Michael Landis's page

Rysky wrote:

Melkiador wrote:

Xenocrat wrote:

I, too, am terrified of returning to the regulatory regime that existed from the inception of the Internet until 2015.

When you put it like that it doesn’t sound so bad. The internet was fine before 2015.

It’s... almost like something happened that required these laws to be made.

The point still stands. It’s weird to be afraid to go back to something that was working fine before. Rather he’s afraid of changing to something that didn’t exist.

It doesn't sound so bad for *you* you mean? From what you can tell, it didn't affect *you*?

No, no. I can't even right now. That is so ridiculously single-minded.

War's not so bad. I mean, I'M not a soldier and it never happens on MY land... sooooo...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Something that's been bothering me...

There is no "sleeping" condition but there are several effects that cause a creature to sleep. Now, in general, should all sleep effects follow the rules of the sleep spell, in that slapping or wounding a sleeping creature wakes them up? Or, would some sleep effects be harder to break?

Examples: the sleep poison of a pseudodragon or a homunculus (extraordinary abilities) and the sleep arrow effect of a pixie (supernatural).

They would be pretty weak effects if they can be removed so easily, but perhaps that's intentional. Otherwise, they could be pretty deadly in certain situations.

I return, hat in hand:

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2l7ns&page=492?Ask-James-Jacobs-ALL-your-Qu estions-Here#24583

It appears JJ disagrees. I'd have to concede the point even though I completely disagree and there's nothing stating you interrupt your current action in Dimension Door.

I agree that it can be interpreted your way. It looks like a valid loophole to break the restriction on dimension door, when interpreting the text as referring to Actions. (Henceforth, my use of lowercase refers to the common usage of the word "action" and uppercase refers to the game term).

As JJ said, though, some rules may supersede others and not every rule can cover every situation. I especially believe this is true when later content interacts with earlier content. I see the design intent of dimension door as a tactical, limited teleportation spell. Unless there is an exception that breaks this rule (e.g. the Dimensional Agility feat), casting dimension door prevents all further actions regardless actual Actions you have left.

If it were my game, I'd stick with JJ's ruling when crafting an NPC. If a PC wanted to do that, I might allow your interpretation, if only to test it, but make it clear that its a provisional ruling. I've never run a game with a magus before, so if it gets out of hand I may reverse the rule.

Who would seriously be rigid enough with rules interpretation to actually..... oh, nevermind, I'll never win that one.

Instead, I'll resort to the inevitable immersionish argument. I haven't seen anyone make it yet and it's bound to happen sooner or later, so here goes.

What makes an unarmed attack a different class of attack where being magically faster per haste WOULDN'T allow for it? The same spell makes my arm swing faster as to affect how many times my sword or my claw may connect, but not my clenched fist? Why? What inner logic stops the magic from affecting your limb speed just for just that purpose?

Nothing. Therefore haste also gives you the runs because it doesn't say that it doesn't. :D

Seriously, though, I predict that the devs, if they get to this one, will rule in favor of granting unarmed strike the haste benefit. I see no valid reason why not except for what looks like bad wording.

Who would win?

Everybody.

Might want to reread OP because I'M not saying anything.

<wink> Gotcha.

:D

I can't tell if you're making a snarky comment suggesting 5th edition is coming much much sooner than WotC would want us to believe, or if you're just a silly silly person. :D

I simply believe that I'm a waste of space. A waste of resources and I have nothing to offer anyone.

I feel the same way myself sometimes, but not enough to actually attempt suicide.

I've realized, however, if it comes to the point where I lose all faith in my future.... I decided NOT to commit suicide. I'll give up... but rather sacrifice myself by devoting my life to charity. I mean, my life sucks, but I'm HERE still. And while I'm here, I might as well make myself useful to someone.

I kinda came to a similar point earlier in my life. I may not be able to do much to improve my emotional state, but I can at least work out and improve my body. It's SOMETHING, at least.

I don't know if my logic makes sense to you or not, but I hope it helps give another option.

Yay!

What is that?

Have I been THAT out-of-the-loop with video games?! Jeez...

Waaaaaaaaa! That's not info, Green Ronin!!! ;D

At the moment, I think I'm fine with just posting a link to the free download. I'll be running the game in person, so it's not a big deal.

Thank you very much, though!

Maybe it is a countdown to the servers being overloaded and site slowing to a crawl.

Win!

Seriously, has anyone been able to access the site now? WHAT'S GOING ON!?!?!?!!!!! <SCREAMS> :D

Thanks!

Since this is a free download, would it be too bad to cut parts of the map out and upload for this sort of use? I would think not, but then again, the Pathfinder wiki doesn't do this...

Hmmms...

Hi!

I'm planning on running Curse of the Crimson Throne pretty soon. I'd like to give my players a brief rundown of Korvosa, but I can't seem to find a map of Korvosa online (like the one in Guide to Korvosa, with reference points, so I can refer to H5 as this and that). Is there one?

I'm only asking because I know Sandpoint's map is available for viewing for free.

Thanks!

He was built to match what he does in the story, is what I'm saying, not to be an example of how to build the best.

He took the Toughness feat?!? TWICE??!!?!?!

;D

IMHO, I think it's better this way. The seven sins are themselves a trope, but creating the diametric opposite just because there's an opposite might seem cliche.

If they could do it in an interesting way, that'd be fun. But why force it?

Callipygian.

I can't believe there's such a formal sounding word for what it means.

On Pg. 62 under the disguise skill, it says you get just a +10 bonus to a disguise check when affected by a spell that alters your form (i.e. alter self, disguise self, polymorph, or shapechange).

Later on Pg. 159, under the transmutation heading, it states that you get a +20 bonus on disguise skill checks when under the effect of a spell of the polymorph subschool.

It's a minor thing, but this one has always bothered me.

You kept the "Prepare to throw splash weapon" in the list of full-round actions on Table 9-2 on page 135. I'm fairly certain this was a mistake in the original table in the 3.5 Player's Handbook/SRD.

The only place a full-round action is ever again mentioned in any text regarding splash weapons is in explaining how to prepare a fuse to an oil flask to use it as a makeshift vial of alchemist's fire.

Surely we can just throw things like bottles of holy water or vials of acid as normal attack actions without "preparing" them, right?

Not sure if it helps, but I think a similar table in the Rules Compendium finally clarified this. I'll check when I get home.

Again, minor thing but... grr. :D

Horace is sooooo much better than Juvenal it isn't even funny. Except I'm laughing.

Who wants to hear a story about a homebrew RPG?

So now if I can just find a decent copy of Tome of Horrors I will be set on the trifecta of OGL monster books they use for Pathfinder.

I think the version of the ToH that Paizo uses is the revised one, which is currently PDF only.

The hardcover is 3.0e
The revised PDF is 3.5e

So ... at what time will it be available for download? Midnight?

I like the way you think.

Maybe if we chant it, they'll do it! Midnight! Midnight! Midnight!

Never tried it. I'm sure combat could be a lot more lethal this way, but the DM can then take everyone's composite actions to paint a larger picture of what happens in that round, instead of it happening piecemeal.

This idea also lends a bit of verisimultude to the fact that everyone's acting within the same six seconds. So, if the monster goes first and uses all six seconds to take a move action to move up to someone and then take a standard to attacks that person, the cleric won't use his first three-ish seconds to cure the damage that hasn't really happened yet (but that problem can also be ignored since combat is abstract enough to say they're not exactly all the same six seconds anyway).

As for the simulation of chaos, it definitely puts a "fog of war" spin on combat, but certainly there should be cases where a person lower in initiative would change his action in reaction to new information. The PCs aren't programmed to mindlessly carry out a full six seconds without regard to what's happening around them... though some PCs may actually be this stubborn. :D

I'd almost want to say break it down to 3-second rounds to increase reaction time, granted one action per round... but that has a whole slew of problems itself, (i.e., keeping in mind that a standard and swifts action could only be done within a set of two 3-second rounds, breaking up full-attack actions and adjudicating charges, possibly stipulating that a standard action casting won't go off until the beginning of the next "round", ala 6-second round casting time spells, etc.).

Definitely an interesting idea, though. Might want to try it out for a one-shot adventure. But most important to me is whether or not it makes combat more fun.

"Look at Henry Ford! He dedicated himself to building a cheaper, more standardized automobile to maximize production! It's like he was doing the Toyota design philosophy before Toyota was a glimmer in anyone's eye!"

QFT! This post FTW! Other letters!

I don't know if its worth taking offense over this... but at the same time there's already a bonfire of dispute against 4E. It's possible that by throwing kudos to Paizo, that they were trying to appear magnanimous... but with the wording they chose, it's like they're trying to put out that fire with gasoline.

So it is important that we make fun of them for it. :D

Any updates on the hardcover version?

Thanks!

Makes you feel like your own problems are nothing.

I but that Joseph Batten had a super privilaged life in comparison.
Sorry but I have no sympathy for the man.
Call me hard harted if you like.
Crime of passion? Not romantic in my book. Just horrific.

I don't think he was trying to be romantic.

Judging by the history of abuse, it sounds like he was already careening down a slippery slope before the estrangement. Must have had a "bad day" and just lost it. I think insanity's like a force of nature... a human mind gone feral, wildly trying to gain control. You can't reason with a hurricane or a rabid wolf; it doesn't care how good or bad it has it over a starving kid in a third world country.

'Course, unlike a hurricane, these things can be prevented. Shame our society doesn't have empathy for mental illness the same way it seems to for cancer patients and physical genetic disease. I honestly think it would help if it did. But the phrase "GET HELP" is more often shouted as an invective instead of spoken as a sign of sympathy.

Madness is today's leprosy.

Complete Unwashed Peasant

Races of the Far Realm

Slotless Magic Item Compendium

Nine Sword Arcana

I'll have to check my PHB, but isn't a 10-foot pole telescoping for easier storage? Maybe that neat little feature costs more. I'll have to get back to this later.

So why in the heck is a 6th level encounter one of the earlier encounters that PCs playing Keep On The Shadowfell will run up against? Was this an intentional TPK or just a mistake?

That wouldn't happen to be the second fight, would it? Just got TPKed on that on Saturday! XD

Well, we did have only three characters...

FabesMinis wrote:

Well, if you say it... it must be gospel.

Are you stalking Razz? Cause every time I see him post, you pop up and say something snarky. Fascinating.

Well, isn't it obvious? They're the same person!

;D

It's shocking. It's such a bizarre, mournful feeling... a fully functioning person you see a couple days ago just... gone. Just like that.

I remember 8 years ago when I first saw him live in New York. I was at a taping of Late Night with Consey...

R.I.P.

Why does God get all the credit?

My thoughts? She thought she was doomed (or something less dramatic) without those things "crucial" we usually put in wallets. Turns out, she wasn't doomed. So the good fortune brings a swelling, euphoric feeling. This euphoria is a very strong emotion, it sometimes brings the idea that everything's in it's right place. Some people associate this as cosmic... correctness. God. Good luck. Destiny. Karma. Things like that. That someone's looking out for them. It's my belief that all of the above are varying little interpretations of the same thing... that our lives aren't as bad as we sometimes think they are. That we shouldn't be empty. To put it briefly: Validation.

Course, I think in this case that it's short-sighted... but it's a good feeling to have. She was happy for an instant. Why deny her that? ;)

"Life was bad, but now it's good, forever!"
-Dr. Zoidberg

That one's a bit more expensive, but thanks for the tip!

Definitely worth looking into. Thanks!

I don't really know if it was because of the window being open or just the recent lack of A/C whatsoever... I'm sure that it's one or the other with the "other" not helping much.

I know the pages were good and straight before, though. There are books I haven't even opened and read yet that have the same effect.

Ack! A window was left open and I guess it must have been really humid because now the pages of all my entire D&D library are wavy instead of the nice flat straight they were before. I had an entire Planescape collection (at least the boxed sets should be fine), too. It even affected the room of my apartment where the window wasn't open. Stupid physics!

What? Yeah, they're still readable. No, they shouldn't stain or get moss b... but you know how we guys get!

Does anyone know how to fix this? I'm thinking weighting the books down. I tried googling it and another suggestion was putting some already flat pieces of somewhat thick paper throughout would help make the book pages conform to it. Not sure if that's work, but I might try it.

But I'm at work now and can do nothing! So in the meantime... has anyone else had this problem? What methods have worked? I'm thinking about even ebaying a book press...

Urgh! I'm so angry!

To everyone else: I apologize for the general tone of my reply.

As much as trolls are bad, I always thought picking apart each and every line of a flippant post was one of those ridiculous messageboard tropes as well.

Just imagine the OP as an little guy running around with a swizzle bowtie making jokes about marmalade and woman drivers (honking on a bicycle horn for good measure). Then comes along a 2-ton, 12' tall Brian Posehn-esque neanderthal, raging beat-red and stomping on the guy in fury until there's nothing left but paste.

It's THAT ridiculous to me.

I'll write a book about it. There will be a handful of people who pick it up. I'll make a modest sum but the publisher will net a loss.

NP, Tricky. I am just expressing an interest in the print copy and stating that I WILL be buying one. That is all. ~grins~

P.S. - You might just want to up your print run. 100 seems a bit low. Just my humble opinion is all.

I agree.

Wee! Agreeing with someone on the internet is fun!

Might as well chime in...

Print copy? ALSO INTERESTED!

Did they come on their own or were they bound to the room by a summoner? If the latter, they're probably going insane from boredom, like a bird in a cage allowed to see only one room!

Free the elementals! Ban binding! It's planar cruelty!

<pickets>

Okay, even though that was not-so-serious, it does have a serious point. Elementals confined in a room for ages should either be mostly dormant to pass the time, engaging in day to day leisure, or doing *something* assuming they have free will to busy themselves over the years. Or go insane.

At any rate, even the weakest of the basic elementals have Int 4, so I figure they have some sort of cognizance that would have them seek out something to pass the time.

Oh, and if the former, that KC's got some good answers above.

Yay! I'm halping!

It almost looks like bite is getting half the Str damage bonus and half the Power attack damage bonus.

I know some bites don't use full Str, but rather half Str. These are usually when bites are "secondary" or something.

I don't think Power Attack works like that, though. I'll have to see if monsters have a special use for Power Attack when using secondaries.

Edit:
Now that I'm looking at everything else, I would wager that they most likely made a boo-boo with the math when carrying over the +5 Power Attack from the base monster.

Damage for that advanced knight's bite should be 1d4+16.
+6.5 damage from Strength and +10 from Power Attack.

This just makes sense! I like it!

...but it may not be as simple as comparing the planetouched with the humans and taking the difference, though, which was my first idea. There might be some balance problems if one type of planetouched gives a bonus to a race that's already good at whatever that bonus is.

Definitely worth looking into though!

And I'm going to b!tch-slap the first person who i see complain about a misspelled word or bad grammar.

<in an incredibly snuffy noice>

Edit: 10 minutes and no b!tchslap? I feel unloved :(

Mike should make a ninja class if he wants to

...he should leave his friends behind...

The "fighting" is metaphorical. This "fight" was defensive. People spoke up. People resisted. And in the end, the "fight" paid off. At least... for now.

I don't believe anyone here is claiming that "attacking" 4E (through trolling or threadcrapping or otherwise being a meanie) made a difference. At least... not yet. ;)

For being an omniscient Deity, he/she/it sure screws up a lot.

Hmm... this reminds me of that episode of Venture Bros...

Dr. Venture: Why. You. Son of a b&*$+!! Do you know what you just put me through?! What the f&+& were you thinking?! What kind of f&+#ed up planet are you from where you think showing up as my dead f@**ing father is supposed to make me feel any better?!
Jonas Sr. Alien: Okay, take it easy-
Dr. Venture: You prick!
Jonas Sr. Alien: Look, I just saved your entire planet-
Dr. Venture: PRICK!!
Jonas Sr. Alien: Alright, fine! You wanna see?! Here!!

Off camera; Jonas Sr. Alien pulls off his face off to reveal his true visage. Nobody looks pleased.

Jonas Sr. Alien: There! That would have been better?! If I showed up looking like that out of nowhere?! Look at you! You practically crapped your pants! Except him; he crapped his pants!
Ned: Boom boom.
Jonas Sr. Alien: We know what we're doing up there, okay? So don't second guess me! Just get in your little plane, go back to your little lives and thank your lucky stars someone in this universe is looking out for you! Ungrateful little half-monkeys!
Dean: Um. Bye.
Jonas Sr. Alien: Whatever.