Cylyria's page

Grats Ivis! Well deserved!

Thanks to Heather Vigil for the best time I've had in a Starfinder game, which was incidentally the special and her first time ever running a Starfinder scenario. I'm not a huge fan of the game and got roped into by my friends, but I had a great deal of fun during it.

My main concern is whether or not there will actually be enough PF2 content to keep the players in my area busy. Southwest Ohio is pretty healthy and if there are only 3 scenarios to start I think there will be a bunch of people standing around with nothing to play after the 1st month.
The solution of course would to release more scenarios then they currently do, but I suspect that is not an option. This is why I suspect PF1 will be a thing for at least a year, at least until there is a backlog of titles to play.

It's available on Amazon if that helps.

Name: Tessa
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Race: Elven
Class: Admixture Wizard 10
Description: Female blonde elf, wears mirrored goggles, constantly blows bubbles with her gum, and has a neon green scorpion that is constantly crawling all over her.

I'd go with Inquisitor. It's a wisdom based class, your initiative modifier will be insane, and you'll have spellcasting. Plus the Bane will help the damage even more.

Could also consider warpriest. Also wisdom based, will get more feats, and you can insta-Divine Favor.

Or, do both.

On the subject of wands and scrolls. What if they functioned at the level of the character using it? A lvl 1 wizard using a magic missle scroll would do d4+1 while a lvl 9 wizard using the same scroll would do 5d4+5.
Granted, the prices would have to be altered a great deal, but if the idea is to make scrolls and wands useful again like they were in 1st and 2nd edition then this might work.

A few observations as a player

1- Room was very chilly, even to someone like me who thinks a 65 degree hotel room is perfectly fine. Will bring a hoodie next year.

2- For the Friday special we sat directly under the screen so I had a crick in my neck Saturday morning. If there was a way to have a screen on the other side as well that be awesome.

3- The musterings were very well done this year. We've come a long way from Josh standing on top of a milk crate.

4- This was also the first Gen Con in which I had no problems with any of our GM's. That in and of itself was worth the cost of admission.

5- The Friday night boon was kinda odd, as it is basically worthless save for money for my character. I also recommend a better boon. A race or prestige class or some such.

This is the first year we've done the specials since year 1, cause of how terrible the year 1 played out for us. I am very happy to see they have improved tremendously and our group plans to do them next year.

Did Apocalypse at least kill more than 20 people? That's kind of my gold standard for "bad ass villainy".

I'd say yes.

Name of PC: Miku
Class/Level: Fighter 16
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst: Karzoug

Name of PC: Wynter
Class/Level: Wizard 16
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst: Karzoug

Name of PC: Cylyria
Class/Level: Scout 16
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst: Karzoug

Name of PC: Aislynn
Class/Level: Cleric 16
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst: Karzoug

Name of PC: Hannah
Class/Level: Paladin 16
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst: Karzoug

The PC's appeared in Karzougs domain buffed and ready to fight, and immediatly ate a meteor swarm, dragon breath, and 2 chain lightnings before anyone had a turn. The fighter subsequently was hit with baleful polymorph, while the cleric was pulped with a crushing fist.
The paladin managed to barely finish off the rune giant and the rogue put a couple of arrows into Kazoug. During that time Karzoug and the Storm Giants killed off the wizard with arrows and I think a fireball. The paladin went back to the wizard to try and help, and both of them were hit with a horrid wilting. At that point the rogue (me) gave up. We never had a chance in that fight.
Not exactly how a campaign that took 5 years of real time to finish was expected to end.

Elevator and Pipe Bosses in WoW. Those bastards eat a little piece of your soul every time you fail, and they never die.

Don't forget anything that resembles Frogger. I lost count of how many of my guildies died in Naxx or Ulduar to stuff like that.

I can't speak to Morrowind, but the NWN 1 single player campaign is awfully boring. The NWN expansions are much better, and NWN 2 is amazing. Multi-player is also why I got that game.

Baldurs Gate 1 &2 should be played immediately.

68- I miss actual multi-classing. I want my elven fighter/wizards back. Not the monstrosity they call multi-classing now.

69- 2nd edition bards spell lists. I liked casting lightning bolt as a bard.

I always figured them to be about 2 things. Money and power.

I'd also make a snarky crack about Banites that only Orthos would get, but meh :)

I LOL'd at the Jessie/Slater comment at the end of that clip.

"IF" they really do make it a hard R, then I suspect it will be a very entertaining movie. Reynolds was born to play this role.

Playing a Ravenloft adventure in which the demi-plane happened to encompass a small town (It was a published module. Something with Marionettes). The players, of which I was one, were getting fed up with the bad guys always coming back, no matter what we seemed to do. Solution? We burned down the entire town, killing everyone inside, innocent or not.

The DM was both amused and somewhat taken aback. He decided we were the new Ravenloft Lords and that particular campaign ended.

20 years later and he still brings it up from time to time :)

Mikaze wrote:

Personally I thought black skinned, white haired elves just looked awesome. Later went ahead and just made them a non-evil but typically insular elven ethnicity in my homebrew.

Since my homebrew world doesn't have Drow at all, I stole the whole "Elves change appearance based on their environment" thing from Golarion, and made any Elf that spends a lot of time in a rocky, mountainous, cavernous, subterranean, or otherwise heavy-on-stone environment would eventually look like a Drow, specifically because their appearance is reminiscent of gems - "skin like onyx, hair like diamond, eyes like rubies and amethysts".

Speaking of which, more blog posts please :)

-Convince me/Sell me on/of "X" threads.

Why should people try to convince someone of something that they have already decided?

-World of Warcraft has ruined the game

No, no it hasn't.

I find DM's forget my First Rule of GM'ing: Never let players know when, why, or how you cheat.

This is fine and dandy, and I sort of agree with it, but make sure you hide that your doing it. Many players have a vast knowledge of the rules and will know when you do it.

It is the job of the GM to tailor the campaign to the players. Throwing a ton of role-play at players who prefer combats and visa-versa is a no no.

If you have a player who wants to use a falcata and you refuse to let him have an upgraded version then that is on the GM. If there are no falcatas in the world then the GM should tell the players ahead of time.

Yeah... 2 giants make for a tough encounter, at least until lvl 19 or so. Good way to make cash though.

I always thought about jumping into the giant/dragon fight on the Storm Coast, just to see what happened.

Of all the high dragons I fought the 2 toughest were the Frostback, cause I was 12 and it took a very long time, and the Kaltenzahn in Lion. The latter was the only time I had to reload and try a different approach.

The Star Frontiers setting is something I've always had a liking for.

The cross-guard design was pretty cool. From reading comments here and on the Escapist though you would think it is the end of the world. There are some people who will never be happy with anything.

The group I was GMing for was instructed to enter a warehouse for some reason I don't actually remember anymore. When the players arrived at the warehouse they found it guarded. In a rare show of actually talking to the bad guys, they tried to bluff their way in. The guards were willing to let them in for a 50gp bribe. One of the players, who at the time was fairly new to the game said "50gp?!? But I'm just a poor paladin!"
The guards looked at each other and said "oh really"?

Combat then commenced.

This is why I will never, ever play a paladin in PFS. As much as I enjoy playing them, the threat of some GM with odd views on the class ruining the game for me is far too high.

It was an enjoyable movie to watch to be sure. The fights were fairly well done and I was amused at most everyones reaction to the name "John Wick". And having Al Swearengen in your movie automatically makes it better.

Bonus points for the constant reloading. How many action movies kinda let that slide?

I am completely shocked by your love of the Draconomicon and Races of the Dragon. Shocked! :)

Tarrintino wrote:

*turns to Obsidian*

You're making a Pathfinder version of "Neverwinter Nights"?

*throws wallet at Obsidian*

HERE! JUST TAKE MY MONEY!!!

With toolset? Yes please? Yes? Maybe?

Be awfully cool if this happened and we could get some semblance of the gang back together.

So basically the reasoning for the removal is because lots of people made them because of the ruling Paizo itself made on them regarding of SLA's?

Interesting.

So what is the reasoning for removing of the two races?

I would prefer to not use xp's and just have them level at the appropriate time in the campaign, but since the players seem to prefer gaining xp's and we use the 3.5 item creation rules I am stuck with it for the time being.

I kinda like the idea of it taking 15-20 points per level and fiving 1 xp for an encounter. Have to think on that one.

To be honest, the only Singer product I have liked was Triangle, (pretty sure it was a tv miniseries).

You didn't like "The Usual Suspects"?!?

Scenarios are meant to be run as written, with no addition

or subtraction to number of monsters (unless indicated
in the scenario), or changes to armor, feats, items, skills,
spells, stats, traits, or weapons. However, if the actions
of the PCs before or during an encounter invalidate the
provided tactics or starting locations, the GM should
consider whether changing these would provide a more
enjoyable play experience.
Additionally, the GM may consider utilizing terrain and
environmental conditions when those effects have been
written into the flavor of a scenario but the mechanics that
are normally associated with them by the Core Rulebook have
not been added to the encounters. GMs are always encouraged
to reward role-playing and flavor when adjudicating the
reactions of NPCs or the outcome of in-game encounters.
GMs may use other Pathfinder RPG sources to add flavor
to the scenario, but may not change the mechanics of
encounters. Specifically, the mechanics of an encounter are
the creatures presented, the number of opponents in the
encounter, and the information written into the stat blocks
for those opponents. If an encounter is a trap, haunt, or skill
check that needs to be achieved to bypass a situation then the
listed DCs and results are not to be altered, as they are the
mechanics of that encounter. Additionally, if an encounter
already includes mechanical effects of terrain, weather, or
hazards, please be aware that these things are also considered
mechanics that may not be altered.

This is from the guide to PFS, pages 32-33. Just thought I'd put this here.

Age of Worms will bury you in dragons

Armor is irrelevant in higher level play. Go for miss chances, be flying out of reach, or be invisible.

Mammoth Lord realm or in Mwangi would be where dinosaurs are, though I may have placed species in other places in my home campaign. Raptors in the Verduran Forest are a good idea right? Right?

Well, my guess is that the GM decided that since Dragotha is supposed to be one of the top 2 fights in the AP, that 1-shotting him wasn't gonna happen. I know when my group gets to this fight there will be nothing like that going on.

What abilities/feats/prestige classes are you using to get to insta-gib a 47hd undead?

A wand of Sure Casting (750gp). It's basically true strike for casters against SR

A Haversack to switch out those Rods, potions, scrolls, etc.

Wand of Infernal Healing

Pearls of Power lvl 1

These are all things my lvl 4 wizard has/wants/needs

What is gained through strict enforcement of this rule?

I can answer this though.

1) Nothing but aggravated players.

Doubt anyone remembers, but I posted after Gen Con last year about a guy who had his shirt at the table but wasn't wearing. He wanted to use it for a reroll but was denied. The reason mostly given was that we are advertising PFS to people who haven't played. Perhaps I was blind, but I really don't remember random people wandering in from the halls and standing watching a table play. I look forward to watching in Sagamore this year to see this happens.
TL/DR IMO denying this someone who actually spent money to buy a shirt that you wouldn't wear anywhere else seems rather jerkish.

I will miss the faction missions. I will not miss the way many of them were implemented.

Typical Taldor faction mission: DC 30 knowledge check on some obscure fact

Typical Andoran faction mission: Show up

At least, this is always the way it seemed to me :)

Surprised no one mentioned it, but 1st Ed. Bards were the most OP things around.

If you saw someone with psionics you knew they were cheating.

Assassin was a base class and 1/2 orcs were invariably assassins.

Weapon damage vs armor type. And don't forget weapon speed!

Subdual damage and dragons

There was generally no such thing as a single classed elf or 1/2 elf

Halflings were invariably rogues

The combat matrix in the DMG. Before Thaco there was math

Illusionist was a base class and totally different from wizards.

Totally legit random encounters of 40-400 orcs.

5 different types of saving throws

I think the one of the biggest differences between 1stEd and PF is magic items. There was no such thing as the big 6 that everyone had. You had what you found and you treasured it. I have a player that I have gamed with for 20 years now who still talks about his beloved Cloak of the Manta Ray. Nowadays no one would be caught dead in one. This saddens me.

AD&D 2nd edition had lots of monstrous compendiums. Some of them had color pictures but there were lots of black and white. I don't think the page linked is from AD&D 2nd edition basic Monstrous Manual because I don't remember that particular monster being there but it could one of nearly 30 Monstrous Compendium Appendices.

The monster in the link above was not in the 2nd Ed. Monstrous Manual, as all the monsters in that book were in color (excluding the invisible stalker). Pretty sure that's a Mystara monster.

What we totally need is more threads about this topic. Totally...

Everytime I see a thread like this I ask myself why someone cares how someone prefers to play the game? Play it as you want to play. It isn't really that hard.

It's also worth mentioning that I know some 3+ star GMs that I would never want to sit at their table again. Stars do not equal greatness as a GM.

This. Stars mean nothing.

Something I don't get people saying is if I don't want to play up (or down) I have the option of walking. Am I going to be reimbursed for that? I mean, I paid for the scenario.

Keep in mind I only play PFS stuff at Gen Con, not at my FLGS, or with my normal group of players in a home game.

I have also been forced to play below my tier because the Scenario we had picked to play had only a few players to choose from. We had 3 lvl 7's and 3 lvl 1's in one instance. That kinda sucked.

From my time playing in WoW, flask spec seemed to be the best money maker, I haven't played since the end of Firelands, so I have no idea if that changed.Wouldn't think it did though.
One thing I will suggest, esp. if you have an alt that is high enough level, is to have 2 crafting professions on your main, and let the alt farm. My Main (hunter) was an Engie/Enchanter and my warrior was a BD/JC, both of whom were fed by my rogue, who was Mining/Herbalism.

Occasionally I get the urge to log onto Cyl and mess around, but then I remember the grind of hardcore raiding, and I slap myself until I forget the notion :)

The only character I have ever seriously used power attack with is my lvl 5 paladin who uses a 2-handed sword. The character sheet has a power attack line and a power attack w/smite line. But the only reason I use it with her is that's the personality of the character.
I occasionally used it with my dwarf fighter who got to lvl 19, but I had to struggle to remember I even had that feat available.
I've never used it on a class that didn't have full BAB.

Which ones are abandoned? Last I checked there is a 4th version of Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun, and they even revived Dark Sun.

I can only think of Dragonlance and Kalamar otherwise.

What 4th edition version of Greyhawk? I'm pretty sure WOTC hasn't allowed anything Greyhawk since very early 3rd efition. They just like to steal all of its ideas.

EDIT: Remembered an idea I had for a paladin once. It was a "practical" (read: pragmatic) paladin. His idea of a good battle plan involved himself being in the middle of the road the enemy army traveled on, and shouting a challenge to them. Meanwhile his allies were in the foliage waiting to ambush them while the morons tried to pick off the "lone, stupid knight-man". Divided forces = easier fight.

I actually played a paladin like this a while back on my old NWN server. Orthos prolly remembers this. Anyways, I played her as very pragmatic and def. not stupid. Sadly this caused several people to question her paladinhood and how "unfair" it was to play her this ways. Those people always amused me.