Zherog's page

Not a direct answer to your problem, but...

Have you tried reinstalling Adobe?

Do you get a specific error message when you try to open up a PDF, or does it just fail?

Do you know if your PC has somehow associated the PDF extension with another application? You can check this by opening a Windows Explorer*, click on the tools menu and select Folder Options, then go to the File Types tab. Scroll down until you find the extension PDF. If it's not Adobe Acrobat, you can change it to the correct application in the bottom part of that window.

* the easiest way to open up Windows Explorer (in case you don't know how to get it) is to right click on the Start button and select Explore.

I currently have two queries floating around the black hole. The first of those was sent in May 1st; the second was just sent about a minute ago. :D

I also have a handful of Campaign Workbooks in various stages that I'd like to get completed and tossed into the Black Hole sometime soon.

-- John

I don't recall seeing guidelines - though, of course, that doesn't mean they don't exist.

What I would do in your instance is find out what it is about the loremaster your player doesn't like; then work with him to make the class more to his liking. It might be as simple as adding some new lores to the table for him to select, or it could involve a near complete rewrite.

Either way, though, you'll have a happy player on your hands - and that's always a good thing.

Thanks for the kind words, Eric.

Along with the stuff Eric said, make sure you download and read submission guidelines. (note: that link goes directly to the pdf doc)

--John

Yeah, that author... who knows what he was thinking?

I wonder the same thing from time to time. :P

• In addition, a great wyrm chole dragon has DR 20/lawful and DR 5/— and fast healing 15. A barbarian needs to deal at least 41 points of damage with a single hit in order to leave a permanent mark on the dragon's hide, while a different character with a lawful weapon needs to deal only 21 points of damage with a single hit. (Those are not impossible by any stretch, but if he were perfect he'd be the TPK dragon.)

Your math is off. ;) The barbarian needs to deal at least 36 points - when the DRs are different, only the best applies in a given circumstance. So against a non-lawful weapon, the DR magic number is 20; against a lawful weapon, the DR magic number is 5.

In addition, he doesn't really need to do that in a single hit. As long as each individual attack does more than the DR, the attacker need only do a cumulative total of 16 for the round to have an effect on the dragon's HP total. For example, if the barbarian has 4 attacks and he does 24 points of damage with each (before DR), the net effect of the round (after the dragon does it's fast healing thing) would be one point of damage.

That aside - yeah, this dragon seems tough enough. :)

* Wow - I hope I didn't hurt the author's feelings by pointing this stuff out ;) *

-- John

* starts pondering ideas *

:)

As long as the spell requires a standard action or less to cast, yes it's possible.

I had no problems at all removing mine. It was the usual "rubbery" glue, and peeled right off without a problem.

*shrug*

Silver wrote:

As a player in F2K's campaign, can I request that someone please turn down the danger level in all this creativity flowing around? All he does is run adventures from your magazine and the danger and tension are almost more than my poor heart can take. I would encourage more adventures with bunnies, flowers, unicorns and lute playing elven interior decorators please. I need a break.

...but I still want experience points. Is that too much to ask?

How about a Titanic Bunny? Or a Fiendish Bunny? Or a Horrid Bunny?

I mean, those are bunnies and they would be worth some XP too ;-)

(I can imagine the CR 13 Titanic Bunny now, hopping around the city, crushing buildings and peasants with each bound, lol)

Don't forget the multi-headed template, from Savage Species. :D

My advice would be to send in your ideas, regardless of what the plans are for future themes. For example, when I pitched the idea for the initiate feats and spells, I had no clue they were planning to run a "God-centric" magazine this past April. Sometimes your ideas will just fit into the theme; sometimes, your ideas might give them an idea for a new theme; sometimes, your ideas will stand all by themselves and just be cool regardless of what issue they're in.

Also, I'm willing to wager that any themes that are taking shape already have the majority of their article slots filled. That's only a guess, though.

I currently have one query in the slush pile, and another out for proofreading. I have a handful of other ideas that might be ready in my mind soon.

I was hoping my two ideas would go against the Mighty Render together so they could flank, but alas they got separated.

*has a sudden urge to listen to The Offspring*

From where I sit, Amber Scott "Medesha" and John Ling "Zherog" are among the strongest of the regular contributors.

:blushes:

Plus, they're good peoples. Search their names out, as well.

:blushes more:

You're too kind, Troy. And don't sell yourself short, either. You've made some very high quality contributions.

But I can imagine there's a load of them... I don't even mind waiting that long to hear, it's not like I'm not going to write the articles anyway.

You may not wanna do that. It's possible - even likely - that your idea will be accepted, but changed slightly. For example, the editor might ask you to write the article from a specific point of view, or drop one element you suggested and add another.

You're really better off not writing the article until you get the green light.

There's a few successful queries posted around the boards. I know I've posted a few here and there, and others have as well. Check the "Black Hole" thread; if not in there, I'm not sure where else to look - and have to run soon to go to work, or I'd look it up for you.

--John

Lilith,

You always have a great link or two to some resource that helps everyone out so I figure its the least I can do to help feed your addiction for dice sets with some of the coolest I've ever seen.

Adventure Dice Set

Enjoy.

* drools on the thread *

I use it frequently too. Mostly to look at my name as an author. :D

-- John the Vain

Behold! The DragonDex!

Not quite the same thing you're describing - it has everything, not just 3.x, and it lacks descriptions. But it's pretty close.

Wow - you went from "mighty" wrath to "fiery" wrath in just a few posts? Isn't that awfully fast for levelling up? :P

What if we've heard back, but didn't like your response? :P :P :P Can we resend it, and hope you have a senior moment and forget the original query? :)

I talk to my dice sometimes....Is that bad?

Do they talk back? ;)

I know a guy once who had a d20 that just flat out sucked. He finally got fed up with it, and decided to teach his other dice a lesson. He lined up all his other dice with the best number on the die facing a certain direction. Then he placed the sucky d20 so all the other dice could "see" it. He proceeded to then smash the die with a hammer, and supposedly exclaimed to the others, "You're next if you don't shape up!"

He was also known to put poorly "behaving" dice in the freezer as punishment.

edit: and now I see Chris Manos knows the same guy I know! :D

Good luck with the query!

--John

Hi, and welcome to the boards. :)

What that means is you can't send in an article without prior approval. The most common way to get prior approval is to send them a query about an idea you have; if the editors are interested, they'll ask you for the article.

Hope that helps.

Troy Taylor wrote:

Well, the truck-lovin', anime watchin' part, anyhow.

The pirate in me's still got issues with the whole ninja thing. Ahhrrrrgh. :)

Yeah, well, {insert clever comeback}.

Ha!

Wow, Mike. That's the sort of witty retort which demonstrates why you're the editor and Troy & I are the lowly writers. ;)

I assume you have your eyes on the Arcane Trickster prestige class, Luke?

...Just keep in mind that Mike is a truck-drivin', ninja-lovin', anime-watchin' dude.)

But we don't hold that against him. :D

As a side comment, most of my spellcaster NPCs take Combat Casting - they normally only get one or two shots off before being taken down, and it would be soooo boring if all they do is have their spells fizzle before they get axed.

Many of mine do, too - but it sounds like for a different reason. I don't seem to have any problems keeping NPC casters alive for 4 or 5 rounds - sometimes even longer. I give them Combat Casting, instead, because I like feats that assign a "flat" bonus to NPCs, because it makes them easier to run. Feats like Combat Casting, Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus, Spell Focus, and so on are easier to use during combat than feats like Combat Expertise, Power Attack, Improved Trip, and so on. There's nothing to remember - it's built into the stat block.

As a second side comment, as mentioned above, a sensible, intelligent foe will clobber the spellcasters in the party first if they can. While you don't want to victimise a player for choosing a spellcaster (and possibly not taking Combat Casting) I think it is a bit dull to let the wizard just stand at the back all the time (even if that is where they thought they were standing). They should have to make those Concentration checks once in a while.......

A 5' step is often times enough to get a caster out of trouble. Get towards middle and higher levels, and it's even harder to pin down a caster -- the ability to fly, greater invisibility, mirror images, blinking, cloaks of displacement, etc all provide protections to a PC wll beyond AC.

Zherog wrote:

Hey, I thought of a question for ya Mikey. I figured I'd ask here so everybody can benefit (and also because I'll get a faster reply :D ).

For future reference, I am of the perfect age to have gone through all of elementary school being told how much I "like it." Like many other Mikes of my age bracket (and we are legion), I despise Life cereal for that damnable ad campaign, and I do not like being called Mikey. :)

My brother also hates Mikey. For the same reasons. He has the double whammy of having a middle name (Samuel) that's easily turned into a nickname, too. For the longest time, I called him Mikey Sam - specifically because it annoyed him to no end. It was so bad, my kids started calling him Uncle Mikey Sam. :D That's when I stopped.

Zherog wrote:

Given the expanded nature of each Class Act article, would an article that focused on a Prestige Class be accepted? Just as an example, would an article that focused on Archmages (while still be somewhat useful to arcane casters without the PrC) be acceptable?

But to answer your real question, there are currently no plans to support prestige classes in Class Acts. To be honest, I had never even given it any thought. Now you've put it in my brain, though, so let me chew on the idea a bit. :)

If anything changes, it will be announced here. :)

Too bad I don't have a solid idea to run past you, to give you a little more to chew on. The question was just something that popped into my head as a sort of meta idea, so I thought it was worth finding out.

I'll let the concept percolate in the back of my mind while you ponder the idea. Maybe I can come with an idea that helps you make up your mind. :) Given my luck lately, though, I doubt it. :(

Wizards of the Coast. It's a little gaming company in Washington State. ;)

Hey, I thought of a question for ya Mikey. I figured I'd ask here so everybody can benefit (and also because I'll get a faster reply :D ).

Given the expanded nature of each Class Act article, would an article that focused on a Prestige Class be accepted? Just as an example, would an article that focused on Archmages (while still be somewhat useful to arcane casters without the PrC) be acceptable?

Hell I hadn't even heard of this con.. and I live in Philly.

Ditto. Well, the Philly burbs anyway. ;)

So far, 5 levels are in print and another will be in #139 later this year.

Bummer.

Skill Focus (Concentration) is actually a better choice than Combat Casting. Yes, Skill Focus only grants a +3 vs CC's +4. However, Skill Focus always applies. Combat Casting only applies when you're casting defensively or in a grapple.

That said, I think both are generally poor choices mechanically.

All GenCon seminars are on a walk-in basis. I've been to the past three, and I've never signed up for a seminar.

An example of an alternative class is the Urban Ranger from Unearthed Arcana. It's pretty darn close to the standard, but it's tweaked slightly to have a slightly different theme and flavor.

Alternate class abilities are similar. But rather than making the changes for the entire class, you just tweak class abilities. Those abilities take on a slgihtly new twist, while the rest of the class remains unchanged.

Hope that helped. :)

In looking at their website I'd guess no. Under "Gaming" the only things listed are HeroClix and Mage Knight.

Does Sgothgah observe the other PC's through my minion to learn more of them?

He certainly can, as a standard action. I would think it would be a good tactical decision for the aboleth, especially if he views the PCs as the threat they are to his survival.

Do I command the thrall to attempt escape (very difficult even for a weretiger)?

That's a very reasonable command, in my opinion. Especially if Sgothgah knows the "sea elves" are on to him - he could see the weretiger as a source of protection, enabling him to get away.

As a Brit I'm wondering:

1. Will there be a Gencon over here and when?

April 21-23 in Paris France. linky

Better luck next year. :)

Zherog wrote:

What about BotB queries already sitting in your inbox, waiting for you to look at? Should those be resent, or not until you actually get to them and specifically ask for it to be resent? I'll assume the latter, but figured I should check just in case...

If you have something already in to me, just wait until you hear back from me personally. :)

Yeah, I heard back from you. It's a moot point now. :(

It's the inspiration part we're aiming for. :)

But what if I'm a lazy bastard who wants things handed to me on a silver platter? :D

Heh. Try being a Flyers fan instead. Ya'll got nothin' on me! :D

There's another thread around here about it, actually. Monte wanted a month off and Paizo needed the extra space this month, so it worked out well. It'll return next month.

What about BotB queries already sitting in your inbox, waiting for you to look at? Should those be resent, or not until you actually get to them and specifically ask for it to be resent? I'll assume the latter, but figured I should check just in case...

Hmmm... it says Mike posted 19 minutes ago, but I don't see a post from the Class Act Grand Pubbah. I wonder if I need to upgrade my secret decoder ring? :P

edit: ah, there it is. Weird.

I have posted on this issue before, but I'd really love to see all stat blocks for all adventures put into a seperate section of the write-up for the magazine. Pageflipping annoys me to no end and anything that can be done to reduce my pageflipping makes me very happy.

So color me confused. If you put all the statblocks at the end of the adventure, it leads to more page flipping. It got so bad for me when I ran Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil that I put all the NPCs into PC Gen, printed them out, and put them in a binder.

So I really don't see how having them at the end reduces page flipping.

Sounds like the 2.0 Monstrous Compendium. ;)

Thomas,

Yikes. That's unfortunate. I'll bug Jason for you today. :)

Can you bug him for me, too? I don't have any issues, But bugging him sounds like fun. :D

The only details I've seen about Complete Mage so far is that it'll be a companion book to Complete Arcane. I'm looking forward to learning more about it at GenCon actually.

I liked your article, Stefan. :) I broke from tradition last night and read it out of order of the others. Yes, I'm one of those people that starts at the front cover and reads straight through to the back cover. I started twitching when I flipped to something in the back before reading the adventures, but I got over it. ;)

I recently granted land and a title to one of my players; I've recommended he go buy a copy of 135 if he doesn't have one already, just for your article. :)

I'll be at GenCon Indy and I'll glady accept your rum. :D

-- John

Congrats on the article! I'm looking forward to reading it - even before I knew it was yours, actually. ;)

Have you ever considered a career in advertising, Mike? ;)

...and my wife is showing Dungeon #135 around to her friends and co-workers to show them my CW...these people look at Kyuss on the cover and give her weird looks, but what the hell.....

Which one's yours, F2K? My copy just arrived today, and I'll be reading it over the next couple of days.