Datdude's page

Using the number at the of yoru webpage, I have called at leat three times im the past two weeks to cancel my subscription. I have left a message and was never contacted. Now I have been charged for the latest issue of pathfinder, an issue I do not want, and I cannot contact someone rectify this. Can someone call contact me so I can get my money back and stop the issue from shipping? My e-mail is troy_halley11@hotmail.com. Thank you in advance for your help.

This seems to be the only way to get any results. I have called the number in the fine print of this website to cancel my subscription at least three times in the last two weeks not counting this morning. I have left my numerous times and have never been contacted. I have been charged for the latest issue as well as other books and I did not want them. So I would like a refund and want someone to call me concerning this issue. If the Paizo customer service staff is so difficult to contact, then there should be a feature in the subscription that allows customers to easily cancel their subscription. I like paizo and the pathfinder series, and when my situation is different I wanted to start my subscription again in the future, but the this runaround I feel I am getting is leaving a foul taste in my mouth concerning this company. My number is [redacted by customer service]. Can I get someone to contact me please?

Andrew Muttersbach wrote:

if your PC has been using, say, a morningstar exclusively for the last 10 levels, does it make sense that he can suddenly pick up a Sickle and be just as effective with it?

Do you know any musicians? My brother took piano and cello lessons. But then one day he picked up someone else's ukelale, said "what's this?" and promptly started composing songs on it. Somehow he picked up the drums in about a week, well enough to play in a jazz band. Drums clearly have no relation to the cello, of course. But he told me "music is music." I can't vouch for that personally; I have a tin ear. But it sure was easy for him.

One of my friends who's a polyglot tells me it's the same way with languages. After the first few, new ones take like no effort, even if they're totally unrelated. I can't vouch for that personally, either; my one or two foreign tongues are clumsy and barbaric.

Neither of these examples seemed odd to me, though. After years of training in unarmed combat, learning to fight with a knife, and then a pair of sticks, was a piece of cake (nunchucks still give me a headache, though). So, with the exception of the exotic ones, weapon skill is easy to transer.

I agree with this for weapon profencies because this represents one thing that most people leave out when dealing with PCs: PCs are extraordinary. They are not common people. They are rare individuals in teh world. If there are 5000 adventurers of various levels in a world of 500,000 people, then the adventurers are a small, rare number. Everytime I create a PC or an NPC, I keep in mind the fact that PCs are not ordinary people. So just as a musician can normally play more than one instrument (like my 12 y/o, who has been playing the drum without training or a real interest since he was two, and picked up the trombone this year because his school doesn't have a drum and plays like he's been playing for years), or the two and three sport athelete, an adventure who trains on swords in combat can probably pick up other weapons and use them for combat.

I have downloaded the sheet with Adobe reader, but I have not yet printed it. I love both sheets and I printed the first sheet already.

Ahh, the PC's are being set up. Thanks guys. I thought I was doing something wrong.

I like snow too much not to add it when the winter comes. So MY Pathfinder campaign shall have some of those winter rainstorms replaced with winter snowstorms, especially near the mountains (poor Korvorsans).

I am not big into programs, but I would use a database like that. I use the hell out of tracking sheets that I have downloaded from various gaming websites, and I use a program called DM secretary. So I would be gamed to test it out.

Is anyone out there running RoTRL with 6 players? If so, is it still challenging? I have just started Burnt Offerings with 6 players and I want a heads up if my group will breeze through it. They are all vets and are pretty sharp.

Hobgoblins always struck me as the only monstrous humanoids capable of creating a viable nation, and as such, they seem to have a lot of potential. A hobgoblin nation or even empire might actually give humans a run for their money. I can absolutely see them in an "oriental" area of Golarion, or as I mentioned in another threat, in an India or Persia like area. Or even as pirates a la Indonesia, so more South or Southeast Asia than Far East. They fill the same niche in my mind as Klingons in the Star Trek universe - savage, militaristic, yet civilized in that they have rich traditions and cultures. I also see them as LN as much as LE.

I also like the idea of bugbears as giant goblins, maybe even randomly springing out of them. But hobgoblins are distant (and much more highly evolved) cousins who deny any relation and hate regular goblins more than humans do.

When I ran my homebrew, I made a small ciy-state for the hobgoblins who lived in a fort-like city on the outskirts of the forest that held the elves, yet was on the other side of the forest from most of the human civilizations. That allowed me to keep the constant war between the hobgoblins and the elves without bringing the humans into it. I love hobgoblins and feel they are the most underused humanoid race. Yet I can understand why. Hobgoblins actually have a strong potential to conquer human lands. They are lawful and military-minded, so the potential for crumbling from within is about as strong as it would be with dwarves. That is why I like the hobgoblin city-state concept.

Thanks Majumba.

But can Iesha die so easily? She is already undead.

Personally I don't care if characters craft or not. If they find themselves in a situation where there are no shops and they can't craft, it makes for interesting encounters. If they are in a city where they can shop, I roleplay shopping encounters for anything that is not in the PHB. So it may cost them PC's more depending on the area and on my whims. If they do decide to take crafting feats, then I will find times for the party to craft. I like giving breaks and roleplaying side quests, so I would make concessions. What I do think should happen is that characters who craft should have a allocated XP just for crafting. I dont like PC's losing XP. So I think I'll devise a system where a certain percentage of their level in XP will be used for crafting. Once they have used the allotted amount, then they can no craft more items. Now what would be a good percentage? How about 30 percent?

Mosaic wrote:

DarkArt wrote:

So we know a little of what some of the Golarian gods look like ...

Actually, we know what folks THINK some of the Golarion gods look like. I have to lean in same direction as Arcesilaus. First of all, people imagine the gods to look a lot like themselves, and even if a god manifests him/herself on Golarion, who says he/she takes a consistent form? Tying a very, VERY old and very, VERY powerful being to the physical form of one of the (relatively) newer creatures on continent of one planet in the multiverse.

Or they go Volon on everyone and condition the races, over centuries, to see them each in an unique way. That means if Gorum manifests to a mixed group of humanoids, the dwarf will actually see a stocky, bearded fellow with heavy armour and a heavy, rune-adorned flamberge, but the elf will see a tall, slender elf with warpaint, light armour, a bow on his back, and a long, slender courtblade.

I like this idea best. See what the dieties want you to see. That will be how I approach the dieties.

That is a funny story.

I would like to say this: I am fairly new to the Paizo messageboards, but I like the fact that the Editor himself, along with several people on the staff, gets online and answers questions personally. Everytime I read one of you guys' posts, I feel weird, then apprieciate it greatly. Thanks for actually participating with us. If I never get a chance to run my Pathfinder games, I will still be a loyal fan of Paizo.

Looking at the map of Varisia from the RotRL PG, I got a few questions:

Is Kaer Maga on a waterfall?

Are there any towns or sites in Varisia that you guys will not develop into one of yoru AP's, just in case a DM wants to pick a spot and develop it him/herself.

And also, how much did/will dragons play a role in the history/story of Varisia? I ask because a player of mines want to play a Dragon Shaman and has his backstory kind of written out, but for it to work, dragons would have to play a pretty strong role. I told him I'd get back to him.

Thank you for the list and thank you for making them universal. I like that also. I like the fact that "favor" doesn't equate to "have to because of race."

SirUrza wrote:

Ate one of my posts too a few minute ago too.

In any case, be nice and rewrite that SEVEN TRUTHS OF SEONI post.. pleeeease. :)

Why would she carry it? Maybe it's a +5 Kean Vorporal Defending Katana of Icy Burst that was passed down to her by her. I know you guys have corrected it before which is why I call it a "It's Not A Katana" Katana. :)

One of the aspects to the iconic party roles in D&D originate specifically from certain armor and weapon restrictions. By appearance alone, players can gauge with 70 - 98% accuracy what class an NPC is from the DM's description alone. From that, they can plan the most cliche of battle tactics: everyone aim for that robed figure that only weilds the staff and/or dagger first, etc. Not that this always works, but it can at least take away the mystery from a DM's cadre of encounters.

When I was a player, playing a wizard, witch, or psionicist, I'd take great pains to carry around weapon and shield (at least at low levels) to keep enemies guessing so that my character wasn't the first primary target. Even if I used weapons I was skilled in only, I'd still never hit anyway, so it didn't matter if I took out a sword and waved it like my character knew what he was doing.

I have done this too. I played a elven wizard who carried his father's longsword and wore tight clothing with lots of pockets. The DM played it like most people didn't know what he was. It was cool. I played him as the archologist type, learned and always looking for more knowledge (sort of like Indiana Jones) but he did use magic. He was seldom attacked first because of the longsword and the fact that he didn't wear robes.

After reading the article, I didn't get excited about 4.0. The article can be applied to any version of D&D one plays. I can do the exact same thing with the books I have now. If 4e makes running the game smoother, then good for it. But 4e didn't get James Wyatt to write his campaign world that way, wanting to do something different did. Don't attribute one man's creativity to the whole system. I didn't get anything concrete or exciting about 4e from that article, but the article did make me want to DM.

I am about to start a RoTRLs game, so I am rereading the PG. ARe the dieties universal to everyone or are some races more inclined to worship certain dieties? If so, can I get a short list of which races specifically worship which diety? Or is that coming out in a book soon?

I didn't like that rendition of Hemlock either. The shadowy artwork didn't sit well with me. I wanted more detail in the picture. I liked the overall artwork though. It was creepy. Is it me or does Ironbriar look more like a monster than an elf? His fingers look like claws. I thought he was demon touched. It is a cool picture though.

I would think so also. I would give it enough points to make at least 5 sin spawn at the minimum.

On another note, I honestly didn't know demons could drown.

I like this version better, but not because it looks better. More because it fits the NPC. The Ameiko in the PF 1 looks like a rambunctous teenager, not a travelled adventurer. G's picture looks like an adventurer. While the PF pictures look cool, they don't always reflect the chacter. So you see a picture and then read about the character and the picture doesn't match the feeling. Just a little pet peeve. I normally don't use pictures anyway in my tabletops. I just use description. At the end of the night, I'll open the table to pictures so the players can see if their imgination fit the monster, but unless the party is really having trouble getting a mental picture, I let them draw their own pictures. I think that has an amazing effect at the table.

B-b-but that's what dice are for!

Mmm...dice, the great equalizer.

So each time they fail a save, they take more damage from the disease. Nice.

I have a haunt question: How long does the damage from the haunt last? Does the damage heal as normal or is it more temporary than that?

I have never had to deal with a disease in D&D, and I don't have access to my books (well files) at the moment, so can someone tell me how Vorel's Phage works? Does the 1 day incubation mean that it takes one day for the disease to show signs or does it mean that the disease lasts for one day? If the incubation period means it takes one day to show signs, how long does this disease, or any disease last?

I was hoping and praying that the Pathfinder AP would stay 3.5, but most likely it will not. I don't want to sink another grand in to new books which will make the game I love Final Fantasy on paper. I'll give it a chance, but not financially. I will borrow a book of a friend and it will really have to show me something. Because my first mind is telling me that it will not be better than 3.5 and I hope that someone will keep cranking out viable alternatives to 4e.

Now my issue with Elves. Why is it that the elves who live underground with no access to the sun are dark skinned, yet the elves who live on the surface under the sun all day are fair-skinned? That is the real BS. I happen to think that black skin is not "evil." Considering how many people go to the beach to tan or pay good money to lie in a device to darken their skin, or even go as far as to buy a cream to darken their skin, the fairest (palest) skin can't possibly be the prettiest. And I have always thought that elves should be an NPC race, but most gamers will not buy into that idea.

ArchLich wrote:

I agree with pretty much everything Saern said above.

As for the point were elves have lower Con and live for a long time; this supports the idea that they live away from everyone and are disdainful of others.

Why would a long lived race who is susceptible to disease and depends on magic freely associated with unclean and/or unsavoury individuals or races?

That's true, but it only takes into account communicable diseases, and not carcinogenesis and the body's natural tendancy to break down over the years. A lower constitution, generally meaning that somebody is less resistant to disease, should naturally lead to a higher degree of morbidity as time goes by. If not, then at least Saern's idea of a higher number of clerics to keep everybody artificially in good health wipes that away.

Every fair-skinned elf should probably go to about age 150 before they get melanoma.
The drow, however, don't have a caring cadre of clerics; they should be a sickly lot.

Your theory would be extremely plausible except that THERE IS MAGIC IN D&D! So a race that is suppose to be magical can't be resistant to diesases but a regular guy off the street can go to college and hurl fireballs? Am I missing something here?

I like elves. I just wish that they were an NPC race. I don't like the idea of 100 year olds being considered teens when they have already reached puberty at 20. I also don't like 100 y/o 1st level adventurers. I have tried to restrict elves to 5th level in a game before, since that makes much more since flavor wise to me. since elves are aloof and stay seperated, one would never encounter a 1st level elf. The first level elf would be stuck at home for another 100 years before he is allowed on patrol and allowed to the borders. That was my problem with elves. The mechanics didn't fit the flavor.

One section of their consumers that they have crapped on is their military cusomters. Lots of military customers are gamers and buy the Dungeon and Dragon magazines (or did). The magazines even reached us while on deployments. Yet lots of military customers are not avid computer useres and will not see the new "online magazines." Hell, on deployment I can't even access WoTC half the time.

To answer the question, I am more upset that they are changing the system than I am that they scrapped the magazines, as I really didn't buy Dragon as much as I did Dungeon (although I an still highly upset that they scrapped the mags).

But I think the bigger blunder was to scrap the mags as they will cut off a larger fanbase who purchased the mags than they realized.

If I run a tabletop, I use 4d6, normally once but sometimes twice (depending on how expereinced the party is). If I run an OLG, I use 32 PB and I give them OLG PC's my splatbook limitations. I find that OLG's can easily make ridiculously powerful characters at any level than tabletop characters can. It has to do with the amount of time that can be used for character creation. But I find that if the story is good, most players will not care how easy or difficult the adventures.

As a player though, I love a good story that allows my PC to grow far more than super toys and insane abilities. The fastest way for me to lsoe interest is to not have a reason to play. If I wanted uber powerful characters to play on basic storylines, I can always pick up a Final Fantasy game or try WOW or Everquest. But I play D&D to participate in a character growing and evolving while influencing the world around him/her. I want to run RoTRLs but I prefer to play as a Character hands down. This would have been the bomb if I hadn't already read the adventures.

Forgive my ignorance, but I an not an advance computer user. Did you make Tsuto's letter in photoshop? I was wondering how you put the text onto the jpeg. If I were to do it, all i could think of is Powerpoint or maybe paint. I am pretty sure there is a plethora of programs out there, but I wouldn't know where to begin in downloading them. So how did you accomplish this?

Dude, you actually sat down and drew and painted that? For a game? WOW! Although it is disturbing and grotesque, you have an amazing talent. I draw sometimes myself, but you guys on here make me wish I would have devoted more of my time to it. There are some talented artists on the boards.

This could be a good way to start a submission guide type thing. Do a short story contest amongst the board members, taking the best however many stories and putting a few of them in Pathfinder, or possibly on Paizo.com.

I like this man's thinking. There can be small Pathfinder's Digest featuring the best short stories from board members that can be available for suscribers. It can be done in PDF format to save on print if need be, but I would like a paper copy as well. That gives everyone a chance to participate in this new world.

I like it stopping at 15th level also. Then you get 5 levels to do with as you will in the campaign world before you move on to another AP.

I thank you too. That was perfect. I thought I was going crazy for a second.

I do think DM G's artwork is nice. I like the original artwork as well, particularly the monsters. I still think that Savage Tides' artwork was the bomb! A would have killed for a poster of Orcus on the cover sheet to "Enemies of My Enemy." The picture of Shami-Amourae had just enough of a human feel to her in the apendix of "Wells of Darkness" and I like how all the Succubi were distinctly different, yet they all were plainly succubi. One of my favorite pictures is the headshot of Grbleck. It takes a member of a race that we have longed considered just monsters and gives it emotion and presence. I felt that Grbleck was almost regal and was surprised to find out that he was a frightened pawn. I only have two of my magazines out here with me, but I have liked the Savage Tide artwork and the other artwork thoughtout those issues in general. Although DM G's work is extremely awesome, I am not disappointed in the artwork in RF's. But I am glad Shalu's ears are being shortened, and I do like the no whites, only color eyes for the elves.

Selk wrote:

A Chelaxian man has some money or notoriety.

A Chelish man does not.

They're still both better than Varisian though ;)

This makes very real sense to me. I prefer this distinction.

Unless you're Varisian: "Those devil worshipping Chels. Don't trust 'em."

Ahh...the perfect system.

*Scribbles on pad and runs away*

If you refer to them as Chels, is that considered derogatory?

"Those damn Chels are nuttin' but beggars and thieves."

This definately has potential! :)

Not true. The final issue is $11, yet the magazine normally costed $7.99. So if you add the $4 for shipping to the $11, that is a significant price increase for the issue. And we got a discount off of the $7.99.

So is the issue worth it? Is the final conflict worth my $15 bucks?

Where did you get this info from?

I am in the military and deployed. We get discounts on Dungeon magazines and that is good, since I liked Dungeon but I didn't suscribe. Well the last printed issue of Dungeon didn't make it's way to our PX in Iraq. I went online to price it and it is more expensive than a normal issue. So my question is, is the issue worth ordering online? I want to see how the Savage Tides ended, but I don't want to waste the money if the issue sucked donkey nuts.

ex-Pathfinder sharpshooter who sports a bandolier of custom-crafted magic wands and employs a specially built wand-rifle

I just want to know if there is anyway you can post the stats on the wand rifle? For now I am strictly running the RoTRL AP, but this one single item has my tempted to dip into my budget. Please post it? Please?

5) They acquire a taste for hagfish water

2) The unique weather cannot be found anywhere else

1) I hear thar be fresh, home-made, country-style muffins at the Pixie's Kitten, shiver me timbers.

I am from New Orleans. When I briefly ran my homebrew, I based my central starting town on a town similiar to Sandpoint, and one thing I used was crawfish. I fixed it to where my town was on the shores of a large lake, but it was the only place in my campaign world that crawfish could be found and flourished. There was a reason for this that was secret to the players (and the game never lasted long enough to find out the reason the waters were perfect for the crawfish was because of a dormant red dragon who was under a spell that would expire in the PCs lifetime). But that was the unique detail that I used,a dn the players loved it.

All that was to say that it is up to the DM to find little things to make the PC's want to be in Sandpoint. Just look around your own town and see what endures you to the place. If there is nothing there, surf the net and see what people love about their towns. This will give you insight as to how to endure your PC's to Sandpoint. Crawfish may just find their way to Sandpoint in my campaign. I haven't decided yet.

Nevermind. I just got to the picture of the Shadow, which will put the Irespan consistant with the map key. So there are two big ruined bridges in Magnimar. I thought there was only one. Sorry guys. Will more info be put out on the other massive, yet broken bridge that is bridgeward?

Edit: Is the picture at the top of pg. 65 a picture of bridgeward and the southern parts of Magnimar? That is an awesome picture.

Ok, I am confused on the Irespan. I downloaded the map of Magnimar from the Blog before I got Pathfinder 2, so when I read the text on the Irespan, I thought it was the big bridge on the map. But when I got to the city map in Pathfinder 2 section on Magnimar, the map key (pg. 63) said that the Irespan was in section 1 (which is north of the city and not the big bridge) and the big bridge was part of Bridgeward (section 4). Yet the actual text on the Irespan says this:

Visible for miles out to sea, the ancient basalt bridge known as the Irespan dominates Magnimar’s coastline. Jutting from a prominent foundation upon the Seacleft, the Giant’s Bridge, as

it is sometimes called, soars more than 300 feet above the city below, giving the eclipsed area its name: the Shadow.

This would put the location of the Irespan in section 4 of the map, not section 1. Can I please get some clarification?

Runelords seems significantly easier to me. I have been a player in SCAP and a GM for AoW, and am now GMing Runelords. I would never have agreed to do so except that it seemed easier and more reasonably paced.

Difficulty issues destroyed our SCAP campaign and were contributory to destroying the AoW campaign, so I am deeply grateful that Runelords is easier. I really hope that the various statements about "oh, it gets much harder" are bravado, or I'm probably looking at another dead campaign.

Speaking for myself as a player, "Players never complain about being given more powers and items" is totally untrue. I am sure there are players and groups for whom it is true, but it's not universal. I am really enjoying _Burnt Offerings_ because it's a scenario that makes sense for PCs of the level for which it's rated, rather than making them constantly feel as though they're not up to it. And there is not the same relentless pressure to minimax.

(By contrast, in SCAP we had already had the player say, "My PCs aren't up to this campaign--let's abandon it" by this point. And in AoW we had already had our first TPK, with the player questioning whether he wanted to continue.)

I agree Mary. I rather have my player make a difference and a great story as a player than more power. I am not a video game player. I don't want the most powerful character, I want the most fun character. And fun for me is when my character grows and changes with the story, not get extra plus and super weapons.
Mary

The sidebar on Wayfinders in the Journal of Eando Kline it says that

In addition, all wayfinders include a small indentation designed to hold an ioun stone. While still granting the bearer their normal benefits, stones slotted in this manner frequently reveal entirely new powers due to the magic of the wayfinder itself.

Does this mean there will be more information on the effects of ioun stones will be put out at a later date or does it mean that the effects are open to interpretation by the DM? I love toys and this is the best new toy I have read up on in a long time.

Thanks for the calender guys.

Age of Worms was vicious! I had so many TPK's that the party lost interest in the game. It wasn't that fun for them. I didn't get to play The Savage Tides, but I wanted to, although it seemed insanely difficult. Rise of the Runelords does seem easier, but I still think it will be challenging. After reading it, I actually wish I could be a player and not a DM, but I don't know if there will be another person who will DM when I return from Iraq. I will have to start a new group, so most likely I will DM.