tcavagne's page

Paladin! Why does no one ever suggest paladin? Tank with the ability to heal yourself as a swift action once you get Lay On Hands. Take a non-horse mount for more versatility in combat, or the Sacred Servant archetype for (slightly) improved spellcasting.

Alternatively, ask your GM if you can gestalt magus/monk (both with quarterstaff-focused archetypes - I forget what they're called). Most overpowered character I've ever played.

If you're playing a spellcaster, take Improved Familiar when you get high enough level, and find a familiar that can heal you!

Are there any countries in southern Avistan with a standing army? Specifically wondering about Ustalav, but if there are any especially large or impressive ones nearby, I'd love to know.

Likely the last update of the day, but it's good news!

The Tech Team has ordered some new hardware for our personalizing service, which should help alleviate the issues people are encountering. Our System Administrator Lissa Guillet will be working on getting this set up overnight, and we hope to be in better shape this weekend. We also have our Technical Manager Cort Odekirk in tonight monitoring the site's status.

Our Community Manager and Customer Service are out for the night, and will resume on the emails and social media queries tomorrow.

That's good news. Thanks, Chris, Lissa, Cort, and everyone else at Paizo who are working so hard on this!

As for those being jerks on here ... they're trying to fix it. Can't we all just calm down a bit?

Hey James, is it a coincidence that Pangolais, the capitol of a Kuthonite country, is anagrammable to "pain" and "algos" (Greek for "pain")? I know someone at Paizo must like Greek, because of your company's name ...

Here's a side-quest idea:

One or more PCs contracts the horrible disease. Symptoms worsen. Time is running out. A couple days before the PC's impending death, when his friends are becoming desperate, a nymph/angel/demon/whatever -looking creature approaches them. "I can heal you," she says, "in exchange for a small favor in a few months. Nothing you can't handle."

When the PCs accept, she heals the PC in question. He is back to full health. The only difference is a new tattoo on his arm, in the shape of a vine looping around his forearm.

When a few months have passed and you've gone further with your intended storyline, the nymph/angel/demon/whatever reappears and asks for the favor. You can tie this into your current quest or make it something completely new (if the PCs have just finished their current task). If the PCs try to refuse the offer or cheat their healer, the vine tattoo acts as a mark of justice that first begins constricting the PC's arm in warning, and then takes effect one day later if the PC hasn't resumed the quest.

The fun part is that if the PCs keep getting in trouble and dying, the healer can keep popping up and telling the PCs the favor she seeks will be "just a little greater." I used this once over the course of a campaign, having the nymph reappear half a dozen times (the PCs kept getting themselves in trouble), and eventually the PCs had to travel to Hell to regain something stolen from the nymph. It was loads of fun.

Required, lichdom is not. Afraid of horses, Yoda is not. Insulted, Yoda is at being called a mite.

Ten levels in the psion class and ten levels in the quinggong monk class, Yoda has. Mythic rules, Yoda also uses.

Yeah. Don't do this to your poor DM. He'll hate you after the first one or two, I can guarantee it. And the other players...

If you don't like it do not buy it or look at it. Easy

This is a problematic attitude. We do have a choice what we want to buy or look at--for example, I can not visit porn websites or buy magazines that objectify women. That's fine. But if you want to be a gamer, you have to buy RPG products, and it would be sad if all people offended by this kind of thing just stopped buying gaming products. Not to mention that that's not really fair to those of us who really enjoy gaming, and therefore have to look at this kind of thing.

Now, if there was an alternate cover, or you could buy a lite version of every pdf, then maybe your comment would be reasonable.

If the clothing Lyrie is wearing is so objectionable, why are we hearing about this now? Her mini preview was released about five months ago to much praise.

I suspect this is because not everyone pays terribly close attention to the minis blogs, and also because her boobs weren't right in the middle of a product cover staring us in the face.

Have to agree with theJeff and GeraintElberion: It's the context.

Like Geraint said, if you want to show a woman whose personality or job is that she uses sex to get ahead--fine, she can be as porny as you want. Want to illustrate a fey who lives in the wilderness and doesn't culturally wear clothes? She should be illustrated naked.

The problem is that this character is not a prostitute, or a priestess of Calistria, or a creature of the wilderness. She's a woman living in a pseudo-medieval town. If a real woman wore that in the Medieval era, she'd be raped or beaten.

The problem, in general, is that artists think it's okay to objectify women in the very center of the cover of a product that is not specifically a porn magazine. This is never done to illustrated men in RPG products. It is always done to women.

So this means that (1) our culture still believes that women are valuable people only if they cater to male ideals--they either have to be a sex symbol or a man-in-woman's-body, and there is no in-between, while men can be valuable in many ways--and (2) artists like this assume that mostly men will be reading this product, and thus they need to appeal to the male gaze, which assumes that (3) male RPG gamers are shallow and horny. So it's not just objectifying one woman, it's degrading the hobby and stereotyping male gamers.

Sorry for the rant, but I think this is important.

I just read through this and it sounds interesting, I'm excited to try it out.

The one thing I'm not keen on so far is the propaganda. It feels like the whole purpose of putting the module out was to sell minis. I really hope the mini-pictures gimmick isn't going to find its way into other published products (even if they have a set--please don't taint the new Rise of the Runelords with this!). Really not a fan of the tacky sales attempt.

I like the basics! I agree that BAB and saves should be capped before they get too ridiculous. Same with saves. And epic-level casters were pretty broken in 3.5.

One thing I would suggest looking into is the way 4.0 does epic tier. I know it sounds dumb, and I don't play 4.0, but hear me out:

Once you have reached 20th level, you've basically done all you can do in the system. You may still be able to achieve a higher-level BAB or get more skill points, but full casters and full fighters have little to look forward to. So I'd propose that at 21st level, you get your choice of "epic prestige class" type things. You can still multiclass them... but these classes would have special abilities for epic characters that didn't increase BAB or saves or spellcasting level.

I haven't designed any yet, but if you think it's worth looking into I can give it a shot.

As someone who's gay and lived in an extremist Christian community for most of her life, I can say that I really appreciate this article. It goes back to something Gandhi said:

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

...which is something I think we all need to work on. Whether we claim to be Christians or Buddhists or Muslims or Pagans or whatever, we all need to remember that just claiming to be virtuous does not actually make you virtuous. You have to act on it.

From the Advanced Race Guide, with significant tweaking:

Time Lord Racial Traits (40 RP):

Humanoid (subtype Galifreyan)
Medium
Normal Speed
Ability Scores: Time Lords gain +4 Con, +4 Int, +2 Wis, and +2 Cha. They have two hearts and amazing brains.
Languages: Linguist Array (Begin play speaking Galifreyan and English, and choose any bonus languages. They only gain truespeech if they have a TARDIS.)

Ancient Foe: Time Lords gain a +2 dodge bonus and grapple bonus against constructs (read: the outer shells of Daleks).
Fearless: Time Lords gain +2 on saves vs. fear.
Fortunate: Time Lords gain +2 on all saving throws.
Reincarnation: A Time Lord who is killed may reincarnate. He may not use this more than once per day.
Hatred: Time Lords gain +1 on attack rolls against constructs and aberrations.
Bonus Feat: Time Lords gain an extra bonus feat at 1st level.
Master Tinker: Time Lords gain a +2 bonus on disable device, knowledge (engineering), and use magic device. They are considered proficient with any weapon they have personally created.
Skilled: Time Lords gain an additional skill point at each level.

I think I covered most of his special abilities... Now just give him some levels of expert and make a sonic-screwdriver item, and you're good to go.

Here's an entertaining anecdote:

My PCs were chasing down the Big Bad, who was trying to get away so they wouldn't find out his identity. He summons a fiendish roc to deter them.

There are three PCs, all 12th level and at full health, and one CR 9 or 10 roc.

The roc took down the bard (only healer) and monk, and the fighter got some unlucky rolls but finally managed to finish it off.

They were terrified of going near the bad guy for a long time, because they figured his summoned creature was CR 14 or 15--"and just imagine how ridiculously powerful you'd have to be to summon THAT."

I've played 4th edition exactly once, and it wasn't quite my thing, but I can say a few good things for it.

4th edition is pretty combat-focused. I don't know if it's just groups that like to play 4th edition, or the game itself, but from my experience and what I've heard from others, there's not a lot of role-play. That said, if your players like to dungeon crawl this game is a good starting point.

Combat tends to be cinematic--even fighters have exciting powers. Just look at the descriptions.

Another thing about every class having fantastic powers is that you can always feel like a magic user (which in my opinion is a good thing, at least for a certain type of game) without having to do all that spellcasting number-crunching book-searching.

Skill challenges are also a mechanic I like, and can definitely be done in a more old-school way. 4th edition players are occasionally REQUIRED to use their skills for infiltration, knowledge, or other plot-related maneuvers, or they'll face a huge setback. Unlike Pathfinder and older editions, where using skills is more of an option. It's nice because it requires even simple fighters to use an aspect of their character that they normally might not care about.

Hope this helps!

Made this one up for my goblin character; these are the only monsters he knows.

A is for Ankheg
(Goblin Nursery Rhyme)

A is for Ankheg, slimy and green.
B is for Bat, Bunyip, and Bee.
C is for Cockroach, a nasty surprise.
D is for Darkmantle, hard on the eyes.
E is for Ettercap on spidery legs.
F is for Frogs and their delicious eggs!
G is for Ghouls who like to eat flesh.
H is for Halflings, who taste better fresh.
I is for Irlgaunt, who likes to harm.
J is for Jellyfish with stinging arms.
K is for Kobold, easily beat.
L is for Lizards, no good to eat.
M is for Mites who are sleepy and dumb.
N is for Nagas who have no thumbs.
O is for Otyugh, living in mud.
P is for Purple Worm, hungry for blood.
Q is for Quicklings, who run really fast.
R is for Redcap, Reefclaw, and Rast.
S is for Skeleton, fun as a toy.
T is for Treants, who we burn with joy.
U is for Unicorn, ugly and sick.
V is for Vegepygmy. Ick!
W is for Wyverns, real pains in the ass.
X is for Xtabay and sleeping gas.
Y is for Yeth Hound, Yeti, and Yugoloth.
Z is for Zombie, smelly and tough.

Magus and Monk. I made an Iron Monk 4/Quarterstaff Magus-Hexcrafter 8 for a game I'm going to be playing in... Full-round action gets me a quarterstaff+18/+13 (1d6+11 plus 1d6 fire and 1d6 electricity), a stunning fist (DC 21)+14 (1d8+8) and a spell. And 32 AC.