Yours is mined's page

I am also pretty new to PFS play. My first character is also an archer cleric, who supports the rest of the party with buffs and heals.

Your build looks pretty boss. Really like: Luck Domain (bit of luck is great), Human for the first two archery feats, Hunter’s Eye trait, backup weapon = glaive (reach from behind the front-rankers – oh, yeah!)

Things I would consider: Depending on your play-style INT=7 really hurts a cleric’s 2 skill ranks per level. I initially had an INT=9 and found this too low for roleplaying. I personally would drop Wis to 14, which is all you need at low levels to boost INT.

Did you spend your first 2PP on the bow? Pretty good call for a cleric. I would make it Darkwood though to save weight, which you’ll need with a STR=12.

I like a 30’ speed at low levels and prefer Lamellar leather + buckler with 16 dex. YMMV

I don’t think high initiative is critical for a cleric. I would swap out Reactionary for something else, like Exalted of the Society from the Faction Guide (extra channel).

Spells look quite good. Have you seen Burning Disarm (1st) from the Cheliax Player’s Guide?

Hope this helps.

I like what you did with the sense motive check - got me thinking I should try doing something similar - and remember this is all new to me, and I don't know to how many of the others.

I guess Badger and Emrek may have the highest Charisma scores, but there's a roleplay angle there too. We all may have different game styles, some will like rolling dice or others flapping their gums, some may be more comfortable in the background, others will want to be a leader, and there's nothing wrong with any of that in my view, if we're having fun.

I'm a bit nervous about the combat side - my plan was to stay close enough to buff/heal the front rank while using my bow and act as a second line of defense to the squishies. But I guess terrain and opponents are all going to affect what happens.

The other thing is Ben seems like a witty guy who is on the ball. He seems to like the roleplay going on, and I'm taking some cues from that.

Astyannax, I'm reading what you do too, my friend. Maybe send a few more of your ideas up the flagpole IC. If you do it the right way, I'm sure someone will salute it!

Yeah, I'm a fan of Creighton Broadhurst.

His Greyhawk stuff was solid and Retribution is amongst the best 1 level adventure for PF I have read (haven't played or run it).

Ok, as to your post, I guess we can start here and maybe take it to a tavern depending on what the others want to do.

To be honest, Luisila doesn't have a lot of skills.

Her Perception mod is +5 so I can be the eyes and ears while we roleplay if noone has a higher score.

I'm also the obvious healer, but I'm thinking the use for that after combat situations will be obvious yeah?

Ah Haraldir, you are too kind, sir.

I only wish my boss shared your view on my sense of humor.

Archfiends
I love James Jacobs’ Demonicon articles from Dragon
I love Wes Schneider’s Archdevil articles in Council of Thieves and Kobold Quarterly

I suspect that Paizo will have the “big boys” covered by excellent authors like James, Wes and maybe Todd Stewart for the Horsemen.

This still leaves plenty of room in the “next tier down” for describing Archfiends with established names in gaming, such as those found in the Tome of Horrors, Green Ronin’s Book of Fiends or that Gygax et al originally took from the public domain. Azazel, Alastor, Hutijin, Dagon (the Devil), Balan and Nergal immediately spring to mind.

I like the concept of Annals of the Archfiends and with some slight refocusing would like to see more.

What's a paragnostic apostle? Is that from a splat book or is it 3rd party?

I believe this Prestige Class is from WotC's "Complete Champion"

James, I am a fan of your 2004 free 3.x WoTC adventure “Thunder Below.”

Had you used the adventure’s premise of

I know there are sidebar suggestions for the Ubothar, but what did you envisage it being?

I am very much enjoying The Genius Guide to Relics of the Godlings that I bought recently. One thing I remember from the reviews that were posted was a request for more templates about how to build your own relics/legendary items. I concur.

The pdf templates cover staves and weapons (generic). I’m thinking bullet points might be one way of giving us more templates for say:

• Armor
• Shields
• Rings
• Wondrous Items like: boots, masks, crowns, helms, robes
• Specific Weapons such as: tridents, dwarven thrower warhammers, black blades

Hello DM Nel – thank-you for providing a game for some of us who are new to PFS.
I would like you to consider Luisila a 1st level CG elven Cleric of Calistria, focused on healing and archery support. I am very new to play-by-posts and haven’t been a player for quite some time.

Luisila was adopted as a child from the Temple of Calistria by a childless human couple, who ran a successful dry goods store in the Grand Bazaar. Although her parents were by no means wealthy, Luisila never went hungry, had a stable loving home and there were always new clothes when she wore out her old ones. This was in stark contrast to the street children and beggars that Luisila saw everyday in her neighbourhood.

As an adolescent, she was curious about her elven heritage. Though she learned little from the Calistrian clergy, they did spark her interest in helping street people, especially those in service to the Sacred Sting. Who knows – one of them could even be her biological mother? By this time, her aged parents had sold their business, reluctantly accepting the lack of interest their daughter had in becoming a simple shopkeeper. By the time they had died, Luisila was in holy orders and working as a missionary amongst the general populace of the Puddles.

Despite her efforts to help the people, Luisila became frustrated by the nature of the people she worked with to exploit each other for petty gain, while being preyed on by drug pedlars and street criminals. This was not helped by the corrupt constabulary, local officials and politicians she encountered. Luisila eventually conceded she was setting about the problem all wrong. If she couldn’t make a difference at the grass-roots level, she would break into the world of the elite and take revenge on the greedy and corrupt from the top. Now all she needed was a path to fame and fortune. From her time serving adventurers in her parents’ store, she knew just the group to help her – the Pathfinder Society!

Not SoS or Crystal Shard but Forgotten Realms from about the time you're looking for. Best I could find.

Great Khan Game.

Liz

Have you checked out page 16 of Way of the Wicked Part 1 - Knot of Thorns or the Free Preview?

Might pay to.

1. Did you write “Souls for Smuggler’s Shiv” and the “Shipwrecked!” supporting article in AP37?

2. Is the word “moan” a synonym of “whinge” or “whine”?

3. Could the gnome given name of “Gelik” be translated into Common (Earth – Western Hemisphere) as “Eric”, “Erikt” or “Erix”?

4. Is your boss amongst the sartorial elite of (seriously-taken) A-list executives in the Pacific North West?

5. Could the NPC Gelik Aberwhinge be an epic send-up of

James, have you read Isaac Asimov’s “breakout” short story, Nightfall?

Revelations, cultists versus scientists, when the stars appear humanity will descend into madness and an alien civilization will end in a firestorm ... and all packaged up in 35 pages.

I had no idea that Asimov may have been inspired by Lovecraft. Did you?

The whole aspect of Time and the creative impact it can have on the game is interesting - and seems popular based on some of the discussion about SGG’s products above.

It is also something Paizo has pretty much left alone to date.

The way Monte Cook used time in “Dead Gods” immediately comes to mind as a way of getting a GM’s creative juices flowing without having to account for every possibility that every gaming group could come up with.

So what does that mean for a hypothetical Genius Guide to Time?

Not sure exactly. The existing classes SGG could form a foundation. Time spells, time feats, time capsules, time machines, monsters from the fourth dimension could all fit in. I would personally be interested in some kind of GM advice on how to incorporate time travel into a campaign, as either a side trek or a “worked example” of a time travelling campaign outline, with adventure hooks and maybe sample encounters.

Would this be easy?

No. But we are talking about Super Geniuses, right?

As for the incentive pdf – how about Codex Draconis - Green.

V1 Ab

The Ceratioidi designed by China are found on p80 & 81 of AP32 "Rivers Run Red"

There is a Scarlet Brotherhood affiliation in Dragon #348 (based on the idea from 3.5 Player’s Handbook 2 – sort of like Pathfinder factions) that PCs can join and get some minor benefits from.

It’s pretty light on detail though - the whole thing is described in one page.

The opening scene shots at the beginning of each instalment of Kingmaker! appear to be in homage to events in the game’s history.

Kingmaker 1

Kingmaker 4
The monstrous battle scene that introduces “Blood for Blood” looks like a similar scene at the start of

Question (at last): The opening scenes from Kingmaker 2 and 5 are driving me crazy. Where are these ones from?

Try p59 of Dragon 341's Wormfood Article

They're not all from films.

Sic Semper Tyrannis isn't, and if The runelords will return is from a film then I want to see it.

I want to see that too! When it comes out let’s go and see it, my treat ;)

The other is a pretty famous quote ... I am happy to wait and see what James says about it.

Are you surprised that people don’t really comment on the short movie quotes at the bottom of the Credits page of the sixth instalment of each Adventure Path?

Whose idea was it to do those?

My vote is also for a product pushing the envelope.

The Genius Guide to Rune Staves and Wyrd Wands

Thank-you, Owen. I hope you soon get over having big stones!

I personally like the name Cegilune. It’s got a luna – moon association going for it. Ray, I think you play in Greyhawk, which could use another moon goddess or two, I think.

The only other thing I can add to the conversation is Wes Schneider had a short-but-sweet sidebar article in Dragon 345’s “Ecology of the Annis Hag” about Cegilune.

The only things I can add to what Gruumash said above is:

Erik Mona wrote a 3 page article called “A Brief Reference on the Horned Society” which summarised more recent HS canonical references. This is probably available through canonfire.com.

He also wrote a critical threat article about Warduke and his connection to the Horned Society in Dungeon 105, which I think would be worth your time.

I am a fan of “The Adventure Begins” which contains brief references to Hierarchs Andrade Mirrius, who was in the “City of Greyhawk” Boxed Set and Guiliana Mortidus, who originally appeared in "Greyhawk Adventures." Oerth Journal 24 also has a short article on her by Creighton Broadhurst.

The picture of Penander Nulligan on p25 of “Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk” appears to be a caricature of you (in the same way Jarvis Alebrecht in Pf#29 “Mother of Flies” looks to be a caricature of Jason).

Is there any special significance to the name or background of this character that is linked to you?

Do you have any editorial guidelines for including Hitchcock (Alfred or Tim) moments in adventures? Is it just common sense with respect to frequency and being in good taste? (except when Pett does Vaughan or vice versa)

In Ed Greenwood's very cool 2E "The Drow of the Underdark" you are listed in the dedications on page 2 "for two names and more fun."

What were the two names? (I am guessing one was Eilistraee)

Was the "more fun" related to a gaming group you played in with Ed?

What do the numbers 12, 24, 35, 85, 89, 92, 95, 98, 134, 139 and possibly 112 have in common?

In light of Gardener, W discussing art homage in Kingmaker, I can’t be the only one who sees ...

I think you might be after "Masque of Dreams" in Dungeon 142

Responses to Messageboard Posts from James Jacobs

1. One of the goals of Jade Regent/RoRL/Kingmaker, though, is to introduce ... awesome new ways of doing role playing adventures

2. At this point, no. But maybe some day!

3. Well... Fraz-Urb'luu/Demogorgon/Orcus is actually open content ...

4. Unfortunately, illithids/carrion crawlers/displacer beasts/umber hulks/giths/beholders/kua-toa/yuan-ti are not open content

5. Actually... it's a VERY obscure Lovecraft quote/monster/reference

6. Epic Play IS on the list

7. ** Cut through inflammatory/melodramatic/uninformed post and lay out the facts **

8. ... and be nice to each other!

While we are reminiscing about the awesomeness of 3.5 monsters associated with Chief Jacobs, I have a monstrous query regarding the excellent high level adventure “Into the Wormcrawl Fissure” penned by the man himself. (From Dungeon #134 – available here at paizo.com)

One easter egg in the adventure concerns the lillend, Zulshyn who I believe was named after one of your characters, James – a drow barbarian IIRC. However, I’m interested in the story behind the lich, Thessalar who claims authorship of lots of iconic monsters including the owlbear, grick, rust monster and mimic.

The chuul (also claimed by Thessalar) is credited to the wizard “Ashranezr”, and I believe James once said on these boards that Jesse Decker created that monster. However, there is clearly an interesting story behind the spurned lich, Thessalar.

Heathy

Gygax wrote in Dragon 71 that Kelanen's stronghold is in "an extradimensional partial plane."
Though he frequently travels the Prime Material Plane - Oerth and alternate worlds, looking for adventure and fighting to promote the balance of Neutrality.