various abilities. For example a 1st level Fighter would get +2 to attacks, +2 to primary save, +1 to secondary save and +1 (possibly +0) to skills. A Thief might have +1 to attack, + 2/+1 to saves and +2 to skills. Wizards get +0 to attack, +2 to spell casting (for attack rolls and DC), +1 (or +0) to skills. These bonuses would then progress at different rates by category for each class.

I don't think the above progressions would have made the game that much more complex which is what I believe they were trying to avoid (complexity) by having "one Bonus to rule them all".

Well, once the different characters are built (5e), the Fighter will have a higher Melee/Ranged attack (depending on their focus) than a Wizard.

Sure, the Wizard might have a magic attack bonus that equals the Figher's melee/ranged, but the Wizard surely will be relatively poor in melee/ranged compared to the Fighter.

Any news on the release date?

Late August was the last I read on their Kickstarter Update.

Are they any alternatives to HeroLab?

Everybody knows that 6E, sorry, D&D NextPlusAdvance will be announced few days afer EnWorld announces their super-mega-campaign-arc for 5E. It happened with War of the Burning Sky and it happened with Zeitgeist, so it'll happen again. :)

Wait, EnWorld is still a thing?

I find that when you optimize for something other than combat, GMs are taken aback. I made a Human Barbarian who had +17 sleight of hand at level 1 and my GM hated him. It just did not compute that I built a thief on the "wrong" chassis. I wanted to be able to not only take the money, but be able to run (40 ft move) and fight. I was a decent switch hitter in combat, but I was given a magic greataxe despite my being equipped with a Longbow, Buckler and Warhammer for 4 levels, you know what I'm just gonna stop before I get myself angry about lousy GMs.

Make sure whatever non-combat task you happen to be good at won't make your GM nerf you to the point of no fun.

Wow! That's unfortunate you had a lousy GM. I don't suspect I'll have that problem, fortunately. =)

I have done the 5E playtests and do not like their "pugwampi" mechanic (disad/ad) or the fix where it is now more based on GM fiat. It's a bad design mechanic that bogs down play, IMHO.

Personally, I love the "pugwampi" mechanic. (Where'd you come up with that one? I like it.)

I also am of the mindset that the players only need to know how to play their characters. If I'm the DM, I just want the players to explain what it is their characters are trying to do. If it's something that needs to roll dice for, I tell them what they need to do, mechanically, to resolve their action.

In game, I've found the combat to be a lot quicker than our current game.

The cool thing about the RPG community, however, is that you don't have to play the same game as me, nor do you have to play it the same way. And that's okay.

I hope you have fun with whatever game you play =)

I blame Cosmo for this thread. Inevitably, it's his fault.

I'm no longer bound to just one game. I find enjoyment in almost all RPGs I've played at some point or another. There's plenty of room on my bookshelf for more games. I, personally, want to experience as many different games as possible.
May everyone have fun with their game of choice =)

Questionably straight male.

I don't remember all my characters, so I'll just list a few that I do.

Darvesch Now, this is the name of two separate characters. I love the name, though I have no idea where I got it.

The first iteration of this character was a LG dwarven fighter/cleric (with levels in dwarf paragon from UA) in a family 3.5 game. He was in his 40s or 50s, and played not unlike a Klingon (duty, honor, glory, etc.) Damn if he had a spectacular death though! An ancient red dragon decided our group would be his play-things, and we might be tasty too. After a hard fought battle began to look like it would be the end of our group, Darvesch decided to wait until it was going to breath fire to jump into its gullet. (We were playing with a rule where, if a magic item is destroyed, it explodes, dealing d6's of damage based on value). The dragon's head exploded, killing Darvesch in the process. Needless to say, his looks and sexuality weren't much of an issue.

The second iteration is also LG dwarf fighter/inquisitor (not multiclass, this one is gestalt) in a current(?) PbP. This Darvesch isn't nearly as tightly wound as his predecessor (believe it or not, DM!). His elven "cousin" gets in enough trouble to keep him busy, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Though, he does take his job and duties seriously, he has been busy building a training facility for others like him. (I actually hope we get to continue the campaign at some point. HINT, DM!) He has had a fling with a companion NPC female human, and was last trying to develop his relationship with an NPC female dwarf.

The odd thing is, I can't really recall my other characters. I typically play wizards or psions, and the dwarf fighter is the only I remember. lol

Thought you might like to start here, Fake Healer. =)

Fantastic Maps Gimp Tutorials

Combat is only sticking the Axe in the dragon? Or is it over coming an obstacle with what ever you have available, Intimidate, bluff, diplomacy, spell, exc.

What Laithoron said...

Hama, I'll have to respectfully disagree.

My current family night D&D (3.5) is playing in a high powered game in which the GM encourages power gaming. We're all having fun with it.

However, I'm finding it a little difficult at the moment, and can't help but think I could be better in some way. I have a thread here that gives some info, and asks for help optimizing my character.

@OP

Let's look at a Longsword vs a Battleaxe, shall we?

Longsword
Price: 15 gp
1. Average damage (d8): 4.5
2. Average critical damage (x2): 9
3. If you apply the percent chance to score a critical to the extra damage (10%, 4.5 extra damage): .45
Total average damage (#1 + #3): 4.95

Battleaxe
Price: 10 gp
1. Average damage (d8): 4.5
2. Average critical damage (x3): 13.5
3. If you apply the percent chance to score a critical to the extra damage (5%, 9 extra damage): .45
Total average damage (#1 + #3): 4.95

Results?
The battleaxe is cheaper to buy and has a higher top end damage, but other than that, the two are the same.

...I should email my DM a request for specifics and limits. (he keeps saying any paizo but run it by me first, and I am having trouble working like that).

It looks, to me, like your GM has created doubt and uncertainty in an otherwise great player.

If I were you, I'd find another group to join. And if you lived anywhere near my area, I'd gladly invite you to mine.

I love OSR.
I love Pathfinder.
Is there some sort of unholy union of the two that exist somewhere? I very much would like to find something like that..

In my upcoming game that I'm about to GM, I've banned the Paladin. This isn't because of fluff or mechanics, but because of players. I've never banned it before this game. Each time it's played (with one and only one exception), it ends up being the Lawful-Stupid type of character that justifies ridiculousness with his own righteousness. I'll be willing to open it up to any player that can convince me he'll play it in a more interesting way.

Also, other than humans, I'm only allowing the races from Dragon Empires because I'm running an Asian-themed setting. It's modeled after the era where guns began to emerge after the influence of another culture being introduced to them.

There are other things I've excluded as well, such as plate armour. But, the players wished to play an Asian-themed setting, and they seem to love the changes.

Is there any chance that anyone in the Paizo staff could, as a blog post, free eratta pdf, FAQ answer, etc., compile an official list of Pathfinder skills and whether you can take 10 or take 20 on each of them?

Crude example:

Skill | Take 10? | Take 20?
Disable | Yes | Opening locks only
Escape Artist | Yes | Yes
Perception | Yes | Finding traps only
Knowledge (Arcana) | Yes | No

"My training does lend itself to exploration, after all.. Even Kahn must've had experiences like this, right? I mean, I know how she is.. But she's right here, right now.. Hell with it.. It's not like the others are here anyway, they're off talking with a friend of theirs.." Darvesch thinks to himself before he allows events to unfold naturally.

"It seems these lovely ladies are on our side. For now. Just as well.." He looks to Alis, and speaks in Dwarven tongue "She's under some enchantment. Is there any way to break it? I'd hate to have to kill Ieana, if she was merely a puppet for a being that took control of her."

With that, Darvesch runs to face Ieana to AO.34

Acrobatics (Str) 1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (12) + 4 - 1 = 15 negative level

"Ieana. It's taking me all my willpower to hold myself from splitting you with my axe where you stand. But, I'll give you once and once only, to surrender. You must be held accountable for the crimes you have committed. Rather than slaying you like the serpent you are, Justice must be invoked. You must be tried and convicted. You can come with us now, and accept this. Or, you can force us to be your judge, jury, and executioner here and now." Darvesch announces his intent clearly, readying himself for anyone to come near to attack.

Sense Motive 1d20 + 17 - 1 ⇒ (9) + 17 - 1 = 25 negative level

"Son of a delver.." Darvesch curses under his breath when he makes a realization..

"RRHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Darvesch screams a guttural exclamation of pain.

"Mal. It was all a ruse. It's this temple. It's got bad mojo. Don't beat yourself up. I can do that for you later, if you wish." He laughs, and pats Mal on the back. "Now. Let's get on with it."

"Anything to rid us of this fiend, *cousin!" Darvesch accepts the spell Alis offers, as he quickly assesses visually, the condition of the flying lizard.

Perception 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (3) + 14 = 17
K:Planes 1d20 + 11 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 11 + 4 = 22 Monster Lore

Darvesch looks to Alis, and smiles, "Sorry for the blood splatter. Remind me that I owe you a nice dress." Before he can even see her reaction, he launches himself at the fiend, aiming to sink his trusted axe in its skull.

* - Darvesch uses the Dwarven word for female cousin here

Hama wrote:

Have players calculate EVERYTHING prior to combat, and then they just have to roll dice.

Have calculators handy

Sounds like a new 12+ super duper character sheet would be a benefit and a guide on how to use it. For example those 4 attack lines on a normal sheet, instead of 4 different weapons set it up to encourage write 4 different attack styles with said weapon.

I don't use character sheets anymore, but that's a good idea. I type mine out in the statblock format Paizo uses for the Bestiary. But, I like to type out the different attack options in the combat section. For example:

Melee +1 dwarven waraxe (+13/+8, 1d10+8/x3)
Melee +1 dwarven waraxe (+11/+6, 1d10+12/x3); power attack

That is from one of my current PbP characters. That, and the statblock format, help me to reference my character and his capabilities very quickly.

So, I love PRPG. Thank you, Paizo, for that. And I love fantasy gaming. But, for me, it seems that it's just getting old. Or maybe I'm getting older and my tastes are changing. Or maybe I'm just tired of the same "humans, elves, and dwarves" frolicking together slaying the evil lich, the sinister dragon overlord, or some such thing.

I'd like to ask you, the Pathfinder/Paizo community: What have you done, and what can I do, to make the game human-centric? What I mean is, how can I make the game where the only playable race is humans, and everything else is a lot closer to its fictional roots? Or further away from Tolkien-esque roots from which the original game "borrowed" ideas from?

Something from another thread caught my eye, about where some of the ideas of the game came from (elves and dwarves as playable races, to name one), and it got me thinking. "What would the game look like if that never happened? What would the game look like if you played a human (or group of humans) in a fantastic land of myth and legend? And explored the realms of other beings for the first time, after only being taught what those realms and beings were like?" Or something like that..

Not trying to rant, but it seems I started to anyway.

So.. What do you do with your games to try to convey my sentiments (if you do so)? What would you do (if you dont)? And what is your advice to someone who wants to?

I'd like to see racial archetypes for classes they're most apt to take levels in.

"Alis? Are you okay!? I've been trying to find you! When I heard of the trouble in Dafar, I thought I'd come to see if you were alright.."

He clears his throat and gets his bearings, "My apologies everyone, I'm Darvesch, son of Morgaard, of the Hellhammer clan. If you don't mind, we have a witch to kill," looking down at his axe, then over in the direction of the pile of gear wishing for his armour, he asks, "Where is the hag?"

He'll move as close to Alis as possible.

In the group I'm currently in, my GM house-rules that, so long as it's magical, weapons and armour resize automatically. RAW, that's not supposed to happen.

To me: it doesn't matter. But, i do think this whole topic is getting way too much attention, imho.