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Centaur Cavalier, Elf Druid with a Plant companion (Leshy?), and... whatever that last one is. OK, what the heck IS that last one?

OK, so I just checked my Subscriptions page and things are not looking good. November is just two books, that's fine, but I'm paying $12.41 in shipping for those two books. Ouch. $6+ per book? Then I see nothing for December, at all. OK, weird, but I can deal with it.

Then we get to January. Nine releases. NINE. I can... at least on one level understand, due to shipping delays and customs and all of the other garbage that goes on to get the books to us cheaper, I can deal with that. The $160 total for that month is mean, ugly, almost enough to push me to my breaking point. I want Bestiary 3, so I will just shut up and pay even that. But the thing that is really seriously ticking me off is this: Why on EARTH am I paying only $3.50 more in shipping to ship NINE books than I am to ship 2? That's just nuts.

I know all the reasons behind the shipping; I've read enough of the threads to know the details on UPS vs. USPS, and I've had too many problems with untraceable orders to ever trust the USPS for shipping again. It just really ticks me off and it makes me more and more likely to drop all my print subs in favor of PDF only.

Is there ANY chance of things being released in December to take some of the edge off that absurd January order, or is it all pretty much in the hands of the literal slow boats from China?

In the realm of "things I know will never happen but oh would it be nice", let me ask for a "bill me now so I get the PDFs, then just ship the books later in bulk to save us all money on shipping" option to be added. Maybe quarterly shipping or something.

Picture and/or link is missing, Sara.

I mean, it makes sense why there would be something besides the aeons, but isn't Pharasma in a sense already a giant aeon? Birth and death in one deity, the perfect antithetical duality that aeons represent?

Wow, what a jerk. Seltiyel is more likable and he's Lawful Evil! I mean, yes, he's a competent warrior, but who on Golarion would travel beside Alain when Valeros and Amiri and Seelah are out there with just as sturdy sword arms at their command?

I had an idea for the Templar class's Iconic - what if she's a female dwarf? Sort of analogous to Merisiel, showing that a character can actually play a race/class combo that takes a penalty to a class's second most important stat, as well as filling in one of the last few race/gender combos in the Iconics. We'd just need a female half-elf to cover the who gamut then. (Male half-orcs being covered by the assassin, even if he'll never officially be named.)

I don't know if there's even going to be an Iconic Templar or not, but it was just a thought.

Am I the only one starting to begin to see a problem with Pathfinder and the growing preponderance of base classes, if one includes 3rd party releases? 3.0 and 3.5 were defined by their over-abundance of prestige classes, now with Pathfinder it seems like we're getting ever more base classes. The current list of known base classes includes (quoting from jaerdaph's "Base Classes You'd Like to See" thread on ENWorld)

Tome of Secrets (Adamant Entertainment)

Artificer
Knight
Priest
Shaman
Spellblade
Swashbuckler
Warlock
Warlord

Lost Classes of Fantasy (LPJ Design)
Blooded Noble
Illusionist
ThiefAcrobat

Adventuring Classes: A Fistful of Denarii (Tripod Machine)
Beastmaster
Bounty Hunter
Corbie
Corsair
Gladiator
Hunter
Knight
Martial Artist
Scholar
Scout
Spy

The Genius Guides (Otherworld Creations)
Dragonrider
Shadow Assassin
Shaman

The Great City: Player's Guide (0one Games)
Cultkiller
Ghostblade
Guttermage
Neopagan
Urbanist

Paths of Power (4 Winds Fantasy Gaming)
Anti-paladin
Gladiator
Samurai
Voyageur
Witch

Add to these the six classes from Paizo's own Advanced Player's Guide and we're looking at 41 additional classes beyond the 11 core. Is this just a natural thing, the expansion of the game by 3rd party pubs, or is it a warning sign of the chaos yet to come?

One point of errata has already caught my eye in the classes chapter. Perform (sing) isn't even listed under Versatile Performance for Bards. It's barely even on the table in the Skills chapter, slung on at the bottom and out of alphabetical order, looking like some sort of last minute, "oops, almost forgot that one" kind of addition.

So Jason, or whoever: which two skills should it allow effective duplication of? Nothing has both Diplomacy and Intimidate listed, that was just my first thought, or maybe Intimidate and Sense Motive.

I've been trying to convert an old 3e spell one of my characters used to have way back in the days when 3e and d20 were brand new and I was excited just to have the first Relics and Rituals. I always kind of liked the idea of Dolomar's Force Wave, at least, if not so much the function.

Anyway, the spell basically created a wave of force radiating out from the caster in a burst that let him effectively Bull Rush everything around him in a radius that increased by level. My guess on how to convert it would be setting the radius to fixed area (10' radius, maaaaaybe 15' or 20'), swapping caster level and primary casting stat in place of your normal CMB for the check, and negating the AoO for not having Improved Bull Rush (although the caster still might be subject to them for casting while threatened).

The big question I have is what level should this thing be at? The original inspiration is a 2nd level spell, but the effects I've envisioned for it feel a bit too powerful to me, at least under Pathfinder mechanics at that spell level. I can't really find any good direct equivalents in any WotC or third party books to base my conversion off of. The various Hand spells talk about being able to be use the Hand to bull rush one single opponent continuously, but that's a single target being able to be repeatedly Bull Rushed over the duration of the spell. My conversion target is a single use, standard action spell that bull rushes everything in a certain radius. Pretty good "Oh crud, there's little goblin freaks climbing all over me!" type of thing for a mage, but not all that impressive, particularly if the targets are all monks.

So, any ideas on the spell level? 3rd? 4th? Higher, if we up the area of effect? Thanks in advance for the advice/critiques.

OK. As many monster stat errors as there were in the otherwise excellent The Great Beyond, Dragons Revisited is really the recent Paizo book that got me off on a nitpicky binge of stat checking. The results were... less than exemplary. By my math, not a single touch AC is correct if there's anything besides a size penalty affecting it. None of the dragons that have ranks in Hide have it calculated correctly (Mike McArtor and/or the editors forgot the size penalties every time.) More overall skill weirdness, but when you've got a 40 HD creature with a 26 base Int, it can be a lot to keep track of, I freely admit. A bunch of other little things, 1 or 2 points here and there, but still, added all up, it's not what I was hoping for from Paizo.

Anyway, here's my list.

Seryzillian (Black)
Senses - Listen and Spot should be +43
Special Attacks: breath weapon - damage should be 22d4, crush - damage should be 4d6+18
Skills - Hide +25 (-12 size penalty), Intimidate +41 (+4 from Cha), Knowledge (nature) +41 (+4 from Int), Listen +43 (+4 from Wis), Search +41 (+4 from Int), Sense Motive +41 (+4 from Wis), Spot +43 (+4 from Wis), Swim +49 (+12 from Str)
Special Abilities: Corrupt Water - DC should be 31 (= Frightful Presence)

* * * * *

Laralis (Blue)
Aura: frightful presence - DC should be 23
AC - touch AC should be 9 (Mage Armor does not affect touch AC)
Skills - Diplomacy +31 (+2 synergy from Bluff, Knowledge (nobility and royalty), and Sense Motive, +2 from Negotiator), Intimidate +27 (+2 from Bluff, +2 from Persuasive), Sense Motive +23, Spot +25
Special Abilities: Sound Imitation - DC should be 21

* * * * *

Sarithil (Brass)
AC - should be AC 30, touch 9, flat-footed 29 (+1 dodge [from Haste spell], +21 natural, -2 size)
Ref should be +14 (+1 from Haste)
Melee - with Haste and Bull's Strength active, should be 2 bites +31 (2d8+10) and 2 claws +29 (3d6+5) and 2 wings +29 1d8+5 and tail slap +29 (2d6+15) (perhaps not taking the -2 size penalty?)
Special Attacks: crush damage should be 2d8+15
And the block doesn't have any of the benefits of her Blink or Gaseous Form spells
Skills - if the increased Epic synergy bonuses for 25+ ranks are active, Diplomacy should be +36 (+4 synergy from 25+ ranks Bluff and Knowledge (nobility and royalty), and Gather Information should be +32 (+4 synergy from 25+ Knowledge (local));

* * * * *

Spravilvost (Bronze)
Init - should be +4 (Improved Initiative)
Skills - Knowledge (history) cannot be +24 (max 18 ranks +4 Int), if it is supposed to be +14,
Concentration +12 (9 ranks), Know (geography) +17 (13 ranks), Know (history) +14 (10 ranks), or 32 out of the 36 not accounted for - where should the other 4 go?

* * * * *

Tyraxalan (Copper)
AC - touch AC should be 8 (Mage Armor does not affect touch AC)
Melee - claw attack should be +28 (secondary natural attack, not primary)
Special Attacks: crush damage should be 2d8+13
Skills - Hide +21 (-8 size penalty), Jump +42 (+4 bonus from base speed 40')

* * * * *

Astarathian (Gold)
Senses - Listen and Spot should be +59 (+57 without Owl's Wisdom)
AC - touch AC should be 2 (Mage Armor and Shield do not affect touch AC)
Saves - if the Luck Bonus ability is assumed to be active for his stats, all three save categories should increase by +1
Spell-Like Abilities - geas/quest DC should be 27
Skills - Heal +57 (+55 without Owl's Wisdom), Listen +59 (+57 without Owl's Wisdom), Spot +59 (+57 without Owl's Wisdom); if the increased Epic synergy bonuses for 25+ ranks are active, Diplomacy should be +62 (+4 synergy from 25+ ranks Sense Motive); if the Luck Bonus ability is active, all skill checks should increase by +1

* * * * *

Athervox (Green)
Melee - claws and wings and tail slap attack should be +35 (no Multiattack feat)
Spell-Like Abilites - suggestion DC should be 17
Tactics - she has Haste, Mage Armor, and Shield as known spells, why are they not a part of her normal defensive suite?
Skills - Hide +24 (-8 size penalty)

* * * * *

Daralathyxl (Red)
AC - touch AC should be 6 (Mage Armor and Shield do not affect touch AC)
Fort should be +34 (22 base +12 from Con)
Skills - Total points from Int 26 base - 43*(6+8) = 602; Appraise (31), Bluff (40), Concen (30), Diplo (24), Escape (30), Intim (38), Jump (30), Know (arc) (28), Know (geog) (33), Know (hist) (28), Know (nobil) (18), Know (relig) (28), Know (the pl) (18), Listen (43), Search (41), Sense Mot (30), Spell (26), Spot (43), Use Mag Dev (15) = 574, or 28 extra points left - Where?
If the increased Epic synergy bonuses for 25+ ranks are active, Diplomacy should increase by a further +6 (25+ in Bluff, Knowledge (nobility and royalty), and Sense Motive) and Spellcraft by +2 (25+ in Knowledge (arcana))

* * * * *

Terendelev (Silver)
AC - touch AC should be 6 (Shield does not affect touch AC)
Special Attacks: crush damage should be 2d8+18
Skills - should reflect Eagle's Splendor being active, so Bluff +47, Diplomacy +53, Disguise +47, Jump +53 (+4 from 40' base speed); if the increased Epic synergy bonuses for 25+ ranks and Eagle's Splendor are active, Diplomacy should be +59 (+4 synergy from 25+ ranks Bluff, Knowledge (nobility), and Sense Motive)

* * * * *

Lydek (White)
Spell-Like Abilities - freezing fog DC should be 16 (5th level equivalent spell +1 from 12 Cha), gust of wind DC should be 13
Skills - Hide +19 (-4 size penalty)

Todd, I love the book... but, well, the stat block editing was, shall we say, sub-par. I know I already complained about this over in the product discussion thread, but looking at the rest of them turned up more problems. There are errors, of one degree of significance or another, in all five of them.

Astradaemon
Melee - Bite damage should be 1d8+2 plus energy drain (Secondary Natural Attack)
Skills - Hide should be +20 (-4 size penalty)
ECOLOGY - Treasure entry is missing

Axiomite
Melee - longsword is missing its increased threat range - should be longsword +10/+5 (1d8+1/19-20)
Spell-Like Abilities - Order's Wrath ability should be listed as Empowered Order's Wrath
Skills - If Diplomacy is supposed to be maxed out, then it doesn't include the +2 synergy from 5+ ranks in Sense Motive - should be +19
If it is not maxed out and only has 10 ranks applied to it, then either its two other Knowledge skills should be +10 (5 ranks in each) or its Hide and Move Silently should be +11 (7 ranks in each) (9 Outsider HD = 12*8, plus 12*5 skill points, or 156. 10 fully developed skills = 120 points expended, leaving 36 remaining. For 2 Knowledges +11 with a 20 Int, that requires 2*6 or 12, plus 12 for Diplomacy, plus 2*8 for +12 Hide and Move Silently with a Dex of 20. 12 +12 +16 = 40, not 36.

Lurker in Light
AC - should be 18, touch 15, flat-footed 14 (does not include the +1 size bonus)
Skills - by my math, points expended as follows: Esc Art 7, Hide 5, Know (planes) 9, Listen 9, Move Sil 9, Search 9, Spot 9, Survival 7, Use Rope 4.
If Use Rope has 5 or more ranks, Escape Artist should be +11 (+13 escape from ropes), Use Rope should be +8 (+10 binding), and there are 4 points missing... somewhere. (6+3)*(6+2) = 72 skill points
Advancement - no favored class is given

Keketar Protean
Defensive Abilities - Freedom of Movement is mentioned but not detailed (as per the spell, dispellable, reusable?)
Melee - improved grab ability of the tail is mentioned but not detailed
ECOLOGY - whole section is missing

Vulpinal
Init - should be +10 (22 Dex +6 and Imp Init +4)
AC - should be touch AC 17 (Mage Armor does not add to touch AC)
hp - I think should be 44 (8*4.5+8)
Melee - claw attack should be +15 (+1 size bonus) and bite should be +10, 1d4 damage (1/2 of +1 from Str is +0)
Skills - Bluff 11, Concen 8, Hide 7, Jump 0, Know (any ONE, not any) 8, Know (arcana) 11, Know (planes) 11, Listen 11, Move Silently 11, Perform 11 (any ONE, not any, possibly should include +2 competence bonus from masterwork musical instrument), Search 8, Spell 4 (there's a +2 synergy from 5+ ranks in Know (arc)), Spot 11, Tumble 8 (means Jump should be +13 - +2 synergy from 5+ Tumble), Use Mag Dev 6
(8+3)*(8+4) = 132 points, 126 spent by my math. 6 more points, where?

* * * * *

At least this is what I saw looking over it. I probably did the skill math wrong, too.

EDIT: Yes, errata to my own errata. Axiomite's hp should be 67, not 68. 9*4.5+27 = 67.5, rounded down to 67. If I'm going to quibble about fairly insignificant stuff like 1 extra hp, then I figure I should quibble about my own quibbling.

Cosmo, just wondering why my order #1170491 is still stuck on pending. I know there was a problem with the credit card at the pre-order status, but that's all cleared up by now. I even bought a bunch of PDFs this weekend. Is it just a delay, or what?

Anyway, thanks for any help you can provide. (And it's not really a concern about the books, I just want the PDFs as soon as I can get them.)

There's yet another problem (at least as I see it) with the Weapon Swap feat - does it allow you to carry a Defending weapon in your off hand and just use all of its bonus to add to your AC if you use Weapon Swap, keeping your primary hand weapon's benefits for the price of a -2 penalty to attack with it in your off hand? Does this basically just give two-weapon fighters the benefits of a moderately magical shield (a +4 AC bonus from a shield (+2 heavy shield) would cost 4,000 gp, whereas a +4 Defending weapon would cost 50,000 gp.)

Valeros is a prime candidate for exploiting this loophole. If an 18th level version of our favorite Fighter has a +5 Frost Cold Iron Longsword for his primary and a +4 Defending Short Sword for his off-hand, what reason would he have to not just dump the Defending sword's bonus into AC and swap out for the longsword, factoring in the much higher degree of skill he could likely possess at that level with a longsword, if his past progression trend continued? (I'm assuming Focus, Specialization, Improved Critical, Greater Focus, Greater Specialization, and Weapon Training (Heavy Blades) +4 (net +6 to attack, +8 to damage, and a 17-20 threat range) vs. Focus, Specialization, and Weapon Training (Light Blades) +3 (+4 to attack, +5 to damage, and normal 19-20 threat range.)

The exact wording of the Defending property reads that you allocate the bonus to AC or attack and damage as a free action before the start of your turn, so is there any real reason this wouldn't work, or does it just reek a bit too much of a WotC CharOp board-style scheme?

Who wrote the pieces in the Campaign Setting on Geb, Nex, and Alkenstar? The whole thing just screams out to be a sort of Epic-level enclave for Pathfinder, if the rules ever go beyond 20th level PCs, and I wanted to see if there were any more ideas as to where things might go.

...And all they're supposed to add to the game, there's one rather ironic thing that's struck me about the stats for the iconics in Shadow in the Sky (Pf #13) - none of them have traits listed.

Not that hard to pick appropriate ones out for them, true, but still, it's a bit ironic from where I sit.

Dear Paizonian Crew,

Would it be possible to get some way of noting recently added for-sale PDFs, like an RSS feed or something? I used to buy my PDF products through RPGNow (though I'm buying as much as I can from Paizo now) and I'd like an easier way than, frankly, going to RPGNow, seeing what's been released in the week, then trying to find if Paizo has it available or not.

Looks like we didn't get the real version after all. No, there was an even further round of simplification applied, folks. All races but dwarves, cut. Every class but adventurer, gone.

Something Awful's front page has the scoop, but the link is here, too: http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/dungons-dragons-4th.php

(Note: Something Awful is not to be in any way shape or form construed as safe for work, using safe for work language, or just plain a site you want to go to at any time if somebody is paying for you to use the Internet. Nor is it exactly kid-friendly, either. You've been warned.)

Mods, feel free to gas this thread if mentioning the url to such a site/article is inappropriate, and if so I do humbly apologize.

I really like the new true dragons introduced in Skeletons of Scarwall, the Umbral Dragons, but compared to the other 10 OGC true dragons, their ACs are all 2 points too high. The natural armor bonuses for all true dragons thus far are equal to their total HD minus 1, and the Umbrals have natural AC = their total HD plus 1. Is this a deliberate design change, a simple math goof, or what?

Some of the discussion in the thread on Aasimar here got me to thinking about rough mechanical ideas for all of the various options for Planetouched races, and this is what resulted. Critique away.

All of them are (at first guess) ECL 0 when compared to the other Pathfinder races, and of the Outsider (native) type

Aasimar
+2 Str, +2 Wis, -2 Con
Darkvision 60'
+2 racial bonus to auditory and visual Perception checks
Daylight 1/day, CL = HD
Resistance 5 to Acid, Cold, and Electricity
Automatic Languages: Common, Celestial. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Elvish, Gnomish, Halfling, Sylvan
Favored Class: Cleric or Paladin, chosen at character creation

Tiefling
+2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Cha
Darkvision 60'
+2 racial bonus to Bluff and Stealth checks
Darkness 1/day, CL = HD
Resistance 5 to Cold, Electricity, and Fire
Automatic Languages: Common and either Infernal or Abyssal. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Goblin, Halfling, Orcish, Undercommon, and the other of Infernal or Abyssal not chosen as an automatic language
Favored Class: Rogue or Wizard, chosen at character creation

Windling
+2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Str
Darkvision 60'
+2 racial bonus to Acrobatics and Escape Artist checks
Resistance 10 to Electricity
Gust of Wind 1/day, CL = HD
Automatic Languages: Common and Elemental. Bonus Languages: ???
Favored Class: Ranger or Rogue, chosen at character creation

Stoneborn
+2 Str, +2 Wis, -2 Dex
Darkvision 60'
+2 racial bonus to Survival checks
Resistance 10 to Acid
Soften Earth and Stone 1/day, CL = HD
Automatic Languages: Common and Elemental. Bonus Languages: ???
Favored Class: Druid or Fighter, chosen at character creation

Flamekissed
+2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Wis
Darkvision 60'
+2 racial bonus to Acrobatics and Intimidate checks
Resistance 10 to Fire
Produce Flame 1/day, CL = HD
Automatic Languages: Common and Elemental. Bonus Languages: ???
Favored Class: Barbarian or Sorcerer, chosen at character creation

Waveschild
+2 Con, +2 Wis, -2 Cha
Darkvision 60'
+4 racial bonus to Swim checks, Swim is always a class skill
Resistance 10 to Cold
Water Breathing 1/day, CL = HD
Automatic Languages: Common and Elemental. Bonus Languages: ???
Favored Class: Cleric or Fighter, chosen at character creation

Stromsblöd (as Pathfinder's CN Outer Plane is "The Maelstrom")
Roll 1d3: 1 = +2 Str, 2 = +2 Dex, 3 = +2 Con
Roll 1d3: 1 = +2 Int, 2 = +2 Wis, 3 = +2 Cha
Roll 1d6: 1 = -2 Str, 2 = -2 Dex, 3 = -2 Con, 4 = -2 Int, 5 = -2 Wis, 6 = -2 Cha
(Yes, these bonuses and penalties can cancel out to just a +2 to one score - they're the Chaos-touched, after all.)
Darkvision 60'
+2 racial bonus to Disable Device and Escape Artist checks
Resistance 5 to Sonic and Resistance 5 to (roll 1d4: 1 = Acid, 2 = Cold, 3 = Electricity, 4 = Fire)
Shatter 1/day, CL = HD
Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: ???
Favored Class: Barbarian or Rogue, chosen at character creation

Axian (And the new LN plane is Axis)
+2 Str, +2 Wis, -2 Cha
Darkvision 60'
+2 racial bonus to Sense Motive and Perception
Resistance 5 to Cold and Fire
Calm Emotions 1/day, CL = HD
Automatic Languages: Common and Dwarven. Bonus Languages: ???
Favored Class: Fighter or Monk, chosen at character creation

If a Druid chooses not to take an animal companion, they can instead gain one of the "nature"-realted domains, including Plant. The 1st level ability of the Plant domain is Wooden Fist, a Supernatural ability that prevents you from taking AoOs for making unarmed strikes, as well as granting you a damage bonus equal to 1/2 your caster level.

Would this apply while in Wild Shape? I can't see anything specific in the rules that says you loose supernatural abilities while under Wild Shape, but I thought I might ask for the boards' general consensus, or if Jason has the free time (ha!) to rule on this one.

Have the rest of the Golarion pantheon even had the rough ideas for their Heralds drawn up yet? The only ones I know of thus far (from Pathfinder Beastiaries) are Desna's Night Monarch (giant celestial butterfly), Lamashtu's Yethazmari (smoking-eyed winged jackal with a snake for a tail), and Abadar's Lawgiver (golden construct with a big hammer).

Any other ideas that we fans/you, the almighty developers know about yet?

(I asm because I'm debating on Pharasma's Herald showing up to put the kibosh on some PCs' plans for a bit of chronomancy-based mucking about with the past - pretty much begging for the Goddess of Fate's oversight.)

Another in the "fine" tradition of weak and ineffective iconics, it would seem to me. Good character ideas, story-wise, but their stats never seem to reflect the promise. Seoni with no ranks in Knowledge (Arcana), Merisiel with an 8 Int as a Rogue, even at level 14, Harsk using a Heavy Crossbow, thus limiting his combat to simply "move n' shoot" (and not exactly moving all that fast, after all - DWARF!) when Seelah's going to be getting 4 attacks a round, and now a Gnome Druid. Is there some rule about max 1 actual combat-effective Iconic per cycle? Amiri, I suppose is the one effective one for cycle 3, to go along with a half-orc monk and whatever sort of half-elven fighter/sorcerer they throw together.

/rant over

If there seems to be an extra hint of bitter in my voice, I speak from having DM'd a Gnome Druid through the entire Shackled City campaign. She sucked from level 1 all the way up till level 21, and about the only thing her Triceratops companion did was fail Will saves like clockwork, usually leading to a wildshaped gnome being impaled on the horns of her own animal companion.

Geez, you'd think Paizo's trying to play up the "Gnome = Fey" thing or something. Another in the tradition of somewhat gimped iconics, Lini seems like she'll fit in with the band perfectly. And I had actual hopes for the iconics group this time, what with Amiri seeming an interest and yet still effective character build.

Sorry, too many bad memories of one of my players (who basically only plays gnomes) and her essentially useless Gnome Druid. Even at 20th level with a Triceratops companion (in Shackled City no less!) she still was basically just dead weight for the party. Don't get me started about her boyfriend-turned-fiance and his kobold fetish, either...

As far as I understand things, spell-like abilities have no XP cost. Doesn't this give an 18th level Universal specialization Wizard (specialist ability: Wish 1/day) a free, no cost Wish once per day? And this didn't strike anybody at Paizo as unbalanced?!? With the XP cost, sure, I could see it making sense, but with no XP? Way too powerful, certainly for my games, and for almost any other game I've ever heard of.

OK, what's the freakiest bunch you've ever run through AoW, or any game for that matter? I think I can top it. The group I'm currently DMing for has to be the biggest bunch of weirdos (character-wise, although I could easily make the point for the players as well) I have ever seen as an adventuring party. 2e Planescape games with nothng but randomly mutated Tieflings make more sense than this bunch.

1) Half-Silver Dragon Kobold (LA +3) Ranger 2/Paladin 5/Vassal of Bahamut 10/Pious Templar 1 - Dear God, the kobold. Dual-wielding Dragon Bane bastard swords (+7d6 damage per hit against dragons, thanks to Bane, Dragonwrack and Nemesis (dragons)) and immune to just about everything, thanks to Evasion, Mettle, his 36(!) Charisma, and Divine Grace.

2) Whisper Gnome Rogue 10/Cleric 1/Skullclan Hunter 10 - Trapbait #1. She can sneak attack any undead, and does a damned good job of Hiding, too.

3) Warforged Monk 16/Drunken Master 5 with Vow of Poverty. Bender Bending Rodriguez ala d20, basically. The party pooled their money to buy a portable hole and installed it in his chest, so he's even more Bender than the class combo suggests. Yes, Vow of Poverty is completely antithetical to Bender, but the player makes it work, IMO.

4) Dragonborn (former Goblin) Cleric 6/Radiant Servant 10/Dracolyte 5 - Well, every party has to have a medic of some sort, and why should he make any more sense than any of the other freaks? Yes, I know, Dragonborn from a Goblin? *shrugs* Tamara took pity on him, I suppose, after he developed an obsession with the sun.

5) Bugbear (former Halfling) (ECL 4)/Rogue 5/Avenger 10(read: assassin, but we don't tell the Paladin that)/Nightsong Enforcer 2 - Well, the party's cleric doesn't always like to Raise or Resurrect people. Trust in the Fates and let Reincarnate do its job (Renewal Domain). Sometimes this is what you get out of it. His Will save is positively wretched, but that's ok since his player enjoys fighting with the other PCs just as much, if not more than fighting monsters and evil undead cults.

6) Halfling Evoker 5/Elemental Savant (Fire) 10/Archmage 2 - Our on-again, off-again mage, the pyromancer only shows up for about half of a session every other week. But even with just that brief exposure to the group, he's been twisted into a mockery of normality just like the rest.

7) Celadrin (LA +1) Bard 10/Troubadour of Stars 8 - My DMPC, only used to try and restore some sense of plot to the game, and if the party thinks of it to tell him to do something useful. That, and his access to Sanctified spells gives them a little bit of extra damage output to make up for the frequently-absent mage.

Then 2 cohorts... the kobold's Juvenile Silver Dragon Sorceress 1 and the Dragonborn's Half-Pyroclastic Dragon Pseudodragon Barbarian 10 (blame excessive use of Reincarnate for this one, he was originally a minotaur, then a kobold, then a gnome, a human, and a female pixie; that and my extended d1000 Reincarnate table).

The full stats for the xorn diplomat Claudliplude XII seem to have been left out of "Diplomacy" in issue 144. Other than a N male advanced xorn, what is he?

I just got issue 144 and read James Jacobs' response to the question about Cegilune and other obscure D&D gods. James, come on, this is the internet. You KNOW somebody's already compiled a list.

And here it is: http://www.geocities.com/filbypott/gods.html, separated into 4 files, for D&D gods, Real-World gods, Non-Human gods, and Real-Worlds gods worshiped by Non-Humans.

OK, the stat block for He-Who-Hums (the kaiju yrthak, page 68 in the otherwise outstanding Ecology of the Yrthak article) is obviously the 3.5 version, with 3.5 DR and attack stats, but the feats and skill points are all wrong, from what I can tell. My best guess is that the author used the (obviously) 3.0 template on the 3.5 yrthak and didn't make the proper conversions.

With 52 HD, He-Who-Hums should have 18 feats, not the 6 listed, or the 8 he has counting the Cleave and Great Cleave feats that are only included in the attack options section. The kaiju template in issue 289 says to give the templated creature all of the base creature's existing feats, plus one for every 4 HD beyond 32. (I thought the feat every 4 monster HD was 3.0 convention that was abandoned with 3.5.) Regardless of what edition he's under, at the very least our kaiju monstrosity should have a different Initiative modifier (+6 with Dex 14), since a normal yrthak has the Improved Initiative feat and so should He-Who-Hums.

The skill points seem to be off as well, along with the rather odd idea of giving a *blind* monster ranks in Spot. If we just max out the 2 base skills for a regular yrthak, I think it should have Listen +32 and Move Silently +30, following the base yrthak's skill point allocations, its 13 Wis and 14 Dex, and its +4 racial bonus to Listen checks.

Or am I just completely wrong and the kaiju template sort of transcends edition changes, overriding what might make for an even nastier big bad to terrify my players with?

Did the typical D&D race height/weight/age tables get cut from Dragon 352 for space? Were they just forgotten? I know there are general guidelines given in the descriptions of each race, but it would be nice if there was something a bit more concrete, as well as ideas about starting age and life expectancy.

(And am I the only one who thinks that cactacae might work quite well in a Dark Sun game?)

Got my issue 135 yesterday and I love the finale to the Age of Worms, but there are a few problems I see with the final battle, or at least a few things omitted.

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SPOILERS, DEAD AHEAD!

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The adventure itself seems predicated around the PCs having slain Dragotha, and I don't (at first readthrough) see any mention of what to do if PCs bribe Dragotha with his phylactery as suggested in issue 134 - any word on what happened to that potential route and what options/obstacles that offers up to PCs for the final battle?

Also, what EL is the final battle, in each of the possible forms? (ie Kyuss as written, Kyuss with destroying the Unlife Vortex, Kyuss with having lifted the despair of Alhaster, and finally Kyuss with both of his buffs destroyed/eliminated)

Who exactly are the party of adventurers we see every month in the artwork with each new adventure? Is this what Paizo considers as a good group to run through the series, or just a good group for the art?

We seem to have a female tiefling (horns and a tail, plus the spots) who fights with a broadsword and sickle, a human female cleric of Wee Jas in red armor, a male human (paladin?) in blue armor with a large shield and longsword, another male human (ranger?) in red armor who fights TWF-style using longsword/rapier and dagger, and the on-again, off-again fifth member of the party, a male drow bard (check the cover for #124 - tell me that's not a musical instrument on his back) who fights with a longsword and a whip.

So do these characters have names, backgrounds, personalities? Or are they just around for some consistency in the artwork? Will we see published stats for them at some point?

Does anybody else have any insights into this party?