heimdallsgothi's page

I gave a my party a small cat statue, if you pet it and said a command word, it would cast cats grace, lasts 10 rounds
however if you just pet it, it acted like a real cat till you picked it up and put it back in your pocket/stopped interacting with it

If you need some cultural ideal, look at
http://www.everyculture.com/
This will help with general cultural ideas unless you're doing a medieval France variant (again)

For mythological motifs.. you'll need
http://www.ruthenia.ru/folklore/thompson/index.htm
Which is great for consistency

For the world itself
http://www.web-writer.net/fantasy/
This is for writers so may be of some use to a beginner

Monomyth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth
AKA how to design a campaign

I've read about half the thread so far so if I recover some ground, forgive me, but I have some thoughts on the role-player vs. Optimizer/Power Gamer/Min-Max debate.
In D&D 3.x onwards, some level of optimization is mandated. Challenge rating specifically states that monsters are built with the expectation of a certain party size with specific levels of gear. If you remove said gear from the party, the encounter level and difficulty changes drastically.
Personally I view Optimizers/Power Gamers/Munchkins/Min-Maxers as varying degrees of the same mentality.
Optimizers are the high school football players. They have some knowledge, and use that to their advantage. They seek to make the most powerful character they can without seeming to blatant or over the top. Role-players can look at the optimizer and think they can get onto the field with them. The optimizer will whine about them being there and not playing the game "right", but the difference in ability isn't so stark as to be detrimental to the party overall. Optimizers tend to like to blame non-optimized party members for TPK's, even though Challenge ratings are not geared to optimized parties, but for a blend of classes and gear ratings.
Power Gamers are like College Football players. They have a strong skill set and advanced knowledge of certain aspects of the game. They make characters that are very focused and skilled in specific areas, expecting other characters to pick their skills around the glaring flaws in their character. This is the fighter that needs a high charisma "Face" in the party etc, if the player is ever isolated/separated from the party; it's very easy to exploit the flaws. Any character creation decision made with the thought, well "such and such class" will handle those situations, is a sign of this mentality. As in real life, when the college football player who coasts through classes on his athletic talent is done with college and meets real life, comedy ensues. Role-players may admire the builds and skill sets, but no one really expects to get onto the same field and compete for long periods.
Min-Maxers/Power Gamers are the Pro-level football players. Their characters are freakish to look at, almost broken in every aspect except those few area's the player chose to excel, and in those areas, they are almost unbeatable or completely broken. No role-player wants to be in a game with one, and in most cases the only way these players find games are with inexperienced GM's or with new groups of players who haven’t heard about them yet.
Overall the primary mentality of these player types (in my experience) is that if you are not seeking to maximize your combat effectiveness, "you're not doing it right". In non combat oriented campaigns with little or no combat, most of these players end up feeling lost/confused or "bored".

5. While travelling to a local trade center, the party is approached by a small child foaming at the mouth, he quickly dies as the party gets within 100 yards.

A number of other children in the town are also dying from similar seizures as the party approaches the town. Within an hour much of the town falls sick from terrible cramps.

The local baker is the only adult who actually dies, muttering about the strange flour.

Eyes turn towards the new mill, on the river below the graveyard...

Yarr!

1. Hero (I am learning to love the game, some day I will actually run it)
2. Rolemaster (RMSS/RMFRP)
3. Pathfinder (Adventure Paths only)
4. Shadowrun 3Ed
5. WEG Star Wars
6. Palladium FRP 1st and 2nd ed
7. Pendragon
8. Traveller (just about all iterations)

The sites been up since december 2008
so its stood for over a year....

It's the comic book readers mother lode

www.htmlcomics.com

See i have a captive audience who generally plays what ever system i wanna experement with

I got them to play Rolemaster, 2, rmss/rmfrp

They have already said they would glady play hero when i want to run it

Its just getting the game to a point where i feel comfortable doing so

I just hate the idea of having to jump to a rulebook for (almost) every rules question

Rolemaster RMSS/RMFRP (MERP)
Shadowrun 2nd/3rd (own none of the 4th ed)
BECMI (Loved this as a teenager)
Traveller in its various incarnations
Palladium-FRP/TMNT/Ninijas, Beyond the supernatural (GHOSTBUSTERS!) etc

Honerable Mention: I own like 20+s Hero books (no supers stuff) and the 3 new 6th ed
books, but Ive never RUN the game. The *concept* seems awesome, its just hard to come to grips with

Dont forget to...
you know
READ the comic :)

Well its the artists stated intention to upgrade to the pathdinder system rather than moving into the 4e or other game system :)

So I've been reading the Nahast webcomic
http://nahast.spiderforest.com/

It's an interesting fantasy style comic and here I find they are releasing someing for the Pathfinder game
see
http://nahast.coyotzin.net
Wewt
Cool comic + Cool game = win

chibi pit fiend?

I just picked up Hero 6e Volume 1 and Volume 2

Now all I need to do is figure out how to play it

Strangely, I find listening to swedish techno makes it easier to understand, and i dont speak swedish

Next meeting is this saturday
Food.. new friends
Anyone play pathfinder in AZ?

My Amazon order
Not yet shipped
Shipping Estimate: December 14, 2009
ARGH!

(and the PDF isnt up yet)

so in theroy
1+ short sword (M) with +9 stacking Flaming (+10 bonus)
10d6 per strike, 198k ?

I'm preparing to run the Rise of the Runelords AP. This should cover levels 1 to around 15. We are using pathfinder core rules/books only, with allowances for the playtest classes. My rules on splat books is fairly simple, If I dont personally own the book, its not allowed (And I only own Pathfinder Core books atm).
My group currently has 3 players and we are seeking 1-2 more players to round out the group. We meet every other saturday, from Noon till about 9pm (with dinner break). The game will have a character creation day once we have 4+ players.
Next Scheduled game dates are 12/12/09, 12/26/09, 01/09/10, 01/23/10, 02/06/10. Since real life happens we sometimes have to shift a game date to sunday, but its fairly rare.
I host the game at my house, everyone brings snacks for the group to share, dinner responsibilities are rotated throughout the group. (Everyone looks forward to my wifes insane cooking skills)
I live in maricopa, its about 30 mins from Tempe/Chandler area. We have gamers who come all the way from north phoenix (60-90 mins drive time) They carpool so that car is full for now. We are all in our mid 30's, Employed looking to have some fun, kill some monsters and have fun and eat well.
If you're interested, post here and we can arrange a meeting

Using the Pathfinder Core and Bestiary

Ok I'm trying to understand something that most of you probably have already internalized, which is basically how to determine how natural attacks work for creatures.

Now for most characters, its simply subtract 5 from the base attack bonus, if you have a positive number greater than 0, they can take another attack, and you can repeat this proccess until the final number is 0 or less

I have found there are little rule gotcha's scattered about the various texts and its a little confusing.

Pathfinder CORE PG 182
You do not receive additional natural attacks for a high base attack bonus. Instead, you receive additional attack rolls for multiple limb and body parts capable of making the attack (as noted by the race or ability that grants the attacks). If you possess only one natural attack (such as a bite—two claw attacks do not qualify), you add 1–1/2 times your Strength bonus on damage rolls made with that attack. Some natural attacks are denoted as secondary natural attacks, such as tails and wings. Attacks with secondary natural attacks are made using your base attack bonus minus 5. These attacks deal an amount of damage depending on their type, but you only add half your Strength modifier on damage rolls.

Moster Introduction (GRD)
Melee: The creature's melee attacks are listed here, with its attack roll modifier listed after the attack's name followed by the damage in parentheses.

Now if you look at the young red dragon...
BAB is listed as 11
Str is 25 (+7)
Melee bite +17 (2d6+10), 2 claws +17 (1d8+7), 2 wings +12 (1d6+3), tail slap +12 (1d8+10)
Now Bites and claws are Primary attacks, the wings and tailslaps are secondary

So how many bites, claws, wing bashes and tail swipes does a dragon get
1 Primary + 1 Secondary? Does he get them all?

If some sadistic godling damages the sail portion of a dragons wings so he cannot fly, and tosses him into a pit, what kind of blender is he?

Just what exactly is a "Gith/Gish" anyways

I see the term, but a forums search wasnt helpful, pulled up a bunch of archive posts

Good chance I'll drop in for one of the days at least

I haven't played D&D regularly since the AD&D era

I've played a few sessions of the 3.0 version, and managed to completely bypass/ignore the 2.0 and 3.0/3.5 era's.

I'm not overly impressed with 4.0, But I am finding much to like in the pathfinder verisons so far.

But honelsty..
52 attacks?
How is that even remotely possible?

ok
Where is it and how does one locate it?
Argh..
Curse my newbieness!

Getting a little worried

No pathfinders out in the Maricopa/Casa Grande area?

Then how do you determine who is competent at any skills, since most people will be limited to lvl 1, and therefore only have 1 rank in a given skill?

No one lives in maricopa-casa grande south chandler/phx corridor in Arizona?

So I'm new to the d20 system, having left the D&D game system back in the AD&D days. I've never even owned a D&D 2nd ed book, and only own the 3 main 3.0 books, think the are still shrink-wrapped.
I'm looking at NPC's and figured the "Average" persons level was 1.
And most people throughout life never really advance past 1, or orc / goblin / kobold raids on villages would not be to traumatic.
Looking at the NPC classes the weakest and most common class would be commoner. Now this is expected, what that leaves possible is Joe Serf. Hes been farming his land for 15 years. Its a hard life. So he as the Skill Survival for weather prediction, and Craft: Farmer
So at what point does Joe serf start gaining levels
And in order for Joe to become a good farmer, he needs to level so in the end. In order to have a competent serf capable of farming his land with enough profit he local lord wont toss him off the land you end up with..
Super Serf
1d6 hp's per level, its entirely possible to have. Super Serf, 50+ hps, multiple attacks starting at lvl 12 and proficency in a simple weapon

If you extrapolate this into Blacksmiths and Herbalists using the Expert class you get even more hps and even better combat skills
So our blacksmith wishes to be competent at his craft, to the point were he is concidered a master of his craft, (aka can take 10 and make a Masterwork weapon) He will have to be at least 7th level or more.
And any craftsman would be remiss if he didnt take the master craftsman feat for those "special" items he wants to make

Wonder if Super serf takes the master craftsman feat for farming, does he get a bumper crop?

Starting a new pathfinder game in Maricopa, Az which is about 25 miles south of chandler, we have 2 players currently and have room for 2-3 more stable players

We meet on alternating saturdays from 11am ish till about 8pm ish

Next session is 11/14, then 11/28 etc

Post or send me a PM if your interested.