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Has anyone with more energy and sensitivity than I possess studied how chosen names and avatar artwork affect how forum-folk act and are perceived to act?

Oh dear, though the clouds are mostly shielding us from the horror of the thing, it seems that terrible outer wolf-things are intent on killing the moon, and leaving us beneath its bloody remains.

I am posting this because I promised Bob I would. I will try and format it , but today isn't a really good day. Bob says it gives martials an edge, I don't entirely agree.

Hit Points:
What Hit Points Represent: Hit points represent the ability to shrug off physical punishment and keep going.

Hit point recovery functions as recovering from non-lethal damage.

Effects of Hit Point Damage: Damage doesn't slow you down until your current hit points reach 0. At 0 hit points, you're disabled. Any further hit point damage taken when hit points are at zero are applied to Body Points

Non-lethal damage is never applied to Body Points.

Resistance or Immunity to non-lethal damage no longer exists. It is replaced by resistance/immunity to becoming disabled when reduced to 0 Hit Points.

Kineticist Burn recovery does not change.

Disabled (0 Hit Points)
When your current hit point total drops to 0, you are disabled. You gain the staggered condition and can only take a single move or standard action each turn (but not both, nor can you take full-round actions). You can take move actions without further injuring yourself, but if you perform any standard action (or any other strenuous action) you take 1 point of Body damage after completing the act.

As long as you are not disabled/incapacitated by Body Point damage (see below) healing that raises your Hit Points above 0 makes you fully functional again, just as if you'd never been reduced to 0 or fewer hit points.

Body Points:

Body point damage is treated as lethal damage for the purposes of damage recovery.

Being reduced to your size bonus or below requires a Fortitude save to avoid becoming Disabled (See Above). You must make this saving throw each time your Body Point total changes, but remains within the Size Bonus. (Hit Points (If any remain) are reduced to zero.)

Being reduced to zero Body Points or below causes unavoidable incapacitation or unconsciousness, and requires a fortitude save (DC 20 + damage taken beyond zero) each round to avoid Death. Each required saving throw reduces Body Points by one if successful.

Successful Stabilization prevents the need for further Fortitude saves as long as the subject is not disturbed. Moving a stabilized target safely requires a treat wounds roll to avoid destabilizing the target.

Computing Body Points:
Constitution + Size Bonus + Misc. Adds (if allowed)

Size Bonus:
Small +4
Medium +8
Large +16

MIsc. Adds (if allowed)

• Training, up to Constitution Bonus + Hit Dice
  
• Favored class: HP (+1 HP per level)
  
• Toughness Feat (+1 HP per level)

Bypassing Hit Point Damage

• Area effect and non-targeted attacks Never bypass Hit Point Damage. Never, Ever.
  
• Coup de Gras attacks do Body damage
  
• Critical Hits do minimum damage to Body Points, and normal rolled Hit Point damage
  
• Attacks vs flat footed/Dex denied opponents do 1 Body Point per die rolled, plus normal hp damage
  
• Cleave: A successful follow on cleave attack roll does minimum damage to Body Points to original target,
  
• Great Cleave allows a roll to do Hit Point damage to a second target, and a second roll to apply Body Point damage to the second target, and so on.
  
• Successful Bleed attacks first point of bleed damage is applied to Body Points
  

Healing Hit Point and Body Damage
Healing Active targets heals 1/2 roll to Body Points and 1/2 roll to Hit Points
Healing Resting targets heals full roll to Body Points and to Hit Points
If no Body Point Damage exists, double the healing to Hit Points

OK, this is unlikely to be in a lot of people's knowledge sets.
This is a very superhero-like archetype. Even Metroid/Megaman video game without much of a stretch.

1) Can an adaptive gunner get the Point Blank Master Feat?

2) Can it be reasonably fluffed that blasts can be fired from alternate hands, and the powershots come from both hands?
.....this doesn't really add anything but style, but I like the flavor of it.

3) How would you work a feat to have stronger Powershots with a recoiling bull rush on the enemy and pushing the Gunner back?

Comprehend writing doesn't break codes, and apparently translates what the writer meant to write or say. What if the writer was just copying down writing he didn't understand? Since it was effectively gibberish to the writer, does it translate as gibberish?

I have seen nothing but fantastically stupid justifications for how the Hit Dice system works, and, frankly, doesn't work. Here is a quick and dirty alternative, that should work without a lot of adjustments to other parts of the game. I would be interested in comments.

Semi-Static Hit Points
(If you use this you want to give Hit Dice creatures maximum HP values)

Base HP
Constitution + Size Bonus + Misc. Adds

Size Bonus:
Small +4
Medium. +8
Large +16

MIsc. Adds

Training, up to Constitution Bonus

Favored class: HP (+1 HP per level)

Toughness Feat (+1 HP per level)

D10/D12 HP classes (+1 HP per level)

I posted on a thread a while back that if you want allignment spells to affect the character in a "real" and realistic way, using an addiction model might be a better way to handle it.

Basic mechanic.

When you cast an out-of-allignment aligned spell you must make a saving throw or open yourself to the pleasurable feelings that allignment engenders.
---) For Nuetral to Alligned: +1 morale bonus for 1 minute per spell level
---) For Opposed Allignments: +2 morale bonus for 1 minute per spell level

Casting an Alligned spell of a different allignment ends the morale bonus and does not provide any new morale bonus.

Acting out of allignment for the spell's allignment (GM only call, Don't Argue) ends the morale bonus, and causes a morale penalty for 5 minutes per spell level. (Penalty equals the bonus it replaces)

No penalties if the morale bonus just times out.

Doing acts wholly in accordance to the spell's allignment can extend the morale bonus (again GM only call, Don't Argue, let's call this GMOC)

Chronic Addiction Affects. (Not sure about liking this)

If the character chooses not to resist or rolls a 1 on their save vs the effect of casting, ( 3 times ?) they gain a permanent morale penalty.
---) This can be countered for a time by performing a spell allignment appropriate act (GMOC)
---) Casting a matching Alligned spell counters the penalty AND provides the morale bonus.

Casting the spell has no effect on allignment, the acts the character does to maintain the bonuses or mitigate the penalties should.

All I've got.

EDIT: I should think a Heal, or Greater Restoration would end the addiction effects, but any action caused allignment shift would remain.

I have seen very little use of Teamwork feats, and considering everything, I understand why, feats are effectively a very scarce resource, supply does not exceed demand.

Here is one of my ideas.

Teamwork

Teamwork feats are gained based on BAB.
----)1 feat per point of BAB
-------)plus 1 per 5 ranks in Profession (Soldier)

Retraining Mechanics should apply to Teamwork feats

Basic Fighters count as having any teamwork feat for supporting an allies known feat
-)unless the feat require abilities the fighter does not possess, like spellcasting.
----)(The fighter provides the bonus to the ally, not to himself)
------)(unless he actually has the feat, of course.)

I am starting to put together my next campaign, since my health is being fairly stable.
The rules skeleton will likely be pathfinder since the Scion players are likely to have life entanglements to prevent regular play.

I am looking at the Consolidated skill option from Pathfinder unchained. I have noticed that the Religion skill has nothing added from the old Knowledge Religion. I am thinking of adding a Ritual component to the skill. Has anyone else thought on this?

There are a lot of intelligent people who believe this game is broken at high levels. Actually the only serious disagreement on this is where you draw the line. E12 seems to be the standard, but even E6 doesn't really raise any eyebrows. I believe the problem is always there, it is just at what point it breaks it for you.

I don't think hyperoptimization is the problem, though I do think it is a symptom/effect of the problem. I think the problem goes down to a basic common assumption. The assumption is that everything written always and only works as written. We get hundreds of posts on various threads in the forums on how even first level spells MUST always work.

I have seen intelligent people bemoan the fact that the create water Cantrip breaks desert games, but if you suggest that water magic may not work well in a desert you should probably have your lawyer present.

What do you think?

Can you think of other reasonable situations that certain types of magic should be unreliable?

If a GM always uses the same buff sets and opening strategies with Arcane casters, because they are effective mind you, is it metagaming to have your characters use strategies to counter those NPC strategies even when they don't know that this sorcerer/wizard/... has actually used the standard stratagems?

Disclaimer: None of this is new; none of this is all that clever.
None of this is better organized than my current thoughts.

First, because I am writing this, a digression. Why is it that so many people believe that invisibllity is such a powerful thing? After all it can be defeated in a peasant hut with beaded curtains and a dog and cat or two. Musn't forget the ultimate unbeatable magic invasion, for those castles with high ceilings in the great halls, flying plus invisibility. Gasp! In all these millennia living with magic it is sad that no one has ever though of filling a lot of that empty space with inspiring and decorative banners, perhaps with bells and fish-hooks sewn onto them. Oh, mustn't forget, perhaps a dog and cat or two. A family of pseuddragons? These are easy things.

How would people living in a magic world deal with magic threats? The same way we have evolved to deal with physical threats, we make communities. It started with packs and still hasn't ended. Admittedly we aren't doing so well here in the real world, but we are in a period of flux, hope we get through it OK.

Posit that we are talking about a world where magic exists, and has existed for a long long time, possibly longer than the physical world has existed. You know, at least 90% of Fantasy Role Play campaign settings. Communities have allowed us to band together to make us less inviting prey for predators, animal or sentient. We can pool our resources to make us more able to deal with hard times. We can get together to build walls, train together to better fight off those who want to harm us... Or reason with them and make them our allies, increasing our communities.

Why wouldn't this odd concept, community, help us defend ourselves from magic? Yeah, I know, didn't think I would catch anyone on that hook; of course community helps defend us from magic, at least from the unsubtle stuff.

--------------------------------- inject important point here -----------------------------

Community is like an extended organism, ask any decent sociologist. Members of the community have varying degrees of sensitivity to the needs of the community, if they don't they aren't part of the community. There will always be people who become disaffected from a community, it's almost like a natural part of the communal entity. This will be important, in a bit.

---------------------------------- getting back on track now ------------------------------

You ask how is it, what is the mechanism that community uses to protect us from magic? ... I'm waiting, really, you have to ask...
... Stubborn, aren't we? ...

Finally, the mechanism is one we are all familiar with, morale. Communities focus morale. Healthy, contented communities have a LOT of morale to focus. Roads and defenses are maintained, food is stored to mitigate famine, all kinds of ways. Assuming magic exists, why doesn't community focus our communal morale to protect us from it? OK, I'll stop trying to catch you with trick questions, of course it does. It does it well.

The mechanics of this are basic, and ubiquitous. The trappings of it are already visible in nearly every campaign setting. Uniforms, Symbols, Rituals, Belief. Does the healthy community believe the city watch is strong, and alert? Why of course it does. When a member of the community legitimately assumes the mantle of that position (Puts on the uniform and MEANS it.) he gets an almost (ok, beyond almost) magical boost to doing all those things the community expects from a guard, he is more perceptive, more capable in a fight, tireless in the pursuit of justice... (Wasn't the fertilizer supposed to go to the garden?). It sounds trite, and is, but that doesn't make it not so. If the Royal Guard has a universal reputation for flawless defense of King and Country, a 10 point morale bonus goes a long way to keep that reputation going. Your church, or even Granny Maeve, is wise and protecting you? That holy symbol symbol or charm grants you REAL protection, not limited to a measly +3 either.

Wait you say? That trinket does nothing for you? Putting on that uniform doesn't spiff you up like the other recruits? This is all just hokum, isn't it? You, my friend, are separated from the community. Doesn't make you bad, just separate. You do not get the full benefits of Community. That sucks you say? Why in the world would a community not include a good person like you in its loving embrace? It's for the good for the community. Communities are great against threats that everyone recognizes, they just don't spot them all, and a subtle threat can literally drag a community through the Gates of Hell. That's why you are here. Your job, should you decide to accept it, is to recognize and alert us to threats we aren't seeing. We will love you and reward you for it. Pay no attention to those gallows and crosses, those aren't for you, they are for those bad folk that are trying to lead us all astray. Our enemies are always trying to break our morale. You will be a hero, recognized and revered. You might even find yourself a part of the community, strong of spirit, able to give up your wayward ways.

Or else not. And please stop saying we are all boring, it is just not polite. You happily reap the benefits of community, even accepting the Blessings from the priesthood. As you will, everyone must walk their own path.