Thammuz's page

I'd go for Feiya first, Nethys second (I think I might try to go as Nethys myself for Halloween this year ...)

I don't know about the adventures for conversion, but I wouldn't mind converting some of the classes; the "Invoker" for instance makes me think of a paladin/oracle (in PF terms), which would be a bit of a clunky multiclass.

Of the top of my head, I think the PF fighter grants a lot of the "special" abilities that the Dark Sun gladiator had ("armour specialization" anyone?). I think the only real conversion issue would be on how to handle the arcane spellcasters ... there was a suggestion in a Dragon magazine about utilizing Defilement as a quick way to harness metamagic feats, has anyone tried that and found it to be doable?

I ran the "Incursion" campaign (from Dungeon, where the Githyanki attempt to conquer a world) a few years back, with evil PCs. The players wanted to play an evil group, and took it as a challenge to play through an adventure by finding motivations where a more heroic group would do "just because". (btw, evil groups are more likely to throw minions/undead at something until it's weak enough for them to take) I think that some of the adventure paths would work as written just as easily for evil PCs as more heroic ones (Kingmaker itself almost seems keyed for the power-hungry).

Curse: my dice rolls aren't very great; stats are usually in the 7-12 range, initiative is rarely in the double-digits

Blessing: as a DM, my attack rolls aren't very good either; as a player, being creative with what I have has made some very "poor" characters last longer than high-powered ones (I have a DM who I joined for a one-shot night who apparently still talks about a druid I had who wiped his opponents out, after I refused to reroll my stats and had him try to talk me out of being a druid because they were "too weak")

I checked after reading this posting, and my settings for that is already set to "not". Maybe I already had my privacy settings set for tight control?

Still too far to go ... even as a straight guy, I thought when I was a teen we were making progress against senseless hatred. Seems things are pretty much the same now, almost 20 years later.

At the level that they're casting disintegrate, there are a few monster options that can notice the rope trick via true seeing - having opponents spot the party, then set up defenses (or casting dispel upon the rope trick for a mid-rest ambush) can help you deal with this.
There are creatures resistant to disintegrate - aside from golems, swarms may not be targeted by the spell (as it targets 1 creature), which also includes creatures with the swarmform template (if you have access to that).
Another route I would take, is mention to the party the "15-minute workday" concept. Would a group of brave, daring adventurers seriously spend a half hour on their mission, then sit on their collective asses for a whole day before continuing onward? Not only that, but during their downtime, would their presence not be noticed from the destruction of the previous encounters, and their future opponents would respond to the unknown threat facing them? I find that bit of "role-playing" (or lack thereof) to be more distressing that a pair of magic gauntlets or disintegrate spells, and would talk it out with the party.

I'm looking for some help with referencing. I have an artificer in my group who is just getting to level 21, and I know I've seen the 3.5 rules for epic artificers somewhere, but can't seem to locate the source. Anyone know? Was it an issue of Dragon? I thought it was the "Magic of Eberron" book, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Help please?

The Nuckalavee looks frakkin' awesome!

Personally, I always thought the only problem with trap sense was the same problem with their DR, it didn't do enough to be significant. So I always contemplated dropping trap sense for more DR.

However these are interesting ideas.

How is the DR not significant? Considering how many attacks they receive, it saves a lot of damage over the course of a gaming session.

Set wrote:

Seems to me that it would lose the 'swarm' subtype and gain the 'pile of rat corpses' trait.

By that logic, would an orc corpse lose the 'orc' subtype, or more tellingly, would a dead native outsider lose the 'native' subtype, thus defeating the purpose of having that subtype to begin with?

As a DM, if there was an outsider's corpse behind, I would allow it to be animated as a zombie or skeleton - so I would also stick with the "rat zombie swarm" idea. Libris Mortis also had some interesting ideas on undead swarms (such as a "swarm" or body parts, like hands and fingers).

I have a quick question. What is the difference between a zombie, and a flesh golem?

Zombies are corpses, animated with necromantic magic and are either free-roaming (unintelligent) or controlled by their creator (or someone that has gained control of them).

Flesh golems are animated constructs, built from the bodies of various corpses and animated with an "elemental spirit" of some kind. Flesh golems are under the control of their creators, or have gone 'beserk' and lash out at anything near them.

Both are resistant to damage, though a flesh golem is tougher than a zombie of the same hit die. Flesh golems have more resistances, but are harder to repair (as zombies can be "healed" with negative energy).

Arcanite:

That being said what do you think, opinions welcome.

I like it (and may borrow the concept myself); it's useful, yet the rarity combined with the difficulty to mine and affect (as I presume mining must also occur within an anti-magic field?) put the "wonder" in it.

messy wrote:

Thammuz wrote:

1) There is a movie based on Midnight, which was supposed to be a series pilot; my son and I watch it semi-frequently, it's pretty good for the budget it was shot on. I'd sign up for a sequel, for sure.

was that ever released??

You can get it from Itunes, or through their Site

I bought my DVD here from Paizo; just go under "DVDs" and "Fantasy Flight Games", and the Team here have copies. It also comes with a 4ed conversion adventure as a bonus (though I have not checked that out yet).

VagrantWhisper wrote:

For the record though, although I'm Canadian, I think I actually stood up for Americans at some point in this conversation ;)

That would make you and I the two Canadians not watching the game.

Me neither; I think we won or something?

Threads like this really depress me.

I dated a girl once, who actually looked a lot like Jenny. She was sexually liberated to the point of almost being my own personal, practically portable @ 5'1", nymphomaniac. She took racy pictures of herself (and even sometimes put them up on the internet), drew sexually explicit art, and had a membership card to the local adult-content store.

She also spent every night honing her skills in Super Smash Brothers (N64 Edition), collected 8 and 16bit gaming memorabilia, played a druid in 3rd edition D&D and had character sheets going back to 1st, collected and played Orks and Tyrannids in 3rd and 4th Edition Warhammer 40K, and nursed a six year long addiction to Ultima Online as a Grandmaster Tamer.

That was 6 years ago.

I just can't help but be saddened that when someone like her, as could be the case with Jenny, shows up in a community, looking to be accepted as a equal participant in said community, automatically by default gets faced with accusations of ulterior motives and 'prove you are real' insinuations.

So what if a hot, sexually liberated, female suddenly decides to become a roleplayer? So what if she has a web-site with content that you object to? This is the internet for God sake ...

Can't we all just be role-players, here, first? Porn-stars, Glamour models, IT guys, Cops, Editors, or whatever second.

Jenny, I just want to say, that even with the critics and the nay-sayers, you've responded in good spirit and humor, and that's awesome to see.

Welcome aboard.

+1, Welcome Jenny

1) There is a movie based on Midnight, which was supposed to be a series pilot; my son and I watch it semi-frequently, it's pretty good for the budget it was shot on. I'd sign up for a sequel, for sure.

2) Another factor in the demise of Kindred:The Embraced was the death of the actor who played the Prince of the City; between the feelings of cast and crew, as well as how the show revolved around him, also caused the show to stop being shot. I think that after 15 years, we could revisit the World of Darkness, either version (there was some legal dispute when "Underworld" first came out about copywrite infringement, though I don't know how that case was finalized)

3) I'm looking forward to the proposed "Rifts" movie, should it get past the planning/screenwriting phase. Done well, it's got blockbuster potential written all over it. ("Nightbane" also has good movie potential)

4) As there is a play production based on Pathfinder, if the creative team behind the product was involved with the story, it could be done ... uniquely over-the-top in a "Lord of the Rings" kind of way, not a "Bruce Payne has purple lipstick" kind of way. :D

Well...., in my heart there was only one Star wars RPG, and it was played entirely with D6s.

+1 It's been a long time since my group's played it, but oddly enough we just started up again last month; dang, those books are hard to find to replenish, shouldn't have given mine away back in the day (but at least I traded them with someone else in my group).

I'm on the fence with fumbles (since that's been a common discussion on this posting); it's Ok for some games (d6 Star Wars anyone?), but not suited for every style.

One house rule that I disliked, from the group that taught me DnD (2ed) is "mulligans". Between dice rolls they didn't like, or actions they regretted, they were allowed one mulligan per game session to undo a choice their character made (or get a reroll). The rerolling I didn't mind, but I think it's more fun to roll with the bad choices as much as the good ones.

#1 Denizens of Leng - love their concept/niche, feel they are much more usable than illithids for an aberrant mastermind

#2 Cold Rider - am using an advanced version of these bad boys for my epic-level campaign right now

#3 Kytons - specifically, the hinted-at members of this race from the Bestiary, that the minor chain-demons commonly known are only one breed of the kyton race ....

Honorable mentions: Blessed Ones, Doru Div, Wendigo, Akata (and Void Zombies), and the Carrion Golem.

1) I'd be OK with either being Loyalists or dissidents. I can see fun roleplaying opportunities in either ("dissidents" could be political, religious, or even Titan-servants, right?).

2) Whichever forum you want to run it on is fine by me.

3) The APG playtest is available off Paizo's site for free. The Oracle is (dumbing-down the description) a spontaneous divine caster with boons and curses. The Witch is (again, simplified) a specialist arcanist who's familiar also somewhat acts as a spellbook. Oracles are chosen (not always willingly) by the gods for a special purpose, while Witches interact with "unknown beings" (and sometimes purposefully avoid learning who provides their powers ...). I think I'd like to play an Oracle if we are going to be Calastian Loyalists, and a Witch if we go the "dissident" route.

And ditto on the question about core only classes (a Summoner from Shelzar could be an interesting tweak...).

Heh. I was thinking of an Oracle (since the Gods are somewhat united against the Titanspawn, Oracles would fit the setting well); I'd like to try a Witch, but presume Witches would be presumed children of Mormo the Titan, and would face quite a bit of persecution - though not much more than Sorcerers or Druids, I guess.

I'm in, if you don't mind helping me get set up for whichever forum we're doing the PbP through.

Question: core only classes? Or are any of the playtest APG classes available?

I would be very interested; I've never done PbP before, tried it once through a contact on the boards here, had some trouble signing into the offsite site that the game was being held in and therefore didn't get a chance to play. Would the posting be happening here on Paizo or on a different site?

Faves:

Pathfinder- do not currently have a campaign totally using this system, but we've begun incorporating elements into our 3.5ed game

World of Darkness- Vampire/Werewolf/Mages/Mummies/Demons oh my! Monte's d20 version of the updated WoD is also a blast to play.

Big Eyes, Small Mouth- highly customizable character creation, highly memorable games

d6 Star Wars- been recently reacquainted with this one; used to play it back in the day, very fun and cinematic, personally see it better than the d20 version

Palladium- Rifts and Nightbane in particular, though have had fun with Heroes and would love to give Dead Reign a go sometime soon

I actually have run "evil" based campaigns, using regular adventures. The alignment-twist makes some encounters more challenging, while others become more challenging for the DM as "morally flexible" characters can find more novel solutions to problems.

Probably the best "evil" campaign I ran was using the "Githyanki Incursion" plotline and adventure hooks from an old issue of dungeon - the evil party ('united' under the same church's banner) took an attitude of "this is Our Realm to dominate, so back off!" attitude, so they 'defended' the world from Githyanki occupation out of their own selfish reasons.

Look also, any adventure or AP with Selytiel would probably be doable with an evil party, given his not-too-nice nature. :D

Just put this class to use. I'm running a long-term campaign that just got into "Epic" levels (party is level 20-22), and my 20-level Knight just chose to multi-class into the Dragonrider. His current mount was a griffon, and while at first glance his new mount is weaker than the previous one, he sees that the class progression will have payback for the short-term adjustment.

kyrt-ryder wrote:

Goblinoid Toad wrote:

(I don't say designed for Pathfinder because I've heard the book failed to match PF in all ways, but PF was the intention)

I absolutely love the Priest Class from Tome of Secrets. A little less martial and a little more learned then the Cleric. Suits me better.

I think Paizo did uncommonly well with their core classes but I think you are going to see that its more difficult to expand from core for anyone.

Sigurd

I agree, the Priest class I thought opened up many roleplaying opportunities, as would the shaman.

I'm sure that somewhere in mythology there's a word for people who morph themselves into other shapes without lycanthropy or more versatile forms of magic use.

I'll have to consult my local GM/author/medieval folklore buff.

As to mechanics, I'd actually base it off of the Eidolon, and let the character build their own alternate form, or sets of alternate forms.

As an afterthought, I was similarly thinking of using the eidolon and alchemist as a starting point for abilities.

As for alternate names, though it may suffer similar comments as the "oracle" class, but "changeling" may be appropriate, especially if it allows multiple forms?

One I've heard several people I know asking for is a non-casting shapeshifter character.

A primary combatant that uses something like wildshape instead of rage, feats, skills, sneak attack, or (insert combat booster) here.

+1

It takes some of the concepts of the Bear Warrior PrC (from CW), druid, and alchemist and spits it out. What would be a good thought-process behind the class? Something more substantial than "non-spellcasting druid" or "shapeshifting barbarian", perhaps a "Totemist"? I'd rather see them have a variety of different forms available, but maybe with enhanced bonuses when they take their preferred form?

KaeYoss wrote:

If we see more classes, they will belong to a theme - like Oriental Adventures (which will have Samurai and Ninja and stuff like that), or Psionics (no spellcasters at all - because, well, psionics!).

I know I am in the minority But I am hoping the ninja is just an alt rogue, as well thats just what they are.

I'm with you on that; I've played "Ninja", and "Samurai" (both OA and CW versions), and frankly I've had monk/rogues make better ninjas, and paladin/fighters (or ranger/monks) make better samurai. An asian setting doesn't require unique classes, though perhaps some cavalier orders could be produced with a more bushido-esque mindset ...

So in the fantastical world, any polytheistic one will do, the Gods are real, their presence is tangible, etc. Does an active atheist suffer consequences for their belief?

To be more specific: The Atheist can see the works of the Gods, just as everyone else can, through clerics and avatars and whatnot - he just chooses to believe... something else. It doesn't matter what The Atheist's reasoning is, he's just convinced the Gods don't exist, that those displays of power come from some other source.

Moreover, he's actively trying to convince others in this world to believe what he believes: that there are no Gods. What in-world consequences, if any, arise for such a person? How do others view and interact with The Atheist? Do the Gods take notice? Do they take any action? Is the Atheist's "logic" at all likely to gain a following?

The Athar of Planescape had similar beliefs, where they held that the Gods were basically just High-high-level outsiders, and not worthy of worship. There were benefits, ranging from spell resistance to divine magic on up, as well as drawbacks such as resistance to being raised or healed. I believe the Planar Handbook updated the faction for 3.5, with a prestige class that encompassed some of their bonuses.

I don't think that in a fantastical setting one could be strictly athiest, as in denying the existence of Gods. The Athar's route of "they are there, but not worthy of worship because they're not that special" would hold up more water in a philisophical debate. After all, even a benign deity's clerics would be sorely tempted to flame-strike someone who continuously argued that "their god is just a figment of their imagination".

Yeah, I posted my confusion, but then realized that the thread was specifically discussing for Pathfinder Society play, not PF play in general. Thanks for the clarification, though.

I'd like to see more Pathfinder-specific races, such as the Denizens of Leng or Qlippoths.

I may have missed that (I've been more focused on the Oracle, and just looking over the Cavalier), though that's only a couple levels of abilities, and alternate ability would still be possible.

And yes, I know the name refers to being a mounted knight, but that discussion would then lead down the same path that has been a plague upon the "what should the Oracle be called?" posts.

While being mounted is a staple of fantasy (and historic) knights, etc, as the cavalier's abilities aren't tied intrinsically to being mounted, I agree that there should be an alternate option. Knights/samurai are just as often depicted storming fortresses or dueling with their opponents.
Perhaps instead of having the ranger as a starting point, one could substitute the paladin's bonded item? Either would be acceptable options, in my opinion, and fit with the class concept.

Hey - could a magic HEAVY space opera be marketed to Spelljammer fans?

Have you seen Fantasy-Flight's "Dragonstar" setting? Magic and technology mixed together.

I don't know if a modern product would be a Paizo-required product, or if a third party would be better to provide the various options. I have enjoyed Dragonstar, Spellslinger, and MC's World of Darkness (not to mention Palladium's Rifts..). I've actually taken the Pathfinder rules, and used them to adapt the Steampunk setting from an old Dragon magazine, as well as set PF in modern setting using the "Greyhawk 2000" and MC's WoD information.

The problem lies in trying to put something out there that would satisfy everyone who is looking for a "non-medieval" setting. There's too many options. If Paizo did decide to do a modern setting-specific, I think it would have to try to accomodate various "moods" and settings to be successful. Perhaps split the book up into sections: classes, tech/magic options, setting1 (victoriana/steampunk), setting2 (Y2K era), setting3 (space exploration). Have the book itself fully compatible with the PF rules will allow it to be a supplement, and GMs can refer to the core book and bestiary for race options and other nuts-and-bolts.

I've always loved Ogre Magi and Githyanki, since 2ed. My fave inhumanoid monster though came from the Creature Collection: the Blight Wolf.

The sentient gorilla people of the Mwangi Expanse. You know, the ones that stole that giant cannon.

I think they are in the "Crucible of Chaos" adventure.

This isn't so much a request since they already mentioned it at GenCon, but more a plea that they stick with it: alternate arcane schools for wizards. I would love to see a system where wizards weren't so intrinsically linked to the eight D&D schools of magic.

I second that. Perhaps the ancient Thassilonian schools (based on the 7 deadly sins)? 2ed was getting into that concept near the end (with Shadow magic, et al), and I liked playing some of the "weird" magic schools.

I, however, still have a big problem. That problem has a name. The name is Hexblade.

I'd have to agree that, while I love the flavour of the Hexblade, I've never gone through with playing one because pretty much any other class (or class combination - bard/fighter?) seemed to be better at doing anything. I'd like to see a 3rd-party version of this class to appear, Pathfinderized.

Another suggestion (somewhat cribbed from Paladium) would be to houserule a +1 DC as the caster increases in level - perhaps at levels 5, 10, 15 ... This would put a higher-level caster's save DCs higher than a lower-level, without adding complicated formulae.

Quick and dirty fix: You must use at least as many spell levels as the level of the spell to avoid spending a charge. That way a ninth level spell takes a minimum of 9 spell levels (and a very expensive staff) to use chargeless. The example wish staff would use 45 spell levels (5 charges * 9th level spell) to fire off a wish for free.

That seems a fairly good idea to balance out the "bang for the buck".

Also, is the gp cost for the Staff of the Gods correct? According to the SRD, Epic magic items are those whose base cost is 200 000gp or more, which would make this staff an Epic Staff (and cost 1 million gp more), wouldn't it?

I wouldn't be worried about an item like this if one of my PCs came up with the idea. It should actually make it easier to run a challenging game for characters of that level, as it ensures encounters.

Think of it: an item that powerful will attract attention. Gods of magic, law and order, and chaos would be interested in acquiring the staff. Evil gods and beings would covet it for it's power. Inevitables would be concerned for the ability to abuse the natural order of things. Ifrit could be jealous of such an item intruding upon their wish-granting niche. Many would want to possess it, many would want to destroy it, and some would possibly want to punish the individual who would dare inflict such an item upon the multiverse.

Plus, it's only good until a disjunction spell hits it. :D

Chewbacca wrote:

just a question, does anybody know if Chinese use metric system ?

Yes, they use the metric system in China. When my wife mentions a person's height and weight in centimeters and kilograms, I generally have to translate that to feet + inches and pounds, despite the fact that Canada officially uses the metric system too.

Reading this, I was wondering if another Canuck was going to let everyone in on our secret ... that we use both systems of measurement. Most people I know use "gallon" and "mile" when they're actually talking about "litre" and "kilometre" ... could be why we measure distance in time (as in, "oooh, it's aboot 3 hours away, eh?").

Second, I'm really excited to hear you compare Paizo's Hell to Hellraiser. I've always liked the idea of the cenobites that Mr. Barker put forth (in the Hellbound Heart and first Hellraiser movie at least).

I agree (being a fan of Mr. Barker); it's one of the reasons I also liked the article on Zon-Kuthon. Another good tale of Hell by Clive Barker is "Mr. B Gone", which is more along the lines of the 9 Circles mythology.

Can't wait for this book ... Hail Cheliax!