golem101's page

I think the idea is to a give a "primitive" feel to spellcasting. If I were running a bronze-age style campaign I'd mandate words of power for spellcasters.

Agreed. I used the WoP system in two one-shot adventures that also featured slighlty different classes, and it was the general consensus that the game "inner mechanism" had such a feeling.

BTW, it was also very well received, and thusly it will be a staple in future campaigns.

Lots of 3.5 stuff (environment books, monster books, adventures, Books of Whatever Might first and foremost), but no "splatbooks" - Complete ThisAndThat. The cleric and bard class are almost unrecognizable.

After a very embarassing campaign, I pretty much zeroed the PrCs/feats available from sources outside the core books.

1) How do you all have fun playing a game with so many problems (according to the forums)? Seriously, it's just complaining and arguing with some good stuff thrown in. If people have problems with so much of the design, why do so many people play it?

You know the saying "squeaky wheel gets the grease"? Well, on the forums that's not always the case, but, sure thing is, squeaky wheel makes more noise than anything else.

You look for complaints, you find a lot of them. You look for satisfacted players, you won't find so many of them: indeed there are a lot (I assume much more than the dissatisfied ones), it's just that they won't open as many thread declaring "this class works fine as it is!".

2)Developers: In looking through all the whining, it seems that Rogue, Fighter, and ESPECIALLY Monk seem to come up ALOT. I get not being able to please everyone all the time, but why have these not been updated or boosted when they seem to be pretty consistently lambasted? Any chance it's in the works?

The Rogue, the Fighter, and the Monk have been updated, rebalanced, and quite often given new shiny tools to play with.

I know I'll catch a lot of flak, but from what I'm reading on the above said threads, most of them are by players expecting the class to perform differently from what it's designed to do: rogues being frontline combatants, fighters excelling at skill monkeying, monks not performing as mobile glass cannons (etcetera).
And obviously, playing just to outdo other players at damaging/oneshotting enemies in combat.

I guess I'm just afraid to thrust my players into a year-long campaign in a game where someone could be doing next-to-nothing in 4 months compared to the other players or one person runs the group (besides the GM).

IMO you trust too much on bile-fueled theorycrafting and not enough on actual (read: YOURS) experience at the table.

Classes work fine. Some are so good to outshine others in specific situations. Many are so specialized to not being able to be good at everything everytime. Your class choice will have consequences.

This will be an insta-buy for me. I love the WoP system, and hope that it will be further expanded.

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Alchemist, Magus, Oracle and Cavalier - I like. Fantasy traditions since a very long time.

Inquisitor, Witch and Summoner - not my cup of tea, but I can't really find anything completely wrong in them (Summoners are really advanced classes though, with a lot of pitfalls). Sometimes they overshine other classes, sometimes they don't.

Samurai, Ninja and Gunslinger - not at my table. Unless I've developed a campaign that makes them fitting.

Right now, too many racial options, archetypes, feats, traits (I've come to despise them with the strenght of a thousand fiery suns), silly races and spells, the option bloat already seen in the 3.X era. And the inevitable race to combos and bonus stacking.

But I'm still the DM and my veto is strong as ever, so the hassle is listing what's good and what's not. "I don't care, there are no dwarf-adopted feline humanoid gunslingers in my fantasy world. And there will never be".

Mmmmhh, Celeste. The name sparks memories from the Dungeon Magazine era APs.

Mammy Graul doesn't come out of the cake.

THE CAKE COMES OUT OF HER.

Right now I have the weirdest "The Preacher" reminiscence, with the D'Aronique encounter and all the stuff at Masada.

It kinda hurts my brain.

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Not every weapon is created equal or has the same efficiency.

To replace the SLAs...

Bingo- Blood God disciple, replaces the SLAs with the ability to feet enemies to your eidolon and let it gain buffs.

Blood Feast is almost there, good catch. Should custom fit a bit, as evolution points need to stay... maybe I'll try something more akin to the Barghest feeding ability, but this is a good starting point.

Try Wild-Caller. It's half-elf only, but anyone who has human blood can take the Racial Heritage feat to qualify.

You get the SLA nerfed to Summon Nature's Ally (and yes, this is a nerf), ditto for your SM spells. Your eidolon also can't take certain evolutions, though most won't be missed. In return, you get +1/4 evo point per Summoner level, which stacks with the Half-Elf's favored class option of +1/4 evo point.

Thanks, but unfortunately the limitations on the available evolutions are in direct contrast with the concept for the NPC.

I'm building a Summoner NPC for a campaign, and the concept I made up for her does not really need the Summon Monster spell-like ability, while a few more evolution points would be nice (I'll be using the broodmaster archetype).

Is there a 3PP that somehow works out a way to eliminate/reduce that one class feature in exchange for a bit more oomph for the eidolon(s)?

If not, what would you consider a balanced trade off for a zeroed (or just strongly nerfed) Summon Monster ability?

Thanks!

Why would you even bother challenging him? Reward him by allowing him his nigh-invulnerability. In a few levels it won't matter because he'll be a gimped cleric who can't fill the role the class is designed for because he won't have the Wisdom to cast any spells higher than 3rd (assuming he puts his stat raise into Wis at 4th level) and won't be a threat to undead because they'll be making their saves against the lousy Will save for his Channel Energy ability. He's effectively gimped his character to be a low-level one-trick pony, and the trick isn't even all that impressive.

Agree 110%.

He's built a very focused character that can shine for a few levels (and is still quite vulnerable to that 20% of hits - criticals are nasty), and afterwards will be limping around with a slightly better or just average AC - a value that doesn't quite scale as much as attack - and none of the class goodies that can make a difference.

Enjoy the game despite his grievances.

Love the Evolution pack concept. Hope to see more - and some critters too, like the long-missed Huge Snake or Huhe Scorpion.

I'm 38, and I can't really recognize myself anywhere near any of those two extremes. Good for me, I think.

But it's a good read and a neat dychotomic model nonetheless.

Jade Regent Pros (in order of relevance):

- The best episodic dungeons seen to date. No really, they're each and every one excellent in concept, design and execution. I love them from start to finish.

- Large outdoors areas/travel sections, finally something for mounted characters to shine - and in one case to rule outright. Not even in Kingmaker this element was so clearly defined.

- Lots of roleplaying occasions, from diplomacy to romance, from information gathering to culture clash moments. And quite a few battles too. Very good mix of roll-playing rewards and role-playing rewards. Also, great loot.

- A thematic factor (the caravan) that has its own rules and in the medium-long run provides something the players rely on and care for, with a growing cast of NPCs they have a word in choosing. Even better than a homebase.

Jade Regent Cons (in order of relevance):

- Every issue has at least one narrative "chokepoint" in which specific events happen to further the story no matter what, NPCs act as deus ex machina to provide solutions the PCs won't happen to find otherwise, and in general the characters have to go that one way otherwise they've screwed the campaign. It's not blatant railroading, but the authors expect the DM to orchestrate the game in very specific ways, even if the players won't like that NPCs, don't care about that problem, and so on.
It happens too many times to be a minor quibble, and in fact has ruined the AP for me.

- The long trek across the continents might bore some players, while others might find the sudden disappearance of the so far defining element (the caravan) a bit disappointing.
Also, the large cast of NPCs might strain the DM and tip the balance badly in some encounters.

- The Tian part of the AP feels a bit under-represented against the first half of the campaign (voyage), in particular the last two issues; the DM may easily expand this second part with his own ideas, bringing the voyage/oriental ratio to a 3/5 instead of the actual 3/3, but he's on his own.

- A bit of a grind when it comes to managing the caravan against attacks or handling resources, and the subsystem can be abused; also the romance subsystem is not so great.

Got it! Downloading now!!

EDIT: for the endless teeth of Dajobas, 546 pages, this tome is INSANE!!

I started these Group of Golem_101s Adventurers after Ellianna and just had to finish them before I leave for Easter with my family.

Have a nice long weekend!

Next week there will be monkeys. :P

** spoiler omitted **...

Ruloc, that's absolutely stunning! What a gorgeous picture! Thank you so much for this group portait!

Having been a moderator elsewhere on the Interwebs, I have to say that Paizo's moderation is amazingly even-keeled and light-handed considering that the developers, designers, and even CEO are regular posters.

It's common courtesy to discuss moderation issues in private, and escalate them if you're being actively wronged.

So very true.

Thousand Suns. Exceedingly flexible system. Love it.

golem101 wrote:

Stormbringer 3rd Edition, the one with the mostly green cover.

Interesting.Is that vastly different to 'Elric!' ?

or MRQ2 and BRP for that matter?

Biggest differences are the HPs locations (non-existent in Stormbringer 3) and the magic system which doesn't feature different schools/disciplines/approaches.

There are a lot of many other smaller elements (ability and skill generation, some combat stuff), but it's mostly minor variation rather than glaring divergence.

Overall it has a simpler, sleeker and tighter feeling. You have more limitations, but it's because they have meaning, not because it lacks options.

Stormbringer 3rd Edition, the one with the mostly green cover.

The 3.5 Warlock has an undeserved and often misunderstood reputation for OP or UP, depending on who you ask.

Me, I think it's effectively OP only for the first 4-5 levels, after which the class experiences growing limitations and dimishing returns on efficiency, until it becomes severely gimped at medium to high levels - possibibly starting as soon as 13th level, maximum at 15th.

Its main feature - the at-will eldritch blast - is a good idea with a bad execution in gaming terms.

Eagerly looking forward to it.

The gm should be involved in a number of ways. First and foremost, the gm set the world, the pc has to fit in that world. If you are playing skull and shackles the player needs to create a character that works in a pirate game. That limits player choices some (cavalier for instance, doesnt work very well on a boat).

As for what to allow, I allow the core rulebook, and everything else is by approval. Mostly that is because if they have to submit it for approval then I can read up on what they are doing and understand how it works. Both to be able rule correctly if some corner case comes up, but also to not be surprised by what they can do. If I know what my players can do I can work in their abilities to give them opportunities to shine and to work in encounters that challenge them on what they are best at and what they are not best at. But there area also a few things I dont allow, even from paizo material (where as I do allow a host of 3rd party material from several publishers).

And it is always appropriate for a gm to comment on a players character without being asked. For any number of reasons. If a player is for instance building an undead hunter ranger and you know your campaign wont feature much in the way of undead opponents, its your responsibility as a gm to speak up and let the player know its probably not going to work. If the player if playing something that doesnt fit your campaign world (ninja samurai and gunslinger are often cited here) its another case where the gm is allowed to comment or object to a pc choice.

Quite the same here.

Ninjaxenomorph wrote:

Devils corrupt the mind, Demons desecrate the body, Daemons want to destroy all life, Demodands serve the Thanatotic Titans, Divs despoil the works of mortals, Asuras hate the gods, Rakshasa seek to control through their disguises, but are tied to our plane, and Oni adopt physical forms in our world, but are corrupted by ambition. Did I miss anything?

What's the story with the qlippoth?

They're the original denizens of the Abyss, just like devils are the original denizens of Hell.

However, the qlippoths started experimenting with mortal souls merging them with the nature of the Abyss, and the experiment went a bit too well, so they faced a planar extinction-level event.

A Kingmaker set would be really good.
I always hope for a "generic wilderness critter" set, chock-full of all those average beasties - small, medium and large sized snakes, scorpions, spiders, but also boars, crocodiles, lions, bats, etc. - that are a staple of pretty much every low-to-medium level adventure.

Lots. Environment is an always-on factor in my games, so much I could approximate that it makes for a whole +/-1 EL.

Do want.

Dotted for future reference. Awesome thread.

My SO's alchemist character in CC, with a detachable centipede-like tumor familiar which she "birthed" and "unbirthed", making the whole table shudder and grimace in disgust.
She's an efficient psychological terrorist.

Gravewalker has my vote. The more intrigue heavy it is, the better.

Yes and yes. Both as a GM and as a player. And in many different games to boot.

I GMed RotRL (twice), CotCT, LoF and KM. Players didn't optimize much - or at all - and faced the whole gamut of situations, from easy to threathening, from barely challenging to deadly.
Deadly encounters usually happened when faced with situations they faced with poor planning, rather than when fighting super-powerful opponents.

Focused (not really optimized) characters sometimes literally ripped through strong enemies both with melee and magic spells, and other times sat almost powerless in front of otherwise trivial critters.
Magic items rarely made the difference, but terrain advantage most of the times determined the victor - as much as area control or utility spells did.

I agree with people saying that APs require optimization in the player side rather than in the character one.
Planning, cunning, patience, scouting, equipment (not necessarily magic), and the general idea that a well timed retreat means having another chance playing the same character in the future: prerequisite feats for the player.

Here and here.

144 orders since December 2005, and no issues aside a couple server hiccups during payment.
No stolen card info for sure.

Wait you mean that at the moment we can't allow our players to retrain feats?!

Sure you can.

It's just that right now there are no official rules that I'm aware of regarding that matter (but I think there a good many 3PP products on the matter).

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Sean K Reynolds wrote:

In a world where people can make pacts with demons or dodge 20-foot-radius fireballs, I don't think it's weird for a person to be able to retrain a now-obsolete feat, archetype, or even a class level.

I love hearing a Dev saying this, especially when it comes from you :-)

Thank you!

Not being able to retrain feats is probably one of the main reasons I don’t like playing some of classes such as ranger and fighter (even though fighters can retrain some feats). Cleave is great at some levels but one of those feats that you might want to swap. And what if you pick a feat chain and the regret it?

This deserves an explanation. Mind that's a very personal explanation, so take it with a grain of salt and all the rest.

I come from an early era of RPGs, both PnP and CRPGs. Feats, skill points, retraining was something done only with command line cheats or third party "trainer" softwares (for videogames) or not at all (for tabletop RPGs).
Perhaps this has stuck as an unfair move. Don't know.

Moreover, I developed a simultaneous interest in tabletop wargames. The ones with a hex map full of symbols and two or three colors (not the fancy hand painted maps or high-definition renders), and small cardboard counters - games that actively tried to fry your brain, like Breakout Normandy.
In those games, an often explitly stated rule was that any counter moved during your turn coudn't be taken back later if you changed your mind - even if it was still your turn and you hadn't finished making movements/choices. That simulated the tactical mistakes made by HQ during a battle.

Choosing a feat (or devoting a bunch of skill points for Use Rope) is choosing a strategy. You may make mistakes. You survive and live with your mistakes. These are things that define your character as much (or sometimes, more) as your optimal choices.
You have fun playing a character that's succefull despite not having the optimal feat at the optimal level range.

You don't retrain your past. Not at my table.

One of the less positive trends of the game. Along the HPs bloat & AC/attack bonus thingie.

But I'm a grognard, playing with grognards who like the game to be harder and occasionally punishing without DM intervention, so it's an easy win.

10 - No. Not at my table.
9 - Hell yeah. Enthusiast/can't wait.
8 - Hell yeah. Enthusiast/can't wait.
7 - Yes. Interested/solid value.
6 - Well, OK.
5 - Yes. Interested/solid value.
4 - Hell yeah. Enthusiast/can't wait.
3 - Not really yes, but almost.
2 - Well, OK.
1 - Well, OK.

Overall, eagerly awaiting it.

No survey here (yet).

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Gully Foyle is my name
And Terra is my nation
Deep space is my dwelling place
The stars my destination

I owe my username to Alfred Bester, that was the least I could do.

Can't see any issues in skinning defeated enemies. Might be gross and creepy and maybe even revolting and debatable, but it's a practice that bears no good or evil stigma.
Could be animals, monsters, humanoids, aberrations, dragons, etc.

Purposefully hunting intelligent creatures for trophy hunting - or just body parts - on the other hand stays definitively in the evil side.
Even if the hunted prey is the demonically infused red dragon that terrorizes the region - killing it and butchering the carcass just for profit is not even neutral aligned.

Sorry to read that the Tribes line wasn't doing well, it's been one of my favourite sources of inspiration. Even if sometimes the specific combination of creature-theme didn't ring my bell, it was interesting enough to spur me to adapt the setting to fit it, or to plan a new campaign just to feature it along the way.

Looking forward for the new Urban and Wilderness Dressing lines and to return to the Lonely Coast. Oh, and that Town Backdrop is already mine!

Build up an arching series of side-treks (not necessarily full blown adventures) during which he has the opportnity to tie up a hefty number of loose ends.
The paladin redeems his son, frames the evil prince in front of the court for his wickedness, and so on.

If you don't want to sacrifice a number of narrative tools (and I know they are such things), devise an adventure that starts with "you have been put to test, now it's the time to show your valor" - a higher up in the church, crusading outsider, wise but dying from old age oracle - and at the end of it he can achieve his goal(s) with no evil slipping away or dire consequences.

Sometimes it's just a matter of balance between grim, gritty realism and unadulteraded satisfaction.

They're like, seven kinds of awesome.

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Old Man Whateley wrote:

You know what they call a quarter pounder wit cheese in Innsmouth?

A "BLURGLNURBLERGLBRBLRBLR."

You know why they call it theat? Metric system. They don't know what a quarter pound is.

Plus they all got fish heads.

The path of the sorcerous hybrid man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the pious and the tyranny of religious men. Blessed is he who, in the name of Yog-Sothoth, herds the weak to the abbatoir, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the eater of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and curses in Aklo those who would attempt to thwart me and my invisible brother. And you will know My name is the Gate Opener when I lay My vengeance upon thee.

This is actually a quote I can use in my PF games.

Looking at the Kickstarter the pledge levels leave me feeling meh.. I'll run through my questions concerns and maybe someone can answer a few questions.

1. I'm a hold over from Nick's original supporters. From what it looks like I should be getting the 110$ level if I don't pledge anything additionally. - Is this correct?

The original deal (on Nick's site) stated that supporters would get which ever hardback they wanted and the pdfs for all the other systems it was going to support. - Will I get pdfs for both systems? (This is more of a curiosity since I'm only really interested in the Pathfinder version).

2. The Kickstarter site states:

For those fans of Razor Coast who have already pre-ordered from Sinister Adventures the first go around, you can support the Kickstarter by pledging at the $110 level. You will automatically be bumped to the $150 level at no cost once the Kickstarter Ends.

Um? What about other levels? So 110 would get me what I would be getting anyway plus the Players guide which is listed as 30$ Why do I need to pay 110 for a players guide? Oh the book is signed.. so 110-30=80$ for a signature? Can't I just pledge 30 for the player's guide?

3. Oh what is the players guide? There doesn't seem to be any information for it. Is it 10 pages of background for the players that's in the main book as well or does it contain new classes equip etc? (I've only done Pathfinders Rise of Runelords AP and the players guide doesn't contain much. If this is similar it is not worth it for me).

4. Shipping.. um I paid for international shipping originally (I haven't moved). So if I do get the players guide that should be coming with my copy of Razor Coast. Would I need to pay for additional shipping?

5. Ah customs.. so the original price I paid and the Kickstarters are different at what value will this be labeled? The original or the Kickstarter price?

I'm pretty much in the same boat. Ahahahah, same boat, Razor Coast.... ehrm.

Well, preordered RC, held the order through the years, international shipping. This last factor, from previous experiences, is the one that scares me a little.

Assuming I'd wish to go for the 110$ level, should I plan for a 130$ expense (+20$ for international shipping)? In case I won't spend any money other than the original preorder, what kind of level should I expect, the 40$ or the 110$ one?

Basic D&D Red Box, the "Mentzer edition". Still have that very battered cardboard box and its even more battered contents.

Adam Daigle wrote:

I have a question for everyone reading this thread. Let's say an adventure didn't take up all 64 pages and there was some back matter included, what kind of material would you most like to see? What kind of material would you least like to see?

As it is, many of the previous modules included a little gazetteer of the location to adventure takes place and a new monster that was included in the adventure. Is that kind of stuff good enough or would you like to see a bit more to help you run the adventures? (Of course, the adventure is the focus here, and won't be condensed to accommodate extra material if it 's not needed.)

YES COLUMN:

1. Location gazetteers
2. Monsters from adventure - but I wouldn't want it to just be monsters (1 max)
3. Expanding the Adventure ideas (like the AP continuing the campaign stuff)
4. Important NPC write-ups
5. Tables for Knowledge checks for the adventure region - I.e. regional info that may not be tied to adventure plot specifics. Ex K:Local rumors, gossip, local laws; K:Religion regional worship practices; K:Geography specific local landmarks, etc.

NO COLUMN:
1. Fiction
2. God articles
3. Anything else not directly tied to adventure in some way
4. See #1
5. Spells
6. Feats
7. Classes (prestige classes or archetypes would be acceptable if they're integral to adventure plot)

Agreed. As for the NPC write ups, I'd rather see expanded background, motivations, tactics, and so on rather than stat blocs.

Sort of the structure of Crown of the Kobold King, on steroids.

I did once a marathon session of 10 hours for my RotRL AP campaign and the group managed to slough through most - but not all - of Thistletop, including one level up.
Can't figure out how to fit a single volume of any AP into a 24 hours session, let alone a whole AP of six issues.

Maybe if you just read them aloud and answer questions along the way.

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I'm running a Darkmoon Vale campaign for a large group (8 players) and I had to figure out some fill-ins for extra XP. Some of them are from older 3.X stuff, but really easy to convert, even on the fly.
So, here's the run-down of the adventures:

- Hollow (Tales of the Old Margreve); to bring the party upward in XP count.
- Hollow's Last Hope (less the fungus thing); to reach level 2.
- Crown of the Kobold King (no changes); enough to reach level 3.
- Wingclipper's Revenge (Dungeon Magazine #132); halfway to level 5. Feys at war.
- Challenge of the Fang (Tales of the Old Margreve); up to level 5. Werewolves and tradition.
- Revenge of the Kobold King (no changes); enough to reach level 5.
- Hungry are the Dead (no changes); to reach level 6.
- Gall of the Spider Crone (Tales of the Old Margreve); a little short of level 7. Again, tradition.
- Blood of the Gorgon (from Open Design, I was a patron); enough to reach level 8. A big "whodunit" urban adventure, which I set in Olfden.

I also plannes some different "roads" based on PCs choice; you can substitute Revenge of the Kobold King and Hungry are the Dead with Tower of the Last Baron and Treasure of Chimera Cove. Moreover it's possible to substitute Wingclipper's Revenge and Challenge of the Fang with The Automatic Hound (Dungeon Magazine #148) and Carnival of Fear.
Each different path gives a specific vibe to the campaign, a result I'm pretty satisfied with.