molrak's page

About 99% of the "glitches" that appeared in Paizo's pdfs when using the default pdf viewer on Ubuntu (evince, which uses the poppler) will likely be fixed with the next release, Karmic Koala 9.10. I'm running an updated alpha of Karmic Koala on my netbook, and I only see a few (I believe the term is) masking issues with some graphics in Paizo's pdfs and that's it. I don't have my hardcopy of the book handy, but as far as I can tell the image on page 25 is fine.

I too was curious about this.

Wow. Hmmmm.

I'd be very interested to hear what people would be looking for in a minis subscription. The more comments on that the better, as far as I'm concerned, because to tell you the truth we haven't really even considered it.

But it does seem a bit obvious, now that someone has brought it up.

Hmmmmm.

Today the USPS dropped off a package, which contained one item from my several Pathfinder subscriptions. Due to the time-sensitive nature of August's big release, should subscribers expect separate shipments if they subscribe to the Pathfinder RPG and other lines? If so, will this separate method of shipping continue, or is it just for this month? Otherwise, if everything should have come in one package, I seem to be missing a few items...

Sorry to resurrect an old thread. With the latest alpha of Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope (9.04), the missing A problem is no more. Hopefully this means that regular Ubuntu users won't be hassled with the missing A in poppler-based pdf readers (including evince) from Jaunty onwards. Evince still isn't perfect (I still get a few glitches on maps and other images with transparency), but at least everything should be legible.

"Ok ok, so I guess elves really *don't* have tails..."

Yep—secure communication should always happen through https://secure.paizo.com, with non-secure stuff through http://paizo.com. We've modified our redirect rules and robot rules to help index bots get it right, but once Google indexes something the wrong way, it tends to stick around for a while.

At any rate, you shouldn't need to set a security exception—you can just manually adjust the URL.

I think that's just the error message.

How about this link?

Or this one?

I've seen this message before, although it's usually when I search google for something on paizo and google directs me to https://paizo.com/~yadayadayada (while security is nice, it isn't really needed if I just want a messageboard post). It looks like the security certificate on the site is only for https://secure.paizo.com - but clearly the url above is just https://paizo.com. I think the same thing is happening with the id card (I had the same problem when I just tried to download it). I was able to add a security exception, which allowed me to download the pdfs. If you don't want to do that (even temporarily), you can copy the link to your card and remove the 's' from https--I was able to download my card that way as well. Any other fixes will have to come from the fine tech folks.

My system info, if needed:

I loved the "Volo's Guide to XXX" books for the Forgotten Realms. Such a thing for Golarion would be too cool not to have. As well as some "real" PF-Chronicles...

This is correct. We are going to include more high level creatures, and hopefully not all of those high level creatures will be dragons or outsiders.

I suspect that the Pathfinder Bestiary II will skew toward having more high level monsters in it also; that was sort of the theory behind the MM2 in 3rd edition; "We gave the players lots of low and mid level monsters in the first MM, let's skew things to the high level in MM2." It's a good theory.

This is a bit off-topic from the undead discussion going on now, but I hope there are at least a couple of high level monsters in there or plans to include such creatures in future Bestiaries. In a world of 20 level characters, it seems like there should be more than just extraplanar creatures to battle above level 14 or so.

I think a lot of people would love to continue their adventures and, more importantly, their characters past level 20. The problem with the 3.x epic rules seems to be similar to the problem with 3.x psionics--the whole project seems to have been created in a vacuum. In the games I've played and gm'd, the real slog has been to even approach level 20. It's been widely stated elsewhere, but a lot of adventures tend to peter out around the mid teens. If PathfinderRPG can improve the upper "quarter" of character advancement, I really think that there will be an increased demand for adventuring beyond level 20.

Looking back, my plays through the Baldur's Gate trilogy were the only time I've had fun playing high level characters. I think part of that is I didn't have to worry about the math, but a larger part was the truly epic story. Outside of that game, I really can't think of much published material that really outlines a good epic adventure, certainly nothing that has caught my eye. It's tough--dancing with the gods is not everyone's cup of tea, nor is riding tarrasques across the planes in hunt of some crazy uberlich.

Mechanically, I'd just like to see something that makes sense with what levels 1-20 bring to the table, and I'd hope it won't require a CPA to be able to play at a reasonably pace. Conceptually, I'd like epic rules (and the handbook) to have scope. Aside from just the basic rules, maybe it could include advice on what characters can do, from running a kingdom to plane walking. Since there aren't going to be (m)any books to support epic play, any sort of help and guidance in the book would be great outside of just basic mechanics.

I kind of agree with what's been said above. What really turns me off is the perceived separation of magic from psionics. Part of the problem is that psionics have been an add-on to the game, and you don't want to spend half your psionics book talking about how telepathy and telekinesis affect your plain jane wizard or barbarian. Additionally, the few times I've seen psionics played, it seemed unbalanced as the next splatbook.

I believe I've read somewhere that psionics are speculated to be active on either Castrovel the green and Akiton the red (ie, Golarion's celestial neighbors). I really wouldn't mind that from a Pathfinder/Golarion standpoint, but I don't know that I would want even a whole adventure path dealing with crazy psionic insanity. (Hey, you guys can prove me wrong!)

Would I buy a PathfinderRPG book on psionics? I would buy it if one of the major project goals was to achieve balance with the PathfinderRPG core book, and if it received a fair amount of playtesting (public or otherwise). Skimming through my library, I don't think rebuilding psionics would affect my 3.x library much (if at all), so backward compatibility for psionics is frankly not an issue for me. If you want the book to see use in my group, create a psionic book that's integrated, balanced, and tested with the PathfinderRPG core, and make a book that maintains the high quality that I've seen in Paizo's other products.

After viewing a friend's copy of the first book (which I am now going to order), all I can say is, "Oh boy, I can hardly wait to get my grubby mitts on this!"

I'd be more than happy with a Bestiary a year and a couple of other rulebooks on top of that (and even happier with a pdf and hardback sub for those).

I would really like to thank the judges for commenting on this thread and elsewhere on the RPG Superstar forums. Your comments on last year's "bad item thread" helped me avoid a few mistakes I made with the early items I chose not to submit. I'm not exactly holding my breath at this point--I picked out a few things on my submitted item from this year's list. Still, all this great advice will help out my magic item creation skills for my home campaign.

Featuring cuchi-cuchi girl Charo (as dessert).

What is the Graul equivalent of "Life Day"?

I can only hope that Bea Arthur guest stars as a barkeep with a rousing song for no apparent reason.

I'm in like flint.

The only thing more exciting than this book is the possibility of more Malhavoc/Paizo teamups to come. (I know, I know. Monte says maybe, but I can hope!)

I am also missing Hounds of the Skaith from my order.

I recently dumped Vista to the curb in favor of Ubuntu, and I've seen the infamous missing A in Paizo's pdfs. After some searching, it looks like the problem is with freetype and not poppler. I have not tested the development version of freetype myself, but here are the details:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/poppler/+bug/252250:
"it (the headline A in the paizo pdfs) works fine here using poppler 0.9.3 and freetype from development version, but fails with poppler 0.9.3 and freetype 2.3.7 (latest stable version)"

Aye.
[My name is molrak, and I endorse this message.]

While I understand the feeling that there are a lot of subscriptions (certainly my wallet is feeling it), the ability to *own* a paper copy and *use* the pdf copy is awesome for me, and I'll sign up for the PFRPG Rulebook Subscription as soon as it is available. (Gotta keep up that Superscriber tag, after all.)

Also, I'm soooo excited for this book!

Ya it's really awesome--it almost reminds me of the 3.0 covers. I wish they'd show more preliminary artwork on the blog.

Planet Stories books come from a different printer, so Hounds of Skaith isn't in same shipping container as the other stuff. So, we have PF 15, D4, Elves of Golarion and Gods and Magic scheduled to arrive tomorrow, but Hounds of Skaith isn't expected until the last days of the month. Thus, if you're a Planet Stories subscriber holding for a monthly shipment, or holding for Planet Stories, your shipment won't be going out just yet.

That makes me a sad panda, even if it does give me another week or two to get caught up on my non-Paizo reading. Elsewhere on the forums it was stated that the Pathfinder products will eventually shift to a start of the month schedule--will this also be true for Planet Stories?

This is easily the best thing I've ever seen.

molrak: do you then oppose the sorceror bloodline granting a class skill at 1st level?

Regardless of its exact makeup, I hope some version of this makes it in too!

Aside from the level 1 dipping problem with giving away skill points at that level, there are two other reasons I would not give skills so early (although I would make the new skills class skills if there were not already).

First, players with trained class skills in PfRPG add +3 to their rolls--so a cleric could effectively gain +4 to a skill by taking a single point in it. That's a lot of skill as is, without a huge investment necessary. While clerics don't have a lot of skill points to go around, I'd imagine most PCs would have at least a +1 modifier for their intelligence since spellcraft is now the concentration check. I don't think that sacrificing a few skill points early on to be proficient in one's domain skills is too much to ask.

Second, I think this new found knowledge would fit in well with how divine casters gain new spells. Basically the Beta says that divine spells at new levels are gained by undertaking a certain amount of study (pg169). It makes sense that during this divine magic study, they would also become a little more skilled in their domains. I do agree that clerics would lose these divine skill points if they venture too off their holy path.

I was intentionally vague about how much of a bonus clerics should get, although I don't think my original suggestion was too far off: at +2 skill points per domain per 5 levels, that would equate to a total of +8 each at level 20. That seems a little heavy at first, but +16 skill points across 20 levels would equate to less than a bonus skill per level (effectively the cleric would gain 2.8 skills per level + int modifier).

As for balance issues, acrobatics, climb, disable device, escape artist, fly, ride, sleight of hand, stealth, and swim all have armor check penalties, and I don't often see many clerics in light armor, let alone no armor. Reasonably equipped 10th level clerics with domains skills affected by AC penalties would be around break even for those skills, which doesn't seem too far off to me.

Adding a class skill per domain would be wonderful, ala the bloodline class skill for Sorcerers in the Beta. But as others have noted, most clerics I've played and played alongside don't have a lot of skills points to spread around. My first instinct was just to give a bonus when domains were declared, aka at first cleric level, sort of following the skill synergy mechanic. However, that could encourage a player to pick up cheap skill points with a single level of cleric.

Adding a domain skill bonus at levels levels 5/10/15/20 would be another incentive to keep plugging along as a cleric without breaking the game (hopefully), and it could fill "holes" in the cleric's special column at levels 5/10/15.

I really like the idea of giving clerics skills based on their domain, maybe modeling it after the skill synergy mechanic in 3.5. Make it/them a class skill at first level taken, then add a skill bonus in the cleric's special column (perhaps +2 per 5 levels?). The reason I would prefer to attach it to domains rather than deities (which was my first thought) is that the domains should be OGL--I believe deities are not open gaming content.

I agree with a lot of the above attributes for a good GM, but one skill I didn't see listed that any good gm needs is basic math skills. I've been stuck in games where I saw the gm counting on his fingers, and let's just say it makes for really long games. Failing the ability to basic math quickly in your head, use a calculator!

The good news is on the main Paizo page and atop the store blog as I type this. Finally, our long international nightmare is over! (Although our interplanetary nightmare has only just begun.)

It had its ups and downs, the biggest problems were the bugs still lingering behind. There is a fan restoration project to add stuff back into the pc game that was cut (at http://www.team-gizka.org/), but it hasn't been released publicly and the site is laden with spoilers. I've kept my install around in the hopes that they'll release it one day and create a more satisfying experience, as the end was the biggest disappoint in the game for me. Bugs aside, I enjoyed the game. It could prove interesting to see how the BioWare/LucasArts KotOR MMO relates to the first two games.

The problem with gleemax is that they were trying to be a niche facebook/myspace/livejournal/wordpress, when they should have just tried to be a niche meetup.com (at most). Most teens to twenty somethings (and on up) have more than enough social networking at this point, the last thing I would want is yet another thing to keep track of.

Frankly, a Facebook (or other platform) app would be fine for me, although it would expose one's gaming tendencies to your non-gaming friends. Then again, I don't know what the point of gleemax was at any point, nor do I know what the point of a WotC social app would be. Ideally it would be a way let your freak nerd flag fly, maybe with trophies or something. *shrugs*

I subscribe to it via the feed, so I'm usually quick to jump on each new comic (unless the server is slow, or I'm at work). It is a beautiful thing, and I need to buy the books.

It's actually a LOT more complicated than that. By the book, most of Lovecraft's writings are in the public domain now... but the laws regarding Public Domain are SUPER complicated and weird (thanks, Disney!). Whether or not Derleth had the rights isn't clear, since those rights changed and the legal contracts seem to have been lost. The themes and ideas of the Lovecraft mythos are certainly an open concept, and Lovecraft himself encouraged other writers to use his creations in their own stories, though. I've done quite a bit of research into it, and everything I've managed to find out indicates that Lovecraft's stories are in the public domain, but that there COULD be a legal challenge to that, and if there WERE, it would most likely result in confirmation that they're in the Public Domain.

The use of the mythos in game context is even tricksier, since a lot of that stuff IS copyright by Chaosium. We've taken steps to retain a friendly relationship with Chaosium, and make sure to mention them and the Call of Cthulhu game whenever we do similar stuff, in any event.

Lovecraft's work has been under a lot of 'who owns what' controversy. So I decided to download the good work from the Google, and after sifting through the 300mb(+) xml file, I found 11 titles with Lovecraft listed as an author. Some of them seem to be compilations of previous/shorter work, although I am by no means an expert on Lovecraft. As I understand it, anything not listed as renewed is public domain material in the United States. (Per the wiki article, the EU copyright length is just 70 years after death, so any work published during his lifetime is public domain now. It varies in other territories, many nations having a 50 years after publication/death term.) For those interested, these were the titles that were renewed and thus may be under copyright still:

• The outsider and others
  
• Beyond the wall of sleep
  
• Marginalia
  
• Best supernatural stories of H.P. Lovecraft
  
• The lurker at the threshold
  
• Something about cats
  
• The Gable window/The Survivor and others
  
• The Shuttered room and other pieces
  
• Dreams and fancies
  
• The Dunwich horror and others
  
• Collected poems

Maybe we need a non-game-system-specific forum for talking about gaming in general....

Mwah-hah-hah! :D
*makes cookies*

I'm more a lurker than a poster on most rpg forums (and forums in general). In my casual observation, the increase in Paizo bashing is more an indicator of Paizo's increasing popularity in the rpg community than a dissatisfaction with Paizo's product. Paizo's ENnie nominations should be proof positive that they're doing *something* right in their first year of Pathfinder.

As for the Pathfinder RPG, I wonder how many people have actually played the Alpha rules, and how many just flipped through the pdf looking for something to dislike. (For that matter, I would not be surprised if many of them have never even looked at the pdfs.) I find some irony that 4e fans would bash PfRPG, as there was no truly open playtest at all for 4e. I guess it's easy to forget that the PathfinderRPG is still a work in progress.

But this is the internets, if we can't complain about pointless things without cause or reason, what else would we do?

The fiction line decisions are still being made, though, so anything's possible!

I've been listening to a podcast called You Look Nice Today, pretty much on a continuous loop for the last month or so. To say it is bizarrely hilarious would be an understatement in my estimation. I found out about it because one of the ... performers?... is Merlin Mann, of MacBreak Weekly and general GTD fame. I've also been watching (er, at least listening while I browse to) Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Pathfinder isn't DnD to me--the consistent high production values (art, writing, editing) and, most importantly, the amount of fun I have playing Pathfinder far exceeds the standards TSR/WotC traditionally set. These values are amplified in the Pathfinder RPG project thus far, especially the level of community involvement in the creation process.

I just type p in my address bar(iPod)/awesome bar (Firefox) and click. Some second(s) later, I either get the home page or, more commonly, the messageboards. I think feeds have taken over for bookmarks, for me at least, and Paizo's regular blog is the first thing I read in the google reader.

Guh, I'm an idiot, some of those were honorable mentions. (Also, totally posted this in the wrong forum.) Here's the correct list:

• Best Art, Cover: Pathfinder # 1: Burnt Offerings
  
• Best Art, Interior: Pathfinder: Classic Monsters Revisited
  
• Best Art, Interior: Pathfinder # 1: Burnt Offerings
  
• Best Adventure: Pathfinder # 1: Burnt Offerings
  
• Best Adventure: Pathfinder # 8: Seven Days to the Grave
  
• Best Monster/Adversary: Pathfinder: Classic Monsters Revisited,
  
• Best Setting: Pathfinder Chronicles: Gazetteer
  
• Best Aid or Accessory: Pathfinder Chronicles: Harrow Deck
  
• Best Free Product: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Alpha
  
• Product of the Year: Pathfinder #8: "Seven Days to the Grave"

• Best Cartogrophy: Guide to Korvosa
  
• Best d20/d20 OGL Product: Pathfinder # 1: Burnt Offerings