vagrant-poet's page

Hello!

For anyone interested a new gaming store is opening in Maynooth, which is esaily accessed by train from Connolly station or on the 67 and 66 Dublin bus routes.

This new store which is called Gamer's Hub is opening within the next week and will be hosting all sorts of gaming, including Pathfinder Society games.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/pages/Gamers-Hub/17787940895635 9]Gamer's Hub Facebook

Please feel free to contact me at: pfsmaynooth@gmail.com

I would like to cancel my subscription to the hardcover rulebook line please, while maintaining my subscription to the adventure path line.

Thanks.

The blog post about upcoming changes to Pathfinder Society back before Gen Con mentioned that we would be getting new, revised pre-gens.

Is there any estimate on when that will be happening? Even the level 1 versions?

My freind is opening a game store, and I've offered to run PFS there, but I'd like to have the pre-gens so that I can run 3-player games, etc.

Cheers in advance!

Okay, so I decided to run a high level game (17th level to start). I'm well aware that alot of high level problems come when you skip to them, rather than earn it, so put that aside.

I wanted to run the game with a score of rules changes I've added, but I think I need some feedback on them first, for balance issues, etc.

Firstly I'm going to be using an expanded point but system instead of people getting an attribute increase every 4 levels. You can spend the points gained only when levelling up (or you can save them up to buy a more expensive score between a few levels), and pay the difference in the cost of two attributes to increase a score, e.g. going from a 17 Str to and 18 Str costs 4 points. Note: No character can start with an attribute score of higher than 17, and all initial points gained at first level must be spent.

You gain additional points at the following rate:
Lvl. Points
2 ..... 1
3 ..... 1
4 ..... 2
5 ..... 2
6 ..... 2
7 ..... 2
8 ..... 2
9 ..... 3
10 ... 3
11 ... 3
12 ... 3
13 ... 3
14 ... 4
15 ... 4
16 ... 4
17 ... 4
18 ... 4
19 ... 6
20 ... 8

This isn't my subsysytem in truth, just my take on the expanded point buy system that appeared on the boards here a while ago.

My next subsystem is a system which also appeared in the boards, that I then tailored and altered for my own use. The Heroic Distinctions system. Basically, you only gain half of typical wealth per level, and there are the following limitations on magic items.

At 3rd level and every level therafter a character may take a heroic distinction which they qualify for. (NPCs take distinctions only at odd levels.) Not that most distinctions increase automatically at levels 10 and 15. These increases stack with purchased increases, so that a character can have a +5 armor bonus from distinctions, etc.

This is the list of Heroic Distinctions.

Aggressive
A character can select the heroic distinction aggressive for one type of weapon, e.g. longsword. The character receives a +1 training bonus to attack and damage rolls with that weapon. They also gain half of this bonus to other types of weapons.
At tenth level this bonus increases by +1. At fifteenth level this increases by a further +1.
Ferocious: A character of at least 7th level, who already has the aggressive distinction, may take the ferocious distinction, which increases the bonus granted by aggressive by +1. This stacks with any bonuses gained automatically as the character levels up.
Destructive: A character of at least 13th level, who already has the ferocious distinction, may take the destructive distinction, which increases the bonus granted by ferocious by +1. This stacks with any bonuses gained automatically as the character levels up.

Defensive
A character can select the heroic distinction Defensive and receives a +1 training bonus to the effective armor bonus of any armor or bracer and shield worn.
At tenth level this bonus increases by +1. At fifteenth level this increases by a further +1.
Guarded: A character of at least 6th level, who already has the defensive distinction, may take the guarded distinction, which increases the bonus granted by defensive by +1. This stacks with any bonuses gained automatically as the character levels up.
Untouchable: A character of at least 12th level, who already has the guarded distinction, may take the untouchable distinction, which increases the bonus granted by guarded by +1. This stacks with any bonuses gained automatically as the character levels up.

Hardened
A character of at least 6th level can select the heroic distinction Hardened and receives a +1 enhancement bonus to his natural armor.
At tenth level this bonus increases by +1. At fifteenth level this increases by a further +1.
Grizzled: A character of at least 8th level, who already has the hardened distinction, may take the grizzled distinction, which increases the bonus granted by hardened by +1. This stacks with any bonuses gained automatically as the character levels up.
Iron-skinned: A character of at least 14th level, who already has the grizzled distinction, may take the iron-skinned distinction, which increases the bonus granted by grizzled by +1. This stacks with any bonuses gained automatically as the character levels up.

Heroic
A character of at least 5th level can select the heroic distinction Hero and gains an additional 8 points to spend on their attribute scores.
Legendary: A character of at least 10th level who already has the heroic distinction may take the legendary distinction. The character gains an additional 8 points to spend on their attribute scores.
Mythic: A character of at least 15th level who already has the legendary distinction may take the mythic distinction. The character gains an additional 8 points to spend on their attribute scores.

Lucky
A character can select the heroic distinction Lucky and receives a +1 luck bonus to all of his saves. At tenth level this bonus increases by +1. At fifteenth level this increases by a further +1.
Blessed: A character of at least 7th level, who already has the lucky distinction, may take the blessed distinction, which increases the bonus granted by lucky by +1. This stacks with any bonuses gained automatically as the character levels up.
Exalted: A character of at least 13th level, who already has the blessed distinction, may take the exalted distinction, which increases the bonus granted by blessed by +1. This stacks with any bonuses gained automatically as the character levels up.

Savant
A character can select the heroic distinction savant and receives the ability to recover a first level spell slot as a standard action. In addition the character gains a +3 bonus to Spellcraft checks. A prepared caster regains a prepared slot, while a spontaneous caster regains an unspent slot. As the character gains new levels of this distinction, they also retain all of the previous bonuses.
At tenth level this distinction grants a spell of one level higher. At fifteenth level this distinction grants a spell of one further level higher.
Enlightened: A character of at least 7th level, who already has the savant distinction, may take the enlightened distinction, which increases the spell level of the ability granted by savant by one. This stacks with any bonuses gained automatically as the character levels up.
Master Sage: A character of at least 13th level, who already has the enlightened distinction, may take the master sage distinction, which increases the spell level of the ability granted by enlightened by one. This stacks with any bonuses gained automatically as the character levels up.

Warded
A character of at least 8th level can select the heroic distinction warded and receives a +1 deflection bonus to his armor class.
At tenth level this bonus increases by +1. At fifteenth level this increases by a further +1.
Protected: A character of at least 13th level, who already has the warded distinction, may take the protected distinction, which increases the bonus granted by warded by +1. This stacks with any bonuses gained automatically as the character levels up.
Invincible: A character of at least 17th level, who already has the protected distinction, may take the invincible distinction, which increases the bonus granted by protected by +1. This stacks with any bonuses gained automatically as the character levels up.

I found Painlords map and was suprised to see that there was a Lodge in Ireland.

I was even more shocked to find its in bloody Rathfarnam!

Can anyone explain to me how this happened and who set it up?

P.S.: I sound more shocked and horrified than I am. I mostly just curious.

Ouch wow. This fell under the radar. I'm an Irish gamer, and about the only biggish gaming convention I know is Dominicon in the college in Maynooth.

The gaming culture is growing in Ireland, but we haven't got the size or habit of big Cons yet.

Of course this is all probably far too late.

Okay, so from running the DPR math with a very handy calculating google doc (Courtesy of Ogre and a the boards), its obvious that as so many people say, two weapon fighting isn't as good as two-handed fighting, for more feats and no reason.

The MAD will always kill you, despite getting between level 1-12 about +1 AC, +2 Ref, +2 Init, +2 on ranged attack rolls, and +2 on CMD, and a few skills. However you do 75% as much damage as the two handed fighter if your lucky.

Also, I've seen it be a widely held opinion that Double Slice (and Two Weapon Defense) aren't gret feats. So how about:

• DOUBLE SLICE
  Your off-hand weapon while dual-wielding strikes with greater power.
  Prerequisite: Dex 15, Two-Weapon Fighting.
  Benefit: Add your Strength bonus to damage rolls made with your off-hand weapon. In addition, your off hand weapon counts as a one-handed weapon for the purposes of power attack, so you +2 damage per -1 to attack rolls.
  Normal: You normally add only half of your Strength modifier to damage rolls made with a weapon wielded in your off-hand and off-hand weapons only get half of the bonus from power attack.
  

I figure it increase full BAB classes power with TWF, but sneak attacking characters won't be using power attack anyway, so it shouldn't alter their damage.

So if you two weapon fight, you'll do about 80% damage, assuming you wield two identical light weapons, you shouldn't suffer as much in feats or damage. Maybe 90% damage would be a better goal, but I think all of the little side benefits from your higher Dex are quite nice.

Are there any problems I'm not seeing with this? Or more things that can be done to easily boost Two-Weapon Fighting?

These are some houserules I'm thinking of trying:

On Death
The game uses hero points, but instead of the traditional rule for cheat death, you can spend two hero points to earn a twist of fate at any time. This twist of faith is a saved cheat death for the future. A character can only ever buy two of these. This should stop hero point hoarding, and make them game less deadly. So should:
At 8th level you die at 1.5 times your Con score.
At 16th level you die at 2 times your Con score.
Why make it less deadly? Because there isn't any way back:
Raise dead, ressurection, true ressurection, reincarnation et al. are no longer in the game.
Breath of life still is and works as usual.

On Magic Items (Long! Bear wth me!)
The magic items known as the big six no longer exist in the game. These items are: magic weapons, magic armor, rings of protection, amulets of natural armor, cloaks of resistance and ability score boosting items. Character wealth per level is 1/3rd its usual amount. Instead:
[list]

I've been fiddling around with maps alot recently, especially big ones. Which require the understanding that the world isn't flat.

So for fun I thought it would be interesting to scale everything depending on its lattitude for the Inner Sea Region map.

Here is my effort: Map

NOTE: The upper parts are pretty much impossible to read, and this is far from perfect or smooth. It starts at about 15 degrees north and the bottom and goes up to 65 which is roughly the artctic circle. I broke into it 2.5 mile per degree longtitude decreases. So they're closer together the further north you go.

Anyway just a bit of fun! In eager anticipation of the world map coming in Feb/March!

Hi, I got my issue a while ago, but only recently started reading the physical copy in preparation for upcoming games.

Only to find that my copy is missing pages 17-32. There doesn't seem to be any torn out pages, or that their misplaced, their just not there.

Is there anything that can be done?

Kind Regards,
-Eoin

As the thread suggests.

I mean people are born gay, just as we are evolved from ape-like ancestors, just as some people are are born with various differences in their chemical and physiological make-up.

So is it like a part of original sin? Can you be born a sinner? Who does it hurt and why is it a sin?

You finally feel the heat and sweat and buzz of mosquitoes leave your body and mind after a few weeks, the Isle of Dread, and Southern Arcadia now months behind, your mission successfully concluded and your stipends collected.

You have arrived back in Avistan, at the open port of Magnimar, the City of Monuments.

However, the tales of your heroic exploits from facing down demon-posessed pirates to saving your ship from a mighty sea monster composed of Sargasso, have preceded you and you find yourself attending a small banquet held by Mayor Grobaras, a fat balding but well-dressed man, with a loud commanding voice. Around you the wealthy and influential of Magnimar make small talk and judge the worth of the heroes called to the Mayor's side. Make Diplomacy checks to see how well-regarded you become in the city.

After the meal, the Mayor invites you to a reading room, a giant library in it's own right. He offers you all pipes and smoking tabacco.

'Well, my lads. Now that the pleasantries are dispensed with, let us get down to business. I have lost contact with a fort under my city's control, near Turtleback Ferry, we don't know whether it is simply the oncoming winter, Korvosan interference or something more sinister. As old hands like yourself may have guessed, I want to you to investigate and will compensate you duly. What say you?'

You are location 8 on the map.

Varisia

Below is my estimate of what the magus will look like, and just a fun pre-playtest version of the magus to have fun with.

Please feel free to critique and discuss. I think its nice in that it's the only character that relies on Str and Int, and hopefully infused strike and talents (might rename them 'arcana') make it worth staying in the class rather than losing two levels to go into eldritch knight. (It only has one martial weapon, so will have to dip to take that prestige class.)

Note: No tabs on the boards, so the table is a formatting mess. This class is far from fully realised or finished, especially after level 10. I'll continue to update the spells known, though I need suggestions on talents in particular. and what the capstone ability will do.

MAGUS
Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d8.
Class Skills
The magus’s class skills are Appraise (Int), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Fly (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str) and Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Table X–XX: Magus
Base
Attack Fort Ref Will ---------------------------------- Spells per Day
Level Bonus Save Save Save Special 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1st +0 +2 +0 +2 Arcane Strike, cantrips, infused strike 1/day 1 — — — — —
2nd +1 +3 +0 +3 Bonus feat, Magus talent 2 — — — — —
3rd +2 +3 +1 +3 3 — — — — —
4th +3 +4 +1 +4 magus talent 3 1 — — — —
5th +3 +4 +1 +4 infused strike 2/day 4 2 — — — —
6th +4 +5 +2 +5 Bonus feat, magus talent 4 3 — — — —
7th +5 +5 +2 +5 Improved Arcane strike 4 3 1 — — —
8th +6/+1 +6 +2 +6 magus talent 4 4 2 — — —
9th +6/+1 +6 +3 +6 infused strike 3/day 5 4 3 — — —
10th +7/+2 +7 +3 +7 Bonus Feat, magus talent, 5 4 3 1 — —
11th +8/+3 +7 +3 +7 Stalwart 5 4 4 2 — —
12th +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 magus talent 5 5 4 3 — —
13th +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 infused strike 4/day 5 5 4 3 1 —
14th +10/+5 +9 +4 +9 magus talent 5 5 4 4 2 —
15th +11/+6/+1 +9 +5 +9 Mastered Arcane strike 5 5 5 4 3 —
16th +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 magus talent 5 5 5 4 3 1
17th +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 infused strike 5/day 5 5 5 4 4 2
18th +13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +11 magus talent 5 5 5 5 4 3
19th +14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +11 5 5 5 5 5 4
20th +15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +12 Walker of Two Paths, magus talent 5 5 5 5 5 5

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the magus.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A magus is proficient with all simple weapons, and one martial weapon of his choice, this choice is made at character creation and cannot be changed. Maguses are also proficient with light armor, medium armor and shields (except tower shields). A magus can cast magus spells while wearing light or medium armor and use a shield without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, a magus wearing heavy armor or using a tower shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component. A multiclass magus still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.
Spells: A magus casts arcane spells drawn from the magus spell list presented in Chapter 10. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time. To learn or cast a spell, a bard must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a magus’ spell is 10 + the spell level + the magus’ Intelligence modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a magus can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table x–xx. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intelligence score (see Table 1–3 in the Core Rulebook).
The magus’ selection of spells is extremely limited. A magus begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st level spells of the magus’ choice. At each new magus level, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table x–yy. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a magus knows is not affected by his Intelligence score. The numbers on Table x–yy are fixed.)
Upon reaching 5th level, and at every third magus level after that (8th, 11th, and so on), a magus can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the magus “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least one level lower than the highest-level magus spell the magus can cast. A magus may swap only a single spell at any given level and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level.
A magus need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.
Arcane Strike: At first level the magus gains Arcane Strike as a bonus feat.

-Spells known as the bard/inquisitor-

Cantrips: Magus’ learn a number of cantrips, or 0-level spells, as noted on Table x–yy under “Spells Known.” These spells are cast like any other spell, but they do not consume any slots and may be used again.
Infused Strike (Su): The magus can, as a swift action cast a spell that requires a touch or ranged touch on an opponent he has hit with any weapon he his wielding once per day. This doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity, but does require one free hand to complete the somatic components of the spell. He must expend a spell slot to cast this spell, he need not make another attack roll to touch the creature, though the creature may still make all of it’s saves as usual. The magus can use this once per day at 1st level, twice per day at 5th level and one additional time every four levels thereafter (e.g. 9th, 13th, etc.)
Bonus Feat: At 2nd level, and every 4 levels thereafter, a magus may select a bonus feat. These feats must be taken from the following list: Blind-Fight, Combat Casting, Combat Expertise, Eschew Materials, Magical Aptitude and Weapon Focus. At 6th level, the following feats are added to the list: Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Expanded Arcana, Improved Initiative, Intensified Spell and Spell Focus. At 10th level, the following feats are added to the list: Critical Focus, Greater Spell Focus, Vital Strike and Weapon Specialisation. A magus need not have any of the prerequisites normally required for these feats to select them.
Magus Talents: As a magus gains experience, she learns a number of talents that aid her and confound her foes. Starting at 2nd level, a magus gains one magus talent. She gains an additional magus talent for every 2 levels of magus attained after 2nd level. A magus cannot select an individual talent more than once.
Arcane ward (Su): The magus can apply up to ½ his Arcane strike bonus to his AC using Improved Arcane Strike, this is not affected by Mastered Arcane Strike. The magus must be a least 8th level before selecting this talent.
Blue Sparks (Su): A number of time per day equal to his Intelligence modifier the magus may hurl a fist-sized ball of blue flame at an enemy within 30 ft. this does 1d6 + 1 damage per two levels, which is half fire damage half raw arcane energy.
Creature Knowledge (Ex): Once per day per 6 magus levels possessed, minimum 1, the magus may reroll a knowledge check to indetify a creature and learn its weakness. This re-roll must be made before any information is given, and the second result must be taken, even if lower.
Disruptive: The magus gains Disruptive as a bonus feat. The magus must be at least 8th level to select this talent.
Ensorcelled Aid (Su): Tha magus expends his arcane power to empower an ally while lending aid. When using the aid another ability, the magus may as a swift action expend a spell slot to grant an additional bonus equal to the level of the spell expended.
Forceful Strike (Su): The magus adds +2 to the DC of spells cast through his infused strike ability.
Intuitive Magesmith (Ex): The magus does not take a penalty for not knowing spells required to craft a magic weapon or armor.
Mastered Counterspell (Ex): A magus with the Improved Counterspell ability can counterspell with a spell from the same school of one level lower, equal or a higher level. The magus must possess Improved Counterspell and be at least 12th level to select this ability.
Metamagic Strike (Su): You can apply metamagic to your imfused strike spell, this doesn’t increase the time, but still takes up a higher level spell slot. You must be at least 6th level to select this talent.
Practised Aide (Ex): As a standard action a magus with the Allied Spellcaster feat may double the bonus granted by that feat to one adjacent ally.
Pre-emptive Counterspell (Su): The magus may attempt to counterspell a spell even when he has not prepared an action to do so. He is dazed on his next turn however, whether he succeeds or fails. The magus must be at least 4th level before selecting this talent.
Spellbreaker: The magus gains Spellbreaker as a bonus feat. The magus must be at least 12th level to select this talent.
Trap Ward (Su): The magus gets a +1 bonus on saves and AC from magical traps for every four levels he possesses (minimum 1, maximum 4).

more to come

Improved Arcane Strike (Su): At 7th level, when using the Arcane strike feat the magus gains the bonus on his attack rolls aswell as damage. In addition, you can instead apply up to half (rounded down) you bonus to applying a special weapon property to your weapon, for example at 10th level the magus gains a +3 bonus to attack and damage with Arcane strike, he may choose instead to get a +2 bonus to attack and damage, and gain the flaming ability instead of the extra +1. Once this ability has been used to redistribute the bonus, it cannot be changed again for one minute.
Mastered Arcane Strike (Su): At 15th level the magus can apply his arcane strike bonus however he likes, and doesn’t even have to apply a single +1 bonus, in addition it only takes him a full-round action to change the bonus.
Walker of Two Paths (Su): At 20th level- uncompleted ability

MAGUS SPELLS
0—acid splash, arcane mark, detect magic, dancing lights, flare, light, mage hand, message, mending, open/close, read magic, resistance, spark*, touch of fatigue
1st—ant haul*, burning hands, chill touch, disguise self, enlarge person, expeditious retreat, feather fall, feather step*, flare burst*, identify, invigorate*, jump, magic aura, magic weapon, reduce person, shocking grasp, true strike, touch of gracelessness*, unseen servant, vanish*
2nd—alter self, bear’s endurance, bloodhound*, bull’s strength, darkvision, elemental touch*, fox’s cunning, ghoul touch, heroism, instant armor*, locate object, magic mouth, make whole, resist energy, scorching ray, shatter, see invisibility
3rd—arcane concordance*, arcane sight, blink, beast shape II, coordinated effort*, dispel magic, displacement, elemental body I, greater magic weapon, haste, invisibility purge, keen edge, pain strike*, sending, slow, vampiric touch, water breathing
4th+ more to come

Stereofm wrote:

vagrant-poet wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

Earthfall covered almost an entire hemishpere of the world;

I really can't wait to see that world map in the Inner Sea World Guide.

Will it be shown on the blog sometime?

There IS a World map ????? WOOOT !!!

Yup; as part of my work revising the Campaign Setting, I designed the rest of the continents. That version of the map is relatively detailed as far as coastlines are concerned; the version we'll be running in the book is a bit less detailed but more "in game" realistic so that folks can see the basic locations of everything. I might end up posting both in a side by side comparison here on the blog in a few months if folks are interested...

I know I'm interested! Who else wants to lend their voice to this cause!!!

Seagulls and parrots wheel overhead, squawking and screeching, ducking occassionally and rising with fish scraps or other more unidentifiable things. Before you on the wooden jetties of Sargava's busy port stands Captain Venkalie, she's currently roaring he loudest at the men loading the ship, her height and fair hair betraying some Ulfen heritage, she is a dressed well as a Sargavan ships captain in the old Chelaxian style.

A similiarly clad woman, whos clothes were of far better quality, heavily embroidered at the sleeves approaches up the docks, looking serene amidst all the chaos of the preparation for the Sea Wyvern's disembarkation.

When Captain Venkalie spots her she strides quickly over to where you were asked, or rather told to wait after arriving as promised on the jetty after signing on for the Vaneo Expedition to the Isle of Dread.

'That's the boss lady, look sharp now, you can be scruffy tomb-diggers all you like once your on board,' at this she turns sharply and bows her head to the approaching woman.

She is slim, pale and pretty featured with her starkly black hair tied high away from her face.

'Good evening Gentlemen, my name is Lavinia Vaneo, the primary funder of this expedition. I'm glad to see Captain Venkalie here has assembled such a competent looking group of individuals,' she smiles.

'Why don't you all introduce yourselves?'

Hey all, this will kick off our discussion thread.

You should create lvl 5 characters with 10,000 gp and no more than 3,500 gp on any one item.

You get two regular traits in addition your campaign trait.

The campaign traits are:

Noble Claimant
Your family has invested in Lavinia Vaneo's expedition and you are their representative. You gain a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks and an additional bonus magic item worth up to 1,000 gp.

Hunter of the Wilds
You excell at hunting strange creatures like dinosaurs and axebeaks that dwell among the depths of the Mwangi expanse and the islands of the southern Arcadian Ocean. It is for this reason that you have signed up to hunt the beasts and explore the wilds of the fabled Isle of Dread.
You get a +2 bonus on survival and +1 on attack and damage rolls against dinosaurs.

Dark Past
You have signed on to escape your past as far away as possible from everything that reminds you of your dark history. You gain a +1 bonus to Will saving throws, with an additional +1 vs. compulsion effects.

Pathfinder Explorer
As an experienced pathfinder, the society has assigned you to Lavinia Vaneo's expedition to explore the Isle of Dread and whatever mysteries and ruins it may hold. You gain a wayfinder for free and gain a +2 bonus Perception checks.

Demon Hunter
Your patron church has received rumors of demonic influence rampant in the depths of the Isle of Terror and you have accepted the task of verifying these rumors and if neccesary rooting out Abyssal influence. You gain a +2 bonus on Sense Motive checks and a +1 bonus on attack rolls vs. outsiders with the demon subtype.

Just to note, this campaign is set in Golarion, and you begin in Eledar in Sargava recently brought into the employ of a Chelaxian noble woman by the name of Lavinia Vaneo who is mounting an expedition to resupply a colony founded by the Vaneo's and a consortium of other nobles found on the fabled Isle of Dread.

Yesterday a tall, fit looking woman with shoulder-length auburn hair and a sword at her hip approached you, introduced herself as Janiven and asked to talk with you privately, she then invited to you to a clandestine meeting in a tavern by the name of Vizio’s in Parego Spera. It was nearing nightfall, and she left quiet suddenly, but that night as monsters haunted the streets, curiosity stalked your mind, and after finishing breakfast and your morning routine, you made your way through Westcrown’s cobbled streets, the mid summer sun shining bright and hot in the sky.

You arrived at Vizio’s to find the window’s boarded, but the door is open and after you entered the cool shaded taproom you soon found yourself sharing it with Janiven, and two strangers. Once all three of you have arrived, Janiven smiles and says 'Great, you all made it!'

'I have some food prepared, so please pull some chairs off the stack in the corner and sit at the main table, introduce yourselves, we’ll get down to business after we eat,' she smiles again and stalks into the kitchen, sword bouncing on her hip.

Here we go, introduce your characters and Janiven will return with the food. Have fun!

As the title suggests, I'm starting up a PBP, an altered cutout of the mid-to-late Savage Tide AP to be precise.
I'm looking for 3-5 regular posters as players, and in particular I think it would be nice to run a game for people who mostly GM games, particularly PBPs on these boards.

I’m putting together some campaign traits, and I don't mind if you've played this campaign before, I just ask that you don't metagame.

I myself can and will post at around 10am, 4-6pm and 0-1am PST every weekday, and if everyone could post in between those times every weekday we should move along quite swiftly.

This will use the Core Rulebook, 20 point point buy, two traits in addition to your campaign trait, with 150 gp starting gold and full starting health. All of the APG classes may be used, and anything else can be run by me if you want to use it, though as a warning I'm not a big fan of other base classes or races.

Please post here with a race/class/alignment, any PBPs you running or even better GMing which you think exemplary of your frequent posting and/or eloquence, this does not disclude new players, though any example of writing is a boon and finally a short rundown of your character concept. The ideas behind the campaign traits are a noble seeking claim to land on the Isle of Dread, a hunter/scholar of exotic animals, a person escaping a dark past in the Inner Sea to travel 2,000+ miles across the ocean, a Pathfinder initiate, a person tasked by their church to investigate rumors of demonic activity on the Isle.

Thanks in advance to all applicants!

We'll kick off with character creation.

20 points, 150 gold, max health at first level with a +5 hp bonus.

My order of the Gamemastery Guide and Pathfinder #34 are shipping next week. Can you charge my store credit first, then take the balance from my credit card?

Frankenstein's Biological Ancestor

This is a mammoth of an article! Very interesting, as is the discussion of other scientists goals in the same field!

The intention here is to not increase the lethality of the game too much for the PCs, but for death to be a real and permanent thing. The main people that this should be killing are NPCs, the intention was so that kings could be assassinated meaningfully, etc. Nor did I want to nueter lethality, hence the negative levels gained. It's intended to incite the PCs to retreat for more or less how long it would take to travel to town and get an ally raised.

Oh, and the world I'm intending this for is more or less low level, 13th level NPCs would be among the most powerful in a multi-million poulation empire.

Comments? Suggestions?

Death and Dying:
You die at hp equal to minus (your constitution score +5 per four levels + con modifier per four levels).
For a number of round equal to your Con modifer after you die you can make a Fortitude save equal to 15 plus half your level to instead stabilize at one hp higher than your death hp. This gains you one negative level per four HD, and negative levels gained this way cannot be healed except by first casting wish or miracle spells; they heal naturally after a week.

You can be raised from dead a maximum number of times equal to 1/4 your HD. The total increases as you gain more. After this only a wish or miracle spell cast before the raising spell allows you to be raised. This means that a creature with less than 4 HD cannot be returned from the dead without a wish or miracle spell.

See! Kind of a happy ending! Sort of...

Basically what the thread title says, I have some Houserules, but I was wondering of any of you wonderful people can find any big problems that I haven't forseen with the changes, etc.

It's a bit big, so: Link

Note that I haven't entirely made up these things, etc. I just use them. Notably using some stripped down versions of Kirth's houserules, and Rezdave's split classing idea.

Has anyone seen the recent George Alan Rekers story?

There are lots of articles on the go, so it's easy to find out more about the story and the travel companion online.

Titled and opened to just have a place where it can be discussed. It's difficult to find anything impartial on it, so research it with that in mind.

Okay, in considering changing or removing alignment, one needs to know what rules this would effect.

What I can think of off the top of my head is:

I find having the players run away is mind-numbingly boring and dispiriting for them, as well as causing you to track where they have run in relation to the rest of the battle, and taking them ages to get back to the combat even when the effect has ended.

So I'm going to start using the following alternatives.

Frightened In addition to being shaken a frightened creature may not approach to within 10 ft. of the object of its fear, nor take any aggressive action, such as would end the spell invisbility, towards the object of their fear or affecting anything within 10 ft. of the object of fear without making a Will save against the initial DC. They can only make one Will save against each individual frightened condition per round. If a creature is within the 10 ft. radius, and fails this Will save they must move to 10 ft. away in anyway they have at their command.

Panicked In addition to be shaken and staggered a panicked creature must move away from it's object of fear at at least half its speed, or 10 ft. which ever is higher, per round. If cornered they must cower, and take the total defensive action. At the end of each round the panicked creature may make a Will save against the initial DC to become frightened instead of panicked.

As a side note, I've ruled that if you fail to control a mount not combat trained, it gains the frightened condition and moves 10 ft. from your enemy for that round. If it takes damaged, it becomes panicked for that round instead.

So what do you think?

I have store credit from a winning a PathfinderWikia raffle. When if ever does that expire? I just want it to last at least until the release of the Advanced Pleyer's Guide in late August. Will it?

What changes would I have to account for if I wanted to:

• Replace the 4e skill system with the pathfinder one?
  
• Replace the 4e alignment system with the pathfinder one or none at all?
  
• Remove Healing surges?
  
• Remove Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies?
  

I think the skills and alignments should be easy enough.

What if healing surges were gone, fewer encounter per day, etc?

How much weaker would characters be without Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies?

Wow, cool!

It's far more animation looking than what Andrew Hou usually does for you guys. I love it, but I wonder how many people will "not want cartoons in the their D&D, grumble, grumble, get off the danged lawn?" :p

I'd like to give the game a try, so if anyone is thinking of starting even a small game, or has a free space please let me know.

Link

I thought it was funny, obviously its pretty frivolous, but taking things to seriously is actually half the idea being mocked.

Hi, the hexes are supposed to be just under 150 miles in area.

I was trying to figure out exactly what they are and got around 90 square miles.

[(3)*(root3)*(L^2)]/(2) = A

But if they are 12 miles from corner to corner, then L = 6 and

A = ~90

What's the actual area and how was it gotten?

Awesome! So damn awesome! Centipede words! Wow!

And it makes Seltyiel seem gruffly bad-ass! Nice!

*my words turn into an assortment of fruit*!

This thread made me decide to draw,

James Jacobs Adventures; The Chinchilla Incident!

This lead to some momentary confusion and sudden amusement on my part!

Link!

I thought this might be interesting, considering so many of the board members here are big into iPhones.

Article: 5 Reasons you should be scared of Apple

P.S. Its a company, not your grandmother, nobody lose their mind in nerd-rage of this please!

Guess that answers what Radovan chooses!!!

Whew! Just playtested a group of four at lv8 through the Pathfinder Society Module, Echoes of the Everwar I:Prisoner of Skull Hill.

The characters were;
Taius Afare male human, Order of Lion Cavalier, full-plate and heavy shield wearing, longsword or lance wielding, hores mount: Harstandir
Pasara Collion female human, Inquistor of Abadar, mithral chain wearing, longbow wielding
Ariadne Seren female human, Oracle of Waves, breatplate wearing, trident wielding
Ranaedlara female elf, Witch with raven familiar, necromancy specialised

Overall: I found the classes played at the same level of capability as the core classes, I can quite happily report. I took details, so I will be postinf more, but two extenuating details should be taken into accaount. The cavalier had awful luck. Just terrible, everything went against him. The witch's spells were muted by the fact that

More to come.

You know what I'm finding very annoying, and maybe I'm alone in this, but people keep addressing their thread titles at the staff, James in particular becasue he's such a frequent poster.

This really bugs me though, like they don't have anything better to do, the fact that they answer questions and talk to us on these boards is fantastic, and I really appreciate it, but people have to stop expecting their questions to be answered by staff almost instantaneously. Somebody actually complained when a question didn't get answered over the weekend!

It's great that the staff are so open and friendly, but stop treating them like your own personal Q&A! James Jacobs, for example is the Editor-in-Chief, not Answer-Dispenser for someone who is reviled by asking for lucid advice from the community.

/rant

Sorry, and again maybe I'm alone in this, but it's very annoying.

I have nothing against the Andoren style, the coats, etc. I quite like it. But, I would like to see it combined with a spell-caster, and a guy in armor, I'd like to see it fused with the standard baselines of the PFRPG world, I'd like to see an Andoren fighter and not just see that he's from Andoran, but recognise him as a fighter, same for a wizard.

Any chance of this happening? Or will the coats remain as they are in all images, with chain shirts worn underneath in my mind?

A big round of applause!

Well done guys!

Golarion is analogous to earth in a wonderful, and subtle way, more taking inspiriation from cultures than plopping them into a fantasy world.

So in order to help me do the same I began to think about, and put together, the general thematic inspirations so I could read up on the mythology of that swathe of the world, see what armor and weaponry looked like in that region, know what languages to use to make up fantastic words in those places, etc.

1 So, firstly I got a rough world map in my head. Then for the purpose of this post put it on earth. Golarion isn’t earth, and my knowledge of the world past the Inner Sea is as sketchy as yours, so think of this more along the lines of the early explorers and the Fra Mauro, or Ptolemy maps.

Crude Golarion Map

The Vudrani are based on the people and myths of the Indian subcontinent, and a good example language is Hindi or Sanskrit, and South Asian/Hindu mythology is prevalent.

Of the various Tian peoples, the Tian-La seem to be based of the steppe dwelling tribes north of the Himalyas, especially the Mongols.
The Tian Shu, inhabitants of Qin's successor states and the various Crater Lands kingdoms seem to be Chinese. The Tian Sing are southeast asian, ala Thailand/the Khmer peoples/Angar Wat, I reckon. The Tian Min are openly regarded as analogous to Japanese peoples. The Tian Dan are a bit of a mystery, but I went with the assumptian that they were similar to the inhabitants of 1st millenium Korea.

Note: Minkai seems to be the archipelago stretching from south Tian Xia to Vudra, so I moved Japan south. Sarusan is probably much further away from Tian Xia than Asia-Australia, hence the big arrow. The long blue line is where there may be an ocean separating Tian Xia and Casmaron. (Hopefully, I think that would be cool). The black section in central Casmaron is the Pit of Gormuz area, eastern part of which represents Ninshabur. I'm not sure if Arcadia is the name for the south/meso-american Analogue aswell, so I didn't expand it to be so.

2 Now, lets zoom in a little, to the Inner Sea region. A big thing of import is, I think, this area is not an analogue to Dark Ages Europe, and its not entirely Medieval Europe. It’s more like an analogue of an Alt-history where neither Hellenic Greece nor Rome collapsed as completely, so the Dark Ages never happened.

Taldor can be considered analogous to Hellenic Greece. Their empire spread, for awhile, then Cheliax rebelled and took most of their non-Taldan provinces. However they never took Taldor, so they were allowed a long slow decline and developed cultural similarities to late Rennaisance France, in terms of the nobility anyway.
-Language: Ancient Greek; Mythology: Ancient Greek

Cheliax is the analogue of Italy and Rome then, however it never fell to barbarians, so the Dark Ages never happened, instead 100 odd years ago Aroden died and the empire broke into pieces, but each piece is a whole nation, so civilisation never really imploded. This is a big point of difference. No dark ages, and civilisation being around for longer means that Golarion is more similar to Early Rennaisane Europe in most ways excepting warfare, as military science is very middle ages, but beside that there are printing presses, glass factories, rare spectacles, a burgeoning mercantile middle class in most civilised nations.
-Language: Italian, Latin; Mythology: Roman, Mediterranian

Andoran is hard to peg, and is not entirely analogous to any European nation. Ethnically and culturally they are a mix of Taldan and Cheliaxian peoples, but with their own unique veneer of freedom and democracy.

North of the inner sea, nations are far less likely to have analogues, but the ethnicities still do.
Varisians are inspired in many ways by the Romani, and Ustalav is very Translyvanian. (Aside: The Shoanti have very loose elemants of Native American culture, but seem to look much more like North Africans, and live in a terrain not really found on earth. So not really analgous.)
-Language: Romanian; Mythology: Ustalav-Classical Horror (vampires, werewolves, etc.)

The Ulfen are Nordic-esque peoples, seemily descended from the Iobardians of North Casmaron.
-Language: Norwegian, other Scandinavian; Mythology: Norse

The Kellid tribes are loosely based on Cimmerians, who are looslely based on the Celts. Though made strange by the prehistoric fauna of the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, and Super-Science of Numeria.
-Language: Celtic, Irish, Scottish; Mythology: Celtic, Conan inspired, barbaric Sword&Sorcery

All of the above feature elements of general D&D/Tolkien-esque european-inspired high fantasy, though often with an amount of its original mythology and flavour restored, and more s&s than straight high fantasy alone.

The Keleshite people are Persian/Iranian largely, with Arabian influences too.
-Language: Arabian, Persian; Mythology: Middle East

Garundi people are North Africans, Egyptians is Osirion, Saharan peoples in Thuvia, etc, and Nex/Geb may be slightly inspired by powerful Ethiopian kingdoms like Aksumite.
-Language: Egyptian, Nubian, Cushitic Languages; Mythology: North African and Ancient Egyptian

Mwangi are people from Congo, and Central/Western Africa.
-Language: Various Central African, e.g. Bantu, other Niger-Congo languages; Mythology: Central African, e.g. Ga-Gorib.

I have thrown assimilated peoples under the name of their dominators, so Nidalese and Isgeri people are covered in the Chelaxian region. Similar to the various tribes and peoples encompassed by the term ‘Mwangi’.

Note also that these aren't just analogues, its more that the mythology and cultures of certain peoples inspired them and the places they live, the monsters they face, etc.

Peoples of the Inner Sea

Finally, I’ve seen it written that elves, dwarves and gnomes are mainly found in the Inner Sea Region, particularily Avistan. Now this may change to allow people to play the core races in more exotic lands, but I hope not. It was suggested instead that places like Vudra and Tian Xia would have more culturally appropriate demi-human playable races. And I’m all for the idea of kitsune rather than elves in Minkai!

Okay folken, I'm sure lot's of you have used a plethora of great spells and powers over the years, from many many sources.

I'm looking for spells with great flavour, or that do something very different to core spells, or best of all that do non-combat/useful out of combat things!

What are your favourites? the best? the ones that have a great idea but need a little tweak?

And of course, where are they from.

Thanks in advance to anyone who contributes!

Regards,
-VP

Okay, first off.

The three core books, that's good, I have access through both a friend and a gamer group.

What do the other books give you, or rather the extra core books like the PHB2, etc, and the Power Series?

In particular where would you get more Paragon Paths because I think my big problem with them is that there are too few in the PHB.

Second, how comparable is the skill system to out of combat use, as in D&D 3e, because I like that in general, if I just have to relearn the math a bit I don't mind, but can a player decide to climb an obstacle, or jumo over it, and that be simply and quasi realistically worked out with a skill check or two. [I've heard many bad things about skill challenges, so I don't want to discuss them at the moment.]

Thirdly, are there any discussions on realism in the system ala Tthis article for 3e?

Thanks for any help in advance!

What creatures are actually in this product?

It seems alot of the witch playtests I read say that hexes are fun, but they will often have to wait for oppurtunities to use them, etc.

But you know what? A witch's main arsenal isn't the hexes, but her spells! And that seems the get little or no mention. Are people just not using that class feature because the want to playtest hexes?

Because really, 10+ level witch would only be using hexes on turns where its either uniquely beneficial or they want to conserve spell slots. It'd be like a wizard complaining he can't do anything in combat because his school abilities are only 3+int per day, at any level past 5 its just silly.

Has anyone else noted this trend?

P.S. This is nothing to do with touch hexes, or the power of hexes, etc. I just find it wierd that witch playtests don't always seem to mention using spells.