Segallion's page

I hope this might be the right spot to ask for some changes here, that would make these more helpful than they are currently. I didn't want to do it in a review and mark this down as the maps are very nice.

Some things that would be nice to see are the removal of the numbers to most of these maps. I'd love to give the players these as handouts, but as they are labeled now, that just won't work. Similiar to the full city map it marks the areas of the city, but doesn't go beyond that. Pefect!

Also perhaps something to help keep the maps in place once opened. Like a pouch built into the binding so that the maps don't get lost, or dropped around when being moved around.

The last thing would be perhaps a bonus or two of additional maps or features that don't already show up in the AP.

I have one. I can't wrap my head around how removing reach from spiked chains and longspears improves the game. I mean, it might, I just don't see it. If there is good reason, cool. They did a hell of a job making the rest of the game awesome.

In the weapons section list Longspear still shows as having reach as far as I can tell.

Congrats to all at Paizo!!! You all deserve it. It's great to see a group that is so customer oriented as your team is get the credit it so rightfully deserves.

On top of that, this is great news that nothing should keep us from getting even more of what we all crave.

I can't thank you all enough for getting me back into the game and getting a bunch of old friends together again at least once a week.

I also use DM Genie, but am also looking for an alternative. I will probably keep up as best I can until I find that elusive new software. Hopefully it will be as helpful as DM Genie has been at making the games run much smoother and quicker.

In addition to RPGXPlorer, I think Hero Lab also has something.

Perhaps when the new forums are added they will think about adding a software section for those of us that like to use this at the gaming table.

I'd like to see a series of cards (much like the item cards) but focused on Gems, Jewelry, Art, etc. Would be even better if these tied into the current AP.

It kind of like tossing a huge pot of spaghetti at the wall, some pieces stick, some drop off onto the floor, and some blast through the wall and set the neighbor's house on fire.

Now I know what happened to my house :P

I was wondering off all the things you have created, thus far, what things did you think would take off, but the community didn't seem to take it the way you intended? What about things the community has jumped on that you never expected?

Just some examples:
've seen several threads asking about Aroden, and what domains he might have used, all for a dead God.
It also seems like Gnomes are a big hit here, were those anticipated, or did they receive much more interest than you first expected?

I'm not sure if you are aware, but Monte Cook also has a website called Dungeon a Day. Where it's a big mega-dungeon crawl. Jason B is also over there offering tips on converting this over to Pathfinder, and someone on the message boards there has also been converting encounters, etc.

Just in case this fits into what you might be looking for.

BTW, I downloaded and installed PCGen over the weekend but couldn't get it to run (clicked on the self-created desktop page but it wouldn't run). I looked in the program folder to see if I could find the startup exe file with no luck. So I deleted it. I will have to try again, or try one of the other pieces of software mentioned.

I think I will wait until after the PFRPG rules are out next month, though. Thanks!

I had the same problem. When I went to the website there was a known problem with needing to set up your javapath. It was pretty straight forward from what I remember, and it walked you right through it. Once done it was working fine for me. I'm using Windows Vista 64bit. Just a fyi, hope it helps.

Maybe I'm missing something somewhere, but there was no description to H6a on the Warrens and Middle Temple map. I'm guessing if the passage gets cleared it leads them down to I4 below. Does that sound correct?

Pax and Death I appreciate the info. It makes my decision easier to stick with what I already am using.

Much appreciated.

Just curious, but would anyone be able to make a comparison say against PCGEN? Does it just allow you to only build characters?

I appreciate any replies, and info.

If new Base classes are going to be added, I'd like to see them help breach possible gaps into a 4 player group.
For example in one campaign I was in we were lacking a thief and an arcane caster, so I took SpellThief to help breach the missing gaps.

Now for my groups I run I have an abundance of players which can fill all the gaps pretty easily, however it does allow some interesting new group dynamics.

Some initial thoughts:

Scout--Ranger/Thief
SpellThief--Thief/arcane caster
Cavalier-- Bard/Paladin variant?

This is most excellent. I am going to use this for sure. Very NICELY done!!

...The best examples I could define for it would involve another divine being stepping in. For instance:

1) Iomedae - Although she's picked up much of Aroden's portfolio and claimed it as her own, she could still be granting the divine energy necessary for clerics and paladins who continue to revere Aroden.

2) The Empyreal Lords - Presumably one of these angelic beings could have adopted Aroden's clergy, dispensing spells and guidance without seeking to replace Aroden's name with their own. One of these lords may even be guiding Aroden's faithful to try and resurrect him. Andoletta or Ragathiel seem best suited for it.

3) Pharasma - The goddess of death supposedly knew something about Aroden's passing, but has not seen fit to share that information. Why? And, is it possible that in Aroden's absence, the Lady of Graves now shepherds his faithful while his divinity hangs in the balance?

4) Milani - This goddess is slightly less well known than Iomedae, but she too was a minor saint associated with the Last Azlanti. So I think she could have picked up Aroden's followers in an attempt to perpetuate the hope of his return. After all, "hope, devotion and uprisings" are all part of her portfolio. So championing something like that would make complete sense for her. She's a Chaotic Good goddess, as well, so operating "outside the rules" seems like something she'd favor. She also has the Healing domain as a major part of her portfolio, so caring for the spiritual wounds of Aroden's priesthood might resonate well, too.

5) Asmodeus - For a more sinister approach, why not say that Aroden truly is dead, but Asmodeus has seized this opportunity to delude his priesthood into thinking he's still alive. Asmodeus could be the one granting their spells and abilities in an attempt to develop an entirely new line of followers.

I think that gives you five good surrogates for how and why a paladin or priest of Aroden could continue to exist and still keep their abilities. Some of the other gods may even be cooperating to support such a thing...perpetuating a lie to Aroden's followers, but doing so for a potentially good reason...

But that's just my nickel's worth,
--Neil

When I first saw this thread the Goddess of trickery came to mind.

1) Calistria - What could top any form of trickery than by tricking those into believing that they are receiving spells from thier dead God.

But here's another idea for you: Why not leverage some product synergy with the Modules line? There are 12 AP issues/year and 6 modules/year, so you should have about 3 Modules published during the course of a single AP (I'm speaking generally here, I realize the scheduling doesn't always work out this nicely). You could release a lower-level module (say level 2-3) around the beginning of a new AP, a level 7-ish module about the middle of the AP, and a higher-level module toward the end of an AP. The you could include a box in the AP (or Module) to tell a GM they might consider using Module X as a side-trek in AP Y. Maybe include a few lines of "change the city to this, and the main villain to that."

This is exactly what I was thinking of as well. I understand that the modules are created for different areas, but you could still point them out in the AP as possible locations for side-treks. You could include third party adventures, and even adventures created for Dungeon magazine.

At some point it might be nice to go back, or do a special year long AP. This gives you more room, to add the cool little things that makes Paizo adventures so great. Especially when you are doing something as cool as this sounds. Give yourselves some room to make it what you want it to, without losing some cool features do to a self-imposed page-count, or AP style.

As it is now, by the time I finish one AP, I will have the choice with 2 or more new ones. My group will never be able to play them all with how fast they come out now. I know I wouldn't mind an AP that went a year, instead of just 6 months.

My players have just brought this to my attention. Their concern for taking metamagic feats is that the DC's are just too low for them to push a feat and then just have the BBEG's make their saves anyway.

I'm wondering about maybe doing something along the lines of how powerful the metamagic feat is to add to the DC.

For example:

Feat that makes spell one level higher +1d4 DC
Two levels higher +1d6
Three 1d8
Four 1d10.

Thoughts??

I use DM Genie, and it's very configurable. Takes a bit to get the hang of, and to get some feats to automatically apply modifiers you need to know some scripting. Although, there are a bunch already there that you can cut/paste from and modify. There are some yahoo groups who you can also join, and get additional help from.

Now, if there was a more current one, that didn't require scripting to get the additional modifiers or something that was more plug and play. Where a new book comes out, you purchase the material and upload it to the software with everything ready to go. I would probably move over to that.

Nice things about it.

Calculates most modifiers on the fly during combat. Can set times on when they expire such as when a spell is cast.

Mass combat rolls for skill checks, or saving throws. Really can speed things up.

Fully customizable. Can go back and edit classes. Sometimes this needs clever creation of feats. For example to get the +3 bonus to skills requires some scripting for a feat for that class, that you then give to them as a bonus feat.

Can change calendar, days, number of moons, with a weather generator

Creates combat logs.

Between this and Table-smith for random things that might come up I've been pretty happy with this.

Hope it helps

Segallion

I'm curious as to how other DM's handle the various Knowledge checks in a module or AP.

Do you allow anyone with the appropriate Knowledge check to automatically make the roll when prompeted from the module?
Or do you only allow it when a PC asks to make a check?
Or some combination of the two?

Looking forward to the replies.

Segallion

It looks like I probably selected the wrong method of shipping as there are products which are available that have not left the pending state. I'd like to be able to get the books that are available now if possible, while getting the ones that are coming in the future to be sent out at those times.

I apologize for any inconvenince, and thanks for the help.