DM Klumz's page

Freehold

Are you referring to my reading of Brexit, or the deal the French will get if LePen wins?

If it is the latter, I'm not sure suckered is the right phrase.

At the time the EU rebuffed David Cameron, the powers that be could not see the UK voting for Brexit. Now that it has, and their contributions to the EU budget look like they will dry up, the EU cannot afford to lose another net contributor to their budget. They will have to be far more flexible when dealing with the possibility of 'Frexit', something I am sure Ms LePen is banking on.

Actually, now I have written that, suckered is exactly the phrase I would use!

Merde!!!

It was more of a "EU? Meh? We'd rather go over arguments we had in the late 70s" sort of position.

Brexit vote ended in a victory for the nativist, anti-Islam, right wing position

Really? I mean, really???

Scores on the left voted for Brexit, simliar numbers on the right voted to remain. Most MPs, irrespective of their party, were in the remain camp. Our current PM was pro remain, and the leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, did not come out and offer much support for the EU. Brexit cannot be described as a victory for the right or left in British politics.

We have Islamaphobes in the UK, but I do not think this mentality is linked to EU membership. Most of my extended muslim family voted for Brexit. Why? The belief, possibly mistaken, that leaving the EU will make easier for their extended families in Pakistan to get visas to stay in the UK. Many muslim communities do not see the predominantly Christian EU as supporters of their faith.

A island nation made up three countries and millions of immigrants from across the globe does not become any MORE nativist because they decide to leave the EU. We have always been on the outside looking in.

As a remain voting Brit/Italian, married to a muslim, who has been a Labour supporter since the days of Michael Foot, you cannot imagine how unhappy I am with the fustercluck that is about to hit my country. Brexit is not the victory you have described, if it can be described as a victory at all.

I have nothing really useful to add about Marine LePen that can be said on a friendly board such as this.

I don't think that in the event she does win she will drag France out of the EU. Faced with a "Frexit", the EU will then renegotiate terms of membership with France to make sure they stay in. Which will piss me off even more than I am already, seeing as that is what David Cameron tried to do in the first place.

Please ignore my last. It was waiting for me when I got home this evening.

Cheers

Alan

Hey guys

Happy new year and all that.

I usually see my orders delivered 5-10 days after shipping, however this order has not yet arrived (shipped on 16th December).

FYI they recently allowed private contractors to deliver mail in North London and surprise, surprise, they have been finding mail dumped in rivers.

I'd happily pay more to guarantee shipping via Royal Mail if that is an option.

Rather than ship it again, it may be more cost effective for me to buy a hard copy locally and for you to put a credit on my account.

Cheers

Alan

A note to all those taking this film far too seriously. Ever considered it wasn't made with just you in mind?

I took my 8 year old to see this yesterday evening. She loved it, and managed not to blub too much at the end when characters she had known since she was 6 were killed. For her this was a firm 11 out of 10, which makes this a perfect Christmas movie.

How did she feel it compared to the book? (Read aloud to her by dad). She was really glad they added Tauriel otherwise "it would have been all about boys and that is just unfair".

The scenes with Alfred were really important, as were the comedy moments involving giant goats, Billy Connolley riding a war pig and mass beheadings of orcs suspended from antlers. Without these moments of levity, it would have made the film too dark for someone so young to enjoy IMHO.

So thank you Peter Jackson for adding all the extras to the Hobbit trilogy and giving my daughter and I three years of great Christmas movies. After all it was this or Night at the Museum 3.

I can only hope that the Star Wars reboot can be for my four year old son what the Hobbit has become for my daughter. (Although I can do without him developing a the lego habit my daughter has picked up as the Star Wars stuff is seriuosly expensive).

And just for the record, he thinks the new light sabre is the BEST THING EVER!!!

I'm afraid Salmond knows exactly what he is doing.

He's a politician trying to create a political environment he can dominate.

He's turned a "Yes" vote for independence into a "F@CK THE TORIES" vote, and a "No" vote into "You're not a patriotic Scot" vote.

Should Salmond 'win', he will manipulate public opinion so that Westminster can be blamed for the inevitable failure of the "Scottish Utopia" he spun during the referendum campaign. [He learned to do this by watching the way the current Westminster government blames the last government for the Banking collapse.]

Salmond is a canny man who is as deceitful as any other politician.

I say this as a card carrying socialist, of Scottish extraction, living in London, who would be sad to see Scotland go.

If Scotland leave, we shall ALL be poorer for it and the man who made it happen will come up smelling of roses!

I'm a big fan of the CC3 tool set, but it is kind of expensive.

Tarrintino

Google "Joe Sweeney", his tutorials for CC3 I found really helpful. I had no experience in any kind of drawing (electronic or otherwise) and found learning to use CC3 not that hard once I found his stuff.

Yes please!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd buy two of each if that helps. Maybe even three!!!

The original Tomb of Horrors (don't bother with the remake IMHO) is as nasty, vindictive and sadistic as they say. It really is DM vs. Party.

That said, after nearly 30+ years, it is the one dungeon we ALL still remember and ALL wish we could do over again.

Thank you very much indeed.

Now if only I could stop the goblins hammering in my head and my eyes from bleeding everytime I look at the screen, all will be well with the world.

Klumz

Um, I had a bit of a brain fart and appear to have purchased the Inner Sea NPC Codex twice. When placing the download into my pathfinder folder on my PC, I noticed that it was already there with a date stamp of the 19th January 2014???

[I blame your site and not the bottle of Chianti I have just finished. It is very confusing to a drunken man who has mislaid his glasses!]

Any chance I can convert this to a credit, seeing as I will be spending money soon?

Pretty please with a cherry on top?

Cheers

Klumz (the soon-to-be-hung-over)

It all depends on whiskey.

As we all know, the cr@p stuff remains in the bottle for years, whereas the good stuff rarely lasts the night!

Thanks for the replies guys.

Matthew - I did not even consider level dipping mainly because I don't allow it at my table and rarely allow multi classing. I could see how this would be a problem.

SlimGauge - The only other martials that see play at our table are barbarians, rogues and rangers (I run a core only game at the moment as I don't have the time to keep on top of the other rules). All seem to rock, but I'm guessing that probably has much to do with our MGF play style! The last monk we saw in play was about 10 years ago, paladin around 20 years ago and the only bard we ever had was over 30 years ago when they were practically impossible to get (1st edition)!

darkwarrior - As a DM I dream of an all fighter party. Just think, the BBEG could actually monologue without being closed down before he has time to even open his mouth! Do you really think this that imbalanced? The Fighter can hit harder, less accurately, be harder to hit but less accurate, or have a slightly better chance at pulling off a combat manoeuver without exposing himself to a ripost. It does not seem too good even for 1st level, but you may see something I am missing.

RedDog - I like your thinking, however we are happy with the ban on AOO chaining, it's just never worth the hassle.

KainPen - I really wanted to grant the bunce at first level, but maybe it could be something you lose should you ever multiclass? Explanation - Faffing around with spells and wotnot does not leave you enough time to keep up your battle training?

Barbarian Player: "WTF? What am I doing when fighty boy is training?"
DM: "Having psychotherapy"

Ummm, the rational behing my idea needs more polishing I think.

Helaman & Calybos - I just want to give the 'tickle' to fighters at the moment.

Azothath - I never liked kits in 2nd edition (outside of Al-Qadim setting) so I cannot see myself doing this. It would also be a bugger to implement in herolab!

Perhaps giving the bunce at higher fighter levels would be good. Something like at nth level (probably 4th) fighters never provoke AOO when using combat manoeuvers and give them power attack and combat expertise for free at 1st, which you lose should you ever multiclass (unless you actually take the feat). Or maybe swap that around.

What do you think?

Ok, I'm considering giving fighters these feats for free at 1st level;

Combat Expertise, Power Attack, all the improved combat manoeuver feats.

For a bit of background, I don't allow actions as an attack of opportunity if they themselves provoke an attack of opportunity.

So, what could go wrong with this idea?

Fly to London?

Over 35 sessions, spread over 2 years, we have just started book 4 of Legacy of Fire.

The party (there are 7 PCs) is now 8th level and we play with hero points, thought rarely does anyone have enough to 'avoid' death.

We have had 7 deaths and one fluke TPK that was ignored. The half-orc fighter has been saved by his orc ferocity too many times to remember.

The party have just lost the cleric for the second time, so tough times ahead.

Poker chips!

Gives you something to nervously fiddle with!

Hero Labs does allow you to toggle an option where you can include the house rule that allows keen and improved critical to stack.

Giving him the benefit of the doubt I would suggest he has accidentally turned this on.

I would have thought that the XP would not be earned. I don't track XP in my games so I never even considered this aspect.

I also think that it would have some serious material component.

A year off everyone's life?

Kent

It actually worked really well as I could 'take the gloves off' and be really nasty to the party whilst they were under the influence of this spell, pulling some unpleasant moves, without having any guilt.

It was under divination as the fluff surrounding the power stated that the 'replay' element was due to caster having a premonition of future events.

We found that the second time through a fight was always much quicker as the PCs knew exactly what to do.

I like the idea of a saving throw for the big bad allowing the GM to totally re jig things.

Ok

How about this idea. You cast the spell at time X. For the next N hours (or minutes), at any point, the caster can say "That did not happen and we shall be returning to X" and you reset the adventure with the understanding that the GM is allowed to make minor tweaks only.

This was a magic power that was often used to avoid (redact) TPK situations in a Bushido campaign I ran many moons ago.

I've not really thought about what to do yet.

I think I'm going to see how The End of Eternity goes. If the party are in a mood to explore everything (and I think they will be) then I might use MuseAmused's idea and drop Jhavul's palace from The Impossible Eye into Kakishon.

I'm a little undecided.

I still want to get the PCs to witness Pashvann's death at the hands of Davushuum. Or better still, be responsible for his death and feel really bad about (whilst picking up another Templar weapon). The problem is I'm not sure how to drop this in. Other than a shopping trip in the Nighstalls there is not much for the party to do before Rayhan acidentally opens the portal to Kakishon.

Evil Lincoln

Did you get round to swapping books 5 and 6?

If so, how did that work out for you?

My party are about to head into Kakishon next session (it's only taken us 36 sessions to get there) and I am wondering whether to use your idea about flipping the books around, or MuseAmused's idea of putting Jhavul's palace inside Kakishon.

Klumz

I turn lightning bolts into lightning balls when thrown in water. I think that is the old grognard in me misremembering 1st edition though.

Mended

Thank you very much. Obvious now, I was just not seeing it.

Cheers

Klumz

Is there a link explaining how I can import a por file from Hero Lab into the combat manager as I seem to be struggling with this.

Although my por files exist (I can see them when I open up explorer), I cannot see them when I try to import them via the Combat Manager.

I am running windows 7 and am running the program as an administrator.

What have I missed? Is there something I need to check?

Cheers

Klumz

I recommend the use of hero points in the game. They help enormously when things go wrong for the party through no fault of their own (bad rolls etc). Without hero points we would have had TPK a number of times (Carrion King I'm looking at you).

In 29 sessions we have only ever had one occasion (in a group of 6) where two hero points were used to avoid death.

I do have a couple of house rules re hero points.

There is a limited pool of hero points around the table to prevent hoarding (we have 13 for 7 players). If all the points are in player's hands then no more can be dibbed out. I believe this encourages players to use them.

I have introduced the Boss hero point nerf power that nixes the hero point just played and prevents the play of any hero points for a whole round. This causes my players to get really freaked when fighting a boss knowing that they cannot use hero points to bail themselves out.

Just my tuppence anyway.

Player 1: My familiar will be a monkey.

DM: What will it be called?

Players 2 & 3 (simultaneously): Spank

Believe me, Anthrax is not a problem.

CICMGD

I just wanted to say a big thank you for the template. I have been using it for my Legacy of Fire campaign for over a year.

Cheers

Let me first say a big THANK YOU for making this wonderful tool.

I have been playing with it and spotted a couple of things that you may already be aware of, but I thought I would point them out them any way.

In the 'Current Monster' stat block (top right) the perception value does not change when you are editing a monster (for example after adding point to the skill when levelling up a party member). The skill section shows the correct value, but the value under the senses section never seems to change. Am I doing something wrong?

When you apply the Enlarge or Reduce effect (via a spell) to a monster, all the monsters weapon sets are merged into one line. For example if you have a monster with three attack sets, after these effects are applied, they are merged into one super set. It looks to me that the 'or' is being deleted between each weapon set.

If there is a better way of reporting findings please let me know.

Once again, thanks for making this, it is very much appreciated.

Alan

'Lone Death' aka Aramil the Black, is a Ranger 3/ Rogue 2/ Diviner 1. He's good at killing gnolls.

The demon does not have to be that high rank to do Lamashtu's bidding. As a matter of fact, making it matched to just above the power of 'Lone Death' presents a rather interesting situation.

The rest of the party do not know what 'Lone Death' has done. If the demon is pitched just right it could lead to a situation where 'Lone Death' may enlist their aid to deal with said demon. He will of course then have to explain why he is being pestered in the first place...

Icy Shadow

So you are thinking that QQ (I am really pants with names so any help would be good) a general of Lamashtu has taken notice of poor old 'Lone Death'. (This is how the PC is known among the gnoll tribes of the Brazen Peaks as he does most of his gnoll hunting away from the party.)

What would QQ want?

Any further ideas (and a name?)

Icyshadow

Long story short: I set up a situation for the party gnoll killer that led him to slaughter two gnoll pups. In my opinion (and pretty much that of the whole table) this act was not justifiable and so there shall be consequences. However, because it WAS a set up, these consequences shall not take the form of 'punishment' but a side story where a fiend of somekind takes an interest in the character. I posted here for ideas about which type of fiend it may be.

Heaven's Agent

Let me make something clear - rest assured the player in question is not going to be 'punished'. That would be a dick move on my part as a DM, and I like to think I stopped being that kind of a DM a long time ago (my players may beg to differ). Becoming the centre of attention for a side story would probably be viewed as a 'reward' in some circles.

You make the assertion that Golarion's powers do not recognise mortal sin. Really? I fully admit that I have hardy even brushed the surface of Golarion as far as reading goes (my two kids have killed any free time I used to have), but nothing I have read gave me that impression. IMHO it would be such a shame if what your are saying is true. My interpretation of Calistria would not have her claim credit for the killing of the gnoll pups. Gnolls that can 'bark' back are fair game, new born pups, no. She is CN, not CE.

And yes, of course Jo Average would not draw attention for performing one such action, but hey, the PCs ARE the story, they are embarked on a course of action whose failure will have significant consequences (Legacy of Fire), so I do think it justifiable their actions will draw attention.

Fully agree with your occasional evil action comment (even the good can do it sometimes), however, this was infanticide.

I guess next time he can horribly disfigure the pups so they will be unable to hurt others. Or leave them alone and defenseless to starve slowly or be eaten by wild beasts. Death is more of a mercy. If he killed them quickly, it is alot less evil than abandoning them, disfiguring them, or something else more sinister.

Or perhaps he could have taken them with him? IMHO death would only be a mercy if he had found the pups already maimed in some way. I do not think you can claim as a humane killing, gnoll pups you had already maimed.

Ray

I like your idea of a demon Lord of Canidae who is miffed with Lamashtu having lost hyenas and their ilk to the goddess.

Astral

Some good names and I loved the last.

So far we have a night hag in pole position, closely followed by Rover/Rex/whatever the demon Lord of Canidae.

Anyone got suggestions for diabolic fiend?

Thomas

The attention of the fiend will not be a 'punishment', in actual fact, the creation of a whole sub-plot involving the fiend and starring this PC is a 'reward' for his play. I certainly will not be using the fiend to smite the PC in any way.

The whole 'mortal' sin thing is my label for actions that will get noticed by the powers that be, and the cold hearted killing of two innocents will do that, although I respect that YMMV. (I probably used that term as I am a lapsed catholic and it was burned into my psyche.)

The player now flashes corruptible/claimable to any fiends out there, he registers evil until he redeems himself. Lots of story potential and something that will enable me as DM to really explore the characters around the table.

OmegaZ

You see Lamashtu as caring about the gnoll pups? I always had her figured as a survival of the fittest/luckiest kind of a god. (Not that I would attack the PC as I did set him up in the first place) I like the night hag idea. Have you got a good name?

A character in my campaign has committed a mortal sin and I am wondering which kind of fiend would be taking an interest in his soul?

In my game, unless allied to planar powers, character alignment is more an outlook/perspective rather than an absolute. One of the few things that may change this are mortal sins.

The character in question is an elven ranger rogue whose favoured enemy is gnolls, who has the gnoll killer trait, the all gnolls must die feat, is a worshipped of Calistria (vengeance aspect) and whose back story involves his family being wiped out by gnolls. Did I mention that he does not like gnolls? Although his sheet says CN, when push comes to shove he is fairly solidly CG, or even NG.

Whilst on a solo scouting mission I deliberately had him come across a small group of gnolls that, when the fight started, protected one of their number who was holding a small sack. A swift combat later, he found the sack had two gnoll pups.

YMMV, but I decided that slaughtering innocents is a mortal sin and so he is now evil on the ping-o-meter. (The player is ok with this turn of events and his character plays exactly as before.)

The set up was an off the cuff thing and now I want to explore the situation a bit more.

Obviously a mortal soul tainted by such a sin will attract some form of fiendish attention, which can only lead to some good rp. But I am not too sure if it should be a devil or daemon (I have discounted demon but would change my mind if someone came up with a good reason it should be one).

So good people of the boards, which fiend would you introduce?

I'd let a cantrip summon a Tribble.

I would say our group (6 PCs) manage on average two encounters in a 6 hour session. I am running them through Legacy of Fire, we are about to start session 17 and the players are about to enter the House of the Beast proper (there have been quite a few side tracks). We could play faster, but why rush?

The order has been placed and states the subscription is starting with Bestiary 3, so it was probably a case of tired eyes not reading things correctly.

Thanks anyway.

It appears to me that I am starting with the beginners box irrespective of the fact I select the start with Bestiary 3 option.

Of course, I could be reading it wrong, but that's what it looks like to me.

If I go ahead and place the order is there a way to make sure I don't get a beginners box in case I make a mistake.

Hello

I am trying to reinstate my subscription to the rules so that I recommence with the Bestiary 3, but the website keeps wanting to give me the Beginners Box (which I do not want).

Please let me know what I am doing wrong.

Thanks

Jiggy

Thanks for the prompt reply. I like your thinking and in the absence of any else, I shall be leaning along these lines.

Cheers

My search-fu may be lacking, but I cannot find anything on the boards that clarifies this issue that came up in game last night.

From the PRD

"Soft Cover: Creatures, even your enemies, can provide you with cover against ranged attacks, giving you a +4 bonus to AC. However, such soft cover provides no bonus on Reflex saves, nor does soft cover allow you to make a Stealth check."

As this bonus has no name, if the party ranger shoots at a target, through two allies, will that target get a +8 bonus to AC, +4 soft cover from each ally?

I cannot find anything to go against this, but applying this to the game table is going to make the player of said ranger very sad.

Also:

W Strzebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie.

Yes, that's a legitimate sentence in Polish. You guys want to tell me about pronunciation problems? :)

I'll see your Polish and raise you Welsh!

We have been using them in our Legacy of Fire game. The players started with 2 and have been given one each level. They also gain points for heroic or classy play, as well as anytime the table has a good laugh.

Using them, the players have saved themselves from their own stupidity many times. I cannot recommend their use highly enough.

HOWEVER none of my players seem to hoard them (they usually have on average one each) and I have house ruled that all my boss monsters get a But-those-ARE-the-droids-we-are-looking-for special power.

The way this works is that when invoked (usually in immediate response to play of a hero point) it negates that hero point (that hero point is lost) and prevents the use of any further Hero points until the end of the next round. It's really satisfying when laying one of these on the table to see the oh-dear-we-are-in-trouble-now look on the player's faces.

We are at 5th level about to start book 2 and I do feel we would have had TPK a couple of times without them.

Do you realise what "going commando" means over on this side of the pond?