Michael Radagast's page

If three of my players wish to play registered PFS characters, who receive Chronicles and all that, and one character wishes to play a kobold who tags along with the group and couldn't give a cranium rat's arse about official Chronicle submission...is that kosher? Is there some legal requirement for any given scenario to be entirely official?

I'll apologize in advance, as I'm sure this is covered elsewhere - I simply can't find elsewhere. There are only nine retired scenarios, correct? The others are all current, official and viable? If so, then "seasons" don't mean any more than a handy listing in order of release date, yes?

I was going to put this in Rules, and then I thought maybe Homebrew...it's not really Advice. Ultimately, I figure if someone wishes to move it they will.

So what do you folks think? Would you allow a Scrollmaster Wizard to multiclass Bladebound Magus, with her scroll blade doubling as a black blade? I know the scrolls change, but supposing that the magic animating them is the same? I don't see any particular reason why not, although I haven't looked very closely.

Thoughts?

So...how did your character become a Pathfinder? Did they approach you or did you approach them? Field commission, perhaps?

(Also, are there any scenarios intended to allow for this? For the transition, I mean - a first-level scenario for non-Pathfinders to become Pathfinders.)

You can see where this is going. I suppose the most integral question is, Does Braille exist?

So yes, I know that Clouded Vision =/= Blind. The question is, how might you handle a character who wanted to play it as Blind, and then transcribe scrolls by touch? Could comprehend languages be considered synesthetic? Are there precedents for this? Drow Sign, for example, is a language - yet comprehend languages doesn't translate it, for fairly obvious reasons. Still, I'd be tempted to allow Braille...I can't see any major rules issue, other than that nobody else in the world would know it - but then, if comprehend works for the Oracle to read other scrolls, then other casters could use it to read the Braille, yes?

What would you name a Golarion-themed braille?

First off - verbal component from 100 (or more) feet away, probably won't alert anyone on the other side of that door, right? Will it alert everyone within range of the wizard, though? (Always assuming he doesn't have it Stilled.) Are there any RAW rules for echoes?

Also, does the door (or chest, etc) make any noise by popping open? If the door opens onto a short corridor, will the guards at the end of that corridor notice that the door just popped open for no damn reason, or do they require an alarm in place?

You've seen the many mad monk threads...you've seen the weekly paladin rants...here it is...for your enjoyment...The Rogue Love Thread. Only, contrary to tradition, it isn't for me to rant about my love of Rogues. This thread contains an actual, viable question. Who knew, right?

My question is this : How would you design a campaign which actually favors Rogues? And Bards, what the heck, cause who doesn't love Bards? (That was rhetorical, please don't all tangent on Bard love/hate.)
I don't mean a campaign which Rogues and Bards can get along in...I mean one where the Barbarian and the Wizard are standing off to the side feeling foolish.

This is my challenge. Show me settings, traps, and encounters which cannot be bypassed by bashing or blasting, which you would also enjoy playing through, as a PC, not as the manipulative DM finally making that Wizard feel useless. Not that I even want the Wizards to be useless - I simply want a campaign where the Wizard can get by. You know, about as well as the Rogue does in every other campaign.

Thoughts? Criticisms?

So, hrm...the title may lend itself to assumptions or inflammations already, though I'm hoping to avoid that. This is mostly just a bit of ramble I'm stringing together from reading the many varied Serpent's Skull reviews, and also from trying my hand at DMing (Skull & Shackles, Carrion Crown) for the first time in a long while.

It's understood that some folks favor the sandbox, while other folks take the train, and there are any number of inbetweenlands which we like to wander and map on occasion. Well and good. My curiosity is in regards to the AP format, specifically. I mean : Adventure Path. Isn't the concept already predisposed towards the railroad method?

Take Serpent's Skull - from a purely storytelling point of view, they could have allowed players to choose different factions, or follow different courses to the same locations...only then they'd have to write out the specifics of where and how each faction progresses, how to track them with regard to one another, how the major story points change within each faction's goals...it seems simple at first, but quickly spirals into so much content that it cannot remain feasible for Paizo to produce.

Taking Carrion Crown - parts three, four, and five could really be rearranged without much difficulty at all, allowing for the party to choose which leads they follow, in which order, and how they get there. Only then the books would all have to be restatted and releveled for any combination of events.

So what is it, exactly - and I don't mean this to be sarcastic - that folks are complaining about when they say the Path is railroading them? Isn't it designed to do so? I'm asking, because I'd like to account for these arguments in running my own campaigns. What sorts of options are you looking for? To use Carrion Crown again -

I've played in a few 'total' sandboxes, and I see the appeal, but isn't that what Campaign Settings are for? They offer so many unfinished little hooks that you know mostly what's where and can make it up no matter which direction the PCs go in. It's more work, though, and there's no way to map it except on the fly. You can't anticipate your NPCs, or your encounters, or anything really, because the PCs will bypass anything you set up. That's just what they do, usually without noticing.

So I'm asking - given the sort of inverted ratio of sandbox-to-detail available in the budget - what is the ideal level of sandbox in an AP?

So I would put this in Homebrew, but I'm not looking to create new spells or any such, and I wanted to hit a wider range.

I'm crafting a Luck/Fate sort of Patron for a player. There is a lovely preponderance of low-level spells to suit this theme - Bungle, Fumbletongue, Fickle Winds, etc. I've got as far as eighth level, which I'm more or less settled on [Aroden's] Spellbane...but now I'm running out of really good thematic options. I'd really rather not resort to Miracle and Wish, and my players are often well-willing to forgo power for flavor, so...thoughts?

So there's always talk about paladins - who can have them, how they fall, etc. I take the view that, for one thing, a paladin is a holy knight and there are a feck of a lot of deities out there. For another thing, there's more than one way to be noble and just - sometimes without even being characteristically Good. So these are my preliminary notes on alternate Codes of Conduct, primarily just to add some flavorful options to a few games out there. Thoughts?

Code of Order (LG) : Do Good – don’t cheat, don’t steal. Don’t talk at the movies. Defend the defenseless, by words or swords – but only ever kill in defense of another life, and only if there is no alternative. Keep the peace. Abide by the laws of the land, except where those laws contradict any of the previous tenets of the code.

Code of Mercy (NG) : Do no harm – never ever aim to kill. Heal first, ask questions later. On your honor, try to save any life which might reasonably be saved – though this may often require difficult decisions. Resolve conflicts without bloodshed wherever you can. Treat prisoners and survivors as best you can. Never endorse the use of torture, maiming or mutilation.

Code of Liberty (CG) : Break chains. Open cages. Never leave a man or beast bound, if you can help it. Since killing is a form of restriction, try not to do that. Always allow others to speak their piece, if you can...though, of course, you don’t have to listen. Avoid positions of authority over others. Never ever compel an individual, by threats of force or magic; never support the use of compulsion, for good or ill.

Code of Justice (LN) : Do Right, no matter the laws or consequences. Judge with an unbiased eye, to whatever extent you can. Judge individuals as individuals and societies as societies, without mixing them up. Judge actions as actions and characters as characters – bad people may do good things, as well as the reverse. Never lie about events or observations – though your thoughts and intentions are your own. Reward or punish as you see fit.

Code of Preservation (N) : Knowledge is sacred; wisdom comes through awareness and understanding. Seek out new lore wherever you can. Never allow a knowledge to be hidden from the world, if you can help it. Don’t falsify records or documents. Never burn a book, scroll, or tablet which isn’t actively attempting to destroy existence. Never accept an argument of authority from someone you don’t recognize as an authority. Always fight your own battles, and try not to get caught up in others’ if you can help it.

Code of Expedition (CN) : Explore and experience! Discover! Wander through woods, crawl through dungeons, take the path less traveled. Go where luck and whim and adventure dictate. Gather experiences as firewood, to fuel your life – and to start fires in others as you go. That fire is life, warmth, and motion in the world. Never stay in one place for too long, for fear of growing stale. Never wait around when you can reasonably continue.

So I've seen something in the way of timelines for the APs, but little sense of time frames. Which season did you start in? Any particular reason? How long did it take to complete the AP?

I posted this in the first 'Crooked Kin' thread, though that seems to have run dry, and I'm really curious to find some feedback, so...

To start with, I do love the notion of the Crooked Kin...it seems perhaps a bit bland, though. I don't know, maybe it's just the common sideshow tropes in conjunction with a fantasy setting - why should there be so many people with limb issues, for example? I know that Regenerate spells don't grow on trees, but...? Also, those types of shows play on the disease we feel encountering people we define as 'less than whole' - which is fine as an effective means of fleecing the marks, only it's less interesting for some players, I think. I don't know - not trying to turn this into a criticism thread.

So, a few thoughts :

Is a calliope too modern? I was just thinking of Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show, you know? I'll have to have some other form of music, as well, but I can double-up if need be. Oh, or they may have haunted instruments! Will save versus possession for the duration of a song? Anyroad...

Lidia! I love the idea of making her a tattooed lady; I thought maybe tattooed sorceress? Illusionist-style, a storyteller. Then I'm debating a flavorful twist - each tattoo covers a horrible scar of some kind and, being magic, makes her appear unscarred. She walks up on stage, a beautiful woman, drops her robe (grabbing the audience's attention, if she didn't have it already) and begins to tell her tale by 'stripping' her tattoos into illusions which fill the stage beside her. A few examples I had were a compass rose over her left breast (hiding a puckered arrow-wound?) which could form an illusory beating-heart, or simply a flower, and also a snake tattoo wound around her neck (her familiar?) where it covered an attempted strangulation or hanging scar.

The Prince, I think, I would remake as Mwangi shadowteller - a voodoo-style ombromancer, perhaps a summoner who summons actual Shadows? Perhaps he was an accidental Synthesist - that could make for an interesting affliction. This could be used in conjunction with Lidia's show, or as a separate one. I was thinking of blending this with a sort of kabuki shadow-show, when I thought of...

Tian contortionist(s) - also may work either with the Prince or separately. They may be double-jointed, or lacking in joints, or half-bred vishkanya, or just plain freaky-flexible, as happens. Also - and something you could do with the other acts - they may or may not be Tian at all. Of course the show wants to bill as 'exotic' to draw people in, but it could as easily be a rather pathetic make-up job.

As for the Clowns, I was thinking contructs. Badly sewn-together constructs, all stuffed with leaves? Oh, and sewn out of what I wonder? I had another notion, for a white-haired witch, a young albino maybe, and I see how this could go together now. The witch crafts the clowns...and secretly is a construct herself. A patchwork girl, all twisty-Oz style.

The ringleader, I don't know - not an albino, if I'm using the witch. I'll have to think on that.

For the behind-the-scenes leader, though, I'm thinking of an old gypsy werewolf, a Harrower...male or female? Not sure yet. (S)he's also going to replace the Harrow-card system, though, for my purposes. I play-by-post, and that system is really much better suited to an IRL dynamic. Also, I intend to have the Kin either escorting the party or following them around for the entire AP.

That's as far as I've got, yet. Thoughts?

This is a continuation of some thoughts I've seen concerning the incongruity of Wake of the Watcher. Actually, it's two continuations of this, only I used the more interesting one as the title. I don't know if it will do any better, but I thought I'd throw them out here for criticism, and add whatever development I may as it occurs.

The first thing I should say is that I'm planning to have the Crooked Kin along, or incorporated in some way, throughout the AP. Secondly, I think it may be viable to open up a few sandboxy options after Lepidstadt - give the party three or four trails to follow and let them choose. If they end up in Feldgrau, fine - if not, it will keep. I think.

So then, here are two possible events, which I haven't even begun to really flesh out or incorporate yet, but here they are nevertheless:

Dark Fey - a nice, disturbing faery tale, inspired largely by Susanna Clarke. There is a brief sequence in her novel (Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell) in which a lonely road leads to a single guardian who stands before a grove of decidedly uncommon trees which surround a castle or manor estate of some sort. It plays up some of the more grim aspects of Grimm, among others, and I'd certainly be pulling in a bit of Gaiman as well.

Evocation Day - This autumnal holiday of Nethys would, I think, take on a very Halloween-faire feel in Ustalav. Also a touch of Pharasma which it might not have in other places, and maybe some fort of Danse Macabre rites. I don't know what else, honestly, except that the Kin could really play an integral part here, and I have this image of a sort of open-field dungeon, with lots of mirrors and people in masks and things not being what they seem.

These two notions could be parts of one WotW replacement, or separate events between other parts of the path - whether or not WotW is included, actually. Er, thoughts?

So I haven't read very far into the path, yet, but I'm writing up an advert and I was wondering - do we know which members of the Way, precisely, were there to kill the Prof? If I write up three random cultists, is it going to come back to, er, haunt me...later?

So this may have been covered before, and of course I do apologize if I missed it...there's just...it's...why is there a prison?

More especially, why is there a prison for these guys? I mean, evil wizard goes blowing people up, isn't the standard reaction to send those hearty adventurers out and smite his arse? I mean, the local drunk/bully/jackass, sure, lock em in the tanty and maybe they'll sober up/learn a lesson. Real bad guys, though? How often have we been commissioned to go and clear out that den of petty bandits, but these serial killers get nonlethal damage and incarceration before their execution?

I mean, I get the point and the theme and so on, and I'm trying to engage myself in running it - though no story with these mechanics can ever really evoke horror it can still be a lot of fun, in a B-movie/Uberwald kind of way. Or Innistrad, perhaps. I just - my characters will ask, and I'll feel pretty silly if I have to say, er, because.

The only thing I can come up with is a Pratchett-like story (Corporal Carrot style) of the career of the notoriously merciful paladin, who took the notion of Law so very seriously, that he would apprehend anybody and attempt to detain them. Rueful stories may abound of the time he tried to cage that gelatinous cube, or the time during that ghoul plague when he put bars on all the plots in the graveyard...

Which could work, but it's certainly a different tone from what's intended. Any of you have a party take issue with this, or is it just a silly-but-necessary-for-suspension-of-disbelief kind of premise?

As a general rule, I think it's a bad idea to foist DMPCs onto an otherwise helpless party. Railroading and worse may occur...not least of all, stealing the spotlight from your own players.

Except, here's a campaign almost entirely DMPC-centric. Thoughts/advice?

I play Pbp, and consequently find it very flavorful to integrate more of those 'languages known' into my characters' speech patterns. I keep Etymonline and Google Translate bookmarked, then throw a few phrases out with translations in spoilers, footnotes or tooltips. Not overmany of course, as it could get annoying very quickly...but the obvious curses, exclamations, etc. Halfling culinary terms I might put in Old French or Irish, Dwarfish curses are always Scotch Gaelic, etc.

These worlds we play in, and the characters we play, are seem to be so much more tongue-tied than we are. Racial languages clashing with national languages, all in turn washed over in Common, because otherwise things might get very sticky indeed.

My query is this : Which languages (and consequently, cultures) do you associate with our much-beloved Golarian provinces? Would French suit Varisia better than Irish? Is a German or a Scandanavian dialect better for Ulfen than, say, something Russian or Slavic? Would it be odd to consider Mandarin and Japanese as merely different dialects of Tian Xia?

Ahm, first thing - How did the Man's Promise get into the Fever Sea? The Rahadoumi already seem to be playing a chancy game running goods through the Cheliaxan Arch, but then to navigate the whole way through pirate country? And for what?

For that matter, and secondly, what is a Cheliaxan ship doing wrecked down there? Then, assuming there was a reason for them to be there, why would a military vessel from an obsessively lawful domain be keeping whores on board?

I'm not trying to knock the AP - in fact, I'm quite looking forward to running it - but I don't want to have to make something outlandish up to explain these events, and then retcon it later because it is a total misfit with your [very thorough and well-established] setting.

On that note - would there be any major malfunction if I rerolled Sandara as a paladin? I was actually thinking of her as a bawdy, boisterously good-natured Holy Gun of Besmara. Chaotic Good - I've never paid attention to paladin alignment restrictions, anyhow. Probably, she'll even trade off Diplomacy for Bluff, as the 3.5 variant did. Thoughts?