shadowmage75's page

With this study, I would argue that we're smarter now, considering the fact that there are probably far less illiterate people out there now.

until you have to listen to any teenager this day and age. 50% are so buried in their texting that they don't process simple commands, and the other 50% is learning to speak in text. (O M G, L O L.)

We receive all our information from the same source, of which I was told, for example, that you could smuggle drugs across the border if you packed them in coffee grounds. to which I asked 'you understand that is a movie/tv plot item, and not really true, right?'

the conversation only went downhill from there.

I remember hearing ginormous the first time in a commercial and literally slapping my forehead. within weeks, I was in an argument with a college student about it not actually being a word, and what could you not communicate with the words enormous or gigantic that you had to make up a new one to fill the void. And now its a part of the webster's dictionary.

My favorite is getting into a conversation with some of Voltaire's ideals, only to have the person ask me if Voltaire was one of my 'Dungeons and Dragons things' and jokingly being told to come back to reality, all in one sentence.

Becoming dumber? Oh, hell yes.
Far less illiterate people? basic verbal understanding; yes, but far from being 'literate'.

people want to know they've been heard, and it's alot easier to shout the negative than to simply state a positive and let it be. I, for one, am ecstatic about pathfinder. the finding of which probably disengaged my choice to walk away from gaming entirely at the time, I was so dissatisfied with 4th ed. DnD. When I cut back to what I really need, the core book, bestiary, and lets face it, hero lab, I still see endless adventure in my future. I think everyone gets pissed off because their specific little hook from 3x has been removed, and they're afraid to go outside the box. So they rail against the 'man' for changing the game.

as much as I love grinding 20 pages of comments and quadruple nested quotes, I'd rather necro this thread to answer questions about an upcoming campaign.

does a synthesist act independantly within his eidolon, with the eidolon acting out his will, or mimic the synth's actions?

If, hypothetically, the synthesist is a kobold, with the tail terror feat, can a tail attachement be crafted for an eidolon with the tail evolution, and be used accordingly?

does the eidolon see as a seperate entity, whereas in the afore mentioned hypothetical, the kobold is disabled by his light sensitivity, and the eidolon can still act normally?

Airheads. Brendon Fraser admits to being a geek and playing DnD in the climax of the movie. decidedly not a positive presentation.

I can't recommend promotion enough. Build up interest by putting out some simple flyers at every gaming store near the convention specifically stating your presence at the con. talk to store owners and managers to get a. access to their home page community, be it their website boards or facebook pages and plug your event. b. Get the idea of a PFS event in their stores when it's all over. Continued business is always a plus for our brick and mortars.

Get ahold of your regional coordinator and get their help. They have access to alot of stuff to make your event a tasty morsel for people to come into.

Lastly, work with the con people to get as much promotion within the con as you can. Quality event detailing, signs that have both pathfinder and the con, etc. conventions are looking to get people into the rest of their convention as much as you are looking to get new convention goers into your events.

Simply setting up the event and hoping people show is an event killer. you need to remember that, especially for a cold start brand new effort, not promoting is going to get you squat. too many other systems/people are vying for player's attention. they're also not going to do it for you, as well as expect something from you in return. manage that balance. If you dump all your heart and soul, as well as time and money into everyone else's projects trying to get yours off the ground, your interest is going to snuff out like a candle.

It specifically states the status of the attack and where to get the bonus in the description. I can't see any room for misinterpretation here.

It is a secondary natural attack, and gets adjudicated as such. The bonus given to it's strength modifier is equivalent to the witch's Intelligence score. there's no actual strength score applied.

For Bwang. no, the description specifically states the hair cannot be sundered or attacked as a separate creature.

I've consistently ran into this issue and have always had it go against player expectations. Especially in the racial ability theatre (tiefling, drow, etc.). Mainly because, on a basic level, everyone seems to agree that darkness is dark, and it's magical, because it's obviously not 'natural'. A player always pops it, hoping to get some arena advantage and usually gets screwed (yea, but you cast it around a horde of orcs. no, torches don't affect darkvision in pathfinder. Quit arguing, it just doesn't work).

I am of the opinion that it is totally screwed mainly because so many different rules come into play, each negating a part of the whole, and making the intent of the magic pointless. because darkness doesn't actually make an area 'dark' but only lowers illumination levels in the area, you cannot dictate that light doesn't 'pass through' the area, thus to the first question of the OP, I would rather think it's much like standing in a darkened building looking out a door into sunlight (or whatever ambient light level). Your eyes are trying to differentiate between the two, making it harder to see thing's within the area of effect, but clearly outside of it.

Thus, a person passing through would also be backlit from opposite sources of light from the viewer in the darkness spell. The mechanics of the darkness line is to hope that you can bring in to play the 'dim light' mechanics, so don't go into it with your hopes up, since it will inevitably get nerfed by the GM for some reason or another (legitimately, not because he's being petty).

sarcasm is wasted on text.

why not just give the animal companion monk levels, and then since he's above animal intelligence, he can wear armor and use weapons and magical items.

This is a simple "ends justify the means" question. Yes, they may be evil. they may threaten your people "in the future" but they were harmless now. On top of that, they were lied to in order to lead them to their deaths. I would tell him about the pillar of skulls in Baator, where the heads of those that have done that very thing are doomed to eternal torment.

It's a horrific deed, and he tried to follow it up with lies about his action. That tells me he knew from the start it was an evil act, and he's trying to bs his way out of any penalties you might apply. Even if he's gotten away with the lie, his personal outlook has changed drastically (you still have to live with yourself, even if your friends can't tell).

An example of a coke high..

Obviously cocaine immediately gives you hand to hand combat skills, Acrobatics bonus, temporarily allows you to use guns as a class ability, and the catch off guard feat.

Furthermore, I postulate that its usage, nay posession, has a percentile chance of summoning Dire Thugs to your location, immediately triggering combat without chance for diplomacy. The Dire Thug, as we all know, attacks in groups of no less than three, and fights until death.

It also creates a thirty foot radius magic nullification zone to, once again, leave the wizard uselessly waving a wand around and chanting arcanobabble.

Edit: The logical conclusion to this is that alchemists everywhere must now invent sudafed, that can be cooked down into meth in the game. We all know that meth is the poor man's coke, with a longer high for much cheaper, at the small cost of a rapidly deteriorating health....but hey; we've got restoration spells.

I'm pretty sure the OP just found the perfect trolling post. ever.

I guess I worded that wrongly. I don't really want to know the exact circumstances, just direct the conversation towards a different aspect.

my question here is, what are the instances that would motivate a VC to go to this extreme. We're all looking at whether he could or couldn't do it, but why would he do it.

There's alot that's not being said here. I've known several mentally challenged people. You know what I don't hear when they discuss situations that've occurred with others? Their condition. They don't bring it up. They speak about the problem with the person, not what their condition made them do.

The OP has my sympathy that it has come down to this, but from what I see, the OP may have instigated the situation after several conflicts with other players. No, I don't think the VC should have castigated you as such, but he may have to disallow you attending events because let's face it, suddenly have a game day fall apart because four or five people take their friends and leave.

The VC's job is to promote a positive venue. While there's obviously a mitigating circumstance, it does not fall to him to ignore the discomfort of the many. You are doubly responsible for conducting yourself at these events because you know for a fact there's an existing issue. As you, and another poster in the list have said, the 'normal' people expect you to act like 'normal' people. Getting violent, angry, even deleriously happy or depressed makes them uncomfortable. If you've gone as far as doing this with other players, i'm not surprised they're asking the VC to ensure you don't attend.

I understand what you have is a great burden, but I also don't believe you may use it as an excuse. If it's that bad, there's medication. If you don't make that extra effort to comport yourself at a public event, then this situation happens.

My group was leaving the city, with a destination in the nearby swamp. In the outlying farmlands, I had set up an encounter where the party would meet a new race I have crafted similar to lizardfolk but, well.

I described him as well off the road in a tilled field, hunched over a body and apparently chewing something.

The situation was supposed to go "group charges/shoots" "Lizardy drops a ration bag, and holds up hands in obvious surrender" "Party gains important guide into the swamp, bunches of backstory and flavor block text"

How it really went: "ranger rolls triple 20."

What is "interacting"?

Can the area effect of silent image be moved on your turn when you concentrate on the spell?

If I use silent image to create spheres of blackness around enemies eyes, can they see? Do they get a save?

If I use major image to light enemies on fire(create fire around them), do they get a save? Do they feel the thermal component of the flames? Are they blinded by the flames? Can they hear over the roar of the flames?

Can a major image talk?

Could 'veiled' creatures have missionary sex even if their base forms lacked the correct pluming do to the touch senses added by veil?

Can you walk on structures in a Mirage Arcana?

If levels went that high:
Can a Simulacrum of a Genie grant its master wishes as they are intended?

Can Shades be used for teleportation, planar binding, and plane shift?

NOTE: I tried asking these questions in 'Rules Questions' board, and the only answer I got was that it depends on the GM.

Interacting is any point a person utilizes a sense affected by the illusion. thus, if you create an illusion of a goat at the back of a tavern, the guy down the block doesn't get a save until he actually sees the goat. same for smells, sounds, etc. You can make illusions for yourself til your heart's content, since automatically dispelling your illusion by said manner would make all illusion spells moot; you already know it's an illusion.

Edit: Use common sense when adjucating on an individual basis. If the guy knows you're illusion shouldn't be there, then he gets a save (gee, i just saw you do the finger wigglies and jibberjabber. Now there's a wall between us.....hmmmmm.) but if it's feasible, say preliminary placement before any enemy sees it, and it makes sense that it's there, then I wouldn't automatically trigger a save situation.

Unless described in the spell, illusions are static to the location they're cast.

If you use silent image to create black spots around enemies eyes, yes, they get a save. and they also become moot when the enemy moves away in any direction. If you are getting at 'can i use silent image to make a deeper darkness effect?' then no, you cannot duplicate the effects of another spell.

With Major Image. Again, any sentient creature gets a save when spells target them, so yes, they get a save. The feel "hot" but don't take damage so the quickly observant will realize they're not real flames, and you would have to expend an enormous amount of concentration trying to make each separate item appear to be 'burning' as well as the flames. a very complex use of the spell to say the least.

Yes, you can make a major image talk.

You need to not worry about sex issues this detailed. If you're roleplaying that out in a game, leave it to your/your players imaginations and gloss over it. If you must, this gets into repeated checks to detect the illusion since they're excessively interacting with the illusion.

Yes, Mirage arcana does provide tactile sensation and you can craft structures. just hope no one disbelieves halfway across that bridge you put over the chasm.

Simulacrum is a false duplicate of the real thing, and does not state that powers and abilities are included in the duplication. It's just looks and acts mostly like the real thing.

Shades mimics any conjuration so yes, planar binding could be done, but I don't know why you'd want to waste time bargaining with a creature that's 80% real (hehe) or risking teleport/plane shift when there's a 20% chance of failure.

so wait a minute. we get to play them, as long as all of our chronicle sheets date april 8th or later? And we have to make our VC send us new ones?

MuHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA.

I've got to get all my character's chronicle sheets in order to send him. Time to cause some painful carpel tunnel.

Bone up on rules about spacial awareness. Squeezing, flanking, and such. players tend to 'forget' those details in tight spaces.

What I don't understand is... how are your players getting to preview the rewards at the end of a scenario?

I offer a couple of choices for the players to play, make sure none have played it before, and off we go. They came for adventure, and if the paladin had known the maiden captured by the dragon was a sharp-tongued shrew, would he have refused to fight the dragon?

Yea, sometimes you get jacked when all is said and done. Golarion's not posies and golden showers.

You've a really big world ahead of you to dive into. Trust me when I say starting small is a boon and a necessity for GM's. You'll have a heap of stuff to deal with when you're players expand their knowledge soon enough.

it's really tough starting totally cold. I'd say go by the book (or module in this case) until you've settled in. It's hard enough to keep track of stuff written for you, much less the changes and additions you've dropped in.

I highly recommend the Game Mastery Guide for you right off. I would also recommend surfing the pathfinder society event page for something near you, so you can get a feel for playing, and see gm'ing at work.

let players do what they want, just emphasize the use of Use Magical Device skill required, and drop alot of potions, or more practically, a Cure Light Wounds wand with a limited set of charges.

As for personal opinion, the story is everything, but also remember that this is a cooperative effort. At least 4 other people are helping to tell the story. Interact not as a competitor or nemesis of the players, but a helpful aide within the rules. Walking them through what they can do makes it alot easier when you have to say what they cannot do. As well, stay within the rules on this, don't fudge for a player's stunt.

Be honest when you've screwed up, have to change because the rules say differently, and you will find your players will reciprocate and make it more fun for everyone.

Imagine stepping into a theater where everyone gets to say something and be heard by everyone, at least once. the only thing is, they do it anonymously, and to get the most attention, it has to be something rude, hurtful, ridiculous, and/or offensive. the more extreme, the better.

that's all you need to know about mmo's these days.

I dunno. For how often I have to portray the chelaxian faction head (from the module, mind you) I would think Closer by Nine Inch Nails.

I don't think calling out your gm at the table in the middle of the game is particularly...kosher. Since you've obviously gm'ed some tables, you should know that sometimes stuff changes, sometimes dramatically. I don't memorize line for line the entire module, and I doubt you do either. and by the way, they're human, just like you, too. They make mistakes, just. like. you.

so getting explosively angry does no one any good, especially when it's hardly likely said gm is going to view the post while you're still angry. now onto the core of the problem.

You've openly admitted to being a power gamer. on the one hand, great. you know all the rules, bend and twist them to fit, and I'll bet if you slide one under the radar, hey, it's the gm's job to catch you, am I right? The problem comes in when the gm is trying to make something challenging for you. If you cakewalk everything, I'm betting money you're the only one talking at the table.

So the gm isn't playing fair. I get that. but if you're always at odds, no matter what the gm brings to the table, then how's the gm supposed to act? Just humbly hand over the chronicle at the onset?

Perhaps you could have started this whole standoff with a simple courtesy, like staying after to privately ask why he did what he did? Tell him how you felt the gm was running against your character/you. As well, don't hound him about running the module, just because you've read/memorized/played it before. He could be trying to change things for that exact reason, you're metagaming, and he's trying to thwart it.

But you'll never know unless you initiate a direct, and polite dialogue with him or her.

It's never too late to be sympathetic.

what about volunteering wednesday, and doing double duty for overflow gm and volunteering as support and organizers?

It would be better to phrase the idea as:

Please make at least a male and female option for race/class combinations. Some may just fill as.....say robed caster for wiz/sorc's, but yes, I would like to see a larger range to them as well. I'm personally grateful for the advent of plastic mini's, but tired of DnD's habit of just pulling from their book art, and reaaaally getting sick of Wizkids yanking our chains by constantly processing repaints and passing them off as new.

I would like a to see a dedicated range of idealists and artists focused on crafting with specific representations in mind. and more than that, several variations on the same combinations. such as the afore stated 'practical' and 'impractical' armor designs. I happen to know some ladies who really enjoy their bikini chainmail.

With the titanic pile of monsters, characters, props and oddness to choose from, why is it so hard to pick a single theme and stick with it. With businesses like reaper, they could draw people back to their product with a much closer representation of their character than making do with the Kyra iconic (not knocking it, just not good to be the only scimitar-wielding mini readily available to a guy).

I am the GM.
I am not here to tell you what to do.
I am here to tell you the consequences of what you do.

That's my primary statement when I discuss such things, but as everyone is liable to do, I forget once in a while. I try to keep my fingers out of the character's pie unless I think they're going to do something another player may easily accomplish. I find that when players start coming up with radical stunts (of which I try to say roll, instead of no) it leads to stage hogging, with other players minimizing their interactions as they get bulldozed by the action man.

That being said, there are also players who, for their private reasons, usually end up trolling. These are the 'I'm going to kill the offical because you need him to monologue an important part of the campaign.' players. For whatever reason they look for ways to break your game in goofy, witty(drudgingly so) or annoying ways. These are the guys I let hang themselves with their own rope, since it's all I'm allowed. If I were to actively attack those characters/players, then none at the table would trust me to keep it above board when they need it.

arctic favored terrain would remove movement penalties on specific terrain I would imagine, and since catfolk come with cleats built in, I'd say sure. Along the same lines, I would give them cold resist and heat susceptibility, being covered in a thicker than normal fur.

Agree with option 1. the second way is a catch 22.

I don't see a vote I thought would get obvious traction....so I'll take a shot.

I vote for....

MINE! I want to make and see my name on the AP, hehe.

Nice nitpicking. although you missed the more obvious details of people looking up her skirt, her posture, like she's about to drop a duce on them, or the way they laid out title and issue number.

I would think the issue is more obvious. Gen Con Housing block + motocross DB (or gp, cant remember atm) = no rooms for actual attendees. considering that taking a 160$ loss rather than show up and praying someone somewhere's got room for me, my wife, and two others riding there with me, compared to the $1000 dollars I spent at the convention last year, and 4 years running before that, I would think it amounts to a little more of an issue than giving $40 buck to gen con.

Maybe those mototools taking advantage of gen con would be willing to balance that income out while theyre down there?

My friend just linked this to me, it may be why Gen Con's touting such record sales on badges and the like.

Roomjacking bastiches

Kind of explains why I couldn't get a room within 6 hours of registration. Instructions on the website on what to do and say.

Isn't there someone we can go to hold them responsible for what they've pulled?

Trollin', Trollin', Trollin', Rawhide!

~sigh~

Sexist...
It would have stood fine if they had portrayed women as something other than sex objects.
:(

seriously, why do you have to bring sexism into it. this short portrays two down-on-their luck guys hoping to strike it rich and get fame, money, and you guessed it, women to like them. And I distinctly remember the leader of the gang being distinctly female, and hardly sexual.

would you rather have a short portrayed the exact same way with two females as the center roles?

It doesnt always have to be about sex, equality and superiority. It's a story, enjoy it.

I guess, if it really called for it, but I'm pretty sure the living and attacking guy's going to present more of an interest than coup de grace'ing a player. There's no scenario I know of that calls for that kind of tactic, so I wouldn't be, to put it bluntly, such an ass to people who are there to enjoy themselves. If you were to do that too often, you'd ruin the idea that PFS is there for, introducing the game to new players.

New players don't come if regulars refuse to play.

I wouldn't legitimately consider it 'unnecessary'. Putting it better is that it is a detail system that cannot yet be implemented by today's coding standards and still have a feasible visual action in the game environment. You would have to construct each sheath for each blade shape, how and where it hangs, interacts with the character as well as other characters, and of course animations for drawing and sheathing. Since this would have to be implemented into, less a turn based organization than, a twich-based system, the effects on combat, traps, etc would also have to be included into the development.

everyone's got some great advice for interacting well over this situation. I however recommend that you remember your a player in the same game they are.

My suggestion? If all of the 'nice' avenues fail (and I do recommend them first) sit down with all your stuff packed except maybe a gm screen if you use one. Know the general gist of the adventure you want to run tonight, but dont put any effort into things like, oh say, details.

you're night should go something like this.

GM: Intro, player options, hand off to the players.
Players: I want to buy...., I want to search....,
GM: It's yours, the shopkeepers give it to you for free. You search, You find out exactly who the villain is, and where they are hiding. you also find out about the traps, and lesser minions in detail. (GM hands over adventure to player for reference)

If they get suspicious, move onto the second part of this post, but if theyre still buying into it, continue with:

GM: OK, you went directly to the mansion/dungeon/keep where the bad guy is, you are confronted with the gate guards. they yell halt.
Players: ok we're going to...
GM: (interrupting) dont worry you kill them. they had several hundred gold pieces. carry on.
Players: ok, we're going to sneak....
GM: You find your way directly to the BBEG (and really say big bad end guy) Kill him and take his loot. he had several thousand gold pieces, three magic items each of you wanted for your characters and you are now kings of your own kingdoms for killing the BBEG.

Part 2

So inevitably they will sense something amiss. Sit quietly whilst they corroberate, question, and await an answer.

Then stand up, tell them "This is what happens when you play a game not to be challenged, with consequences for your characters. This is what happens when you ignore the rules laid down for everyone to play by, and attempt what you want to really happen regardless. This is what happens when you just come to the table only to argue until you get your way."

Fly the double eagles, fold up GM screen, and walk out.

Locate new players to play with, enjoy new scene much the wiser about how and who you want to play with.

As it's been said before, and I've said myself: It is a cooperative effort between all players and GM to sit down and play this game. The GM is not a whipping boy meant to cater to player egos, nor are they some nemesis that the players must outwit, out rules-lawyer, and out shout to win the game. If for any reason you come to an impass with your current players, life is too short to be angry, resentful, or hurt because you cannot mesh with the people you play with.

We're a growing community, and though it may take you some effort to find a better environ, you'll be better off for it all the way around.

If it's what I think you're getting at, the pfs images/logo's are proprietary and as such must be the product of the company owning the IP. The CUP is there to identify that a person is utilizing someone else's IP. If Paizo were to produce the product, it wouldnt need the CUP.....

It depends.

If you go by 'mundane' means....sight, smell, hearing, touch, (hopefully not taste. I think by that point, the jig's up.)

I like how walking dead addresses the situation at several points. If the creature's primary detection is fooled by overpowering/disguising your own scent as a living creature, you're golden unless something other gives you away.

then you can go by a more esoteric method, such as the unlife created by negative energy. If the creature craves life for that specific reason, it may be able to detect living creatures by a sense beyond the limited 5.

these undead sense and seek beyond mortal capacity, and must be fooled the same way.

I am exctatic about this. I think it's a perfect alternative, and I will be pointing this out to our players the next game session. Not only does it draw the player to think within their character/faction, its a second hope to faction missions outside their character's purview.

What? How am I supposed to craft traps and disable device as a cleric!?!)

If it's like any loan I know of, you as a dissenter need to know something:

Just because you provided a small amount of funds (and I'm being generous here, in the face of one, or even a few people's kickstarter donations amount to the three mill that goblinworks has tried to accrue doesn't mean squat) does not give you official right to dictate how the game will be made. You provided the funds in return for a stated service upon completion of stated objective. end of story.

It does not give you some appointed status that your opinion means squat. the involvement that goblinworks allows you is exactly as far as that....allowed. If goblinworks were to scramble to meet ever person who had their own view into PFO, then not one single line of code would ever get typed.

I'm not saying stop voicing your opinion, because I trust that goblinworks does attend to majority effort, but don't expect your opinion to mean any more or less than anyone else's.

By all means, pull your funding. I'm sure that new backers will jump all over your deficit, and you can sit and stew over what you don't have when PFO makes its debut.

I think it'd be rather hard carrying a full grown dwarven woman hanging from my face as I adventure....

I have to admit, while I've grown up on bearded women in alot of the books I've read, I do like the depictions in recent years of the curvacious feminine dwarf. I think that both are viable, and in fact, alluded to such a situation for a female dwarf serving in armies in my writing. she grows her beard out to look more like 'one of the guys' to enemies, but she finds a guy she likes....out comes the razor and viola!

what you're trying to do is bend the rules to your benefit. I do not disagree that you can do all that you want to so far with the curse, only that it will not go where you want it to go. If a gm is particularly tired of you doing it, they may very well have the weapon land nearer to party members than enemies. and, as I've said before, it is not necessarily a violent change of location, so that such items as a glass bottle do not break.

It's a big zero for me as well. The faction missions are so way off base from their faction descriptions, that a lot of characters only worry if we have a rogue in the party to get theirs done in the first place. I've, and none of my regulars, have ever heard of this umbrella goal that could conveniently give players a chance at still earning their PP.

While the haunted curse doesn't stipulate against utilizing such items, you are haunted. It is a curse. It's not going to work out to your benefit, except by random chance. Also, I can see the 'dispersal' not just being violent, but a ghostly entity catching the item and carrying it to set it down gently as well. You may just give those gobbos you were hoping to splatter with alchemists fire a fresh, intact flask to throw back at you.

I've got a dual class sorc/rogue who's chalky white skin is an issue with hiding. Prestidigitation can act as a quick skin dye, turning my mighty-whitey to jet black. (not directly adding to stealth, but better than spending ten minutes applying camo paint.)

The other slightly more atrocious application was a Vanara (I'm looking for a boon to play this in PFS) Alchemist. He keeps his bombs in pouches running down the backs of his thighs, and uses presti to coat his bombs in a slimy, foul-smelling, brown, gooey.....you get the picture. He's an exploding monkey poop thrower.

As well, once you've become accustomed to the paper part of character creation, look into Hero Lab and the pathfinder suppliments it has. You'll love the setup and arrangement for characters and the GM utilities.