Doll, Soulbound

Markhet's page

596 posts. Alias of Guy Humual.



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Fun link

I only just came across this today and I didn't see anyone talking about it in the off topic section so I thought I'd post this here as it's kind of relevant to gaming. We have fake and imaginary fur in Pathfinder. Could PeTA be coming after other RPGs next? It's a pretty ridiculous story and one that diminishes what little I've thought of PeTA, but I thought I'd share.

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I'm not really interested in this next adventure path

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Link

This is sad news. Despite how he felt on the gun issue his YouTube channel was entertaining and I hate to hear about anyone being murdered. The guy was a gun nut but he was an entertaining one. He will be missed.

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Link

Likely a suicide. I do hope the DJs who pulled this prank have at least an ounce of remorse for this poor woman's family and friends. Course knowing radio DJs I'd probably wouldn't get my hopes up. It was in very bad taste to begin with but now with this new development the whole thing seems completely tragic and senseless.

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I am convinced that this is the greatest show on television.

Discuss:

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The Boxed set arrived last Friday and by 3am Monday morning I'd read the entire set. The first two books were amazing but I didn't quite like the third one as much but over all I'd recommend the series. Sad, poignant, and yet at times amazingly funny. Honestly I hadn't heard of these books till the movie was announced but anything that can attract Donald Sutherland has to be good right? Comments questions? Let's put any plot elements in spoilers though.

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Could we swap out the animate dead spell out of the Oracle of Bone's bonus mystery spell list in favor of something else?

Animate dead seems like a whole bag of unpleasantness for PFS play. First of all it's a permanent spell (which I know ends with the session and cannot carry over to the next session, but seeing as item creation feats and crafting items are forbidden) why allow spells that have a permanent duration for PCs? It would save a lot of time and trouble to just ban permanent spells from PFS altogether.

Second, without starting a whole new alignment debate, it's an evil spell and that in of itself is bound to cause controversy with GMs and players alike. Could we just avoid the entire debate by switching the spell for something else? Maybe a spell from UM or UC, or even a summon spell that summons undead instead of creating them?

I'm sorry if this has been covered elsewhere, but I did do a search on this topic but didn't find anything definitive.

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Hey good people at Customer Service,

I just placed an order: # 1890032 and I was wondering if you could include my copy of Wayfinder #5 with that order?

Joey

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Dies at age 92
So long you old grump.

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So with the rise in the popularity of characters comes the greater chance that someone will try to copy said character and bring them into a RPG game. How soon before we start seeing Count Varian Jeggare and Radovan clones in appearing in our games? Or has it already happened? Share your story or tell me about your builds. I'm sure Dave Gross will be very interested ;)

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Official leader of the opposition Jack Layton dies at the age of 61.

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So I was thinking about this the other day, the sword cane is essentially a sword hidden inside a cane, yet the cane itself could be used as a club (which Ezren, the wizard iconic, does). The only real use for the sword cane appears to sneaking it into places disguised as a cane but when you look at their stats:

One-Handed Melee Weapons
Martial Weapon .Cost . .Dmg (S) Dmg (M) Critical . Range .Weight . Type
Sword cane . . . .45 gp . .1d4 . . .1d6 . . . . ×2 . . . . . — . . .4 lbs . . . .P

Vs.

One-Handed Melee Weapons
Simple Weapons Cost . .Dmg (S) Dmg (M) Critical .Range .Weight .Type
Club . . . . . . . . . . — . . . 1d4 . . . 1d6 . . . . . ×2 . . . 10 ft. . 3 lbs. . . . B

It seems that the difference between the two weapons, besides the bludgeoning vs slashing bit, is that the club is cheaper, lighter, and can be thrown. Also as a simple weapon instead of a martial weapon it's probably easier to use. Basically the club is the superior weapon in every way. Quite frankly the sword cane a seems like a devolution. Why go to the trouble of tying to sneak in a sword cane somewhere when a basic club is the superior weapon?

What I would like to see is the sword cane have a 19-20 threat range and usable with weapon finesse. As is the sword cane is a terrible weapon, a joke of a martial weapon, and should only be used by characters as flavor or for story reasons.

Please excuse the dots, I needed to find someway to make that chart work.

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I'm not sure how much interest there would be but it might be cool to have a place to discuss published articles or even pitch ideas. Just a thought.

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No mention of Guy Humual's short fiction? Or Arron Miller's art?

Oh well

I guess everyone else's stuff was worth plugging

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I received a shipment notice for PF 28 today. Looking through my emails I see that I got a shipment notice for 26 on the 9/14/2009. Between then and now all I've received is a request for me to update my shipping information which I promptly did. It is possible that I deleted the shipment notice but I don't have a copy of PF 27 in my collection. Can you check your records and see if I was sent a copy of PF 27?

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Star of stage, film and television, Edward Woodward, has died yesterday of Pneumonia. Woodward was best known as the star of the original Wicker man, the Australian TV series Callan, and the American TV series The Equalizer, but he was also a singer and a Shakespearean actor. He was highly respected and regarded. He will be missed.

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I know there was a some problem with my credit card earlier this month (new expiry date) but I haven't seen notice that my copy of Pathfinder 25 has been mailed yet. I see that I do have a PDF in my downloads section and that's not normally made available till after my shipment notice but that document isn't in my in box.

Could someone check and ensure that Pathfinder 25 has been mailed out to me? Thank you.

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Actor Les Lye, famous for his character Barth on Nickelodeon's You Can't Do That On Television, has passed away last Tuesday. I loved that show as a kid. Les Lye was a huge talent. He will be missed.

Link

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It turns out that for this open call there are no winners only losers. I was one of them. Also no feedback . . . which was really my only reason for submitting.

So, seeing as Paizo won't be accepting or critiquing my submission I'd like to post it here . . . in this thread. Can anyone tell me if this is acceptable?

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I recently started playing JA2 again after I discovered this community built Mod, it adds new features, new guns, new equipment, plus the mercenaries from JA2:UB (namely Bigby, Gaston, Stogie, and Tex). I'm really liking it so far. One of the new features allows you to build more then one IMP mercenary, one for each of the voice sets basically, and right now I'm playing through with a squad of my own custom mercenaries.

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I'm surprised no one is talking about this game. Fallout 1 and 2 were great post apocalyptic rpgs and although black isle went under, Beathesda (maker of the elder scrolls games) has taken over I'm extremely optimistic. Check out the tubes for various trailers.

I'm excited . . . what about you?

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One of the things I’ve always hated about D&D is the fragility of the characters, low level PCs drop with a goblin’s confirmed critical, and high level PCs sometimes roll poorly in save or die situations. Some players probably enjoy this, they love building a new PC and trying them out, but I for one hate it. I also love building characters, but I generally go past the stats and spend some serious time building backgrounds and character motivation, and having a PC sliced down with a lucky (or unlucky) roll doesn’t sit well with me. I’ve noticed that Pathfinder (as well as 4th) has attempted to rectify low level survivability by giving PCs more hit points – I don’t much care for this solution. A first level character should be somewhat fragile, if you can’t be intimidated by a great axe at this level when’s it going to happen? What I’d like to see is PCs become more resilient to dying rather than more resilient to damage. Here’s some of the ideas I’ve been kicking around:

-10 is out, PCs can survive to –Con

Constitution determines how tough you are, so why is it that when a PC is knocked to the negatives the gnarled old dwarf dies as quickly as the asthmatic wood elf? Death’s door should be determined by the character’s constitution score wouldn’t you think? PCs can now survive to –CON before dying.

New Condition: Dying
1)-10 dead is gone. PCs now can survive up to –CON before dying.
2)The disabled condition now extends from 0 to –CON
3)After –CON PCs are dying loosing 1 HP a round until they have taken additional damage equal to CON bonus x Level. At this point the PC is dead.
4)Magical healing or use of the heal skill will stop the PC from losing any more HP but does not remove the dying condition. A PC must be healed back to positive HP before the dying condition is removed.
5)PCs do not heal normally while dying. Other characters may attempt to use the heal skill once per day to revive the fallen PC if magical healing is unavailable. The DC is equal to the total negative damage and the PC is healed 1 HP + the amount the check was exceeded by.
6)Massive damage rules and save Vs death now gives the dying status rather killing PCs outright. On a failed save the PC is immediately dropped to –CON -1, or simply apply the damage taken (which ever drops the PC lower). If this is enough damage to kill the PC outright then the PC is dead.

This change would make the PCs much harder to kill. An eighth level dwarven fighter with a 16 Con and 91 hit points could fight as normal until he took 91 damage, take partial actions until he dropped to -16, and linger at death’s door until he took a further 24 damage . . . meaning that this tough little dwarf could take 130 damage without being killed.

Hero points:

I first came across this idea in the Warhammer RPG. I think they may have been called fate points or some such. It’s a very simple fix: instead of complicating things with new conditions or rules simply give PCs hero points (let’s say an arbitrary 2 at level1). These are essentially “get out jail free” cards. Anytime a PC would be killed outright a PC may cash in a hero point and essentially avoid the catastrophe all together. In the case of massive damage or instant death the PC is instead dropped to -1 and stable.

New hero points should be awarded any time a PC does something extraordinary. Defeating a major villain, saving a town, or doing something particularly heroic are all great reasons for earning hero points. If a DM is using a pre-made adventure the completion of a module is also a great time to award a hero point. PCs are not invincible though and the gods only give so many chances so a PC can only hold a maximum of 3 hero points in reserve at a time. Only PCs and named villains should have hero points but I allow PCs to spend their own hero points to save their cohorts.

_____________
These are just some ideas I’ve been thinking about. Please feel free to post your own ideas or critics of these three.

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Tristan Lidu Has recently achieved enough affiliation points to become a black dagger in the Witchwardens. Unfortunately I see no description of the daggers anywhere. I'm curious to hear what role (if any) affiliations have played in your STAP campaign, and what players and DMs alike have done with them.

Please remember if you have spoilers to use the proper BBCode

Spoiler:
like this for spoilers

If your story touches on the plot of the savage tide in anyway.

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Number one question: Why on earth would the players destroy the tear?

I don't see any reason. Basically the players are told to destroy the tear by a (likely) chaotic evil ghost. Maybe I missed something but here's what I picked up as a player.

1) the Kopru take slaves
2) the Kopru give pearls
3) and destroying the tear supposedly ends the pearl operation

but how does that even remotely make sense? A ghost trapped in an underground temple is supposed to know that destroying the tear ends the creation of shadow pearls miles bellow the surface. Are we supposed to believe that the Kopru were talking about their greatest weakness while (or while waiting to) meet Troglodytes?

Know here's what we know about the Koprus
1) they're evil and sacrificing people
2) they're making shadow pearls
3) they breath underwater

Worse still, supposing the PCs flubbed all their Knowledge skills (which our group did), there's the matter of the 'demon fish' (a.k.a. the abolths)

1) they once were a source of great evil
2) they once caused enough destruction on the surface that the ancient Olmans were foced to build some sort of artifact to remove all the water.
3) they don't die out of water, rather they go into hibernation, and theoretically, if returned to water, they would be revived.
4)demon fish control people's minds.
5) demon fish breath only underwater

So, destroying the tear brings back the water, and at this point (for our party) most of the PCs don't breath underwater. So destroying the tear would

1) bring the water back
2) awaken the demon fish
3) increase the mobility of the Kopru
4) possibly drown the PCs

When we get to Golismorga we discover that there aren't even any Kopru guards around the tear! Now if this were an Achilles heel you'd at least expect to see Kopru guards! So, as best we can figure, if we destroy the pearl we flood the tunnels (trapping us) and possibly even dooming most of the PCs if we have no other way of escape. We bring back the demon fish. We may or may not end shadow pearl production. We restore the horrible city.

Why on earth would anyone destroy the tear? I would think the PCs would want to get into that ziggurat and see what's going on in there. Personally I think the obvious choice for the PCs would be to try to destroy the Kopru and leave the pearl alone.

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I used to host D&D at my house, which was very convenient considering the amount of books I own, but later, when my friends were blessed with a child, getting them over to my place became near impossible! So these days I pack everything I figure I’ll need to play up and take it with me. This got me to thinking: Do many other people do this? What do they bring to their games? What do they figure they can’t play D&D without? So let’s have at it! Tell me what’s in your tool bag? <A tool bag is the list of items you need to get the job done . . . in this case the job is D&D> I travel pretty heavy actually. With me is my:
PHB
PHB II
DMG
MM
Spell Compendium
Dragon Compendium
Rules Compendium
Various Dungeon / Dragon magazines
Pound o’Dice
Miniatures
Binder with characters, notes, handouts, extra character sheets and scrap paper
File folder with extra maps and encounter ideas
Gamemastery flip-mat
Dry erase markers
Regular markers, pens, pencils, and erasers

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My order is 743072, and even though the dice aren't listed as Preorder on your site, when I placed my order that's how they were listed. Could someone check the status of this item? If they are indeed still Preorder (which seems odd because I remember looking at them back in February) I'd like to swap them for a similar product that isn't Preorder.

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What's happening with the Availability of this item? When I put it in my cart a few weeks ago it was available, shortly after that it went into backorder status, then it became available again, and now it currently unavailable! I placed my order on the 16th, shouldn't I have gotten my order filled when the books came in? I'm only wondering because I need some of these books for Christmas.

My order was #743069 if that matters

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I'm probably dressing as Dracula again this year . . . yes, yes, I know: I suck . . .

What about you guys? Be it party, escorting the kids, or just dressing up to hand out candy, what are you going as this Halloween?

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If you should open Dungeon 139, turn to pg 40, and look at section D23 you’ll find a Kobold cook by the name of Churtle. I see that many groups have killed her, others have spared her, and some have even added her to their groups. I’m curious what your group did with her. This is the official Churtle thread. Feel free to share your Churtle stories here.

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Also I should add that I haven't recieved issue 358 yet.

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We are roughly half-way through the final battle of ToD and I am really beginning to feel my character (Tristan Lidu) is only just slightly better then useless. It seems every BBEG and boss monster we fight lately has magic resistance of at least my level + 12 and some way of dismissing my summons. Her spell selection is weak because she hasn't found any spellbooks or scrolls to speak of. Being a wizard she lacks combat skills. Against the big boss monsters of these later campaigns Tristan performs the following functions: she is an extra target (58 hp at 10th level), she can cast a few buff spells on her team mates, and her spells sometimes soaks up a dispel magic or a dismissal. I love playing Tristan but I'm really tired of being the only one not contributing (damage) in the big battles. Am I wrong in guessing that this trend continues? Should I give up on magic all together and simply make a new character?

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I guess I should tell you a bit about Tristan before I continue:

Tristan Lidu (NG female human conjuror/alienist) Eldest daughter of Walkeen Lidu (N male human aristocrat) and Mab Maros (LE female human rogue/assassin)

Before she was born Tristan Lidu’s father visited a powerful soothsayer. The wise woman spoke of the accomplishments that his eldest child would achieve, and the power and glory that his child would accumulate, but also the terrible price his child would pay and sacrifice to accomplish these goals. Walkeen Lidu was told his child would help save the world. He decided to name his unborn child Tristan, which meant “sorrowful”, in honor of the future sacrifices his son (and perhaps future ruler of Sasserine) would have to face. He was surprised and greatly disappointed when ‘his’ first child was a girl. Tristan was his daughter without any doubts, but he secretly hoped that his wife had somehow chokehold him, and his future son and ruler was still yet to be born. Mab gave birth to two more daughters before Walkeen finally gave up on the soothsayer’s visions.

Tristan was six when the sea princes where nearly wiped out by the scarlet brotherhood and Sasserine reclaimed its freedom. Her father may have played an important roll in overthrowing the last of the sea princes’ forces in Sasserine but he soon fell out of favor with his uncle for reasons that were never fully explained to Tristan. Walkeen was sent to look after family business far outside of Sasserine. Whenever he returned he acted distant towards Tristan; as through she was somehow a great failure or disappointment in his life. Mab on the other hand was distant to everyone. Much of Tristan’s early life was spent in the refuge her great uncles library.

When Tristan was eight she was sent to live at the House of the Dragon. There Tristan excelled. She was constantly head of her class and a favorite of her teachers. When she was ten she made the mistake of bragging to one of her older cousins about her accomplishments and the praise she had received, “you’re a Lidu,” the young woman had said, “What do you think they’re going to do? Fail you? They’d pass you even if you were a complete dunce, as is, I’m sure even you’ll graduate with merit or something,” Tristan was shattered, it was though all her achievements where instantly stolen from her, and although Tristan later realized that her cousin was either mistaken or just being exceptionally cruel, the incident taught her a very valuable lesson on humility. Tristan vowed to never brag or speak of her accomplishments again.

Then came the moment that would forever shape Tristan Lidu’s life: One night, a few weeks before her 13th birthday, Tristan awoke and discovered that the forbidden book room in the library was open. Normally this door was sealed and only members of the witch wardens or the alumni of the House of the Dragon were allowed entry (even then under the supervision of one of the librarians), but with no one guarding the door, Tristan’s curiosity got the best of her. Many of the books were useless to her, written in languages she didn’t yet read or fully understand, but the smell of ancient leather was exciting to the young bibliophile. Tristan pulled down tome after tome to flip through their ancient pages to examine their contents. Then, on a dusty shelf in the back of the room, she made a surprising discovery: one thin volume had somehow slid behind the other books on the shelves. The mysterious book may have been hidden there, undiscovered, for hundreds of years. Tristan carefully removed the book, dusted it off, and scanned its yellowed pages. It was written in abyssal, a language she was only just beginning to understand, and although she didn’t fully grasp the contents of the pages, Tristan knew that something profound was happening as she read the book. Tristan awoke the next morning somehow back in her own bed and in her own room. She was unable to remember how she had gotten there. For a moment Tristan imagined that she had dreamt her late night trip to the forbidden book room, the entire event had simply seemed too fanciful, but as she pulled back the covers to rise from bed Tristan discovered the ancient volume laying next to her, under the covers of her bed.

Tristan’s mood and attitude changed notably over the next few months. At times she seemed wracked with depression. At other times she seemed almost crippled with ennui. Her instructors simply chalked it up to hormones, her body was going through massive changes, but biology was hardly the only source of her psychological strain. Most nights Tristan was studying the forgotten tome that Tristan now knew as the Necronomicon. The dark secrets buried within the ancient tome were undoubtedly corrosive to her young mind.

Tristan not only graduated at the top of her class, but at the age of sixteen and eight months, she was also one of the youngest graduates in the school’s history. Her life outside of the house of the dragon was far from secure however. Unbeknownst to Tristan the Witchwardens and Dawn council were both forbidden from offering her a position until her eighteenth birthday by her great uncle Worrin. Instead Tristan was sent to apprentice under an old friend of Worrin’s, Blenak, of Blenak’s bazaar. Secretly, Worrin Lidu hoped that Tristan would mater alchemy and rise through that guild to become its head, but Worrin’s plans weren’t meant to be, somewhere across town, the murderous plans of a unruly son would soon propel young Tristan Lidu’s life in new, and unexpected directions . . .

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Last Friday I received order 689948 (order 681695 which shiped on the 4th of Dec still hasn't arrived yet). I was a little disappointed with "The Ravaged Pride Ship with Mast Kit". My first complaint is that it didn't contain assembly instructions (mainly for the masts), I'm sure I can figure it out, but instructions (or at least a picture of it fully assembled) would have been nice.

Second complaint, a piece of the railing has snapped off the main deck, this can probably be re-glued, but obviously this is something I shouldn’t have to do. This item needs to be packed better.