ziltmilt's page

We've got 1 - 2 spots open, and if you can step into an existing character and run with it, that would be terrific. The current party is stranded out in the wilds, and could use your help.

What do we have?

- a half-orc barbarian, 7th level, a mean, green machine.

- Vilgara, imprisoned at the bottom of an earthen pit, an elven sorcerer with a desperate opportunity for escape finally at hand.

Again, the best way to get in touch is to reach out to me, busterbluth2, on Skype.

group description is here

Group address

As of now, game time will be on Sundays, typically 3 out of 4 weeks a month, from 4 until about 8 or maybe 9 pm, EST. All the campaign information is in the above link.

You'll need b87 of Maptool, Skype, and a google user account would be handy. On Skype, I'm busterbluth2, so please if you're interested in joining us, message me on Skype. That's the best way to contact me.

As of right now, there's about 3 spots open.

I disagree that a challenge to find a specific place will be boring. Anything, poorly done, can be boring.

Load your setting up with interesting details, embed a few potential plot threads in the area, and give the players meaningful choices to make.

Here's an example: while the PCs are searching for this place in the bog, unknown to the group, something hostile is searching for them!

I saw an explanation ...

Very slick! A very elegant way of incorporating official rules and common sense, without adding a houserule. Very nice!!

I think you guys are demonstrating two opposite extremes of examples, with regard to the effects of crafting. One is that the passage of time has no effect, because the GM will simply have another episodic adventure ready by the time that crafting is over. The other is that crafting causes such a delay that the entire world is in peril.

The middle ground seems likelier and more interesting to me. What I had in mind was that the task at hand becomes more difficult as time passes. Info the PCs had prior to the crafting attempt has gone stale and is partially out of date. Or perhaps the denizens of some stronghold the PCs need to penetrate have gotten more reinforcements in the interim. Maybe the bad guys simply got away ...

A series of trade-offs make a good game, and I like Crafting as an option. As long as there's a price to be paid, it can work in the game. The big trade-offs with Crafting are time & money. It's also good to have an outlet to absorb PC wealth.

You do realize that pazio has basically admitted that the magic item crafting rules are borked and is getting a rehaul...RIGHT? Seriously, the magic item creation rules as written and clarified in FAQ is BROKEN. As in you let a player run with it and they WILL break you game broken.

I'd like to know more from you why exactly crafting is broken. Back in the old 3.0 days, didn't you have to also spend XP to craft? I always liked that rule ... maybe it should come back.

I also wonder if crafting is broken because so many DMs fail to account for time. If you hand-wave the passage of time away, you're ignoring a very large cost as part of using those Craft abilities.

Had an idea for awhile ... after gaining a level, instead of players choosing new spells freely for their spellbooks, they're limited to only the spells they either find while adventuring, what they can buy in town, what they can learn from NPC connections, or what they research.

They get a choice starting out, of course, in the 0 and 1st level spells. On the other hand, perhaps the GM has a somewhat limited list of known 0 and 1st level spells that are allowed.

I get a kick out of this idea, because the PCs get to recover lost knowledge in addition to gathering gold & jewels in their adventures. Said another way, getting access to previously unknown magical lore is another reason to adventure. Plus, as GM, you could have different geographical regions with mages & clerics in various lands specializing in certain schools or faith traditions. To learn "new" spells, the party has to travel to other countries and seek out this knowledge.

Maybe the spells also get culturally appropriate names. 'Fireball' in Osirion is instead called 'Pharaonic Fury', for example.

Just an idea ... whaddya think ??? I can hear players groaning about losing some choice, but I find a lot to recommend this idea.

Another consideration is that spells are often used outside of encounters and aren't always appropriate for combat. Comprehend Languages, Read Magic, Floating Disc, etc.

If you wanted to further constrain casters beyond spells per day, maybe you'd want to explore a limited number of spell levels that could be cast per encounter, and as a PC advances, that level limit expands. But, I'm guessing that your intent is the opposite, in that you want casters casting more spells, not less.

This stuff has been talked to death, I'm sure, but the topic has long been one of interest to me. I like how James M at Grognardia referred to it as 'D&D's unfulfilled promise'. When D&D was published, it was usually with the assumption that as PCs levelled up, they'd eventually found strongholds and kingdoms of their own, but until 1985, there wasn't much to go by. And, even the Companion Set's rules were vague and felt unfinished.

Several other publishers have tried this type of thing. But, I find the rules introduced in Kingmaker to be really good. They're mechanically simple, intuitive to grasp, and yet have some meaty depth to them. I especially like so much emphasis on Charisma bonuses. Here we have an excellent reason for fighters to invest in that oft-neglected ability!

One thing especially that jumps out at me, and that is strikingly appropriate for a feudal dominion: the bigger the dominion, the more difficult to rule. I'm really tempted to add in a vassal/liege mechanic to this. As a duke or king, you can hand land over to a vassal, in return for a smaller dominion size (-1 to DCs per hex), plus you'd get a reduction in Consumption ... I've got no idea what would be appropriate, but maybe -1 to Consumption per 5 hexes you've handed over. Of course, if you're the low man on the totem pole, you've got to hand over the goods to your boss (referred to as a 'salt tax'), and perhaps the opposite math would occur (+1 Consumption per 5 hexes or something).

Over time, who knows if you really can trust that Duke or Baron holding your land, but that's what makes it fun, right?

I have the most problem with the mass combat rules; fundamentally, they're pretty sound. But, they could be a lot better with some tweaking. Here's my thoughts:

- Armies can only be up to 2000 men? How about this: armies are a collection of forces, with each force having a max size of 2000. Armies can be any number of forces. Semantics, I know.

- Forces are not a homogenous unit; they can be a mix of troop types. Just use a weighted average to determine the CR, and the lowest HD to determine the hp. However, it's perfectly legit to have a force 100% homogenous.

- This is simplification to be sure, but there's a rock/paper/scissors relationship to the core types of medieval fighting men: infantry/archers/cavalry. Each force can be a mix of all 3 and when it's up against an opposing force with a different mix, there's a potential bonus in play.

- When creating a force, you determine if it's majority archer, cavalry or infantry (or perhaps majority neither). For every 10% above 50, the potential bonus is +1, up to +5. If your force fights an opposing force whose majority is at a disadvantage, you get your bonus plus his. Imagine a force of mounted knights (60%) and other units (+1) up against a force of infantry (80%) and archers (+4). The knights enjoy a tremendous advantage against infantry and would get a total combat bonus of +5. Perhaps this bonus is to damage as well as OV/DV.

- I'd get rid of the Ranged Phase entirely; Ranged Attacks are simply assumed as part of the bonus listed above.

- Fatigue status could be introduced. Armies are either 'Normal', 'Fatigued', or 'Exhausted', with movement and combat penalties applying (perhaps 0, -3, -6). Forces out of supply or forced marched can suffer this condition; losing a battle also can have this effect. Even if a force took no damage in a battle, surely it'd stand a good chance of suffering fatigue.

- I'd think that breaking an opposing force's morale instead of wiping out their hp would be your primary goal. When hp starts dropping, that's when the army leader needs to start making Morale rolls (DC 15 + dmg absorbed) ? Historically, didn't armies try to break an army by making them lose confidence? That's the impression I've gotten from a lot of historical fiction, like Bernard Cornwell's stuff.

- I'm also not real crazy about the list of Tactics & Resources. Resources ought to simply be a list of available options when outfitting a force. I'd probably forgo all of the stuff in the Tactics list. A lot of that stuff is already assumed in the Strategic phase. It looks like it was meant to be a way to 'level up' an army, but a note about that next.

- Since armies take hp damage and then 'heal', the healing presumably is new recruits. So, at some level, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me that a force would gain experience by gaining tactics. If forces do indeed become deadlier over time, it seems to me that keeping it simple would be better - just apply bonuses to OV, DV, or dmg .. or maybe even hp.

- There ought to be more detail surrounding sieges, and I'm taking some inspiration from the old D&D Masters book. When a defending army is utilizing a stronghold (castle, city, fort, etc) for defense, then they are under siege. The only tactic available to them is Defensive while utilizing the stronghold's defenses, unless they decide to charge out into the field. Otherwise, the attacker has a few options:

1) Assault - the defense bonus from fortifications also becomes a damage bonus for the defender; potentially ruinous for the attacker, but nothing ventured, right? Helm's Deep anyone? Note that I also think kingdom builders should be able to expand upon their defenses much more than just walls & castles. I don't like a lot of the options in the River Kingdoms book ... they're kinda weird. But, things like magically reinforced walls, admantium gates, etc., could also be ways
to boost your cities' protection.

2) Bombard - Now we have to pull out the siege engines and let 'em rip. Each engine has a different cost and a different die used for bombardment. Each die roll minus 3 that's greater than zero, reduces the stronghold's fortifications by 1. Ballista only roll a d4; Grond would roll a d12. Of course a defender can also target siege engines w/ their own using the same mechanics (dX - 3). 1 hit takes out an engine. And, of course, you can always have the PCs in a mini-scenario raiding an army's engines.

3) Siege - So, we're gonna smoke 'em out. Tunneling, poisoning wells, building trenches, etc., adds +1 to the OV & DV for an attacking army per week. The defender's supplies likely go down as well. Note that the attacker must also be kept supplied. Also note that the bonus only applies while fighting the defending forces within the stronghold. If combat occurs with another army, those bonuses do not exist.

- Siege engines can be purchased/built at normal price in your cities or constructed for 2x the cost on the field. They slow your army down, taking 1 off the speed.

- How would supply work? Probably the simplest way is to look at your map. If you can trace a route from a city you control to your army, they're OK. If an opposing army can get in-between your city and your army, then you're out of supply. If you're hunkering down, defending in a city, then the city could be assumed to have so much supply available. It would last X number of weeks, depending on the dominion's treasury, the city size, and the army's consumption cost.

I'd really like to know your reactions to these ideas. I'm also working on an Access dbase to help track all this kingdom management & army stuff. So far, it's pretty fun watching it spin, but I've only built a small part of it.

my group still likes the Ad&D mass combat system, 1985 1st ed. (not the 1989 2nd ed.) We've revised it for d20 gaming.

I think you're referring to the rules for mass combat in the D&D Companion set. I'm no expert, but I don't recall 1st ed. AD&D ever having mass combat rules of any kind. I do know that 2nd ed had a boxed set, Battlesystem, but it was mini's & counters based, and not an abstract mass combat system like the Companion set featured.

it would be nice to have some kind of rules for ruling a domain that isn't a traditional domain.

For example, something to model the running of a huge city. It's the end of CotCT or CoT and the city is yours - now what?

Why exactly would Korvosa not be a traditional domain? Wouldn't it simply be an established city, so that if you were to apply these rules, you would merely have to decide the structures in the city? Korvosa is huge, so I'm assuming you'd need more than a single grid to represent it.

Speaking of which, would you simply use the Core rulebook's table on settlements to determine how many grids to use? So, I guess a Large City would get up to 3 district maps; a Metropolis 3+.

Anyone remember the old D&D Companion rules? If you were a baron or some other lord swearing fealty to another higher up the chain (King, Emperor, etc), you had to pay 20% of your monthly incomes to your liege. I don't see where this kind of expense is represented in these PF rules.

Barons and Dukes are lesser lords compared to Kings, but wouldn't most Barons & Dukes have feudal obligations to a King somewhere? I guess you could simply introduce a consumption increase somehow to reflect this. On the other side of the coin, if you're a King in these rules, you wouldn't be collecting any additional BPs. The way I read these rules, it could be merely assumed you've got lesser lords employed in running smaller groups of hexes within your kingdom.

(hey, I found a spear trap! In my spine!).

LOL!

When disabling, I go the same route. "You jam a few loose stones into the trap door, keeping it shut" or "carefully rub away a few important magic runes."

I'm glad you mentioned that last one as an example. I was wondering how exactly do you disable a magic trap, and those are especially prevalent in higher levels, it would seem. Disabling a mechanical trap makes sense, but i never understood how this skill would translate to a magical trap.

I've been reading the awesome hardback adventure, The Slumbering Tsar, and am wondering about traps. I'm especially curious how other groups handle the Perception & Disable Device checks.

For example, pg 599 of this adventure has a dropping ceiling trap which covers a 10x20 area. It never misses anything in the target area and does 12d6 damage. So, in coming across this trap, several questions spring to mind:

1) let's say your PCs are searching the vicinity of this trap; if they're in an area adjacent to and outside the area of effect, would they still get the PER and Disable checks?

2) Taking 10 would be OK, but I don't think taking 20 is kosher. Per the SRD (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/usingSkills.html) on taking 20: "...and the skill being attempted carries no penalties for failure". But, then it says a few sentences down: 'Common “take 20” skills include Disable Device (when used to open locks), Escape Artist, and Perception (when attempting to find traps).' What am I missing here? Not finding a trap can surely be said to carry a huge penalty for failure.

3) I've posted before about how I think indoor/dungeon movement outside of combat should be at a dramatically slower rate. If you look at prior iterations of D&D, you'll see where I'm coming from. As part of that slower movement, it seems fair that PCs would get an automatic check for traps, treasure, etc., and if so, here's an idea on how to do it: this 'passive' PER check is equivalent to taking 10 on every 5' square; if a PC wants to roll instead, he can spend a round to check a specific area/5' square.

By 'passive', I mean that the players don't have to announce the check; their characters are very much 'active' in searching.

4) These PER & Disable numbers strike me as a little dry and there's not much more detail in the trap description itself. How much description do you get into ? Is a PER check itself enough to know how deadly the trap can be? It looks like these could be fleshed out with a little more fluff, but I'd love to hear how you all run these things. I've never been satisfied with how I present traps to the players.

The Real Problem With Pathfinder Is That I Don't Have Enough Money To Buy It All.

For me, it's not enough time :(

10-foot poles are for amateurs.

Real adventuring poles go to 11 feet!

Spinal Tap reference? lol

Being able to focus on story rather than having to go through a whole book's worth of map extraction/ resizing to fit a grid plus searching for token art and then think about story - priceless!

But hopefully available via subscription :)

I'll throw in my 2 cents .. you hit the nail on the head. Running games is a lot of fun using a VTT ,but grabbing maps & other stuff is a chore I could live without.

I'm a little surprised Paizo doesn't just partner with the RPTools team vs reinventing the wheel. Maptool already does so much, especially when you consider how customizable it is via macros and all the framework libraries that are freely available. The only disadvantage to Maptool is the amount of advance prep work ... setting up vision blocking, figuring out the macros, etc.

To repeat what another poster mentioned, if you could use the artwork from any subscription in your game AND throw in images you already have available, that would be great. IMO, a nominal fee for access isn't unreasonable, given the potential convenience of an app. However, if the VTT doesn't let you use art from your subscriptions, it'd be hard to justify paying another fee for this VTT when a person can simply use Maptool for free.

Does it strike anyone else that oozes ought to have some kind of DR vs B or P weapons? Given the amorphous nature of an ooze, it seems like a a piercing wound would simply collapse in upon itself and a smashing weapon would do little other than sink into ooze's mass. I can see a slicing weapon having more effect, if you can imagine slicing off bits of the beastie.

Maybe the assumption is that oozes have a kind of 'skin', so that even when pierced or smashed, it's hurt.

I've got room on our Monday evening sessions for 1 - 2 more players. Gametime is from 7 pm to 10 pm EST. If anyone's interested, pls shoot me a message on Skype at busterbluth2. thx

Hey Magic, have you added me on Skype yet? busterbluth2

We should add you to the group conversation.

If we're calling classes now, I'll go with an all-in-one alchemist build I've had in the back of my mind for some time. He'd primarily function as the rogue of the group and DPS in later levels.

I think he fits in well from what I've read. As long as zilt doesn't have anything against class archetypes.

Will there be any gentleman's agreements in effect, such as no sundering?

That's pretty cool that you two are looking at classes from the APG. I haven't seen either a summoner or alchemist used in PF yet (gotta play more!). What do you mean by DPS?

Monsters do use Combat Manuevers, however, I can't recall ever actually using Sunder as an option. I like things like Bull Rush, Disarm, Trip, etc. Awesome Blow is pretty cool, too. Generally, maneuvers would only happen where you'd expect them; a swashbuckler would likely try to Aid Another or Dirty Trick, fighting a giant could very well leave you Disarmed, etc. And, at lower levels, those special attacks don't happen very often.

10 point buy is that from 8 or 10?

from 10, which is what Herolab does, if I'm not mistaken

starting with max gold or rolled such as summoners 2D6X10 or 120 gold?

to start and if your allowing traits how many 1.2.3?

Can we skip the traits for now? If there's a real need for them later, I'm flexible enough to put them back in, but there's already SO much stuff in the game, I don't think they're really worth the effort to track.

Go ahead and roll, but if you roll less than half, just roll again. We'll do the same with hit points as you advance. Speaking of which, on first level, give your character max HP.

How does all that sound?

As far as character creation goes, we've got the 10 point buy. Are we using traits as well? And, if so, are there any campaign specific traits we should be looking at?

I noticed that the price of equipment varies depending on where you are. How will that work with starting gold? Will we use the values in the book for starting gear? Or do we have a set value of wealth?

I should mention now that I'm considering running an arcane caster, likely a wizard. How concerned should I be about finding scrolls to scribe into a spellbook?

Yay questions!

Well, I'll have to re-think the equipment prices and whether I really want to be tracking those variants across different locations. Again, those rules specific to this campaign are in very rough form and that's one that may end up on the chopping block.

Campaign traits ... ugh, I'm not a fan of them, simply because they add more mechanical bloat for not much benefit and PF has enough mechanics without them.

You're 3rd question gave me an idea, something I've thought of before. It'd be interesting if new acquired spells as a caster progresses depended entirely upon discovering new spells as a result of adventuring. But, that's pretty tough, even though I think it's cool. Yes, there are scrolls & arcane lore to be found; in fact, depending on information you uncover, you may have a preference to explore specific sites over others.

The concept is rather tantalizing. Either day works for me; however, Fridays would be preferable. I have never used Maptool before, but am familiar with Skype and Hamachi.

Yeah, I think Fridays will definitely be a game day. No worries about being a novice with Maptool; it's pretty intuitive.

i would love to join do you know the build or are you using dice build?

I like a lower-powered game; we'll be using the 10 point buy for building PCs.

I'm still plugging away and am making progress. It really looks like 1st game day will be sometime in mid-April.

BTW, what's on the website is just a rough draft at this point. So, nothing is set in stone there, and I'll be cleaning it up, making it more readable as well.

I'm working one a couple different dungeons for a new campaign and I'm really struggling with finishing them. It's as if I'm having trouble coming with up interesting ideas on stocking them. Anyone else have this problem?

I really need to use some maps in my game from Dungeon magazine but I'm having trouble getting the maps to scan in straight. I'm importing the maps into Maptool, and it's handy to get the Maptool grid to align to the map image.

I remember that Paizo used to hand out a free PDF of their art & maps; did they ever finish doing that for the later issues?

If not, anyone got any good tips on how to scan magazine pages so that the images are straight? I'm having a hard time doing this.

Check out this link:

http://forums.rptools.net/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=19839

Maptools is wonderful freeware, and if you go to the above location in their forum, you'll find a framework, which is a collection of Maptool macros. The macros are awesome ... they take a lot of work out of running a game online.

It'll handle combat rolls, critical hits, damage dealt, etc. It'll do saving throws, combat states (and their effects on a creature's stats), and one of my favorite things: a built-in initiative window. You can select a bunch of tokens all at once, click the framework' Init. button, and everyone goes to the Init window in order by their roll.

Chances are very high that you're gonna love Maptools.

Probably about 3 hours.

Moved thread.

Sorry I put this in the wrong place ... I looked around for the appropriate spot and just didn't find it.

I'm wrapping up prep for my 3rd online PF campaign. Previously, I ran Rise of the Runelords for nearly a year, and Serpent's Skull for about 6 months.

I'll be using Maptool, Skype, and probably Hamachi (for a virtual network). These are all freeware.

I've got a *very* rough draft up at this site:

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/swardmere

If you're interested, please let me know by replying to this thread. You can also find me on Skype, my id = busterbluth2. I anticipate that gameplay will start mid-April and game times will probably be Fridays and/or Sundays starting ~ 7 pm EST. Sundays might have an earlier start time.

Things are still a little fluid, but at this point, I want to gauge interest. Thanks !!

Wind & rain can have overlapping effects. Do they stack?

For example: rain has the same effect on PER checks as severe wind (-4). If you also had severe wind during a rain, would PER checks then be -8?

Seems pretty high to me, but not unreasonable.

if you want to play a buffer character play a cleric that way or a wizard.

Maybe if people really like this type of character maybe a tactician class should be designed to allow others options personally i think many will not play the bard class.

Every class has a specialty ... one area that it does really really well, that the other folks in the party are deficient. Except for bards. They don't specialize in combat, magic, thief skills or buffing like clerics. They do all that stuff.

They're a Swiss army knife. So, in a specific situation, yes, another party member will likely be superior. But, maybe not. You can almost think of a bard as a form of insurance. The party's covered.

I think the concept of a bard class is pretty interesting, since it's the only generalist in the CRB. However, I don't believe I've ever played in a group with a bard.

if the DM runs a boring game, that's pretty evil. I never ever want to sit in someone's basement waiting for an hour in between combat rounds, or waiting for the DM to orchestrate some elaborate opening scenario that brings all these PCs together for the first time. "You're at a tavern ..." Please, spare me!

This complaint is a big selling point of Paizo's Adventure Paths, by the way. They show you how to get the ball rolling IMMEDIATELY. "You're enjoying the Swallowtail Festival when ..."

Weellll, I haven't actually put anything in to come up with random terrain details like campsites. Certainly, that's doable. What you've got in mind sounds like the tables on pages 224 - 225 of the GMG - things on the roadside, scenic spots, etc. So, good thought ... I could certainly add these things. And, the list itself is editable, so new stuff can always be thrown in there.

As far as mundane treasures, anything that is indicated as being size-able or subject to different materials will get those variables. So, yes, shields can be small, large, tiny, etc., as well as made of darkwood, mithral, etc.

I don't have anything in there about broken or useless items, but that's not a bad idea. Essentially, an item could have the broken condition and perhaps mend-able via a Craft or some sort of Profession check?

Yes, when you mention 'mundane details', you really nailed it. I want something to handle the boring minute details, like weather, that are always in the background, so that when they're important, the players can't accuse me of 'making that up'.

What a stinker! Was going onto the site tonight to pick my subscription up again.

I'll 2nd the notion of digital publishing. This would be awesome on an e-reader.

Quick update: it's nearly finished! I need to add Cursed Items, and I definitely need to debug 'Armor' as a magic item option. There's also a few quirky items that need some customization, like shield spikes. I'm not sure if it's really worth it to fool with those though.

However, mission creep has settled in. There's several other things I've found useful and so I'm bundling them up into this tool:

- time tracker, which will also display customizable lunar phases and tracks any custom event you may need (like reminders about disease saves, villain spell durations,etc); it also displays custom names for days of the week and for month names.

- a simple random encounter generator, that would be tied to the time tracker, so that reminders about any wandering monsters automatically show up in a list of future events

- a random generator for Arcane KNO rolls about monsters: I really like this one, cause I've added text for flavor. So, instead of telling a player that a given monster has fire resistance, the text may say something like 'The famous elven explorer Altanith describes seeing raw flames lick the hide of the beast to no effect'. The script on this will take several random known tidbits, add them to a single string, and then copy them to the Windows clipboard. It's handy cause then I can simply paste as a 'Whisper' to a specific player(s) in Maptool.

- a weather generator, which, ye gods, shouldn't be so difficult. This piece has proven to be a general pain in the you-know-where, but doggone it, I want random weather to go with the random encounters. I hate it when players complain 'oh, why are you doing this to us?'. Yeah, you could just pick the weather, but my preference is to say that the chips fall where they may. So, why has this piece been so painful? There's several reasons why, which could make a post of its own, but mainly cause weather is boring. For the most part, it has little mechanical effect, but when a nasty storm blows through, I want all the reminders about those effects close at hand.

- I also want a piece to help with overland movement, that would take terrain, weather effects, and the presence/absence of trails & roads into account. This shouldn't be terribly difficult to add, but it would tie into the weather piece.

I know there's a few sites out there that do some of this stuff, but what I'm building is a single tool that will handle a lot of mundane stuff that I had been tracking in several different files.

I find that picking one edition and sticking with it solves that problem. :)

Yes, but it makes other problems. Your potential pool of fellow players is decreased and dwindles every year that passes after a game's new edition game out.

For example, I can never find an opponent to play my favorite all-time game, since Chess 2.0 was published.

I'm no expert but it seems right to me its just when you get into enchantments and the like that you start adding large sums with no modification as in those Nunchaku as a +1 weapon would cost 1052GP. 52GP may seem low for a mithril item but its still something like 25 times the cost of a non-mithral one. Of course its not really worth making something that light out of Mithral but you could do it.

Mundane, or non-magical, weapons & armor can be made out of special materials. See pg 154 of the CRB. Of course, magical weapons & armor are constructed from special materials, too ... and this generator I'm building will randomly create examples of both.

I agree that typically no-one will ever need or want a tiny sized mithral nunchaku, but now that that thought is in my head, I can see a formation of ninja pixies flying straight for my PCs ...

Man, we weren't due for another one of these for at least a month.

I'm sorry ... My attendance on these boards tends to be sporadic. But, it's good to know that it we've got a few years at least.

I really am so sick of edition changes.

Just curious what folks out there think. For what it's worth, IMO, let's keep the edition we've got for as long as possible.

I'm so tired of edition changes. Just burned out on them, really. And, with PF, I've got a huge investment in this version of the game, with all the rulebooks, modules, APs, etc. And, I've put a lot of time & effort into personal tools, like tweaks to the PF framework for Maptool, Herolab files, etc.

The thought of having to re-do and repurchase all that stuff makes me shudder. And, for any of you out there that are raring to go with a 2nd edition, I can hear objections already:

1) just keep playing the game you've got ... there's nobody forcing you to upgrade (my answer to that: the biggest pool of players are probably gonna come from the latest edition of a game)

2) you can still use the old stuff, just tweak it to convert it (and my answer to that: I wish I had the time!)

PF 1st edition rocks, it plays well, it's fun ... let's keep it till my great-grandkids are old.

I'm making quite a bit of progress on this project. It's taken much longer than I expected, but it should come in very handy for impromptu encounters, like if you get those a lot via sandbox campaigns. Right now, it will generate a variety of trade goods, mundane gear, jewelry, gems, coins, and any magic item (except for armor & cursed. those are the last items).

I've got a rules question, just to verify my math. The generator will create various items of different sizes and materials. The question I've got is if I'm coming up with the costs correctly.

For example (and this is a ridiculous example), a Nunchaku costs 2 gp and weighs 2 lbs. But, if it's made of mithral AND is sized for a tiny humanoid, how much would it cost?

I'm coming up with 52 gp. Mithral adds 500 gp/lb, but this object at a Tiny size would weigh .2 lbs and mithral objects weigh half normal, so it's down to .1 lbs. (.1 X 500) + 2, the base item cost, = 52.

Have I got that right?

Thanks, all, for the suggestions! It's good to know there's interest in the work. I'll make this tool available as soon as it's ready.

I would really like it if the fighter's bonus feats were 'prepared' each day (from all available combat feats) so he could tailor himself to the presumed needs of the upcoming encounters.

That's an awesome idea!

At the end of the day, I've made my peace with WotC, but they will never see me buy another D&D product from them in the future. Pathfinder has a strong (if not likely, STRONGER) gamer following than D&D has. The truth can be seen in sales numbers in stores, number of games played at conventions, and in the sheer number of awards Paizo has received over WotC (who traditionally dominated in gaming awards). I'm fully behind the Pathfinder product now, and am completely happy with where they have taken the hobby.

Tarrintino

Tarrintino, I love your avatar. Good choice!

I agree w/ you 100%. To paraphrase Paul Newman, why go out for hamburger if you've already got steak?

not sure how your coding it, so it may or may not work, but a cap based on item might be a good idea. 3000 clay jugs would be odd, but 57 of them in a dungeon pantry wouldn't be...

The quantity would also depend on the room's purpose as well as whomever the occupant was. Several hundred clay jugs inside an abandoned kitchen in a keep wouldn't be out of place but probably would look funny inside an old barracks.

The core book recommends limiting mundane treasure to 1000 gp or less, but if you group armor & weapons as mundane items, then this 1k gold limit could be too low. Especially if this generator should come up with items like non-magical bejeweled breastplates and the like.

I'm building this tool in Excel. As soon as I get it finished, I'll furnish a link for dl'ing.

I'm building a treasure generator, using the rules laid out in the Core book, and it'll also be highly configurable. Just wondering about misc treasure items, stuff like armor, weapons, etc.

So far, when mundane gear comes up as a portion of treasure, then often i get things like 3000 clay jugs or 500 shields. Does this strike anyone as ridiculous? Of course, if you don't like a given result, it's simple enough to generate a brand new one.

I think you are looking at the problem all wrong. The article linked has great advice on how to run an adventure.

Seriously ??? The article is all about prepping, not running. Specifically, it's saying how you should prep in order to better run a game, by not plotting.

I'm really surprised you could think otherwise, if you read the link. Prepping happens before your game, not during it.

Paizo never has read-aloud text that describes scripted actions of NPCs. They don't even assume that NPCs are in the rooms they give descriptions for.

Maybe the Paizo stuff in the planet I'm on is totally different. Check out the first volume of Serpent's Skull, which I've referenced on this thread a few times previously. Yarzoth is always to be found in the same room, no matter what the PCs have done previously. That's just one example. In fact, if the PCs are wreaking havoc on your timeline, there's a sidebar in that volume telling you to be careful and time things just so, so that Yarzoth is where she's supposed to be.

I'm not talking about scripted actions of NPCs per se ... , if you're referring to NPC speech, I personally don't mind suggestions for dialogue for probably PC questions. (example, pg 15 of Rise of the Runelords, vol 4) That stuff comes in very handy, for the most part. My complaint would be that, in many AP volumes, you have to go through dungeon A before dungeon B ... etc.

So I guess I have to ask, can you point to a published adventure that is formatted the way you want?

Nope ... I wish I could. I was hoping to hear ideas on how such a thing would exist for a fantasy RPG and for APs specifically. It's an interesting thing to imagine ... what would the next step look like? RPGs are an art form, and as artists, we should expect the medium to evolve and grow.

Paizo's APs are amazing things. I used to game way back in the early 80s, when adventure modules were pretty thin, all the interior art was B/W, and the maps were plain as a checkerboard. Those adventures, for the most part, were (and still are) fantastic, but I have to admit that the gameplay I've experienced so far from running a couple of APs is better. The art is more immersive, the players can move their tokens around on full-color maps, the NPCs are better fleshed out, and the game, while more complex, is simply more fun.

Having said that, I do believe there's always room to grow and improve.

So change it?

Adding a "time-line" to Yarzoth's actions shouldn't take more than 5 minutes for you, but would probably remove a different encounter from the adventure as the writers throw in a side-bar.

Yes, I wish I'd thought of such a thing before running that volume. And, yes, I realize I can change whatever I'd like in a published adventure.

But, wouldn't it be cool if APs really took things to the next level and were less linear and more dynamic? That's what I'm trying to get across (and failing terribly, apparently).

I did not see a link to be honest.

http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4147/roleplaying-games/dont-prep-plots

it's not embedded .. you'll have to copy/paste. check it out .. it's a good read.

Unfortunately some of this relies on the GM having the time and energy to do a re-write. If you don't have these resources available, you will probably have to DM fiat it to keep things on track.

Exactly ... 'keep things on track'. How about, letting the chips fall where they may, instead? Wouldn't that be an interesting change of pace?

I do agree w/ you about the NPC write-ups: their goals, motivations, etc. But, darn it, why is the BBG always rooted in place? Can't the APs be a little dynamic in this regard? Woudln't it have been cool for the PCs to have a chance to encounter Yarzoth with the cannibals or even in the wilds of Smuggler's Shiv?

Yes, I realize I can do that kind of thing on my own. But, one of the goals of an AP subscription is to do as little work on my own as possible, isn't it?