Jeff Wilder's page

A couple of the sessions I played at GenCon have not been reported yet. It's not a huge deal to me, but I'm curious:

(1) What's the expected turnaround for session reporting?

(2) If a session hasn't been reported after a very reasonable amount of time has passed, who should be notified and how?

My Pathfinder society number is 3813.

When I played PFS scenarios, I couldn't remember or look up my number, so I was told to just take the number offered (18175) and that I'd be able to change it online.

I can't figure out how to change the scenarios I played as 18175-1 to 3813-1.

Does it really matter? If so (or maybe even if not), can anyone help?

I have an adventure ("An Old School Adventure") for six 7th-level PFRPG PCs. This is an adventure I originally wrote for 3.5, but I've now converted it an updated it for PF to once again run at GenCon. The caveats:

(1) Being intended as a convention game, it's linear and rail-roadish. I think the rails are hidden fairly well, especially with a good GM and cooperative players, but it is what it is. If you're a GM who never railroads, and/or you have players who refuse to bite on huge adventure hooks, this adventure won't work for you.

(2) Being intended as a convention game, the challenges are customized for the pregen PCs. Other PCs may find that several parts of the adventure are too easy, impossible, or simply bypassable.

(3) I intentionally use a lot of cliches, some with twists and some not. If you're not interested in playing with and exploring cliches going back decades of RPGing, you won't like this adventure.

(4) If you run this, please shoot me notes on it. I will be playtesting it once before GenCon, but I can use whatever additional feedback I get. It should run in 5 hours, once players are settled.

(5) It is designed to use various Paizo flip-mats, as indicated in the notes. You can use your own maps, and some encounters have maps provided, but where a flip-mat is used, no other maps are provided. (For those with extensive DDM collections, I've also indicated appropriate minis for each encounter.)

(6) I have all the PFRPG books, so you might run into little rules that you don't recognize, if you don't have the books. (E.g., the BBEG is an inquisitor, from APG.)

(7) It's in Word 2003 format, though I can also send it in PDF format (which is how the PCs will come with it).

If you'd like the adventure, please send me email at

jeff dot wilder at yahoo dot com

This revision attempts to address two things that the Pathfinder Beta Grapple rules do not address well. First, it does away with any distinction between an attacker and a defender, except on the acting creature's turn. Second, it includes rules for multiple grapplers. There are other, relatively minor, changes included, such as a bonus for creatures with improved grab, a clarification on how many free limbs are needed to grapple, a wording change from "flat-footed" to "loses Dexterity bonus to AC," and so on.

Comments and suggestions are welcomed. In particular, making the simplified Pathfinder rules work with multiple grapplers proved troublesome, and my solutions aren't particularly satisfying.

Suggested Revision -- Grapple

As a standard action, you can attempt to grapple a foe, hindering his combat options (and yours). If you do not have Improved Grapple, improved grab, or a similar ability, attempting to grapple a foe provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver, and as usual a successful attack adds its damage to the combat maneuver DC. Creatures without two free limbs -- or improved grab or a similar ability -- take a -4 penalty on combat maneuver checks for grappling. Creatures with improved grab gain a +4 bonus on combat maneuver checks for grappling; possibly more, if they are particularly equipped for grappling. (The creature's "Improved Grab" entry will specify the bonus if other than +4.)

If successful, you and the target gain the grappled condition (see below). If you successfully grapple a creature that is not adjacent to you, move that creature to an adjacent open space (if no space is available, your grapple fails).

Grappled: A grappled creature is being restrained by another creature, trap, or effect. It cannot move normally and take a –4 penalty to its Dexterity. A grappled creature takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls and combat maneuver checks, except those made for grappling. In addition, a grappled creature can take no action that does not leave it one free limb for grappling, except attempt to escape the grapple, unless the creature has improved grab or a similar ability. A grappled character that attempts to cast a spell must make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the spell’s level) or lose the spell. Grappled creatures cannot make attacks of opportunity.

On a grappled creature's turn, it declares whether it wishes to end the grapple. If all grapplers in the agree to end the grapple, it immediately ends. Otherwise the grapple is maintained.

In a maintained grapple, a successful combat maneuver check as a standard action allows you to perform one of the following actions.
Move: You can move up to one-half your speed. At the end of your movement, you can place your target in any square adjacent to you. If you attempt to place your foe in a hazardous location, such as in a wall of fire or over a pit, the target receives a free attempt to break your grapple with a +4 bonus. After this movement, any other grapplers (besides you and your target) are no longer grappled, and must rejoin the grapple normally if they wish.
Damage: You can inf lict damage to your target equal to your unarmed damage. This damage can be either lethal or nonlethal.
Pin: You can give your opponent the pinned condition. Despite pinning your opponent, you still only have the grappled condition, but you lose your Dexterity bonus to AC. You must maintain a pin from round to round, using a standard action, but the combat maneuver check is at a +5 bonus. If you fail to maintain the pin, the target becomes grappled instead of pinned.
Escape: You are no longer grappled. This action also allows use of the Escape Artist skill (at the same DC as a combat maneuver check). In a grapple involving multiple opponents, the DC is based on the highest CMB among the enemy grapplers.
Aid: You declare your assistance to a specific other grappler. With a combat maneuver check (the DC for this action is a flat 10), you grant that grappler a +2 on combat maneuver checks for grappling until the end of his turn.

Pinned: A pinned creature cannot move and loses its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class. A pinned character also takes an additional –4 penalty to his Armor Class. A pinned creature is limited in the actions that it can take. A pinned creature can always attempt to free itself, usually through a combat maneuver check or Escape Artist check. A successful check means the creature becomes grappled, instead of pinned. A pinned creature can take verbal and mental actions, but cannot cast any spells that require a somatic or material component. A pinned creature that attempts to cast a spell must make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the spell’s level) or lose the spell. Pinned is a more severe version of grappled and their effects do not stack.

Multiple Grapplers: Multiple creatures may participate in a grapple. To help initiate a grapple, a creature must be adjacent to the intended target and ready an action to aid a specific other creature in initiating the grapple. If that creature then attempts to grapple the intended target, and the aiding creature succeeds on a DC 10 CMB check, the initiator of the grapple receives a +2 bonus on combat maneuver checks to grapple until the end of his turn. To join an existing grapple, the creature must succeed on a DC 15 combat maneuver check.

Binding a Pinned Target: If you have your target pinned or otherwise restrained, or unconscious, you can use rope to tie them up. This requires that the target remain pinned for five consecutive rounds. The DC to escape from being bound is 20 + the binding creature's CMB. If a helpless creature is bound, the DC becomes 25 + the binding creature's CMB. A bound creature is helpless.

As preface, let me clarify that me and my fellow DM ("we") have three considerations in mind when we tinker with skills, all roughly equivalent in importance to us: realism, playability, and utility. Choices we've made try to balance those three things; accordingly, in some cases we've sacrificed some realism to aid in playability and/or utility. Or vice verse.

For example, in combining Climb, Jump, and Swim into Athletics, we sacrificed some realism in favor of both utility (Athletics is now on par with other skills) and (to a lesser extent) playability (only one number to remember for athletic stuff).

On the other hand, we subdivided Perception again, although into categories (active "Observe" and passive "Notice") that we found more realistic. This change also reflects a nod to utility, as we felt Perception as a unified skill was Just Too Good.

And so on.

These rules have been playtested in two separate mid-level games for a couple of months, now. They are working well, with the possible exception that in continuing the trend toward consolidations, we've pushed skill-monkeys into the "too good" realm. IMO, the fix for that is to lessen the skill points available at the high end, while raising them at the lowest end. I.e., instead of the current 8-6-4-or-2 scheme, I'd like to try 7-5-4-or-3. But we have not tried that yet.

Also note that we've left "background skills" (Knowledge, Craft, Profession, and Perform) alone. IMO, these skills are highly campaign dependent, and I think that in the final edition of the rules, that should be made very clear to players and DMs. I'm not sure that attempting to balance these skills along the same "triangle" of utility, realism, and playability as the more active skills is worth the effort, if it can be done at all.

So, these are the changes that are in use in our campaigns:

ACROBATICS, CLIMB, JUMP, and SWIM
Pathfinder -- Combined Jump with Balance and Tumble into Acrobatics. Left Climb and Swim alone.
Change -- Removed Jump from Acrobatics, and combined Climb, Jump, and Swim into Athletics, which is STR-based.

APPRAISE
Pathfinder -- Gave better rules and the additional use of identifying magical items.
Change -- Folded Appraise into Observe.

CONCENTRATION
Pathfinder -- Folded Concentration into Spellcraft.
Change -- The skill formerly known as Concentration is now a caster level check, modified by spellcasting attribute.

DISABLE DEVICE
Pathfinder -- Combined Open Lock and Disable Device into one DEX-based skill.
Change -- Disable Device is INT-based.

KNOWLEDGE (LOCAL)
Pathfinder – Made no change to this skill.
Change – All characters get a +2 circumstance bonus on Knowledge (local) checks for their area of origin, and can exceed the normal limit of DC 10 for untrained Knowledge (local) checks about their home region. Note that this will be based on utility, rather than on geographical size ... so, for example, a PC from Sharn would get the +2 for the city alone (and not the nation of Breland), while someone from the Eldeen Reaches would have the +2 for that whole region. If you have any questions on where your +2 applies, speak to the DM.

LINGUISTICS
Pathfinder -- Combined Forgery, Decipher Script, and Speak Language into Linguistics.
Change -- Speak Language works the same as in 3.5. Linguistics also works with spoken communication, at +5 to the DCs. As with getting the meaning of a text, this takes one minute per conversational exchange. It can be done at more normal conversational speed if the PC takes a -10 to the Linguistics check. Failing a check by 5 or more is a miscommunication. Finally, you can identify a language, spoken or written. DC is 10, going up with rarity and complexity.

PERCEPTION
Pathfinder -- Combined Spot, Listen, and Search into Perception. Also added other senses (taste, touch, smell).
Change -- Divided Perception into two skills, one active and one passive: "Observe," which is INT-based, and represents actively looking for something, whether it be traps, a weird taste or smell, or a clue at a crime scene; and "Notice," which is WIS-based and covers all of the same things. Observe also includes picking up the tell-tales of a truly valuable item (Appraise), and Notice also includes the ability to get a sense of when someone is trustworthy or evasive (Sense Motive).

In general, Notice DCs will be unchanged from Perception DCs, and Observe DCs will be 5 lower than Perception DCs. To balance that out, Notice is always a free action or even no action at all. Observe, on the other hand, will generally take at least a move action, and using Observe will generally be noticeable by people paying attention to you. Notice cannot be used to detect a trap with a DC higher than 20.

Classes with Observe as a class skill are bard, ranger, rogue, and wizard. Classes with Notice as a class skill are barbarian, druid, ranger, rogue, bard, paladin, and monk. Races with bonuses get them to both skills.

RIDE and HANDLE ANIMAL
Pathfinder -- Made no change to these skills.
Change -- Fold Ride into Handle Animal (CHA-based). The only core classes that don't have Handle Animal are bard, cleric, rogue, sorcerer, and wizard.

SENSE MOTIVE
Pathfinder -- Pretty much left Sense Motive as is.
Change -- Folded Sense Motive into Notice.

SLEIGHT OF HAND and BLUFF
Pathfinder -- Made no significant change to these skills.
Change -- Folded Sleight of Hand into Bluff.

Assist Bonuses
Pathfinder -- Pathfinder got rid of synergy bonuses, but still allows Aid Another to assist with skills.
Additions -- First, any reasonable skill can be used to assist with another skill use. For example, Knowledge (history) could be used to assist with a Linguistics check to identify an ancient language. Second, you can assist yourself. (In practice, this works out kinda like on-the-fly synergy bonuses.) It might take extra time, but that won't often matter. Third, assist bonuses from the same skill don't stack. Two people can search a room with Observe and get a +2 bonus. A third person just duplicates effort.

Comments welcome.

-- Jeff

The rogue in our game (level 13) went from "pretty good" to "awesome" with the conversion. (That's leaving aside skills. While PF is a boost in that area, we've made other skill changes that might be too good for the rogue, so I don't want to conflate things.)

The change in HD is fine, I think, so IMO a rogue talent every two levels is too much. When you combine these bonus feats (effectively) with the expanded sneak attack, you've got the rogue as effective in combat as our fighter/barbarian, in addition to all of the rogue's other stuff.

I'd suggest changing rogue talents to 2nd and 6th levels. (Leave them as is from 10th level on.)

Moving to something more specific, Bleeding Attack is crazy powerful.

-- Jeff

Well, I spent 20 minutes composing a post, hit Submit, and it disappeared into nothingness. Got kicked back to the main Pathfinder page, somehow. Super.

In short: Rage Points add too much book-keeping to the game. It drove me crazy as a DM, and it would drive me crazy as a player. Pick a few threshold levels at which barbarians gain access to a new menu of powers that are always-on during a rage. The powers will need to be rebalanced, but they need that anyway.

In any case, I've played several barbarians as a DM so far, and here on my observations on rage powers. A 0 is "too crappy to consider," a 10 is "too good to pass up," and a 5 is "balanced." Note that this analysis is while using rage points, not for a hypothetical power-menu barbarian. If i don't mention a power, it's because I didn't use it and don't necessarily think it's too weak to use.

Please forgive terseness ... my more expansive post was eaten by board gremlins, did I mention?

Animal Fury -- 9. Adds too much damage potential.
Clear Mind -- 5. A very in-genre ability.
Elemental Rage -- 6. Not a fan of "non-magic magic," but it's fairly well balanced.
Guarded Stance -- 2. If I wanted AC, I'd be a fighter.
Intimidating Glare -- 9. Shaken for 7 rounds is a big deal.
Knockback -- 5. Self-balancing, since it's not permissive.
Low-Light Vision -- 0. This is an example of a power that could be always-on and balanced.
Mighty Swing -- 6. On the nice side, but not brokenly so.
Night Sight -- 2. Why not "Darkvision"?
Powerful Blow -- 5. Compare this to Animal Fury.
Renewed Vigor -- 2. Needs to be a move action.
Rolling Dodge -- 2. See Guarded Stance.
Roused Anger -- 4. 5, if the fatigue goes away temporarily.
Strength Surge -- 5.
Surprise Accuracy 5. Compare to Animal Fury.
Swift Foot -- 3. Not real useful when already raging.
Terrifying Howl -- 11. Yes, 11. Panicked? DC based on STR? Are you kidding me?
Unexpected Strike -- 9. See Animal Fury.

Question: Rage points are renewed after 8 hours of rest. Can that happen more than once a day?

Oh, and wanted to add: instead of rage points, or rages per day, simply have rage trigger at a certain HP threshold. If the barbarian is down, say, 25% of his HP, he enters rage immediately and stays there until all enemies are dead, he hits 3.5's CON mod + 3 rounds limit, or he's healed.

BBEG -- "Yes, I said, 'Cast your healing spell on the berserker!'"

Comments very welcome. These changes have worked well through character conversion. We'll be making no further changes for the next several sessions of playtesting.

(BTW, I posted the first draft of our changes in this forum a little while back, but there are several changes, both subtle and not-so.)

PERCEPTION
Pathfinder -- Combined Spot, Listen, and Search into Perception. Also added other senses (taste, touch, smell).
Problem -- Perception is just too much for one skill. Who won't max it out if they can?
Change -- Divided Perception into two skills, one active and one passive: "Observe," which is INT-based, and represents actively looking for something, whether it be traps, a weird taste or smell, or a clue at a crime scene; and "Notice," which is WIS-based and covers all of the same things. Observe also includes picking up the tell-tales of a truly valuable item (Appraise), and Notice also includes the ability to get a sense of when someone is trustworthy or evasive (Sense Motive).

In general, Notice DCs will be unchanged from Perception DCs, and Observe DCs will be 5 lower than Perception DCs. To balance that out, Notice is always a free action or even no action at all. Observe, on the other hand, will generally take at least a move action, and using Observe will generally be noticeable by people paying attention to you. Notice cannot be used to detect a trap with a DC higher than 20.

Classes with Observe as a class skill are bard, ranger, rogue, and wizard. Classes with Notice as a class skill are barbarian, druid, ranger, rogue, bard, paladin, and monk. Races with bonuses get them to both skills.

Just one cool example of how this would work in practice: if a rogue with, say, +11 in Notice is moving down a corridor containing a pit trap (DC 20), that rogue would (assuming Take 10) automatically perceive the trap while still 10 feet away. By contrast, to find the same pit with Observe, the rogue would only need a +5, but it takes time and the attempt to find it is noticeable if anybody's paying attention.

APPRAISE
Pathfinder -- Gave better rules and the additional use of identifying magical items.
Problem -- It's a lame-ass skill in a heroic fantasy game.
Change -- Folded Appraise into Observe.

SENSE MOTIVE
Pathfinder -- Pretty much left Sense Motive as is.
Problem -- None, really. It's not a hugely useful skill, unless the DM allows it to be used as a lie detector, and it fits nicely into Notice, where it balances Appraise's place under Observe.
Change -- Folded Sense Motive into Notice.

ACROBATICS, CLIMB, JUMP, and SWIM
Pathfinder -- Combined Jump with Balance and Tumble into Acrobatics. Left Climb and Swim alone.
Problem -- Jump doesn't fit well at all under Acrobatics, because a superb jumper should not always be a superb tumbler. Tumbling is a specialized skill, and Jump is an "everyman" skill. Climb and Swim, on the other hand, just aren't useful enough to stand on their own, and a good athlete is usually pretty good at athletics in general.
Change -- Removed Jump from Acrobatics, and combined Climb, Jump, and Swim into Athletics, which is STR-based.

LINGUISTICS
Pathfinder -- Combined Forgery, Decipher Script, and Speak Language into Linguistics.
Problem -- We don't like the inclusion of Speak Language into the skill, and think it works fine as is. Speak Language is useful enough to be worth 1 or 2 skill points.
Change -- Speak Language works the same as in 3.5. We're also going to allow spoken communication with Linguistics, at +5 to the DCs. As with getting the meaning of a text, this takes one minute per conversational exchange. It can be done at more normal conversational speed if the PC takes a -10 to the Linguistics check. Failing a check by 5 or more is a miscommunication. Finally, you can identify a language, spoken or written. DC is 10, going up with rarity and complexity.

DISABLE DEVICE
Pathfinder -- Combined Open Lock and Disable Device into one DEX-based skill.
Problem -- We don't like the skill being DEX-based. We kinda like the conceptual difference between a cat-burglar and a safe-cracker, though of course nothing stops a rogue from being both!
Change -- Disable Device is INT-based.

SLEIGHT OF HAND and BLUFF
Pathfinder -- Made no significant change to these skills.
Problem -- Sleight of Hand just doesn't see very much use in any non-thief-centric game we've ever played. That, combined with the fact that the described uses for Sleight of Hand are so similar to how feinting and distraction are described under Bluff (distraction is basically a Sleight of Hand of oneself!), it made sense to combine them.
Change -- Folded Sleight of Hand into Bluff.

RIDE and HANDLE ANIMAL
Pathfinder -- Made no change to these skills.
Problem -- The skills aren't useful enough to stand alone. After all, Ride is just a specialized form of Handle Animal.
Change -- Fold Ride into Handle Animal (CHA-based). The only core classes that don't have Handle Animal are bard, cleric, rogue, sorcerer, and wizard.

SPELLCRAFT
Pathfinder -- Folded Concentration into Spellcraft.
Problem -- Spellcraft is INT-based, so this is yet another bone thrown to wizards. On the other hand, Concentration really doesn't cover enough to stand on its own.
Change -- The skill formerly known as Concentration is now a caster level check, modified by spellcasting attribute.

ASSIST BONUSES
Pathfinder -- Pathfinder got rid of synergy bonuses, but still allows Aid Another to assist with skills.
Problem -- Not much. Just want to expand on it a little.
Change -- First, any reasonable skill can be used to assist with another skill use. For example, Knowledge (history) could be used to assist with a Linguistics check to identify an ancient language. Second, you can assist yourself. (In practice, this works out kinda like on-the-fly synergy bonuses.) It might take extra time, but that won't often matter. Third, assist bonuses from the same skill don't stack. Two people can search a room with Observe and get a +2 bonus. A third person just duplicates effort.

Sunday night we converted PCs in my Eberron game to Pathfinder. I'll be running my campaign until about 16th level, and will report on it here at least once per level.

Some caveats: (1) We've made some changes to skills, beyond even what Pathfinder's done. You can see our changes (so far) HERE. (2) We're not using Pathfinder's double-bonus to non-human abilities (nor the bonus for humans), because we created these PCs using a house-ruled point-buy system. (3) We're not using any of Pathfinder's suggested fixes for 1st-level HP, because we have a HP-minimum house-rule. (4) We use the Magic Item Compendium, which has some fairly major rules at odds with the direction Pathfinder has chosen. (5) Finally, we're using a lot of non-core options, even beyond what's included in Eberron.

Given these caveats, I'm not sure how valuable our playtesting will be, but, you know, can't hurt.

Character Conversion Notes

Warforged Artificer 11 -- His Use Magic Device modifier took a small hit (from losing synergy bonuses), which he complained about. The artificer also has a lots of stuff explicitly or implicitly tied up in 3.5's use of XP as a balancing factor for several things, most notably item creation and the use of a 1st-level infusion called spell storing item. After some give and take, I decided that magic item creation works like spells (i.e., 5 gp per XP), but folded and allowed him to continue using XP to pay for his spell storing item infusion. I probably should have been adamant, because it is the ridiculous power of this infusion that contributes significantly to the brokenness of the artificer. But we'll see how it goes.

Sea Spirit Folk Shugenja 11 -- No real issues. One thing I noticed (because of this player's feat choice) is that for most characters who will bother, Agile Maneuvers (DEX instead of STR to CMB) is significantly better than Defensive Combat Training (+4 to defensive use of CMB). If a PC is only taking one, it will almost always be the former. A high-DEX PC who takes both will be all but CMB-proof. They should probably be mutually exclusive.

Goblin Fighter 4 / Rogue 6 -- No real issues, other than the ambiguity as to what, exactly, is subject to sneak attack. For now, we've settled on oozes, elementals, and incorporeal creatures being immune. I'm a little concerned that the rogue got too much of a power boost ... all of those abilities, increased HD, plus (effectively) a bonus feat every two levels (Rogue Talent). But I'll hold off judgment until I see it in combat. (He picked Minor Magic (ghost sound, 2/day), BTW, which I thought was a fun choice.)

Kalashtar Paladin 10 -- No real issues at all. He's excited that his Channel Energy may see actual use, and he was happy with the change to Lay On Hands.

Halfling Druid 10 -- A new PC. Other than an incredible +29 to Notice (Perception), nothing troubling. He's using the Shapechange variant druid rules from the PHB2, and I have to say I really like that variant. I like the Pathfinder use of beast form, too, but the PHB2 variant has to be my favorite.

I also created some future foes for them using Pathfinder, including an adult white dragon and a number of classed hill giants. I didn't notice a significant decrease in prep time, but on the other hand, the skills system isn't yet second nature to me. I kept having to recalculate, sure I'd made mistakes. Once I get more used to it, that change alone will help.

I do have some concern, based on this NPC creation, that the +3 bonus for trained class skills should only be awarded at 1st level. But we'll see how it goes.

Oh, I almost forgot: Nearly everyone is having some issues with Jump being folded into Acrobatics. It just doesn't feel right to us that anyone who can tumble is also a stellar jumper, and conversely that anyone who wants to be a strong jumper ends up being a great tumbler. For whatever reason, we don't have nearly as big a disconnect between Climb and Jump, or even between any of Climb, Jump, and Swim. This also fails the "usefulness test" for skills, as currently Acrobatics is so much more useful than Climb and Swim it's ridiculous. I think we're probably going to take Jump out of Acrobatics and combine Jump, Climb, and Swim into Athletics. We'll allow a feat to use DEX instead of STR.

Comments very welcome. These are changes we're making and playtesting. Reports to follow later.

PERCEPTION
Pathfinder -- Combined Spot, Listen, and Search into Perception. Also added other senses (taste, touch, smell).
Problem -- It's just too much for one skill. Who *won't* max it out if they can?
Change -- This one is complicated to explain, but actually pretty simple in execution. We just thought about how perception works, conceptually, and there are two facets of it: active and passive. "Active" is actually *trying* to find or perceive something. It's based on how well you put clues together and quickly make sound deductions. "Passive" is more intuitive, and based on just noticing things in the normal course of activity.

Accordingly, what we've done is re-divide what Pathfinder calls Perception into two skills: "Observe," which is INT-based, and represents actively looking for something, whether it be traps, a weird taste or smell, a clue at a crime scene, or tell-tale signs that someone might be being deceptive or evasive; and "Notice," which is WIS-based and covers all of the same things.

In general, Notice DCs will be slightly higher than the same Observe DCs -- probably around +5 -- but to balance that out, Notice is always a free action or even no action at all. Observe, on the other hand, will generally take at least a move action, and using Observe will generally be noticeable by people paying attention to you. (Which might be a little problematic, for instance, when using Observe to judge if someone's being weaselly.)

Classes with Observe as a class skill are bard, ranger, rogue, and wizard. (And, relevant to our games, artificer.) Classes with Notice as a class skill are barbarian, druid, monk, ranger, rogue, bard, paladin, and monk.) Races with bonuses get them to both skills.

Just one cool example of how this would work in practice: if a rogue with, say, +15 in Notice is moving down a corridor containing a pit trap (DC 20), that rogue would (assuming Take 10) automatically perceive the trap. By contrast, to find the same pit with Observe, the rogue would only need a +10, but it takes time and the attempt to find it is noticeable if anybody's paying attention.

APPRAISE
Pathfinder -- Pretty much left Appraise as is.
Problem -- It's a lame-ass skill.
Change -- Folded Appraise into Observe.

LINGUISTICS
Pathfinder -- Combined Forgery, Decipher Script, and Speak Language into Linguistics.
Problem -- We don't like the inclusion of Speak Language into the skill, and think it works fine as is. Speak Language is useful enough to be worth 1 or 2 skill points.
Change -- Speak Language works the same as in 3.5.

DISABLE DEVICE
Pathfinder -- Combined Open Lock and Disable Device into one DEX-based skill.
Problem -- We don't like the skill being DEX-based. We kinda like the conceptual difference between a cat-burglar and a safe-cracker, though of course nothing stops a rogue from being both!
Change -- Disable Device is INT-based. (Sorry, high-DEX rogues! You can use your extra Pathfinder feat(s) to take the Tactile Trapsmith feat ... )

RIDE and HANDLE ANIMAL
Pathfinder -- Made no change to these skills.
Problem -- The skills aren't useful enough to stand alone. After all, Ride is just a specialized form of Handle Animal.
Change -- Fold Ride into Handle Animal (CHA-based). The only classes that don't have Handle Animal are bard, cleric, rogue, sorcerer, and wizard.

Bards are also proficient with light

armor and shields (except tower shields). A bard can cast bard
spells while wearing light armor and using a shield without
incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any
other arcane spellcaster though, a bard wearing medium or
heavy armor or using a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell
failure if the spell in question has a somatic component.

So can bards cast spells with no arcane spell failure while using a shield, or not?

Overall Art and Layout -- I love Wayne Reynolds' art (in general), so I'm perfectly happy with seeing so much of it "recycled." The format of the doc is good and readable. I'm probably in the minority in that I'd prefer a sans serif font.

Alignment -- I'd like to see alignment somewhat deemphasized (but not eliminated). I basically think alignments should represent extremes. Unlike in 2.5, where everything falls into 9 alignments, I'd like to see it that 90 percent or more of sentient creatures don't have alignments in terms of mechanical effects ... instead, maybe some system of "allegiances." This may be too much of a departure from 3.5, though.

Page 3 -- "Compatibility" -- I'm very pleased this is stressed, and I encourage the designers to continue to stress it. I don't want to lose the utility of my huge 3.5 library.

Page 4 -- "Races" -- That elf is just too buff ("frail"? really?), and those ears have absolutely got to go. Is it wrong that I find Sailor Gnome so hot? Oh, and why does the dwarf look like Baron Harkonnen? He's even floating a little bit.

Page 5 -- "Races" -- Dwarf and Gnome, "Hatred" -- Up the bonus to +2, and allow it to apply to damage as well. Make it meaningful, and make it conform more uniformly when other bonuses.

Page 6 -- "Races" -- Halfling -- Halflings seem to make better wizards than elves do. After all, wizards still need Constitution, but they rarely need Strength. How about +2 Charisma instead of +2 Intelligence. Sure, it overlaps with gnomes a little (no pun intended), but I'd rather that than overlap with elves.

Human -- I'm not sure humans got enough to keep up with the other races, especially given that their 3.5 advantages (skills and bonus feat) are diluted in Pathfinder. I think they need a little more, if there's any desire to keep human as the baseline.

Page 10 -- "Classes" -- Table 4-1 -- I'm all for customizable speed of advancement, but please keep in mind that wealth will also need to be adjusted, probably with its own table.

Page 10 -- "Classes" -- Cleric -- Change "Turn Undead" to "Channel Faith." It fits the description of what's going on more.

Page 11 -- "Classes" -- Fighter -- Should Weapon Groups be listed with Fighter? It seems more general, and thus more suited to Equipment, or Combat. I do like the addition of weapon groups very much, but the inclusion of picks in "Spears" is very odd. Picks should probably be in "Hammers," and then while you're at it just throw all spears into "Polearms."

Page 13-14 -- "Classes" -- Rogue -- The description of sneak attack needs to be altered to match the new flavor referenced in the sidebar. Personally, I don't think it's worth having the restriction on "must be able to reach" a weak spot in a foe. If a rogue is sneak attacking, he's finding a weak spot within reach, by definition. Also, please eliminate the restriction on sneak attacking from concealment when the concealment is due to dim light. I've really never liked that a human rogue can't sneak attack someone in a dim alley.

Page 16 -- "Classes" -- Wizard -- Arcane Bond needs to be modified to restrict who can use the powers imbued in the item. As written, the rules can be abused to allow incredible discounts on enchanting stuff. Add a simple, "Any powers imbued in an item by virtue of Arcane Bond function only when held by the bonded wizard."

It'd be nice to divorce the bonuses provided by familiars from the type of familiar. IMO, a wizard's player's first criterion in selecting a familiar should be "what's cool" instead of "what gives me the best bonus." I don't really have a suggestion for this, though.

Page 20 -- "Skills" -- Overall, I'm on the fence about eliminating skill points. For most skills, it's true that it's almost always better to have them maxed. On the other hand, a little Knowledge (local) or Craft or Profession or whatever can be character-defining, and, more importantly, the lack of maximum ability in a skill can be character defining. All in all, given that skills are generally only calculated at character generation or when leveling up, I think eliminating them gets rid of more than it enhances.

In general, I'm in favor of rolling some skills together. There are a few exceptions:

Forgery in Linguistics? No way. Just make Forgery a Craft subskill.

I don't like Open Lock and Sleight of Hand being combined into Theft. Other than being arguably Dex-based, those skills aren't really linked. I'd suggest Open Locks either standing on its own -- it has the utility for it -- or being combined with Disable Device. (What is a lock if not a device to be disabled?) As for Slight of Hand, put it in Deception. Sleight of hand is more about misdirection than manual dexterity, anyway.

Why is Sense Motive in Deception rather than Perception? I see that Deception would be helpful, but handle that with a synergy bonus. (The classic Sense Motive being "smelling fear," right, and dogs might have Perception, but sure ain't gonna have Deception.) Oh, and please, please stress that the Sense Motive use of whatever skill is not a lie detector. Maybe not even call it Sense Motive, but rather Character Judgment or something.

With the elimination of Use Rope, BTW, Escape Artist can't be entirely unchanged. It'll need a static DC for escaping from being tied up.

I like the addition of "no more than 2 steps" in Diplomacy, but I suggest taking it even farther. Make each step a separate check, with the second check at the original DC+5. Also, mention that sometimes Diplomacy just won't work. Same for Intimidate.

I'd like to see Perform simplified. Personally, I'd be in favor of saying that, mechanically, if you've got Perform you can use any instrument or medium you want. That might rub some folks the wrong way, I guess.

I'm ambivalent about discarding Track in favor of Survival, but final judgment will have to wait 'til we see the Ranger. Tracking is so associated with rangers that I never really had a problem with it requiring a feat for somebody else to use.

I just don't like the Fly skill. Flying has weirdnesses all throughout 3.5 (like being the only rules that need facing (sorta)), and this seems to add to them. If anything, the ability to improve flight seems more like a Feat.

Page 32 -- "Feats" -- Mechanically, most of the +2/+2 feats just aren't worth keeping, IMO. Still, something to be said for the roleplaying utility, I guess.

Improved Overrun -- Needs to specify that the "does not provoke AoO" language applies only with respect to the target. As currently written, allies of the target arguably wouldn't get AoOs that are based on movement.

More later on the other chapters.

I'd find two things very helpful. They interrelate, but could be implemented separately.

First, less important: include all of the SRD y'all intend to use in the Playtest Releases. I dunno about most people, but it's difficult for me to keep track of "what's been omitted" and "what's just not listed because it hasn't changed," even when there are sidebars to that effect.

Second, I would absolutely love it if changes and additions to rules (not flavor text or examples/clarifications) from the SRD were indicated somehow, most likely by font color. Reasoning is similar to the above. Basically, I want to playtest meaningfully, and it order to do that, it needs to be more apparent to me that some rules have undergone minor changes (e.g., the +2 mods, in lieu of +4 mods, in the Improved X feats). I'm very sure there are changes I simply haven't noticed in the Alpha, because they're easily overlooked.