joela's page

Well, well, well...!

joela wrote:

Huh. This may be useful for my E6 campaign. How well does the system hold up if trying to emulate 4th level and higher spells?

It should work fine. There are actually notes on emulating less-than-6th level spells in this product, unlike in the original 3.5 incantation rules.

You'll probably still have to make adjustments to have it workable for your campaign, but they make note that these are guidelines rather than hardcoded rules.

It's a really nice take on magic, and honestly makes magic feel more like magic. It should fit perfectly into an E6-style campaign.

Danke, Mikaze!

joela wrote:

Opinion?

It would only be useful if you were playing in a game that allowed every core and 3PP supplement (or very nearly so). Otherwise, you would have to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Also, it would always be out of date.

-Skeld

I'm more than willing to say "no" to specific feats. As for out of date: already used to that with errata alone.

Herolabs :-)

Herolabs has 3PP supps (not Pathfinder) in it?

Chris Davies 721 wrote:

Picked up the first Carrion Crown pdf yesterday, and was startled to see that it had no pregenerated set of characters. (I was really hoping that it'd feature an iconic version of one of the APG classes.) Is this the wave of the future?

Yup. Pazo (James, specifically IIRC) asked a while back and the "pregenerated characters are a waste of space" crowd was loudest. Until something changes, you won't see pregens in the AP.

-Skeld

NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

joela wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

I think that a "guide to high level play" hardcover would be an EXCELLENT book to print, as a result. Something that not only helped to teach and train players and GMs on how to handle high level play and how to create adventures for high level play, but also provided a lot of additional crunch and pre-built NPCs and stuff to aid such play. Haven't been able to squeeze something like that on a schedule yet, alas.

Third-party product! ^_^

Since I probably wouldn't be involved in such a product, I'd still vie for Paizo producing a book like this anyway, cause I have a lot I'd like to say about the topic.

I'd buy both products ^_^.

Note by making Fey not bound by the E6 concept as NPCs, it makes them truly terrifying monsters especially if you give most of them caster levels to emphasise their 'magical' nature.

Yah. However, I'd probably keep the "stranger in a strange land" theme for the Golarion elves. Now, Golarion gnomes, on the other hand, may manifest the vulnerability to iron and the like.

Congratulations, Sam!

And congratulations to all four of the finalists, in fact! As Mark said, this last round was VERY competitive, and it was pretty nail-biting here at Paizo watching the votes come in. Good times! :-)

I like the fact that the finalists will be writing scenarios. Awesome way to keep all that talent and hard worked focused on Pathfinder.

James Jacobs wrote:

I think that a "guide to high level play" hardcover would be an EXCELLENT book to print, as a result. Something that not only helped to teach and train players and GMs on how to handle high level play and how to create adventures for high level play, but also provided a lot of additional crunch and pre-built NPCs and stuff to aid such play. Haven't been able to squeeze something like that on a schedule yet, alas.

So, which 3PP's gonna write such a supp? ;-)

I think that a "guide to high level play" hardcover would be an EXCELLENT book to print, as a result. Something that not only helped to teach and train players and GMs on how to handle high level play and how to create adventures for high level play, but also provided a lot of additional crunch and pre-built NPCs and stuff to aid such play. Haven't been able to squeeze something like that on a schedule yet, alas.

Third-party product! ^_^

joela wrote:

I think I read somewhere you participated in a high level / epic games (Sean K Reynolds?). Did you find such games significantly difficult to engage in? The biggest complaint I've read about them is that the sheer number of options available to both the PCs and GMs make them hard to balance.

Not only am I playing in a high level game with Sean as the GM... pretty much EVERY campaign I run ends up going to 20th or even 21st level. I'm currently running a Serpent's Skull game, and I fully expect that one to spend a lot of time at high level.

Whether or not a high level game is difficult to play in depends extensively on the skill level of the GM and the players, but also extensively on whether or not the players arrived at high level organically. In Sean's game, we created 13th level characters at the start, and that robbed us of the chance to get to know our characters and each other's characters over the course of 1st through 13th level. Furthermore, Sean's game has a HUGE swing of who might actually be playing in the game at any one time—there's something like 7 or so characters, but the actual ones who'll end up playing in any one session seems to be a random subset—so it's really hard to get into a grove there. And that has resulted in a game that's at times a bit choppy.

In my home games, though, with a stable group of players who are always the same players with the same characters, and who achieve high level over the course of natural, organic game play, I don't find high level play that harrowing at all. Part of this is due to the fact that my players are pretty experienced, and that I'm not only experienced at GMing but that I'm also VERY comfortable making ad hoc decisions during game play to keep things rolling. The result: high level play in those games seems fine and is quite fun.

I think that a "guide to high level play" hardcover would be an EXCELLENT book to print, as a result. Something that not only helped to teach and train players and GMs on how to handle...

Thanx for the reply. So the so-called "difficulty" of high level play is not necessarily inherent in the system.

The best you are likely to find is this I think.

Only covers the feats in the Core book. I'm thinking, for example, if SGG collected the feats from all their products, simplified them into the above chart, then included a column referencing the original source.

Many 3PPs are releasing products on feats, either as their own product or as part of a class supp. I'd like to see some sorta supp that charts all the feats of that 3PP's product line in a chart similar to the feat chart found in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core book under Feats. Big difference is the chart would list what supp the feat can be found in.

Opinion?

Having read this thread yesterday, I decided it might be interesting to remove the 4th level spells in an E7 game and replace them with the following:

Clerics get all their 8th level domain powers

Druids get something like wildshape 3/day and/or the 8th level wildshape upgrade (not really sure what to do here)

Wizards get their 8th level school ability

Witches get a major hex

That should be very approximately equivalent in power and it avoids adding in the various powerful or problematic spells that E6 is supposed to exclude. It also somehow doesn't seem so unfair on the other casters.

I was thinking along the same lines. Thanks!

This may be useful for E6 campaigns.

What separates LotSJ campaign from other settings like Golarion, Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, etc.?

What separates Kingdoms Riven from settings like Golarion, Forgotten Realms, Realms of Twilight, etc.?

Huh. This may be useful for my E6 campaign. How well does the system hold up if trying to emulate 4th level and higher spells?

The races book is skeletally complete, and I'll be finalizing the final list of races after the holidays (still tinkering with some concepts). It will still take time to finish the fluff-writing, do internal playtesting, and line up artwork. But if I can catch some breaks, fairly early in the year is definitely a possibility.

I wasn't originally planning on doing A Few Denarii More right away, but some ideas have been tickling me lately, and especially having seen what Paizo did with the APG (and relevantly, what they didn't do), I can see the Courtier and some other concepts moving to the forefront as interesting PC possibilities that haven't, and likely won't, be covered by Paizo. I expect this will follow the races book closely, whenever that happens.

So, what's the latest news?

W00t!

I was wondering if the races in Dragon magizine and the Dragon compedium were OGL

Closed unless they're in the SRD (and I'd still double-check that).

As long as your players are fine with it go for it. Just be sure to discuss the issue with them ahead of time.

These types of worlds always make me think of Lord of the Rings. The Fellowship was an aberration. Elves, Humans, and Dwarves very rarely worked together. Humans traveled with humans :p

Yah. Or sword and sorcery stuff, which Golarion does so well ^_^

What the subject says. World of Golarion, only available PC race is human. (Maybe allow half-elves and half-orcs as PCs.) Dwarves, elves, etc., still exist but in the same capacity as the monstrous races (i.e., primarily opponents, sometimes allies, most of time uninterested in human affairs).

Thoughts?

Picked up my copy today. W00t!

I've run E8 twice now and both times I thought that the rules and the power level of the characters were too much for my taste. This is my first crack at E6 but combining the really slow way I'm handing out experience and the easy of moderating the 5th and 6th level peak human NPCs I have written up is really great.

Coolio, cranewings. Any specifics as to why you thought E8 was too high? Feats, spells, etc.?

I'm waay behind on Adventure Log updates, but here's my E8 Pathfinder campaign with house rules. :)

Sweet. Thanks!

So, what's your opinion so far of E8? What's your players opinion about it?

Chakras?

Aranai wrote:

Could someone please explain what the E# notation refers to?

E stands for Epic and the # is the level PCs stop advancing at. After, say, level 6, PCs gain feats after X amount of experience, instead of new levels.

It's designed to keep gameplay within the "sweet spot" of low to mid level. It's also used for "low-magic" games.

Edit: I would also be interested in other GMs/Players experience with E6/7/8. I'm gearing up to run an E8 campaign, and would love to see what worked and didn't work for people.

The Eel, E8 seems to be a popular stopping point for the E6 ruleset. What made you choose it versus 6th level?

TL;DR: How to play a low-magic D&D game by never going above 6th/7th/8th level.

...but still continue to advance your PC (just without it being wholesale).

Details! What did you about the variant? Likes? Dislikes? Perspective from the GM? From the players? Houserules you must have? Would prefer posts from folks who actually ran/played the variant instead of just read the rules. Thanx in advance!

joela wrote:

stringburka wrote:

We mostly play E6 (3.5) or E7 (PFRPG).

E7? May I ask why you chose that level, stringburka?

1. Get an extra feat at the last level (like in E6), including access to Leadership (we have however later changed Leadership, among other reducing level requirement to level 3, so that reason is out now).

2. Because 2/3 and full casters in that game is basically a prestige class with a required level of two; you have to gain entry through having Spellcraft 1 rank as well as one other skill or feat (depending on class) as well. Having level 7 as highest level means all full casters get 3rd level spells at the top.
3. Higher than level 7 and the 3/4 BAB guys would get a 2nd attack, which we didn't want.
4. 7 is a beautiful and aesthetically appealing number.
5. Barbarians get DR (vs Rage Power), Fighters get Armor Training (vs a feat), Monks get Wholeness of Body (vs a feat), Paladins get an extra Smite (vs a mercy, which would be an okay capstone), Rangers get Woodland Stride (vs a combat feat; neither is that exciting, so we also give them Fast Tracker), Rogues get SA+4d6 (vs talent), Cavaliers get an extra challenge (vs feat). Generally, level 7 contained a lot of interesting abilities to have as capstones for the more martially inclined.

Nice, especially reason 4. ;-)

We mostly play E6 (3.5) or E7 (PFRPG).

E7? May I ask why you chose that level, stringburka?

Who'd be the wizard - equivalent of Conan? Not Gandalf! Merlin? Elric of Melnibone? Harry Potter? Dumbledore?

What would people think if WotC looked at the success of Pathfinder and made a 5th Ed for DnD that was like Pathfinder, maybe with some overall improvements due to the fact Paizo has already done a lot of trial and error testing?

snikt

What do you think you'd do?

I'd play it, like I do with all games.

Which of the Pathfinder Tales paperbacks have you read (if any)?

joela wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

Pretty much the only thing we know about it is that we won't be calling it "epic levels," in fact.

So it'll be more of a continuation of the current level nomenclature (i.e., 21st, 22nd, etc.)?

I didn't say that either.

We really don't have much to say about how we'll handle post-20th-level play, aside from me saying that I'd love to figure it out some day so I can stat up my beloved demon lords.

I think I read somewhere you participated in a high level / epic games (Sean K Reynolds?). Did you find such games significantly difficult to engage in? The biggest complaint I've read about them is that the sheer number of options available to both the PCs and GMs make them hard to balance.

So, who's planning to use the Pathfinder Intro set as the startin' point of their E5 campaign? ;-)

Pretty much the only thing we know about it is that we won't be calling it "epic levels," in fact.

So it'll be more of a continuation of the current level nomenclature (i.e., 21st, 22nd, etc.)?

Cover Image

by Jason Rainville

How strong is your technique?

Not all monks are alike; they vary like the shades of leaves on an autumn tree. Which one will you play? Consider the sutras of the contemplative monk, or the graceful, flowing strikes of the huashan. Can you handle the ascetic kenza, with their elemental focus, or would you prefer the itinerant seng—warriors of last resort who roam the land seeking wisdom? You may be more suited to the serene sadhu or one of the more the martial orders, like the sohei, thaskalos, or yamabushi. How will you choose to walk the path to Enlightenment? No matter what you pick, you'll find these pages not only loaded with more than archetypes, but sixty-one feats and seven new chakras.

Go beyond temples and swords. Strike your opponent with more than a flurry of fists. Pick up Monk Archetypes and show your foes your technique isn't just strong, it's Rite!

Chakras? Is this some sorta new ki power?

If / when Paizo has official rules for Epic play, where'd you like an AP utilizing those rules to be headed? The Abyss? The Hells? Or...?

Wow, this is still going?

Yah, though has had its twist and turns on and off the OP.

joela wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

joela wrote:

I think there are drugs for that now....

That sounds like an expensive way to endure side effects.

There are drugs to deal with the side effects, too ^_^

Do you work for a pharmacy company? Or perhaps have stock in one?

Would it make a difference if I said homeopathic remedies instead? ^_^

joela wrote:

I think there are drugs for that now....

That sounds like an expensive way to endure side effects.

There are drugs to deal with the side effects, too ^_^

Ambrosia Slaad wrote:

So if someone were to -- hypothetically of course -- steal the T-Rex from the Walking with Dinosaurs arena show, upload a copy of your GMing, RPG, & (unclassified) Paizo info into it's T-800 brain, would you allow it to take your place at Cons?

What if it was allowed to chew on aggravating players?

If cyber-JacobsRex was busy doing his thing, if you were able to completely disguise yourself as anyone else, and if you could pose as just another con attendee... could you enjoy the Con then?

{asks the hermit slaad who does not like crowds}

It's not a matter of being recognized. It's more simply the fact that I'm not a fan of crowds.

I think there are drugs for that now....

Scott Betts wrote:

hogarth wrote:

How do the voice fonts work? Is "bold" like a booming echo effect, for instance?

A voice font is a layer on top of voice chat that modifies someone's voice to sound different, according to a specific "font".

For instance, the VTT comes with a list of voice fonts to choose from. If you want to deliver an NPC's lines over voice chat, you can pick the voice font that best describes the NPC's voice (Righteous Paladin is one of them, I think), and it will modify your voice on the fly to sound different. It's a really cool feature, and it's one of the few benefits playing online has over playing in real life.

Neat!

What hogarth said.

joela wrote:

Oh, dear. Really? Could you provide examples? I, too, own pretty much everything Pathfinder and so do many in my gaming circles as well. If what you say is true, I'll want to notify them and our FLGS.

This book is a very good buy for even those that own everything...

There is new stuff, Changed stuff, and updated 3.5 rules to PFRPG rules.

A very big chink of this is useful even if you own the Guide the printed a few years back.

Edit: One of my favorite things they did for this book which they did not do for the first was they added a Map for each country described, in the country descriptions. That was something I was upset they did not do in the first book, and made this worth the buy alone for me.

Good points. Can't wait until Inner Sea arrives at my FLGS.

Hello, one question:

I received my copy today, is there a way to figure out, what is really new?

So far I own every product from the subscriptions you see above my posts, therefor many things detailed in this book (I tend to go so far to say nearly all of them) are already known to me. Many Companions and Setting-Books go in much more detail than this book does etc.

So could someone point out, which pages are interesting to read, if you already have read, well everything there is to read so far regarding pathfinder, since it is really time consuming to read the hole tome again for a few new pieces of information.

Greetz
Ganzir

Oh, dear. Really? Could you provide examples? I, too, own pretty much everything Pathfinder and so do many in my gaming circles as well. If what you say is true, I'll want to notify them and our FLGS.

joela wrote:

So, where's news on the SGG RPG game? ^_^

I'm working on new ways to get some ideas I had for P20 Modern into the light. None are ready for announcing.

Oh, kewl. Forgot about P20 Modern.

joela wrote:

Kidding aside, how does the playtesting work on all the above products?

Obviously I run numbers and scenarios with any new rules, I would guess all 3pp writers and/or developers manage that much.

For real playtesting, I run two separate playtest groups out of my house, in a mix of ongoing campaigns that use everything SGG has ever published (to help spot places where synergy between products might create severe unbalance), short campaigns (to look at specific ideas more in-depth), and even on-off fights and think-tank sessions. Ideas may be introduced into this environment months before they hit a SGG product, and a lot of things I thought were cool have been twisted into game-breakling evil by my players, requiring change or even elimination from their intended products.

Additionally, there is a secret database of all SGG Pathfinder-compatible PDFs and numerous upcoming manuscripts which trusted colleagues, trusted and experienced gamers, and a few diabolical rules-lawyers I know have access to. Some run actual playtests with our material, and a lot more read through them for enjoyment, and occasionally provide insightful commentary.

Then there's the other Geniuses, and our freelancers, editors, and proofreader, who are rarely shy about giving me their opinion on something.

And that's most of the process.

Thanks for sharing.

As if this weren't exciting enough, all three scenarios will be available for free.

Sweet. May use as a jumping point for my new Pathfinder campaign. If the Pathfinder Basic / Intro set is available by that time, so much the better.

I've seen optimized PCs, NPCs, and monsters. Has anyone every optimized a skill challenge?