Jason Nelson's page

Having the sponsor of the exploration/settlement a sea voyage away would IMHO strengthen the settlement story, however I find it hard to believe that bandits would prosper... at least not until there are numerous minor colonies trading with one another.
Other neighbors of course need to be replaced as well. The barbarians could become natives of some kind, maybe non-human. All back stories should be reworked to account for their rather recent arrival on the continent, assuming the players are among the first pioneers.
Another thing to keep in mind is a much stronger naval theme. With ships being the only connection home and all major settlements in the early year at the cost (and even later still within easy reach from the coast), naval protection, sea monsters, storms, etc will play a more important role.

Stolen Lands:
I'd reskin the Stag Lord into some kind of anarchist/rebel with known leanings towards an evil cult - if possible one that some of the player characters hate.
Oleg's trading post obviously has to become a natural harbor of some kind; I'd also move an eccentric noble there, who pays for the rewards from his own pocket. As the story goes on the party can learn that things aren't as they seem, and the noble might not be a noble at all. It could be an ally, a red herring, or a major villain later on.
I'd also remove any signs of previous work from the Goldmine in SL.

RRR:
Lonely Barrow should be clearly from an unknown culture.
Owlbear lair probably shouldn't have humans there. Whatever the natives are instead.

VV:
Varnhold obviously becomes another colony with its own port. So the city needs to be reworked a bit.
The Centaurs haven't encountered humans at all until recently and conflict comes from the fact they don't like any newcomers. But nothing major would change. Perhaps a few comments about how unusual the weapons seem, strange ornamentation, and so on. Of course they speak no language known...
Simply remove A, B, C

BfB:
Obviously the Barbarians need to be replaces with natives

WotK:
This module works worst... Pitax could be another colony or a native empire I guess, but I'm not sure how well it would fit. Or how different from the last module it would be. I'd ignore the plot and find a new idea to drive the story. The tournament just doesn't fir the colonial theme.

Module six needs very little if any modification.

Of course a lot depends on the background that leads to the story; where the continent is, what powers are trying to move there, etc.

Grey Lensman wrote:

The problem with turning Cap from a badass normal into a full blown superhero is that he really ceases to be Cap if you do that. Being a badass normal is the whole POINT to Captain America. Coulson stealing the role has more to do with the skill of the actor than anything else, IMO. Phil was great, and the Marvel movies are probably a little bit less without him.

I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree here. Cap is a superhero to me, not a badass normal. I'm not saying he should have floored the Hulk and Loki with one punch each, I'm just saying he should have done things that were more superheroic, less stock action movie.

I have to agree with Grey Lensman on this one. Making Cap a true super undermines a lot of his distinctiveness as a character. Marvel has taken that route on occasion because he did develop into having super strength for a while (though I don't remember the full details). Thankfully, it was temporary.

One of Cap's Crowning Moments of Awesome was when he was fighting Michael Korvac while all of the supers were temporarily down (those that weren't dead yet).

"You dropped your guard too soon, Mike! There's one of us left--one man! Or maybe you don't even count me--because I'm just a man? Hear that, Mike? This is no god hitting you... no super man! Just a man!"

It doesn't get much better than that.

Okay. Thoughts on the movie. Warning. This is very, very long.

** spoiler omitted **...

I felt the same way about Loki until I realized Loki wasn't a chump; this has all been a Xanatos Gambit. Loki actually got what he wanted: access to Asgard and to the gauntlet in Odin's vault. Thanos might even have helped him set this game up and the heroes fell for it; they think they won. And yes, he played Natasha like a violin. He wanted her to know part of the plan because Hulk was the weakest point for the group, and he wanted them busy fighting each other. Hench the smirk we see when Loki hears them fighting. In the end everyone didn't worry about what Loki's real motives were. Big mistake. Thanos might not know about the gauntlet, but Loki does.

Check this out: http://maskofreason.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/very-good-writing-why-loki-won -in-the-avengers/

Like a stage magician, Loki spent the movie obfuscating everything with paper thin lies, and our heroes were too dumb to question him suddenly trying to take over earth (except for Tony whom Loki immediately distracted when his line of questioning got close to the truth). Coulson and some of the others (Tony) gave hints they realized Loki wasn't serious or something fishy was up, but no one tried to find out what that was. Thor should have realized something was up, but he didn't.

Loki is Marvel's consummate Xanatos Gambler. When he's wandering around acting all vulnerable, it's usually a lie. He's not known as the god of lies for no reason. He lies most of the time. Nothing he said was his goal was really his goal in this film.

Because if your goal is "to play a pirate game" then the PCs and NPCs all decide to stop casting teleport, because that goes against the goal.

There's a specific reason why we've skewed relatively "non-epic" for our Adventure Paths—at the time we'd finished Savage Tide, there was a LOT of customer feedback along the lines of "Why does every Adventure Path end with a super powerful outsider/god and the PCs saving the world? Why can't it end with a human wizard and the PCs saving something like a nation or a city?"

Which is why we chose the plots we did for the first few Adventure Paths—the public was calling for Adventure Paths where the PCs faced the likes of more human, less outlandish foes.

Further hampering things, of course, is the fact that with the Dungeon APs we were able to pull upon decades of D&D nostalgia and established plotlines—we could have bad guys that folks recognized. We couldn't do that when we launched Pathfinder at the start.

The lack of a solid set of rules for what happens beyond CR 25 (or 20th level for PCs) is also a problem.

I think that the first of those two problems is gone, more or less—at 5 years in to the world's game life cycle, we've got plenty of epic foes to pick from who are established characters in the world (such as what we're starting to do with Skull & Shackles, Shattered Star, and beyond).

The second of those two problems is still a problem though... For now, at least.

EDIT: /shakefist at Shin

Has to be Willy Wonka; the perfect balance of silly and narcissism with a hint of paranoia.

Favorite Jackie Chan film (as a starring role)?

Most are aware of FHDM's distaste of Whedon, but has anyone been coming across the "Kirby or Die!" fanatics? The ones that won't see anything because Kirby is not being properly recognized in their eyes and that Lee & Marvel is the soulless sucking conglomerate? I know one guy that won't pay one cent for simply that reason because he complains (loudly, I may add) that Kirby's heirs aren't seeing a dime.

He was surprised that I mentioned that Kirby was mentioned in the credits at least twice. I told him that he should just see the film and if he's that concerned, just write a check and find out where to send it toward Kirby's estate.

He mentioned that he may wait until it comes out in the library to see it so he's satisfied that he didn't spend a dime on it. Then I followed up with a conversation about how it reminds me of Gygax and Arneson. "Who's Arneson?" he asks. "You play D&D, right?" "Yeah..." It was an exercise in irony, to say the least. :)

Of all of the blogs and messages and yes, even the actual game .PDFs I read and download off of Paizo.com, this series of blog posts is EASILY my most favourite thing on the website that Paizo has ever done, bar none.

Hell, I'm still rather awestruck by the sheer dogged sticktoitiveness that James Jacobs demonstrated in his ongoing Quest for Hire that he recounted to us last month. I don't know whether he was motivated, or stubborn, but either way, it just goes to show you that you make your own luck. (Safe bet says: it had to be a lot of both).

Awesome stuff guys. Keep it comin!

You know, this particular article is quite an eye-opener.

I'm gonna be very honest. I really like Paizo's work; however, I usually try to get it as economically as possible. That usually means Amazon or some other online retailer with some 2000% discount or other going.

But....in being as frugal as possible, I'm putting everyone at a disadvantage. I'm essentially saying, "I expect bigger and better and shinier material in the future and I'll expect to pay less and less for it." Of course, I'm looking out for my personal finances, like anyone else. But I also need to remember that, I'm one of the clients whose purchases fuel the 'raw materials' that go into the bigger and better and shinier material I'm demanding. Sometimes people cry foul on higher prices, but I guess we consumers also need to remember that the great stuff you guys put out comes from real people, not some mythical rpg tree (wait, *is* there a mythical rpg tree?!).

Long story short - I'm gonna start buying more from you guys directly. I want more good stuff. And I'm happy to pay for it.

I'm guessing AM BARBARIAN is one of the minor spawns.

Civility is underrated. An affect of the anonymous nature of the internet.

I agree. This RAW arguement has gotten out of hand, and isn't really worth reading by anyone due to its negativity.

When asked what he was thinking about...

"Self realization...I was pondering the immortal words of Socrates who said... 'I drank what?!'"

-Chris Knight

Shogun with Richard Chamberlain. A week long movie. Almost as long as all three LOTR movies.

Favorite movie where the head villain is played by a normal good guy. Name both male and female.

Well I traped him under the deck with some mephits, the plan was to force him into a FULL defense until the party can back him up with a pincer attack on the foes but he went full offense turning the celestial spirit and slashing left and right. He was crushed by the elementals hailed with acid arrows by the Mephits and still slashed his way upwards due to constant usage of hero defiance.

So, you planned to force the pc to do something. The player decided to do something else. You don't like the way he played the character so now you want to kill him? Is there a reason you're running a game rather than writing a book?

Beyond that, being on the defensive is generally a poor option. I certainly can't blame the pc for not just trying to delay the inevitable. Nor do I blame him for not just waiting around and hoping the other players get to rescue him before you kill him.

I agree Mikaze all those stupid stuff/torture films

You're a Liefeld, hater, er, critic. He's taking over Hawkman (one of my favs next to Green Lantern) and Terminator, so I expect to see those books in the cancellation block soon enough.

I am indeed a critical observer of Mr. Liefeld. Why?

Because he has demonstrated repeatedly that he has no defined grasp of anatomy, yet he is constantly given work doing art for major comics.

Because his stories are shallow, one dimensional, and trite, yet he is constantly given work doing writing for major comics.

He has a track record of ruining sales numbers on every comic he is given, yet for some completely unfathomable reason he is repeatedly given big name titles, and his name is flung about as though he is the single-handed bringer of sequential art salvation.

Mister Liefeld is rude and distasteful to his public, and by all accounts (and interviews he has given support this) is a complete egotist.

Where Jim Lee and the rest of the early 90's big-name crowd took their fame seriously, applied themselves, and became forces to be reckoned with, Liefeld has ridden his fame without care to buckle down and really improve his trade. He gets work based on his name and connections alone, despite the fact that he is universally reviled among his public.

So, yes. I'm critical of him. In an industry where people with amazing talent and dedication are struggling just to get their foot through the door at a major company like Marvel or DC, his continued mediocrity is an affront.

Prediction: James and co. come up with 30 flavourful, fun but not overwhelming mechanically PrCs that serve more as enrichment of the world and less as vehicle for powergaming.

The community goes into blaaargh 1-star review outrage at PrCs not being a bunch of Ur-priests, Planar Shepherds and Abjurant Cheesecakes.

I really hope I'm wrong on *both* counts.

My goal with this book is to come up with 30 flavorful, fun, and exciting prestige classes that do not include "player traps" (even though I think that what some folks think of as "player traps" are in fact "poor GM campaign expectation management failures," and that any prestige class, given the right campaign, can be fun), but in fact DO present ways to specialize your character so that he or she DOES become pretty good at whatever prestigious type of adventuring he or she wants to specialize in.

What I won't be doing are prestige classes that blatantly make it poor choices to not take the class, or prestige classes that blatantly just exist to up the power of everything a base class can do.

You WILL be giving up one element of your current class advancement when you prestige class, so that'll give folks plenty of reasons to complain I guess. Whether or not that causes the book to get a bevy of 1 star reviews... we'll see...

An animal companion or familiar can use any magic item for which it has the appropriate body slots. A monkey could wear a ring because it has fingers, but a dog could not (a human can't wear a ring as an earring, so a dog can't, either). Most animals can wear a shirt, or boots, or even a cloak or belt, but some may interfere with locomotion (an eagle wearing an appropriately-sized robe couldn't fly because even if it got its wings through the arm-holes, the robe's gonna mess with flapping).

Sean I really think it'd be far, FAR easier for Paizo to make a paperdoll diagram for familiars & animal companions with the basic magic slots they have and then allow GMs to expand upon that than letting the whole kit and kaboodle be houseruled in every game. A neat baseline that would be PFS legal would go a LONG way in Keeping It Simple...

I'll also second relooking at mundane items that help with action economy. Potion Belts, Adventurer's sashes, wrist sheathes, boot knives, etc. Or just updating what items can be pulled as move action or as part of a move action if you have a +1 BAB. Action economy is a fundamental part of the game and I understand the balance issues you as designers grapple with BUT for classes like Fighters & Rogues the two most gear dependant IMO having some nifty mundane gear to use their swift or immediate actions on would really be nice.

--Masterwork Vrock Picks

Items for animal companions and familiars, both magical and mundane.

Also, at least a short explanation of what normal magic items can be put on animal companions - for instance, we've often home ruled that a ring can be semi-permanently put onto an animal companion's ear via heal skill and cure light wounds, and the handle animal skill, to make an earring.

Can an amulet be altered to be put onto a dog? Can a belt be used as a large collar for a large companion? Can a ring fit a small snake? Can a cloak be put on an animal? Animals in real life can wear clothes, so why not animal companions?

At some point, the PCs have enough rings of protection, are all wearing belts, etc.

Any enchantments to barding specific to animals. An explanation maybe of what can wear barding and what can't.

[edit: ninja'd, but this is a biggie for me and the groups I've been in]

[edit: Do the items an Eidolon is carrying vanish with the Eidolan when it isn't summoned?]

BARBARIAN LIKE TO THANK ALL PEOPLE WHO AM MAKE THIS POSSIBLE. AMOUNT PRETTY MUCH ENTIRELY TO BUTTHURT CASTYS WHO AM NOT LIKING RAGELANCEPOUNCE AND PEOPLE WHO AM ALSO TREX.

BARBARIAN ONCE RIDE FLYING TREX, BUT FIND NOT AS SUBTLE AS BATTY BAT.

BARBARIAN ALSO NOTE MANY PEOPLE EXPECTING SPEECH. BARBARIAN NOT WANT DISAPPOINT, BUT IF BARBARIAN SPEND MORE THAN 50 SECONDS TAKING, MUST RAGELANCEPOUNCE BARBARIAN OUT OF SENSE OF FAIR PLAY.

INSTEAD, BARBARIAN INVITE EVERYONE TO PARTY AT BARBARIAN PLACE. AM NULL MAGIC DEMIPLANE NEXT TO BREWERY AND BROTHEL. NOT MISS IT.

RageLancePounce lives on!

AM will be happy.

Do I need to say any more then Tim Curry as a demon.

I am pleased that Paizo continues to produce supporting flavor materials for folks to pick up. This particular flavor isn't one I care for, but the variety, the willingness to experiment is something I strongly support.

Thank you, Paizo, for making a product I don't care about, because I know the odds are that much higher you will make many about which I do.

I very much appreciate your refreshing point of view.

Fair warning: unless you're going to discuss how we "need" a new forum, please take derailing discussions about new editions somewhere else please. We don't need fires in Website Feedback.

^^^

I removed some posts. Any commentary in this thread *not* directly related to the possible creation of a new forum gets deleted.

Take the edition war somewhere else—and by "somewhere else," I mean "somewhere other than paizo.com."

James will there ever be a book that contains all these subsystems? I like the subsystems as my group and I are world builders so we like to have in game things to develop.

Plus I find the subsystems give a nice bit of flavour to the campaigns.

A book that contains all of these subsystems, revised and expanded as necessary, and perhaps joined by additional subsystems, would not only be cool, but would allow us to use such elements in Adventure Paths, modules, and other products with MUCH GREATER ease.

I would love us to do a book like this, and have wanted us to do a book like this since the start, pretty much.

It is not a discussion about overpowering, it is a discussion about the appearance of it.

Spamming cantrips to get a advantage that probably is not even so good when it is used in conjunction with them smell of a cheap videogame trick and debase what is a key feature of a class.
It is simply uncool.

Thinking too much about the appearance of a magus relying on spellstrike makes me laugh.

TWF RANGER: Hey, magus buddy, back in the fight you were keeping up with me in swings at first, but then you slowed down. Are you hurt? I can pull out the wand of Cure Light Wounds.
MAGUS: Fear not. Once I exhausted the touch spells I memorized, I was forced to fight by mundane means.
TWF RANGER: So what? That Shocking Grasp on your swords lays the hobgoblins low, but a strong arm does plenty of damage without magic.
MAGUS: Without Shocking Grasp I cannot attack as quickly.
TWF RANGER: Can't attack as quickly? You're joking, right? You are a whirlwind. You swing that longsword in one hand, while casting Shocking Grasp with your other hand, as fast as I can attack with longsword and shortsword in both my hands. You could be even faster if you weren't concentrating on casting the spell.
MAGUS: Spellstrike doesn't work that way. Casting the spell gives me the extra attack.
TWF RANGER: That doesn't make sense. Maybe it's a habit because you trained that way. Have you tried pretending to cast the spell or casting one of your little cantrip spells to get the extra attack.
MAGUS: Pretend to cast a spell? Why would I waste time during combat doing that? Pretend magic doesn't do squat.
TWF RANGER: For the extra attack, you ninny. I trained in two-weapon fighting just to get an extra attack with a shortsword in my off hand. You can hit an extra time with your longsword at full strength. That isn't squat.
MAGUS: Well, pretending to cast a spell does not enable spellstrike. Likewise, a cantrip is too weak for spellstrike.
TWF RANGER: Too weak?
MAGUS: Yes. The secret of spellstrike is that the rush of magic from the touch spell I cast acts like a minature Haste spell on me. Shocking Grasp charges me up to become a better fighter.
TWF RANGE: That sounds like drugs.
MAGUS: It can be addicting. Some magi refuse to settle for using spellstrike a few times a day. They want more. They puff up touch cantrips as touch attacks. They debase themselves by spellstriking off of Arcane Mark, of all things. They mark their target like a dog marking a tree.
TWF RANGER: That's, that's ...
MAGUS: Uncool.

This is not the ending. There are no beginning and no endings to the Wheel of Time. But it is AN ending.

I never thought my life could be anything but catastrophe
But suddenly I begin to see a bit of good luck for me

'Cause I've got a golden ticket
I've got a golden twinkle in my eye

I never had a chance to shine, never a happy song to sing
But suddenly half the world is mine, what an amazing thing

'Cause I've got a golden ticket
I've got a golden sun up in the sky

I never thought I'd see the day when I would face the world and say
Good morning, look at the sun

I never thought that I would be slap in the lap of luxury
'Cause I'd have said it couldn't be done, but it can be done

I never dreamed that I would climb over the moon in ecstasy
But nevertheless, it's there that I'm shortly about to be

'Cause I've got a golden ticket
I've got a golden chance to make my way and with a golden ticket, it's a golden day

<.< >.> Actually, I probably don't but someone had to quote the song.

Most of all I want an adventure path set in Iblydos, it is the most used mythology yet there aren't any adventures published about it in the entire history of the game. How many jungle-pirate adventures do we need instead.

Alternatively something about the intrigues of Absalom.

For 4 years now Jacobs has been saying that APs can't be anything but 6 volumes and for 4 years now I've felt that every "reason" he gives is silly. Harder work on the designers, no doubt. But not undoable (You guys are working your dream-careers, yes?) Not impossible to make sure a new AP begins every GenCon. You got 12 months: One 7 and one 5. Or a 6 and two 3s. Or a 4 a 6 and a 2. Harder work but doable . . . . And you don't have to start every one at 1st level. Starting a 3 volume AP at level 9 would not lose customers. Finishing an 8 volume AP at level 21 would not lose customers. (in theory)

Frankly... "harder work on the designers" is perhaps the number ONE reason I'm not all that eager to switch the 2 APs a year formula. (To a lesser extent is my fear that many AP readers and players would be less interested in shorter Adventure Paths, since we've seen a fair amount of resistance already to APs that don't go as high level as others.)

But working a "dream-career" should NOT be code for "you get to work 80 hours a week on a salary that assumes a 40 hour week just because you enjoy your job enough that if we asked you to work that much you would."

Isn't Paizo one of the companies that are leading the industry? Or perhaps even THE leading one? :)

And Ryan, Clark, and Neil's time is valuable, too (I'm not going to try to put a dollar figure on their time).

I will.

In private practice it was $250/hour. Maybe I should send Paizo a bill :)
Let's see, that's 4 years of the contest at about, oh I dont know, 20 hours per year easy. :) You do the math. That's $20,000 conservatively. I'm not joking.

I'm actually surprised. We usually get the "what, Paizo gets to own my submission! No way!" Thread way earlier in the contest. The fact we didn't get it until the day before the last day is impressive.

I don't know the OP and if you have some real concerns, hey fine do what you want. But in my experience this "issue" is just a lame excuse for wussing out of entering the contest and justifying to yourself why you aren't entering which is just weaksauce.

The number of people who have gone on to any significant publishing having willingly chosen not to enter Superstar to "protect their content" to my knowledge is ZERO. Who knows, maybe the OP will be the guy. But one would imagine if he was, then he would have enough sense to see this is the avenue to that opportunity, not the roadblock to it.

Then why insist on making other people give up ownership of their items.

Because that's the policy for everything on the message board. And because, as Vic said, it's for Paizo's legal protection.

I would add that I'm not a part of the contest, nor do I have any desire to be a free lancer or get my name in print, I'm just putting forth the view point.

Then you shouldn't care.

How about this?

Clark, Ryan, Neil, and I judge these entries on our own time, including over the holidays. We spend hours and hours of our time doing this. Anyone who submits an item is giving up 300 words to Paizo; at .06 per word (a generous rate in this industry), that's $18. I'm giving up hours and hours of my evenings and weekends to work on RPG Superstar. I don't know how many hours it is, but I assure you it's more than 10 hours, more than 20 hours (if you assume 1000 entries and just 1 minute to evaluate each, that's 16 hours right there, and I assure you I average more than 1 minute on each...). But let's just say it's exactly 20 hours. In 20 hours I could create three of the god articles I do for the Pathfinder AP, and earn myself about $1,000.

So I'm giving up (at minimum) $1,000 worth of potential freelance income to judge a contest. And Ryan, Clark, and Neil's time is valuable, too (I'm not going to try to put a dollar figure on their time). And you're quibbling with me over an unknown author giving up rights to a 300-word magic item worth (at most) $18.

I don't intend to be rude, as I've given over my item idea to Paizo.... but....

If the above statement is true... then it is also true that Paizo doesn't mind if the contestant replicates there submission in later publications.

Let me point out that Paizo gives away its entire ruleset for free online, and anyone can replicate it whole or in part in another publication, under the rules of the OGL. If someone wanted to republish the rules with an anime or steampunk or gothic horror theme, they legally could. So, if you wanted to quote your own submitted item under the OGL and attribute it to Paizo, I think that's allowed.

My point in the "I've given away more for free" comment is: if you want to be a writer, you have to write. Or, if you're meant to be a writer, you're going to write anyway. Some of it you'll give away, whether it's in a contest or a book jacket or a foreword to an anthology. Much of it won't be published at all. Some of it will be lost in bad contracts. Some of it will be work for hire or on salary and killed and never published. There's an entire book I wrote for WotC that won't ever be published because they canceled the game I wrote it for. Is that annoying? Yes. Am I gonna get worked up about it? No, because there are always more ideas, always more books.

Sometimes you have to give things away so you get noticed or to create a name for yourself. Fantasy artists get paid good money for their art, yet if you go to conventions and get them to sign a book, many will add a little doodle or sketch just for fun. Do they charge for these doodles or sketches? Often no, because they just like to draw things (funny, they're artists, they like to draw). Could they sell books of their sketches? Yes. Are they losing anything by not charging for these doodles or sketches? No. Are they gaining anything by not charging for his sketches? Yes, they're gaining goodwill and appreciation from their fans. Are they going to run out of ideas of things to draw because they do sketches in books at conventions? No.

Is a talented-but-unknown RPG designer going to run out of ideas because he gave away the text of one magic item in the hopes of winning a contest that'll give him name recognition and money? No. So don't worry about it.

Take a look at this picture. Shortly after I started at TSR, I asked the staff artists if any of them would be willing to do a sketch of the PCs in my friend Paul's play-by-email game. Jeff Easley said he would. For free. Paul has a signed, original Jeff Easley sketch on his wall, for free, because Jeff is awesome.

Still worried about "giving away" your magic item?

The NPC gallery is a grab pile of stat blocks. You need a CR 7 enemy with a general theme? Flip through the NPC gallery and grap an appropriate one with a similar theme to what you want. I use them a lot and they work quite well. The labels on them are there in order to help classify them quickly, not as some sort of bizarre world building tool.

I posit the NPC gallery isn't for typical NPCs of their station, but interesting ones. I don't need stats for a commoner 1 beggar. AC 10, HP 4 will suffice. I need stats for when I want a beggar that is important.

This.

I don't mind people entering for fun. Nothing wrong with that. Just know that if its over word count it won't be read, not even a word of it. So that's ok, you can then (after the first round) submit it to the "critique my item" thread and everyone can give you feedback.

The rules are clear:

DISQUALIFICATION: Submissions may be disqualified for the following reasons:

Submission is not a wondrous item.
Submission is not anonymous.
Submission exceeds 300 words.
Submission does not conform to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
Submission is copied from a previously published source.
Submission uses rules, monsters, or copyrighted material from publishers other than Paizo.

As you can see, no where in that disqualification is the caveat of +/-10%. So I'm not sure where anyone would get that 300 was anything other than a hard cap.

Reading the instructions is part of the test.

Why don't we read them anyway? Because we have hundreds upon hundreds of submissions. We sift through dozens a day, often each day. We aren;t employees, we volunteer our time to help judge the contest. We simply don't have the extra time to spend on people who can't follow instructions. Its really that simple.

Clark

I gotta be honest, sometimes it does feel like a job. Then you see your stuff in print and it's pretty awesome. When you see other people using your stuff, sometimes lots of other people, it's even more awesome. If you are lucky, some folks really enjoyed using your stuff it's amazingly awesome and satisfying in a way that few jobs or pastimes ever are.

So yeah, it IS a job, but it's easily the most awesome jobs I've ever had.

You do get a very cool "RPG Superstar 2012 Top XX" tag which makes all the girl mooses go waaaaahh.

After reading the past few pages I've decided that the next wizard BBEG I make will be named Maddigan. He will be gloriously arrogant and condescending to everyone, even other wizards.

The megalomania aspect is already written. The funny part is that this isn't even a jab. I kept reading his posts and thinking: "this guy would make a wonderful villain." I'm gonna market this sucker.

Every G.I. Joe needs a Cobra Commander.

Every He-Man needs a Skeletor.

Every AM BARBARIAN needs a Maddigan.

I already have plans for action figures. Red LED lights in his eyes for when he rages. A tiny speaker for corny sound effects and catch-phrases (note to self: need catch-phrases). Little motors for BATTY BAT's wings. Now I really want to see something like a Saturday morning cartoon or, better yet, a wonderfully cheesy live-action show.

This thread has been thoroughly entertaining AND useful.

That's nothing. I convinced my GM that my barbarian worships the minor barbarian god Am, god of pouncing, klilling casties, awesome mounts, killing casties, destrucity and killing casties. Now AM BARBARIAN is an official minor god of our version of Golarion, perpetually flying from plane to plane, killing any castie that appears on his way.

It amazes me how many sports call themselves football, when they all have the ball spend most of it's time IN THE HANDS.

Gridiron-Football
Rugby Union-Football
Rugby Legaue-Football
Australian Rules Football- Footy
Gailic Football

ball spends most of it's time being Carried, Thrown or Punched.

What amazes me is that they call that other sport football, considering how much time the ball spends in the ref's hands while Argentinian and Italian men flop around on the ground like spastic, epileptic beavers...

According to My Little Pony, friendship is magic, so he could.

The only thing is, we'd have to determine the caster level of friendship.

I put my characters against a sea ogre with a zombie shark (abdomen hollowed out for an arm hold) for a shield; a "bitey" shield.......
I was thinking that AM could maybe use a big awakened alligator snapping turtle lich as a shield so he could cast spells and block with it and such.

SPELL NOT NEED SAVE. BARBARIAN FEEL NOT FEAR.

RIGHT NOW, ALL SITE, ALL PIZAO, BE THEY CASTYS, MARTIALS, GISH, BUFFERS, DEBUFFERS, NPC CLASSES, EVERYTHING. ALL AM WORKING TOGETHER TO DESTROY END OF WORLD! ALL WORK TOGETHER AM STOPPING STUPID GOD OF DECAY!

BARBARIAN AM WINNER OF MANY ARGUMENTS. TODAY, BARBARIAN NOT WINNER ALONE.

IN ARGUMENT OF EVERYONE VERSUS C-M DESTRUCITY, AM TAKING EVERYONE TO WIN. AM ALL CHARACTERS, EVERYWHERE WORKING IN TEAM TO OVERCOME CHALLENGE. CHALLENGE LIKE C-M DESTRUCITY GOD. AM NOT CASTYS, MARTIALS, ETC. AM ONLY PCS AND THINGS PCS AM SMASH.

DESTRUCITY AM THING PCS AM SMASH.

GOD AM FALL TO RAGELANCEPOUNCE. GOD AM FALL TO SOD. GOD AM FALL TO BUFFING AND DEBUFFING AND MIND-BLANKET INVISIBILITY. PIZAO AM SUNDER GOD, AM CASTYFY GOD, AM OBLITERATE GOD.

ARGUMENT AM OVER. EVERYONE AM WINNER.

RAGELANCEPOUNCE.

CLEARLY, IF GOD AM ARISING WHEN STARS ARE RIGHT, PROPER ANSWER AM TO SUNDER STARS.

BARBARIAN BE RIGHT BACK.

The Barbarian you are calling is currently away PIERCING THE HEAVENS. Please leave a message after the *sunder*

He doesn't have a dire bat. He has a synthesist that the barbarian THINKS is a bat.

And in this, I have discovered how Casty survives AM BARBARIAN:

make him think you are a batty bat.

Wait, so AM BARBARIAN has BATTY BAT, his flying mount.... and can also have BATTY BAT be a submersible. So he has a BAT-FLYER and a BAT-MARINE (and presumably a BAT-MOBILE).....

Conclusion:

AM BARBARIAN is really BATMAN !!!!!

Cheapy wrote:

AM BARBARIAN wrote:

Cheapy wrote:

So.

What happens when casty is underwater?

Like an Aboleth. An aboleth was the mastermind behind the casty that killed your parents.

BARBARIAN AM ENGINEER. AM REALLY EXPECTING DRAINING ENTIRE LAKE TO BE BIG PROBLEM?

If you can't do it in a round, yes.

Raging Swimmer.

TOUCHE.

CLEARLY, AM PLAN TIME. MOVE ACTION, HOP OFF MOUNT. MOUNT DISPEL. CAST THAT ONE SPELL THAT REBUILDS EIDOLON. MAKE ALL FLY INTO SWIM. QUICKEN ROD SUMMON EIDOLON. FAST MOUNT. 1 ROUND.

BARBARIAN NOTE CASTY HAVE NO ACTUAL EXAMPLES, ONLY 'CAN TOTALLY DO THIS.' SCHRODINGER CASTY AM ABOUT TO MEET LANCE OF OBSERVED STATE.

BARBARIAN PUT MONEY ON LANCE. AM SMART BET.

Interestingly, I happened to be reading Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana this morning, and it had a section on his visit to India (yeah, I'm still obsessed with Vudra) that included a dragon-hunt.

Apparently, near the city of Paraka (unidentified but perhaps in Kashmir), there was a temple filled with hundreds of dragon-heads. The young warriors of Paraka would hunt dragons in the swamps and mountains - these are creatures that eat elephants, mind you - and take the heads as trophies to be presented to their gods.

Here's the quote:
"[§6] Now as they descended the mountain, they say they came in for a dragon hunt, which I must needs describe. For it is utterly absurd for those who are amateurs of hare-hunting to spin yarns about the hare as to how it is caught or ought to be caught, and yet that we should omit to describe a chase as bold as it is wonderful, and in which the sage, of whom I have written this account, was careful to set on record:

The whole of India is girt with dragons of enormous size; for not only the marshes are full of them, but the mountains as well, and there is not a single ridge without one. Now the marsh kind are sluggish in their habits and are thirty cubits long, and they have no crest standing up on their heads, but in this respect resemble the she-dragons. Their backs however are very black, with fewer scales on them than the other kinds; and Homer has described them with deeper insight than have most poets, for he says that the dragon that lived hard by the spring in Aulis had a tawny back [Iliad 2.308]; but other poets declare that the congener of this one in the grove of Nemea also had a crest, a feature which we could not verify in regard to the marsh dragons.

[§7] And the dragons along the foothills and the mountain crests make their way into the plains after their quarry, and get the better all round of those in the marshes; for indeed they reach a greater length, and move faster than the swiftest rivers, so that nothing escapes them. These actually have a crest, of moderate extent and height when they are young; but as they reach their full size, it grows with them and extends to a considerable height, at which time also they turn red and get serrated backs. This kind also have beards, and lift their necks on high, while their scales glitter like silver; and the pupils of their eyes consist of a fiery stone, and they say that this has an uncanny power for many secret purposes. The plain specimen falls the prize of the hunters whenever it draws into its folds an elephant; for the destruction of both creatures is the result, and those who capture the dragons are rewarded by getting the eyes and skin and teeth. In most respects the tusks resemble the largest swine's, but they are slighter in build and twisted, and have a point as unabraded as sharks' teeth.

[§8] Now the dragons of the mountains have scales of a golden color, and in length excel those of the plain, and they have bushy beards, which also are of a golden hue; and their eyebrows are more prominent than those of the plain, and their eye is sunk deep under the eyebrow, and emits a terrible and ruthless glance. And they give off a noise like the clashing of brass whenever they are burrowing under the earth, and from their crests, which are all fiery red, there flashes a fire brighter than a torch.

They also can catch the elephants, though they are themselves caught by the Indians in the following manner. They embroider golden runes on a scarlet cloak, which they lay in front of the animal's burrow after charming them the runes to cause sleep; for this is the only way to overcome the eyes of the dragon, which are otherwise inflexible, and much mysterious lore is sung by them to overcome him. These runes induce the dragon to stretch his neck out of his burrow and fall asleep over them: then the Indians fall upon him as he lies there, and dispatch him with blows of their axes, and having cut off the head they despoil it of its gems.

And they say that in the heads of the mountain dragons there are stored away stones of flowery color, which flash out all kinds of hues, and possess a mystical power as resided in the ring, which they say belonged to Gyges.[1] But often the Indian, in spite of his axe and his cunning, is caught by the dragon, who carries him off into his burrow, and almost shakes the mountains as he disappears. These are also said to inhabit the mountains in the neighborhood of the Red Sea, and they say that they heard them hissing terribly and that they saw them go down to the shore and swim far out into the sea. It was impossible however to ascertain the number of years that this creature lives, nor would my statements be believed. This is all I know about dragons.

[§9] They tell us that the city under the mountain is of great size and is called Paraca, and that in the center of it are enshrined a great many heads of dragons, for the Indians who inhabit it are trained from their boyhood in this form of sport. And they are also said to acquire an understanding of the language and ideas of animals by feeding either on the heart or the liver of the dragon."

They sound like Black and Red Dragons, actually... Adrienne Mayor believes them to be fossils that were collected as dragon remains, not actual creatures.

Nearby is a fortress-monastery of the wizard-philosophers (Gymnosophists or Brahmins), who have innumerable magic powers, and are Apollonius' first masters in Hermeticism.

The whole of the story reads like a PF campaign, actually - wandering monsters - secret temples - magical academies - and intrigue with the Roman emperors.

@Jason Nelson: Good thinking. One could even further the reflexion to make the seed of a dragon AP (or modules series) as such: a cult of dragon worshippers aims to open a rift between Golarion and a far away planet where dragons live. They want the dragons to seize power and rule the world.

...dude.

Dahak.

The chromatics and metallics came to Golarion as refugees from Dahak and the chromatics that stayed loyal to him. They're still out there: an army of twisted angry dragons led by one of the most destructively evil deities short of Rovagug.

And now, a cult of Dahakite traitor wyrms is trying to raise a beacon that will draw the Three-Headed God* and his dragon armada down out of the depths of the Dark Tapestry to scour Golarion to a cinder as a minor side-effect of wiping out Apsu's children.

Sound dragonish enough? :)

*Dahak, aka Zahhak or Ahzi Dahaka, is traditionally depicted as a three-headed dragon. See Persian myths, David Weber's Mutineer's Moon, and Suikoden V.

I would like to contend that that AM BARBARIAN wins the CMD side of thing here.

Can combos be created to beat him? Sure, people (finally) seem to be coming up with some valid combos and some acceptable assumptions.

But what I find gives power to AM BARBARIAN is the simple fact that:

His tactics don't change, really. He might need to adapt, but for the most part he doesn't need to do anything different. He sees, he rages, he charges, it dies.

If it was a 1st level wizard or a 20th level wizard, he's going to treat it pretty much the same. When he uses what ability will of course go with the flow of the combat, but, honestly, Barbarian wakes up, grabs his stick and he's ready. He could be naked and it not really change the outcome against the CASTYS as either they aren't attacking his AC or they have some way TO attack his AC and are still going to hit even if armored.

Besides the limiting Beast totem line, the barbarian still has plenty of open feats and rage powers too. Even his Archtype is fairly flexible.

But the Wizards have several things they have to do.
Be a Diviner.
Treat AM BARBARIAN as a 20th level threat EVERY time. If we put Am Barbarian back on the Dire bat, he could really just be some 8th level Shmoo. He doesn't have some sign over his head that says '20th level, cut loose or die'

And that's not even taking into consideration the likelihood of the wizard having the right spells memorized all the time, for sure. We conceed that you still have to wonder, really, you'd do all that just for one guy you see coming on the horizon on a bat...or a CR 10 dragon even?

If it was a GM gaming it (still ignoring the fluff but just running a Hackmaster set of encounters) and that is how the player wizard truly reacted he would be dead because 4th level characters would bleed his 9th level spell combos before anything interesting happened.

But the Barbarian...he just spends 1 to 5 rage rounds of his 50+ rounds, uses his CLW wand(s) and moves on to the next thing.

His tactics are viable. They are not part of some contrived scenerio.

AM BARBARIAN's build works against CASTYS and FIGHTYS. In group combat or Solo combat, he does pretty much the same time. On the first encounter or the 7th, he's ready to rock. That is a build that WOULD function in a high level party. Magicly locked door? Don't worry wizard, I spend 1 of my /50/ rage rounds and it's done.

There is no way to contain him. He CAN break out of Adamantine chains. He CAN chew through freaking bars. And he can do it in an Anti-magic field while drunk.

The wizard, sure, he's got options. Lots of them. But he has a greater margin of error. If he assumes AM BARBARIAN is not a 20th level mage killer he's toast. And even then, I'm not convinced that the Barbarian with a ring of Spell turning and the anti-negative levels broach is promised to die before his rage comes on.

But even then it doesn't matter. The barbarian is solid. He can be built without the dumped Int (or as Dumped) and have some skills, he can sunder magic, he can take hits, he can demolish most things in a round, he has more HP than a mountain, he can escape, naked, from most confinements. DR doesn't mean anything to him as he does enough damage to bypass it. He can, by the rules, even have a dragon freak'en cohort that really cuts down on transportation issues.

In short, he is a character that has SOLID options without needing spells. There are few realistic challenges he can't just brute force his way through and he doesn't require some well thought out plan or combo to do it. Magic items are really just gravy or protect against those really crappy 'hahah, gotya!' effects (like negative levels).

but you know, there are even rage powers that let you ignore ability damage and negative levels.

Does that mean he can do everything? No, of course not. But this is a character that scales. He starts bad ass. At 3rd level he can be doing +9 to hit with a MW weapon and PA and doing 2d8+12 with an Large Bastard Sword. At 6th level, he can dispell magic effects and if he can take 2 rounds between attempts, he can do it 15 to 20 times a DAY! Sorcerers and Oracles get it at the same level. Only wizards, witches and Clerics (Not even DRUIDS) get it sooner and then only by 1 level and sure as hell aren't doing it 15 times in a day, every day, any day.

There really is no sharp drop off of power gain for AM BARBARIAN. He levels, he gets cooler, gets more stuff and can still handle most things with reasonable gusto and unless there is some bizarre circumstance, he doesn't have the 'oooh, I prepared my 'puzzle solving spell list' not my 'world traveling' list today issues.

And if you don't agree with me, I would say just think on this.

If you hadn't read this thread and really considered what AM BARBARIAN could do and you saw him...would you take the steps people are just now after 20+ pages laying down that MAY (and I stress MAY) be able to beat him?

AM BARBARIAN didn't need to read this thread. He doesn't care WHAT caster build you go with. His tactics were the same before and after. Casters need to plan for him. He doesn't need to plan for them.