Pan's page

He got to live to a blessed age. His work will be remembered.

The suicidal actions has little to do with fairness. The PCs had a chance to regroup and recover. They chose to risk life and limb to stop the cleric. Cant cry about it when they had an out. Sounds like they expect to win every fight.

No strong Belwas :(

When I call for perception checks the players know its, do or do not there is no try again.

I play it that the skill roll success means you do it like Arthur Fonzarelli. If they don't make it depending on what are trying to do they can still succeed, but just not immediately, and certainly not like the Fonz. I'll tell them what happens it just wont be cool. If its a do or do not situation I just tell them they fail or they find nothing.

Example:
Scenario 1
Player: ok orcs on other side of this door I want to kick it in.
ME: go ahead and roll a Str check.
Player: booh yah 20!
Me: Alright door splinters into bits scaring the crap out of the unsuspecting orcs. Roll initiative you have surprise round.

Sceanario 2
Player: ok orcs on other side of this door I want to kick it in.
ME: go ahead and roll a Str check.
Player: 12 plus 4 mod so 16
Me: Door doesn't give way to first kick but falls off the hinges on second kick. Orcs look over roll initiative normal combat.

Sceanario 3
Player: ok orcs on other side of this door I want to kick it in.
ME: go ahead and roll a Str check.
Player: Crap a 1 :(
Rest of table: ooooooh LOL
Me: Your foot goes through the door like O.J. Simpson from naked gun. Roll Initiative.

May not be RAW but it sure is fun!

Do you ask your female students about business? I work for a corporation and am out numbered two to one easy. Not that I mind those odds :).

Problem I have is I love business women. Something about being professional and looking the part is just irresistible. However, the second one of these ladies finds out I'm a gamer I might as well put on a diaper and suck my thumb. Gaming is seen as juvenile and too nerdy, even though being nerdy is cool these days. So I am forced to hide my hobby like a bad habit.

I tried to find one of rare and elusive gamer girls but I have had no luck. I'm just too polite to approach them at gaming stores and events. I am sure they appreciate that. There is a time and place for meeting them. Where that place is I just don't know. I did have a console gamer GF for a bit. She was really lazy and swore like a sailor. Cool girl but just didn't gel. Oh well I guess I'll have to stick to crouching cougar, hidden gamer.

Sorry to go a little off topic there. Women may not be beating down the door to the sciences but they are lining up to get into business. That has to be a good thing.

Out of curiosity what came first, wanting to end rage without being fatigued, or growing up on a farm?

My advice is to move on. Life is too short for bad gaming; friends or no.

I dont use xp so where does that leave me? I'd prefer every time a being is raised they should come back as irrevocably evil. Kind of like pet cemetery. That way only the crazy or terrible people of the world would attempt it. That would make RP death so much more entertaining.

Sounds like you dodged a bullet good for you.

Dorn Of Citadel Adbar wrote:

I'm with Pan, on just letting things happen as they will. I mean yes it's a game that we are playing for fun. But at the same time we all want some realism involved. So if they happen to make bad choices, then they know that they will have to deal with what ever happens.

I'm not saying, that you should go after them with a vengeance, but there has to be consequences for our actions.

Cool, how do you determine what those consequences are? Do you decide what they are before hand, or in the moment?

Are there certain kinds of consequences you have found work better than others? Have there been times when the consequences have turned out to be really memorable and really enhanced the game?

Depends on the game. If the story involves werewolves or cthulhu baddies you can bet there are going to be some unpleasantness ahead. I tend to plant things and if the PCs proceed without caution or the dice fall against them, "dems da breaks." Key is to not make something terrible happen without any way for the PC to avoid it from happening even if that chance is slim.

I usually don't plan on it happening and definitely fly by the seat of my pants going forward once it happens. Once something is established though I include it in the plans going forward often times working behind the scenes with the PC. If players start investing considerable time and resources to get out; I'll let them. Clearly they don't want to play it out. Fortunately for me, my players usually consider these things to be opportunities for fun RP.

Game I am running currently had werewolves in it. A couple of PCs got bit. They didn't know they were infected right away. Each night they started having dreams about being an animal. Had a hilarious scene where the cleric was running like a dog in her sleep when the rogue came to wake her for her watch. One morning some NPCs wanted to do a wolf search and started cutting everyone's hand with a silver dagger. The cleric and Magus rolled well to hide the intense and surprising pain that resulted from the check. Once they realized they were infected they tried to hide it. This was a lot of fun to RP.

Eventually the PCs met a pack leader who outed them. He explained exactly what they had to look forward to once they turned. (No first full moon yet since infected.) After discussing it as a group they decided to get rid of the curse instead of trying to live with it. In exchange for helping the pack leader he helped them get rid of the curse.

Last thing I want to mention is to be careful with really debilitating consequences. If you have a ranger built for range combat lose a hand don't make him wait 4 levels that way until he can get his hand back. Some might say this is being a push over GM but nobody wants their characters main draw taken away for considerable time. Especially if nobody else has any such drawback in the group. Give the player some options don't sandbag them.

mousestalker wrote:

It just makes me sad. Why must Sean die in everything? Why?

Still, the next season should be incredible. Game of Thrones is one of the few tv series we really enjoy. We record it so we can fast forward through the gratuitous boobage.

Ahem ... you mean "record it so we can rewind and re-watch the gratuitous boobage." :)

"Bathroom break!!"

Visually pleasing been awhile since a sci-fi movie looked so good. However, the whole thing felt like on long ass action sequence. Not even close to the original which is too bad.

Bards. All Bards.

We have been just at the edge of societal and economic collapse since the beginning of time. Relax and get some sleep.

You only need two things. A wagon and 1d6 goblins.

I have never had a cell phone.

I have no idea what you guys are talking about.

Shocking

It is allowed in our games but usually discouraged because it distracts from the game. We usually run APs so for instance we are in Serpent Skull currently it is highly unlikely that any PVP will happen. Down the road we plan on Skull and Shackles and I expect there to be some PVP in that game.

You know lots of people not digging this idea but I bet it would be a bachelor party to remember. To be honest I think that's the most important thing. I got a great story for y'all its a little off topic but I'm going there non the less.

I got invited to this stag party about 10 years ago. The best man lined up one of those party buses with a keg and driver that takes you around the city. Not a bad way to go we always got to keep the party going. Anyways we decided to stop at one of the smaller joints on the out skirts of town. I think the main idea was to get our moneys worth from the keg on the bus. So we go in this place called BJ's or maybe it was the Double Deuce I don't exactly recall. We get in order some drinks watch a few stage dances.

So the DJ announces a new girl coming out and we are all sitting at a table checking out various dancers. The girl comes out losses her top and starts dancing. After about a min on stage she looks out at our table. She has this look like she is trying to focus on something. A moment later her look turns to shock and the hand comes up over the mouth and the girl flies off stage towards the dressing rooms.

Girl comes running up to our table in a robe. She starts talking to the bachelor like she knows him. After a few exchanges I start to realize the dancer is the bachelors niece! There was a few "What are you doing here?" followed by (and God how I will remember this for all my days), "Don't tell Grandma!" So of course we start having a ball with this asking her to come out with us telling her its ok we wont tell, meanwhile the bachelor is telling her to stay away from these a**h***s lol. So yeah thats it.

/on topic

Witch is about de-buff and cursing enemies with a little bit of control on top that seems very vampire-ish to me. You also get some ability to aid your allies. If you want to blast you will be disappointed. I am not the worlds greatest optimizer (actually thats kind of a cop out im really lazy), Perhaps you could post more about why you are out of the zone and maybe we could help you get into it.

Umbral Reaver wrote:

I've posted this one before:

My paladin walks into town and starts talking with the locals to gather info.

GM: "You meet a prostitute."

Me: "I'm not here to judge. I'll ask her if she has heard of <blah blah plot stuff> in the town."

GM: "Make a will save."

Me: "Okay." *rolls badly* "Dang."

GM: "She seduces you and you go have sex with her. She charges..." *rolls* "10 gold."

Me: "Er, what? Was that an enchantment effect?"

GM: "No, she was just really persuasive."

Me: D:

GM: "Now roll to see how good you are in bed."

Me: !! D: !!

My response:

"My character is gay. I am unimpressed with her feminine wiles. Now about <Bla bla bla>..."

With this type of GM I'm sure a gay prostitute was just around the corner.

This again? Count me in with the video games got me into TTRPGs club.

So I started a campaign once with a new GM I never played with before. Our PCs were training with a higher level druid. We got captured while sleeping somehow during the night in the forest. We wake missing all our gear in some cave with other humans druid is nowhere to be found. We find out we have been taken hostage by goblins.

We manage to break free from a poorly constructed wooden gate. We ended getting assaulted by goblin pack after goblin pack. They just kept coming and we had no equipment. After the last PC fell the druid shows up and cleans the place out because hes a super stud and chastises us for doing so poorly with our training.

Between sessions we had an email discussion about how lame of a start the campaign was. The GM said that n his defense he was new to PF and had to test the system. So basically we had no shot at getting out he was going to send everything at us until we failed. I asked him why suck up the campaign when we could have just run some battle simulations if he wanted. He never responded. Game got switched to Call of Cthulhu shortly after because the GM was losing interest in his game.

Off topic Null you should try and join PFS. Its low commitment and a great place to screen players for a possible home game. I did it that way and have an awesome group that's been going for a few years now. So glad I don't suffer from lazy, uninterested, God GMs any longer :)

Think you will have better luck avoiding the threads yourself then getting people to post what you think is a legit concern.

Another vote for Bard. My KM character is a human Bard the Baron of our fine little nation. All the other PCs have died at some point. My Bard is the only original PC. The others joke now that if their new PCs bite the dust they are rolling Bards :)

I wouldn't run a campaign for a player who had read it.

This. And pre-gens yuck. Let me ask you this, so if you pre-gen and they take them whats to stop em from power gaming forward?

That still makes it sound like we put some kind of effort into becoming good at optimization.

I know I didn't.

Just through learning the system the optimized builds stand out really boldly.

The feats and skills pretty naturally fit together without much need for thinking about it.

Using my earlier Breaker example:

I pick an archetype good at sundering.
So I should take feats that make me ever better at sundering.
And then I should take rage powers built around sundering.

Then I likely have a weakness, low will, so I use traits or spare feats to make that weakness not so bad.

That flows in my head as naturally as A B C, there's no thought process there.

See I know some gamers who don't even know what Sunder means. let alone what feats are great to utilize to be a good sunder artist. If they did think that sounds cool imma try that. They wouldn't think of things like, "what happens when the GM throws a monster with natural attacks and nothing to sunder? Uh oh left my will save low that's a weakness to shore up. Hard to believe but many people overlook these things.

Just because you didn't have a hard time becoming a system master doesn't make it easy for everyone. Some people have no desire and trust me they exist. Nobody sets out to make a weak character but some people place more importance on personality and skills that wont end up making them a tactical paragon. Just because you have not had any table disagreements on play style or optimization doesn't make it just an internets thing.

The hate in these conversations is always misplaced. Yet no matter how many times we have them nobody ever gets anywhere. So haters gonna hate. The real culprit is incompatible play styles. Game gets derailed groups implode on each other and people start putting up flags. "This is the way you play TTRPGs!!!" The internets have only thrown gas on the fight by allowing folks to bolster one camp or another.

Truth is role play and optimization are two entirely different scales. Its quite possible to find differing combinations at any table. Some groups will work out the differences. Others fall apart because the differences are irreconcilable. Don't get hard feelings about it move on. Life is too short for bad gaming and hating.

Kingmaker.

Just wanted to mention all the APs have a free downloadable players guide so you can always look those over before you choose. Also each AP has a summary written up on this website. To top it off each AP has a forum page where if you narrow it down you can ask even more specific questions since you say y'all is picky. Have fun!

wraithstrike wrote:

It is evil. Doing something to someone evil does not make it less evil. PF/D&D does not support a means justify the ends concept. That is how evil works, and the fact that "good" is not supposed to operate like that is the only thing separating them from evil.

nothing in the paladins code forbids torture, and even though it is perceieved in the real world as an evil act. you are talking about a 3 decade old game that was originally based off a wargame that was loosely inspired by a series of fictional sources that took place in a setting where torture is a perfectly valid means to get information.

we aren't playing Disney Princesses D20.

Two way street. When you act evil you own up to it. We are not playing heroes who want to torture and be good guys D20.

Ambidextrous? That is one feat tax I wont be missing!

Firefly. Nothing else is even remotely close.

Favorite movie that bombed at the box office?

Pluto Nash ....na just kidding. Ravenous; Anyone remember that gem?

Just show up and tell everyone you rolled a Drow noble.

They will be immersed soon enough when you start killing them.

Friar Tuck?

Gorbacz wrote:

Yeah, let's pretend some terms were never used.

Personally I think they could have done without putting sacred prostitution into game lore, but its not coming out of nowhere. Pre-christian and even most christian western civilization isn't nearly as uptight as we are; few people know that the first statue they found in the ruins of Pompeii was of Pan having sex with a goat. It was a center-piece in a wealthy Roman house.

Those were some interesting times. I'd rather not talk about it.

Crafting. My players just don't bother doing it.

Style and quality aside, presentation is huge for me. I dont care for the epic pose that has become popular. I would rather see people doing things in a village, cave, or on a ship in the ocean. Scenes tend to get my imagination going. I like to imagine whats going on there and then write up a story for my players. I miss the old pictures of monsters too attacking adventures or soldiers to demonstrate their abilities and tactics. Please lay off the dude with perfect hair and surf board sized sword looking like hes taking a high school year book photo. Gimme context please!

The guy who really gets left behind is me. Is it so much to ask for an RPG to have multi-player but not be an MMO? I have a few friends who wont play MMOs anymore even though we loved gaming together in the past. I broke down and bought a PS3 so we could do some online gaming like the old days. There is nothing out there for us. Every single game is either MMO or single player.

I was really excited when Mass Effect 3 announced multi-player only to be let down by it being some co-op battle arena. Dont get me wrong I appreciate the efforts but I want to run around Skyrim or fly in the Normandy with just a few of my friends.

Try Boardgames for awhile.

Does optimization mean eliminating all your choices? Perhaps I don't get optimization either.

"As for what I'll be turning to next, I hope you'll stay tuned. I plan on having an interesting announcement in that regard in the near future."

This is what I am interested to find out about Monte.

While I think its great that Mearls announced the playtest I think its kind of crappy he chose to do it in the same post as his so long Monte, will miss ya letter.

Personally I wish they would make the Paladin a theme or prestige class. It never made sense starting from level 1 as a Paladin to me. I do like the flavor and alignment/code restriction the class had. Had it been a prestige class all these years maybe we could have saved ourselves a few alignment threads.

Next time consider point buy.

You folks can use the word studies all you want. It is preposterous that a company as big as Sony or Microsoft have not done their homework. They are not treating people like criminals they are trying to kill the middle man and take his cash. It is understandable if you disagree with this but the companies are betting on the fact most people will get over it.

I am surprised they are not doing away with physical copies all together. With internet and hard drives its unnecessary packaging.

I think in place of the used sales market will be manufacturer discounted prices. The game will launch at 60 bucks or whatever new. Six Months later it 30-40 dollars, a year later its 20 dollars. Its happening right now in fact. I paid 20 bucks for many of my Bioware games. Companies are even re-releasing decade old games with expansions for great prices. Saw Never Winter nights I and II together for 30 dollars. Scratch that, its on sale for 20 bucks right now.

In the first reports I read it wasn't so much "White racist kills black child" as it was "black child killed in gated community by neighborhood watch leader." The difference of course is racial profiling leads to kid's death vs racist kills black kid as the OP seems to have taken away from the media.

In the following days I began seeing more and more pictures of Treyvon. The more pictures I saw the younger he got. Stories about being a high school football player and how he was just buying candy for his brother when he was killed. Only picture I saw of Zimmermen came a day or two later and it was an orange jumpsuit mug shot. The stories made him out to sound like an overzealous borderline vigilante.

Stories started rolling out later about how Treyvon was a troublemaker at school. Another one stated that he had been caught with Marijuana. There was more focus on Zimmermen being beaten up when police arrived. Zimmrmen's granny was saying he cries himself to sleep each night since the shooting. His father defends his character.

Next day Obama makes a few comments about Treyvon would like his son if he had one. People start feeling bad for treyvon and wanting zimmermen to pay. Meanwhile Geraldo makes comments about how wearing a hoodie makes you look suspicious and that Treyvon drew attention to himself. People start thinking Treyvon is a Gansta and zimmermen really was just defending himself.

Anyways the point here is the media isn't telling a one sided story. They are telling a two sided story. Its all about character building or destroying. Its going to be one long nasty trial.

What does "Strongly rumored" mean?

Why they got to aim so high? Why not start with a modest budget and see how it fares in the box office? I dont think Dark Tower has the potential to be a smash trilogy + film franchise. The television show is definitely a better route for this.