Sir_Wulf's page

Apparently, university professors give better grades to essays written using less familiar terms and phrases, even when more pedestrian vocabulary explains the subject more clearly.

Even as an enthusiastic proponent of obscure vocabulary, I consider that finding a bit disturbing.

I've gamed with folks of every opinion and orientation over the years, with only one truly problematic encounter. That individual assumed that any criticism of her behavior was motivated by intolerance toward her background and sexuality, even as she drove everyone around her nuts with her constant, strident complaints.

That doesn't mean that every gamer I know would be harmonious together. I've always tried to draw together groups that would enjoy each others' company, taking care not to place too many "prima donnas" into one group. The relevant factors seem to be more play style than personal background.

You want to get to Leng? Take the Parkway to State Route 662, then head north 12 miles. You can't miss it; there's a big sign on the left. Bring cash: Parking isn't free.

Having met both Will and Adam, I don't see the resemblance. I'm also relatively sure that if I were to lose in a game of Ticket to Ride to Will, he wouldn't take his shirt off and dance on the table shouting obscenities and denigrations of my family heritage.

Is Adam Daigle really Will Wheaton? You be the judge.

I am not positive, but I don't think you can get the same poundage on a short bow as on a longbow. So you wouldn't get the same kinetic energy put into the arrow. Current "small" bows get around this by being compound bows. Because of the pulley system they are able to increase the poundage without increasing the length of the bow.

Composite shortbows from the Middle East often featured horn reinforcing the bow's rigid face and sinew providing elasticity. Leather covered the bow's surface, protecting the sinew from damage. These bows were not normally as powerful as the Welsh longbow, but they could be: Persian composite "footbows" were used in seiges by prone archers. These weapons launched arrows remarkable distances.

The main factor contributing to the fearsome power of the longbow was the relentless practice that enhanced its bearers' strength. A Tudor-era archer was expected to practice six days each week, attending competitions on Sunday afternoons. This conditioned the archers to pull bows far more powerful than most modern men would consider wielding.

Hmm sounds like a hack and slash flip through the MM. Is this what PFS is usually like? I am considering auditing a few sessions, but if it's just a series of donkey encounters testing the PCs ability to mete out damage, I'll pass.

Once my players were lowering the party's rogue down a sinkhole when a giant spider appeared. Every member of the party turned and attacked the thing, completely forgetting the poor rogue hanging halfway down the sinkhole... With no one holding the rope, his descent went faster than he planned.

If there's a meet-up group or orther gaming group in your area, you might do well to ask around. Someone who collects the DDM figures may have a ton of common plastic figures they're willing to part with for a song.

Have any GMs actually gone so far to write faux faction missions for the trial in Act 4? I am running this tonight and don't have time, but before I run this next I am going to prepare some props to use. Because you can lift image elements off the PDF, I can take the faction mission paper image and write my own incriminating messages on them. Then I'll sign the faction leader's name in a slightly different way that will give the player an inkling that something is up.

When I ran it, the players had great fun denying the accusations that the Society members are a bunch of graverobbers and scoundrels. ("Steal from tombs? We would NEVER sink so low!")

At last, an excuse for characters to wear skimpy fanservice outfits! "I'm just trying to save a few pounds."

"We assume that you have enough bags, backpacks, or muscle to haul around the loot you find or, in the cast of an urban scenario, immediate access to markets and bazaars where you can sell your goods. While this system isn’t entirely realistic, it removes an incredible time sink from the play process (processing gear) and helps keep the scenario on track, on time, and moving fast."

On the other hand, I make sure that my character has appropriate gear. As a GM, I expect my players to pay reasonable attention to their gear as well. If a guy jots down his character in the 15 minutes before a game is supposed to begin, I'll let him handwave the trail rations or backpack he forgot to write down. If a guy shows up with a fifth-level character but no list of routine gear he's carrying, he'd better not expect me to go along with "My guy has three weeks' rations, two waterskins, silk rope and a grapple," in the middle of a desert.

If there were two parties, one who, say, teleported past an entire castle of deadly traps and CR 24 monsters in order to appear in the central treasure room and steal the Staff of MacGuffin, and the other of which fought its way through the castle, I'd award a great deal more XP to the second party, even though both parties "overcame" the same guards.

So, lets say a low-level party is walking through the woods, and is seen by a pair of bugbear scouts. The scouts slip away and report back to their boss. The party may, or may not, have even been aware of the scouts. Should the PCs get experience for that? Not yet, because the scouts are still out there, and still a threat. They haven't yet been overcome, even though they left their patrol positions.

Of course you can plaster a personality on a highly effective build. You can also play Magic "in character" (I'm not playing a Red/Green deck; I'm playing Lyra Aelf-friend, Druid Priestess. And Lyra taps into the power of the Richland Forests and Mount Dread to stun your wretched beast.") You can probably play chess in character, too. (My knight would indeed assault your strange moving castle, but he is sick, sick of war, I tell you, and stays in camp, heart-sick at how his life has led him to this point. But! This young soldier over here has come up with a crafty plan, and attempts to sneak his way past the army encamped over the hills.)

About candles of invocation: If you think that’s a good idea, Jabsco, you need to read more. I recommend Black Easter by James Blish, in which an arrogant demon summoner sets Armaggeddon into motion with his magic. It has some interesting descriptions of the hazards encountered when one traffics with beings of supernatural power: Such a caster must tread very carefully indeed.

You could try to limit your player's options or powers, or you could try to target his weaknesses. I've tried that approach and the player in question protested, sensing that I was specifically targeting her character. I don't recommend that strategy; nobody likes it when their character's "coolness" is nerfed by invariably encountering foes that target his weak points.

You should audit the character, determining whether all his bonuses should stack and reviewing the requirements of his vows in detail.

I recommend that you speak with the player and explain that his character's abilities overshadow the rest of the party. Ask him to make a secondary character, to run for a few games until the others catch up to his power level.

In your shoes, I'd also plan some roleplay-heavy scenarios. Instead of combat, make the real challenges solving mysteries or dealing with moral dilemmas. I wouldn't eschew combat entirely: Just reduce its role. The vows that make him unbalanced can become roleplaying hooks, turning your problem into an advantage.

I'll be running two games of Pathfinder. Someone has to show those poor folks how things should be done...

If you kill the animated dead body you can then raise it. They used that rule in the 3rd book of the AP RotRL.

I've always been fond of the Dungeon magazine adventure Ancient Blood by Grant and David Boucher. Since it was published in Dungeon issue 20 (November/December 1989), it may be hard to track down and would need quite a bit of updating.

In Ancient Blood, a party of 3rd to 5th level adventurers must deal with the curse of a long-dead frost giant chieftain, venturing into the haunted halls of the giants. It's a tale of the restless dead and undying blood feuds, where the cruel arctic wasteland may be as deadly as a giant's vengeful curse.

To get back on track, clerics can be very versatile. Decide what sort you prefer from a roleplay angle, then choose a god and domains to suit his role. Actively roleplay, and the rest of the party will see you as more than a "healing battery". Set clear expectations on how much you can help your party and how much of your effort will go toward directly opposing their foes.

Imagine a fighter sheathing his weapon and standing aside at the beginning of a fight, watching the creatures they are fighting charge in at his squishier friends.

Imagine a rogue searching for traps, declaring the door safe and then allowing the cleric to walk through a trapped door.

Imagine a fighter executing foes after they've surrendered, when the party desperately needs information from them.

Imagine a wizard who uses his spells to control innocent townsfolk, forcing them to help an ill-conceived plot to hurt a shopkeeper. Imagine an ensuing brawl with the city guard and the party's desperate attempts to save their reputation in the town.

Then imagine the Lawful Good cleric telling the perpetrator to "deal with your own problems".

"But you're the cleric! You have to heal me!"

That's more the scenario I was trying to describe. One of my players is a good friend, but ALL his characters are chaotic vengeful, bordering on evil. He just can't seem to play righteous PCs.

Another way is to counter with another question: is the player supposed to feel like they are inhabiting a character that is a part of this world or is the player supposed to feel like s/he is playing against the GM, in a "you can't guess what this world is like" contest?

Just because goblins are less exotic than Balor demons, it does not follow that most humans would fully understand their culture.

(In my opinion, The paladin's behavior was still vile...)

Extorting party members isn't a useful tactic in a game based around team play.

Use tactics like that the way a cook uses cayenne pepper in his recipes: Too much and you'll be sorry. Three times during a campaign is too much.

While I often agree with Thurgon, I don't like being mistaken for him. I do resembl... resent being characterized as a conservative, tradition-minded Republican dinosaur just because of my armor.

By the way: "Grognard" is a complement where I come from.

If they decide against bringing a divine caster, you might want to encourage a couple of them to max out "use magic device" and give them some potent healing items. That will give them a chance when things hit the fan.

Having played LA and LG, I enjoyed the cert system. Yes, you can end up with all the goodies at the end of a mod. But there will be times when you will only end up with the gold. There were a couple times where I ended up with the majority of the goodies because I was a cleric of Larissa. But there were also times when I ended up with a buttload of gold and no items. At marketplaces, my character would use the gold to upgrade his magical items. And a lot of times, I ended up with far more gold in sessions I got nothing the I did when i got the majority of magic items.

The chronicles/AR system may have its flaws, but to sit there and restrict characters to one bundle per level is just downright asinine.

Those who didn't play Living Arcanis at conventions often missed out on the opportunity to attend marketplaces. Some of my friends only played in home games and couldn't use their gold to buy magic items as you mentioned.

I haven't seen any one perfect solution to the problem of fairly dividing treasure. The Living Realms solution seems to give characters a reasonable variety of treasure items without overloading them with magic.

The Pathfinder Society's system also gives most characters the correct amount of treasure for their level, but people compare their gains to those found in home games, where it is common for some characters to find treasure not matched for their level. In many home games, a few characters find magic weapons, armor, wands, or other potent magic while still first level, long before such items fall in the expected wealth level.

I'm thrilled that your players had a good time and glad that they enjoyed the roleplaying scenes!

Also, many thanks for the detailed feedback and update information! That will be extremely helpful to me when I finally get the chance to run it in a couple of weeks.

I'd recommend the Infernal bloodline for Ibn-Chadli, which would explain some of the villain's diabolical associates. That also keeps his confusion spell from becoming a brutal DC 21 and denies him the fey bloodline's fight-prolonging improved invisibility effect. Since I've heard this one tends to run long, that may be an ability the scenario's better off without.

I do recommend that you have some combat capabilities beyond casting. If you encounter a situation with multiple fights back-to-back, it's good to have other ways you can help the party. A crossbow and a few consumable magics can ensure that you're always ready to do something, no matter how "hack and slash" the scenario (or party).

Is it rude to ask for clearification or is there another reason I don't receive answers when I ask for them?

For adventures you could read with your kids present, you might want to look at the Pathfinder Society organized play adventures. They are written for a more general audience, since you never know when some 13-year old will show up to play at an organized play event. The adventure paths often include elements suitable for a more mature audience.

I'd just fudge. If you weren't comfortable with that, you could make the ability into some sort of feat, available only to clerics with the Magic Domain.

7 is the minimum for any ability score under v1.1 rules.

I'm generally against federally-managed health care, for several reasons:

1.) My father shared many tales of frustration from his dealings with the Canadian system when he first lived up there.

2.) Arizona has a health care system for the indigent already in place. It doesn't seem to work all that well, but forms a "safety net" of sorts.

3.) I work in corrections, and the prison's state-managed health care isn't something I would choose for myself. Their bureaucratic inability to eliminate problematic (discourteous, unprofessional, or inept) staff leaves me aghast.

4.) My experiences with the Feds suggest that there's nothing they can't massively screw up.

5.) Now is a terrible time to tackle a major new social program. The government has been hemorraging money for over eight years, so they decide NOW is the time for massive new entitlement programs?

Interestingly, my father's wife has chronic care issues: Her ongoing problems were a factor in their decision to return to Canada (She's a Canadian citizen). Since he owned a small business, her medical costs were very burdensome while they lived in the States.

Eternal expulsion! Woot, we could have TPKs without killing. That's what I call progress. :)

Never underestimate the ingenuity of those truly determined to do everything the wrong way: I'm waiting to hear from a group that plays the adventure with a party of CHA 6 half-orc barbarians.

Enigma's "Human Corpse" looks promising.

I have a few corpses that I picked up years ago (Grenadier Minis, IIRC), but I couldn't find them available while looking on-line. Reaper offers a couple of heavily-armored corpses (Look up "corpse" in their figure finder), but those don't seem to be quite what you're looking for.

If I wanted to make some bodies, I'd pick up some Games Workshop "bits" and modify them, cutting and repositioning limbs to serve as sprawled human remains. Promising models include "Empire Militia". Their "Vampire Counts Zombie Horde" might also provide a few dead-looking bits.

The bard seems frustrated in the fights but has spent a lot of time questioning people. She is trying to understand the characters, which means I need to. She is also making assumptions about how the society works, which have mislead her once. She was assuming a more feudal society.

There may be notable exceptions. I expect that Sandpoint's leading families own significant parts of the town and hope to control more. Townsfolk living in their properties may pay in an odd patchwork of coinage, barter, and required service. As an example, a PC given deed to a cottage as a reward for their heroism might find the current tenants required to yearly pay them 64 gold pieces, 5 chickens, 30 iron nails, and five days labor cutting peat from local marshland. The PCs may be required to provide security against goblins if they wish to collect the peat. If the callous PCs plan to live in their new cottage, they might have to throw out the current tenants.

Water rights were a major bone of contention in Medieval society, with farmers and mill owners building dams and diverting watercourses. In such a culture, the building of mills was often strictly regulated, to keep millers from interfering with each other's business and ensure that local landowners maintained monopolistic control over their mills.

If your version of Gorvi picks through the trash for debris he can sell to the smiths and glaziers, then have a handful of goblins periodically creep into the town, grabbing metal items and anything else not nailed down. Let them craft their dogslicers from stolen hinges, weathervanes, lantern hooks, and boat fittings, all pried loose in the dead of night. It works as well.

I threw together a sidequest encounter that you could easily adapt for your game.

In Magnimar, the party sought out an elderly scholar to get information about where pegasi could be found (one player wanted a pegasus cohort/mount in the worst way). They found him living as a virtual prisoner, confined by his abusive stepson.

A sorcerer of moderate power, the stepson hoped to pressure the old scholar into revealing the location of treasures he had hidden years earlier, but the stubborn old-timer refused to cooperate. A pack of his stepson's friends moved into the house with them, dissolute goons eager to share the old man's treasure.

Until the treasure was found, the stepson refused to let anyone else see the old man, telling others that his stepfather was quite senile.

In my game, a deadly brawl broke out between the adventurers and the stepson's thuggish houseguests. The local watch responded, and the situation looked grim for the party. Fortunately for them, the scholar's estate was just down the boulevard from the Scarnetti's manse. Aware of what the "Heroes of Sandpoint" had done for their relatives, a pair of Scarnettis turned up, vouching for the party's innocence. Since I had played up the Scarnettis in Sandpoint as little better than gangsters, the party was more than a little worried to be in their debt.

In your game, I'd change out the scholar to be an elderly merchant, one of the Seven. The cultists hadn't gotten to him yet because his stepson keeps him locked away, imprisoned in a mansion filled with violent goons.

Write me in for one month.

Why is the vulchling so cruelly neglected? Why does it not receive the attention it deserves?

T-shirts aren't enough. We need an entire line of flumph fashion accessories: Shoes, hats, jeans, bags, kilts, scabbards, tankards, backpacks, and jewelry.

"Nothing comes between me and my Flumph jeans!"

I hate to be the bearer of bad news to the keeper of the Pathfinder Wiki, but the flumph was NOT in the 1E Monster Manual, and it was NOT designed by Gary Gygax.

Secondly, this implies that if we can find an endorsement of flumphs by E. Gary Gygax, they're in. Our mission now is simple: We must find (or manufacture) such a document. I'm sure someone has an old Fiend Folio with Gary's wholehearted "thumbs up" scrawled on it.

(If we'd learned of this issue sooner, we could have slipped Erik Mona a few stiff drinks at PaizoCon, then snuck the flumph into his notes while he was distracted. Something like,"Put this one on the Bestiary cover" would have muddied the waters long enough to guarantee flumphs their rightful place in Golarion.)

Perhaps an extensive marketing campaign would galvanize public opinion toward this poor, maligned creature. Flumphs could be the new heralds of Abadar, guardians of his celestial vaults. After all, what's more trustworthy than a flumph?

Go to www.reapermini.com and use their "figure finder". You should find something worthy there. Once you've located a decent figure, have your FLGS pick it up for you.

Alternatively, you could order it from Paizo's store...

Thank God that someone has finally stepped forward to protect this unfortunate species.

A small bundle of slightly toxic herbs lie in the pouch of a deceased half-elven female. A DC 15 Heal check reveals them to be a potent abortifacient, ordinarily steeped in hot water and taken as a tea.

A notorious bandit hides a small wallet in bandages wrapped around his ankle. Tattered love letters lie within. Dated 21 years earlier, these prove that a local nobleman once courted the highwayman's mother.

The gold-chased chastity belt of a knight's daughter hides a small, locked compartment, in which she keeps a golden locket incribed with a lewd poem. She keeps the belt's key hidden elsewhere.

Hidden in an orc's vermin-infested felt hat, a small pouch holds 16 green glass beads. Detect magic reveals a faint aura of Divination on the beads. If arranged in a circle, the northernmost bead slowly rolls out of position.

Another useful list can be found at the Strolen's Citadel website. Take a look at What Has It Got In Its Pocketses?

Any shop that does framing is sure to have odd pieces of matt board left over from framing pictures. Most part with these scraps for a nominal amount, especially if it looks like you're about to buy something else.

My local Michael's craft shop does framing, so I grab whatever other supplies I need and they pass me their scrap matt board for free. They're sturdy enough to make decent bases. (My younger daughter made her die-rolling tower out of matt board.)

He needs to recognize that random theft and assault has non-random consequences, not just for him, but for the entire party. The local Watch and thieves' guild are likely to come after them.

You should stop rewarding his negative behavior (as mentioned above), but I'd also use it to set him up, feeding a hook to one of the main plot's antagonists. Say he stole a piece of jewelry: Let that belong to the villain's concubine. The villain is alerted to the party's activity and can prepare for their interference.

The man tossed and turned, visions of brutal warfare filling his dreams. A half-orc hunted him through the night, a cruel and heartless priest eager to murder him. Staggering to his feet, the groggy warrior frantically began to don his armor, somehow certain that the visions were real, that the half-orc was coming.

The bloodthirsty war god would have his battle.

As soon as he tried to cast darkness, I'd have his holy symbol shatter. Until he successfully atones, proving his valor in grim battle, I'd rule that any other holy symbol of Gorum he touches also shatters.

Of course, the followers of Norgorber would soon appear, hoping to recruit one who clearly sees the superiority of thier methods...

You might want to ask over at Strolen's Citadel. Several steampunk enthusiasts wander their forums, so I launched a thread there with your question.

A Gasp of Glass might give you some ideas: It describes a surrealistic demiplane spawned from the tortured mind of a deranged AI. While the adventure isn't really what you were looking for, I suspect it would inspire several warped "clockwork" ideas.

I've run it twice now and padded out the timeline by a few rounds between each event. In that time, the dragon was flying around, periodically snatching and devouring hapless citizens. The giants were arguing about where to attack, then tearing buildings apart and grabbing citizens.

Realistically, most parties will be run ragged before they've faced a fraction of the raiders. My first team took down the giant leader and several other giants, but hid in the ruins rather than face the dragon.

The second party took out several giants, then the party's bard tried to talk the dragon out of attacking. Her hasty diplomacy was only slightly successful ("I like you, elf-blood. I'll eat you last.") and the party retreated into a rope trick to avoid the dragon. fortunately, it only waited a few rounds before the giant's leader called it to attack another target.

The party then ran north, salvaging a few clerical scrolls from the burning temple. Discovering silence among the scrolls, they laid an ambush for the giants' leader. The bard took his head and flew south to meet the dragon again, tossing the giant's head to it and suggesting the raid was done. Impressed by the bard's chutzpah and concerned that it had underestimated the town's defenders, the dragon left.

"Lizzie, Lizzie, have you tasted
For my sake the fruit forbidden?
Must your light like mine be hidden,
Your young life like mine be wasted,
Undone in mine undoing,
And ruined in my ruin;
Thirsty, cankered, goblin-ridden?"

The question then arises, "Are these tales true in the paladins' world, or are they mere legends, phantasms born of race hatred and peasant superstition?" Are goblins merely shrewd merchants, or does every dealing with them imperil the buyer's soul?

Such questions aren't answered by a knight's swift axe, nor is such rude justice appropriate from a paladin. If he wasn't absolutely certain that his actions furthered justice, he shouldn't have struck.