Mikaze's page

Why the thread rez?

Why the thread?

;)

Threads also show up on the sidebar whenever anyone posts in them, regardless of where the thread is actually located. That means everyone sees the thread even if they're actively avoiding the forums one would expect to have spoilers everywhere.

Don't sweat it, it's just something to watch out for. :)

It turns out my idea kind of actually happens in canon further down the line.... Not sure if that makes it ineligible or not.

You know, this insanely exploding thread has made me wonder one thing. Who on earth was the author of this abomination?

Not that I expect we'll ever find out. If I was on the Paizo staff, I'd never tell. And if I was the author, I'd certainly never let on that I was the author of the single most reviled feat in all of 3.5 and Pathfinder history.

Just call it morbid curiosity :)

Eh, I'd rather not get into singling out devs and shaming them, directly or not. That never leads to anything good.

I'd just like to see stuff like this avoided in the future.* Martials need nice things, that's for certain. But they need options that don't ruin whatever character they're targetting.

I mean, if I'm playing Nice Guy and I'm antagonized into letting someone die when I could have saved them rather than running into melee of my own free will, that character isn't the one I wanted to play anymore.

*Well, that and I'd like to see Antagonize-as-written ripped out of the rules and replaced with something that doesn't break the game's social contract.**

**Ripping out Vow of Poverty and replacing it with something good for monks would be fine too.

The Clarkson/Simon Cowell interviews are awesome. So much smug in one room it's dangerous.

Wonder what the DR on the Hilux is....

Liked old Marrow.

Probably in the minority, but I liked tentacle-Callisto too.

And Generation X...

I really enjoyed Outsiders and Exiles when Winnick started both. I'm sure neither team looks anything like they did when I stopped reading.(gave up Outsiders because of DC's Crisis nonsense, Exiles because Chuck Austen happened). The former really made me a fan of Roy Harper and Grace Choi. Apparently from the talk here, things have gone downhill with Roy...

Dani/Rahne

I WANT TO BELIEVE

My first X-comic was actually the X-Factor issue where the whole team got a psych eval. Rahne was my instant favorite. Immediately tore into X-back issues and she became my all-time favorite comic character.(with Dani and many of the New Mutants close behind)

edit-If they really wanted to tech Dani up, I can't help but wish they'd gone with a sort of techno-valkyrie approach.

10. Asymmetrical Eyes

You have multiple eyes spread about your face. Whether confined to your forehead or not, the shape and placement of these eyes are far from uniform. Alien pupil shapes, unnatural iris colors, and more set these eyes apart from your "natural" eyes. You are not even guaranteed to have both of your natural eyes retain the same shape once this condition manifests itself.

Worryingly for some with this condition, they cannot see out of all of these eyes, which begs the question of exactly what is looking through them.

220. Frosted Breath

No matter the temperature, your breath is always visible as the moisture crystalizes in the air. The frost of your breath tends to catch the light more than the norm.

Your breath may or may not be permanently minty fresh.

846. Gnashing Eyes

Your eyelids are lined with small teeth-like growths that slide harmlessly over the surface of your eyes. When your eyes are closed, these tiny sharp teeth lock together, sometimes grinding against each other. Tears shed from these eyes seem slightly more viscous than usual.

150. Schrodinger's Glimpse

When you are affected by negative energy or death effects and not slain outright, your form ripples as the effect washes over you. This ripple briefly reveals your body as it would currently exist if you had remained dead, diplsying putrefying flesh or bare bone to those viewing you for a split second.

Mikaze wrote:

To go with the currently running thread on poorlly played paladins. We all know about bad paladins, the ones that have given the class such a bad reputation with many gamers.

I would go further, and say that most stories you hear about 'the disruptive paladin' actually belong in this thread.

Yeah, but I'm trying to be diplomatic here. ;)

In all seriousness, yeah it does suck to run into gamers that are actually outraged by the idea of someone wanting to play genuinely good characters. Like Good period, not just paladins, though they do have the biggest "kick me" sign on their backs to paint them as griefing targets.

Yep, never knew.

I can see vanilla bards not having it, but with Archaeologist it just seems like it should come with the territory. What with all the booby traps and the Indiana Jonesing.

You guys are making me feel sad. :(

I miss my 70's/80's X-Men backissues too. I remember reading them in the 90's and generally enjoying them much more than what was coming out for them at the time.

I gave up on Marvel and DC entirely several years ago because it just felt like nothing good ever seemed to have a chance of lasting. Having most of your favorite characters be B/C-listers didn't help either.

I've never noticed that skill being missing before now.

I guess I had just always assumed it was one of their big things and they'd have it by default.

Did something change since the AGP?

brass knuckles just change the unarmed damage to lethal, monks are proficient in them and they are monk weapons. I don't see a problem...

Not any more. The originals in Adventurer's Armory did the same thing, then got errata'd to no longer do a monk's unarmed strike damage.

Then APG came out with the brass knuckles again, written the way they were originally presented in AA. So most everyone thought that was the current standard.

Somewhere around a year later, it was stated that the post-errata AA knuckles were supposed to have been what was presented in APG, and thus that became the standard again.

That incident along with the long delay involved are a part of why this current development stings so much, especially since both essentially kick the monk while he's down.

I didn't even like brass knuckles, on account of the flavor not meshing with what I wanted out of the monk at all and it reduced the joy of flurrying to punch-punch-punch-punch, but at least it was something that could be reflavored and it helped other monk players out. That's no longer the case.

Well, I'd definitely want to see the moral dissonance of BoVD and BoED avoided like the plague. Unfortunately some of that seems to have snuck into the Oath Against _____ options in Ultimate Magic. :(

But right now I'd take anything that helped holy barbarians, holy monks, and so forth out. Right now it just feels like the evil-themed options outnumber the good(of which there are none to my knowledge) for those two classes in particular.

That and hopefully a book focusing on good could help Team Good break out of some of the stereotypes hoisted upon them, so we could get some ugly/alien/scary-looking celestials, a bit more focus on empathy, compassion, and redemption rather than just Knight Templar-ish "detect evil smite evil" behavior, and showing all the myriad forms and flavors good can come in across the law-chaos spectrum.

The World Serpent Inn as an alternate transitive plane?

It can be patronized by all sorts of snaky types from a wide variety of cultures, both planar and prime. Couatl, Maraliths, Medusas, Serpentfolk, Inphidians, Children of Set, Rainbow Serpents, Nagas, Ouroboros, Lillends, Lamia Matriarchs, etc. etc.

Actually considering doing something close to that with the Ouroboros, making it both an entity and a plane linking every other plane except Abaddon. :)

Some Proteans might be able to fit into that crowd as well... hmm...

On the one hand, I don't want Vancian psionics and am quite happy with Dreamscarred's work.

On the other hand, I would very much like to see psionics further explored in terms of its place in the setting, especially Vudra.

And I would really like to see a Vudra book one day.

I understand his point about power creep, I don't think he understands that the monk in combat is not cutting it at the current state of affairs, and hitting it with the nerf bat isn't helping. Power creep for the monk isn't a problem, it fixes a problem.

MY suggestion is:

• Let Flurry-of-blows work as everyone thought it did: any attacks in any combo. Forget the TWF thing, that just describes the number of attacks. It certainly isn't broken to let the monk make all attacks with one weapon, because what he saves in cost he loses in applied abilities, unless it's a ki-focus weapon (which then soaks up the additional resources, leaving him as well-off as everyone else). Other classes do not have that problem, their abilities work through normal weapons.
  
• Create a new item set to enhance the monk's attacks. I would suggest gloves & tabi. They enhance up to +10 total effects & enhancements. Cost to be decided, but less than the AoMF (I would suggest bonus-squared x 3000gp). Downside, they take up TWO body slots, hands and feet, and they only work if you have the set.
  
• I'd add an item, a gi of protection for the monk, functionally the same as bracers of defence and occupying the body slot. It just means the monk isn't going to fall drastically behind in AC.
  
• I'd also add a suite of feats to allow the monk to overcome DR with unarmed strikes. One feat for each kind of strike, such as good, cold iron, silver etc.
  

Thoughts/feedback?

Agreed. While power creep is something to watch out for, refusing to make anything better when there's something wrong with the Core just dooms the monk.

Absolutely agreed on letting flurry of blows function like the vast majority thought it did.

The idea of an unarmed strike-enhancing set of items is pretty much what I was asking for when this whole mess started. The need to have the whole thing, which could be wraps or gloves or tabi depending on your desired flavor, would have to be on and intact in order to work. And when it did, it enhances your entire unarmed strike, allowing monk players to have their flavor back. It's a concept I hope actually gets a chance in Ultimate Combat rather than dismissed.

I'd like to see more monk-flavor friendly defensive items too, even if my ideal image I'd like to get out of a monk is barechested. Same thing for barbarian, but that doesn't tend to work out very well...

IIRC, there was a feat in the original Campaign Guide that did some of what you're suggesting with that feat. I can't remember the particulars without referencing the book, but it was under 3.5 rules and never made the transition over to PF.

IF Unarmed Strike counts as a single weapon, then considering you can flurry with all unarmed strikes, it makes sense that the cost is 2.5x greater than a normal weapon. [b]2x for the fact that if can affect all your attacks[b], and 0.5x for the other benefits of Unarmed Strike (not needing to draw the weapon, can't be disarmed, etc.)

Enhancing all of your attacks with a single abstract weapon warrants the x2?

Getting a +1 on a sword affects all attacks with that weapon too.

Up until this recent blowup, I have always understood unarmed strike to be a single abstract weapon. It was a monk's special thing.

It's quicker. It's simpler. It keeps a wide range of flavor and aesthetics possible without charging through the nose to let people attack with their hands, feet, knees, elbows, head, etc.

I prefer it that way. Splitting it up is needless complexity that mostly affects and undermines an already complex class.

Bigkilla is correct.

Outsider BAB and proficiencies only apply to outsiders with racial HD. Tieflings, aasimar, and other such native outsiders that are defined by their class levels don't get that stuff.

I can't help but think certain pieces of dubstep could work really well for these guys.

Sorry. I don't apply the suggestions as written. Small communities here and there along coastlines might exist, born out of mingling between gillmen and local human populaces, but they just combine some of those Azlanti features and cultural norms with whatever's local. Those folks tend to identify more with their human heritage(Varisian, Garundi, etc.) than Azlanti, which has passed through their partial gillmen heritage.

The only folks that sport all of the expected Azlanti featurs and cultural aspects would be some(not all) gillmen tribes.

Nope. At least, none with the "+2 to everything" mechanics.

To be honest, nothing has come up that would require those stats to ever be presented, but if it did, I would also be giving that bonus to the Mwangi progenitor ethnicity and any other ancient "First Men". Otherwise it just comes across too much like those old "lost master race" notions from the turn of the 19th/20th century.

Even then, I'd probably ditch it, because giving it to all of the first humans just shifts the reason I dislike it to another scale: They'd be inherently better in every way than the other races of the setting(elves, dwarves, etc.). And I hate the Humans Are Special trope just as much as I hate the Elves Are Just Better trope.

As for modern Azlanti communities still being around, minus the "pureblood" bit, I suppose, but they're all gillmen.

Yep. It's basically whatever you think is most fitting.

Do you want to speak eldritch words beyond your target's ken? Or do you want to ham it up and go Maleficent on them instead?

I'm not near my books at the moment, but there's that artifact level shattered shield back from the days of the Silver Crusade, IIRC. Broke when Tar-Baphon tried to teleport its weilder's heart right out of his chest. I believe it was mentioned in the original Campaign Setting. Probably updated in the ISWG?

The idea that the Knights still have some of Arazni's organs (Inner Sea WG) and still honor what she was, as opposed to the Harlot Queen of Geb that she is now, is excellent.

Always loved that notion.

I can't wait to get my hands on the custom race rules.

Srsly. I have really, really high hopes for that chapter.

half wonder if it will have any prcs not native to golarion in it..

Probably not, since it's part of the setting line. But they should be adaptable for other settings!

Unless you mean something like Castrovel Mindknight or something else from the other worlds in the setting, which still strikes me as highly unlikely.

Yeah, LN Kuthites are fun mental excersizes.

Boy howdy are they ever. Been fiddling around with a LN Kuthite inquisitor concept that could work with both a heroic party or an evil party. Getting into such a character's head, keeping them human(so to speak) and relatable but still fundamentally twisted inside, and finding a balance between demonstrating their horrifying wrongness while not shooting right past everyone's comfort levels is quite the juggling act.

Taking the "feels too much" and "possessively protective" routes mentioned in Faiths of Corruption. Still possesses a strong sense of empathy for others, but it's been distorted into something unhealthy by past tragedies.

Just found it again: Purple Duck Games' Legendary Races: Medusa has a quick and dirty serpentine-body template that'll do in a pinch. Still hoping Advanced Race Guide has its own slant on that concept of course.

Also, just stumbled upon lock gaze from Ultimate Combat. Feels like a good fit.

Cripes, that's practically my idea of GM Hell.

The most important question now is this: Is the game they want one that you want to GM? If you're just going to be miserable running a game for them, you'd really be better off looking for another group(and they would be better off looking for a GM that actually likes the kind of game they want).

Different strokes for different folks and all that.

Harsk: I'm the only thing on this cover that doesn't taste like chicken.

because dorfs taste like jerky

Guys, seriously, thanks! :D

Adder Strike is going to be useful for a lot of folks related to these. I can't remember for certain, but it might actually be built into the Vishkanya right out of the box too.

Completely forgot about World Serpent totem, which actually fits the Golarion version of these folks quite well.

Checking back on all of those sources too, Set. I had forgotten all about Wadjet and Apep! Considering kris and kukri as well, though perhaps with a bit of visual adjustment.

Possibly some sort of glove/gauntlet shaped like a serpent's head could be worked in as well. Something that emulates the biting hands of the Inphidians from Tome of Horrors. Part of me thinks it's a bit over the top. Another thinks that it could make for some very nice imagery if played right. Like some Bali or Khmer-style dancer clad in jewelry and matching snapping metal snake heads on her hands, complete with poison reservoirs...

Leaning more towards Calistria(CN, trickery and revenge), Norborger(NE, secrets and poisoned stabbin'), or other?

Inquisitor might be a friendly in-between class that can cover both of your flavors adequately. I've yet to play one, but they seem to play pretty well in that direction from what I've seen so far.

My crew should probably not read on.

Fiddling around with an idea that I'll use either in my homebrew(as a GM) or in a Golarion game(as a GM or player).

Long story short: Basically looking for every serpent-flavored option in the game for a party of good-aligned characters.

Long story long: My homebrew has a continent inhabited primarily by yuan-ti offshoot race that was transplanted there from another world where they were originally standard yuan-ti. Their society is centered around a god-empress risen marilith that is just on the edge of apotheosis into the setting's actual for-reals goddess of redemption. The yuan-ti of that culture have slowly evolved into various races and castes. While I've had these guys on the backburner for a long time, the new nagaji and vishkanya races are probably getting their mechanics plugged in there to represent some of those races.

If this stuff gets used in Golarion instead, probably going to go for some different flavor, something centered around a sect devoted to a celestial aspect of Ouroboros or somesuch and other benign gods seen through that lens, spanning various cultures such as Osirion, Vudra, and Nagajor.

Broad strokes take on the characters:

Nagaji summoner w/ Serpentine Eidolon (mostly naga-shaped, heavy on spell-like abilities possibly) Sees eidolon as a sacred guardian to be deferred to.

Vishkanya summoner w/ Serpentine Eidolon (lillend/marilith hybrid shape, heavy on melee combat possibly) Sees eidolon as an ideal to ascend towards.

Egyptian flavored cleric, possibly an Ophidian (from Psionics Unleashed)

Vishkayna(most likely) monk (using Serpent Style and whatever else is evocative of that flavor, heavy on the twisting/tangling/contortionist image)

And an appropriate fighty type to round things out, possibly a nagaji.

Then there's possibly a Serpentine-bloodline sorcerer that could fit in there somewhere.

What I'm wondering about is what other options out there could be added to these guys?

The current races I'm pulling from so far:

Vishkanya
Nagaji
Ophidian
"Other race(human/elf/etc)" w/Serpentine Bloodline

Hopefully a half-human/half-serpent-shaped(lamia matriarch-shaped) race once Advanced Race Guide comes out.

Weapons:

Whip(and variants)
Urumi

Combat:

Serpent Style

Spells:

Sepia Snake Sigil
Fire Snake
Snake Staff
Hypnotism

Summoning options:
Celestial snake
Lillend
Couatl(at least via gate

What other options stand out?

Yeah, pretty sure this is the current record holder on these boards for closure delay. :)

(where the closure actually came, that is!)

I wasn't playing a paladin, but I did have a LG cavalier in one game where the GM was the one killing all of my prisoners...actually, come to think of it, he killed anyone I tried to spare from death.

A few examples...

Cripes.

Misery porn GMs are the absolute worst. If one is going to flat-out prevent the PCs from ever doing anything positive, why should they bother playing in one's game?

I mean....damn. That is just bad GM work.

I'm still just confused by that approach to paladins combined with a god of mercy and redemption and that race choice.

I mean if anyone would appreciate what that deity is all about, it should be a non-evil member of INSERT USUALLY EVIL RACE HERE.

This player's detect-evil-smite-evil playstyle also runs roughshod over any other players that might actually be hoping for more nuanced interaction with evil NPCs. Especially those that actually like the idea of redemption.

I will be running a campaign soon, and one of the PCs is going to be a blind albino drow paladin. He is going for a clayton bigsby feel, because his drow happens to be a racist. His chosen diety is sarenrae, and he states he is going to continuously cast detect evil and swing his scimitar at whatever evil is to be revealed. I allowed him to have blind fight as a bonus feat.

I need advice on how detect evil will work for a blind PC.

I also need assistance on his kill everyone and every thing that is evil, screw everybody else mentality. Is this really okay for a paladin?

Not only is that not okay for a paladin, or any genuinely good character, that player doesn't really seem to get what Sarenrae is about.

Too many folks are all too eager to throw vitriol and accusations around, forgetting that there are actual people and context on the other side of the screen. The scene around here really does feel less welcoming these days, and that makes me really sad. Sorry to hear about your friend KnightErrant.

I could complain about, for example, a group of characters from Osirion that introduced themselves in each scenario as terrorists and made ululating noises as they threw bombs, and perhaps I should have. However, it was very ingrained in me not not make waves against someone's concept of a character they are playing.

Those guys sound like complete jerkasses and should be shunned.

Yes, I note the hypocrisy. But that's some well-considered vitriol and accusation.

Unfortunately in SKR's example he points to a Monk with ONE of his unarmed strikes augmented by Magic Fang.......

There is more getting nerfed than one weapon full flurry.
I'm actually surprised no one else jumped on that. The whole body as a single weapon thing is getting nerfed as well. That's potentially painful as well since it takes the option of Permanency+GMW or GMF off the table.

Yep, this came up in response to the request for a way to enhance the entire abstract unarmed strike IIRC.

Which means even bare-handed monks get caught in all of this now.

Amulet of Mighty fists is VERY powerful for most enemies

a dragon wearing one will get the enhancement on ALL 6 natural attacks

Good point. Question in OP now clarified.

NO

YES

Taking a page from Grand Magus' OTD poll threads just one time.

Do you think the Amulet of Mighty Fists is fairly priced as is for monks?

Hit the '+' on your answer below or post it along with any other input on your stance.

The most annoying part of this entire situation isn't even the rules change/clarification, it is the attitude adopted by many that if you interpreted the rules under the less restrictive form, that somehow the person that did so was clearly not paying attention/comprehending how Pathfinder works/trying to game the system.

Given the number of people that seem to have interpreted the rule in it's less restrictive form, it would be nice if people would simply acknowledge that perhaps the rule, if intended in the stricter form from the beginning, was not as clear as it could have been.

Indeed. Calling out the bile from some that are unhappy about this turn of events is fair enough, but hot damn there's a good amount of that flowing from the other camp as well. But it's easier to see those one disagrees with as powergamers/min-maxers/cheaters/whatever than people with a legitimate beef for some, I suppose.

Restating from the other thread: Monks just can't seem to catch a break for very long.

Agreed'd. The Legacy weapon concept is something that is long past due for a revisit and revision on the strength of flavor alone.

Abraham spalding wrote:

0gre wrote:

The amulet uses a slot. Weapons use a free hand. Both are valuable for different reasons. You can carry two fists full of beer and still use IUS, tough to do with a sword. Monks can also just flurry with two monk weapons, same as a fighter. Or... they can flurry with one weapon, while holding a beer, I'd love to see a two weapon fighter do that!

Armor spikes, boot blades, and the fact the fighter can also take the improved unarmed strike feat all kind of put huge divots into your position.

The fighter can manage the same thing without having to give up armor, alignment, and better weapon choices to boot.

I am skeptical that a fighter can be as effective with boot blades and armor spikes as a monk is with IUS, but whatever. The point is the amulet takes resources, a weapon does too.

The resources the amulet eats up are however disproportionate with what the other classes have to use.

Especially so if you're using AoMF and bracers of armor.