Nameless's page

It seems I'm always just a tad too late to join in these PbPs! So if you for any reason need an alternate at some point, I shall express my interest to (perhaps?) become one of said alternates here.

Also, I (hopefully) will be a teacher in one year, if that makes any difference. ;)

Seems like this is shaping up to be an interesting group. It will be fun to watch.

Oh Kirk and Picard are great and all, but they're no Wesley Crusher.

...

Right?

If it's not voluntary, I think it should be. It doesn't make sense that having a familiar is a requirement to being a Wizard.

I'm pretty sure it is voluntary, but clearing that up in the final would be nice.

Yes. Why do you ask?

All this llama talk, it's trouble. Don't say I didn't warn you.

You're a WinAmp user, aren't you?

Nameless wrote:

Tarren Dei wrote:

Nameless wrote:

That last post by Esteban was freakin' hilarious. I'm still laughing.

Fippin's pre-rolled perception check was 20.

Esteban made 15 (7+8) to bluff. hehehe.

That's what I figured was going on. Still... Priceless.

:-)

Do you know Jal Dorak and Mikaze?

I do! Well, I don't know them, if you know what I mean, but like... I know them? You know, that weird way you know people on the Internet. By aknowledging their posts and getting to know their avatars. You know.

Nameless wrote:

That last post by Esteban was freakin' hilarious. I'm still laughing.

Fippin's pre-rolled perception check was 20.

Esteban made 15 (7+8) to bluff. hehehe.

That's what I figured was going on. Still... Priceless.

That last post by Esteban was freakin' hilarious. I'm still laughing.

Both 'graphic novel' and 'manga' can be pretty broad categories. What, precisely, are we talking about?

Some of the old D&D comic books make me wince. Ptolus had a look I liked. The Dark Horse Conan comics, for the most part, had a gritty feel that appealled to me but the Red Sonja's never got me going ... even with Sonja in it. My son and I both read 'Hedge Knight' four times each, but I would want Pathfinder to be edgier.

What kind of Pathfinder manga/grapic novel would appeal to you?

I'll be honest here when I say my knowledge of manga/graphic novels/comics is very limited, as will become clear in the next few sentences.

For manga, I generally picture very cartoony Japanese style comics. It seems from reading this thread that there's more to it than that, but that's what immediately comes to mind. I can't really picture Pathfinder with that style.

As for what kind of graphic novel I would like, I would definitely like to see something gritty, as you mentioned. I saw a few shots of the Conan comics earlier in the thread, and that would be a pretty cool style, I think. Also, the Dark Tower comics are very pleasant to look at, though that style's a little too dark for Pathfinder, I think.

I just took a look at the Ptolus comics, and they're also very nice. I guess what I'd really like to see is something on the more realistic side of things. Well, realistic for heroic fantasy, anyways.

I would definitely buy it Day 1 if it were a graphic novel. A manga, well I can't say I wouldn't get it, but I'd definitely have to think about it.

If there were to be a graphic novel one day, however, I would become your thrall, Mr. Schneider.

This thread is getting all wonky. Some new posts are appearing on page 5. Strange.

I've always said it so that it rhymes with 'cow'.

Jal Dorak wrote:

Tarren Dei wrote:

I'd like to invite you, Nameless, and Mikuze ... Mizuke? ... Makazu? ... damn, and I should be good at vaguely Japanese sounding names. You know who I mean.

You're referring to Mikaze? Good show. Nothing but good things to say about Mikaze and Nameless.

Yes. Mikaze. I'm not starting anything right now but I think Jal Dorak, Nameless, and Mikaze would be a great core group when I get something together. :-)

Yes! New PbP! I am full of excitement! I will endeavor to last longer this time. I'm shooting for three encounters minimum.

So that's my way of saying that when you're ready, I will be there.

Lilith wrote:

My advice to you is to fight back.

Must... resist... spending.. next... paycheck!

You gotta think, too, that building a trebuchet could be an investment! I know if my neighbour had a trebuchet and asked me to borrow some money, I'd lend him what he needs.

Sure, but you could make the same statement about providing +1 to three abilities, or four abilities... this is the problem I see in a lot of places on this board "This change is tiny and doesn't really increase the power level that much"... but all of the changes rolled together do have a huge impact. The races already start out with one ability score 2 higher than in 3.5 core. How many little changes does it take to make a big one?

Wise words. I am fully behind you on this one. We should avoid pumping up the power level of the PFRPG. I'm fine with boosting some classes that need it, like the Fighter and Monk, but giving additional Ability Points to all classes just increases the power level across the board, which just serves to increase the power of PCs without a very compelling reason to do so.

This post isn't meant to call anyone out or anything, and I acknowledge that there are plenty of "good" roleplayers out there. This thread is mostly just to make people who think they might be good roleplayers realize that they really aren't (but might be good at faking it). :D

Alternately, it's a good thread for powergamers to sound off and admit their own vice.

* raises hand *

I'll admit that I always make the character first, and then develop the story afterwards. I pick a cool concept rules-wise and then flesh him out much like yourself.

In a way it's reminiscent of top-down vs. bottom-up design perspectives. Some of us have a really general character idea, then we focus into it and use the rules to recreate our character idea, while others make a specific character with the rules and then spread out to write his story, adding more and more details as you go (kinda like a snowball).

I generally do the latter, though I have done the former for a M&M game before. It just seems to fit better to come up with origin stories/power ideas before detailing the stats in that system.

Well, other people aren't contributing because they feel the atmosphere is too sensitive to criticism of Pathfinder, and too eager to be offended. This whole "oh my god, he said X sucks, he's calling us retards" thing is pretty offputting for a lot of people.

I don't know, there seem to be a lot of threads providing constructive criticism of the Pathfinder Beta rules that aren't getting bogged down like this one is. It seems to me that's because other posters have some respect for their audience.

There are a lot of things to work out in the Beta RPG. There are some that bother me. For example, when the Feats section comes under scrutiny, I will lobby my hardest to get Weapon Swap removed from the Pathfinder RPG. But when I do so, I will do it with the respect that is deserved not only to the designers, but to the people who frequent the boards who may read my post.

Perhaps by respecting the people they are trying to address, these "other posters" might be able to get their ideas through without all the unnecessary drama.

It's the Golden rule. Put simply: if you want others to respect you, you must respect them.

So wait .... is it called "St. Cuthbert st."? Cuz that just seems redundant. or would that be [St] Cuthbert [/st]?

Actually, since it's Montreal, it'd probably be written rue St. Cuthbert. ;)

But for the sake of the anglophones in Montreal, I'd hope that it's a Boulevard or and Avenue or something!

EDIT: Nope, it's definietely a street!

I missed this thread the first time around. But now I give a resounding yes! Art of the Duel is a great PDF, and the rules would fit well in PRPG. Fighters can never have too many feats! :)

Well one thing I might suggest is looking at integrating requirements. For example, why not make the Paladin's spellcasting CHA based, that way all of his casting/ turning/ etc abilities are tied to CHA while all his physical combat/ etc abilities are tied to his physical abilities.

Your idea of having the Paladin's spellcasting be purely Charisma based is so good that it's already been adopted! :)

I felt that change was a step in the right direction for reducing MAD. Monks still suffer from it, but at least Paladins are suffering less.

Dear PC Pearls,

Prepare to be purchased and downloaded tonight.

Sincerely,
Nameless

also, It is interesting to note that there is a St-Cuthbert street in Montreal. small bit of trivia for y'all.

Hmm, that makes me wonder, is the D&D St. Cuthbert based on the real-world St. Cuthbert?

If only he were the God of roads, then I would just say the St. stood for 'street' and call it a day.

OK, so I'll start this off by saying that I actually know very little about Greyhawk. I only started playing D&D regularly with 3E, and didn't get any of the Greyhawk info besides the list of basic Deities in the PHB. Which leads to my question:

What's the deal with St. Cuthbert? Who sainted him? Was he a saint before he became a God, or did he just decide, once he was a God, that he should totally be a saint? I think that would be pretty unnecessary. And why did he keep his 'Saint' title upon becoming a God? Is being worshipped by tens of thousands of people not enough for him? Also, why is he the only saint you ever hear about? Did he put some sort of ban other saints as well?

It's a conspiracy, isn't it?

The specifics of St. Cuthbert have been bothering my unknowledgable group for a very long time. We sent a question to Wizards, but they didn't answer.

And so I turn to you! People who've been playing D&D for much longer than me! What's the deal?

I would be sure to have two final results from this experiment: one assuming that Jason's "recommended attack bonus" is just BAB, and another assuming that it means "BAB+Str+Feats". For some monsters, the difference could be huge, and probably the difference between "never-hit/always-hit" and "hits 50% of the time".

Yes, I was wondering about that myself. I think it's the former, as +30 to attack at CR 20 as the "High Attack Bonus" seems a bit low, that's a difference of +27 between a good melee CR 20 creature in the Beta and the 3.5 Tarrasque. I'll definitely have to run quite a bit of this stuff... Hopefully I can get around to it soon.

Using PATHFINDER beta,

Ignoring the spellcasters who have well spells to deal with the AC issue, what is the expected range of AC for the non-spellcasters?

From the low end of the monk to the high end of the fighter, what's the ranger are we looking at for levels 5, 10, 15 and 20?

This is a good question, I'll try to make some estimates based on Jason's charts once I have some free time. It'd be interesting to see how characters of a given level stack up to monsters of the appropriate CR in terms of attacks and AC, by the Beta rules.

Dear Paizo Customer Service,

I shot off an e-mail last week about this, but I've yet to receive a response. I have recently changed addresses, and would like my account to be updated with my new address before PF#14 ships to avoid unnecessary headaches. My new address can be found in the e-mail I sent you last week.

I know there's probably still a long time yet before my next products get shipped, but I'm obsessive this way. :)

Thanks for your help,
Neil

I see rules on Con games, home games, and store games, but I have yet to see any information on PBP games. Are they allowed as PFS games? I'd love to see the Play by post section of these boards grow with some PFS member support.

They are not currently allowed, but this is still the "playtest" season. Who knows what Season 1 will bring?

You're right, though, this would be cool.

As logicninja (I believe) pointed out, dragons do tend to be the exception rather than the rule. Balors have only +31, pit fiends have 2 at +30. Aiming for AC 50 puts the fighter out of range of these iconic bad guys (of course, they could be fixed in the monster book). I'm guestimating here, but I think AC 50 is close to achievable with a sword-and-board fighter with +5 items including natural armor and deflection and a few other bonuses. That said, if the fighter capstone gave them a permanent dodge bonus to AC, it might not be too bad. I just don't want a situation where the Balor has only a 5% chance to hit the fighter.

A very good point. You want the Balor and Pit Fiend to be able to hit, though I think they both could stand a few more HD (particularly the Pit Fiend, at 18HD it is summonable with Greater Planar Binding), but that shouldn't be the fix we should be looking for. After a closer look at the Beta, I noted the expected attack modifiers for a CR 20 creature are +30 for the high attack and +22 for the low attack respectively (though I assume this doesn't include STR modifiers), which is pretty fair. So the AC of a Fighter definitely seems in line with these numbers.

It's just the exceptions that are trouble. Dragons have a full BAB but so many HD in order to make them very challenging. Should this be changed?

Further Note: According to Jason's table on page 294 of the Beta, a Dragon of CR 20 should have about 26 HD, while the CR 19 White Dragon Wyrm has 33HD.

Unfortunately, in my experience, raising AC across the board just creates a situation where the fighter is so unhittable, that monsters just demolish the lower-AC characters. With minimal effort a level 10 fighter can get AC 32.

I think a better fix than improving ACs would be to improve other classes chances of negating/minimizing damage.

Barbarians could get the ability to roll a fort save to half damage.

Rogues could use defensive roll more often.

Spellcasters - well, they have enough spells to help with this.

Rangers could apply Favored Enemy/Terrain to their AC as well.

Monks should get more kick out of Wholeness of Body.

Paladins should probably, at some point, be surrounded by a magic circle versus evil effect.

First off, I like your suggestions here. I like the idea of defensive rolls, and I really like the idea of a Magic Circle Aura for the Paladin (or something along those lines).

I know Fighters' ACs get very high, but just taking a quick glance through the SRD, it seems attack bonuses for CR 20 creatures average around +40ish, and that's a little low. Example: A great wyrm White Dragon (CR 21) has a +45 to attack. So a Fighter needs at least AC 48 to achieve any benefit at all from his armor (any lower and the monster will hit him 95% of the time, like everything else). He would need AC 50 to avoid damage just 20% of the time. For a character who is not optimized for defense, AC 50 seems a little high.

At the same time, the Fighter has little difficulty hitting the creature in return, so you get the slugfests that become common at high levels in D&D. The monster doesn't miss, and neither do you.

It's a difficult problem because at high levels, different builds vary so much from each other. I think you idea of adding defensive abilities that are not AC is a pretty good solution, though.

You're absolutely right that AC is fairly balanced through most of the game (at level 10, as you say, it fits pretty well), but I still think AC could stand to be a bit higher at the highest levels of play (ie: levels 18-20).

A level 20 barbarian with Power Attack has no reason to take the +20 Damage rage power. He can take the +20 AB power, use it constantly, and Power Attack for 10 with a two-handed weapon, getting +10 AB and +20 damage.

Speaking of which, giving level 20 barbarians +10 AB and +20 damage constantly is bad for the game. It doesn't fix anything, it makes it lopsided.

Note that Power Attack is now capped by your STR modifier. I imagine a lvl 20 Barbarian could pull off a +10 STR modifier, but lower level Barbarians would have limited Power Attack.

I do agree that Elemental Rage is too expensive. It'd be nice to see the cost in rage points to be lowered, or the damage to be boosted. As it stands, it does seem like an ability whose cost is too high for the benefit.

Guys: 3.5 core Barbarians, Fighters, etc, can't be fixed by giving them Attack Bonus, Damage, and AC bonuses. They are fine in those departments. A core Barbarian does plenty of damage. A core Fighter has a good AC. Giving them more of these things just makes the game lopsided in a new way, and doesn't address any of the real issues.

I understand where you're going with this, but I think AC could stand to be a bit higher. It seems in the higher tiers of the game, aside from Fighters specializing in high AC, it doesn't matter who you are, you're going to get hit 95% of the time. Monsters of CR 20 and up have Base Attack Bonuses so high that AC almost becomes irrelevant.

I do agree that the combat classes attack and damage bonuses are generally high enough, though.

Me wantee! My friend picked up the Star Wars Saga Edition GM Screen and it is fantastic. If the Pathfinder GM Screen was as tough as that thing is, I would be incredibly pleased!

My old 3.5 Eberron one is getting pretty beat-up.

::shakes head sadly:: Chuol will be missed.......but it was a very paladiny death :)

Excellent, that's what I was going for! :)

Gives Nameless a concilation cookie

The best kind of cookies! Yay!

Yep, seems right. Think we are going to need it if we run into anymore encounters like this last one. Thanks for double checking it :)

Tell me about it! Oh, wait...

;)

I like the new feat, but at the same time, I don't think Cleave needed to be changed, as the original Cleave did something unique and interesting. I can understand why they changed it when Combat Feats used to mean something, but now that they are just regular feats that can be taken as Fighter bonus feats, we should have the old Cleave back.

My suggestion: Keep both feats. Have your standard Cleave and then take this feat and re-name it, add Cleave as a Pre-Req, and you have a neat new option for Fighters and other warriors.

I just finished Braid a few minutes ago, and was wondering if anyone else here has played/finished it. The ending is spectacular, and is worth the price of admission by itself.

For those who aren't aware, Braid is an amazing Platformer/Puzzle game (available through XBox Live Arcade) with some of the most ingenious puzzles I have seen in a video game. The basic idea is simple: you travel through worlds, jumping on enemies heads à la Super Mario. The twist is that you have the power to rewind time, and the puzzles are pretty much all dependant upon this power.

The story seems simple, you're searching for the princess, hoping to find her at the end of the worlds you are searching. In reality, however, the story has a few twists in store, and the ending is perhaps one of the best that I've ever seen in a video game.

If you have an XBox 360, you can't go wrong with this. It is a little short for the price ($15), but I don't think you'll find a game with more entertaining and pure gameplay moments.

Besides Portal, that is.

I second your proposition! Saturdays during daytime are clear for me, and every two weeks should be consistent enough to get through most of the scenarios. Oh, and Dave is very right about the Magic releases. I've been there, and it would be impossible to have some PFS on those days, unless we were to set ourselves up on the floor.

Also, you said that you haven't played Murder on the Silken Caravan, right? I think I'll pick it up and run it for you guys once we get going... on the condition that you run Frozen Fingers at some point! :)

I'm glad that we've got something going here, and I'm excited to get started!

Oh, also, I have a friend who lives near Wizard's Tower who seems as though he would be interested in playing and two other friends who might be interested in playing and sometimes GMing.

Devel went back to Georgia, or Devil went to Jamaica?

I was referring to a tribute of the more... Tenacious kind.

I always seem to be the token Simulationist guy.

Don't forget token Zoe Bell fan!

I have no which clique I fit into, besides that Canadian one.

Have to see this Combat sheet you guys are talking about. Usually I use graph paper and notes and plan the strategies ahead of time.

Well I'm not sure what the OP meant, but for me, I take the statblocks and copy/type them up into another document, appending my own notes and strategies to the bottom. I try to organize everything so that simple encounters can fit on only one page. Thus when running the encounter, I have all stats, notes, strategies and abilities I may need to reference easily available.

It's sorta like the WotC Delve format, except that I don't have the unnecessary fluff, and I don't have to flip back and forth through the book to use it.

Plus, as I mentioned before, it's a great focusing tool, I find. It gets me to think about interesting and different strategies for the encounters.

My very first post on this board was acknowledged and generated discussion. That sort of atmosphere is common around here.

Too often on Wizards I would post and it would be ignored.

Plus you probably wouldn't get cookies at the WotC boards, either.

The BOLD type would help a lot, but it may disrupt quite a bit the reading sequence. The less mix-up, the easier to read.

This is a good point, the bold type may break up the reading, which for quite a few people (me included) is one of the major selling points of Pathfinder APs and Adventures.

2. Skill Checks. Make these bold in text. Easy to spot and cue for the DM when (s)he's reading through the text. Otherwise, a DM may accidentally gloss over one.

Not a bad idea. I can't say this has been a major problem for me, but I can see how it would be helpful.

3. Combat Sheets. The stats for the NPCs are nice, but when it comes down to a battle, I'd prefer a short-hand reference guide that includes the stats of all enemies involved. Granted, this may be problematic because of the space it uses up, e.g., 15 pages for Second Darkness is my "Combat Cheat Sheet," but it sure makes combat move faster.

I can't see a way that could be implemented in the product. I could see it as a web enhancement, but that seems like an unnecessary amount of work for the Paizo staff, who, ideally, would be using all their efforts to design mega-awesome adventures!

Also, I make all these "Combat Sheets" myself before I run a game, and I not only find it useful at the table, but also useful to get a closer look at the baddies' stats before, to get a good idea of tactics I may want to try with them and to make notes of spells/abilities I should look up. I find this has improved my NPC play significantly.

In any event, still the best product line out there. Keep up the good work.

Agreed!

I could go on, but it's really one of those books a SW fan should see for themselves. Plenty of room to campaign in this era. If the Legacy Era book turns out like this, I can forsee myself buying SAGA products for a long, long time.

I'm hoping all these new "Campaign Guide" books turn out so good. When I first started playing Star Wars RPG (starting with RCR), it felt like a side-project, something to do when we were getting a little tired of D&D, so it was played minimally. But with SAGA and the excellent support it's been getting, I'm feeling more and more like this has the potential to be a truly great Roleplaying Game.

The Devil went down to Georgia

He was lookin' for a soul to steal
He was in a bind 'cause he was way behind
He willing to make a deal
When come across this young man
Sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot
The Devil jumped up on a hickory stump
and said, "Boy let me tell you what..."

I was thinking more in line with the "Tribute" to that song, but I have been known to love Devil Went Down to Georgia as well.

... Fire in the mountain run, boy, run ...

Best fiddle solo ever.

Hmm, this sounds interesting. I generally have a hard time running Star Wars stuff in the post RotJ era because a friend of mine in the group is a huge EU fan, and also a huge proponent of continuity (as am I, really), so I feel hesitant writing adventures set in this era as I don't know all the events.

The Old Republic, though, has 2000 years to play with, and very little known about it. Seems like a perfect fit!

One day, one of my Bards will challenge Asmodeus to a rock-off.

Ted Stevens head should be stuffed up his series of tubes.

Ted Stevens is the 'series of tubes' guy?!?! Maybe you should send him to Canada, because our Internet is totally not a dump truck!

Can't we just give Russia Ted Stevens and call it even?

I just read the Wikipedia article on that guy. I can see why you would want to get rid of him. But what would Russia do with him?

Nameless wrote:

Tarren Dei wrote:

And there you have it folks. 'Canadians' are a dark and disturbing lot. Who knows what other secrets lurk in the frozen North. Find out next week in our documentary special on Poutine.

Tonight on CBC's special report, Poutine: Tastiest food ever, or only second-tastiest? You decide.

"Well Dave, our panal of judges is back and it seems that- what? oh... well 4 out of the five seem to prefer the Poutine, and the fifth has his mouth glued shut with sugar-on-snow but he seems to be nodding to indicate his choice of the...Tortiere! there you have it Bob"

"...um, Jim? my name's Steve. have you been getting high off Zamboni fumes again?"

"You should know that Zambonis are electric Stan, but we are in Flin Flon..."

"Ah, right. well on to sports with Christie! how are those Canadians doing?"

"It's spelled with an "e" Steve!"

"How can you tell the way I spelt it?"

"You have to be french canadien..."

"right."

Excellent. This is officially the most Canadian (and Canadien) thread of all-time.

(I do find it funny how a lot of English announcers actually DO pronounce Canadiens differently, saying something along the lines of Canadiennes)

And there you have it folks. 'Canadians' are a dark and disturbing lot. Who knows what other secrets lurk in the frozen North. Find out next week in our documentary special on Poutine.

Tonight on CBC's special report, Poutine: Tastiest food ever, or only second-tastiest? Peter Mansbridge reporting.