Jason Bulmahn's page

Beware the telepathic rat!

So, it looks like most of the abilities here are handled relatively cleanly, but there are some statistical issues. I agree with most of the other points of my fellow reviewers, especially when it comes to odd choices such as Multiattack. Here are a few others...

- CMD appears to be wrong. It should be 19.
- It looks like the skills are off. I think you assigned it class skills for some skills that are no class skills for Aberrations.

All and all these are relatively minor and it seems to me that the concept here plays out rather well.

I give this monster an A-.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

A Cha-draining dog you say? Alright, I can work with that.

The concept here is fine, but with a number of other creatures this round, the AC, Hit Points, attack bonus, and damage are all too low for a CR 6 creature. This means we would have to add HD or reduce the CR (which is often not an option in adventure design because it would mess up a number of encounters).

The upside here is that the math looks mostly solid and the abilities play into the theme well. I am pretty sure this would need some work to get it up to speed, but I feel confident that you could make the changes correctly if we sent it back to you.

I give this monster a B-.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

A giant hungry, disgorged stomach of an orge eh? Alright.. I like that, but the execution leaves a bit to be desired. Mind you, the abilities are appropriate to the theme, but there are a host of mechanical issues here that are not resolved or are incorrect.

- Hit points are incorrect. It should be at 34. Mind you, this is way low for a CR 6 creature.
- Saves are a bit low for a CR 6 as well.
- Attack bonuses are a bit too low as well. All three of these issues are derived from the fact that the creature is short a few HD. This would generally be a real pain to fix, as it adjusts most of the creatures other statistics.
- Damage is a bit low, even taking the disgorged digestion ability into account. Generally, I do not count this bonus damage in the average because it is quite conditional.
- The creature has one too many feats.
- The engulf ability is not particularly clear. I am assuming it does not need to be grappling a creature with its bite to use the ability, but that is not entirely clear. Technically, a creature could still attack its insides with a readied action, but the AC and hit points of its interior are not provided. This entire ability would have been handled quite a bit simpler by giving the creature the ability to vomit forth stomach acid. No grapple needed.

Well, there are some original things here but this monster would need quite a bit of work before it could see print. It might be worth it...

I give this monster a C-.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

I am kinda confused here.

This monster is part construct and part undead... The real problem here is that by throwing in a template, the line blurs an everything becomes a bit of a mess.

For example, it has undead Hit Dice, but construct traits and DR. This makes it really hard to nail down whether or not it is on target for its CR. Not to mention the fact that it has 50 ablative hit points in its shell. When those are gone, the creature emerges, but does it lose the template? This is kinda unclear. It would have made more sense as two separate stat blocks, but I doubt you had the room. To top it off, this is just a level of complexity that I am not sure this monster needs.

Beyond such sticky issues, we get into some questionable design choices. Sean hit on this, but I want to touch on it again. Dealing 2d6 every time the creature is hit, in a burst, that affects both living and undead is a bad idea. This would kill the party pretty quick and is not the way energy bursts like this work.

I just have too many questions on this one... and not enough answers.

I give this monster a D.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Interesting. I think my fellow judges saw this as a bit too complex and I am inclined to agree. Mechanically, this entry is quite sound. I am not really seeing any big issues, but I think that is due to the fact that so much of this monster's word count is devoured by the multiple types. In the end, this monster could be cool, but I think you did not have the space needed to pull it off.

No big issues... but it feels a bit incomplete.

I give this monster a C

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

I am going to leave the flavor analysis to the other judges here, but from what I saw, the concept was interesting.

Unfortunately, the stats here are a bit of a mess.

- Initiative is incorrect.
- AC and hit points are low for its CR.
- Saves are incorrect, unless I am missing something.
- SR is nonstandard (it is usually 11 + CR, which would be 17 in this case).
- Attack bonuses are missing the size modifier and the damage is a bit to high for the CR.
- There are one too many feats (should have four).
- The three special abilities do not appear in the stat block.
- Visions of death appears to be flavor only, and should either include a bonus or be cut and added to the flavor text.

I think that just about sums up the obvious issues. I am not sure where this one went wrong, but I think this one would take quite a bit of work to fix. The idea is interesting and that might make it worth it, but that is generally not a good situation for us to be in.

I give this monster a D+.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Well, this entry is really clean and I like the concept, as it plays out in the statistics.

Along with my fellow reviewers, I guess the only real disconnect here is the Intelligence. Its cool that it is intelligent, but it is nonstandard for both constructs and swarms. That is not to say it is wrong, just that it deserves a bit more treatment in the flavor text.

I too, think this could have gone a bit further and one some more crazy things, like producing various alchemical affects.

All of that said though, I cannot find too much wrong with this monster and I think it fills out the concept nicely.

I give this monster an A-.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

This is a good execution of the concept. I am with the other judges on some of the concerns, but on the whole, this creature is pretty solid.

- Heat vision is a bit ill defined. I am not completely sure how to use this in game. How does it interact with illusions, darkness, etc. It could be just as simple as "this ability works like blindsight, except that it does not detect... " Unfortunately, I am left wondering.
- I am not 100% sure why the creature gets a bonus vs glamour and mind affecting spells. Is this a racial bonus?
- I like the use of the poison rules here.
- Pheremones should be listed somewhere in the stat block, probably under senses and SA.

All and all, this monster would be pretty easy to work with and I think it does a pretty good job of conveying its theme and meaning.

I give this monster a B+

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

I like the concept here and the execution is pretty good. I am with Sean on most of the concerns here, especially those dealing with abilities based of game info that is not normally provided (such as heat and water quantity). On to a few specifics...

- The hit points are about 30 points off for a CR 6 creature. While some of this can be attributed to its high damage output on a charge, that would usually only put it off by about 10 or maybe 15.
- The saves and attack bonuses are a bit low for its CR as well. Both this issue, and the previous one could be solved by the addition of about 2-3 HD. Although this does not seem like a huge issue, it is actually quite a pain to change on the development end as it means adjusting just about everything in the stat block... either that or lowering the CR. Which is sometimes possible, but usually less desirable.
- I like the ice netting ability, but I agree with Sean, it should be simpler and not based off conditions. I also think that it should not be tied to rake, which is an alteration to the UMR (universal monster rules for those of you playing at home). This would be a fine special ability or secondary type of attack.

I am kinda torn here. I like the monster and most of the execution, but that CR/HD issue is a real stickler for me.

I give this monster a C+

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

I have to admit, I have a soft spot for golems. This one, I think, fills an interesting niche, as dealing with caltrops is a decidedly low level challenge.

That said, there are some issue here.

- First off, few of the special abilities are mentioned in the stat block itself. Most should be listed in an SA line for ease of reference during use.
- The AC and hit points are about right for a creature with the listed DR. I do have some concerns about DR/adamantine with low level monsters, but since it is only 5, it helps to balance out its slightly lower than normal hit points.
- As Sean mentioned, the damage is a bit too low. As it currently stands, the creature is dealing only about 10 per round, where it should be dealing 20. It should not get 1.5 its Str on damage rolls, since it has two attacks (the 1.5 rule only applies to creatures with precisely one attack).
- CMB and CMD are both incorrect. They should be CMB +7 and CMD 18.
- I like hazardous damage, but I think you could have just put in a bit where this creature is constantly surrounded by squares filled with caltrops. It would have been easier to adjudicate.

There are some issues here, but I still like the monster. It is appropriate for the CR in both theme and mechanics.

I give this monster a B.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Let me start off by saying that I think this monster is a bit overwrought. When I think of world ending threats, CR 5 is usually not my first choice. That said, I think the execution makes it possible.. sort of like a swarm of locusts. The other part of that is that the monster might just have a little bit too much going on, with its disintegrating maw, push/pull ray, multiple resistances, spell-like abilities, aura, and variable conductivity quality. Its just a bit much to keep track of with a CR 5 critter.

On to the specifics.

- Detect thoughts should list a DC... either up top or in the spell-like abilities area.
- I think there is a bit of a disconnect with the electricity vulnerability and the fact that it has an electricity ray. Seems sort of odd.
- The aura should cause rage or confusion, but both makes little sense, especially since the confusion makes it 75% likely that the rage has little effect. That said, a confusion aura is really quite powerful to throw at 5th level characters.
- Too many defenses for CR 5. Fast healing, DR, SR, and immunities is probably a bit too much for 5th level characters to overcome, especially considering that its hp and AC are just about on target for that level.
- Damage output is too high. Its one round average is around 32 and should be about 20.
- Repel metal and stone is way too good for CR 5. This means that the fighter types basically cannot engage the creature.
- Improved Natural Attack is usually reserved for advancing monsters. If the monster needs a better damage value, you can assign it one (although it this case, it probably needs a lower value)

Most of the math here looks right and I appreciate the large group being called an apocalypse, but this critter is just too complicated and deadly for CR 5.

I give this monster a C-

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Let me start off by saying that I like the concept of a creature that can manipulate the battlefield like this. It could make for a really fun encounter, especially when paired up with other monsters or interesting terrain.

There are, however, a few odd decisions floating around in here (get it, floating... Ugh, nevermind).

- The creature has blindsight, but it should have darkvision 60 feet as well, due to it being an aberration. Unless of course, it does not have eyes, in which case it should probably have some sort of gaze immunity, or some note to that effect.
- Void body grants entropic shield. I can see why this was done, but it is a bit irritating to have to go and look up that effect. Especially considering that it is always on. This should have been summarized in the monsters block.
- I am not sure if there is a limit to the number of loadshards that it can fire out. Do they regrow if lost? Does the shardstorm always do 4d4 damage, even if it is only recalling one shard? If that is the case, then in some circumstances, it makes more sense for it to fire out one shard and use its shardstorm ability every round to damage adjacent creatures (a great option if it is surrounded, but I am not sure how realistic the ability is).

All and all, I think the math here is mostly solid. The creature is a bit limited in what it can do each round, but I think it does its trick well.

I give it a B

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

17 days... We're not going to last 17 hours!

Sorry.. had to get that out of my system. On to the monster.

I like this monster and could see putting a hive of them (say under a wizard's magic cooling tower) into just about any adventure. I think the theme is played out well with most of the abilities, but there are a few odd decisions.

- Adamantine Laced should probably be up in the SA area, just to make it easier to note.
- Paralysis is usually Con based, no Cha based. I am not sure why this change was necessary.
- Smoke Vulnerability should probably have a different name. Vulnerability is reserved for a specific effect that deals with damage or conferring a save penalty. Since this is an entirely different affect, it should have a different name to avoid confusion.

Other than that, I think my fellow judges have caught most of the other odd bits.

Overall, I think this is a good monster that would not take too much work to get up to speed.

I give it a B+

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Jason Bulmahn wrote:

Hey there all,

Pg 6: The grand mutagen ability was changed so that is provides an alchemical bonus, not an enhancement bonus.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

I posted this before the update but it looks like it was still missed:

"True Mutagen: The alchemist’s mutagen now grants a +8
bonus to his natural armor score and a +6 enhancement
bonus to his Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution"

Not only does it still provide an enhancement bonus instead of alchemical bonus like the rest. But it also looks like its providing the numbers from before the update, it seems with the current scheme it should provide +8 alchemical bonus, also it should clear like the rest of the mutagen discoveries do about minus to other stats, because as its worded it seems like it would provide no minus, to int, wis, or cha.

Grr... I missed the True Mutagen Bit...

This should provide a +8 alchemical bonus to all physical ability scores, along with a -2 to all mental ability scores.

That is all for now.. I hope.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Hmm... I am at home now and it is possible the file did not get switched today. I will check it in the morning.

Sorry folks...

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

I did indeed make changes to the pdf.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Hey there all,

I am making a few small changes to the classes that were rereleased on Monday, February 1st to correct a number of issues. To help ease the download rush, here are the exact changes.

Pg 6: The grand mutagen ability was changed so that is provides an alchemical bonus, not an enhancement bonus.

Pg 7: The sticky bomb discovery was changed. On the round after a direct hit it now deals damage equal to its splash. It does not repeat the full damage.

Pg 13: All three of the Order of the Sword abilities were altered. By My Honor now forces the cavalier to pick an alignment. As long as he keeps that alignment, he receives a +2 morale bonus to a saving throw of his choice. The first sentence of Mounted Mastery was changed to allow the cavalier to ignore the ACP for Ride skill checks, no matter what creature he is riding. Finally, Knight's Challenge now allows the cavalier to add his Cha bonus to attack and damage rolls and gives him a +4 circumstance bonus on crit confirmation rolls against the target of his knight's challenge.

Pg 25: Spontaneous Symbology lets an oracle use her available slots to cast symbol spells, even if she does not know them.

Pg 35: The location of the Ability Score Increases on the eidolon's chart were changed to arrive at every 4 HD. Improved Evasion was dropped down one level.

Pg 36: The text of the claws evolution was changed to allow one set of claws to be placed on a limbs (legs) evolution. The rest must go on arms.

Pg 40: Notes were added to the Large evolution concerning reach. A Large biped eidolon gets reach 10 feet. All Huge eidolons get reach 10 feet.

That is all aside from a few page reference fixes. If you have already printed this, substituting out the above pages should bring you up to date.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Jason Bulmahn wrote:

With no one posting, I can finally get caught up on the Playtest Boards...

Nobody fix it... I beg you!

Jason

Does sitting by the phone waiting for our ISP to give me an update count as "fixing it?"

Yes it does... stop doing that!

With no one posting, I can finally get caught up on the Playtest Boards...

Nobody fix it... I beg you!

Jason

The table is a bit off... it will be corrected.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

It appears that there are some unintended consequences when certain discoveries mix. I am going to investigate the issue.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

This is an error. It should be repeating crossbow.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Hi there folks,

It appears that some of the rammifications of the changes to this class were not full played out through it other class abilities. I will post up some corrections later on this week after I get this sorted out.

Sorry for the mix up.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

This is not a rule, really. There is no intended correlation between armor proficiencies and save progressions.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Not much noticed so far, I'm loving the new uses for the Discoveries! One thing I saw was that the first Mutagen grants an 'alchemical' bonus to one of the physical scores, but the other enhanced Mutagens from Discoveries grant 'enhancement' bonuses instead.

Ah... good catch. That should be alchemical.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

They're HERE!!!!

Thank you for playtesting.

Some of you might notice that we have disabled the ability to start new threads in the old forums. The only place for new threads now is in this Final Playtest forum and General Discussion.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Welcome to the final playtest of the base classes set to appear in the Advanced Player's Guide. Thanks in part to the valuable feedback and ideas you have posted up over the past two months, we are happy to share some of the revisions to the base classes with you. This will be the last revision to these classes before the books hits store shelves in August. Since there are changes to all six of the base classes, we have decided to keep the playtest window open for another two weeks to give you time to read over these classes and to use them in your games. All feedback for these classes should be placed in this forum. Feedback that is placed in the older forums may go unnoticed. To help us sort through these posts, please be sure to place the name of the class that you are commenting on at the beginning of all of your forum posts.

Like the playtest of the core rules, I am looking for feedback concerning the mechanics and flavor of these classes. As with all of the previous rounds, actual playtest feedback is of the utmost importance. Raw speculation and musings are useful, but playtesting is the most valuable feedback we can get at this stage.

Note that this is the final round of the playtest of the Advanced Player's Guide classes. The playtest window will remain open until the February 15th.

Thank you for your participation in this process and I look forward to seeing your reports.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Hmm... so close now...

Very very close.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Soon folks. I am working on revising the classes now. It will take a bit but I am hoping to rerelease all 6 as soon as possible.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Let me go ahead and restate this...

The tactical feats will be part of the new Cavalier. The details will leak when the class is re-released...

Until then, hold the course.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

An inquisitor could become a lich... which is sort of a scary concept.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Interesting thought..

Mind you, the primary focus of this ability was to allow witches to work with hags for their ability, making this a decidedly NPC focused option. I could see going a different way with the rest of it...

Thoughts?

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Great feedback and thoughts here. Keep em coming.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Great discussion folks. Nunspa, your post really captures what we were going for with this class as a theme...

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Shieldknight,

I appreciate your feedback on this matter. It falls in line with what many others have pointed out. I am still looking into a number of different solutions to bring the eidolon a bit more in line with assumed norms.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Interesting ideas folks, I will keep them in mind when it comes time to revise this class.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Well, I am back from vacation and thought I would come to check in on this thread. I can see that not much has changed from a posting standpoint on this one, so I am going to lock this down for the time being. Rest assured that there are some more changes coming on this front and I think they should resolve some of the issues folks have with the revised class.

This thread is locked.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Hey there folks,

I am going to look into this issue a bit... as I realize there are a few issues here.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

The word potion in the alchemist class refers to the magic item, which they cannot (currently) create.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Interesting suggestions folks... Are there any spells that should not be on the lists that currently are?

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Van Halfsing... HA!

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

i'll be throwing a multiclass gnoll alchemist, a gnoll summoner and a gnoll cavalier into my monsters this weekend.

I approve... make them pay!

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Jason Bulmahn wrote:

That said, I am still looking for more playtest data on the topic...

I think this ability is actually different in that a lack of playtesting kind of proves the point...

It has been out for a total of 1 day.. I think we can give it a bit more time...

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Alright folks.. lets tone it back a bit. There is a bit too much snark in this thread and it is hindering useful discussion.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

So, guns are not going to be in the APG.

They are a system I have been toying around with for a while, but we are not going to have the room to do them justice in the APG.

As for the rest of this thread.. our core books contain only a minimal amount of our world content. Just enough to fill in the blanks, but not so much that those using the PFRPG have to buy our setting books to use the core rules. That is our mix and I do not see it changing any time soon.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Hey look.. a thread about damage potential that devolved into a pointless argument.

Thats odd..

Keep it civil folks. The damage scales here are different and comparing them is mostly pointless. The fighter and the inquisitor do different things and have different abilities. Comparing their max damage on a given attack is sort of a waste of time.

This thread is locked.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Hey there folks,

I have heard a lot of folks wondering why the alchemist does not have Brew Potion. We did not include this initially due to the different way that extracts and formulae work. That said, there are some pretty simple work-arounds here to fix this issue and I am considering a number of them. It does seem a bit odd to me thematically that the class does not have this ability.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Conviction is an interesting idea... and I shall mull it over.

Folks can drop the class name change discussion. Inquisitor is not going anywhere.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Hey there folks,

I am currently mulling over a number of options for this mechanic, which range from dropping the Cha damage, changing it to a temporary penalty, changing the bonus to alchemical, adding a bit of increase to the bonus, and altering the way the discoveries interact...

That said, I am still looking for more playtest data on the topic...

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing