Morgen's page

In regards to bonus Hit Dice, they don't stack by adding them all together. You use the better of what appears on the chart. The natural armor, strength, an int all work the same way as the HD, the table is showing you what your current bonus is. So you go from having +2 to +4 to +6 to +8 etc. The '+' signs are there to remind you that you'd adding them onto the base Mount's stats.

All of the special items you keep for each level bridge, so at 18th level you have all of the special abilities listed from Empathic Link to Spell Resistance.

If it's in a picture, I'd say artistic license.

If it's in a stat block there is no reason he can't own and carry both, it's just the wielding of them together that gets wonky.

We had a group in Living Greyhawk called the Dawn Riders. Interesting little organization.

I really hope it's a successful attempt to do what I think they're doing and it doesn't all get mucked up. Nice to see them win, they could use one.

V and the Paladin make a good team too, it'd be nice to see them together for a while.

There was a roleplaying podcast that was floating around a while ago that was of people playing in the World's Largest Dungeon.

I've always been curious about it's sister product the World's Largest City and what that contained.

Well no, 3.5 sunder always allowed for that kind of thing.

The real change between 3.5 and the Pathfinder RPG that I'm seeing is the removal of a limitation on what kind of weapons you can sunder with.

3.5 you need to use either a slashing or bludgeoning weapon, the Pathfinder Beta has no such restriction I see.

Maybe you should focus a little bit more on the other conjuration spells at the lower levels rather then Summon Monster 1.

You've got spells like Mount, Grease, Obscuring Mist and even Unseen Servant.

You'll have a long time to be a master summoner with tons of creature being brought into your employ. Time to learn the fundamentals of being a wizard by helping out the rest of the party.

Well it would seem like a good idea to test it out a few times first. If you've got a player looking to do it, try starting off with half the bonus rounded down at first and if it seems more powerful or less powerful, feel free to scale it a little more/less.

It is pretty situational, so it probably won't break your games by experimenting with it like that.

Well you don't have to assume that you take the shot at the target if your ally is in the way you know. A miss due to shooting into melee could be because you purposefully pull your shot at the last moment due to a companion shifting into the direct line of a shot.

You know, something along the lines like you'd relaxed your grip/started to pull the trigger and it was too late to stop things completely but you manage to shift your aim just enough.

You start going down a slippery slope like that and you'll end up having to track the path of every projectile in the combat given enough time. After all, to be fair if I have a chance of hitting my ally when he's in melee combat with an enemy, shouldn't I also have a chance of hitting someone behind or in front of my target when I miss with a shot?

Rope trick simply fills a little nitch that has been around for a long time. It's a lower level spell simply because it doesn't lead to killing or maiming very well.

Plus it's very limited in what it can do, almost entirely useless if the party has any kind of supplies or caravan. At best it gives a group a safe place to sleep for a night in a dungeon, which certainly is not going to do anything other then help make the game more interesting.

Plus you know, a detect magic/dispell magic combo would be a nasty wake up call in the middle of the night.

I'd say this spell is just fine where it is at and should certainly not have some ridiculous cost added to it. Evard's Black Tentacles shouldn't either as a side note.

How about Whisper Gnomes being so much better then other small races by a long shot?

There is a very obvious power creep that happened and by the end of 3.5 there were issues. Polymorph was completely messed up by that point with 5 monster manuals and several other books to rake through for monsters with appropriate hit dice for example.

I like a lot of the changes and the reactions to things at my FLGS has likewise been positive. They've sold more Pathfinder Beta books then 4th edition PHBs. :D

I'm digging the sorcerer bloodlines myself, as leveling as a pure sorcerer was rather bland and underpowered. :(

Just curious about it is all. It used to be a big part of older systems of D&D and it would be nice to see at least something come out for it eventually.

Owning and running businesses would be radically awesome. They usually make decent front for adventurers and give you more things to work with as a DM.

Well I do still have that particular book. I was curious if there had been anything new announced with the Pathfinder RPG but if that's how it'll work then I'll stick with that.

I'm always a bit leery using a 3.0 book in a 3.5+ world though, never know what might be wonky in the process. :)

So I'm getting ideas fro my campaign building up here, going to make a small island based world that the PCs will wonder around in and deal with Grell and Gricks and Kobolds and the like, and at some point I'd like for them to be able to get more involved in the economics and political dealings of society. One of the things I'd like to do would to allow them a chance to get some property to either build with or deal with. I'm not sure if I'm thinking small keep or moderate sized inn or what, but I'm curious if anyone has tried this with Pathfinder yet, if there are considerations for rules and the like, general information as such.

I know 3rd edition kind of keep away from that kind of scale, but the leadership feat still exists and those followers need something to do.

Anyone have any advice for Strongholds in the PathfinderRPG?

Does anyone know how we as players are going to convert to the pathfinder RPG? I can't seem to find any information on that in particular anywhere and one of my players has asked me. Are we just converting straight over, is there a formula, or what?

That's what happens when your playing a slightly hybrid class like a paladin. Divine powers mixed with martial combat aren't going to make for the best damage dealer in the game. Still you get full BAB, and if you think tactically you can increase the damage done to things easily. After all your the one flanking with the rogue so he can get his sneak attack damage dice usually.

More seriously though, we do have access to both martial and divine feats as well. We may not channel energy as well as the cleric can, but our power can easily activate any feats that need it. I don't know if pathfinder has any yet, but 3.5 had some extremely nice feats that made being a paladin pretty awesome. Some of our spells are a bit ridiculous as well.

To be able to stand before a greater shadow and look over at the rest of the people at the table and go, "Don't worry guys, I got this" and solo the thing without losing a point of strength, I was pretty happy.

I guess I've never seen the smite evil class ability as the defining ability. I've more seen it our ability to survive a lot of things that other characters can't and stand as beacons of hope and justice. Just being that beacon tends to help us be a threat at times. I'm sure many of the most evil creatures that exist would ignore those pesky daggers stabbing at it's side to sink it's claws into such the bright symbol of justice and good that is the paladin.

I still have a copy of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Role playing Game book. It's pretty epic. Too bad the cartoon came out and ruined the fan base for it. -.-;

The problem with more smiting is what some players do to it. Smite abilities add set damage to damage rolls and are therefor multiplied by various effects. Charging with a lance on horseback, spirited charges, critical hits, etc.

Paladins as they are presently are very powerful. They might not have the obvious damage output as rogues, but I don't see why they would be expected to?

Heck, by 5th level your immune to fear and all diseases, can smite evil twice per day, add your charisma bonus to all your saving throws, can cast spells, channel divine energy and summon a warhorse out of nothing.

Please don't call me ignorant because my play experience doesn't match what the older books have told me I'm supposed to experience.

Gods, forgot this was the internet for a second there. I wasn't calling you specifically ignorant, I was suggesting where the concept that hit points were anything but what they're supposed to be came from. Besides you started it with that 4th edition crack.

I'm not just talking about old editions either. Even in 3.5 there is reference to hit points being divine favor or inner strength. It's on page 142 of the player's handbook. Not the half page description of hit points Mr. Gygax did but it still implies that they're more then just blood.

Lots of munchkinism and min maxing going on in my group. They are the only ones around here to game with though.

I honestly feel sorry for you to have to deal with that. :(

Players who want to min/max without understanding that preparation is the #1 best way to win. x.x;

If I believed that, I might be playing 4e. But since Healing Surges don't feel right to me, I'm still playing 3.5, and want to play PF. And since that point keeps coming up, I think the community needs to accept that there are some of us that DO see HP as toughness and training, period. :)

I'm very sorry that you feel that way but I wasn't referring to 4th edition. I was referring to Dungeons and Dragons. Hit points have been a cumulative effect of those driving forces since AD&D. Gary Gygax himself penned them as such. Check it out. Page 82 of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide Book, 1st edition.

It's ignorant players who don't understand and/or refuse to read the rules which cause the misconception. Your physical toughness is your constitution score. Your hit points are a lot of different things all rolled up into one number.

No.

I don't see why it would be assumed that you wouldn't have to rebond a new staff to have one that was masterwork. Familairs and the like weren't normally things you started with in D&D, it took some adventuring before you were finally able to afford the costs of them.

I don't see why the item would be any different in the spirit of things.

As someone who was actually playing a sorcerer for the past 5 years in Living Greyhawk, I'm pretty sure that a lot of what Paizo has already done for the sorcerer is quite appreciated.

As 3.5 stood they were underpowered. The got some extra spell slots and simple weapon proficiencies and that's it? It was all about spells and how you used them, and they are a lot of fun to play, especially in a living campaign where people just assume you've got spell X or Y and you don't and they give you that amazed look. (Had a DM assume I had Mage Armor and False Life, hehe)

The steps that Paizo has taken to improve the sorcerer class are absolutely huge! Inherent bloodline powers which used to cost us 1-7 feat slots to get the same use out of. More hit points (something we always should of had) and a much more robust selection of class skills with useful skills like Intimidate and Use Magic Device.

Combining those abilities with feats and good spell selection makes the sorcerer more then powerful enough.

*sighs*

Hit points don't represent just your physical toughness. The represent a combination of luck, training, skill, divine favor and on top of all that physical toughness.

You get bonus hit points for the racial preferred class due to your inborn talent at the class itself.

There are actually rules in the main books for 3rd edition that talk about using a torch as a weapon like that, so often that there was actually a martial combat feat in one of the odd books (Dungeonscape I think) that worked if you had a weapon in one hand and a torch in the other.

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to get the +1 AC from the feat you've got, though it's really up to your DM at the end of the day.

You can always pick up a Darkwood Buckler...

The Darkwood Buckler in at least 3rd edition, still had spell failure. Darkwood doesn't negate the spell failure of anything. Only thing that does is mithril out of the core books.

Bards are totally allowed to use shield however and it's often not a big deal if you took like dancing or singing as your perform skill of choice.

I'm sorry but you game with wierd people if the reason they don't like something is because they have to think ahead. :(

You get things like extend spell for a nonspontaneous spell caster like a wizard, or divine metamagic for clerics. Extended Mage Armor, Extended False Life, Extended Greater Magic Weapon, Extended Magic Vestment, etc.

Also, if there were sorcerers then they could enjoy spontaneously applying those metamagic feats to their spells. Same with a favored soul, bard, warmage, or beguiler and many others. Heck, a cleric could spontaneously convert a 3rd level spell for an empowered cure light wounds.

Yeah, there isn't a whole lot you can chance to speed things up other then skills without giving up some amount of customization for what you want to make. It's a very good change.

Plus you can actually develop a decent amount of class skills over a level or two.

Just because you've got good stats doesn't mean you need to come up with some special class or anything along those lines. It's actually kind of offensive to suggest that.

That character already gets the benefit of high stats and that's what will set it apart. It gets more hit points/skill points/etc for every level it takes in any class, so it's going to automatically appear better then average on a character sheet in any class.

Being one of the best starting wizard/fighter/druid/cleric/bard/sorcerer/whatever you pick/etc should be quite enough.

Well the ability to spontaneously meta is one of the larger advantages the spontaneous spell casters get in favor over the wizard's versatility. Helps to keep them feeling different and apart when you play the game.

You also have to remember there are metamagic rods in existence as well, so there are methods of trading cash for the ability to do just that as a wizard. Actually a majority of them aren't even that expensive in the DMG.

My favorite cartoon that came from the 80's? Probably Dragonball.

Wounds and vitality are all supposed to be wrapped up in what hit points actually are along with your luck, skill, training, divine favor and all those kinds of things.

To properly represent things we'd need to actually separate out the pools. Which might in and out of itself make for kind of a fun system deciding if the 12 damage you took go to your flesh, luck, favor or stamina pools...

Not something I'd want to have to run though. For a home rule your welcome to do it but I wouldn't want to see it in print.

After a certain point I thought a lot of the older editions kind of evolved into more a strategy war game where you were dealing with things on a much greater scale in your stronghold. I suppose they all don't go that way...

I should think you'd do better putting a few more points into your intelligence score if you want more skills per level. ;)

Just a joke there. I would like to see a few more skill points, but with the new class skill set up it seems less of an issue.

So I get 2+int mod skill points to put ranks into skills each level.

Each level I can add to the number of class skills I've selected, there for improving a lot of skills over just a few levels, compared to the regular skill rank system of 3.5 where I only have 1st level to really splurge on skills.

Your getting a much better deal presently, so give it a shot for a little while.

He's a talented man who writes a mean fantasy series. I even play the card game which is actually pretty solid as CCG's go. It just went noncollectable praise the reaper. Even the board game rocks.

The books for Ice and Fire are also incredible as far as fantasy stories go. Deep and involving, though I kind of sense a theme for what happens to my favorite characters. -.-;

I'm kind of surprised that somehow a quality show made it onto Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Something that has production value and solid story lines.

Seems like they're building for something in season 2 as well.

Well I've got a pretty sizable force for High Elves in the regular Warhammer game. I'm a bit lacking in variety.

I've got Eagles, Bolt Throwers, a few chariots, Silver Helms, Sea Guard, Swordmasters and Spearmen and Archers. I have no fast calvary and none of the other melee units.

I had a dragon, but things got lost and when it was found again it was broken...

*gasps* Metamagic feats useless?! Why I've got half a mind to quicken something over a comment like that.

Metamagic feats are what spell casting so useful and powerful. Extending, silencing, persisting, sculpting, quickening and the things that make your low and mid level spell purr.

They're especially important for any sorcerer worth their salt who isn't trying to go foolishly into dragon disciple. The ability to spontaneously on the fly shift spells around as you need to is so amazingly useful.

Pick up one of the Energy Substitution Metamagic feats out of the Complete Arcane and suddenly you've just multiplied a lot of your popular spells usefulness. "Fireball ineffective? Well let's see how they like an acidball!" Also a thing to remember is you can apply more then one metamagic feat to a spell at the same time. I've managed to get a lot of millage out of a Sculpted, Empowered, Energy Substitution: Electricity, Born of Three Thunders Fireball. Quite the potent use of a 6th level spell.

Then add in the ability that the Arcane bloodline offers to apply those feats without extending the casting time? Sorcerers can finally quicken spell without taking a moderately high level feat, and that is quite excellent.

Some of the EL races are justified, but they did go overboard on a lot of the early races. The +1 LA area with the new Pathfinder rules should be just hacked off from what I've seen. The MM or Races of Destiny Planetouched are on par with the other PC races. The higher EL ones are the harder to deal with.

Personally I liked the idea of the monsterous classes that came out of Savage Species. It worked really slick for Centaurs in Living Greyhawk.

Simplicity is the way that 4th edition went where every character class does one or two things and that's all you can do with them. It wouldn't make sense to oversimplify the classes. Plus a lot of what you seem to talk about is just the options you have to take, which isn't complicating things but letting you make the character you want.

Well I think that for what they are, a +2 to charisma for a halfling makes sense to me. I don't see them as any smarter or wiser then anyone else but I agree that the wording on it doesn't exactly add up.

Maybe instead of, "Half lings are nimble and strong-willed" something like, "Half lings are nimble and have strong personalities"

Something like that?

I think Gnomes might do better with a bonus to Int for being industrious, but honestly if both halflings and gnomes get a +2 to charisma, they still have other different stats.

They're small so -2 to strength, but gnomes get +2 to constitution and halflings get +2 to dexterity. They have other different racial abilities all together so it shouldn't be that hard to tell them apart.

Though if it's on the table, maybe swap out gnomes for kobolds? :3

Still waiting for the FLGS to get it in. They've been doing well on keeping Knights of the Dinner Table in stock, and of course there are lots of other Pathfinder books in too, but not the RPG Beta. :(

Greetings and salutations all. Haven't really been too active on here, but I hope things go well and I'm looking forward to taking part in the pathfinder society adventures in the future.

Hopefully something will get going in Minnesota soon.

While the general ideal of the class always seemed more powerful then it actually was, there wouldn't be much of a need to continue to progress domain or school powers with any prestige class. That's one of the benefits you get for keeping with just your single class after all. Sure a few offer advancement for a druid animal companion or a wizard's familiar or a cleric's undead turning, but they weren't terribly common.

Well there are plenty of races that would be relatively easy to convert over for player use I'd imagine with a little bit of work. If it's something from an early 3.5 book you would probably beef it up a little bit more then if it was from a later book.

Who knows what the future might bring though? If the game succeeds and takes off, there might be a call for some new splash books or campaign settings and then there might be a need for a few new races.

I'd personally like to push for more kobolds as well. They really deserve to be a PC race by now, given how much they've suffered.

Well Kobolds are still a small race. So a -2 to strength makes sense. A -4 was always ridiculously extreme, especially when you tacked on a -2 con penalty as well.

The pathetic +2 dex is in no way a proper balance for a -6 total penalty to stats and a point of natural armor. Seeing as they're small creatures just like halflings (who get a +1 to all saving throws mind you!) we thought that it was much more balanced to give them a -2 strength and a +2 dexterity and keep them like that. I believe we even gave them a few color options to be more orientated towards a task or something.

Apparently when 3.5 was being made they thought a 30 foot movement on a small creature was worth more then it is, as even in some of their later books they had PC races that were small and moved 30. Look at the Whisper Gnome and how awesome there were.

What about the CR system for traps being ridiculously wonky?

A Wail of the Banshee trap is what, CR 10? A 9th level save or die spell with a relatively nice sided AOE is only CR 10? That's hardly right or appropriate. :/