TommyJ's page

If we must have extra starting hp, I like the idea of extra hp based on race. However - this would have to be balanced by some other bonus to those choosing be gnomes or halfling.
I am not sure though, that we need it at all. In the old (really old) days, people started with 1d4 + con bonus hp (as a wizard). Now you get max hp on your first level. Do we really need more "help" than that?
Giving out 30 or more hp is just too much. It takes away the sense of being a young inexperienced character on its way to fame, if you are already build like a tank!
As another commented, you could just leave these as options! Instead of making it standard.

Tommy,

Just so you know, our policies on priding our own products online are designed with retailers in mind—we specifically price our items, including subscriptions, so as not to undercut our retailers.

You might notice that most of the non-Paizo products we sell online bear a 10% discount off of retail, but we don't generally discount our own products at all (except for the occasional sale). The exception to this is for two of our subscriptions—Pathfinder and Planet Stories.

Pathfinder is an exception because it served as somewhat of a replacement for Dragon and Dungeon, which had always carried discounted subscriptions. And, as has been noted, once shipping is included, the total cost approaches suggested retail.

Planet Stories, on the other hand, is a line that's aimed more at mass-market bookstores than hobby retailers, and those retailers frequently post discounts and don't generally consider a discount from the publisher to be a problem.

I wrote here because you guys at Paizo actually respond to queries of this kind (unlike other companies), and I hoped that you had retailers in mind when you priced your items.

By the way, I am very happy with both your Pathfinder and Game Mastery products. I like them personally, and they do very well in my shop -maybe because I recommend them :-)

I thank you for your response.

TommyJ wrote:

Aubrey the Malformed wrote:

Yes, I can confirm that we pay postage in addition to the cost of the modules. It is pretty clear from the subscription pages.

Thanks - I did not go as far as to try subscriping. It is clear to me now that my customer was trying a fast one on me :-)

Thanks again!

Or maybe he hadn't realized that there actually was shipping to be added.

Nah, he was probably trying to pull a fast one on you. ;-)
So, just to put all the numbers up:
Subscribing to Pathfinder is going to cost you $13.99 + $6.86 shipping for a total of $20.85 (plus a free pdf of the book).
Ordering the book from the paizo store is $19.99 + $6.86 shipping for a total of $26.85 (and no pdf of the book).

Thanks a lot again.

I know that we will never match the price of online stores.
But people will still pay for service and advice and for the privilige of handling the item before purchase. There is just a limit to how much they will pay. But this seems okay to me.

So no further whining and complaining from me - happy holidays to all!

Yes, I can confirm that we pay postage in addition to the cost of the modules. It is pretty clear from the subscription pages.

Thanks - I did not go as far as to try subscriping. It is clear to me now that my customer was trying a fast one on me :-)

Thanks again!

I'm sorry Tommy, but you're completely off your rocker if you think any Danish gaming store can compete with online prices.

From your profile it seems like you might be working at Fantask (a gaming store in Copenhagen, Denmark) and I just had a look at the prices for the Pathfinder adventures. Burnt Offerings (and the rest of the adventures in Rise of the Runelords) are priced at 160.00 Danish Kroner each, that's $30!!!
Then you add shipping to that if you don't live close by your store and it's easy to see that even if you buy the adventures without a subscription at the Paizo store ($19.99) + shipping ($6.86) you're still under the store price here in Denmark.
So, even without the discount for being a subscriber, it's still cheaper to order directly from the Paizo store than it is to go any of the Danish brick and mortar stores (heck, I just checked out some of the other Danish gaming stores and found Burnt Offerings priced at $38 in another store!).

You are completely correct Gentlegiant. I do indeed work at Fantask.

I am aware, that our prices will never be able to compete in this way. I am only concerned that the gap doesn't become too wide.

But it seems that the customer was pulling my leg (possibly in attempt to get a discount) when he claimed a Pathfinder book would cost him $13 including shipping :-)

I make no excuses for my prices. They are as high as they need to be! Based on the discount we get, the danish VAT (20% for those who don't know) and the cost of shipping from the states.

But I am satisfied if indeed the price is a you say.

30% off amounts to the same amount that shipping is (for anything except the lowest cost method in which case its a $2 discount, but you arn't garunteed to get it before the shops do (but you get the PDF)). Overseas shipping they actually pay more with shipping then the discount takes off, so its cheaper at your store i believe (but no free pdf)

My customers claimed that the shipping was included? If that is not the case, then it is another matter. Could anyone else confirm this? Do overseas customers pay shipping an handling in addition to the listed price?

(so a $20 Pathfinder book becomes $14 and then shipping is added?)

While most people will propably feel the other way around, I can't help but feel that your 30% discount for subscribers is too much.
I work in an overseas retail store (Denmark), and my concern is that you are undercutting brick and mortar stores by offering such a huge discount.
In the end, if everyone shops directly - there will be no retail stores left! This is sad, not only for me (I shall surely find another job). But because of the impact is has on gaming in general. With no stores, products will only be seen on the internet. I think most manufacturers realize that this would be a bad thing.
This is not just alarmist whining. I have customers complaining or asking about the price, quoting your price policy! They expect to pay a little more in my store, but then they get to flip through the stuff before they buy... But there is a margin to how big the gap can be.
So I urge you, to reduce your discounts. Knowing full well that I will be pelted by the rest of the community - but so be it :-)

Is Wizards of the Coast insane? Publishing a Compendium of its rules system less than a year before they implement an entirely new rules system.

It's bad enough that they had to publish non-sense complicating rules system in 3.5. Now they are admitting that they screwed up the works AND CHARGING YOU FOR IT.

Nimrods.

It makes perfect sense to me. Since they are not doing any more supplements for 3.5 (or almost none), the rules are now final - there will be no more additions. So this sums up the rules in their final incarnation. Nice.

I also fail to see how Wizards are admitting anything or how they "screwed" up things. You are seeing things through your own little warped spyglass there...

As I see it, I don't feel that WotC are intentionally insulting anyone. If they are, it's directly because they have a severe negative modifier to their Diplomacy checks and are rolling 1's.

Ha ha! Yeah - and to stick to that analogy - my gripe was that we start out as "unfriendly" and assume the worst...

I chatted once with Monte Cook! He said that he felt, that you cannot write good roleplaying material unless you play - and play as much as you can. Monte himself gamed at least once a week at that time. And that's more than I can normally manage.

My point is, he played with Mike Mearls at the time - so I know that Mike is an avid gamer. Some people remarked that they felt WotC sounded like sales-robots (or whatever). But I tell you, they are gamers!

Think about what you (not you DarkArt... but "you" in general) would say, if you met these people in person! Just because we communicate over the net, and in written form (as DarkArt pointed out), we should not forget that there are people out there on the other side of the screen. Ask the good questions...

I am not saying you should not voice your oppinions, but if you ascribe some evil intend to WotC - you are doing yourself a disservice.

Hey guys, I think you are reading way too much into the various WotC quotes.
Remember that these guys are gamers, just like us! They are all thrilled (too thrilled perhaps) and fired up about the stuff they have been making, and eager to tell us about it. So naturally they point out what they see as improvements.
But they are not evil, arrogant or trying to belittle the game we are playing (3.5). I simply cannot believe that.
So try and give them a little leeway here. Don't assume that they are trying to insult you, cause I'm sure they are not. If they do so unintentionally, cut them some slack. We're all gamers right :-)

Amusingly enough, that was the last game that said player ever attended with our group. He was one of those asinine types whose play style did not mesh well with the rest of us (who are more-or-less serious roleplayers). Before the party was able to get ahold of anything that could have saved the character, I'm quite sure that he would have died of starvation well beforehand. :)

Well, so really he did you all a favor!

Seriously though, sometimes its best to part ways when it turns out that your gamestyle is incompatible.
...
...And you got a point with the starvation thing :-)

Well I'm sure that I have 3.5 material enough to play for a very long time should I end up disliking 4e. Also - if 4e turns out to be "less than one could hope", then there will be more 3.5 stuff on the net. People will only upgrade if they like what they see!

If I should point to something worrying so far, it would be this:

They say easier, faster, and more monsters in encounters!

This all says to me - simplified rules. While this may not be a bad thing in itself, I feel as though combat cannot be tweaked much in this aspect without loosing important stuff. Could it be that the game, while still remniscent of D&D, becomes a kiddie game?

There I said it. I guess that is my biggest worry. That in the name of faster, more etc. they take away too much.

Maybe these guys are much smarter than me :-) But I just don't see how you can make the game that much easier or faster without removing the stuff that I like!

During an trek through the Underdark, the party found their path had been blocked by a bottomless chasm. They tried throwing something over the edge to listen for it's impact, but they heard nothing.

Then, the gnome bard declared "There's no such thing as a bottomless pit! It's clearly an illusion." He then defiantly jumped off the edge of the cliff......

...and he's still falling to this day.

So technically he is not dead? Someone could rescue him... magically or something. I think it best that this player does not roll up a new character, but waits until he is rescued :-)

I agree that some of the art in Pathfinder 1 doesn't fit the style of the book. Pathfinder 2 is a HUGE step closer to where we're heading with the art style. There's no "cartoony" art in there, really (except for Kyle's ghoul in the Foreword). At least, it doesn't look cartoony to me. I can guarentee that some readers won't like it or will think it's cartoony, simply based on the fact that "cartoony" means different things to different people, though.

Well, I can't wait to see it!

By the way, Kyle's art is always welcome in my book. He may have a cartoony pen (he does), but he has a great way of rendering our favorite monsters in his unique style.

A more crude way is to just use "print screen". This button puts a copy of whatever is on your screen into memory. Most paint programs (Paintshop, Photoshop etc.) allow you to paste this as an image. You can then trim it.

Have any of you guys read the part entitled "Return of the Children" ?
I think it is a really cool idea to include this. However, and this may be just me, but is there a sad note about most of the stories?
Any way, there are a few adventure ideas hidden in each. Nice.

Just found this thread, and I gotta say wow!
I'm also fond of sketching stuff for my players, usually their characters or NPC's that I have made up. So I can appreciate the time and effort that goes into it (but like you, I just can't resist drawing stuff).

I was really dissappointed by th artwork inside of Pathfinder. Not the maps and stuff, but the characters. I really don't like the style of most of it.

Yor stuff, on the other hand, I love. Paizo should snatch you up immediately (maybe they have already).

TommyJ wrote:

I don't think it would be a waste of space to flesh out the iconic characters. You can always use them as NPC's if your players prefer to make their own characters.

Besides, it's only one extra page.

as a 'deadly' DM with a few notches on the obituaries threads, having stats to hand to someone who dies 'dead-dead' as a temporary character until the body can be brought back (esp in lower levels) is a big plus. [snip]

Exactly! Otherwise you have only two options:

1) halt the game while the player makes a new character...
2) the player is out untill his character is brought back. This can lead to said player wandering around in your appartment, flipping through your CD collection, messing with your comics, or even turning on the tv (the ultimate mood killer... "I'll just watch some sports while you guy fight on...")

Have a look at tbug's journal :)

Oh! It does sound like a lot of fun, but then I could easily see how it might be. It still seems to me though, that they are not really experiencing the campaign... but hey, as long as they are enjoying themselves!

The rich goblin background lends itself well to the idea.

Your players have goblin characters? Sorry, that just sounds... eh... complicated! It's not that I can't see a few cool things with playing goblins, especially in the Pathfinder universe. But don't you think you are making "life" very complicated for yourself?
I mean, how are you gonna handle all the encounters where they are supposed to talk to this or that person... people will scream if goblins turn up at their doorstep, and propably whack them over the head.
I just can't see how this works without you basicly rewriting the entire campaign. Wouldn't it be easier to just make some homebrewed goblin adventures for your wacky players? :-)

February 2008 seems awfully far away... but maybe not if you are the one writing it :-)
Luckily I'm not planning on starting my Runelord campaign just yet. Still, looking forward to it though.

Can't wait to read this one. I love the premise, and yes - the art looks really cool (cool enough to kill?).

I don't think it would be a waste of space to flesh out the iconic characters. You can always use them as NPC's if your players prefer to make their own characters.
Besides, it's only one extra page.

The Crown is my favorite product so far from the new Pathfinder line. It has a cool story, a flexible layout and memorable characters. Keep up the good work!

I will add my voice to the choir to the tune of "pleeease raaise the foont siize" :-)
Otherwise the book is wellcrafted and a good read. I have some trouble with part of the artwork, which I don't as gorgeous as some appearently do. Wayne Reynolds is a god! And I also like the funky style of downer artist Kyle Hunter. But the blocky style of whomever it is on page 16, 19 and 23 is not my cup of tea.