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It took me ten minutes to even find the forums. I can’t download anything. I can’t find the daily blog at all. What was so bad about the old site! I could get to anywhere I needed to go in one or two clicks. Now it’s ADVERTIZING with a side of unfindable community content. When WOTC changed their site to its current monstrosity, I stopped going. I will miss Paizo’s site. One less thing to draw me away from the TV during commercials.
I would love a copy. I am very fond of the previous Letters.
Thanks. I had sent him some questions and hadn't heard back or seen anything on the board.
Anyone heard from our GM in the last few days?
Ahhh! Just saw this. I ran a three year campaign in the early 90's and never got to play myself. Is it too late to join in?
I am as well!
I am very happy to have done my part there. :) I will take your response as an oblique indication my hopes are not in vain.
More of good things! I don't have a list of ten, but I do have a list of two. 1. More Pact Magic from Radiance - which I know is coming soon. 2. More Covenant Magic - which I hope is popular enough to continue support. In both cases, I'd love to see how they might be influenced/integrated with material from Occult Adventures.
I'm going to chime in as a fan as well. I am backing because I always hoped to see more from this series which began with such promise, then faded away almost as soon as it started.
Occultist from Radiance games. Medium from Purple Duck
Anything about spider-goats! If it has anything about spider-goats, I will buy it unseen!Clan of the Goat covers 100% pure goats. You'll have to wait until later in the Animal Races series for spider-goats, capricorns, and other chaemeras. (You'll still want to pick up Clan of the Goat at some point; goat-related chaemeras can take many of the character options appearing therein.) Ooooh! So there is something planned for spider-goats! You sir, will have my money.
Anything about spider-goats! If it has anything about spider-goats, I will buy it unseen!
Ego Whip III is a 5th level spell. The psychic undercasts it as Ego Whip I, a 3rd level spell. Ego Whip I is NOT a first level spell, and even undercast should not use a first level spell slot.
I am very disappointed I missed the Kickstarter for this. Pact magic in all its forms has been my favorite system since it was introduced in the Tome of Magic. When is the planned release? Is it possible to pre-order, and is it possible for others to help with the Playtest in any way? This looks to be epic and I hope the other spirits from Secrets and Villains are part of it. (I miss Gwedelyn's Ghost.)
DM Retro-girl, How do you feel about the medium from Occult Adventures or Radiance's Pact Magic Occultist?
Mark, Would you be willing to let us know at what level Beseech spirit ended up at?
DM Jubal, How do you feel about the Medium from the Occult Adventures playtest? I was going to wait to apply to a PbP until the final book came out, but I've been following your gameplay thread. The roleplay level is fantastic and I'd like to be a part of it. I know in July I might need to make adjustments, but if you're okay with that I will craft a character based on the playtest doc and developers comments in the playtest thread.
I want to be a voice counter to the calls for more spell-casting. We have enough spell casters. The taste that a 4 level caster gives is just enough. If the class needs more to do, shift the lesser powers of the spirits ( or better yet, add something) to some form of active use power instead of a passive ability. Something like the first level powers of soccer bloodlines, that would always be available when you trace into that spirit. No more spell-casting please!
With all do respect - please no. I don't want to be a medium only a few rounds each day. I want to have spirits granting powers and whispering in my ears all the time. I don't want the constant table arguments that 30+ paladin codes of honor will start when I'm mechanically forced to temporarily role-play influence after every encounter. I don't want to be tied to only spirits close to my alignment. I want to play with fire and be torn spiritually in two when ridden by LG and CE in turn. I don't want to be yet another spell caster with a few cool abilities. Please, don't we have enough of these already - 4 in this playtest alone. Don't make it 6/9 caster please! 4 levels of casting is just the right amount of spice, and I love how the spells known are tied to the spirits. Complicated? I don't just not mind . . . I LOVE it! This was a class designed for my resource-managing obsessed, ADHD, borderline OCD, oh so easily bored heart. I think I see a class with enough internal consistency to feel like the same character for 20 levels (something I never get with a traditional spell caster), but enough internal variety to keep me mechanically interested for the entire time. There are problems, but don't gut the heart of the mechanics. The class seems perfectly conceived to me. If it is too complicated for some, let them skip it. They have 30+ other choices that appeal to them. Let me have just this one!
I had a few interesting ideas which might solve a problem or two, as well as modeling the DBZ concepts that are floating around. Why not let the kineticist string multiple consecutive move actions together to reduce burn even further. Ex: Full round action to charge, then one more move action on the second round reduces the burn by 3 for the next blast. That way they trade actions OR hit points for power. At 10th level maybe allow the kineticist to gather power with a swift if he already used his move action for gathering power, so a full round charge reduces the burn by three. Any interrupting action could eliminate the charge, and the maximum charge allowed could scale by level. Add a class ability at 2nd or 3rd level that lets the kineticist add +5 to his hit chance for one burn, and let the blaster stack this as much as he wants. This gives the kineticist the accuracy he needs when he needs it. Add a low- (but not 1st) level class ability that reads: The kineticist's control over his chosen element allows him to target foes in melee combat without penalty. When using his blast, treat the kineticist as having the precise shot feat. The kineticist qualifies for feats that require precise shot as a prerequisite, but those feats only apply to his blast unless he takes the precise shot feat as normal. I think this could help with a few of the issues, plus it drips with flavor. I don't think that the class needs a fighter's BAB, but because it uses hit points as it's power pool, just increasing the Hit Die to d12 gives the kineticist two more burn to play with during the day. That just might be enough to give him a full day's worth of expanded blasts instead of just one encounter. I also agree with the need for a few more skill points and non-combat utility powers.
Hey guys. I just found a few minutes to get online. Several things are hitting me at once right now. Texas state testing is taking all my days. I teach math as my day job. And i am openning Barefoot in the Park as the director on may 2nd. I havent had a spare minute in the evenings either. If folks are willing to give me 2 weeks to clear all this out, my time becomes my own again, and the game with start back up again all proper like. Forgive. I shall return!
I'm back! Though my ability to post has been cut back. They blocked Paizo at my workplace, so I can't post on my lunch hour anymore. New post (though short) in gameplay.
Tinder leaps to avoid the pressure plate , easily clearing the distance. Rasim is close to the end of the hallway, and 0042B is poised (still in the hall and vulnerable to the darts) to set off the trap when and if the scorpions make pursuit. Zanac is alone with the pale insectoids. Everyone else is crowded in the confines of the tapestry room. Sebti steps a few feet onto the stair to make room and responds to Orcen with only a look. Graxzos, Zanac, Byron, and Rasim - your action.
Sorry guys. Brutal last couple of days, still a few to go. Will post as able.
Let me look back at the posts again. Done, last post in gameplay edited.
As Zanac withdraws, the scorpion makes a token swipe of its stinger at his fleeing legs. Ichor from a gash across its back obscured the pulsing of the organs beneath the skin. Rasim speeds into the hall but avoids the wounded insectoid. This leaves poor Tinder and Zanac temporarily alone with three of the beasts. They move in and surround them, claws clacking and oozing stingers striking out. Scorpion 1(wounded) attacking Zanac.
Scorpion 2 attacking Tinder
Scorpion 3 attacking Tinder
Tinder swings at the scuttling insectoid, but the dash into the room carries the blade well beyond the beast. Tinder or a DC30 Perception check:
"You fool! How will you prove yourself worthy?!" Rasim, Tinder, and Zanac are in the shaft chamber. Tinder and Zanac are flanking a scorpion. Rasim is ten feet away attempting to slink into the shadows, but the torch illuminates him easily. Two more scorpions are scuttling down the wall. The hall is clear of all save 0042B, and the trap is armed and dangerous. For anyone to jump over the pressure plate and avoid setting off the trap to move back into or out of the hallway, please make a DC5 acrobatics check for the leap. First group back up.
Zanac, i assumed that you didnt take ten because you would have only gotten a 19, not enought to climb a smooth stone vertical wall. When you ran to the room, i assumed you broke stealth. If not, you will arrive in a round or two because you are moving half speed. Plus your chosen place to climb was in the direct path of the scorpion. Stealth only goes so far. You bump into a guy, he knows you're there - even if its a bug. Missed the dex to ac for climb speed though . . . Thanks. Ill try to remember that for later.
Zanac fails to get any solid purchase on the smooth walls of the tomb, but this is likely a blessing, as where he intended to perch is quickly occupied by a 3 foot long scorpion. The beast's translucent skin shows glistening organs which pulse and ooze in the torch light. It leaps at Zanac, but because you are not trapped on a wall, you still get your dex to AC.
The attack is more a barely controlled fall to the floor at Zanac's feet. One claw comes dangerously close, but misses the pussycat by a scant whisker. At least one more scurries in the shadows of the 50ft ceiling.
This is where we are starting from.
Replay the action please. Orcen, your torch was thrown at the end of your arrival action.
Thanks Zanac for the google docs suggestion! In campaign info is now a map! That is all.
Alright, almost done. Zanac is right, you needed to be at least halfway down the hallway to make the perception check. I think that is the last adjudication I need to make. Tinder and Graxzos' statements to Byron stand (assumed free action response to 0042B's statements). Any actions beyond that please post in blocks. A new round has begun. Rasim, Graxzos, Zanac, Byron post in any order you like. Everyone hold off until ??? gets to go. It should go without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway. The previous conversation about who is playing wrong/poorly/meta/unfairly/etc. is OVER. Let's get back to something fun. Post away. [edit] Oh, missed one . . . rounds to rearm trap for 0042B miss the roll by more than 5 and it goes off hitting those in the hallway which will include 0042B (must be in the hallway to disarm)
The sequence of events Byron gets the alarm, rushes forward and gives warning He gets there one round ahead and gets an action, which was to stop and turn back Everyone else arrives in initiative order. This was all happening relatively simultaneously. There were enough lights moving around that I assumed their was light to see the shaft chamber at some point to make the perception checks, plus the stampede ended with a thrown torch into the room from Orcen. Basically I gave you guys the benefit of the doubt on light. Declare your location when I open posting back up. In the shaft room
We will rewind to this point and take actions in initiative order from here. 0042B has yet to touch the trap, though it has warned its intent so people can move (talking is a free action). Rasim has expressed his dissent for this plan. 0042B will not pull the trigger on the trap with people in the crossfire - It would be such a bad example for her baby - BUT messing with it might make it go off anyway. Everyone is aware of this, so go ahead and dive for cover or risk darts. Orcen has just chucked a lit torch into the shaft room as the last bit of his last round. Rasim, in fact anyone, can be pissed at Byron for 0042B's actions. "That fool gnome has got to learn to control his golem." While they might not know the specifics of summoners, assuming the construct should be controlled by the PC race gnome is an easy assumption to make. If that is not the case for Byron - so be it - it is still what most people would assume. Okay. My lunch hour is over . . . not what I wanted to do the entire time . . . more possibly later.
Interparty conflict will not be tolerated. If you cause hp damage to another party member on purpose, or take an action you know will cause them damage, you are done. I don't care how much it is what your character would do. The damage will never be applied and the offending character will be killed messily in as creative a way as I can come up with. If you control multiple characters, all will fall into the grain thresher; I don't care which character did it. All betrayals will come through NPCs <smile> Now, accidents happen. Mind control happens. Bad rolls which affect other characters happen. And if someone says, "Hit me! I can take it!" That is all well and good. But one person's fun cannot come at the expense of someone else in a collaborative game. Not if I am running it. And for that matter, check your alignments. I don't see any evil. Sacrificing a comrade, for whatever reason, is an evil act, even to save someone else. Chaotic neutral is not amoral or crazy, and neutral in front of good does not mean good except when its inconvenient. Now sometimes your character will say "I'm going to kill you" That is fine. Just throw in an ooc (not really) so I will put down the lightning strike.
The word meta is an insult. At least it is being used as one or being perceived as one, probably both. Don't use it any more. It stirred up what should have been just a disagreement. In fact, under no circumstances should anyone correct someone for playing their character or the game incorrectly. An occasional rules reminder is okay, but nothing more substantial. No one should say a build is incorrect, no one should say 'don't do that or say that because you are using player knowledge not character knowledge.' I will correct such behavior if needed. If it impacts you, PM me and bring it to my attention. Accusing the other players of 'wrong fun' is the only wrong fun I recognize.
Rasim, Much of this could have been avoided if I had a good map to show folks. I don't know how to do that. In fact, I wasn't sure it was possible until you posted your example. Could you send me a tutorial on how it was done by private message? I think it will help in a lot of things and be a boon to the game as a whole. I'm a quick study. Thanks in advance.
Okay. First order of business - no one post anything else here or in the gamethread until I give the go ahead. If you disagree with something I post strongly enough that you must be heard, send it to me by private message. The rest will be in no particular order of importance.
I said whoa!!!
This is getting out of hand. Both Byron and Rasim are talking past each other. I will give clear guidelines about some norms in a bit, but constantly re-explaining the same reasons for your actions, followed by ascribing motives to the other, followed by personal attacks may be normal for message boards, BUT I WILL NOT HAVE IT IN MY GAME. I expect someone to be called Hitler in a moment . . . If there is a problem between characters, at the first sign it is becoming heated - STOP POSTING - and bring it to me. That is partly what I'm for. Now give me a moment to swim through the misunderstandings and growing bad blood and figure out where I did not communicate my expectations clearly enough. Blame me for this cluster-something and sit on you hands for a bit, until I sort it out.
Whoa! Whoa! Okay. We now pause the action for a little GM fiat. The next person to use the phrase, "I will kill you." concerning another character is out of the game. That phrase NEVER improves a situation. Don't use it. Now, if you think another character is targeting you, or doing something stupid enough to kill the party, bring it to discussion. I saw 0042B's notice as the equivilant of 'fire in the hole' - a warning to the rest of the party that the trap was going to be reset and to be out of the area. If you interpret it differently, let ME know and we will pause and adjucate appropriately. No one targets another character, meta it however you want, I will drop a boulder on your character and we will move on. Now, Rasim, mad or not, you escalated the issue instead of improving it. Byron, 'it wasn't me, it was 0042B' is a bit disengenuous. You control both characters. This is a game. It is supposed to be fun. Let's all be adults here. I will look over the posts again and see where we want to jump back to. Give me a few hours, work is starting.
Byron jumps back again past the door beyond the pressure plate (it will take a few rounds and a roll vs. disable device - no take 10 - to get it working again; do you still want to do that?) Rasim and Tinder are just outside the first chamber peering in. Orcen is with 0042B just outside the hall. Sebti is a few steps behind him out of sight from the double doors. Graxzos and Zanac tell me where you are. Byron and Tinder turn off their light. The only light is from Orcen hand back in the chamber beyond the trapped hallway. It is difficult to see anything, and anyone in the dorrway will be backlit. The rope waves back and forth as everyone takes a breath to see what happens next. Roll Perception DC 15:
You here the tapping of something organic against stone from the direction of the ceiling. DC20 (+5 with lowlight or darkvision):
You see bits of dust and chips of stone slip down the shaft to the floor DC25 (+5 with lowlight or darkvision):
You see a vague insectoid form, maybe three feet across, slip out the shaft and into deeper darkness in a corner. Rasim, Graxzos, Zanac, Byron all may take an action.
Initiative order. Rasim
Alright, first round is only Byron and 0042. Byron you rush into the bottom shaft room slightly ahead of your 'mom'. You arrive to see the room unchanged. The rope still hangs down, apparently secured from above. But it is swaying back and forth, though there is no wind in the room.
The team turns and rushes back. Move 30 characters can make it to the rope in a double move (Rasim, Orcen, Zanac, Tinder). Move 20 can make it in two, or they can run and lose dext to AC on the round you arrive. Remind me who has light up so I know if you are moving in the dark. Everyone roll initiative so I know who gets there first. Byron, you can have a 'surprise round' of extra movement because you got the alarm signal. You may choose to arrive first automatically if you run, or arrive with the move 30 characters in normal initiative order with your dex to AC intact. Sebti allows all of you to pass, then follows the last party member.
"Well, from what I can see back here, adding to my already intense paranoia, it seems like anything in this room could be trapped. That chest, the straw on the floor could cover up some kind of pit or switch or tripwire, and looks particularly flammable to boot, the shields, those masks - hang on a second..."
Rasim puts his shoulder to the doors and with a hiss of a broken seal they swing open to reveal another 20ft square room. The air flowing from the doors tastes dull and lifeless in your lungs. A brightly painted chariot sits in the center of this chamber facing west. Beyond the chariot, covering nearly the entire north wall, a large canvas stretches between two stone columns. The skins of several animals—antelopes, great cats, and crocodiles—now faded and deteriorated with age, are tacked to this canvas. A wooden chest, lacquered white and trimmed with gold inlay, sits in the southeast corner. In each corner of the room a small stone shield is molded into the masonry at shoulder height. An 10ft wide open hallway leads to the east. You can see two golden masks hanging on the northern side of the corridor (you will need to step into the room to see if there are more), one of Pharasma and one of Abadar. The floor has scraps of straw covering it to a depth of a few inches. The straw is dry as tinder and looks to have lain undisturbed for hundreds of years. Byron: Ding-a-ling-a-ling . . . . your alarm goes off.
Hey I love standard operating procedures. I used to do OSHA compliance inspections. Let's do it! Okay, SOP for approaching a new door is Rasim takes 10 perception, with rolls from Zanac and Graxzos for assist, rolled by GM for the 5ft square in front of the door then the door itself. Signal this by posting "Standard door check" by any of the three. I will interrupt and disregard if there are any impediments which would provide a penalty to the roll if they are perceptible. Anything else (changing out people, order of checks, anything different than that must be stated explicitly. All agree? Oh, and you discover nothing of interest on or before the door at the bottom of the stairs.
You can't aid another on incidental perception checks. Deliberate searches of specific locations, yes.Just like you've been doing. But if I post a spoilered check, no aid another is allowed. That really goes for any spoilered check - perception, knowledge, etc.
No aid another on this one. This is a passive perception check. Nor take 10 or 20. Something happened you didn't expect. You noticed or didn't. I think only two of you have a chance on this.
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