Neil Phillips's page

So we should change/abandon channel energy (turn undead) because you don't use undead in your camapigns?

That makes tons of sense.

So we should change/abandon channel energy (turn undead) because you don't use undead in your camapigns?

That makes tons of sense.

You miss my point. Undead have a place in the game, but too big. That is why it would be a good spell, useful for when you need it. Like all the things a Cleric can otherwise do.

I'm just saying that it seems to be a part of the Cleric more because of there is overkill of undead in adventures, a short hand for "there is evil here." I'd say more than 2/3rds of the adventures I have played in in the last year have undead in them, some just to have a monster with no real in on the story.

A lot of people call out the overuse of Drow, saying "come up with something new." I call out to the writers, "come up with something new."

Maybe de-emphasizing it in the class is the first step to something new.

1. Can you have more than one character?

2. I see a listing for an event near me, but all it says is, "I'm hoping to get a slot running on Monday night, February 9th,
which will be PSS-09, Eye of the Crocodile King ... Players
are welcome, if they have a Pathfinder Society number and a Pathfinder
Society character."

What about level information? What if everyone shows up with everyone the same class?

I guess my question is how to know what to bring or what is allowed when most ads for games are without much info?

Thank you.

Neil Phillips wrote:

I think the new Channel Energy needs a rewrite. Turn undead needed to be redone because it was a labor to deal with. But in the new rules, say six undead and four players are in the channel energy zone… it is a ton of rolls. First, each undead makes a save roll (six of them), then takes either full or half damage (six more rolls), and the four heroes each heal (another 4 rolls). That is 16 dice rolls, which I find excessive.

No, it's not 16 rolls. You only roll damage once. It's 7 rolls (6 saves for the undead, 1 damage/healing roll). And, if the undead are, for example, 6 identical skeletons, you can simplify things by just rolling for them once.

Thanks for the qualification.

My toughts:

Prohibited School means Prohibited: You can’t add them to your spells known! This has the effect of not only making the choice of the prohibited schools more of a serious choice (these may be a great spell you can’t take), but it also simplifies determining the Wizard’s current abilities.

However, the three bonus ability’s seem okay, otherwise specialists are overpowered. Certainly, giving up two schools should be compensated, but they all get a cool power, which the Universalist does not.

As for the bonus abilities of the Universalist, why Hand of the Apprentice? Seems like a choice made to fill a slot rather than reflect the school choice. How about making it “Chose the level one ability of any school,” but keep the others the same?

I think the new Channel Energy needs a rewrite. Turn undead needed to be redone because it was a labor to deal with. But in the new rules, say six undead and four players are in the channel energy zone… it is a ton of rolls. First, each undead makes a save roll (six of them), then takes either full or half damage (six more rolls), and the four heroes each heal (another 4 rolls). That is 16 dice rolls, which I find excessive. (Though, it isn’t much different than the outcome of a Mass Harm spell, is it?).

This is a situation where I wish saves worked backwards, you roll to see the effectiveness of the power, then compare it to a set DC for each undead making the save, like an attack is a roll vs. the AC. It would be faster because you roll once then see who makes/fails the save. But you can’t change those rules.

I suggest one damage roll that applies to all creatures, either as damage or healing. As for the saving throw, don’t know.
BTW: As a GM who writes many of his own adventures, I find I stay away from undead as it has become kind of a cliché. Certainly, it is not scary anymore to encounter undead, especially since everyone knows what a skeleton, zombie, etc. have, ability and statwise after all these years. Instead, I prefer to come up with new threats with alien abilities, and kind of stay away from undead.

This leads me to the cleric’s Channel Energy/Turn Undead. Why even have this as a class feature. In my games it is mainly useless, except under rare circumstance. I’d replace with Detect Evil, Good, Law, Chaos (clerics choice at creation), much like Paladins have Detect Evil. Then I’d make Turn Undead (or channel energy) a Spell. Really, in most repects, it is a spell. Then you can simply prepare it more or less as you need it, and get rid of all those feats for gaining more turnings and so on.

Neil Phillips wrote:

One thing I would like is to have a rule that you do not have to prepare all your spell slots at one time, that you can leave some open then prepare for an hour later to fill some. This would allow a Wizard, Cleric, Druid, etc. to later in the day select spells beneficial to a situation they may have not been aware of, without having to rest overnight.

I mean, there are spells I never prepare unless I know I need it.

Another option would be to allow spell casters to to re-prepare prepared (but not expended) spell slots. It would not unbalance the game, as unlike Sorcerers who can do this on the fly, it would still waste an hour.

I believe it's already an official rule in the PH that wizards and their irk don't have to prepare all their slots at once, that they can leave some open to later prepare that day. Oh, and it takes 15 minutes to fill that open slot.

You are right about that. Sorry.

There has been a lot of discussion on this board about why playing a low-level Wizard or Sorcerer is not fun, usually dealing with low hit points and easy death. My contention is that it is not fun because they expend themselves too fast in adventures then become a kind of liability.

I mean, Wizards and Sorcerers are tons of fun starting at about level 5 and up. Before that though, especially at levels 1-3, you blow all your cool spells in one or two encounters then its protection mode, where the rest of the team needs to protect him.

Other examples: having Mage Armor be 1 hour/level has never been cool, as it is too short to save a low level Wizard in a later battle. And Summon Monster, 1 round/level, is a joke at low levels. Casting these spells just depletes you way too fast. So in the end, after one good fight you are the gimp hiding at the back of the group.

when this happens, pretty much everyone else has a very active role in an adventure, and the low level spell caster's player gets bored, and heads for the kitchen looking for Mountain Dew. It is the main reason why I try not to be the spellcaster. Even a Cleric is more fun, as when the spells deplete he is still a good fighter.

Solutions? More castings at low level? More low level bonus castings based on ability? Maybe less spell slots, but they can be refreshed after a short rest (one hour?).

More castings at low level might be best, as it could even out as it goes up. I don’t think keeping the mathematical relationship as in the rules as written is important, as it breaks down at Wiz 19-20. In the end, low levels are more hardy but mid to higher levels are mostly the same. Here is an example of the altered Spells Per Day table:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 4 3
2 4 4
3 4 4 1
4 4 4 2
5 4 4 2 1
6 4 4 3 2
7 4 4 3 2 1
8 4 4 3 3 2
9 4 4 4 3 2 1
10 4 4 4 3 3 2
11 4 4 4 4 3 2 1
12 4 4 4 4 3 3 2
13 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 1
14 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2
15 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 1
16 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2
17 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 1
18 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2
19 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3
20 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Don't get me wrong, I think Pathfinder has taken the right approach to making the two classes more livable. Having an at will attack like the Sorcerer I just made up, with an Elemental (Fire) Ray is far better than pulling out the sling I usually would be stuck with. (Of course, human Wizards and Sorcerers can adopt a Crossbow as his martial weapon and do like 1d10!) Also, the cantrips are reusable is good, as things like Daze and Flare can make a real difference to a low level fight; also the ability to at will Detect Magic takes away my contention that Wizards and Sorcerers should do that as a class ability, like a Paladin detects evil. I have used a d6 for Wiz and Sor for years now, and that is a good improvement.

One thing I would like is to have a rule that you do not have to prepare all your spell slots at one time, that you can leave some open then prepare for an hour later to fill some. This would allow a Wizard, Cleric, Druid, etc. to later in the day select spells beneficial to a situation they may have not been aware of, without having to rest overnight.

I mean, there are spells I never prepare unless I know I need it.

Another option would be to allow spell casters to to re-prepare prepared (but not expended) spell slots. It would not unbalance the game, as unlike Sorcerers who can do this on the fly, it would still waste an hour.

Getting in late, but here is my thought:

What does Psionics mean to you? Science fiction. For me it never really jibed with fantasy, though mind flayer’s were cool, I never allowed psi PC in any of my games.

How can I get you to buy a psionics book and use it in your campaign? Doubt you can if it I aimed at fantasy. However, keeping it simple would be good. 3e psionics was also complicated.

What is an absolute deal-breaker? Pretty much the book, because it’s just not my bag, man.

Husband and my wife looking for two openings for Pathfinder Society games. She likes to play only, but I can DM as well. I am in Garden Grove.

Write me at eric@ericphillips.info and let's play!

Overall, rogues are better with Pathfinder.

I think all classes are improved. Though rougues were always versitile.

Yes, but a fighter can have high perception or high acrobatics anyway with the system. The only thing the rogue1 gave you was an extra +3 to those skills. With the old system people also were tempted to multiclass with rogue, especially at 1st level where players got x4 skill points.

You only got the x4 skills at Character Level 1, not at class level 1. So if you Were a Level 1 Ftr then took Lvl 1 rogue you would NOT get the x4 skill points.

Again, i don't think it works well. One thing about having different classes is to have each party member having his "space" in the party.

Anyway, my opinion. Thanks

Well, I do agree the Skill system is improved over OGL 3.5. However, it breaks down at multiclassing. Jason Buhlman writes in the introduction, “too many of the basic classes lose their luster after just a few levels, leading most players to take a host of other classes or a number of prestige classes. … I wanted to give every class a reason to be followed up through 20th level.”

Here is where the design goal breaks: If you multiclass you get to add all the class skills of the new class to your list of “class skills” that gain +3. This would encourage me to multiclass.

I may want to be a fighter, but as a human character I can easily add a couple of levels of Rogue, get way improved perception, add on stealth, seach, disable device, and even if I end up as a Ftr 19/Rogue 1 I can have these skills equal to a Rogue 20. Not that a fighter has all that many points, but a high Perception Fighter, or a high Acrobatics fighter, is a real possibility.

Unfortunately, skills were extensively discussed and revised through 3 revisions of the Alpha, then again for the Beta and THEN the Beta version was discussed during the skill design phase of the Beta. ... The good news is that the Pathfinder skill system does take into account some of the things you wanted to accomplish, just in a different way.

well, I just found out about Pathfinder. After I checked out DnD 4e before release I went to play other games (True20, GURPS and Spirit of the Century). Wish I'd been there from the start!

I think you are right, the Pathfinder skill system does seem to work pretty well. I realize now you are not throwing out a point everytime you raise a cross class skill. Its only -3 below a class skill, which is fair. And Skill Focus could bring a cross class up to class skill.

Thanks for you kind words about racial skills. For me it is all about options, and I think it adds to the background you come from.

I am loving me some Pathfinder so far. However, I have a different take on handling skillz, which I would like you to consider.

First, the way I buy skills is to see how many points I have, them put them into the class skills I think are the most useful, making sure as many as I can are at Level + 3. I then keep raising them by +1 per level. This ensures that my character is the best at the skills his class uses. Skills I am not good at are made up for by other characters who have maxed out his class skills. I don’t think I have ever had a player take a cross class skill. It’s like throwing away a point. That is fixed in Pathfinder, but looking at other games handling skills, I think it can be easier than Pathfinder’s solution.

Here is the system I have used in the past in my game.

1. Each character chooses a race. Each race has a list of 2 to 4 “Racial Skills.” The player chooses two of these skills at time of character creation. From now on they are considered “class skills” at all times, no matter if the class chosen lists it or not. These usually will be the races’ skill bonus, such as +2 to Stealth for Halflings instead becomes Racial Skill: Stealth.

2. At character level 1, a player chooses his first class. All of the Class Skills listed are given 4 ranks, as well as the two Racial Skills. All should now be Level + 3 ranks. Humans can choose ANY TWO SKILLS as racial skills.

3. At each additional level, all Class and Racial skills improve by 1 rank. In case of multiclassing, the +3 ranks are only given at Character Level 1, not Class Level 1. So if a person was a fighter 1 and takes a level of Rogue 1, all the rogue class skills get only 1 rank, not 4. This makes the first choice of multiclass that much more important!

What this accomplishes is:
* Each class is best at what he does.

* There is some customization of skills, so you can end up with a Fighter with good Perception without multiclassing. This can help to keep people in one class only, one of the goals of Pathfinder.

* A racial skill used as a class skill is way better than a racial bonus to a non-class skill. My 15th level Halfling Fighter could care less about having a Stealth of +4 (Dex mod +2, Skill bonus +2) vs. a 15th level rogue with a perception of +20, even before I take add my Armor Check penalty. However, it is not quite as good as having the bonus is to a class skill. Oh well, que sera, sera.

I do like the racial skill thing a lot, as it adds that level of making a character the way I want it to be without breaking a lot of the game. Even if you do not change the way skills are purchased, please consider adding racial skills anyway.

Thanks all!!!!

Umm, i can't find the taking 10 rules, where they removed?

It is mentioned in the description of the Climb Skill, and under Skill Mastery under Rouge abilities, under Quarry for the Ranger, Jack of all trades for the Bard, and a few other places. The rule seems to have been deleted, but not all the references to it.

I think take 10/20 is an awesome rule that helps to speed up game play by limiting rolls. Please make sure it makes the final cut!!!