Captain Xenon's page

in the advanced race guide, there is a feat for dwarves that gives bonuses to craft(alchemy) and profession(brewer). this is probably where the confusion comes from.

i would try something simplistic- let the fighter move and full attack with weapon specialization. this makes the fighter stronger, without doing anything to hurt the casters. this makes the fighter a mobile damage-dealer, and much more deadly as a result.

next, give fighters all 3 strong saves. this would bring them back in line with 1e fighters, who had good saves all around.

suddenly the fighter isnt so weak- he has better resistance to save or suck spells, and he can charge and full attack. the survival of a wizard depends more on tactics instead of just a quick win. all without nerfing the wizards spell list.

spell research should be possible. the wizard version would likely be higher level than the druid version, but it should work.

the spell description does not say, but i would assume the caster could choose between different types of sounds when casting the spell, similar to choosing the effect for an illusion as it is cast.

from what I've seen so far, this set looks like it will be interesting. the dragon looks very nice as well.

the familiar knows your skills, not your languages. also quill and ink may take too long in an emergency. sign language for 'RUN!' is much faster.

Familiars get the same skills as the master. if you have a monkey familiar and take linguistics to learn sign language, you can then have your monkey report back on what he saw.

munchkinism is a negative social behavior, the specifics of which vary by game and group. it is separate from power-gaming although some people may use the terms interchangeably.

a Munchkin will behave in a childish fashion, and will demonstrate selfish, childish behavior such as demanding more treasure/xp, hogging the spotlight, tantruming if they 'lose', and focusing on juvenile behavior and crude humor in game. they want ale and whores, they want bigger guns and faster cars, and they want it now.

this is a combination of wish-fulfillment fantasy with poor impulse control and a lack of proper social ettiquite. they may use the 'playing my character' excuse, and make very close version to popular characters such as batman or wolverine.

thats my definition, i know others will have their own definitions.

it sounds like the real problem here is that that taxes were an after-the-fact surprise, a bad bait-and-switch that the GM pulled. this is bad storytelling, mainly because the players are being vocally upset.

pathfinder is heavily based on wealth by level. level 4 is 6,000 gp each. your trying to remove 10% of their wealth by level with this tax, and that is simply wrong- especially as much of that wealth is tied up in equipment. an additional 2.5% loss each per week is horrible.

the best way to handle a 'tax' like this, would be a quest to go somewhere and fetch something.

some classes grant immortality- the lv 20 wizard for example.

want to live forever? move to a timeless plane or demiplane. for enough gold you can have your own permanent timeless demiplane to live in forever. you could even build one as a prison....

i just opened two bricks of this set that i got from the local brick and mortar hobby shop, and one booster was missing one of the three small/medium figures. not quite sure who to contact about this.

i did have to rescue one kobold who was stuck on a large figure, the sword going between his arm and spear. the small plastic bags taped to the plastic is an interesting way to package some of the pieces.

opening 2 bricks, i am only missing 8 rares. that and i need more kobolds. because kobolds are awesome.

the large demons and elemental creatures are very nice. i got three toad demons from my 2 bricks, which seems a bit much.

a couple of the minis do have poor paint jobs, specifically that the eagle knight office 's face has too light of a layer of paint over black plastic.

the centerfold map in Varisia has this, listed in miles with a red line to denote where the road is. to get from Magnimar to Korvosa, for example, there are 10 sections of road. the artwork makes this specific map more in-character than i prefer however.

hm. at this point, i would love to see a PDF atlas with an option to turn the hex grid on or off.

in case of a print version, it needs to include a transparent sheet with the hex grid on it. the old 2e forgotten realms box set had two of these of different scale, it was quite useful for quickly figuring out distance traveled.

the real problem with most atlas books imho, is when they focus not on usable maps, but on following the events of a book. dragonlance did this far too much. while some maps for the more famous megadungeons would be a good thing to include, i think what we both want to see are countryside maps in various scales. sort of like the area around sandpoint from rise of the runelords.

heck, there are probably a lot of maps that would be easy to include from existing products as is, just needs a reference to source in some cases.

there is an amulet which adds a ring slot. you could use that with ease.

first of all, be an active player- pay attention, and interact when appropriate. dont be one of those guys playing fruit ninja until asked to roll dice.

know your character- have opinions and motivations. if nothing else is going on and your in town, what do you want to do for fun? in the dungeon, how do you respond to different types of threats? it can sometimes help to write a bit of background to help you think through the characters views.

know your abilities- you should understand the rules enough to quickly roll and find the result for your to-hit, saves, and so on. dont break immersion and slow everything down asking what you need to roll, or what to add.

in you know who your character is, and what he can do, and whats happening in the game, then its easy to figure out what he should do.

the best way to define a character is not how he fights, but how he reacts to everyday stuff in town. most fights have a specific best answer for a characters build, but trying to find lunch in a busy town is a question of personality.

feedback... well, its poorly organized. you need more paragraph breaks really. beyond that, lists of bonuses and bonus types might be useful. do keep in mind which bonuses cannot stack.

it would be best to divide it into sections- race bonuses, class bonuses, trait bonuses, feat bonuses, and equipment bonuses. be sure to include your source so people can use the guide.

part of the core problem with 'economy' in pathfinder, is that all goods have a set price. a pound of saffron is worth the same amount of gold wherever you travel. your profit would be the result of labor via a profession roll.

in PF, you create value through labor. if you use 'profession: merchant', then you still only earn value through labor. UC added the idea of earning value through Capital (such as a field of crops or a shop). Capital needs labor to work properly, but produces value in addition to that labor.

this is not better or worse than other possible rules, it is merely different. having run a traveller game, i find the commerce rules there are easily broken by one character with a good broker skill. so in PF, we use a Labor/Capital/Time investment to earn non-combat resources. you can also earn non-combat XP, but only to 'catch up' to the rest of your team, meaning its not used for actual advancement.

your ability to earn money is based on your level, both for your bonus to the skill roll, and for your WBL to invest in capital. the game is very adventure-level-based in every aspect.

the mindset you want, outside of the rules, is that 'the world is full of danger, and i must adventure to make the world safe/ find treasure/ find lost knowledge'. adventurers have motives, even if its simply the thrill of exploration. getting more gear is a side effect of the WBL assumption.

what i would love to see right now, would be a master index of spells by school, listing which book each is from. its very hard to find school-specific spells from the non-core books right now if you dont already know where to look.

the easiest way to move a lot of goods from location A to location B is to use create demiplane, greater. just use 3 castings of the spell- one to create it, and two more to add portals to the locations you need. then have unskilled laborers haul things down a hallway to your other warehouse, regardless of what plane its on. cost only really goes up if you want to make the demiplane permanent. you just need a wizard willing to spend 8 hours casting a 9th level spell for you, repeatedly.

now, for a proper 'cargo plane', i would suggest designing a new animal from the ground up. perhaps some kind of flying whale? pick the final stats you want, and then describe how it gets there. easy for a GM to do. for a player, talk to your GM- either they will help you build it, or they save you time by simply telling you no.

actually, there are further advantages of the mount spell- you can have the horse 'hustle' for faster land speed, and do so twice, then recast the spell. with 4 spell slots, a caster with mount could travel a fair distance in 8 hours.

on food/water, a 20th level caster would have a 40-hour duration on this spell (80 hours with extend spell). i would say that after 12 hours the mount will need something to keep it going at peak efficiency, and would eventually even need sleep. if you try to keep the summoned mount running for 40+ hours, it will likely die of exhaustion before that point and unsummon.

its a useful spell, even in combat. while its not a combat summons, having a large horse suddenly appear somewhere can be a serious tactical advantage, more so when fighting goblins. goblins HATE horses after all.

back in 1e, reincarnation was a 6th level wizard spell of the necromancy school. material components were cheap (a drop of blood and a small drum), and they had to have died fairly recently. it was also a 7th level druid spell, but the druid spell would restore you as an animal most of the time, while the wizard version always left you as a humanoid.

2e removed the spell from the wizard list entirely. 3e gave druids the old list from the 1e wizard version. and now pathfinder has given wizards limited healing ability with the conjuration school.

so why not bring reincarnation back for necromancers? there is precedent for it in the rules, and its not a balance issue as druids now get it as a 4th level spell. wizards still have clone, so this would simply be a faster way for them to revive the dead with side effects.

golarion already has magical tattoos and implanted ioun stones. you can just use the rules for those and change the flavor to match the game you want.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Elder_Scrolls

lots of good elder scrolls stuff. a far amount depends on when you set your game- by the time of skyrim and the return of dragons, many have fled morrowind because of all the ash. although there is still a lot of time after the events in the game, so you could change all the NPCs with ease.

cliff racers are basically small versions of the pterodactyl. and they are everywhere.

are you using soul gems? keep in mind that black soul gems are possible, despite the mage's guild outlawing them. you will need to figure out some kind of HD to soul conversion, or perhaps base it on CR.

summoning has other issues, such as casting time (full round). this can be a serious issue in combat with a lot of PCs, as some fights may be over too quickly for your spells extended duration to matter.

a Conjurer has a lot of options- things like grease, mount, or even infernal healing (inner sea world guide).

feats basically define what sort of wizard you are. so first lets look at the worst possible day your caster can face: you have lost your spell component pouch, you need to cast defensively to avoid AoO from that ogre with reach, and your going dead last in initiative order (rolled a 1, other side got a 20). do you have spells ready without material components? is your concentration bonus (caster level+int bonus+feats/traits) enough to cast the spell reliably? and will the spell still matter when it is cast?

for level 15, you may want to grab the true name discovery, and be able to summon some kind of outsider(angel, devil, efreet, ect). more useful than staff crafting, and there are a lot of other outsiders to choose from.

at level 7, is improved familiar better than a cohort from leadership? yes its useful to be able to hand your familiar a wand, but a druid cohort could be just as useful for some builds. also, i believe a new familiar will remove that initiative bonus.

for traits, you could get a +2 to initiative or concentration.

wish abuse is easier than that- the true name discovery can give you the true name of an efreet, and at lv 15 it could be a noble efreet. dealing with an LE entity isnt that hard, just offer to use some of his wishes (that he can only cast for a mortal anyway) for his benefit. i get +3 to three stats and so does the efreet, thats 12 days of having the feat.

now, as you can use a feat to learn a true name.... you could have multiple entities granting wishes. and if you run into a problem, you could retrain the feat for a different entity. with two efreet you could get +5 to all stats- this is a WBL issue, not a power issue.

a wish is only as powerful as the GM permits it to be. many uses of the spell are a question of WBL rather than anything else. most times its simply a very versatile, if expensive, spell to let you quickly use any lesser spell, even those not on your spell list, like raise dead. these results can be downright game-breaking at times, if left unchecked. the balance is the GP cost to cast. any way to bypass this is a potentially serious issue.

the best solution, is to have a 'cost' associated with a wish effect above and beyond mere gold. this does not mean 'screw the player'- you should discuss these costs with the player, and let him choose if he wants to take that cost, or try something different. it may be a knowledge: Arcana check to know how to word a wish properly.

well, even if it doesn't stop the spell, you still force a concentration check for casters in the spell radius. by similar logic, hold person is also a counter-spell as it prevents the spell from being cast.

feat options include gaining them via magic item- and there are rules for magic tattoos. so why not a magic tattoo that grants the feat? this may have an increased material component cost however, if the player is casting the wish spell themselves.

if an evil creature is granting the wish, make it a very ugly tattoo somewhere obvious, easily recognized with knowledge-planes as a sign of an evil contract.

there are a lot of different types of spells. each spell is useful some of the time, but not all of the time. you have damage spells, area-control spells, save or suck, and utility spells. heck, i could make an argument for mount being the best spell from 1st level- its a summon monster that lasts for hours and doubles as fast transportation.

if i run into skeletons at level one, i still have my specialist school power, my cantrips, and my quarterstaff. and i should have the rest of my party, which ideally includes a cleric to deal with undead.

in a combat-focused game, color spray will end more fights more quickly. for everything else, we have ranged touch attacks.

color spray.

its an aoe non-lethal vs will save, and against low HD enemies it will disable them for several rounds, long enough to end the combat. even against stronger foes, they lose a round of actions if they fail the save.

keep in mind, crafting feats are expected to increase WBL for that character by 25%. and anyone can take crafting feats these days.

so, logically there should be a bonus or discount to equip self-crafted magic items. this rewards crafters for taking those feats, while preventing abuses.

jedi are samurai, not paladins. they keep their powers when they fall. when used properly, the jedi code should be similar to Bushido- it is the metaphors of duty and honor that keep to the light side of the force.

sadly, dark jedi and sith are most often shown as simply being jerks, despite the 'sith code' having much more depth to it than that. kicking a puppy is not the dark side, yet that is how KOTOR showed the sith. Really, dark jedi are simply evil jedi who use [evil] powers. you can have CG jedi(qui-gon) or LN jedi.

paladins, by comparison, are Knights who serve a god with a specific code of ethics. all their power comes from following that code, and most problems in a game are the result of poor player-GM communication regarding this code.

now, how are they similar? both are martial classes with special powers, who belong to a religious order with a code of conduct. both can 'fall' (with very different mechanics and consequences). their code of conduct is not similar however- the Paladin says 'do no evil, stop evil whenever you can'. the jedi code says 'control your emotions, meditate'. the jedi is happy to use their powers for mind control, cheating at dice, and so on. if a paladin did what we see light-side jedi do in the movies, he would lose his powers. as long as he feels no hate, the jedi can safely kill whoever with his lightsabre. but he must never use the force as an attack.

also, the paladin code is better defined. the jedi code is kind of a philosophical mess in general.

the issue will be weight, rather than volume. i know from experience that a too-heavy backpack can hurt- i once got bruises on both shoulders after carrying an overloaded backpack full of books back to my car from a library book sale.

the rules only say 2 cubic feet. this is 2409 pounds. you can get fewer coins per cubic foot due to shape however. there is no mention of a weight limit, but this may depend on material used.

so lets just round down to a ton of gold, 2000 pounds. at 50 coins per pound, that 100,000 gold coins. you need a strength of 20 just to drag that much weight.

so the practical answer- the backpack holds as much as you can try to carry.

dont nerf the ability. either let him have it, or disallow it. the alternative your thinking of has many unintended consequences.

a wizard has four ways to directly affect the action economy- spells(summoning and haste), familiar, cohort[feat], and the true name discovery[feat]. a good wizard will always have the option of cluttering the board.

your player will be spending 2 of his feats, which could be used for other things, to get better support on the battlefield. if you give the levels to the IMP of all creatures... that would be bad. the imp can be invisible, teleport, and so on all on its own. imagine stacking that with a spellcaster class (like cleric of an evil god). suddenly you have an invisible teleporter who can drop spells and negative channeling. or what if the imp takes levels in rogue, and sneak attacks from invisibility? or levels in wizard- imagine the familiar studying the masters spellbook, and effectively doubling most his spells while still sharing spells. the result would be downright nasty- and he could then dismiss the imp (which remains his cohort), and then summon a NEW imp familiar. which then clutters the field more on top of the issue of an imp with class levels.

also, as an imp is cr2 without levels, you would either be shorting him on cohort level, or else making the imp too powerful by far.

hm. well, for an elf i would suggest dex 16, con 10, int 20, cha 7, str 10, wis 10. you may then buy armor for an additional +1 ac (its in ultimate combat, no penalty or spell failure) for AC 14.

int 20 is very important, as this gives you a 4th first-level spell slot, an extra spell known, as well as increasing the DC of your spells and your concentration bonus. increase int at every opportunity.

familiars have been very seriously nerfed (mainly in equipment slots), but the raven may be your best choice as it can speak.

for starting spells, you will want: infernal healing (ISWG), and color spray. only memorize the infernal healing if your party lacks a main healer, and know that its not very useful in combat. its great for healing between combat. color spray is the best offense you will have for several levels as it shuts enemies down long enough for combat to be effectively over.

i find that 5 or 6 players is best, but the CR system is built for 4 players. make sure to calculate your APL properly. with 9 players you technically could run two games, but be sure to talk to them about the idea before you plan too much.

there are a lot of great city books for the golarion setting, with books for three major cities in Varsia, the great city of Absalom, several other books that detail other cities, and a new cities book due out soonish. the magnimar book could be a good one, as its also near sandpoint and a lot of goblin tribes.

for an urban game, the first thing you really need is a quick set of NPCs to use- city guard, shopkeepers, random townspeople, and some thugs for the bad part of town. second thing you need is an urban bestiary- even if its just ally cats, rats, and angry pigeons, some players will try to fight them.

there is always a lot to do in cities, and the most common enemy will be other humans(often with npc levels). theme-wise, you could have them play detective with a recurring villain group, or deal in political intrigue, or solve various problems like dire rats in the cellar or an old tomb accidently opened by new construction. or even just running errands for a local wizard. some cities have their own mega-dungeons under them as well.

running your own adventures, i find its best to plan a couple of levels worth of encounters ahead, with a few extra side-encouters and wandering monsters prepared in case the players decide to throw you a curveball.

i just opened a brick, and everything was intact. the iconic magus figure has a terrible paintjob however- the skin tone on his chest is too thin(showing some of the color of the black plastic beneath), and on his face extends onto his hair. i don't know if this is a problem with this individual figure, or with the magus figure in general.

in several cases, weapons are bent at odd angles. this is most noticeable with the sea-devil's trident, which is at a 45 degree angle away from the shaft of the weapon. not surprising, but a little disappointing.

the translucent blue plastic held in the hands of two female casters is a nice touch.

i agree that the wings were a little loose. i noticed a major difference between the blue dragon and the skeletal dragon: the blue had a <- shape to the insert, implying that it would hold itself in place once assembled. the skeletal just has a slightly snug fit for the straight wing inserts.

it is a very nice iconic dragon piece, in that it could be a simple skeleton, a draconic skeletal champion, or even a dracolich, depending on what sort of encounter your dealing with. it can also be a nice 'mueseum' piece to place on a platform in the middle of a formal event (right before the necromancer crashes the party?)

dwarf 1: "how did ya not know he was a gorilla?"
dwarf 2: "well, we had a few drinks, and i figured he was just really drunk. i mean, his jokes were hilarious."
gorilla: "barkeep, another round!"

i think that belt should let the ape talk, just because of the jokes. and IRL, the gorilla can use sign language. the Golarion setting has drow sign language. we can solve this problem easily enough.

it costs resources to process a spellbook. how do they know the value? you need spellcraft rolls or read magic to see what the spells are, then you have the possibility of secret page, magical traps, and even non-spell content (like a treasure map).

that QM has his head lodged rather far up his own rear end. you need to sit down and talk to him, preferably out-of-game to avoid the 'playing my character' nonsense some people use. remind him this is a game you play to have fun, not a contest to see who can screw the party over more.

also remind him, that your party has someone stand watch at night, and you have access to a wide range of interesting save-or-suck spells. like bestow curse(at level 5+ anyhow), which can have some simply inspired RP uses.

the groups i played with, simply handed out found gear to who could best use it, and divided the rest. we never worried about things like what a spellbook was worth- it was another tool to keep us alive.

an aggregate demand curve would make some sense- you could even realistically model it, as there is a finite set of class/level/race/build. for each spell that could help, you will see a variable demand by class for that service.

WBL is the upper limit, with this expense falling under the 15% disposable section. level one doesnt have enough gold to matter. at level 2, each member of the group has 150gp max to spend on casting for that level. at level 3, they have 450gp each to spend (or 300 additional gold). if you know encounters per day, then you can find how much gold per day of casting.

now, the basic demand curve increases as price lowers. you want to find the point that aggregate demand meets your supply- but as your supply is larger than demand, thats a bit of a challenge. so, at what price could the commoner afford your services? a level one common with 1 rank of profession and a stat of 10 should have about 18gp per month after living expenses. thats 6 silver per day per person of disposable income that we can expect. so each spell availible needs to be priced on this scale, if you want to sell to commoners. you must sell to adventurers (a higher risk task) if you want to make more profit.

so, if you were to sell casting services for 1gp per spell level(plus material costs), that could work. you would get additional income of several gold per day, but would not sell all of your spells all the time. this is 1% of list price for this caster, and it is what the commoner economy can bear.

the only real reason why list price is so high, is because the typical wizard does not want to be bothered- the high price is how the wizard values his time. also a wizard will typically make more money crafting items on commission.

well, you dont need to be in melee to cast it- you can keep it ready a few rounds as needed. and if you are in melee, you only need to make a concentration check to avoid the AoO.

really, you would just be removing one d20 roll. this would reduce the utility of the defensive casting feat. not too serious, but it has two important issues- enemy casters will have an easier time slapping the fighters with spells (like cause serious wounds from the evil clerics), and PC wizards will avoid potentially wasting a spell to do the same to enemies making them even better than non-casters.

really, this house rule sounds like its equivalent to a feat. not serious, but worth a small amount of finite resources.

there do not appear to be any stats for water fowl, you may want to just use the raven familiar stats but remove the ability to talk. have it give a +3 swim bonus maybe, and use a swim speed(10') when on the water surface.

bonus points if it sits on his head, and he responds 'what duck?'

first of all, the wizard is going to want to trade spells, as they will both likely have different spells in their wizard books.

if she can make potions, offering to buy in bulk for 60% of list may be useful, which would give her a 5gp profit per cure light wounds potion, and haggle from there.

i would put the break point at level 5. once you get to that point, the casting is not as useful, and her capacity as a researcher has much more potential. item creation also becomes more significant at that point.

plan ahead two steps- if you share with the group, you have more swords to defend you when the original owner hunts you down. as in, an entire noble house and what favors they can call in, hunting a thief. a few divinations, and they should be able to make wanted posters.

considering the real nature of the acadamae, it seems likely that there is either a custom spell, or a special magic item. it could even be 'magic chalk' that draws the circle for summoning.

a very real possibility is that the 'ritual' is simply the students accessing a spell already in place. devils want to go to the prime material after all, so calling the right name could summon them without much need for magical power- the real problem is trying to control them.

an index is very useful. because sometimes i need to find a monster by CR, or by terrain type.

to be great, your bestiary must have a good range of creatures, from low cr to high. there should be interaction between some types of monsters, similar to the goblins and their goblin dogs.

the monsters should also be fun. they should be something that takes advantage of the system to provide an entertaining battle. learning more about how they fit into the dungeon should be interesting.

for any template-monsters, it should be clear how to apply that template as needed. for humanoids, it helps to see clearly how to apply a different class than the default warrior 1.

rooms start on page 94. the 'casters tower' is a pre-made building on page 107, but you can build your own from the rooms in the book.

enchantment is a good choice for a second opposed school.

false focus, from inner sea magic, may be a good feat choice. using a holy symbol worth up to 100gp, you can ignore casting costs of up to that much. its a modified version of eschew materials, better in some ways. great for when you need to use 100gp of onyx but dont have any at hand.

caster level is the most important thing you can have, it effects many things including concentration checks. every caster level you miss means your effectively playing one level lower than the rest of your group.

now, if your serious about being a lich, you may want to consider being a sorcerer instead, as they use charisma to cast. necromancer is only better if you want the extra HD of undead control that the specialist wizard gets.

diamond dust, logically, is made every time a jeweler cuts diamonds, every time you mine diamonds from the earth, every time you convert low-quality small stones to dust because they were too small for anything else.

it must be more common than diamonds, especially large diamonds. price is determined by supply and demand, and its still rare enough for a limited supply.

diamond size has a more quadratic effect on value, while volume of diamond dust should be more linear. simply grinding a large diamond would likely result in a lower value of diamond dust. but cut does matter- dust can be more or less fine grain, and finer grain dust is probably much more useful for spells that need it.

there is probably a specific method used to make the finest dust and keep it pure.