Jason Sonia's page

If it can't bring back PPD, PP, RSW, BW, S saves, it's no good. =)

Inception witch!

Maybe we should Kickstart a semi-private Midgard Wiki next? All the information that's available in released books, but access to archived board conversations and ideas with membership. A resource for current games and future projects. Not to get ahead of ourselves or anything...

If it isn't translucent then how do I see out? :p

"HELP ITS DARK IN HERE!"

I just have a problem with people viewing this as "fluff that has an unintended mechanical consequence." I would never have come up with that interpretation, as it seems completely obvious to me that the mechanical distinction *is* intentional, that the goal of the phrase is to eliminate the idea that the eidolon can be used to disguise the synthesist as anything he wants, and that it's not actually fluff at all.

It's one thing to argue that that it could be developed in a way that allows for more flexibility (like Kerney's conjoined twin idea) while still preventing the eidolon from being a "disguise myself as any monster" kit, but trying to argue that it's only a mechanical element by accident is actually pretty insulting in my view. Our writers—and Jason more than many—understand how to write description that doesn't include unintended mechanical elements.

Perhaps what's written in the rulebook should be changed then to be inclusive of what people want to play rather than exclusionary.

So if people want to sneak attack without being a rogue, we should include that? If people don't want to wait until they have second level spells to cast alter self, we should allow that?

Rules, pretty much by definition, are determinate, and thus generally exclusionary. If you want a game where anybody can do anything they want, may I suggest Calvinball?

When did this authoritarian streak start?

In organized play, we all need to be playing by a common ruleset, and that needs to be the words printed in the books and PDFs. Call it authoritarian if you like, but it doesn't really *work* any other way.

"Because the book said so" is pretty much why we have every rule in the game.

Normal Eidolon have to look fantastical and can't resemble any living creature.

Synth Summoners have to wear a transluscent body.

Why for either? Because it says you do. You don't get to play the "that rule is stupid so it shouldn't exist" card.

Why does it exist imo? So that you can always tell that there is someone in the suit. They don't get to pretend they are some other creature entirely- in essence an alter self or free disguise.

They get a boat load of benefits for being a Synthesist. One small penalty is that the suit is transluscent. Why? Because the guy(s) who created it thought that it was appropriate.

Its the same reason we have any of our rules that apply to things that don't exist in the real world (and even some things that do exist in the real world.. like how far you can jump with an acrobatics check.)

If it being transluscent ruins your character concept, change your character concept. Fit your concept to what is actually possible under the rules. Don't change rules to fit your character concept.

or.. yanno.. cast a spell to change it or something. Like alter self, polymorph, get a hat if disguise for it to wear or something.

-S

I don't actually even know who wrote that particular bit, but I strongly suspect that the intent is specifically to make it *not* equal to a free disguise, which, as many people have pointed out, there are other ways to get.

And rules without a visible purpose tend to be bucked against.

If we explained the reasoning behind every rule that anyone could possibly think may be arbitrary, the Core Rulebook would be a couple thousand pages, and actually far less helpful to people who assume that the designers usually have a reason for saying things in a particular way.

Whether you think it's "fluff" or not, it is what it is. Fireballs begin as glowing, pea-sized beads, and detonate with a low roar. Fused eidolons are translucent. Just because those things are descriptive doesn't mean you get to change them at your whim. (At least, not when you're supposed to be playing by the rules. Change 'em all you want outside of PFS, of course...)

I have an issue with a character essentially getting a fool-proof alter self which is what this is sounding like to me.

At least a rogue state need allies to flank ennemies.

I would be more worried about a barbarian state.

We mascara anyone that opposes us.

FuelDrop--

Reality Check: the only thing that separates the USA from most of the other countries around the world (except the ones that are clearly much more corrupt and/or farther off the rails than we are), is that the USA has the power to do these things and get away with it. Other states are complaining and whining-- NOT because they wouldn't be doing exactly the same things (or worse) IF they had the USA's power and reach, but rather because they don't have the power, reach and ability to get away with all the dirty things they'd like to be doing, and are therefore rather envious.

Pretty much all states are "rogue" states to the extent that they can get away with it, and "good international citizens" to the extent that they have to be in order to thrive, survive, and accomplish their goals for the future. 'Enlightened self-interest' unfortunately has been, and so far as we can tell, always will be, the way of international relations. Doesn't make it right-- but I don't see it changing in our lifetimes. People who look at history and current affairs, and who still cannot see that-- are hopelessly deluded and hallucinating about 'basic human goodness' that does not really exist.

Where do you get a program to run population dynamics simulations on D&D? ...

I'm a programmer, and I know a bit about simulations on computers. They are only as good as the assumptions that go into them, and the accuracy of the data fed into them.

The biggest fallacy in the whole thing is attempting to treat Pathfinder as an accurate simulation of a world that could possibly exist.

It's not. It can't. Pathfinder, like AD&D and D&D before it is a game that was designed to let a small group of players play the part of people who can make a difference in an imaginary world. Do you complain that Monopoly is a poor simulation of an economy? That Risk is a poor simulation of a war? At it's core, these type of discussions are the same thing.

The rules aren't meant to simulate a real economy, or accurately depict the odds of one person single-handedly beating an army, or what happens when such a non-typical person decides to become rich by crafting things, or to try to somehow create a set of physical rules for the universe that simultaneously let some people conjure gigantic balls of fire from nowhere while other folks can blithely fall 200 or more feet, swim in molten lava, or jump into pools of acid without automatic death.

The rules are an attempt to create a game that to some extent (and not perfectly, as has been stated multiple times), balances the various player classes so they can be in the same party and the players can enjoy the game.

Any attempt to justify it as a simulation is misguided and ultimately fruitless. The fact is, it doesn't matter what the population distribution is as much as it matters whether it's a world the players are having fun in.

I've yet to have a player come to me complaining that there weren't enough farmers in the village they just entered and it broke the realism for them, nor that there's been a shop in every town they entered, no matter how small. Such things make the game work. To hell with the simulationist aspects of it.

The irony is that I'm a huge simulationist. I put a ton of work into making my world make sense - but I know that's all for me, not needed to make the game work. I just think that consistency is important.

Edit: @mdt: I'm a programmer too. That's why, while I was very pleased with Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe, I was also very disappointed, for while it promised to give rules for creating things like towns and manors, instead it just gave vague guidelines, as I found out when I tried to actually write a program to use the rules. It was still useful, but I had to create a huge set of initial assumptions in order to get anywhere with it.

My favorite is the treasure generator based on Gygax's gem, jewelry and item tables from the AD&D DMG. I still use that to generate all of my non-magical valuables.