Lord Fyre's page

Doesn't have to be Paizo that runs with this...

Yes, it does. Otherwise, it is not "official."

Isn't "withdraw" a full round action? So he couldn't stand from prone, move to the cord, grab the cord, sunder the cord AND withdraw all in one round could he?

Also keep in mind that Tarquin is busy congratulating Elan. He is not paying enough attention to Scoundrél. Remember by story tropes, Scoundrél will be dead soon enough.

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Strange isn't it, Elan is becoming almost quite innovative and useful in combat...

Strange isn't it, Elan is becoming quite innovative and almost useful in combat...

Improved by moving the "Almost."

(I am not liking how Roy was ready to so quickly write off Julio Scoundrél. :()

Completed. :D

It's pretty rare for characters to fight things that do negative levels below level 5.

This was my intuition as well - regardless of what some developer may have put into Thornkeep.

Level 1 (see Thornkeep, which throws that very monster at level 1 characters).

Just because a designer did it, does not mean that it is good design.

What I am seeing though is that it really depends on the GM's (an groups) play style.

In fact it was that very encounter that prompted this question. .

For a level 1 party, a CR3 enounter is by no means "overpowered."

However, a wight (Bestiary 1, p. 276) is CR3, but has the "Energy Drain" power. So a single touch by a wight would kill a character instantly at level 1.

So at what player character level is a wight actually CR3?

Occupied with other issues I fell behind on reading the current AP and to catch up took them with me on vacation. I liked the Worldwound Incursion, and while I found the background was overly complex between Anevia and Irabeth I thought they were interesting NPCs. I started the Sword of Valor and upon noting Sosiel and Aron I thought, “Hmm, now a guy couple, seems a bit cliché after the other pair.” It was especially odd since the only couples in the AP were LGBT, no mention of any significant other for Horgus and Aravashnial broke up with his girlfriend. This however spoiled neither the AP nor my vacation. It wasn’t until several days after returning and addressing the usual post vacation minutia that out of curiosity I checked to see if there was a thread on the topic. Indeed there were, including some offended, “Cancel my subscription” posts. I’m certainly not offended, but having the only couples in the AP be LGBT seemed forced and diminished them, either pair would have be more interesting without the other. Paizo’s effort to be inclusive was clunky, they forgot that if a little is good more isn’t necessarily better.

Ah, but keep in mind the way that APs are actually written.

The 10yr old is playing a Summoner in our other campaign, so I don't want to seem like we're stepping on his toes, so to speak.

But more than that, she has a habit of taking characters who stay more in the background - after discussing it, I'd like her to try something that will put her up into the action more - I'm afraid the Summoner won't do that, as the Eidolon will be the one fighting. Maybe that's a technicality, but so be it....

That's fine. The most important thing is that she be happy with the character. :)

I mentioned playing a barbarian once, & she wasn't at all interested. That would have been too easy, lol.

At this point, I'm leaning towards a recommending a fighter and having my friend join us with the cleric of Erastil, unless something else really strikes me....

Well, if she (and you) are up to the math, Summoners make wonderful primary melee characters. :)

I'm thinking I'll bring the cleric in, so my wife will be looking at either the inquisitor or the fighter. The group doesn't have anyone else with the Survival skill, & I keep seeing how that's going to come up when they head to Thistletop....

She also isn't as keen on playing a LG character, either (she'd prefer NG) - the friend looking at the cleric doesn't have any issues there.

She wanted to talk me into a letting her have a ranger, but she's played that before, & I asked everyone to try something different from their normal routines this time around. All of the other players have done that, so it didn't seem fair for her not to (everyone had agreed to it beforehand, anyway).

Shoanti Barbarian?

Thanks for the heads' up, I'll definitely watch for those when we get to them & make sure to tone it down. I had heard there was some atmosphere elements in the Skinsaw Murders section to be careful of as well.

Quote:

So do you think the inquisitor will be sufficient as the main party melee'er?

Any thoughts to this yet?

Tough question, since everyone is a d8 HD class, they are going to want to share primary melee duties. Given that the character would also be the primary healer (backed up by the bard) it could be difficult.

Also, adventures 3 & 4 (Hook Mountain Massacre and Fortress of the Stone Giants) have large amounts of High Strength & High Hit Dice creatures (namely "Humanoid (giant)" type foes) they might have problems. But all (or most) of them are experienced so it is nothing they should not be able to work around.

A positive channeling cleric or paladin would be very helpful, especially for the Sinsaw Murders adventure (Lots of ghouls). So, bringing in that Cleric of Erastil would be no bad thing.

I bigger concern -given the age of some of your players- would be some of the very dark elements - especially in the Hook Mountain Massacre (and Sins of the Saviors).

If (and only if) your wife wants to go to a full BAB class, then Paladin or Fighter really depends on if the Cleric of Erastil plays or not.

Check these PDFs out. They are all written using the rules presented in the Basic Box.

Hardcopy will be harder as most of that material uses the "full Pathfinder rules," and you want to make sure before you start that kind of investment that he is really going to stay interested.

Of course, we all know that Nocticula is just a pale imitation of Dark_Mistress. ;D

Flimsy tie-in to The Dark World but, by far, not the worst episode this week.

I kind of wonder if the staff was inspired at all by Wrecker's crowbar. Sure, the berserker thing is a legitimate legend and Wrecker and his crew have a way different origin than what was shown but, superficially, there were some similarities (Asgardian magic, a steel bar with the ability to grant superhuman abilities to anyone holding it, a bunch of angry meatheads who want to break stuff.) There was also a vague resemblance to how Wrecker stole the power by knocking out Loki to having the Viking Project Mayhem guys punch out the Asgardian dude and take the staff section he was holding. It also seems weird that the berserker's weapon was a staff and not a more traditional viking/Asgardian weapon like an axe, sword or spear. Staffs, even magical rage staffs, aren't what I think of when I picture berserkers or vikings. To me, that only further ties it to the crowbar idea. I'd have rather seen the actual Wrecking Crew, but I get how most non-comic reading members of the audience might not immediately buy into the idea of a magic crowbar.

Still, you're right though. It might have been cooler to have the first piece of the "staff" found accidentally by a construction crew. (Would have been better then some kind of weird "Neo-Pagan Hate Group.")

That section would then lead them to the other ones - with the Agents then racing against them (S.H.I.E.L.D. having the unwilling help of the Asgarian).

That would have allowed them to use the "Wrecking Crew" without directly naming them. :)

But, I sense that the writers are not into "playing" with the Marvel Universe lore that much.

So, Wisdom boost?

That is what the whole psychedelic episode was about.

There is a thread here somewhere by someone who matters that addresses this. (Specifically Paladins and undead summoners.)

My recollection is it boiled down to "please don't go to war with your parties animated undead, it disrupts game. But you can make the necromancer promise to put them somewhere respectful when he is done."

Can someone find and link said post?

The link with the Thor: The Dark World film was kind of thin though.

I wish it had been a bit stronger.

Jenny the Jellymancer wrote:

Oh my God! You broke Sissyl! You bastard!!!

hit Sissyl with a stick...we need to be sure before we dig the grave.

Why?

If we bury her, it will not matter if she was dead first on not.

The end result is the same.

I have questions:

I liked the comic. I assume the punchline is a reference to Blackwing's opinion that he think's of himself as an ancestor of dinosaurs.

I thought that he thinks of himself (correctly) as their descendant.

Hi all. About to start back in PFS again and wondered in your personal experience what classes are always welcome and which are not wanted. In MY area monks, rogues, and summoners was not wanted. I'm wanting to be a cleric this go around, think anyone would complain?

I asked this question a while ago. I got two answers:

Personally as a DM, I'm willing to bend my game so much around the dependencies of the players and yet don't like to refuse a PC concept just because I don't have the foresight to know how much or a problem it may or may not become.

I wouldn't mind a PC race that realizes the full potential of its racial traits in a particular environment, but I dislike races that forces me to use a certain type of environment just to make the character sustainable.

I heartily agree.

Let's see what we can do.
Going off the Dryad description on Bestiary I p. 116

Half-Dryad Racial Traits

How tightly will the Adventure Path follow the book?

Are you looking to do a SPACE supplement to this?

No, no, no. There is an injustice that needs to be righted.

So the new iconics need to be ...

Where are all my question? *shake fist* COSMO!!!!

Where did your grammar go?

How did it go?

QXL99 wrote:

Are we talking about S.H.I.E.L.D. or Alias in this thread?

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s alias? H.A.M.M.E.R.?

That is what Nick Fury is afraid of.

Well, I imagine that character would be pretty bad in combat (outside of casting and healing, of course, though I find cleric casting a bit boring at first), and pretty decent in social roles. If that is what you want, go for it :)

One cannot be good at everything, and in the very urban campaign that is Council of Thieves, social skills matter.

You should do well. :)

As much as Burlew has totally out-flanked us on plot-predicting every time, I still think that Sabine will play (or at least SHOULD play) the part of ace-in-the-hole for Tarquin's inevitable demise.

The delicious irony of it all would be not if V 'Gated' her in, but if Tarquin called her himself (either via unknown power, item or ally) to assist him.

THAT would be classic.

Or Laurin. :)

Ming-Na is awesome. Aside from being a very pretty woman (not girly pretty but pretty nonetheless), she is a good actress and her roles are most of the time very interesting and have depth.

Chun Li?

I think I took the conspiracy hunter trait and selected perception as the class skill. That was a big help in getting my perception to such a large number early on.

Ah! But you were listing Westcrown Firebrand as your campaign trait, hence the problem.

Now, I didn't see a point cost with the Aasimar in the Advanced Race guide. I'll have to go dig it up in the book. Thanks for pointing it out.

There isn't one.

What I meant was, take off +2 Wisdom and +2 Charisma leaves

Not to mention the fact that pretty much EVERYONE on Golarion hates demon worshipers. If there's a good organization and an evil organization in a city and they learn of a demon cult in their midst, they WILL team up to stamp it out.

Playing a non-evil demon worshiper would make said character truly alone in the world, reviled by all manner of society for what he is, and even his fellow Socothbenoth worshipers for not having the balls to TAKE the pleasure he wants, no matter who or what it hurts.

Besides, would not the more hedonistic branches of CN Calistria's faith be a better fit for the character? (... not to mention easier for the GM to integrate into the campaign.)

In Norse myth, Baldur's portfolio included beauty and charm.^^

But the actual Deity of Love was the Goddess Freyja.

Sebastian wrote:

When it comes to the ratings, you've got to trust the system.

My latest take is that this is Alias, but without the awesomeness of Jennifer Garner playing sexy dress-up every episode. Also, her nerdy tech guy > FitzSimmons.

Barring the unexpected and dramatic death of half the existing characters, I don't think I'm destined to watch this show for much longer.

Jennifer Garner was never awesome.

Everyone might agree with you there.

However, getting Ming-Na Wen into some "sexy dress-up" is a fine idea!

I would likely go with a branch off of DragonStar.

Possibly before the accord, with the "good" races being lead by the Metallic Dragons and the evil races by the Chromatic Dragons. More "neutral" races, like humans would be caught in the middle.

Looks to me like we are going to lose both Tarquin and Julio Scoundrel in an epic duel.

Possibly, only Julio will die and Tarquin will barely escape, but the Order of the Stick will also escape.

-Aaron

Could go any number of ways. We have recently been shown the folly of trying to predict where Burlew is taking the plot.

Lord Fyre wrote:

This is why the NSA revelations have been so damaging. They destroyed the people's trust in the government - completing the work that George W. Bush's problems had started. (And showed that Obama is not so different from his predecessor.)

That's really just the latest wound in a process that began with Vietnam and Watergate. You're probably too young to remember the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg was that era's Snowden.

I'm 50.

Yes, I was alive (though still a kid) during Watergate.

Which might be the biggest reason for Fury giving Coulson's team such a high level of autonomy. If there is something Rotten in SHIELD and Fury knows it, then Coulson MK2 and an elite team floating just outside the normal organization hierarchy might be just the thing he needs.

This does make a lot of sense.

It also explains why neither Skye or Simmons will not face discipline (except from Agent Phil Coulson) for what they did. If Agent Victoria Hand tried to push the matter, she might get screwed because she may well have exceeded her authority in sending two of Coulson's agents on what amounted to a suicide mission. Given Coulson's reaction, a LOT of S.H.I.E.L.D. procedures appear to have been ignored for that kind of operation.

So, while Fury has concerns about Skye, she did exactly what he wanted in this instance.

As you know from the player's guide, you will be dealing with the shadowbeasts. So your two knowledge skill options are spot on (Outsiders and Undead). Both your Diplomacy and Sense Motive skills are excellent buys - you will use them frequently in this very urban campaign.

Devils are resistant to fire, but undead are not. You will encounter both types of foes throughout the AP.

What deity? From your domains, it looks like Sarenrae (And excellent choice by-the-way), but if so you may want to invest in a Scimitar also.

However, how did you get a Perception of 10? It is not a cleric class skill, and neither of your traits change that.

With a Strength of 10 and Chainmail, you will need to watch encumbrance.
Did you roll these stats? If you bought them, check your numbers, they seem to be off (After subtracting Aasimar, I am getting 19).

So, aside from checking your math, I like your build. You should do well in the campaign.

Half to most of the Avengers (as well as Coulson) would have been in a cell (or at least discharged) before the events of Avengers if the world operated the same way ours does. Most of the rest (including Fury) would have met the same fate after.

How do you actually arrest Bruce Banner or Thor?

While you could arrest Stark, good luck holding him.

In the comics, S.H.I.E.L.D. has often swung between being a good-guy organization and a bad-guy group that employs some good-guys.

True.

But we are not talking about the Comics. We are talking about a show with a slowly declining viewership.

This has happened before ...

And, one thing I might recommend if this is going to continue is for you to read the Brother Cadfael mysteries. The books Monk's Hood and Virgin In The Ice deal with what can and cannot be done with medieval detective work.

Sadly child limiting will never help, what we need is war to kill off more of the adults or disease to kill off the elderly. Nature works from that end ya know....

No, but empowering women does work - and in an uplifting way too.

Given the tie in with the movies, if what we're seeing in the Winter Soldier trailers is accurate, then SHIELD is manipulative and treacherous, not jsut 'shown to be'.

And this is the problem.

We live in a post Edward Snowden world. A Government Organization that is manipulative and treacherous will be seen by the Viewing Public as villains - as will characters who are a willing part of it.

People understand that some secrets need to be kept - but in today's world it really helps if the Agency doing it is seen as trustworthy.

This is why the NSA revelations have been so damaging. They destroyed the people's trust in the government - completing the work that George W. Bush's problems had started. (And showed that Obama is not so different from his predecessor.)

I'm also not in favor of trying to keep the 3rd world desperately poor to keep them from adding to the over-consuming problem. That's a first world problem and we need to solve it there.

Actually, China has successfully demonstrated that it isn't JUST a first world problem.

However, you are right about trying to keep the 3rd world poor. Not only will it not work - it is simply wrong.

The problem is as these peoples become more affluent, ancient symbols of prosperity do become an issue when too many people now have the ability to demand (and get) them (See Shark Fins/Ivory/Rhino Horn).

But, no, I do not know how to solve the issue. As, per the article I linked about over-consumption (relinked here); the behavior is HARD WIRED into our DNA.

Kelsey MacAilbert wrote:

You know, if we actually do severely curtail childbirth, we will eventually have a massive number of retired seniors, and few younger people working to support them. This is why Europe and Japan are working on trying to get people to produce more children, not less. Also, China is starting to back off on One Child. I find it telling that pretty much nobody who has achieved a low birthrate actually wants to keep that low birthrate.

There are other ways to solve that, the most obvious being immigration from countries that still have a high birth rate.

Better still, it's not like productivity increases in the last few generations don't mean the smaller number of young people couldn't easily support the larger number of seniors. IF they weren't all going to support a small number of the extremely rich.

But, as this thread has already established - Over-population isn't be big problem right now. Over-consumption is.

Anyway, yeah, Simmons and Skye should have been arrested, questioned, and a whole bunch of other things for what they did. How are viewers supposed to take SHIELD seriously after seeing how forgiving/stupid they are?

And, given how manipulative and treacherous S.H.I.E.L.D. is being shown to be, how are we supposed to "root" for them.

As far as ratings go, I have a feeling that this might get a bit more leeway than some others shows in regards to staying on the air. After all, in addition to being a regular show, I imagine that Disney looks at it as an opportunity for world-building for the MCU.

If what you mean is building a Hostility for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then they are right on target.