Zherog's page

I feel so loved. :P

Hey! Watch where you poke that thing! Some of us are hiding in here!

No worries, Fog. It didn't sound naggy at all.

I had originally written a post asking about Enchant Arrows, but realized that I had glossed over the part in the description about not having to enchant them with the initial +1 bonus. That makes the ability not-useless. :D

Yep, exactly. ;) A 9th level archer already has a bow that's at least +1 (and probably +2). So forcing the archer to waste a +1 enhancement bonus on the arrows would've just been mean.

Can allies use this enchanted ammunition? The ability does not specify that the archer must be the one to use them.

* smacks forehead * Can't believe I forgot that...

My initial instinct would be to say that no, allies cannot benefit from this ability. But as I think about it, I'm not so sure it's that big a deal. The archer only gets 50 and they're all the same. If she wants to make 50 flaming arrows and pass them out to her teammates rather than using them, I don't think it's going to be game-breaking.

New favorite class, most likely. May do some minor tweaking, play with some different stuff, mostly the spell-list (want to make it from scratch).

I'm really happy people like the class. I didn't do a custom spell list for two reasons. First, I'm lazy and saying "use the ranger list" is about as easy as it gets. :) Second (and more important) was space considerations. Printing custom lists take up a lot of space, and I just didn't have the word count available for it even if I did want to do it. I think there's definitely lots of room there to customize, though. Even pulling spells from other lists to expand on the capabilities.

Glad to hear folks, overall, are digging the elven archer class. To address a few points that have come up:

-- on playtesting: Yes, it has years of playtesting. The class was used in my home game for quite a while. (And yes, it started as a 3.5 class.) When we started our game, my friend liked rangers but wanted more to go with it, such as bonus feats and sneak attack. We talked about multiclassing and moving around in a bunch of classes - including 3 different prestige classes! - but in the end, it was just easier for me to build her a class that had what she wanted.

-- on the d8 Hit Die: Two reasons, but both come back to balance. First, the elven archer draws abilities from several classes, including ranger, fighter, rogue and arcane archer. It gains a lot of benefits from that mumble jumble, and so I opted to go with a die size that was (more or less) in the middle. Second, the other full BAB classes are (for the most part) melee-centric, and so they need the higher Hit Die for survivability in combat. The archer wants to be out of melee (though close combat shot lets them function in tight spaces eventually). Since they're not really built for going toe-to-toe with the monsters/villains, it made sense (to me at least) to keep their Hit Die down one step.

-- @Paul Watson "Elves are better than you" syndrome: I understand your point, and it's something that concerned me a bit, too, with taking the class from my home game to the published realm. Frankly, the only reason it was the elven archer in my home game is because my friend wanted to play an elf. If she had said she wanted to play a half-orc, it would've been designed as the orc archer. That said, I did take some time to include "variants" in the write-up, such as tweaking the racial requirement (or removing it all-together) as well as some quick ways to make it apply to thrown weapons and/or to crossbow snipers. Still, I do appreciate that the class isn't for everybody. However, if you read it and like the "crunch" pieces, there's really no mechanical reason you couldn't just drop the racial requirement and tweak the "fluff" slightly to suit your needs.

Cheers!

Greg A. Vaughan wrote:

Gururamalamaswami wrote:

I wasn't able to get Rappan Athuk Reloaded so I'm kind of curious what you've done to replace certain major non-OGL monsters in the book:

** spoiler omitted **

They're being replaced with OGL-compatible monsters.

Thank you...I think. I suppose specifics were out of the question. Oh well.

While specifics are up to others to share, I don't think Skeeter will kick me in the shins for saying that a lot of thought and effort is being put into these replacements. We're not just grabbing the first critter with the same CR and tossing it in there.

Reviewed here, on DTRPG and sent to GMS magazine. Cheers!

Thanks for the review, and the kind words!

Zherog wrote:

I'm lucky enough to be one of the designers working on the conversion. While I obviously can't give specific details (because then Skeeter will get mad at me, and nobody wants to see Skeeter get mad), what I can say is that we're not doing what you describe as "quick-'n'-dirty." We're putting in a lot of effort to keep the feel of the encounters as close to the original as possible, even when that results in more work.

Perfect. That's exactly what I wanted to know, and that's exactly what I wanted to hear.

You wanted to know I was one of the designers working on it? Aw, that's so nice of you. ;)

I'm lucky enough to be one of the designers working on the conversion. While I obviously can't give specific details (because then Skeeter will get mad at me, and nobody wants to see Skeeter get mad), what I can say is that we're not doing what you describe as "quick-'n'-dirty." We're putting in a lot of effort to keep the feel of the encounters as close to the original as possible, even when that results in more work. The level of teamwork that's taken place so far to that end has been fantastic.

RA will remain just as deadly - maybe even slightly more so. And I feel quite confident in saying that everybody who was a badass in the original will be a badass in the PF version. Make sure your characters kiss their loved ones goodbye before heading down the well!

On the other hand, I really don't think that RC is a joke in itself. Lou agresta, a bunch of proofreaders, the Ling9000 (is that the correct codename?) sweated way too much over it to consider it a joke.

Close enough, if it's not exactly the name Lou used. ;)

-- THE Ling9000

Thanks, D_M.

As for the second point. Woohoo, got one right. :) It's like catching a Super Genius with his fly open.

* looks down, then quietly pulls up zipper *

::blush::

As the writer/designer, I concur with Owen (and not just because he paid me to write this product ;) ) -- excluding the APG classes is a pretty big oversight. At least, though, it's something fairly easy to correct.

I'm glad you liked it otherwise, DM.

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the book, Joey. Be sure to come back and share your game-play stories.

Wow, that was actually vaguely clever Lou. Who sent you an e-mail with the suggestion to post that?

Sure, we can have a match at GenCon. And five minutes later, after I've thoroughly kicked your sorry ass, I can go and do something more challenging -- like playing some of the kiddie games.

Wait, so there's not gonna be a rumble?

*puts away betting book*

Aw, man...

;)

Actually, I'm not sure what to think of the product. I had the same reaction that you did, except I started reading this thread whereas you started from FB. It's different, to say the least. I'd have to spend some time following up on the discussions to get a better understanding of the tactical roleplaying ... especially when it pits PC vs PC, right?

Hi Urizen. I have to get my kids to the bus stop soon and then run to work, but I can give you a little info to fill in some of the gaps here.

At the start of a match, players split into teams - usually two, but sometimes more. Each team has an objective that must be met in order to win the match. Sometimes, both teams have the same objective, such as in the McGiffin match where the object is to get an object and return it to your Hallow. Other matches the teams have different -- and competing -- goals. For example, in Hellbreak, one team tries to free a prisoner while the other team tries to maintain control of the prisoner.

Just like in "regular" D&D or Pathfinder, the amount of roleplaying that takes place during a session is a function of the group. Some groups, I imagine, are going to go through entire matches without once uttering a word in-character; other groups will develop elaborate team mottos, taunt other players in-character, and so on.

Alright - bus stop time. If you have specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask. We'll be happy to help you out.

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it so far, Norrak.

Everyone that's been irritated at how the Pathfinder Alchemist is built really needs to take a look at the Urbanist from this: it's pretty much what you wanted the Alchemist to be.

As the author of that piece, I appreciate your positive feedback! I was concerned that what I wrote was too complex (or just plain sucked), so it's great to hear from at least one person that gives it a proverbial thumb's up.

Did you ever dance with a Cabbage in the pale moonlight?

Thanks for the reply, Alison. I'll be sure to keep an eye on my e-mail, and if I don't hear back in the next day or so I'll give this thread a bump. :)

Shortly after Christmas, I placed a fairly large order. It arrived yesterday. Or, rather, most of it arrived - one item was missing, even though it's listed on the invoice/packing slip. I e-mailed customer service about the issue. I would like to know what the expected turn-around time is on e-mails sent to the customer service account. (and hopefully I'm not being a pest by posting here less than 24 hours since sending the e-mail :) )

Thanks! :)

Thanks for your kind words and five stars. :)

I'd love to know which ruse had you cackling with glee? ;)

He gives lost people wrong directions on purpose.

I've done this, in my younger, wilder days...

I think A Pound of Flesh should integrate pretty easily into Skullcrackers so that you could - in essence - run both adventures simultaneously. You should be able to play one plot off the other, so that clues and such for each appear in the other adventure.

I'm not familiar with Vulgar Unicorn. I'll have to check that one out. If it involves the underworld crime scene, it should be pretty simple to either tweak Vulgar to use one of the three crime groups in Trade Ward, or even just replace one of the three with whatever group appears in Vulgar.

I hope you enjoy the adventure, and I'd love to hear how your integration project goes!

--John Ling

Rez - LA buyoff isn't part of the "core" rules. It's from Unearthed Arcana (though it is OGL material). By the "normal" rules, Hypersmurf is quite correct about the XP.

So I notice several changes to Power Attack. I think the change from BAB to Strength is interesting, and neither here nor there. Same with the fact that it now works with light weapons. However, the fact that Power Attack is now an "all or nothing" type effect raised me raise an eyebrow.

It seems to me that it sort of punishes the really high Strength character, in that now he can't Power Attack for a point or two just to get a little extra pop on his attacks. Instead, he has to go all-in, and take a rather large penalty to all his attack rolls.

This seems like it would be especially bad for a first level character with a high Strength.

Is there a reason for this change?

Frank Trollman wrote:

3> Reawakening The Awaken spell turns an Animal into a Magical Beast and gives them sweet untyped instantaneous increases to hit dice and mental stats. You can give yourself the Animal type over and over again with Wildshaping, and that means that you can Awaken yourself again. And...

I'm pretty sure this one, at least, has already been addressed. You no longer gain the Animal subtype when Wildshaping.

(edit)Since you've already responded to the effect that this is wrong, there shall be citations:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/druid.htm#WildShape

"D20srd wrote:

At 5th level, a druid gains the ability to turn herself into any Small or Medium animal and back again once per day. Her options for new forms include all creatures with the animal type. This ability functions like the alternate form special ability, except as noted here.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#alternateForm

d20srd wrote:

The creature retains the type and subtype of its original form. It gains the size of its new form. If the new form has the aquatic subtype, the creature gains that subtype as well.

As an interesting point to go along with this...

The errata, technically, is not defined as Open Game Content. So, while d20srd.org has taken the trouble to add the errata to their site, it's not actually what's in the official SRD. I just checked, and in the official SRD, Wild Shape is still based on polymorph.

This is not exactly what you're asking for...

But Kobold Quarterly #2 has a really cool article on alternatives to the paladin mount, written by John E. Ling.

Thank you for the kind words about my article. It was a fun one to write.

Entrants are not allowed to provide more information about their villains in posts, because doing so basically allows them to blow past the word count limit.

CON:

...

Mystic Theurge? Hello! I'm a munchkin!

Really? Because I can argue it's one of the weakest prestige classes in the game. You essentially trade your powerful high level spells so you can cast low level spells of another class. And in making that exchange, you give up: advancement of your familiar, advancement of your turn/rebuke undead, advancement of a lot of domain powers, wizard bonus feats (though that doesn't affect this character - which is another "weakness," using sorcerer and it's slower spell progression).

Really, this "build" is anything but munchkin.

Ugh the stat block for another reason: there's lots of niggling little errors. Why does he have 15 HD rather than 14?

Ghoul = 2 hit dice; 3 levels of cleric, 4 levels of sorcerer, 6 levels of MyTH. 2+3+4+6=15

Both?

I couldn't find a word count function for MySQL, but I'm pretty sure you can code this into the backend when the info is uploaded. :)

Assuming MySQL works a lot like Oracle SQL, it wouldn't be very difficult to write your own function to perform the task. It's pretty much just a matter of counting the number of spaces that appear in the field (and adding one to account for the last word).

It does. I sort of expected it to be conversations we couldn't see, but it's good to confirm. Thanks, Erik.

swirler wrote:

I was kind of surprised that hadn't been discovered or decided before the announcement.

So were we. :) Chalk it up to the herculean effort the judges put in during a holiday weekend, with Erik on vacation, to get the top 32 picked. Next time, it will be somebody's job to run the winners through a word counter. :)

-Lisa

I bet your awesome staff could code that so it happened on the inbound, and attached the count to the initial post. It doesn't sound like a very difficult script to me...

I was the one the hit the reject button. Sorry about that.

*shakes fist at Clark*

I'll get you, and your little dog too!

*ahem*

Anyway... mind if I pick your brain just a little more on this concept? I can totally accept something along the lines of, "I'd prefer not to answer that."

I saw at least a couple of items in the final 32 that had a "reject" post. Was it the "golden ticket" concept that got those items into the final 32, or something else behind the scenes that we're not seeing in the comments?

edit: and also, to be clear, I completely agree with Rambling Scribe. I think it's very awesome that you're in here answering questions and such. It's much appreciated.

Duel to the death called off.

Damn it! Now what am I going to do for lunchtime entertainment?

I started this thread in our Judges Message Boards. It grew over time. It may give some insight to our rejections. We saw so many of these over and over again.

Here are mine:

...

The Thinly Veiled "Modern Item As Magic Item" Item (a huge pet peeve of mine. Heck, we had an item called "iBard". The idea was neat, but there is just no way that name is going to work. We had a PDA, etc.)

I'm gonna go ahead and guess my stone of echoes fell into this category...

I wish all the comments would be released. I understand why they aren't being released, of course; that doesn't change my desire, though. :)

Paizo doesn't own the material printed in the magazines; WotC does. I suspect "Paizo material" means anything that has appeared in a Paizo product, such as a Gamemastery module or Pathfinder.

...and Jack Chick will get motivated to release Dark Dungeons 2.

That would freakin' rock! It'd automatically be the funniest comic of the year!

Steve Greer wrote:

You don't get "do overs" on this thing, guys. Make sure you have a friend proof read it for you and most importantly "read it out loud" to yourself. You can find a lot of errors you missed by hearing it out loud and it helps you to smooth out your prose so it flows better.

So true. The read aloud makes you so much more aware of your errors and also alerts you to glitches in your writing's natural rhythm.

My day job is a computer programmer, and this is a trick I use when debugging code, too.

Another formatting question...

It sounds like the submissions are message board posts? If so, we'll need to use proper message board tags to format stuff like italics? Is it like any other message board post (including a "preview" button)?

Or is the submission process not a boards post, and I can just upload my Word doc?

Indeed you have. Thanks.

Are the Cosmo Sir Mix-A-Lot mentions in his song? And if so, why were you calling people fat? ;)

You have new mail on the matter, Cosmo...

Thank you for your help Cosmo. You're OK, for a ninja...

Mike McArtor wrote:

I think you have to call Cosmo or Corey at customer service. That's the only way I know, anyway.

Or e-mail customer.service@paizo.com.

Exactly what I did. The idea of talking to a ninja on the phone scared me too much...

I'm looking to cancel my Pathfinder subscription, but I can't seem to find a way to do it. I found how to change the mailing address, and change the billing information, and change the way it ships. But I don't see a way to cancel.

Could somebody point me in the right direction?

I don't see any problem with the font size...if it's too small on your monitor, just zoom in or expand it across the screen. Looks great to me.

It's not too small on my monitor. It's too small in my book. ;)

Bavix wrote:

PLEASE do something as soon as possible. A font change this early in Pathfinder's run will not be a big deal and I'll guarantee that there are plenty of people in stores taking Pathfinder off the shelf, looking at a few pages, and then putting it right back while rubbing their eyes.

I'm with Bavix; it's nasty. I *can* read it, but it's not the pleasant experience it should be. I notice the difficulty way too much, and I've found it more difficult to get through the issue than I expected, despite the great content.

I spend all day staring at screens and papers. The last thing I need is a small, difficult font taunting me in my off hours.

I usually hate "me too" posts, but...

Me too. I have poor vision (even with corrective lenses, I cannot get to 20/20 vision); I spend all day staring at a computer screen (computer programmer and freelance writer). I'm finding Pathfinder #1 very difficult to read, which is definitely distracting from my enjoyment of it.

I'm only jumping in with the "me too" because I think this is one of those rare times when it's useful.