DarienCR's page

Good day,

I also have a pending order since the 2nd but have not received any answer to my emails. Unfortunately I can't make a phone call. I would like to know what is going on.

1. It doesn't mean every single person is going to be wearing bulletproof armor as no single person is wearing any other +1 ability armor.

2. I think it makes sense from the world's perspective to respond with something when a new thing arises that bypasses the normal defenses.

Do you think this ability would seriously imbalace firearms by its mere existence? Aren't there other similar abilities, like say, fire resistence, that do pretty much the same against other types of attacks?

Just starting a new campaign and decided to allow firearms. I just realized there is little you can do against them, magically or otherwise. So maybe wizards came up with this?

Bulletproof
Aura strong abjuration; CL 3th; Weight —; Price +1 bonus
DESCRIPTION
This suit of armor or shield adds its AC bonus to its wearer’s AC vs touch against firearm attacks.
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, bullet shield; Cost +1 bonus

What do you think?

I'm getting that message after clicking on the "I agree" button. Is anyone else having this issue?

At what point do you think the skill system breaks down? As in, how many ranks in a class skill does it take before you feel that the DCs are broken?

I feel like this is, in large part, an issue of differing expectations from the system. Take a look at Calibrating Your Expectations from The Alexandrian, if you haven't read it already.

Basically, what it comes down to is that most fantasy heroes are probably about 5th or 6th level. So 5 or 6 skill ranks is about the extent of what we even imagine humans as capable of. By the time a character gets to 15th to 20th level, they're demigods. Even in full plate, do you expect a demigod to fail Swim checks in stormy water?

Most skill checks aren't going to be interesting at high levels. Why should they be, unless they're truly epic?

I think you got it. My expectations were off track. Great article. Thanks everyone for their replies.

If a paladin jumps into water with full armor he is asking to get himself drowned.

If he takes his armor before swimming, he would have his Str bonus, let's assume +4, against DC 10 he has to roll a 6, a 70% success chance.

Since rogues have a lot of class skills, they would have a lot of free +3 bonuses to skills (even if they don't have ranks in them).

I think is awful. what would mundane character do with their life? who would play a rogue? who would risk to climb a cliff or to swim even in calm waters?

Climbing cliffs and swimming in calm waters are both DC 10.

Rogues would have a +3 because it's class skill for them (sorry I wasn't clear enough on that) and they would still add their Dex bonus. If they're Athletic they get another +2, and if they have Skill Focus they have another +3. Those feats now look a lot more interesting. Spells and magic items that give skill bonuses also start to look better.

Characters don’t gain skill ranks neither at character creation nor when they level up. Skill rank prerequisites for feats, prestige classes and other character options are replaced by character level.

I haven't actually tested it yet but I plan to, what are your initial thoughts on this crazy idea?

EDIT: I would still keep the +3 bonus to class skills (only, it would apply to all class skills because there are no skill ranks)

Looking at the extensive list of archetypes that already exist, the biggest challenge I've encountered is thinking of one that hasn't been covered yet.

How do you guys deal with that? Any advice would be great.

I have seen items repeat more than once, yet not mine. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but knowing would help.

Contrary to some posts I've read, I do want stats for more mythological/classic/literary monsters. There's just a whole lot more flavor to them than things made up from scratch. The Bestiary 2 is just plain awesome.

Now that we have the Jabberwock stated out, I'd really like to see the frumious Bandersnatch! Also, bring back the Gargantua! More Greek monsters, I love them. What about a Maenad for instance?

It bugs me that 90% of the feats are under 1 category (General) which gives a hard time when you're looking for a feat (especially new players). So I've reordered feats in a table divided by more feat categories.

I've also condensed redundant feats whose only purpose is improving another feat's effect so that they take up less space (in table and descrption).

Take a look and give me your opinion: Simplified Feats.

This will probably get lost in the myriad of requests, but anyhoo...

First of all, thanks Clark for your feedback. It is great you're doing this.

Once per year you get a five-word commune? Who wants this item? Am I missing something here?

Commune works for yes/no questions. If you want to know where something is located, what someone's name is, or other type of information for which yes/no questions aren't really useful, commune does not help a bit. Let's also remember that commune answers according to a particular deity's interests.

Plus, look at cost. This is essentially a commune scroll (though it seems it gives 5 word answers more than commune's one word answer or maybe up to 5 words), which would otherwise cost you 1125gp (a 5th level spell scroll). This item lets you use the spell once per year, so I guess he just bumped the cost up to 1650gp which is the price of a scroll of a 6th level spell.

Not like a scroll, it is use activated rather than spell completion, so that's where the pricing comes from.

Why in the world would I pay more for this item when I could just buy a commune scroll for 500 gp less--a savings of 1/3 the price of the item--and get 8...

1.Because you're not a cleric and can't use a scroll, and more importantly...

Please give feedback, thanks:

BLANKSCROLL
Aura moderate divination; CL 9th
Slot --; Price 2,750 gp; Weight --

DESCRIPTION
A blankscroll looks like a regular sheet of fine vellum with nothing written on it. In fact, any attempt to write on it simply fails as if the surface were not writable. Once per year, however, a question can be asked to the scroll and magical writings will appear on it providing the answer.
A blankscroll will answer any question in the most accurate way possible using a maximum of five words in the same language used by the character asking the question (or Common if the language does not have a written form). This means a question requiring a long answer might only be partially answered.
The answer will remain visible on the blankscroll throughout a whole year, after which the writings will disappear and a new question can be asked.

CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, commune, comprehend languages; Cost 1,625 gp

Hmm....it is time already, yet I spot no results.

OMG just half an hour for the results. *_*

Were the wondrous items from last year actually 'perfect'? In the sense that they did not fall in any of the "common" categories of that year (coins, auguries) nor fell into one of the pit traps Clark has mentioned?

Snow in a lot of places. It seems nobody likes it (unlike children movies :P).

I guess I can consider myself lucky it's sunny here during these months.

I've read people from many countries unite their forces in the quest for RPG Superstardom. And that's not unexpected given the global scope of this amazing contest.

So if you are participating, tell us where you're from. Maybe we can get an idea of how many people of what countries are in.

Myself, I am from Costa Rica.

So, where are you from?

Thanks Vic. I resubmitted my entry and I got a confirmation this time.

If it's like last year, when you go back to the screen you should see something to the effect of you submitted. But that may only be for the later rounds.

Nope, I get the form again. A confirmation would be nice, I wouldn't like to miss participation because of my entry getting lost in the way.

There was no confirmation screen after submitting an entry for round 1. Any way we can make sure the entry got through?

The rules to create magic items that we're using are the ones in the SRD, or have they been updated?

I searched for those rules in the Beta and didn't find them, so I guess we go by the SRD...am I right?

EDIT: I am talking about the "Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Values" table. Just in case.

When putting one of those guys in a module a few years back, I was surprised to learn that they are size Large.

Wouldn't these creatures work better conceptually if they were the same size as the PCs. When I think of a stalker I think of someone following you and sort of making a game out of it, weaving through crowds of people, etc. I don't think of something shaped like an ogre.

I agree. They should be medium size. In general fantasy invisible stalkers are not the same as invisible giants.

I vote against it, too. You still have the "5-foot step" which works with most situations.

If you're a wizard casting a spell within the threatened area of a Great Wyrm Red Dragon, you deserve punishment.

So the necromancer power is no good for Summon Monster, no good for Animate Undead...................what is it good for, then?

A power dedicated to only 1 spell?

In my campaign we've got a necromancer. From level 1 she is casting the spell Summon Undead I, so you don't have to wait.

Kaiju/Gargantua are certainly monsters.

But are humans? Are dwarves and elves? Duergar and drow are, sure... but do people really want pages of human soldiers and elven scouts in their monster book? Wouldn't they rather have stats for these guys in another product?

Maybe you're right, considering the situation, to have only (arguably) "real" monsters in the book. And have a different supplement for NPCs.

In such case, it wouldn't make sense to include RACES (not monsters) in this book. And the drow, duergar, svirnefblin are all races, you'd have to put in some levels in an NPC class in them, thus more suited for the NPC book.

However, I can see from here a big crowd against excluding the drow (for the twinkie reasons you know) from the book, and I wouldn't like to see a book for races AND another one for NPCs....or a book dedicated to only one race such as the fearful Races of... series.

I trust Paizo will make the right decision, though, you always do (or get close enough anyway).

:)

Who needs sense anyway!

Humans, humans, humaaans!!!

And the Gargantua! I've been waiting for it since 3rd edition came out.

(sorry if this is in the wrong section)

I have been playtesting Pathfinder RPG and I have noticed how many character classes offer more options now. Such as the barbarian, a very stiff class in 3.5, now has a lot of character options with rage powers.

This is very important. Something that many people has complained about 3rd edition D&D is that two characters of the same class are mechanically the same. These options make characters different from each other and give the player a chance to choose his/her character's abilities.

However, there are some classes in Pathfinder RPG that still don't have options. It'd be a huge thing to incorporate this concept in them too. I am talking about this litte guys:

-Bard
-Druid
-Monk
-Paladin

In general, these character classes don't offer so many options as the other classes. They're still stiffy. I don't bring a lot of suggestions, but I know a lot of people can come up with very good ideas on how to include options for this classes instead of fixed abilities.

For example, I think a good option would be adding more songs to the Bard's repertoire, so that the player can choose what songs (or dances, or jokes) to learn, in lieu of the ability to cast spells.

Druids have more options than in 3.5, since they can now choose a nature bond. But still I feel it stiff compared to wizards/sorcerers and clerics, who have choices over their powers by choosing domains/specializations/bloodlines.

Monks could have different fighting styles to choose from.

Paladins, I'm not sure, but they certainly need more versatility.

That's it what do you think of this? Any better ideas to make these classes more versatile?

Mobs. DMGII. 3.5. We don't need 4e.

Uber-cool! It's good to have someone with divine rank in the team.

I've always rules that if you're in a grapple and your foe tries to drop you into a dangerous situation such as off a cliff, the creature being dropped can make a grapple check to stay in the grapple - since leaving the grapple would possibly send them over the cliff. I've always imaginged it as the person about to be dropped desperately grabbing onto the other person's arms, legs, or whatever they can to not be let go of.

Essentially, after moving with the grappled opponent, the character must "break free" of the grapple he himself initiated in order to drop the other character into a cliff, and that requires a grapple (or CMB) check. An that's already in the rules, it could be clarified within the move action, though.

That happens because in most situations if the original grappler releases its victim, usually the target of the grapple will also stop grappling. But sometimes that's not the best option.

The lack of XP costs is reasonable. However, that being said, there is the danger of wizards pumping out infinite items with unlimited downtime.

For example, a 8th level wizard that has an extra 5,000 xp wants to make scrolls of invisibility. Each one costs 6 xp, so under the current rules, he could spend the next 3 years making scrolls (833 to be exact) before he felt a penalty by being a level behind his adventuring buddies. And even then, he'd be a level behind and get more xp for his part-time adventuring career, catching back up with his friends.

But, the idea of infinite magic items boggles the brain. What a lucrative business, spend 75 gp to make a scroll, 2 hours later you can sell it for 150 gp, repeat as necessary. Who would bother to take Craft, or even a level of expert?

So, how about this small tweak? If you make a magic item, at the end you need to make a Fortitude save equal to the market value of the item (10 + 1 per 1,000 gp of the item). If you succeed, all is good, if you fail, you gain a temporary negative level (you feel a little drained for a day or two), and if you fail by 10 or more, your item is cursed (roll on the cursed table).

Thoughts?

Nah.

I remember one of my early players tried to make himself rich by selling Everburning Torches (he had continual flame at will as a racial ability). Making and selling is not as easy as it sounds, after the wizard makes the scroll there won't be a bunch of people at his door itching to buy it. It takes a profession to sale. So roll for a profession check to see how much you sell of those scrolls, and that's just a normal profession check, you might houserule the PC gets a little more money since he's getting all the raw materials or something, but in the end it's just a Profession check.

Now, I think the Profession skill should be revised from 3.5 (haven't checked the new Alpha Release on that).

I actually know a DM who's renowned for his uncanny ability to roll 20s. It's not cheating... he does it with any die

I'd like to see him roll a 20 on a d6. :D

I am going to admit that I am pretty entrenched on this one. My question for you is, do you give you characters so much wealth that they can pull this off. XP is not much of a cost all things considered, compared to GP.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

At high levels PCs tend to have great amounts of money. I'm currently running Into the Wormcrawl Fissure (Age of Worms) and the PCs have plenty of money, using this system they would've gone crazy with wish spells and creating items.

I do like the removal of XP costs, but not for GP, let's think in something harder to get. Back in AD&D they used *age* for spells like wish. I liked that. Not sure if that's going to work with the evolved D&D system we are using, though. Unless that is accompanied by a loss of Constitution or some other mechanical penalty.

I would think something worth of a wish is something you have to do a quest for. Using rare items is a good alternative.

As for the magic items it can stay just on gold and time. Here the keyword is time, because at higher levels that is what's going to be hard to get, and not the gold.

Now that I think of it, time could also be used for wishes, similar to djinns they have to wait a year to be able to do wish again. Just ideas.

P.S. The Paladin (pg. 19): Shouldn't they have d10 Hit Dice? After all, they do use the Fast Attack Progression chart.

EDIT: Jason just answered that.

By the way, Jason, great job! I'm glad skill ranks remained. This project is simply awesome, it really improves Dungeons & Dragons, unlike....well let's not get into that.

I like the skill ranks. This is the way Skills should work. And it is an improvement from 3.5, it simplifies things a lot while being backwards compatible.

I understand that not everyone can be pleased with what's being done BUT really hope that the modifiers to ability scores get tweaked a bit.

Dwarves: The CON bonus and WIS bonus are fine. They are tough and strong-willed.
The CHA penalty, in the face of the 1/2 Orcs not taking a CHA penalty, doesn't make sense. Gruff and surly do not equate with a weak personality. Since they are short and stocky, please replace this with a DEX penalty.

Elves: No problems here.

Gnomes: The bonus to CON and penalty to STR are fine. They are short and, as such, lack the raw strength of taller races. They are also hardy folk.
The CHA bonus doesn't gel with me. Sure they are likeable or agreeable BUT that doesn't make them better leaders, commanders, inquisitors, orators or seducers. Since they are small and nimble-fingered (with their love of gemcraft, alchemy and other technical pursuits), a DEX bonus would make much more sense.

Half-Elves: No problems here.

Half-Orcs: No problems here (except in relation to Dwarves... see above).

Halfings: I have no problems with the DEX bonus or STR penalty as both have a long association with halflings.
My problem lies with the INT bonus. Halflings, in Tolkien (please don't flame me yet) and in AD&D, were surprisingly resilient in mind and body. In AD&D halflings got bonuses versus magic and poison. With this in mind, I'd rather halflings received a +2 to CON or WIS in place of intelligence. Based on the Pathfinder write-up, I'd lean towards WIS, as it would help them with perception checks and make them more intuitive.

Humans: No problems here.

Agree, agree and agree.

Favored Class should NOT give a character more hit points! On the other hand, what Chris mentions makes a lot of sense.

LOL

Please let me say first that the 2nd Alpha Release is awesome! Pathfinder is approaching D&D perfection.

I strongly disagree on the way Raise Dead works now in regards to level loss. As I understand from the document, since it's possible after a raise dead all parties now will follow up with a restoration spell to eliminate the negative level.

I like the 2 Constitution points loss though, I suggest that as the straightforward consequence to raise dead instead of level loss, regardless of the level of the individual being resurrected. This Constitution loss should not be healed by Restoration or any other spell for that matter.

The last sentence of the Channel Energy ability of the Cleric says:
"A cleric may attempt to turn undead a number of times
per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier."

Change turn undead to Channel Energy.

Sign me up! Keep skill points please! There must be a way to improve the system without removing skill flexibility entirely.

So long as chromatic dragons remain unthreatened by the Age of Worms, I would think that Tiamat wouldn't bother to get herself involved...

Ahem, Kings of the Rift.....

What do you think the Chormatic Dragon's position is in regards to the Age of Worms?
Is she still an enemy to Dragotha? What about Kyuss? Whose side is she on?

I agree such situation hardly presents itself. Myself? I ignored that sentence and the cleric would have released the ulgurstasta "after the cleric died" (I was actually lucky and the cleric got to act at 3 hp). Sort of last dying action (or in response to die to use Magic lingo.) It's no big deal, look at it as a plot resource. Or simply change that 5 hp to 30 hp, or when the cleric knows it'll be his last round.
Try not to stick too much to the module, when in doubt, err on the fun side. :)

PS. Loris Raknian can release the ulgurstasta.

Where's Mordenkainen's home?

The little jester had accomplished his goal. He could steal the Lyre of Building from the PCs and give it to Lashonna to rebuild the ziggurat.

Now, as soon as the PCs woke up, they noticed the Lyre was missing and grew very very mad. They even decided to use wish (actually reality revision) to be transported to wherever the Lyre is to punish the thief.

The PCs are currently at the gates of the Citadel of Weeping Dragons.

Now, I have a question. How long do you think it takes for 100 men to build a ziggurat?

The Lyre of building works like this:
"The effect produced in but 30 minutes of playing is equal to the work of 100 humans laboring for three days."

Supposing Lashonna can use the Lyre for 5 hours, that would equal a month of 100 people working on the ziggurat, not sure if this is enough.

The other thing that unsettles me is the fact the PCs being transported to the Lyre (and possibly Lashonna). What I've thought is maybe Lashonna can give the Lyre back to the jester (provided she finishes the ziggurat on time) and the spriggan teleports to a random cave (where the PCs would end up)...that way the PCs can kill the Fabler, recover the Lyre and go back to Kongen-Tulnir, ignoring what the Lyre was used for while they were asleep.

Let me know if you have different ideas.

I dont think Heal should actually restore hit points. The skill could be renamed as First Aid, that would also solve the confusion with the spell Heal.