Bondoid's page

Well, many political philosophers have considered the "benevolent dictator" to be the best form of government except for a crucial flaw: Ensuring they and those who come next are and remain benevolent since they now lack oversight! (Historically, strings of good monarchs/emperors only lasted so long, it only taking one to derail the whole endeavor.)

Ya thats what I meant.

I agree with the OP.

While I dont think its a problem to have the fake it to you make it CHA themed Thaumaturge,

I think its more important to get an INT and/or WIS based version of the class that is actually based on study and/or understanding.

Those character archetypes in fantasy fiction or fairly common. Warhammer Witchhunters, Van Hellsing, Constantine, etc are not well served by this CHA version of the class.

Having to kill an evil doer every day is fine as his Obedience.

Ragathiel and his followers are crusaders. They are meant to throw themselves endlessly into the battle against, cultists, demons etc. The obedience states that the slain can not just be random evil people, it asks for more.

It would be very difficult to flavor (at least to my satisfaction) a follower of Ragathiel serving and/or working for pathfinders. But there is a lot of character concepts in Pathfinder Society that are pretty loose in the fluff aspect.

Having the obedience does not require you to do it everyday, you just gain no benefit for when you do not. It is a difficult requirement to meet everyday. It should not be met everyday. The benefits of the Obedience are Ragathiel's favor and reward for furthering his vendetta against the forces of evil. A Paladin of Ragathiel who is killing for the sole purpose of his Obedience should fall.

The hour long ritual does not have to be a ritualized murder or sacrifice. Rather it is an hour long prayer and self-reflection, in which the Paladin comes to terms with the necessity of the slaying, the cost of the lost of life, and its effects on his being/soul, etc.

Redemption is not necessarily a topic that Lawful Good people need to be concerned about. Especially ones concerned with Justice. If you commit evil deeds you must pay the price to society/the gods before redemption can be considered. In some cases your price is just to high. Yes Ragathiel is very familiar with evil from his background. His redemption/struggle to goodness was through his own actions. If one wants to be redeemed, that is a choice that must come from within. He would support ex-evil doers who have turned a new leaf and are living lives as champions of good, buts its not his responsibility to help evil people make that choice.

Also, Vengeance, well not typically associated with "Good" does not have to be evil or even neutral. Justice is a similarly loaded word, yet we accept that justice while more of a Lawful topic, can be Good or Evil. Vengeance in many ways is just Justice, that is personal.

There is nothing in his write up that suggests he is ok with his followers being "murder-hobos," especially Paladins.

Now an inquisitor of Ragathiel, who is LN and a bit of a "murder-hobbo," well that could be fun.

I disagree with Dispari.

"This decrease does not apply to proficiency in wearing the armor."

Is not relevant. The bard in question is proficient with Medium Armor from his levels of cleric.

The Mithral Breastplate is treated as light for other limitations, the bard could then cast in the Mithral Breastplate without penalty.

To get back on topic...

Inquisitors are not Paladins. They do not lose their powers if they perform an act that is against their alignment.

They lose their powers when they have performed such actions frequently enough to change their alignment to one their God can not abide.

Torture is evil.

Performing an evil act does not immediately change your alignment. How frequently you would have to engage in said torture to change your alignment is up to your DM.

If it is completely unjustified and performed with rational cold intent...your alignment will change a lot quicker than if you perform said torture in a fit of passion that you then deeply regret.

Overtime he will change to an Evil alignment and lose his powers, unless he spends a lot of time performing a lot of good actions.

If the character wants to have this moral tension as part of their character, a N alignment, worshiping a good god makes more since.

A character that makes a habit of engaging in torture (IE more than just once or twice in incredible duress) should not be good.

...in my opinion

Coriat wrote:

OgreBattle wrote:

That's already been answered though, it's working as intended. "Water balloons", realistically speaking, are just going to be inferior to bows

I have heard again and again how disappointing the water balloon posts were to so many people, but I think that it is really best to let it be water under the bridge. I felt similarly at the time, too, and the snark was irrepressible when the sting was fresh... but that's old, now.

Move forward, provide feedback, try to effect positive change, don't let it pain you like an old wound. And don't use it as a reason to be bitter (...I remind myself).

If you can change developers' minds about those things through useful feedback rather than through anger, then there will be no more reason to care about what once was.

So talk about constructive things. Perhaps how you want your slings calibrated to fantasy expectations, like the sling of Karajuk the Shepherd of Turkish story, which was so powerful that it threw up earth like artillery shells do when it missed. Not about that old post again and again.

This. So much this.

Especially concerning unarmed monks.

I really can't agree with this argument.

None of the designers of d20 are/were medieval historians. The system isn't based on history, or reality. Its complete fiction.

I see no problem with someone being able to play out their monk unarmed fantasy while others get to play out their two-handed sword fantasy that is just as ridiculous.

The fact that this two-hand sword fantasy is so bizarrely the most optimal way to make a martial character, when it bares so little connection with reality is pretty lame.

I support opening up the game to different character concepts. Its fantasy. You can claim the game has some relation to reality...but no it just doesn't.

Two handed swords are defensive weapons meant solely to deflect pikes on an advance. The upper quillons were not spiky bits that look cool, its a second hand guard so that the sword could be used a short-spear to actually hurt someone with.

Longbows were awesome, sure. 5 or 6 shots in 6 seconds...yeah no.

Slings were actually used extensively in battle. They have several advantages over bows and vice versa. In game, they just suck.

Shields were the most important equipment carried into battle...not in d20,they give +1 to ac...

The entire system is based on fantasy. Thats great, I like fantasy! Even fantasy involving unarmed martial art masters and rapier wielding duelists.

I do not play Pathfinder Society. And while I know your living campaign is popular I believe the majority of pathfinder players play their own campaigns, with their own GMs.

We all know, there are many things in Pathfinder that are broken. Sometimes these hurt PFS (From My understanding) and I know some archetypes are banned in PFS, this doesn’t bother me. Every GM needs to come up with their own house rules to ensure game balance. And the nature of a Living Campaign requires such action.

However, in my home game, it is my GM’s task to handle balance, and to create house rules as they are necessary. Crane wing can be broken, especially when taken at a low level because of a broken Archetype, but its also the only mechanical benefit that was worth taking to build a duelist style fighter around.

Now in one of my home games, which I have been playing nearly every week for two years, my dashing noble duelist, renowned throughout the kingdom for his unmatched ability in a one on one duel with a rapier, will wake up in our next meet and be completely incapable of doing the one thing he is supposed to be good at. He does 1/3rd of the damage of a barbarian, and now has less defense than someone using a shield.

Sure, maybe we can house rule this and use the old rules. But its much easier In any group to ban what is broken on a case by case basis than buff what isn’t.

Pathfinder is not and should not be World of Warcraft. I play pen and paper role playing games. If I wanted to play World of Warcraft and have the mechanics of my character change every week, I would do so. Pathfinder and/or DnD will never be "balanced" despite anything you do. Balance is taken care of by our GMs, or by me when I'm GMing. Changes like this ruin characters and they ruin games.

If GMs in PFS can’t have the latitude to ban things that they deem unbalanced or inappropriate on a case by case basis, please have sweeping changes like this, only affect the PFS crowd.

Sincerely,
A loyal costumer for many years, growing increasingly disturbed

Justin Rocket wrote:

bugleyman wrote:

Justin Rocket wrote:

As for stopping the government, the Democrats could have accepted any of the Republican proposals and kept the government running.

You're not even reading this thread, are you? :P

I'm reading it. Some people aren't acknowledging that the Democrats could have accepted the Republican budget and kept the government running. Oh sure, they would have felt that they just handed over a baby to be dropped in a blender, but the Republicans would have felt the same way if they accepted the Democrat budget.

Congress already passed the PPACA. It has to be funded until it is repealed. Laws cannot be repealed by refusing to sign funding bills. Additionally, concessions and negotiations were already made 3 years ago to such an extent that Obama is criticized heavily for compromising too much with conservatives. I am sorry but you clearly just do not understand what is going on here.

This is completely wrong.

The Anti-Deficiency Act of 1984 allows congress to kill government programs by not funding them.

It also makes it illegal for the Executive branch to continue government programs that have been de-funded.

A Goblin Barbarian, Feral Gnasher Archetype, Gets Grab (Free grapple attempt with a +4) with there bite attack 3rd level.

Read the archetype, its pretty much designed to do exactly what your attempting.