Alleran's page

I find the easiest way to be "evil" is to have a smaller circle of caring.

Do you respect and care for, say, the rest of the party? Absolutely. Do you defend them, help them, support them? Yes! Do you care about the members of the city watch you're killing your way through to bust out one of the party who got arrested? Hell no, they're obstacles at best. You do what you need to do to help the rest of the party, everybody else be damned.

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The seven runelords, Arazni, Tar-Baphon, Treerazer, Razmir, Baba Yaga, and Mengkare.

1. What would they talk about (besides the usual taking over the world stuff)?

2. What sort of personality conflicts would arise?

I still think that Sorshen and Xanderghul would probably be pretty friendly or at least on reasonable speaking terms. Enemies or not, when you know each other for thousands and thousands of years, you'd probably wind up appreciating that for all that you hate each other, they're still among the few that you can actually relate to among these most-recent other "Runelords" in Thassilon, despite whatever squabbles you've been having for the past couple centuries.

Anyway. Question in two parts.

The various types of Outer dragons in B4 have very little information associated with them regarding their attitudes and such.

1) When comparing how Outer dragons act compared with other PF dragons (e.g. blacks are sociopathic, blues are OCD-like tidy and in control, brasses are whimsical and light-hearted - taking these from Dragons Revisited), what metallics/chromatics would Outer dragons likely be most similar to?

2) Is there any intent on expanding the background information on Outer dragons in any upcoming publications?

Divine Source does not allow you to choose a favored weapon. As written, a cleric of a quasi deity does not gain a favored weapon. I suspect this is an accidental error of omission... but I also like the precident that it sets that a cleric of a quasi deity is just a little bit less powerful than a cleric of a demigod.

Question with reference to this.

1) The Distant Shores book provides favoured weapons for the quasi-deity hero gods of Aelyosos (Kelksomides, Druid 16 / Marshal 5, favoured weapon sickle; also Psomeira, Skald 13 / Champion 6, favoured weapon doru). Is this then an oversight? Or should quasi-deities also get favoured weapons for their clerics?

Note: An inability for quasi-deities to have favoured weapons would also influence the Warpriest class in a reasonably large way.

Other question, though, and the more - to my mind - important one.

2) Harking back to Jade Regent, in the early stages of the AP the party can meet Spivey, a Lyrakien azata cleric of Desna (level 3 cleric). A Lyrakien can be taken as an Improved Familiar for a spellcaster of the appropriate level and alignment. How would you, as a GM, adjudicate players who would like to take Spivey as an Improved Familiar, given that she has class levels? She can already accompany the caravan as a NPC ally, but making her an Improved Familiar would go a bit further and influence the rules regarding familiars at baseline, making her a "mechanical part" of a character.

Hermea, if you're accepted.

I'm just going to leave this here:

"There are times when the end justifies the means. But when you build an argument based on a whole series of such times, you may find that you've constructed an entire philosophy of evil." ~Luke Skywalker

That is all.

Also, that shortpacked comic made me think of this image in rebuttal to it

http://i.imgur.com/an49Sr9.jpg

I like this one, but then, I do like bizarre adventures.

CBDunkerson wrote:

Joana wrote:

James Jacobs has been very emphatic that Aroden is dead

Yes, but 'dead' isn't always permanent on Golarion. There are disparate hints and theories (not to mention a module) about how he might be able to come back. I doubt they mean for any of those to happen, but the possibility exists.

Oh come on. He was just a god, not an X-man. Dude's not coming back.

To be perfectly fair, several X-men can and have pulled double-duty as gods, but the revolving door of comic book death being what it is, nobody has failed to come back to life/undeath at least once. Even Uncle Ben has.

What module, incidentally? I'm obviously not up to date.

Question: while recently catching up on the Critical Role webshow (basically a bunch of voice actors playing through what started out as their home D&D campaign, shifting to 5E from PF), I saw one of the special episodes, the one based off We Be Goblins. I was wondering, have you seen it, or watched it as it happened? I think there were gifts and such done between the show and Paizo as part of it, so I'm curious about how aware you were that they did it.

(It was, needless to say, quite funny.)

Razmir may think he's a big deal, but in truth he's a small fish. His little nation is nowhere NEAR large enough to threaten an actual deity, much less attract their attention. He's a tiny little problem that can be fixed by the faithful, and he'll die in a few years or decades anyway, since he's mortal.

I have a follow-up question about Razmir in relation to this. Generally it would perhaps be assumed that gods are "immortal" (though the deaths of various gods throughout Golarion's history argues that while they might not necessarily die of old age, they can still be killed one way or another). With the release of Distant Shores and the expansion on places like Iblydos, with hero-gods capable of granting divine spells who explicitly can quite possibly grow old and die in the normal fashion, is the fact that Razmir still isn't "immune to aging" necessarily seen as a strike against him, depending on the person?

After all, if a hero-god of Iblydos can grow old and die (or be publicly and visibly killed in battle, or similar), nothing says that Razmir might not be able to do the same while still being some degree of god. And while the Starstone can accelerate somebody to full godhood, Mythic Realms does indicate that it may not do so for a particular user.

(I'm aware that in canon he isn't a god, but it seems that there are enough published variations and exceptions to the rule that Razmir's charade could be much more believable in-universe than it might have been earlier in the setting's publishing schedule.)

Arueshalae is the big one.

Nocticula is looking to shift alignment from evil to at least neutral, and was supposedly a fallen empyreal lord before that.

Amusement mode engaged.

please explain the caster/martial disparity

Casters rule, martials drool.

can someone elaborate on when a paladin should fall

When they stop being Optimus Prime and start being Megatron.

how do I do grappling

You don't because if the other guy has a functioning brain he has a ring of freedom of movement.

why does the rogue even exist

For people who think "scout ahead and look for traps designed to kill you" is a good idea.

how do armor spikes work

By hugging it out.

is charm person an evil act

It's an old Jedi mind trick, you peecha chakka no wookiee boonowa tweepi Solo. Ho ho ho.

why are most CN characters complete dumpsters

They want to be Ma-Ma.

Ma-Ma is not the law. I am the law.

explain sacred geometry interactions plz

Solvable mathematical equations.

should I rollplay or roleplay

how much can I optimize before I am considered a cheesing powergamer

Optimising is your left leg, roleplaying is your right leg. Playing RPGs is walking. Some people insist that you must use one leg or the other and hop along like an idiot. These people are weird, and should be avoided.

why do the forums smell like burning tires

Because you touch yourself at night.

Law is who are you?

Chaos is what do you want?

(though I suppose a +8 and Masterwork Tools, which Grad Students generally have, does let you Take 10 and get a 20, so maybe go with that)

Access to a university network (and libraries or databases, e.g. JSTOR archive to pick one offhand) would almost certainly count as a +2.

You know you could do this thing called adjust stats for your home game.

Part of the point of criticism and reviews is to encourage a well-made product. If the product is not well-made, why am I wasting money on it?

If there is a consistent problem with statblocks, then it should be examined in order to fix the problem at the source.

Heck, the men even look like hairy brutes in comparison...

There is a disconnect on this, between the description and the artwork of the male Lashunta from Inner Sea Races. I could see the pictured one as a bit shorter than the women, perhaps (difficult without a direct comparison at the same aspect), and he's definitely muscled, but half the height? Twice as broad? Covered in hair? Yeah, no.

MeanMutton wrote:

MuertoXSky wrote:

I have enjoyed all the repleis here, all i have to say ... I f****** love Scry and fry.

My classical understanding of "Scry and Fry" - use Scry, buff, then teleport to the target of your Scry - is no longer valid. Rules in Ultimate Intrigue make it clear that it doesn't work.

oohh :(.

could you attach a link to verify that?.
Still, it is a valid option, perhaps not in this case.

"Scrying can be enormously useful for a spy, if the circumstances all align well for the scryer, but it isn’t particularly useful on its own for a potential teleport. The 10-foot-radius visual requires the target to move in order to provide a clear idea of the layout of the destination, and the spell doesn’t directly indicate the location."

It depends on your GM's interpretation of the teleport spell:

"“Studied carefully” is a place you know well, either because you can currently physically see it or you've been there often. “Seen casually” is a place that you have seen more than once but with which you are not very familiar. “Viewed once” is a place that you have seen once, possibly using magic such as scrying."

It depends on the conflict between what Ultimate Intrigue's guideline* section says - that scrying isn't enough on its own - and what the wording of the teleport spell says, which is that it is enough for a Viewed Once teleport.

Until the teleport wording is officially errata'd, you should expect table variation.

* It is specifically advice: "The following section offers advice on certain spells particularly likely to see use in an intrigue-focused game, organized by level of play and spell school."

Kingmaker isn't that good for first-timers.

I'd suggest Giantslayer. Old-school hack and slash. You're adventurers, they're monsters, kill your way to the BBEG, then kill him too.

1) Okay, I, by which I assume you mean my body, ceases to exist. Then my clone wakes up and I go about my day.

Assuming for some reason that "ceasing to exist" includes every single contingency I ever designed, including contingencies against "ceasing to exist" for this very purpose, I go with (2), below.

2) There'll be an abort button somewhere. I cast Discern Location to find it, Greater Teleport to teleport to it. I push it. I spend the next twenty-eight rounds summoning succubi to grapple in celebration of my victory.

In truth their druids are closer to a Wizard by another name, and they have all kinds of other casters that end up converting or multi-classing into the order, including Cogline, who starts as some kind of alchemist/druid multiclass.

For the record, 3rd edition had (in Dragon magazine) the Elder Druid prestige class, which attempted to model several of their abilities (Druid fire, the Sleep, and so on). It also included rules for a number of individuals and items within the world of Shannara, including what is flat-out the single most broken artifact ever: the Black Elfstone.

Which was basically SR 40, energy drain on target when used, stole any supernatural or spell-like abilities the target had, along with any magic item enchantments, and gave them to the user. Permanently. You had to make a DC 20-25 Will save or go insane, and that was it for downsides.

Kurgess, after Inner Sea Faiths.

So individually intelligence is less important, if you have smarter members of your race you can get help or advice from, or take over other matters.

The problem with this argument is first that Andoletta is supposed to be one of the older and smarter ones. Second, the smartest (statted) Empyreal Lord around is Korada, and he's still only INT 25, on the same level as Kostchtchie.

It's really becoming a noticeable issue.

True for the Perez reboot of Wonder Woman as Diana, who's not that fond of the "Wonder Woman" title slapped on her by the press. J"onn however would frequently desguise himself as a couple of different human apperances that would go by the name John Jones. He did not however invest in them the way Kal-El did in maintaining his Clark Kent Persona, as they would be temporary "slumming" guises.

I was specifically referring to the DCAU universe (B:TAS, S:TAS, JL, JLU, Beyond, Static Shock), rather than the comics (which have gone through pretty much all the possible permutations when you incorporate Elseworlds into it).

(Blibdoolpoolp. Gruumsh. Drizzt, which almost everyone I knew pronounced "Drizzit" all through our high school years reading those books. Luruar- not difficult, but sounds terrible. And so on.)

Ain't nothing wrong with Blibdoolpoolp.

JiCi wrote:

Or was the class built as a "lone wolf" type character?

In short, does the class feel more like Batman (who's relunctant to work with a team) or like Captain America (who's the leader of a team)?

If they are Marvel vigilantes, they have to beat each other to a pulp before they can truly bond.

And then occasionally stab each other in the back to put them at odds with one another anyway.

I never stated a single Paizo book on Golarion had content displaying melee weapons were more significant than magic. I clearly wrote that there is historical significance throughout the history of literature in general ...

So I decided to poke through Inner Sea Combat and have a look at its list of characters, seeking an "epic/mythic swordsman" sort of archetype. In terms of providing active and alive individuals of this particular type ("greatly skilled warriors"), I'll assume we're looking at a minimum of 11th level (legend lore threshold):

- Borogrim the Hale (5 levels of Aristocrat, only 8 Fighter)
- Cerise Bloodmourn (2 levels of Aristocrat, 12th level otherwise)
- Durvin Gest (presumed dead, but was 15th level Fighter)
- Grask Uldeth (Barbarian 17)
- Gyr (Rogue 13)
- Karsakim (Fighter 5 / Pure Legion Enforcer 10)
- Kerdak Bonefist (Fighter 8 / Inner Sea Pirate 10)
- Kevoth-Kul (Barbarian 15)
- Kharswan (Monk 14)
- Khopeshman of Sothis (2 levels of Aristocrat, Fighter 12; also, he'd better wield a khopesh)
- Markwin Teldas (4 levels of Aristocrat, Cavalier 11)
- Mighty Kuldor (Barbarian 14)
- Sabina Merrin (Fighter 14)
- Svainn Blood-Eagle (Barbarian 18)
- Ullorth Ungin (Fighter 10 / Barbarian 4)
- Vitta (Rogue 11)
- White Estrid (Barbarian 15)
- Xerbystes II (8 levels of Aristocrat, Fighter 6)
- Ytharia Vulane (Gunslinger 10 / Ranger 6)

From this shorter list, discounting those who don't definitively fit the mold of "epic/mythic swordsman" that Derron has mentioned (i.e. if they're primarily a ruler in their short-desc or something to that effect), and discounting anybody with less than 11 levels in a PC class, leaves:

- Cerise Bloodmourn (pirate lord, described in S&S as a duelist)
- Kevoth-Kul (Fantasy Techno-Conan, so I left him in here as a swordsman)
- Sabina Merrin (bodyguard and definite warrior)
- Sveinn Blood-Eagle (uses a sword per his stats in RoW)
- Ullorth Ungin (arena champion, weapon unknown)

So of these:

- Cerise doesn't really have the levels to go for "famed" but is a swordswoman.
- Kevoth-Kul could qualify under the Conan archetype.
- Sabina Merrin... maybe?
- Sveinn is old and past his prime.
- Ullorth could fall under a Gladiator archetype.

But truthfully? I wouldn't say any of these are something to write home about when it comes to "epic/mythic swordsman" archetypes. If somebody wanted me to point to "legendary spellcaster" in Golarion, there are hordes to choose from. Xanderghul, Tar-Baphon, Jatembe, Arazni, Geb, Nex, Baba Yaga, Karzoug, just to name a few offhand, and that's scratching the surface.

What's more, all the ones I've listed are either alive or in some form of unlife (some are missing, but not dead). But if somebody were to ask, as this thread has, about legendary swordsmen?

Well, I had to go digging just for possibilities. And none of the ones I named on the final list are even ones I'd be comfortable naming as a legendary swordsman archetype. The sheer fact that a 12th level character makes it into the running doesn't speak well of warriors, versus that lovely list of spellcasters where all but one are Mythic and all are 20th level.

So yes, I'd come to the conclusion that there is a distinct lack of this particular character type in Golarion.

Pretty much any AP is solo-able if you know what you're doing. Picking Druid as your class, for example, basically means you start with a pet Fighter depending on your animal companion. Go for the reincarnated Druid archetype, and come fifth level the notion of "TPK" has noticeably less impact.

Mythic rules have something about that, like you can have 2 domains and provide spells as a deity to clerics of yourself.

Up to four domains and four subdomains, depending on how many times you take the Divine Source ability.

Of note is that it doesn't make you naturally immortal or anything (though other Mythic abilities can).

Like I could totally see Lawful City Guard AP covering both the "By the book" and "Maverick" style of cops/guards...

It's really very simple to sort alignment by looking at Top Gun.

Maverick is Chaotic in alignment, obviously. Note that while he's good, and his disdain for the rules helps him at times, he messes up plenty of times throughout and is certainly not perfect.

Goose is his long-suffering Neutral partner.

Iceman is his rival, by the book, and has a Lawful alignment. Although he can be a bit of an ass sometimes, he's not a bad person by any means, and makes several very accurate remarks about Maverick's problems throughout the movie.

There, done.

I have seen, and agree with, the idea that once a person in a hereditary position dies, their place in the line of succession is over. Even if they come back, they don't get to jump back in.

Cormyr in Forgotten Realms uses this system. If the king or queen is killed, then if they are resurrected they automatically forfeit all claim to the throne forever.

Ten easy steps.

1) Go to the Mana Wastes.

2) Find a Mana Well. (Diviniation magic helps.)

3) Enter the Well and claim its power. Yes, it's that simple.

4) You are now Mythic. Do trials.

5) Take Divine Source at third tier. You are now a quasi-god.

6) Take Divine Source at sixth tier.

7) Take Divine Source at ninth tier.

8) Do enough stuff to push yourself over the line to CR 26. You are now a demigod.

9) Do enough stuff to push yourself above CR 30.

10) You are now a god.

Note: Steps nine and ten will require GM approval.

Feiya, Quinn, Alahazra, and Adowyn.

Also Thean Tagonist the Antipaladin. Because this artwork made me fall out of my chair laughing when I first saw it. I still can't look at it without snickering.

Probably in that order, more or less. Honourable mention goes to Alain for how good he is at being an ass, and to Seoni for being very different in characterisation (in the comics) to what I initially expected.

Least favourites... hmm. Probably Amiri, Hayato, Shardra, and Rivani. Nothing personal, or necessarily an active dislike, they just don't interest me.

That soumds odd, Artemis Entreri was shown as highly competent. Any citation to back up your assertion?

A quick Google notes these from Candlekeep:

"As you can see, once the Code of Ethics swept away most of the nastier details of how my under-elves treated other races, all of this could easily be squared with the “official” D&D drow, when the Realms became an official TSR setting." ~Ed Greenwood

"Therise, Ed has compiled a LOT of lore on real-world and imaginary drugs/herbal remedies/magical concoctions for medicinal and mood-altering purposes over the years, and very little of this has ever been published because of TSR's Code of Ethics and Wizards applying the same cautious approach to anything that might be construed as support/encouragement for drug use." ~The Hooded One

"Except for glimpses in Ed’s fiction (which were of course trammeled by the Code of Ethics ‘evil can’t win or even be seen to benefit from their evil deeds’ dictates), you’ve never seen the REAL Manshoon in print." ~The Hooded One

(THO is one of the Knights of Myth Drannor from Ed Greenwood's playgroup, and passes along replies from him to lore questions for FR.)

There are undoubtedly others, but those quotes are all quite readily available. It's pretty well known that TSR shackled what they published to an ethics code, which - among other things - dictated that evil never be allowed to properly win or profit, hence all the results of the Zhentarim and so on losing to the Good Guys.

They decided to create all new 'evil iconics' for the Hell's Vengeance AP rather than using any of the previous 'iconics who are evil' (e.g. Seltyiel) or 'evil not quite iconics' (e.g. the pig kicking Antipaladin).

In his defense, the pig deserved it.

I have question on the Tarrasque's design that sort of crosses over with real-world biology, in relation with its depiction in Pathfinder.

If a creature has spines on it, they biologically tend to function as a warning to predators larger than it, as a defense mechanism (reference from Wikipedia).

What sort of creatures in Golarion canon are big enough, nasty enough, and deadly enough that the Tarrasque might have spines as a means of protecting itself or fighting back against them? Kaiju? Creatures from the Dark Tapestry/Dominion of the Black/whatever?

Essentially, what sort of thing is mean enough that it could be a predator species for the Tarrasque? Other Spawn of Rovagug in the Dead Vault?

Mengkare, as far as we know, doesn't stop people from leaving if they object to his decisions, and appears to be very honest about what life will be like in Hermea.

Both those being true...is it still a cage if you can leave any time? And what if you like living in a cage? Some people do like that sort of thing, after all.

Worth noting a couple of things from ISWG and other published sources:

"While Mengkare alone has final say over every decision made within his nation's borders, the dragon is wise enough to allow his subjects to govern themselves in all but the most crucial matters, and to this end he formed the Council of Enlightenment. The 13 elected members of the Council handle most of the day-to-day duties of governance, gathering information and advising the dragon on important matters."

So from this, we know that Mengkare doesn't exercise complete and total control over Hermea, and for the most part the citizenry is quite capable of governing themselves (and, for that matter, do!). Yes, he has final authority on matters as needed, but most of the day to day stuff is run by an elected council.

On becoming a citizen:

"Immigration is strictly controlled by Mengkare himself, and the only way for an outsider to become a citizen is to be recruited by one of the nation's traveling undercover scouts, who follow the exploits of every nation's heroes and report back to the Council of Enlightenment, delivering invitations to those foreign notables deemed worthy."

So while Mengkare has the final say on decisions to introduce a new citizen to Hermea, it's (again) the Council who does most of the legwork, and presumably present him with options for candidates (first checked by the scouts, then through the process to the Council, then to Mengkare himself for final arbitration). He reviews the information, and makes his decision.

When you join:

"All that's required in return [for a one-time offer, no repercussions for refusing] is for the applicant to cede all personal authority to Mengkare, agreeing to abide by the dragon's considerable wisdom in all matters."

So basically, you swear loyalty, and if he asks you to do something you're expected to do it, since he's pretty much the "monarch" of Hermea. Of course, as we also know, Mengkare isn't involved in every last detail of what Hermea does, because it's the Council who govern most things (and the Council is elected by the citizens of Hermea). I feel relatively safe in saying that the odds of Mengkare busting down your front door isn't likely to happen on a day to day basis.

You're correct that he is honest about what life is like.

We know he does occasionally make the decision to execute citizens who threaten to disrupt the system:

"[Mengkare] genuinely believes in his goal and therefore remains righteous and pure, even when forced to order distasteful actions such as the termination of citizens who prove disappointing or threaten to disrupt the system."

Now, if you're deliberately trying to overthrow a lawful society by causing chaos, it only makes sense that the arbiters of said law are going to come down on you. However, we also know that this is a last resort situation:

"When this [citizen falls from grace/causes disruptions] happens, the Council does its best to work with the citizen to resolve any problems that might be leading to disenfranchisement or sub-par performance. If its efforts are not successful, the offending party is quietly sent away in disgrace, and the community does its best to move forward."

So, again, it's the Council who does most of the legwork here. Presumably Mengkare is only getting involved to order an execution, as noted earlier, when it's an important matter, and things have progressed to the point that it's a disruption that needs his personal attention.

On to noting a few of the feats and traits associated with Hermea.

(Hermean Paragon) "You are a product of Hermea’s breeding programs—either your parents were chosen to be citizens, or you were, but later failed to live up to the island’s high standards."

Evidence of somebody who was part of it and failed, being sent away. So we can honestly say that we know for a fact that yes, people do get sent away in most cases if they are consistently disappointing or disruptive. Unless you're so disruptive that you are catching the personal attention of a Great Wyrm Gold Dragon.

(Well Bred) "You are the product of generations of selective breeding, organized by the gold dragon Mengkare. Your education is top-notch, and you have a broad base of knowledge. Unfortunately, the isolation of Hermea has also made you slightly naive."

Not much to say on this one. Reference to the education programs being among the best and that it's selective breeding, which Hermea is, and that people from there can be a bit naive owing to their self-imposed isolation. It is worth pointing out that this trait does not give any indication of being forcibly sent away from Hermea or not. We know that the undercover agents for recruitment are specifically trained for that role (see: NPC Guide), so this trait would likely not be used by one. Of note in comparison to ISWG is that the "selective breeding" part is usually, again, done by the government:

"Mating and partnering among citizens is encouraged, but the courtship process is long and frequently guided by government officials in charge of helping to naturally breed beneficial traits."

Sleep around if you like, but when you're going to marry and settle down, be a bit more discerning and be sure to take the time to establish a healthy relationship. The interesting part of this is how it relates to the following.

(Hermean Blood) "You are the descendant of someone recruited to Hermea or the bastard result of a Hermean’s illicit pairing with someone foreign to that land. / It’s possible that Hermean agents may come looking for you, either to evaluate you for an invitation or to cover up an embarrassing dalliance, as determined by the GM’s whim."

In either case, you're the descendant of a Hermean, either an immigrant or a native citizen. Evidently there is room for allowing Hermeans to have pairings with people not from Hermea that result in a child, so the island isn't something you can never leave at all (and indeed, we know Hermean agents wander the Inner Sea region anyway, both from notes in ISWG and from Jherek Oivos in the NPC Guide). At some point people will horizontally tango in order to get the baby part sorted. I feel pretty safe in saying that this is going to require physical contact.

In any case, agents of the council might investigate you, either to see if you're worth inviting to Hermea, or to try and get you to keep the dalliance quiet. The former is what usually happens with council agents. The latter really just sounds like politics and general political scandals to me, albeit transposed into a fantasy setting.

"Oh dear, the Hermean Ambassador to Osirion had an illicit affair with the Ruby Prince's fourth-favourite concubine? And the concubine had a kid? Try to keep this lapse of judgement quiet."

Ultimately, it's absolutely a very lawful society, but don't know if calling it a cage is appropriate, given the negative connotations associated with that term in this context. They come and go as needed (e.g. ambassador to another nation, agents seeking to evaluate non-Hermeans for invitations). Otherwise, they do tend to keep to themselves, and are described as "fair and polite but a bit standoffish" in their dealings.

Mindblank thwarts all attempts to gather info through divination magic, meaning it trumps stuff like legend lore, commune, etc.

Not to mention foiling wish and miracle. The number of spells in existence that can do that are few. Mind blank is amazing. Especially since it's a fire and forget after you're done prepping spells for the day.

Mengkare's alignment was noted as "Lawful ShutUpMark" on that Reddit AMA, by the by.

The fiddly bits I see as problematic is with the base assumption that healthier and likely prettier people, 'better' physically and even intellectually, are necessarily going to be 'better' morally or ethically.

It's noted in the Hermea details from ISWG, off the top of my head, that Mengkare/Hermea puts a lot of effort into the education and testing of young Hermeans. Neglecting philosophy, ethics, and morality, at least in the educational institutions of Hermea, seems like a rather glaring flaw.

I mean, they just gave us Andoran, Birthplace of Freedom, and that book had pretty much nothing of value to impart.

We get it, you vape democracy. Try to have a plot hook next time.

The plot hook is FREEDOM. You're obviously just unAndoran.

I seem to recall it being noted by an author in relation to mechanics/novels (perhaps on Candlekeep, it was years ago now) that Salvatore has always written Drizzt from the perspective of a 1E Ranger, rather than the changes introduced in later editions.

Didn't he quickly stop using the bracers as bracers, since the quickness actually threw off his weapon attacks? If I recall, he put them on his legs (somehow) and used them to speed up his footwork instead.

I just re-read that book a couple of days back, so I can answer this one in detail.

What he found, with regards to the bracers as used by Dantrag Baenre (who had them before him), was that while the bracers massively increased the speed of his hands, they didn't increase the speed of the rest of him, and they had a downside: the user's hands were moving so fast that they could not adapt or modify their attacks after beginning them. This meant their attacks were straightforward, simple, and otherwise easy to adapt to by the opponent, as long as the opponent was of sufficient skill that the sheer speed was accounted for (this is how Drizzt won - he could predict what Dantrag would do, and just began his defense before Dantrag made the simplistic attacks he was limited to). For Dantrag this limitation was not noticeable, because he didn't have the skill level Drizzt possessed and the sheer speed he gained was such that only somebody in the top 1% of fighters* would be able to find the problem anyway. Drizzt notes to Dantrag that Zaknafein would have beaten him as well.

On top of this, Drizzt's hands were already moving faster than his feet before he got the bracers, so when the bracers were added this compounded the issue tenfold. Drizzt's footwork simply could not keep up with his hands and he gained the same limitations of simplistic attacks, which for somebody of great enough skill was a crippling limitation, and Drizzt had the skill for the limitation to enter play. It was creating openings in his swordplay that shouldn't have been there and let others take easy advantage.

The solution Drizzt eventually found was that by putting the bracers on his legs and wearing them as greaves, he could boost his footwork to the speed where his legs could operate in perfect harmony with his hands and the rest of his body.

* Bear in mind that in Ed Greenwood's list of the best fighters in the Realms, Drizzt ranks at around #6.

Yeah Auspost sucks the sweat off a dead dingo's donger.

Said dingo probably ate a baby beforehand.

DominusMegadeus wrote:

Also, Lamashtu killed a god, I think.

You would be correct there. She killed Curchanus to gain rule over his dominion of Beasts

Though to be fair, it took her a lot of effort, and even with her divinity she was still wounded quite badly by Pazuzu afterwards.

My friend tried to pull that trick. For most of the campaign he talked about doing it, and I told him not to do it, just to maintain party balance if nothing else. Well, of course he did it (because complaining about how easy and stupid broken it was wasn't going to stop him from being a god, of course.) He got away with it once, and the Effriti told him not to do it again. He did it again, of course. Then we go ambushed by about 2 dozen of his Effriti buddies that didn't like our wizard using magic to mess with their freind's soul.

Your friend should have given the efreeti a better deal. I find that agreeing to allow the genie to use one wish on itself (I will make it on the efreeti's behalf, but with the disclaimer that it can't make the wish to bring harm to me, my party, my loved ones if any, and such) for every two wishes it granted me.

(In fact, one of the AP villains - the efreeti from Legacy of Fire did exactly that with deals he made with mortals. It worked out quite well for him, all things considered.)

So, straight up, some people out there are going to say that any wizard who doesn't start with 20 int is useless (and that you need to put all level-up points into int, buy a +5 stat book, a +6 headband, and save up for wishing your int up). This is not true...

Of course it isn't true. Wish spells and a +5 book are both inherent, so they won't stack.

There is nothing in the current product description for this that is unappealing to me.

Infernal Healing says hello. It's a really solid choice, particularly when packed into a wand.

Also a pair of Boots of the Earth.

A couple of ways. Below are most of the "game-spanning" changes I made.

1) I throw out most of the cosmology and replace it with Planescape. Pharasma is a borderline overgoddess (she's been pushing at it on a multiversal time scale, but she's not quite there), and the "Golarion sphere" is a bunch of different spheres all pushed up close to one another, with decaying sphere walls (the decay has a reason, but none of the campaigns have quite figured it out yet), all in a cluster.

1a) It's way out in the middle of Wildspace and surrounded by a lot of turbulence, so far off the "shipping lanes" that nobody cares enough to bother investigating for the most part. The distance is also why several of the planar conceptions Golarion natives have seem different.

1a.1) Somebody from Aebrynis (2E Birthright setting) showed up once. The party didn't realise until after the fact.

1b) People who do bother usually don't return, because it has a Power locked up inside whose skin sheds Tarrasques. As a result, most of its Powers have no real interest in pushing further out just yet.

1c) The Silver Maiden is in fact a spelljammer. It's an artifact because nobody has managed to decode exactly how it works yet.

1d) The World Serpent Inn has doors to Golarion. Some of the Golarion natives who know of the wider multiverse make use of them, and vice versa.

2) There are no half-orcs. This is because I swapped out "orcs" with the Warhammer/Warhammer 40K orcs. They don't breed with humans at all, period, reproducing via spores instead.

3) Elves are much more susceptible to the effects of the transformation into drow. This means that prolonged exposure to the Underdark and so on will have detrimental effects on the elven psyche. In rare cases, their skin might blacken (note that I differentiate between just dark skin and drow, where the latter is much closer to pitch-black-blue-tinted).

3a) "Redemption" for a drow will turn them back into an elf.

3b) Half-elves are much rarer, and difficult to produce. They are also sterile (or so close as to make no functional difference - it requires magic to force conception, which carries a number of problems depending on the magic).

4) Healing spells are necromancy.

5) PCs from previous campaigns may stick around as NPCs for the next campaign. This tends to vary depending on the campaign location.

Where's the halfling legendary thief that contends with Carmen Sandiago?

Let me know when a Golarion legendary thief manages to pull off stealing the Isle of Kortos, and we'll see if they can contend with Carmen.

(Yes, the entire island. No. No questions. If Carmen Sandiego can steal the Cape of Good Hope, all the salsa, Uluru, or the Strait of Magellan, then I expect a contender to at least be capable of stealing Absalom.)

The issue with death effects (as a Reincarnated Druid) can technically be fixed with levels in the Living Monolith prestige class. You'd need to go all the way to 10th level to pick up Ageless Stone, but it renders you immune to death effects. At that point, you just need to avoid dying during the 7-day window between reincarnations.

What can you tell us about Paizo policy o-

Er.

I have a customer service question abou-

Um.

What's your opinion of Batman's align-

Hrm.

In Greyh-

Never mind.

Several dragons in my games have opened or otherwise run banks.

- You can leave your money with them, and have the knowledge that your wealth is protected by a dragon.
- They loan money out to people, at interest. And if somebody doesn't pay it back, they're basically stealing money. From a dragon.
- Protection for the dragons from those would-be dragonslayers who keep showing up. If they even remotely care about the area, then killing somebody who has made themselves essential to the economy of the region is a bad plan for selling off the loot.
- If you're the dragon, people are giving you money. You don't even have to leave your lair.

The dragons are smart. And they know how to use their (impressively high) Intelligence scores to make a hefty profit.

Basically, think Lofwyr, if you know Shadowrun.