bugleyman's page

As the last thread was locked (for no discernible reason imo), please discuss extra politely.

Could the president have found his spine?

Has Paizo ever discussed the idea of including a listing of the maps packs and/or flip mats included in each PFS scenario, or is that generally considered too much of a spoiler? It would be nice to know which resources I may have on hand.

Ladies and gentlemen:

So as many of you may have noticed, HoustonDerek has returned after an absence of many moons. I have hereby decided that it is imperative to get him to a location where he can be beaten for his long history of trolling the boards. So here is what I propose: We board-dwellers collect enough to send Derek to Paizocon 2012!

I figure we need enough to cover airfare from Houston ($~400), three nights in the hotel (~$400*), and tickets spending money ($200)...so roughly $1000.00?

I'll put up $50. If nineteen others can commit to doing the same in this thread, then maybe Derek can finally get his just deserts. :)

* This is about what it cost this year at the Coast...a venue change may increase the price.

Edit: If anyone has experience and can take care of setting up a "donation" style website, that would be utterly awesome, and a totally acceptable alternative to the $50. :)

BofA to assess a $5/month fee for debit card use.

I think this is a mistake, because I do not believe it will have the intended effect. Rather, it will drive people back to checks, which cost more to process.

Thoughts?

1. The concise and clear action types, and the ability to "downgrade" any action for the next, "lesser" type. So clean in play.

2. Fixed hit point progression. Just way too important to be random.

3. Consistency between spell levels and caster levels. A 4th level wizard should cast 4th level wizard spells.

4. Pared-down list of actions which provoke.

5. "Warlordish" leader of men in the core.

6. Point-buy as the default stat generation method.

7. Concise yet specific wording (at least in theory).

8. Some sort of mook or minion rules.

9. Bloodied.

10. Some way for solitary, powerful enemies to have a greater than normal # of actions. This is just so true to comics, movies, etc., and really enables the "big bad" enemy quite well.

<rant>

GRRRRR!

More and more threads seem to be getting locked because they have been deemed personally annoying, not because any rules have been broken. Can we please back off that a little bit? It's getting hard to have any discussion at all, especially about certain (not illegal) topics. Plus, it is pretty darn annoying to write a post, only to have it fail to "stick" without so much as an error message.

</end rant>

Please cancel my Adventure Path subscription after AP# 48: Shadows of Gallowspire. Jade Regent's apparent reliance on Ultimate Combat material does not appeal to me.

Also, please remove the miniatures from my sidecart (since I will no long *have* a sidecart).

Thanks!

So, thanks to frequent flier flight restrictions, I have arrived and checked into my room for paizocon.

Anyone else here early?

Shouldn't my starting PC be a commoner 1/whatever 1? Or is the thought that at some point, PCs got "promoted" and traded in their NPC class levels for class levels? And if so, why do some characters retain a mix of NPC and PC class levels?

It almost makes me wish for the days of fighter 0s. Almost. :P

Here (Courtesy of Bayshore Hobbies).

Hi folks:

I'm running Shadows Last Stand, Part 2: Web of Corruption at Paizocon, and have a few questions:

1. When can we expect the mod to be made available to PaizoCon GMs?
2. Can I get access to Shadows Last Stand Part 1 at the same time? I'm not running it, but I would like to read it in order to present a more comprehensive, coherent experience for my players.

I'm happy to pay for both/either; I'd probably have bought them anyway. :)

Thanks!

Registration is @ 217/200, so the system won't let me register, but I do have a ticket. Should I be concerned?

Hi folks:

Order 1665503 shipped on May 13th and has yet to arrive. I understand that since I use USPS standard delivery there is no way to track the package and I may just be out of luck, but is there any way to confirm the shipping address and time?

Also -- which of the shipping methods offers a tracking #? I'm going to switch to one of those to avoid this situation in the future.

Thanks!

Aaron

...and I say good for him. It's not much, but it's a step in the right direction, and better than arguing about the size of the thimble we should be using to bail on the freakin' Titanic.

As mentioned elsewhere, this will be my first PaizoCon. I'm mostly coming to play, but in the interest of doing my part I'd like to judge a slot or two. I GM'ed for Josh at GenCon '09 and WotC at GenCon '08, so I do have some con judging experience.

When does the call for judges go out, and where do I sign up? May I judge just a slot or two? Can anyone tell me how this has worked at past PaizoCons?

That's right people, lock up your farm animals, I'm coming to PaizoCon 2011. :)

I've been to Gencon three times, and to D&D XP once, but this is my first PaizoCon. Since I finish up grad school in May, June was the perfect time for me to finally meet more of my fellow messageboard denizens. Beware!

Hiya folks:

If I place something in my cart, then check "hold for next subscription shipment," I cannot apply a store credit. I presume this is known and/or intentional. HOWEVER, if I then empty my cart, then go back and add a different item, he shipping hold option is "sticking" and so I cannot apply my store credit. The only way I found to "clear" the option was to check out completely using a different payment method.

For those that don't know, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) does not allow homosexuals or atheists to participate in any capacity. It seems we need a thread to discuss the policies of the BSA, so here it is. :)

My take: The BSA can do whatever the hell it likes, as long as it doesn't receive government aid (money, special access to public facilities, etc.). It is my understanding that they often do receive such aid, a fact to which I object.

Discuss.

P.S. Popcorn is not an appropriate topic in this thread.

For those of you who might not remember, in 1992 the Clinton campaign had a sort of unofficial slogan of "It's the economy, stupid." The basic idea was that a recession is always bad for whomever is in power. Business cycles don't matter, who did (or didn't) do what when doesn't matter. During a recession, incumbants are screwed at the ballot box. Sure enough, George Bush Sr., extremely popular earlier in his term, was shown the door. Frankly, I think the idea has some merit. Further, I think we'll see the same thing tomorrow. In ten years, no one is going to remember any "sea change" in politics; the tea party; or, frankly, much of anything beyond "it's the economy, stupid."

Why I am posting this? I'm getting tired of the pundits. In 2008, the same pundits said the Republican party was dead. In 2004, it was the Democrats who were finished. Now the tea party is "rising up to demand fiscal discipline." Fiscal discipline my @$$. Is the cycle really so inscrutable? And why do we go out of our way to separate the country into armed camps?

Tomorrow the Republicans will pick up seats, though I think they'll come up just short of a majority in the Senate. Either way, though, it won't matter: In two years, if the recession is over, Obama gets re-elected. If it isn't, he doesn't -- it's just that simple. But no matter who is elected president in 2012, and no matter who controls congress, the USA will still be running a deficit. Why? Because as soon as the dust from the election settles and the immediate pain of recession eases, we're going to go right back to being collectively unwilling to actually do the heavy-lifting true fiscal responsibility demands.

Sorry for the rant -- I'm just frustrated.

In the context of Pathfinder Society:

1. If, when using acrobatics to avoid attacks of opportunity, a character moves through a square threatened by multiple foes, is the acrobatics check to avoid AoOs:

(a) Made once (with the DC increased appropriately for the correct # of foes), with the single result applied to all foes;
or
(b) Made separately for each foe, with the DC increasing by 2 for each subsequent foe beyond the first?

After multiple readings of Acrobatics, I can see why it could be interpreted either way.

2. If one fails the Acrobatics check to move through an opponents space, does movement immediately end? Does the character failing the check fall prone?

Government assassination

Ok, I get that some folks have an itch for a fighter/wizard that Eldritch Knight, as a prestige class, just doesn't scratch. I know people are asking for a Magus-like class, but what they're really asking for is a fix to the "gish" problem, and I think a set of feats would work just as well (and certainly more "cleanly").

For example, you could have a "cast in light armor feat" that required light armor proficiency, and, say, a BAB of +2. Medium might require +4 BAB, light armor proficiency, and the aforementioned light armor feat. Heavy might be +6 BAB, all armor proficiencies, and the "cast in medium armor" feat, etc.

It seems balanced. It would still be rather punitive for a full caster to do it (6 feats for heavy!), meaning the iconic wizard in robes is largely safe. If it really rankled, I suppose one could add "proficient in all martial weapons" as a requirement -- but I doubt that would be needed.

Likewise, the "cast+attack" schtick could be a feat or two. Let's fact it -- as it stands, it's not a particularly strong choice, and would not be at all unbalancing if granted to a full caster ("you *want* to hit someone with a sharp bit of metal? Good luck with that").

Maybe throw in a "practiced spellcaster" type feat, and you're done.

So, why, again, would we want to pollute the base class space with the Magus when the mechanics fit much more elegantly into an existing (and highly flexible) rules-framework*? I don't mean to be a smart-ass; it's a serious question.

*Of course, the same charge could be levelled against literally every base class in the Advanced Player's Guide, but that ship has sailed. :(

"A grease spell covers a solid surface with a layer of slippery grease. Any creature in the area when the spell is cast must make a successful Reflex save or fall. A creature can walk within or through the area of grease at half normal speed with a DC 10 Acrobatics check. Failure means it can't move that round (and must then make a Reflex save or fall), while failure by 5 or more means it falls (see the Acrobatics skill for details). Creatures that do not move on their turn do not need to make this check and are not considered flat-footed."

Note the spell doesn't specify that creatures that move are flat-footed in the first place. The bolded part could be inferred to imply the imposition of such a conditon -- or it could be a hold-over from the 3.5 SRD.

Can anyone provide an official clarification and/or ruling?

Hi guys:
I suspect your code for outputting a list of a user's recent posts looks something like this (pardon the C++ pseudo-code):

currentRecord = collection.nextRecord()
do
{
cout << currentRecord->returnContents();
} while (collection.nextrecord());

I'd add a some sort of check for the messageboards being down:

currentRecord = collection.nextRecord()
do
{
cout << currentRecord->returnContents();
} while ( (collection.nextrecord()) && (messageboard is up*) )

*however you're currently determining this

Something like this would accomplish two things:
1. Reduce server-side processing load when you probably most need it reduced
2. Prevent the current behavior, which is to output "The Paizo messageboards are currently unavailable" repeatedly.

Awesome! Good for you getting out there when you're still in school, and good for Paizo for providing you the opportunity. Best of luck!

P.S. Tell Vic 1998 called, and they want their computer back. ;-)

Hiya folks:

I don't hit this area of the boards much any more (not playing Pathfinder), but the RPG world can always use another good way to find a bigger audience, so: Has there been any word on a Pathfinder "basic" or Starter Set?

...where brown people are now second-class citizens.

Today I'm ashamed to be an Arizona resident. I can only hope that, were I not out of town on business all week, that I would have had the guts to chain myself to the capital door in protest.

That is all.

So...looking over the (sizable) March updates really got me thinking (and cross-posting from RPG.net). The rate and frequency of changes being made are simply not viable for a pen & paper game. The only reasonable way to incorporate the errata is to use Character Builder; the printed books are no longer an authoritative reference (Heck, for the most part they're just plain way off).

I do not see this as a viable long term strategy if the game is to remain primarily P&P. Hence I can only conclude that it isn't, and that as less of the material appears in print, any semblance of a complete game designed to be playable without digital tools will fade. Essentials is just the first step in that direction. Heck, if WotC were competent at software development, then the Game Table would already be up and running, and the next step would be a MMO/pen & paper hybrid. As it stands, someone is going to beat them to the punch (Dragon Age, anyone?).

Keep in mind I'm saying this as someone who generally likes 4E, if not WoTC's "management" of it.

Thoughts?

Really.

1. While it is impossible (and undesirable) to ensure equality of outcome, society should strive for equality of opportunity.

2. No one, no matter how lazy or inept, should starve to death. No one should be denied access to basic shelter, or clean water.

3. No one, no matter their sexual orientation, religious beliefs (or lack thereof), race, or culture, should be denied the rights afforded to other citizens.

4. We're all people. We aren't better because of where we are from, or what god we believe in. We have no right to force others to our way of thinking through military or economic coercion.

5. Free markets are wonderful and useful, but they aren't perfect. Their proper operation sometimes requires circumstances that do not exist in the real world, therefore not everything can be fixed by "letting the market handle it."

6. Fundamentalism of all stripes is evil. The most common type of fundamentalism in the modern world is religious.

7. Beware anyone who seeks to dehumanize others.

8. There are very few absolutes. Though humans like to think that way, most things in the real world just aren't that simple. Beware oversimplification and binary thinking.

9. Violence is the last resort; sometimes the last resort is necessary. Usually it isn't.

10. Knowledge is knowing what you don't know. If the other guy's position seems stupid to you, you probably don't understand it.

I reserve the right to add more later. :)

1. Quit making pennies. Now. We survived without a smaller unit of value when the cent was worth twenty times what it is today; we can live with rounding to the nearest nickel.

2. While you're at it, quit making paper dollars. The public doesn't like dollar coins? Too bad. They last much longer, and they save money. The strippers will get over it.

3. Federal government vehicles: buy sub-compacts. Waaaaaaah! It's a free car -- go on a diet.

4. Get rid of filibusters; they're a waste of time and money. Pass it now, make it take effect in 2 years.

5. Fix the patent office. It's broken and wasteful.

Anyone else? Remember, I said Bi-partisan...

I know I can locate sessions in which I've played by looking under my characters, but is there a way to see a list of sessions I've GM'ed?

Hey guys:

You seem to have some sort of referrential integrity problem with your review records; as of now, I suddenly have ten or so reviews of "Unknown product." :P

Well, since I pretty much don't mind being banned any more (which seems like a very possible result of voicing my concerns), I'll be the one to ask:

Exactly what the heck is going on with these forums?

Entire threads are now disappearing without any kind of notice. FROM THE OFF-TOPIC board. Why? I suppose because they discussed accusations about a media figure, which is now (apparently) forbidden, but I can only guess, because NO ONE IS SAYING. Stuff just disappears.

Irrespective of the merits (or lack thereof) of a given thread, just removing stuff wholesale, and without notice, is anathema to a healthy message board. Please stop before these boards lose all value as a discussion forum.

@#$@#$@#$ US Airways.

So, I'm sitting in Sky Harbor waiting for my plane to be repaired. At least the Internet access is free...

This is a request, spun off from the "next 4 core classes" thread, that Paizo reconsider the use of the word "core" for supplementary content.

A specific, consistent core has a great deal of value. First, it creates useful shorthand for a common set of rules elements and assumptions. There is real utility in being able to declare my game core and everyone knowing exactly what that means. Second, it keeps the barrier to entry for Pathfinder Monthly and Pathfinder Moduless minimal, which is good for both those products, and for the Pathfinder brand as a whole. Diluting the meaning of core by calling subsequent content (base-class or otherwise) "core" destroys this value, while serving no useful purpose I can discern.

So, please, Paizo: Make additional mechanics if you must. But keep the meaning of the term "core" what it should be: A reference to the core rules.

Pardon me if this is already known, but has anything been said about a caster level patch for multiclass casters in PFRPG? IIRC WotC had a kludge feat called "practiced spellcaster," but I don't believe it was ever made Open Content. I'd love to know if something was done.

Thanks!

I'm just wondering if Paizo has considered doing a "collector's edition" of the PFRPG corebook, along the lines of the 3.5 collector's editions (not the disappointing 4E versions)?

I recently had several posts supressed, and deservedly so. I'm not calling for less moderation (in fact, I think there should be more, but that's not the point of this request). I would like to request when that when moderation does occur, a note be placed someplace in the thread. Without such notification, context is lost, opening the rest of the thread is open to misinterpretation. At worst, the meaning of other, unmoderated posts can be lost or changed. As a result, the usability of the board for its intended purpose (a tool to facilitate discussion) risks being greatly reduced.

Thank you.

Well, despite all the assurances that 4th edition was, first and foremost, a traditional (read: book-based) RPG, WoTC has just announced, via the June 1st Ampersand, a D&D Insider exclusive, online-only class: The assassin. The fact that this is such an iconic class just rubs salt in the wound. There is also an exclusive race on the way, and I doubt these releases will mark the end of this disturbing trend. As biased as it sounds, this just strikes me as the latest in a cynical string of broken promises. I already withdrew all financial support after the PDF debacle; now I wish I had done so much earlier.

I hope you enjoy your thirty pieces of silver, Bill.

I was wondering if there will be any mini or counter diagrams in the final release to illustrate tactical movement? I found the ones in the 3.5 PHB to be very valuable, especially for newer players, and hope you guys were able to add something similiar.

Warning: Pedantic coding logic ahead

...makes no sense. Once in a blue moon I'll fat-finger my password, and I'm presented with another chance to enter my credentials. So far, so good. But the e-mail addy field is blanked, while the password field isn't. Huh? It's gotta be like a hundred times more likely the password is wrong rather than the e-mail addy (which *wasn't* just entered). Since both fields can be edited anyway, why not blank the password field?

Not a huge deal, but illogical coding bugs me.

I suggest excluding posts in the PLAY-BY-POST and PLAY-BY-POST Discussion forums from the display of recent messageboard posts. The vast majority of visitors to the site aren't going to be playing in any given game, and so, at least for the most part, aren't interested in related threads. Worse, the PBP posts end up pushing other posts, likely of more general interest, off the first page.

Stop the madness! ;-)

So, congrats on getting that thing to the printer, but like the subject says, can we start getting some info? Release is three months out...time to start the previews!

Since the topic of media bias keeps coming up in a few other threads, someone suggested the creation of a separate thread. So here we are.

To start off, here is an article (biased? :P) about a study done on media bias.

I found this particularly telling:

"The tendency to see bias in the news...is such a reliable indicator of partisan thinking that researchers coined a term, "hostile media effect," to describe the sincere belief among partisans that news reports are painting them in the worst possible light." (emphasis mine)

Now, given the five Ws (who, what when, where, why), is bias unavoidable? Can "why" really be discussed in an unbiased fashion? If so, how? Equal time for both sides?