Taliesin Hoyle's page

My youngest turns three this August, but she's been in Pre-K for a year now.

Granted, I'm living in South Korea, where children begin attending Hagweon as soon as they start walking. Nonetheless, I'm convinced children should begin professional schooling or tutoring as soon as they are intellectually capable.

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for
authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place
of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their
households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They
contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties
at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."

houstonderek wrote:

I'll stick to polyamory. All of the fun, none of the paperwork.

Just wait until the fun results in offspring ;P

In order to properly solve this potential issue may I recommend the homosexual lifestyle. It really is a great time saver too! ;-)

Most are aware of FHDM's distaste of Whedon, but has anyone been coming across the "Kirby or Die!" fanatics? The ones that won't see anything because Kirby is not being properly recognized in their eyes and that Lee & Marvel is the soulless sucking conglomerate? I know one guy that won't pay one cent for simply that reason because he complains (loudly, I may add) that Kirby's heirs aren't seeing a dime.

He was surprised that I mentioned that Kirby was mentioned in the credits at least twice. I told him that he should just see the film and if he's that concerned, just write a check and find out where to send it toward Kirby's estate.

He mentioned that he may wait until it comes out in the library to see it so he's satisfied that he didn't spend a dime on it. Then I followed up with a conversation about how it reminds me of Gygax and Arneson. "Who's Arneson?" he asks. "You play D&D, right?" "Yeah..." It was an exercise in irony, to say the least. :)

I just...uh...ponied up, as they say.

I noticed the box design within minutes of when Vic posted it. I'm bummed about the removal of the Huge White Dragon, but my guess is that by the time we see it in a miniature set following RotRL, many (if not most) groups will not have yet reached it as an actual encounter during play of the AP, so it should hopefully be a case of no harm, no foul.

I would like to point out that as a result of these "delays" in getting new minis out in the marketplace, I am in the midst of having to resort to extraordinry means of obtaining new plastic. I'm rebasing 700 Dreamblade minis (that I got in the shrink, for free no less) and nearly 1,400 Mage Knight minis to pass the time.

Oh, if you are still taking advice on "what minis to feature" in subsequent sets? Honestly? COMMONERS. Two per set of 60. Common figures with a common frequency. A Farmer (with pitchfork) and a farmer's wife (with an apron). A boy and a girl. A male miner (with pick) and a matronly baker (with a rolling pin). Angry Villager with pitchfork; Angry villager with torch. A barkeep and a barmaid. You get the idea. A tinker and a carpenter, etc.

Common villagers that are immediately useful and which, some years hence -- when all combined together in a group of 50 or so -- will provide most GMs with a large numbers of common everyday folk to fill a town or urban scene with common everyday people. Not a one of em wearing armor and, at best, improvised weapons only. Whether that is as part of a riot, part of the crowd in a bar or the villagers that need rescuing in From Shore to Sea or a host of other modules or PFS scenarios - there is a sore and pressing needs for such minis.

And some stand alone tentacle minis wouldn't be that bad, either :)

I vote the flagging option should be "Spam spam spam spam spam"

When you measure something its implicit that there's a certain amount of tolerance

It's implicit to you and me, because we share a reality-based world-view. Fundamentalists do not -- they ascribe to a faith-based world-view in which absolute perfection not only exists but supposedly interacts with the "real" world all the time, as an integral part of it. Given that view, "a certain amount of tolerance" is alien; things are either perfect or imperfect, True(TM) or false, good or evil.

ive tried to go to the links but it takes me to a website about creating websites. advice to get to this material please.

jonahlissner.weebly.com/. Linkified and it resolves just fine for me (no ads about creating websites).

*disclaimer: I in no way claim, infer or seek to misconstrue ownership of said link, associated website and/or material presented when said link is clicked. Any misinterpretation to the contrary is the sole responsibility of the the party misinterpreting my original statements and is the party to be contacted directly with any correspondence regarding the matter, be it of litigious nature or other. ;)

In the beginning, General Motors built my Camaro.

It was good, for they were perfect.

It gleamed and glistened and ebbed with that V8 burble.

Once it rolled off the lot though the thing became MY responsibility.

General Motors might still exist as a huge and omnipotent being.

The responsibility to maintain the creation though, is solely mine.

I am on mine own now with my Chariot of the Gods to seek out my own destiny. Should it rust, it be not their fault. Should it wear and strain, it be not their fault. The fault lies with me should I believe the 'limited warranty' be mistaken with 'eternity'.

In my analogy you don't own the car, you ARE the car. Also you should add in your analogy that if you don't take care of the car at the end of it's life once it breaks down a representative from GM shows up at your house, douses you in gasoline and sets you on fire, because that is a reasonable punishment for poor car maintenance.

I just wanted to send Neil Spicer belated Valentines day wishes from the entire Paizo editorial pit*. Neil's exceptionally nuanced analyses of each contestant's work should be one of the highlights of this year's show for anyone interested in freelancing for Paizo--he's really giving away the secrets here folks. But, for me and all of the developers and editors on the Paizo staff, Neil's writing advice is worth its weight in gold, as it's the exact sort of feedback we give our freelancers.

It turns out that having awesome ideas isn't even half the battle of writing for RPGs (it's actually kind of expected). You've also got to make your ideas exciting to read and easy for your developers and editors to work with. Someone might have the coolest adventure ideas in the world, but if I have to rewrite every sentence, I'm never going to assign that freelancer work again. So, all you would-be designers out there, dust off your grammar books, read Paizo's published products and really consider the styles and formats you're seeing, and take a good look at Neil's advice throughout this competition.

Below I've copied a number of the comments that provoked all this gushing.

- Your use of the word "will" is also a sign of weak writing. Look for ways to avoid that. It'll strengthen your prose. Instead of saying a creature will do something, just say they do it. That makes your writing much more active and evocative.

- You're using a lot of passive voice, though. Try and avoid as many conventions of the verb "to be" as you can. So, go back and highlight just the places where you used "is"..."are"..."was"...and "were" etc. If the majority of your write-up is relying on those types of verbs, you need to work on replacing them with more active verbs to make your prose read better and come across as more evocative.

- Go back through and identify all the usages of the verb "to be" by highlighting "is"..."are"..."was"...and "were"...and you'll see you rely way too much on that to convey your ideas. Overall, your writing would be stronger if you can find ways to use more active verbs as you present your villain's backstory and the location's history. Sometimes, it's okay to rely on a "was" or "were" when talking about things in the past. But use them sparingly.

- On top of all that, you keep capitalizing non-game terms like goblin and ogre as proper nouns. That's not how those terms should be presented in a game product.

- You left commas out of your XP values.

- You've failed to italicize references to the Bestiary, Bestiary 2, and Gamemastery Guide.

- There are a lot of spacing problems in your writeup. Several words got jammed together...

- Missing an apostrophe

- More proofing problems

With all of that in mind, I strongly RECOMMEND Mr. Spicer advance to judge next year's competition**. Thanks Neil, from all of us in the pit!

* And we love the rest of you judges too. Just slightly less then Neil. (Unless you're Sean... screw that guy.)

** Sorry dude. No rest for the wicked.

@Barcas,

One of my friends is a police officer, and I have respect for most officers. OTOH, the ones I have respect for I wouldn't need to film, nor would they object.

52) Fundamental Attribution Error

53) The Planning Fallacy

54) Parsimony

55) Falsificationism

My opinion on "jazzing" it up BQ, is just think about what the NPCs in the city would do and what the other faction leaders would do.

Don't let the PCs exist in a vaccuum.
Have an idea of where the other factions are going to move to and what they're going to do. From there, you should be able to "play off" what the adventure provides.

For instance, here's a rundown on what's happened in my playing through of CoSS. You'll notice I haven't really "added" much, just played off how the Faction leaders and NPCs would react to particular encounters (even if some of them were random encounters that I rolled out before hand)

Well, as mentioned, one of the largest obstacles for me, was establishing drive for my characters. Once they left Smuggler's Shiv... it was hard getting them out of Eleder.

Me: So, you start to look for what you need to go on an expedition!
Them: Eh, let someone else handle it.
Me: What? Why?
Them: We're tired! Besides this city needs our help!
Me: What about, fame, glory, treasure?
Them: Eh...? Meh.

Eventually, of course, I was able to overcome this and sell them on the importance that they do this instead of others, but it took some doing.

The basic problem is that you're not playing one, solidly connected adventure, as you are three.

Effectively, here's how the story parses out:
* Soul's for Smuggler's Shiv [stand alone adventure, could be done independently of others]
* Racing to Ruin, and City of Seven Spears and Vaults of Madness [a set of related adventures, however the last two really should be one, larger adventure... also, they're grindy]
* Thousand Fangs Below and Serpent God's Vault [these should, too, be run as one contiguous adventure]

In reality, you could make three sets of PCs and run them through the three different sets of adventures, and it would almost work better than having the adventures work exactly as written.

Serpent Skull isn't a bad Adventure Path... but it easily can be. Both the overly-rail-roady Racing to Ruin and the ridiculously meat-grindy City of Seven Spears is a tough sell, as written. Effectively, plan, plan, plan, plan, plan, plan, plan and plan some more without skimping on the planning. Use the evocative scenery to your advantage. Make things feel real, important, and urgent. Drop reminders, occasionally, and hints from future things to past references. Make sure you have your contingencies covered. KNOW your players' characters and their motivations. Tie those personal motivations into the over-all structure. If you put in a lot of work, Serpent Skull can be good, or even great. However do know that SS, as written, unlike most APs, takes a lot of exactly that: work. Much more so than any other AP I've seen or played. And be careful. Your players can get whiplash between sand-box and rail-road, if you pull it on them too rapidly.

Some ways to help out:
* Racing to Ruin
- - Plan everything ahead. Roll all the random encounters, combine them sometimes, stretch them out over others, but have them rolled up for specific locations/days and then run them on those dates, regardless. Presume when the PCs save time, they skip days. Having these prepared in advance makes them far, far, far more easily interesting than "Oh, another random encounter today... hurray." which Racing to Ruin can be.
- - MAKE THE FACTIONS INTERESTING. As written, they're very boring. (Poor General Rotilius never even gets a piece of cover art! They snubbed him!) Give them an actual size, let the PCs know who and how many there are, give them a few notable personalities (other than just the leader as described and the random NPC from the island) that let the PCs be interested and feel connected. I've got some suggestions somewhere, I'll try to dig them up.

* City of Seven Spears and Vaults of Madness
- - More than anything else written here, combine these two. COMBINE THEM. They need to be the same adventure. Do not wait to introduce Vaults until the end of CoSS. There are plenty of ways. One way I did so was when the PCs used their allies to assault the Boggards, afterwards all the PC's allies (or their bodies) were accounted for, but a few. While looking around, they found a sinkhole with a rope, and the dead NPC at the bottom. That led them to the Flooded Vault. Another, while fighting the Rakshasa, he used Dimension Door (and his ring of Water Walking) a few times to escape. They tracked him and killed him... as he rolled to the bottom of a pit, they located a second cave: "The Indomitable Redoubt of Kalid-Shah". Discovering hints of "the Illaghri" from the Charau-Ka (fearful ramblings and prayers for protection from the shaman), yielded more of an interest when later on they actually found it. Also, don't arbitrarily hide the things. Nothing irritated one character more than literally spending hours searching and marking every single cave entrance in the economic district (the district they start in, by the way) and suddenly finding "whoops, I missed one" (referencing the Vault of the Body Thief; I didn't have book four the first time through). They accepted that, but it was still frustrating for character reasons. You can totally invent arbitrary reasons why they can't get in, however (such as big, honkin' iron doors). Just be prepared for that to be a distraction. Also be careful - when you do this they may run into things too big for them to handle.
- - MAKE THE FACTIONS INTERESTING. Remember that bit I noted in Racing to Ruin, above? Now they get to shine! Now that you have five (or fewer or even more) factions, allow them to interact! Some build friendships ([Pirates and Pathfinders], [Pathfinders and Sargava], [Sargava and the Aspis Consor- er, I mean "Ivory Cross"] and [Aspis Consortium and Red Mantis]) which makes for very interesting dynamics when you factor in their rivals/hated enemies as well (Pirates v. Mantis, Consortium v. Pathfinders). Make the dynamic... well, dynamic, not static. Have camps move periodically. Do things that are interesting. Make the Gorrilla King a faction that's collecting things like other factions, but instead of raids, have him foist his "competitions" on the other factions (enforced by raids). Eventually, the Red Mantis should end up in the religion district (troglodytes), the Pirates in the Farming District (boggards) the Constortium in either the military or farming district (Charau-Ka or Boggards, respectively, clashing with the pirates often in the latter), Sargava in the military district, and Pathfinders in the Economic or Artisans Districts.

For the whole campaign:
* I recommend creating a timeline of your own - "Day X, presuming the PCs don't stop Y, then Z happens". Keep this semi-secret from your players (they know there's a clock, they just don't know what).

* Make more interesting, if functionally dubious (for the PCs) treasure. Coins are dull. A magical whatsits that does blarg (completely useless to an adventurer, but great for an <insert sedentary job here>, and could be sold!) makes great treasure. "Oh, look: more coins, and a mundane super-fragile fan worth a few hundred gold. Joy." does not.
- - related: I suggest putting more treasure, but also giving reasons for the PCs to put it back in (money sinks). It makes them feel wealthy, but with taxes, dues, and social benefits (building materials, etc) doesn't unbalance things unduly. This is entirely dependent upon your players, of course. I've got mine (down to one right now) planning on being Sargava's governor for Savinth-Yhi (and Ilmurea) so she's basically investing a metric ton of treasure and gold into making the places as fabulous as possible, renovating everything, rebuilding, and the like.

* Make more possibilities for social "wins". As currently written, there's really few viable social "wins" - one found in City of Seven Spears (which involves an insane no-longer-good outsider), and two in Thousand Fangs Below (both of which involve putting your trust into evil, murderous, creatures of pure vileness). This makes things difficult. I strongly suggest you see what you can do about that.

* Don't be afraid to adapt. Simply put: don't play it as-written. It doesn't function well. What's written are great bones to make a good adventure story out of. It's not a good story on its own.

I hope these help! Sorry for the walls of text!

So I often use scripts. These are out-of-character cut-scenes that allow the PCs to get some flavour or some plot without experiencing it first hand. In my current game, one of the PCs is a Varisian follower of Desna, so these take the form of dreams to her, but they could be delivered in any number of ways, or even without explanation. We don't use these every session, just every now and again.

To use them, simply print out a few copies, hand them out and allocate characters. If possible, the DM should not be a character (ie, entirely player read), but otherwise you can just read a minor character.

Anyway, here are the scripts I used for the first two modules.
Script 1: Prologue to the campaign
Script 2: Murder in Ravengro
Script 3: Introducing Auren Vrood
Script 4: Count Caromarc as a young man

Some notes:

* Script 2 is useful if your PCs haven't solved the Ravengro murders by the first time you escalate to a human. It throws suspicion on a bunch of characters in Ravengro in a murder-mystery style. (NB: the Lorrimor cheese collection was an in-game joke.).

* Script 3 deviates a little from the plot in that we have the Whispering Way kill Aleece and also have Luramin the money-lender a necromancer. To me, one of the changes the campaign needs is more of a prominent villain and more encounters with the Whispering Way. This allows for some WW action in Ravengro as well as framing a big bad evil guy for the PCs. (It also allows you to mask the real big bad, so Vrood is sleight-of-hand in a way).

* Script 4 is my take on a Count Caromarc origin story. Both Koch and Werner are added characters. Werner was the father of one of my PCs and Koch was an NPC at the University who could help out with various alchemy things related to the module, as well as enroll Kendra in class.

More scripts to come for later modules. The one I regret not doing is a script around the night of the fire in Harrowstone. I think there is a lot of cool information in the first module that goes to waste, and having that dramatic evening as a flash-back would work well.

Comments welcome...

A lot of people seem to feel Saventh-Yhi is much to underdeveloped, so let's develop it together.
Let's flesh out all the buildings that stand out on the map but have no description.

Significant structures on the map like:
- White stairs with round plaza west of Area D
- 3 waterways with 8 square buildings between D and E
- 4 three-story ziggurats at the shore of E
- Row of square buildings blocking the road to Spear E
- Ruin on island south of E
- Plaza soutwest of J1
- Dam northwest of M
- Two-story ziggurat in G (copy-paste building from K4) + tower south of it
- Row of 4 square buildings between G and D
- Buildings on the island south of F2
- The towers(?) on the F Islands
- Buildings northeast of F3/F4

Round gray plaza with thing in the middle east of D3:
Aveshai's memorial
A large plaza paved with gray granite, the stones are cracked and withered but seem to once have been smooth and polished. Monoliths from the same stone surround the place.
In the middle of the plaza stands a tall pedestal decorated with bas-reliefs depicting battles between human and serpentfolk armies. On top of the pedestal stands a large marble statue of a cyclop. The giant holds a huge sword in his hands and stares vigilant into the jungle to the east.

A row of square towers to the northeast of the plaza form the city border.

Thanks to all those who have worked on previous maps and shared the results of their efforts.

Hexes

Perspective:

West

Central

East

Everyone knows Rouges are Overpowdered!

Hello all,

I started running Council of Thieves a couple weeks ago and I was really in need of a map with all the labels. I bought the map folio, the poster map is beautiful, but it was too big to just scan and slap some text on. So I looked around on the message boards and I found one map that showed the various districts, but it was on the original style map. So I went ahead and made my own. I think it's OK to post since it's fan made. If there is a problem let me know.

http://www.kencyclopedia.com/maps/Westcrown.jpg

Frequently Unknown Rules (through post 400)
Frequently unknown rules

including summary from:

Things you might have missed

Format is a bit messy...running against the clock or resort. Will repair on next iteration. Now in order by Type of Change (new to PF, always like this, etc.) and then by CRB chapter.

Change from SRD/D&D to Pathfinder (includes brand new to PF)
Races
1. Elves sleep, but are still immune to magical sleep.

Classes
1. Class HD changes in many areas.
2. Barbarians rage x rounds/day instead of x times/day
3. Bardic performances no longer based on Perform skill (other than Countersong and Distraction) and the bard can do other things while performing without interrupting a performance, such as cast spells. In SRD/3.5, a verbal performance would be interrupted by spellcasting.
4. Bardic Knowledge is changed. Bards get bonus to knowledge checks and can use untrained.
5. Clerics don’t get heavy armor proficiency, get proficiency with deities favored weapon, and need a feat to turn undead.
6. Fighters can retrain bonus feats.
7. Monk flurry of blows different.
8. Paladin double of smite against some creatures is on first attack only.
9. Caster level for ranger and paladins is class level –3 instead of class level/2.
10. Ranger favored enemy bonus applies to attack rolls as well as damage.
11. Cantrips and orisons are at-will
12. Uncanny Dodge changed: character with uncanny dodge is not flat-footed.
13. Wizard specialists can now take spells from their opposed schools, but such spells cost two slots to prepare. All wizards, whether specialist or not, gain abilities at levels based upon their specialty.
14. Wizards can opt to have a bonded object instead of a familiar. A bonded object provides various benefits for use and penalties if unavailable.

Skills
1. Concentration is no longer a skill. New mechanic makes it tougher for multi-classed characters.
2. Stealth/Perception changed in multiple ways from multiple skill set in SRD.
3. Alchemical items no longer require CL1 for some items.
4. Blind creatures use Acrobatics check to move faster than half speed else prone. Cannot run or charge.
5. Animals do not gain armor proficiency via any form of trick training. The animal type description text regarding trained for war leaves the discussion as well. Armor proficiency for animals is obtained through feats.

Feats
1. Many Shot and Rapid Shot can now be used together.
2. Dodge applies to all opponents, not just one specified opponent.
3. Improved Trip and Improved Disarm split into a feat tree (Improved and Greater)
4. Grapple works differently. Some highlights: grapplers no longer share space. Ranged attacks into a grapple no longer risk hitting the wrong target. Grappled creatures threaten surrounding squares and can attack into them (at –2 to hit). Effects on AC and sneak attack are debated (see below). Effectively, while changed, grapple is still problematic.
5. Power Attack, Cleave, Greater Cleave, and Combat Expertise all different.
6. Track is no longer a feat
7. Far Shot halves range penalty instead of increasing range.
8. Mounted Combat now uses immediate action rather than 1/round language.
9. Animals do not gain armor proficiency via any form of trick training. The animal type description text regarding trained for war leaves the discussion as well. Armor proficiency for animals is obtained through feats.
10. Vital Strike feat is a standard action. It cannot be used as part of a full attack, charge, or spring attack.

Equipment
1. Spiked chain no longer has reach.
2. Weapon enhancement bonus (the plus portion, not the cost equivalent) overcomes various DR at different DR than just magic.
3. Mithral weapons count as silver for overcoming DR/silver.
4. Mithral armor now requires proficiency in original type of armor, not just resulting armor.
5. Damaging Magic Weapons: An attacker cannot damage a magic weapon that has an enhancement bonus unless his weapon has at least as high an enhancement bonus as the weapon struck.

Additional Rules

Combat
1. Anything that improves attack rolls improves CMB, including weapon feats if using weapon for the special attack.
2. Sneak attack and critical damage applies to many additional creatures, including undead and constructs.
3. Characters can draw a weapon during a charge, but can only charge a single move distance and must have a BAB of +1. If charging a single move distance due to being restricted to a single action (surprise, slow, etc.), charging character must have Quickdraw to draw a weapon in the same round as a charge.
4. Stabilization and death changed.
5. Blind creatures use Acrobatics check to move faster than half speed else prone. Cannot run or charge.
6. Initiative is rolled prior to the start of surprise round for all combatants. In SRD/D&D, surprised characters do not roll initiative until after the surprise round is over.
7. If damage is less due to strength penalties such that damage would be less than 1, the damage in PF is 1 point of non-lethal. In SRD/D&D, the damage is reduced to 1 point of lethal.
8. Sunder can be used as a tactic that is not self-defeating for loot-loving PCs. Minor repair magic, such as mending and make whole, are more useful as a result.
9. Damaging Magic Weapons: An attacker cannot damage a magic weapon that has an enhancement bonus unless his weapon has at least as high an enhancement bonus as the weapon struck.

Magic
1. Concentration is no longer a skill. New mechanic makes it tougher for multi-classed characters.
2. Polymorph school spells have changed. See polymorph spells and specific spells, such as alter self.

Spells
1. Many save-or-die and save-or-suck spells have re-saves or more limited effects.
2. Cantrips and orisons are at-will
3. Gate spell changed from 2x level to 1x CL in terms of HD called/controlled.
4. Detect (alignment) spells work differently. They do not detect alignment auras at low hit dice, and can register based upon intentions rather than actual alignment or deeds.
5. Harm spell explicitly cannot reduce hit points below 1, whether the save is made or not.
6. Celestial and Fiendish templates, such as used with summon spells, do not advance Intelligence to 3. This reduces communication options related to language.
7. Summoned creatures cannot use spells or spell-like abilities that require expensive material components. Expensive material components are typically those that would need to be tracked with a cost of 1gp or more.
8. Protection from evil grants a resave at +2 and does not automatically suppress ongoing effects.

Prestige Classes

Gamemastering

Environment

NPCs

Magic Items
1. Magic item creation vastly changed. Note that there are various disagreements about exactly how it works, particularly with reference to prerequisites; those discussions are outside the scope of this document.
2. Magic item creation no longer uses XP.
3. Market Value of Magic Items (Language Pending)
4. Indentification of magic items changed significantly (see detect magic, identify, Spellcraft, and Perception)
5. Scrolls take a standard action, but longer if the spell contained has a longer casting time. (This may have been added in D&D add-on material as well, such as Rules Compendium).
6. A character can make a magic item without being a spell caster through the Master Crafsman feat.
7. Damaging Magic Weapons: An attacker cannot damage a magic weapon that has an enhancement bonus unless his weapon has at least as high an enhancement bonus as the weapon struck.

Appendices and Monster Rules
1. Poison rules incorporated into affliction and changed significatly; poison tougher all around.
2. Natural attacks changed. Creature can have multiple primary attacks.
3. Regeneration is simpler. See universal monster rule for regeneration.
4. Templates changed in many ways.
5. Incorporeal creatures take 50% of damage of effective attacks instead of only being affected for the full amount 50% of the time.
6. Ability damage results in a penalty for every full –2 damage. The result of such penalties are limited in scope depending on the ability. Contrast with ability drain.
7. Ability drain is required before losing benefits from skill points and ability prerequisites required to qualify for feats and prestige classes. Contrast with ability damage.
8. Animals do not gain armor proficiency via any form of trick training. The animal type description text regarding trained for war leaves the discussion as well. Armor proficiency for animals is obtained through feats.
9. Celestial and Fiendish templates, such as used with summon spells, do not advance Intelligence to 3. This reduces communication options related to language.

Always like this, but frequently misplayed or not known previously

Races

Classes
1. Inspire courage is free action to continue once having started.
2. Animal companions can be dismissed at will and replaced with 24 hours; note that new companion requires training other than bonus feats.
3. Animal companions gain feats as they gain hit dice.
4. Animals do not have to be proficient in armor to wear barding, but may have penalties depending on what barding they wear.
5. Sneak attack and other precision damage applies to every attack in a round, not just once per round.
6. Familiars and animal companions can be the target of spells that they can not normally be the target of, such as enlarge person.

Skills
1. Rules for tying up a character are in Grapple section.
2. Auto-success on a 20 and Auto Fail on a 1 are not universal to all rolls. They apply only when called out. Typical examples are attack rolls and saving throws. The following are not subject to auto-success/failure: Skill checks, caster level checks, concentration checks.
3. Take 10 on skill check can be used when not in immediate danger or distracted. Do not confuse with Take 20’s restriction from use if there is a negative consequence.
4. Take 20 cannot be used if there is a negative result for failure. Do not over-generalize to apply this to Take 10.

Feats
1. Ride-by Attack is still a mess.
2. Empower spell only applies to the rolled portion of the effect.
3. Metamagic applied to spontaneous casting (bards, sorcerers, etc.) and to class-based spontaneous casting (cleric’s spontaneous cure or druid’s spontaneous summon) take longer to cast. Such spells take a full round action (different than 1 round casting time) to cast if originally a standard action; spells with a casting time originally longer than a standard action take an additional full round action. A sorcerer’s empowered magic missile would take a full round action to cast, and would come into effect at the end of his turn; in contrast, a wizard’s enlarge person (with no metamagic), has a 1 round casting time and comes into effect at the start of the wizard’s next turn.

Equipment
1. Reach weapons can be used to attack opponents 10 feet away, but cannot be used against adjacent foes. Various feats and class abilities can make it possible to do so.
2. Animals do not have to be proficient in armor to wear barding, but may have penalties depending on what barding they wear.

Additional Rules
1. Darkvision is not spoiled by other light sources. (Different in comparison to some pre 3e versions of D&D)
2. Rolling a natural 1 on a saving throw can damage a randomly determined worn magic item.

Combat
1. Ranged attacks suffer from cover from objects, enemies, or allies. Allies often overlooked. Applies to reach weapons, ranged touch attacks, and melee touch attacks that have reach as well. (Last portion of this is subject to review).
2. Readying an action is a standard action. One can move first, and then ready. The readied action itself can be a standard, move, free, or swift action. (Note: could not explicitly be swift in SRD 3.5; swift was not in the SRD.) Can include 5’ step as part of the readied action if no other movement in either the readied action or prior to the readied action during regular turn.
3. Characters who use the run action lose Dex bonus to AC, and thus are subject to sneak attack.
4. Spells can crit if they have an attack roll.
5. Characters and creatures can charge a single move distance as a standard action if limited to a single action, such as during a surprise round. This doesn’t mean you can opt to only charge as a standard action if you have a full round of actions available.
6. Coup de grace can be performed against a creature with total concealment, such as invisibility, by using two full round actions.
7. Rules for tying up a character are in Grapple section.
8. Withdraw action can be double move. AoO only prevented from first square left.
9. You cannot take AoOs when flat-footed (usually in surprise round or before you have acted in first round) unless you have Combat Reflexes or a similar ability.
10. Ranged touch attacks (rays) and touch attacks can be the object of weapon improvement feats such as Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Improved Critical, etc., and also benefit from feats such as Weapon Finesse.
11. A character can take only one immediate or swift action per round. Note: Swift and Immediate actions not part of the SRD, but commonly in use. (When does it reset language)
12. Reach weapons can be used to attack opponents 10 feet away, but cannot be used against adjacent foes. Various feats and class abilities can make it possible to do so.
13. Initiative is a Dexterity check, which is influenced by rules that modify ability checks.
14. When using manufactured and natural weaponry, all natural weapon attacks become secondary.
15. Difficult terrain and poor visibility hamper movement. You cannot take a 5-foot step nor charge in hampered movement.
16. The delay and ready special actions may be taken in initiative. When initiative starts is generally at the determination of the GM/DM. The ability to delay or ready an action outside of initiative should not be assumed and is subject to the individual table or playing group culture.

Magic
1. Spells can crit if they have an attack roll.
2. Empower spell only applies to the rolled portion of the effect.
3. Mutliple magical effcts that increase size do not stack.
4. Wizards learning new spells require time and a Spellcraft check. If the spellcraft check fails, it cannot be tried again until the wizard gains a rank in Spellcraft. The wizard may Take 10 on the Spellcraft check.

Spells
1. Lesser Restoration is a three round casting time. Usually, this means it isn’t used during combat. Potion of lesser restoration is good for in combat, though.
2. Enlarge person has a 1 round casting time.
3. Dimensional anchor has no saving throw, just spell resistance.
4. Harm (moved to item 50 of things that have changed)
5. Summon spells have 1 round casting times, even from wands.
6. Grease can be used to disarm.
7. A number of spell effects (remove disease, remove curse, knock, etc.) require a caster level check to be successful instead of automatically; this is not universal to all similar spells
8. Summoned creatures attack enemies without additional communication. Communication is required for other tasks or more specific instructions. Different groups may handle specific instructions differently.

Presige Classes

Gamemastering

Environment

NPCs

Magic Items
1. Weapons and armor must have +1 enhancement prior to gaining additional enchantments.
2. Summon spells have 1 round casting times, even from wands.
3. Using a wand with a casting time longer than a standard action takes that long to activate. A wand of summon monster I takes 1 round and a wand of lesser restoration takes 3 rounds. But, you have to know to look under the activation section at the start of the wand section to know this.
4. A character can use a wand with a spell on his class list, even if he can’t cast spells yet. For example, a 3rd level paladin can use a wand of cure light wounds.
5. Spells with range of personal cannot be made into potions.

Appendices and Monster Rules
1. Immunity to cold/fire gives vulnerability to opposite. (Developers have indicated future change for this)
2. Elementals are immune to flanking and critical hits.
3. Creatures can often overcome the DR that is needed to hit them (magic, epic, etc.)
4. Fear effects stack or escalate; characters can become more fearful.
5. When using manufactured and natural weaponry, all natural weapon attacks become secondary.

It’s the same between SRD and PF, but PF makes it confused

1. Reach weapons for small and medium creatures have a reach of 10 feet. Despite a diagram that says otherwise, they can still attack two squares on a diagonal.
2. Double weapons are two-handed weapons with special properties regarding two-handed fighting. If a double weapon is used in one hand, only one end can be used. The missing text that clarifies things is that using a two-handed weapon with one hand only happens if it is sized smaller than you or you have an additional rules resource to permit it.

It’s the same between SRD and PF, but PF makes it clear

1. Wizards with prestige classes only get 2 free spells when gaining a level of wizard, not when gaining a level of the prestige class.
2. Ranged touch attacks provoke an attack of opportunity, even if the spell that causes the attacks was cast defensively. (In 3.5, this was subject to variance.)

Pending Resolution or More Complex than Can Be Dealt With Here
1. Quickened Spell on spells with casting time of 1 round. (see discussion in rules section of forum, here.
2. What is the interaction between grapple, pin, AC, Dex Bonus to AC, sneak attack? Contradictory rules (particularly when inclusive of condition table footnotes) are contradictory or ambiguous. discussion thread.
3. Defending Weapons discussion thread.
4. The arcane topic of dragon skin armor.
5. The role of Wealth by Level and interaction with crafting, consumables, wizard spell book, etc.