Joana's page

Just read online magazine claiming it was banned their.

I'm guessing the online magazine is as made-up and fictional as religions, then.

Yes they did it got banned in quite a few states. It was bannedin Utah, Ohio, Texas, and a few others.

I'm in Texas, and the movie is playing here. Facts, please.

Got it, thanks. I think I was trying to open it without saving, and I would either get the error message or just nothing would happen. I saved it and then opened it, and it's fine now.

Eek! Pathfinder #14 is in My Downloads, but when I try to download it, I get an error message that the ZIP file is invalid or corrupt.

I'm new to Golarion with the Second Darkness AP and picked up the Campaign Setting to get some background on who exactly all these different people are and where they're from and how it all fits together. My impression of the book, however, is that it's more like an encyclopedia for people who have a general idea of Golarion and just want the details on specific bits than something that can be read through cover-to-cover and leave one feeling like one knows something about the world.

Should I have bought the Gazeteer instead? Is it more newbie-friendly? I was looking for something really basic, and the Campaign Setting leaves me feeling rather overwhelmed by how much I don't know.

Considering getting Baldurs Gate for PS2... yes. no. maybe so?

I much prefer Champions of Norrath for a console RPG, mainly because it's less twitchy. I didn't grow up on Nintendo and the jump-accurately-through-moving-hazards-or-plummet-to-your-death-and-have-to -start-over-from-your-last-save-point gets *really* old *really* quickly when you can't do it at all. Champions has a more PC-game feel to me. But if you're familiar with Super Mario and the like, it wouldn't be an issue.

I would like to see what a Fighter 15 could do too. (or a cleric 15 for that matter)

Coincidentally, I ran this adventure a few months ago (using 3.5) for a 15th level party of fighter, ranger & cleric. It was a cake walk. The only time I managed to do any significant damage to any of them was when they tried to rest in the manor house, fearing that the BBEG was more BB than he actually was. He sent all his remaining minions to ambush them, and I hit the dwarf fighter with a lightning bolt. That was the closest they came to breaking a sweat. So I don't know that this proves that wizards are overpowered as much as it does that this adventure was underpowered.

In defense of Darrin Drader, I believe this adventure was written before most of the splat books. It might have been slightly more of a challenge without the new spells, feats, etc. The cleric had a spell from Book of Exalted Deeds (I believe) that would have taken out the BBEG and everyone else in the room in one round. When I informed him of the fact, he agreed not to cast it so the battle would be marginally interesting.

Somewhere I swear I saw a sidebar detailing rumors residents of Falcon's Hollow were conversant with: Elara's Halfway House, the ghost of Glintaxe, etc. I'm getting ready to start a Beta playtest with D0, and I can't find that sidebar. Can anyone point me to the right book? Or am I imagining things?

Is it not the goal of the Pathfinder development team to balance the game?

Actually I don't remember the designers mentioning the term in their rationale for PfRPG. Did they? (Could be wrong.)

Are you honestly saying that the opinions of these people--these people who have playtested 3.5--are worth more than my ability to provide a mathematical analysis conclusively demonstrating that 3.5 clerics, wizards, and druids dominate the game while fighters sit on the bench and cry?

How much do I need to playtest to tell you that Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Great Fortitude, and Diehard aren't worth the cost of a feat? How much do I need to playtest to tell you that the fourth iterative attack a fighter gets is worthless? How much do I need to playtest to tell you that save-or-dies break the game? How much do I need to playtest to tell you that wizards smoke commoners?

The thing is, D&D isn't math. Very few things are math, besides, well, math. You can provide a mathematical analysis to a family with a newborn conclusively demonstrating that they're better off if the mom goes back to work and puts the baby in daycare, or, alternatively, that the mom's salary doesn't cover daycare costs and they're better off if she stays home. In most cases, math isn't going to be the determining factor in the decision. What's more important is what the family wants to do, what feels right to them.

Personally, I don't care for Iron Will, et al. I think they're boring. But try telling a party they're worthless feats when the PCs' survival comes down to a character making a save he wouldn't have without the feat. Try telling a fighter his fourth iterative attack is worthless when he uses it to roll a crit that's just enough to take down the BBEG and save the world. Statistically, such things may well be insignificant. However, to some people, the one or two times they work make them worthwhile.

That's the difference between playtesting and math.

In regard to the sleeping in armor issue: If you as GM are going to start enforcing a rule that you haven't in the past, you need to make an announcement to that effect before the gaming session. I actually did with the sleeping in armor thing: it was a rule we had never paid attention to before in my group. So before we began play that session, I said, "Hey, guys, I've just noticed that there's a rule about sleeping in armor that says x y & z. I know I haven't enforced that before, and that's my fault, but this is your heads-up to know that I will be enforcing it from here on out."

In regard to the haggling issue: There are actual rules about how to do this and how low a merchant will go in Complete Adventurer. I had a character haggle, and I couldn't remember where to find the rule. I didn't think it was right for a merchant to be selling below-cost, but he made the roll and I couldn't lay my finger on the rule so I allowed it. Before the next session, I said, "Hey, guys, remember when you bargained the merchant down really low on that +1 ring? I shouldn't have allowed that. Here's the rule that I couldn't find last time. It's my fault, but in the future, we'll be going by this rule."

In short, if you provide fair notice what the rules are going to be, and if you own up to your failure to know the right rule at the right time instead of blaming the characters for taking advantage (assuming that they weren't taking advantage), most reasonable groups should respond well. If your group is unreasonable, I can't help you. :)

A real life example: You're at a car lot and Mr. Eagle's Splendor himself convinces you that it's really in your best interest to sign a loan and buy a particular car. Later that day or lying in bed in the wee hours, you regret spending more than you meant to and think, "That manipulative jerk! I can't believe he played me like that!" He's hardly going to make it onto your Christmas card list.

Your example is an example of bluff, no diplomacy. Diplomacy doesn't involve taking advantage of people, it involves actually being nice/friendly/persuasive.

I disagree. Bluff is when you're trying to make someone believe something that's not true. For instance, if you point out to Mr. Eagle's Splendor that the trunk release lever inside the car doesn't work and he tells you that it's not broken, it's actually a new security feature, he would be Bluffing. If, however, he's just telling you that this is a very nice car and you'd like it -- and it is, in fact, a very nice car you like, you just didn't want to spend that much -- it's his Diplomacy that convinces you to sign the papers. He's not lying.

I missed that beta limited the effect of diplomacy to 4 hours... that's pretty stupid. Apparently its impossible to make friends in D+D. (Because mechanically, that's a diplomacy check.) Being friends with someone should last until they *do something* which makes you not want to be their friend. I don't suddenly start hating people because I haven't seen them in 4 hours.

Well, you'll note the "DM's discretion" proviso which can allow it to last longer. Whether or not the attitude adjustment is permanent ought (IMO) to consider the intent of the PC using Diplomacy (i.e., is he honestly trying to "make friends" or just trying to turn the situation to his own selfish advantage) and the mindset of the NPC whose attitude is being adjusted.

A real life example: You're at a car lot and Mr. Eagle's Splendor himself convinces you that it's really in your best interest to sign a loan and buy a particular car. Later that day or lying in bed in the wee hours, you regret spending more than you meant to and think, "That manipulative jerk! I can't believe he played me like that!" He's hardly going to make it onto your Christmas card list.

I certainly see no reason why a spell ending of which they had no knowledge should have any effect on the matter. The last reaction adjustment was non-magical.

But it began from a temporarily-magically-altered baseline. By this argument, if I cast Bull's Strength on myself just before levelling up at level 4 and then add my ability modifier to Strength, I actually get to keep all 5 points of Strength permanently after the Bull's Strength wears off because "the last adjustment was non-magical."

Also, if you cast Charm Monster on him and he fails his save (and he does), he doesn't even know he was charmed. Even afterwards. And if you can make a *DC 6 diplomacy check* he's your friend for real (and if you make 10 he becomes helpful for real). (Change reaction from friendly to friendly or friendly to helpful), except the new reaction is non-magical). Now, sure, this can create some ongoing obligation, but he's your buddy, and you might just want to summon him over and over again.

Minor threadjack, but is this actually valid? I would never allow this in my game. If you've already charmed someone with magic, you don't get a chance to do it again with your honeyed tongue, and it certainly wouldn't persist after your 1 hour/level charm expires. Beta rules say an attitude change due to diplomacy generally lasts 1d4 hours, with a proviso that the DM can make it much shorter or longer based on circumstances.

I received my order with the Beta rules and Campaign setting today (along with a few other items), and I have never received a better-packed box! Each book in its own cardboard envelope and shredded paper filling the rest of the space so nothing has a chance to shift: everything arrived in pristine condition, and all the excess was recyclable. This was my first non-subscription order, and I'm very impressed!

(Oh, and the binding on my Campaign Setting is perfect, too, so bonus!)

Yes, and automatically (in my experience).

"Designer Notes: Prestige Skills

With the changes to the skill system, the requirements
to enter various prestige classes must change as well.
Whenever a prestige class calls for a number of skill ranks,
you can qualify for the prestige class if you meet that number
of ranks –3 if you also have the skill as a class skill. If you do
not have the skill as a class skill, you must possess double
that number of ranks. For example, a 3.5 prestige class might
require eight ranks in Move Silently. In the Pathfinder RPG, it
instead requires five ranks of the Stealth skill if Stealth is one
of your class skills and ten ranks if it is not."

Huh? How does that math compute.

Also, was skill points x 4 at 1st broken, that it needed to be changed?
My players would be seriously non-plussed if I told them they'd lose 16-32 skill points.

Why was this done?

The language is a bit confusing here, but you're not actually "losing" any skill points. As a matter of fact, a converted character will end up with a few extra points if he has cross-class skills.

In 3.5, max ranks at 1st level for a class skill was 4. In PfRPG, max ranks at 1st level for a class skill is 1 plus a bonus of 3 points because it's a class skill, so the total is still 4.

In 3.5, max ranks at 1st level for a cross-class skill was .5. In PfRPG, max ranks at 1st level for a cross-class skill is 1 (no +3 bonus, but you get a full rank for your skill point).

So, in the example given above, the prestige class that requires 8 ranks requires 5 ranks plus your 3 point class-skill bonus -- still equivalent to 8 ranks. If Stealth is not a class skill for your character, you'd have to spend -- oh, wait. You're right; the math looks wrong.

By my understanding, a character without Stealth as a class skill would require 8 ranks, not 10 to qualify for the prestige class. Am I wrong, or is the Beta wrong?

Well, either way, your cross-class-skill-using character is still coming out ahead. In 3.5, 8 ranks in a cross-class skill would require 16 skill points, so even if 10 is the right number, you're still getting to the prestige class earlier.

I'm planning a campaign using the modules set in Falcon's Hollow (D0, D1, D1.5, E1 & possibly D4 when it comes out), and I love the trait system from the APs! I'd like to include some campaign traits for the PCs to choose from. Has anyone done this or have any suggestions?

So, just because I stopped reading the books after Sea of Swords and finding out that "4gotten Realmz" have advanced 100+ years, what happened to Wulfgar, Catti-Bree, Regis and Artemis?? I would assume that Drizzt is still alive (pending battle death) and MAYBE Bruenor, but the others are human/halfling and AGE quickly. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

In the latest novel, it is strongly implied that Drizzt is the only survivor of the original crew.

My books are shipping!
My heart skips a beat with joy
PDFs await

Am I forgotten?
Will my PDFs be freed?
The dead weekend looms

My books are also
Still pending *sadness* *sadness*
I must go cry now

I thought he was dating the Girl in the Fireplace....

Shows how behind the times I am.

I think the wording -- "the initial subscription packet," "the price tag for this subscription" (emphasis mine), the unreadiness to discuss "medium or long-term pricing plans" -- strongly indicates that they intend to raise the price when they implement the character generator, visualizer, game table, etc.

Now, if you sign up for a 12-month subscription now (or, you know, as soon as they let you), you'll at least lock in the lower price for that long whether the added functionality comes online or not.

2) How hard is it to convert current adventure paths (RotRL, CotCT, etc..) to PFRPG rules?

I ran a low-level module (Hollow's Last Hope into Crown of the Kobold King) for PfRPG characters without changing a thing. At high levels, an attempt at conversion might be more necessary. If the PCs seem not to be having enough trouble with encounters, you might consider giving monsters/NPCs max hit points. Or you might not. While my PCs found a few encounters to be cakewalks, I also came close to killing them all a time or two. Just the luck of the dice at low level.

One caveat: Figure out all the CMBs ahead of time. I tried to do it on the fly and did it wrong a few times.

I don't need the gaming companies I buy product from to agree with me. But I also don't think I need them talking about why they dislike my game of choice. Especially when such talk is not necessary to sell you product.

WotC's entire marketing campaign is based on talking about why they dislike *my* game of choice (3.x).

But, then, I don't buy products from them anymore. :)

Great! Thanks! Can't wait until I can download.

I subscribed to the AP on Friday, starting with #13(still pending right now). Am I correct that while I will get a free print player's guide when my AP ships, I won't get the PDF unless I'm also subscribed to Pathfinder Companion? But if I do subscribe to Companion, I'll get the PDF for free without paying for the print version that's shipping with my AP? Or will I end up with 2 pring versions?

I'm new to Paizo and am interested in running the upcoming Adventure Path. I assume they're geared toward the standard 4-character party. Would it be a problem to run them for 2 to 3 characters, in terms of an inadvertant TPK or party balance requiring, say, a caster, a healer, a tank & a rogue, for example?

CoN is literally the only reason we still have our PS2. It was the only console game I could play with my husband. (He grew up on Nintendo and can do all the twitchy game stuff; I never had anything beyond the Atari 2600 and usually get confused with more than one button.) I agree: it's a great game. I was disappointed in the sequel, however. It lost the sense of an ongoing storyline and felt much more like "Go do this level. Okay, now I'm going to pop you into this level." I've played the original several times through with different characters, but I never finished the sequel.

1st-level adventure, 3 characters: human fighter, cowardly wizard (great NPC concept, but he eventually had to retire early because he never did anything in combat but run), and my halfling barbarian, a tiny, borderline-psychotic, barely-contained ball of violence. She was inadvertantly shamed before her tribe by a paladin who wouldn't hit a girl, especially not a Small one, and embarked on her adventuring career to gain enough glory to return to her people.

We come to this embryonic town on a frontier, just trying to survive long enough to make it onto the map, and they tell us they have a goblin problem. So we PCs manage to track the goblins to a cave outside town.

The wizard refuses to go in, although he does cast a Light for us to carry in with us. Fighter and barbarian go in and find a grand total of 3 goblins. I'm rolling horribly and can't hit at all, which just infuriates my character. The fighter, on the other hand, hits the main goblin. Barbarian yells at him to stop hitting her goblin. She misses again. The fighter hits, crits, and drops the main goblin. At which point, the barbarian turns on him, screams, "I told you to stop hitting my goblin!" and swings at him. (Him, I think, I actually hit.)

The other two goblins are watching us fight amongst ourselves and decide to make a run for it. So they dash out of the cave and right past the wizard. He immediately assumes that the two PCs in the cave are dead and the goblins are coming out to take care of him, too. So he casts Expeditious Retreat and goes screaming through town that a huge horde of goblins is approaching to devour everyone. The townsfolk panic, start grabbing their treasured possessions, saying prayers, etc.

The upside, of course, is that when my barbarian arrived back in town after chasing down the other 2 goblins, she is hailed as a hero who has conquered slavering hordes of goblins. They even named the town after her!

Edited to add that, ironically, she never actually killed a single goblin. She did manage to catch the running goblins, but they surrendered and there's no glory in killing an defenseless enemy so she had to let them go, cursing all the while.

You could always use the Goad feat from Complete Adventurer.

Insurance up to $100 is included on all UPS shipments. Call 1-800-PICK-UPS.