HP: xx/xx, NL: x | AC xx/xx/xx | F+x R +x W+x (save modifiers after the save) | Per: +x | Init: +x | ammunition, limited use abilities, or whatever else you would like to have here to keep track of.
(Thanks to DM Salsa for the tagline setup).
Inventory wise you are allowed to start with the following:
1 set of armor you are proficient in.
1 melee weapon you are proficient in (dual wielders may have a set).
1 ranged weapon you are proficient in.
1 set of clothing.
1 kit appropriate to your class.
1 magic item of your choice worth 500 gp or less (buying price, not crafting price).
The items cannot be masterwork or made from a special material (with the exception of the magic items, of course, which are often both by default).
Once everyone has dotted into both threads and set up their characters we will begin. Any questions go here.
Inspired by GM Salsa's upcoming campaign, which is set in a Skyrim like land, I've decided to set a campaign in my favorite cRPG fantasy land, the world of Gloriana from the classic Quest for Glory series!
Character Creation
- Attributes: 25 Point-buy
- HP: Max at 1st level, Half max +1 after that. (d6 => 4, d8 => 5, d10 => 6, d12 => 7)
- Starting Level: 3rd
- Starting Gold: one non-magical weapon, one non-magical set of armor, one change of clothing, one magic item of your choice worth 500 gp or less, one kit appropriate to your class.
- Races and class details are listed in the setting document
- Using the Background Skills system, including Artistry and Lore
- Using Automatic Bonus Progression will be used. Magic items will be relatively rare and interesting.
- No evil characters. This is a game for heroes.
Submission Requirements
- Read the document.
- Character Stats
- Background explaining where your character comes from and why your character wants to be a hero. As they are 3rd level, include at least one heroic accomplishment already achieved.
- Character's Personality
- Character's Appearance, including how tall they are.
I'm happy to answer any questions! I'm going to put a deadline of the 26th on this.
Asking both here and on Facebook. Flaming Crab is currently working on a follow-up to our original "Letters from the Flaming Crab: Culinary Magic" entitled "The Culinary Magic Cookbook". The original introduced culinary magic as a form of hedge magic (one anyone can do if they have a specific feat but that requires a successful skill check to perform). It included roughly fifteen recipes as well as a set of feats and traits to go with it. There were also two archetypes: the performing chef (bard) and the kitchen witch (witch).
So, as we expand the book to include at least 70 recipes and a few new archetypes, my question to the Pathfinder public:
What do you want in your cooking magic? Besides cupcakes, BJ Hensley. :) What would you like to see which would help convince you to buy this book? This is your chance to help shape a product before it hits production. Please comment and let us know.
We hadn't posted here in a while, so I thought I'd update everyone on what's going on with Flaming Crab Games.
Letters from the Flaming Crab: Strange Weather is in layout and we anticipate it being out by the beginning of next week. Everyone complains about the weather but now GMs will be able to do something about it! Subject parties to the Aurora Hypnosis! Let them get caught in a Blood Storm! Kill them off with a Fire Whirl! Change the rules of magic with special moons and solar eclipses! And for players, there's two new weather related archeypes.
Letters from the Flaming Crab: Dinosaur Companions is being written and will be out at the end of September. This book is all extinct beasties and nothing else! Want a dinosaur familiar? We've got you covered. Want a dinosaur animal companion? No problem! Want to ride around on a dinosaur while proclaiming yourself queen of the reptiles? You can do that!
Murder Bunnies: A new PC race of murder happy anthropomorphic bunnies. Do I need to say any more? Out in September/October.
Culinary Magic Cookbook: We've had a lot of requests for this one and I'm happy to say its 2/3rd of the way written! This book will take Letters from the Flaming Crab: Culinary Magic and expand it with new archetypes, feats, items, and, most importantly, new recipes! There will be at least 60 recipes total in the book, of which around 40 will be brand new and never read before. We're hoping to have this book out in time for the Thanksgiving feast in the US.
Ladies and gentleman, I'm thrilled to announce the official return of Castle Falkenstein. Fat Goblin Games has partnered with R. Talsorian to produce new content for the game, continuing from where the game left off in the late 90s.
My name is J Gray and I have the honor of being the lead transcriber and developer for the line. R. Talsorian has entrusted us with a pile of missives, journals, and various papers sent by Captain Thomas Olam from the world of Castle Falkenstein to our own. My job is to sort through the mess, transcribe and edit, then present it for publication.
Our first offering, Curious Creatures is in the works now. It will present thirty-five new animals, monsters, beasts, and other interesting beings for use in any Falkenstein campaign. There will also be rules for creating new creatures playing unusual Dramatic Characters such as unicorns, intelligent animals, and half-man, half-creatures.
I am happy to discuss the matter further here or in private message and will gladly answer any questions. Thank you! We hope to see you on Fifth Earth.
For those who do not know, Castle Falkenstein set the standard for fantasy steampunk at the very beginning of the movement. Imagine a 1870s where dragons, sorcerers, governments, anarchists, and mad science both work together and compete against each other for power and prestige. A world where Alice accompanied Mr. Dodgson down the rabbit hole into a land of wonder, where Nemo's amazing Nautilus rules the seas, where Emperor Norton the First leads the most free and equal nation on the planet, and where the dragon emperors of China are real dragon.
Imagine walking into a lecture being given by Darwin of the evolutionary nature of dwarves only to overhear an argument between Doctor Watson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the scientific study of the fae-folk. Imagine Jules Verne as science minister of France and a United States prevented from expanding westward by the Twenty Nation Confederation.
Now, imagine that every single bit of every book is written "in character", all beautifully guided by Mike Pondsmith, one of the masters of our hobby.
Castle Falkenstein, the 1994 Origins winner for best RPG rules is currently available via humble bundle. For less that $20 you can get every book put out for the game by R. Talsorian. I cannot recommend it enough, gentle folk. This is something that should be in every gamer's library.
Well, time for one of my semi-random updates on where Letters from the Flaming Crab stands! Thanks to our successful Kickstarter we've got funding to pay for every book in the line we want to put out this year. Thanks so much to everyone who supported us!
I just turned over Coins and Credit to the beta team to make sure it is up to snuff. In Coins and Credit we answer all sorts of interesting questions, like...
What's the Craft check DC for making (and counterfeiting!) a coin?
What's the difference between a coin stamp and a coin screw press?
Can a kingdom use magic to make their currency? The answer is yes!
What's the exact volume, thickness, and diameter of a gold piece?
How many coins can fit into a backpack? What about a chest?
Can I really spend those ancient coins from a long-dead kingdom I found in a dungeon at the local market? A gp is a gp, right?
What kind of banks are there and what's the likelihood of finding one in a settlement?
If I want to take out a loan, what's the maximum a bank might give me? What sort of rates will they offer?
So, what kind of security does that bank have, anyway? Just asking for curiosity's sake, mind you...
Are there really bank gremlins that go into vaults and eat coins? And is your GM a jerk for bringing them into a game? Yes.
How does credit work in a pre-industrial world?
Why would a king reward an adventuring party with a letter of credit instead of a chest of platinum coins?
What's the difference between a letter of credit, a promissory note, and a banknote?
Is there a daily withdrawal limit on my vault satchel?
And more! It is going to be awesome.
While our beta team works on hammering Coins and Credit the writing team of Hygiene is writing up a storm. We'll be including:
A Roman bath, Japanese bath, Turkish bath, hair salon, barber shop, and laundry ready to be inserted into your campaign world.
Rules on being clean and dirty and how your state of hygiene affects both your health and your social skills.
New items, both mundane and magical to help you keep clean and stay clean!
I've been jonesing for a chance to run the Leverage RPG ever since I read the rules two years ago. Now, after bingewatching the series (again) I think I'm in a good place to do so.
Good Guys Investigations will be a straight Leverage RPG game. I'll want a classic team: Hacker, hitter, grifter, mastermind, thief. I'd prefer players to be familiar with the show. This game requires collaboration, a willingness to make stuff up, and even a willingness to go back in time via flashback and make up stuff you didn't make up before. In other words, there's a strong need for flexibility and creative thinking/invention.
Will it work as a PbP? Don't know. But I'm willing to give it the old Nate Ford try. Maybe with less booze.
Captain Alex of Flaming Crab Games has authorized me to release samples from past and future volumes of Letters from the Flaming Crab. Each month, we deliver a 6,000 - 8,000 word book on a different topic and strive to give new writers a chance to break into the field. Or, as Alex puts it, "The perfect series for fans of strange weather, badass princesses, flying mounts, magical food, haunted places, household magic, explosions, or... um... hygiene."
If you like what you see, please consider backing our Kickstarter to fund twelve more volumes in the line!
==========================
From the upcoming Letters from the Flaming Crab: Coins and Credit (April)
Written by Matthew Carroll, Luke Palossari, and Jeff Swank
Please note this entry is still in editing.
Examples of Banks
Listed below are examples of banks that a GM can easily drop into their campaign. Feel free to change the names and details of these banks to suit your game setting. GMs can use a random d8 roll to place a particular bank within a city.
SunVault The SunVault banks are owned and operated by clergy of the sun god. They are known for occasionally donating account owner's gold to charity without direct permission of the owner. This event is rare, but has been known to happen.
Copper-tier transactional account: 25 gp to open; no monthly fee.
Dragonwill Bank This privately owned bank is operated exclusively by elven workers. It is thought that the manager, Valadalin is a elf of noble birth, but unknown to the general public is that the owner is actually a dragon (LE great wyrm red dragon).
Copper-tier transactional account:0 gp to open; 2 gp monthly fee with in person transactions or 5 gp monthly fee with all other transactions.
Capital Fortress This national bank is mainly used by the largest of businesses, mills, guilds, and even kingdoms. These banks were first started by King Valhaven (LN human male fighter 12/aristocrat 4).
Copper-tier transactional account: 50 gp to open; 10 gp monthly fee unless 300 gp minimum daily balance or monthly deposit of at least
250 gp.
===========================
From the upcoming Letters from the Flaming Crab: Women of History (March) Written by June Bordas, Jennifer R. Povey, Lindsey Shanks, and Margherita Tramontano
Please note this entry is still in editing.
St. Clare of Assisi (1194-1253)
Born into a noble Italian family, Clare (Chiara Offreduccio) desired since her youth to dedicate herself to prayer and divine service. At 18 years of age, being inspired by St. Francis’ preaching, she fled her home and her arranged marriage to join him a in life of poverty and austerity. The founder of the Order of Poor Ladies (later Order of St. Clare), she became Abbess of San Damiano in 1216.
Clare is remembered because of her piety and miracles (it is said that her prayers saved Assisi from invaders twice) as much as her force of personality: her Order was a self–regulated female community of which she wrote the rule herself, something unheard of in the Middle Ages for a woman, and served as a refuge and education centre for girls and women who wished to escape from violence and oppression.
Clare was canonized two years after her death and the Catholic Church designates her as the patron saint of television, eye disease, goldsmiths, and laundry. Her Order nowadays numbers more than 20,000 sisters worldwide, either secluded or active.
Cenobite (Warpriest Archetype)
A cenobite (also said a friar or nun) is a pacifist, charismatic priest, often part of a cloistered or mendicant order, endowed with knowledge and eloquence to convert new believers and monsters alike with the force of her word and faith alone.
The specifics of the archetype are still being worked out. The cenobite was inspired by St. Claire of Assisi.
===========================
From the upcoming Letters from the Flaming Crab: Tiny Dragons (February) Written by Jennifer R. Povey, Margherita Tramontano (aka Bardess), and Colegrove Withers
Please note this creature is still in editing.
Pseudodragon, Swandragon (Lesser) CR 2 XP 600
NG Tiny dragon
Init +3; Senses blindsense 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +7
DEFENSE AC 18, touch 15, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +3 natural, +2 size)
hp 22 (3d12 + 3)
Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +4
Immune paralysis, sleep; SR 13
DEFENSE Speed 15 ft., fly 100 ft. (good)
Melee bite +3 (1d2-2)
Space 2-1/2 ft., Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks bardic performance 15 rounds/day (countersong, distraction, fascinate, inspire competence +2, inspire courage +1), song (5-ft. radius, 2d6 sonic damage, Will DC 12 negates, usable every 1d4 rounds)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 3rd; concentration +4)
3/day- legend lore
STATISTICS Str 7, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 13
Base Atk +3; CMB +4; CMD 12 (16 vs. trip)
Feats Extra Performance, Skill Focus (Perform)
Skills Diplomacy +7, Fly +21, Perception +7, Sense Motive +7, Stealth +21, Perform (sing) +7; Racial Modifiers +4 Fly, +4 Stealth
Languages Draconic; telepathy (60 ft.)
ECOLOGY Environment temperate forest waters
Organization solitary, pair, or clutch (3–5)
Treasure standard
SPECIAL ABILITIES Bardic Performance (Su) A swandragon has the bardic performance ability of a 3rd-level bard.
=====================
From Letters from the Flaming Crab: Iconic Princesses Written by June Bordas, Troy Daniels, Lindsey Shanks, and Steven Lloyd Wilson
The Beast’s Rose Aura moderate necromancy; CL 9th
Slot none; Price 16,200gp; Weight –
This withered, blackened rose, looks as if it will crumble into dust at any moment. Once per day, the bearer of the rose can preserve a body as if casting gentle repose. If the bearer of the rose dies, the rose automatically casts breath of life on her. Should this fail to revive her from the dead, the rose preserves her body as if gentle repose was cast. Once the rose brings the bearer back to life, it crumble into powder and cannot be repaired.
Construction Requirements
Craft Wondrous Item, gentle repose, breath of life; Cost 8,100gp
====================
From Letters from the Flaming Crab: Wheel of the Year
Written by JJ Jordan, Nate Love, and Lucas Palosaari
Full Moon Mystic Resonance
The full moon has always given rise to changing of the moods and changing of the skins. Double the duration of transmutation spells during the full moon festival. In addition, while the full moon hangs in the sky, each caster can cast a single transmutation (polymorph) spell that night as though it was affected by the Quicken Spell feat. Druids can use the wild shape ability as a swift action once per full moon.
The Full Moon festival lessens the power of conjuration magic, reducing the duration of all conjuration spells by 1 round. Creatures summoned by conjuration magic during the Full Moon festival must succeed at a DC 15 Will save when summoned or be affected by the lesser confusion spell for 1 round as the madness of the moon strikes them.
=======================
From Letters from the Flaming Crab: Haunted Places
Written by June Bordas, Mike McKeown, and Michael Riter
CHIMNEY COFFIN CR 6 XP 2400
NE Haunt (20 ft. radius from the fireplace)
Caster Level 5th
Notice Perception DC 20 (the sounds of a child sobbing and coughing coming from inside the chimney)
HP 12; Trigger fire lit in fireplace; Reset 1 day
Effect
One minute and 23 seconds after a flame is lit in the fireplace, a cloud of soot bursts out from it and covers those present. Everyone within 20 feet of the fireplace is covered by the soot and feel it clogging their nostrils and throat as if being affected by the suffocation spell (DC 15).
Destruction
The chimney must be torn down and each brick split into at least two pieces. The brick pieces must then be buried in a sanctified cemetery.
==========================
From Letters from the Flaming Crab: Culinary Magic
Written by David S McCrae and Angel "ARMR" Miranda
Flavorfizz Juice (DC 15 [light], DC 20 [moderate], DC 25 [serious], see text)
This flavorful, bubbly concoction tickles the mouth, throat, and stomach as it provides cool, pleasing refreshment. Ingredients Any cure potion, a wand of air bubble, ½ cup of any fruit juice.
Servings 1; Prep & Cooking Time 7 minutes
Directions Step 1 Pour both cure potion and fruit juice into a wooden bowl.
Step 2 Stir mixture with wand of air bubble, for 5 minutes, activating the wand once during stirring.
Step 3 Funnel mixture into a vessel.
Magical Benefit The imbiber immediately gains the benefits of the cure potion used to make the juice. 1d4 rounds later, the fizzy nature of the beverage causes him to burp a cloud of sweet-smelling mist in a 5-foot cone. Any creature caught in the area of effect heals 1d4 points of damage. The burp is not an action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Flavorfizz juice retains its potency
for 24 hours after being prepared, after which time it becomes a flat, mundane drink and the magic of the original potion is lost.
====================
From Letters from the Flaming Crab: Winged Cavalry
Written by Jeff Gomez, Thiago Rosa Shinken, and Anthony Toretti
Advanced Aerial Combat Maneuvers
Barrel Roll As a full-round action, you can direct your mount up to twice its move speed in a straight line while rolling. This movement does not provoke an attack of opportunity, and both you and your mount gain a +4 dodge bonus to AC until the start of your next turn. You can’t make attacks of opportunity until the start of your next turn. If the check fails, the movement provokes as normal
and no dodge bonus is granted.
Loop-De-Loop As a full-round action, you can direct your mount to ascend vertically half its flight speed, move its flight speed opposite to your current horizontal direction, and descend half its flight speed vertically. The descent does not provoke attacks of opportunity, but the ascent and horizontal movement does. The loop-de-loop can be used as part of a charge or withdraw action. If the check fails, the movement does not occur and both you and your mount are considered flat-footed until the start of your next turn.
Roll-Off-The-Top As a full-round action, you can direct your mount to move its full flight speed in a straight, horizontal line then ascend vertically half its flight speed and then move its full flight speed in a straight, horizontal line opposite to the first. This movement can be used as part of a charge or withdraw action. If the check fails, only the first increment of horizontal movement occurs and both you and your mount are considered flat-footed until
the start of your next turn.
Sudden Dive As part of a charge or withdraw action while descending at an angle of 45 degrees or greater, you can direct your mount to move up to four times its flight speed; or, as part of a run action while descending at an angle of 45 degrees or greater, you can direct your mount to move up to six times its flight speed. If the check fails, the movement still occurs but both you and your mount are entangled until the end of your next turn.
Flight Maneuver | Ride/Fly DC
Barrel Roll | 20
Loop-De-Roll | 25
Roll-Off-The-Top | 25
Sudden Dive | 30
The big boss of Flaming Crab Games has decided he loved the Letters of the Flaming Crab line so much he wanted to fund it for a full year. That would be one book a month with writers being paid actual per word rates.
You can find the Kickstarter here. Our goal is $2,500. That's pretty modest, I think, for a series of 12 books.
For those who don't know, Letters from the Flaming Crab takes correspondence (letters, if you will) accidentally sent to our universe from a dimension hopping ship (the UCS Flaming Crab) and turns it into playable material for Pathfinder games.
No. Really. Stop laughing!
Ahem. More seriously, the point of Letters is to explore topics that don't get touched too often by other books. We've published books on flying cavaliers, cooking magic, spooooky haunts (which are popular, we admit, but it WAS Halloween), and pagan holidays. We're currently working on non-Disneyfied princesses, tiny dragons, women in history, and banks, credits, and currency.
But the rest of the topics we cover in 2016? That's gonna be up the backers of the Kickstarter. Here's your chance to influence an entire product line and get some really good books out of it!
There's also a poll running to help us figure out topics for the year. Right now "Strange Weather", "Things that Go Boom", "Household Magic", "Drugs and Alcohol", and "Ioun Stones" are in the lead.
So.
Please visit the poll and vote.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE (I'm begging here - our writers need food badly!) consider backing our Kickstarter.
And thank you for being awesome, folks. Gamers rule.
Hi, all! As we ramp up towards Letters from the Flaming Crab: Iconic Princesses, the fifth book in the series, we're putting the first four on sale. You can grab each book for $2!
* Winged Cavalry - An alternate Cavalier class focusing on flying mounts, new rules for flying, mounted combat, and five new orders.
* Culinary Magic - A whole new magic crafting system. Make magic meals that boost your party!
* Haunted Places - New haunts and archetypes inspired by them, including archetypes for Occult classes!
* Wheel of the Year - Nine holidays to insert into any world and provide background color for your campaign. Including new spells specific to those holidays and detailing the ways magic warp and change on those special days.
Now's a great time to pick up those books if you haven't already.
Hello! I am asking you, the beautiful people who support and buy 3pp products to make a resolution to review more 3pp products this year! Here's my personal suggestion:
1. Post 1 review of a 3pp product each month on any site you can!
2. Spread out the joy. Each month pick a different company to write a review for.
3. Try to make at least half your reviews for a product that has 2 or fewer reviews posted!
Will you keep the resolution if you make it? Probably not! But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try and make this 203pp... or... umm...
In honor of the winter solstice (which, I know, happened yesterday) I thought I'd give everyone a taste of Flaming Crab's latest book, Letters from the Flaming Crab: Wheel of the Year.
In Wheel of the Year we look at traditional pagan holidays, explore their meanings, festivals, and the effects those special days have on magic. Each holiday even gets their own spell/ritual ranging from "making gifts" to "healing wells" to "special time in the forest for couples".
The end result? Holidays you can easily transplant into your own campaign world for flavor and fun. Keep them as is or alter them as needed. Sure, your world might not have a Beltane but chances are it might have a "spring life affirmation" holiday by another name.
So, without further ado, here's a glimpse of what Yule looks like.
Yule
Taking place on the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, Yule is a festival celebrating the changing of the seasons. Technically, Yule is only the first day of the holiday. A longer celebration, known as Yuletide starts at the solstice and lasts for twelve days in total. Symbolizing rebirth, holly and evergreen boughs are brought into homes to decorate.
The occasion begins with religious ceremonies, leading up to the sacrifice of a white bull. After the sacrifice, there are three traditional toasts to the deities. First, a toast is offered to the father god; next, to the patron deity of the community; and finally, to a mother goddess. After the collective toasts, the children of the settlement go from house to house, carrying evergreen or holly and wheat stalks to represent eternal life and the harvest respectively.
At each home they collect gifts of clove-spiked fruits. After making the rounds, celebrants revel through the night, dancing, singing, and drinking spiced wine around massive bonfires.
The largest fire in the community is centered on a massive log called the Yule Log which burns all night and is left to smolder for the remaining days of Yuletide. The coming of the sun after the festival is said to drive out the evil spirits from the world, bringing longer days, peace, and good tidings to the celebrants.
Deities
Yule (and Yuletide) are sacred to father gods, and to gods and goddesses of ancestors, fertility (especially male fertility), kingship, nobility, and wisdom.
Mystic Resonance
Yule creates a mystic resonance that lasts through the end of Yuletide.
Though Yule begins on the longest night of the year, it is a celebration of hope for the future and the return of the sun. Once per day during Yuletide, a caster can apply a single metamagic feat to any spell with the fire or light descriptor without increasing the spell’s level for prepared casters, even if they do not possess the feat. The caster need not possess the metamagic feat to apply it to the spell.
In addition, after casting a spell with the fire or light descriptor, the caster can roll a 1d12. If the number rolled matches the current day of Yuletide the spell is not expended with this casting. For prepared casters, this means the spell is available for use again. For spontaneous casters, the slot is available for any qualifying spell.
During this time period, when casting a necromancy spell, the caster must succeed at a concentration check or the spell fails and is wasted. The DC of the concentration check is equal to 10 + the number of days of Yuletide that have passed.
Ritual THE YULE TREE School conjuration (summoning); Level bard 3, cleric 4, druid 3, shaman 3, sorcerer/wizard 4, witch 4
Casting Time 1 hour
Components V, S, M (sacrificed bull or ram)
Target 1 evergreen tree
Duration 12 days (items summoned are permanent)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance yes
On the day of Yule, an evergreen chopped down under the moon the night before can be transformed into a Yule tree. The initial ritual lasts 1 hour, requiring the sacrifice of a bull or ram. The blood of the animal is sprinkled across the greenery of the tree, pooling in small pin pricks that appear to glow with twinkling light, making the tree shine in red and green.
Once complete the tree has a magical capacity to summon an item that the user desires. Those who ask for a boon must first be sprinkled with drops of blood from the sacrifice using a branch from the tree. After the petitioner visualizes their desire the item materializes beneath the tree. This can be used to summon any item worth up to 5
gp cost per person. An individual may only benefit from this ritual once per year.
----
And that's Yule! The other holidays that can be found in Wheel of the Year are: full moon, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Midsummer, Lughnasadh, Mabon, and Samhain. Nine holidays in all.
Letters from the Flaming Crab is Flaming Crab Games' showcase series. Each volume is roughly 6,000 words exploring a different topic. The books are also a chance to for new writers to jump into RPG writing.
The first three volumes are out and for sale here in the Paizo store, over at DriveThruRPG and RPGNow, and on the d20pfsrd store.
Volume 1, Winged Cavalry, introduces a new alternate class for the cavalier that focuses on flying mounts. There's also five new cavalier orders, all centered on flying mounts, and mounted, flying combat rules.
Volume 2, Culinary Magic, introduces a new magic crafting system centered around cooking magical meals that give fun but useful bonuses. There's feats, traits, magic items, and two new archetypes (Kitchen Witch and Performing Chef) to support the system.
Volume 3, Haunted Place, is exactly what it sounds like. There are four new haunts (and one loci) for you to play with. There's also a new spirit for the medium (the Child), and three new archetypes (for the mesmerist, spiritualist, and anti-paladin respectively).
And that's what's out so far. We're already at work on the next two volumes.
Volume 4, Wheel of the Year presents a number of pagan holidays that can be easily slotted into your campaign world. There's information on sacred deities, common rituals, and a new spell for each holiday. The book is fully written and going into layout now. We plan for a release later this month.
Volume 5, Iconic Princesses takes three famous fairy-tale princesses and turns them into iconic characters, Pathfinder style with traits for 1st, 7th, and 12th level. We'll also be including new options to support the princesses that could include magic items, feats, traits, and other materials. We just hired the writers for this book and we plan on a December release.
And that's what's going on for Letters from the Flaming Crab through the end of the year.
What would you like to see us tackle next? What subject do you wish was better covered? Part of the purpose of the Letters is to explore the strange and the unusual and the little explored.
So, please, give us your ideas and support the line! Thanks!
Two players in my existing Pathfinder campaign have asked me to open a second campaign in the setting. I've agreed to do so and we are looking for 1 to 2 more players to join us.
The Particulars
When: Every other week. Specific days to be determined by the group but it will not be Tuesday night and will be evenings, from 8:30pm to around 11:30 pm EST.
Where: Online using Roll20. Communication will be text based instead of video or voice based.
Who: Looking for 1 to 2 players. Both players are female and have stated a preference to work with other female gamers. The GM is male.
Setting: A home brewed setting, Krystallos. Details can be found on the campaign wiki. The world is still a work in progress.
Theme: The initial theme of the campaign will be exploration with Indiana Jones and King Solomon's Mines being influences. The theme may eventually run to the resurrection of a land destroyed by magic and corruption.
Existing Characters: Current characters most likely to be played in the campaign are an Obsidianu (African) bard/occultist storyteller/archeologist and an Amazonite (amazon) spell-less ranger guide and explorer.
Chargen: Character generation is a 20 point buy. Traits allowed. Background skill rules from Unchained will be used. The native races of Krystallos are: Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes, Illithid, Grippli, Modron, Kobolds, and Darfellan. Other races may be allowed but the GM is hesitant there. All classes but Oracles and spellcasters specializing in divination will be considered, including Occult Adventures classes and 3rd party classes.
Notes: The game will be RP and character development focused. Strict adherence to the rules is often waved in favor of expediency. The GM believes that the game is a story to be told, with everyone working together, not a competition to determine who beats who. In other words, it is not a question of "if" you "win" but "how".
If you're interested please drop me a line. We're looking to start soon. I'll be happy to answer further questions.
I'm J Gray, line developer and writer for Flaming Crab Games. We've been pretty quiet this summer so I thought I'd drop a note and let everyone know what's going on.
Alex Able, owner, publisher, editor, writer, and layout artist for Flaming Crab Games got hit by a double whammy this summer. First, his computer died. Then he had to move. To make matters worse, even though he has a new computer and is done with the move, the cable company is being very slow in getting him hooked up to the internet.
That being said, we do have some exciting plans!
First up is Dragon's Horde. This fantastic book will be a toybox of new magic items in every category. Alex has decided to release Dragon's Horde as a series of three PDFs to be followed by a print edition combining all three books. Book 1, weapons, armor, and shields, is edited and we're aiming to get it released by the end of October.
Next up is Letters from the Flaming Crab. Each "issue" will cover a different topic, adding new options and new ideas to Pathfinder. Issue 1 covered Winged Cavalry and presented a new alternative base class, the Wind Warden (flying mounts from level 1!) as well as new cavalier orders, and expanded rules on flying, mounted combat.
Letters from the Flaming Crab #2 is titled 'Culinary Magic' and will present a new system that will allow characters to cook magic meals to boost themselves and their party. We're really excited about this one and expect to have it out in the beginning of September.
Letters from the Flaming Crab #3 is titled 'Wheel of the Year' and looks at the traditional, western pagan holidays: the full moon, Yule, Samhain, Mabon, Lughnasadh, Midsummer, Beltane, Ostara, and Imbolic. We'll be providing information on each holiday, rules on how magic is affected on those special days, and rituals that can only be performed on each holiday. Look for it at the end of September.
The third book in the series, Once Upon an Encounter: Three Men in a Tub, will be a murder mystery and we're hoping to have it completed and published sometime this fall.
There are a few other projects in the works as well, though Alex knows more about them than I do so I can't announce them yet.
I want to thank everyone who has bought and/or reviewed a Flaming Crab Games product. You've really encouraged us to keep going.
As always, we are eager to hear from our readers. Please let us know what you liked and didn't like as well as what you would like to see (or not see) in the future.
Spellstaff: the Magic User's Weapon is the deal of the day over at DriveThruRPG. So, if you were wary of the price tag before, now is a good time to grab it. It is 60% off.
As happens at times in PbP campaigns we've lost two players from our campaign. We're currently running through the Half-Dead City adventure of the Mummy's Mask AP, though it is heavily modified to fit my homebrew setting.
More information on the setting can be found here.
Our party currently consists of:
Dorian, human swashbuckler (and trained lawyer!)
Gil Odalis, human barbarian (team leader and amateur engineer!)
Lilia, part human/part plant alchemist
We're most deficient in healing and knowledge. The game is set in Shibbati, a city in the Citrine Sultanate (a desert kingdom with a mostly Kobold population).
Chargen notes:
2nd level.
Most classes allowed. Sorcerers and summoners not allowed.
Attributes via standard point buy method. 20 points.
PFS rules for hit points.
3rd party content possible but must be approved by me first.
We're going to have a short recruitment period and pick a new player on Friday the 6th.
Recently, I've been thinking about webcomics and RPGs. There are hundreds of webcomics out there with amazing art. There are dozens of 3pp RPG publishers with tight budgets who can't afford to commission as much art as they would like.
I wonder if the two can't help each other.
A 3pp could look through a webcomic's archive, for instance, and find an image or two that might fit their book. Most webcomics these days are done digitally, which means pulling the image off the page for inclusion in an RPG layout shouldn't be too difficult. Terms would be negotiated.
It is a win-win situation. 3pp can afford more art for their books because of the cheaper prices. Artists would get a little extra income from art they are more or less just sitting on.
I know the archives from my own webcomic, Mysteries of the Arcana, would be available. I'm sure other webcomickers would be interested as well. I'd be happy to help people make contact if needed. I'm fortunate enough to know quite a few semi-pro webcomickers in the community.
I'll be running the flavor encounters that occur between the Swallowtail Festival and the Glassworks encounter tonight. I've decided that I wanted to handle the boar hunt less as combat and more as a chance to RP, interact with and form bonds with Foxglove and for the PC to get to know each other better.
I looked up boar hunt threads here for idea but most of them seem to involve scaling the boar hunt up to make it more exciting. I'm not so much looking to scale it down as much as to move it from the combat realm to the skill realm.
My thought was to break it down into a series of opposed Survival checks - the PCs and Foxglove (with, perhaps, a circumstance bonus for hunting dogs) against the boar.
Could it be run as a chase? Each success gets the hunting party one step closer to the boar while each failure moves the boar one step further away?
One of my players has a strong, secondary focus on social actions during combat - Intimidate and Bluff checks for Demoralizing and Feinting.
Because of this, I picked up the Psychological Combat book from Everyman Gaming. It was an interesting read and I liked how it added some new options without causing massive changes to the rules. Easy to slot into existing play. However, I think the book missed the mark when it came to one of the feats.
The Improved Demoralizing feat from Psychological Combat (something that I think was needed) only improves the demoralization's duration while the Improved Feint feat from the core rule, instead, improves action time from a standard to a move action.
Ciaran Barnes came up with an alternative Improved Demoralize feat that makes it comparable to Improved Feint. I hope he doesn't mind if I borrow it for a hypothetical feat tree.
I'd love everyone's opinion here, please.
Combat Expertise
leads to...
Improved Feint (as written in the Core rules)
and
Improved Demoralize (Combat)
Prerequisites: Int 13, Combat Expertise
Benefit: You can make an Intimidate check to demoralize an opponent as a move action.
Benefit: As a standard action you may make an Intimidate or Bluff check (whichever is higher) to perform a feint that demoralizes your opponent. If successful your opponent loses their DEX bonus to AC for your next attack and is shaken as per normal demoralizing rules.
Likely this has already been discussed but I've had trouble finding the proper thread for it.
In playing Dragon Age: Inquisition I was reminded of one of the things I really liked from D&D 4 - that magic users could buy a staff/rod/wand to channel their energies and make distance attacks with every round. Magic users in Dragon Age have a similar ability.
Has anyone tried to adapt this idea to Pathfinder? On the plus side, it gives magic users something to do when they run out of spells (something that's very easy to do at low levels) but I worry it would invalidate the existence of some spells and ruin game balance.
Could it be incorporated in Pathfinder? Obviously there would be an attack check (touch attack or standard?) and a range but would you limit it? Number of times per day? Ammunition before it needs to be recharged?
I'd like the wisdom of some of the more experienced Pathfinder players here, please.
I've been fortunate enough to get a real life tabletop going (in addition to my online tabletop). I've set them both in a homebrew fantasy setting I cobbled together called Krystallos. Some of it is completely original. Other bits I've borrowed from other fantasy settings - I don't quite have the time to worldbuild that I did in my youth. :)
That doesn't mean I don't want to worldbuild, though. With both groups, I've found that the world has grown and gotten better thanks to my players. So, I've decided to run one more campaign in Krystallos via play by post.
In other words, I'm hoping you'll help me further develop Krystallos.
I'll be adapting the Half-Dead City (and possibly other modules) from the Mummy's Mask. I'm looking for five players.
I've set up a wiki with information on Krystallos. Most of what you'll want to know is in the "Setting" section but there's some information in the other sections worth perusing as well.
Chargen Rules:
Here are the basics of chargen:
Level 1 characters.
No evil characters, please. I prefer my adventurers to at least be a little heroic.
Attributes will be rolled using either via Standard method (4d6, drop the lowest die, 6 times) or the Dice Pool method (divide 24d6 between your attributes, minimum of 3d6 in each ability, roll each, keep the highest three).
The base races of Krystallos are: Humans (in multiple varieties), dwarves, elves, halflings, gnomes, kobolds, illithid, darfellan and rogue modron. I'm willing to discuss other races. There's a hidden Fetchling colony, for example, in this world.
I'm open to classes as detailed in the Classes section of the Krystallos wiki. I will consider third party classes on a case by case basis (and I need access to the class either via SRD or owning the book).
Hit points are maximum + Con as per the rules.
Starting gold will be rolled as standard for the characters.
Two traits are allowed plus one if you take a drawback.
You start with two languages: Amethystish (common) and the language of your region. You get one additional language for each +1 of INT modifier you have as well as one additional language if you have a rank of 1 in Linguistics. Languages are based on region, not race.
I'm looking to develop Krystallos with your help so I'm happy to discuss and help you develop your background but I do want strong ones for each character. There's a lot that doesn't have much detail yet so there's a great chance here.
Krystallos Trivia:
Here's some trivia about Krystallos. It doesn't say everything about the world but, hopefully, gives you some ideas. If you're going to join this campaign, I highly recommend looking over the Krystallos wiki.
Krystallos doesn't have gods. Instead, it has Totems physically present in the form of huge, gemstone statues.
Ley lines radiate out from the Totems. These ley lines power Krystallos' existence. At various intervals, stone monuments have been built on the ley lines to help maintain their health. These monuments are looked after by druids who have learned to draw power directly from the ley lines.
A hundred years ago, the slave-armies of Tiamat and her god-generals invaded Krystallos through portals located in the Depths under the Kingdom of Obsidian. The Great Invasion lasted ten years until, finally, Tiamat's slave-armies were pushed back through the portals. An adventuring group collapsed the portals, trapping the slave-armies outside Krystallos.
Arcane magic is a relatively new thing in Krystallos. While divine magic existed and some creatures had spell-like abilities, arcane magic was unknown until the secrets of it were stolen from Tiamat's slave-armies.
Gemstones are very common in Krystallos. There are two different classifications: there are what we consider gemstones, perfect little things that can be cut into beautiful and valuable shapes and larger outcroppings of gemstone crystals that can be cut and used as structural elements for building and crafting.
Citrine Grand Sultanate:
The adventure will be taking place in the Citrine Grand Sultanate, located in the Citrine Wastes.
The Grand Sultanate consists of several cities and a number of nomadic tribes. It was founded just 75 years ago.
Ages before, the area was ruled by the Citrine Kingdom which was led by Pharaohs. The Kingdom's downfall came when, exhausted from multiple wars, it was conquered from within. False Pharaohs ruled until the collapse of the conquering empire.
The game will start in the city of Shibbati which, much like Wati in the original Half-Dead City, consists of two parts: the new city and the walled off, original city.
The primary residents of the Grand Sultanate are kobolds. In Krystallos, kobolds are clever engineers, intelligent scholars and known for being generous and friendly to strangers. Their culture holds many similarities to classical Persian culture.
Other races live there as well. Most came to live in the region during the years of rule by the false Pharaohs but they are fairly integrated by this point in time.
I'm thinking I'll close applications on the 22nd, assuming I get enough people. I'm not sure how interested people will be in a homebrew setting like this. I'm hoping I get some creative, dedicated players to help me out, though.
My wife and I live near Pawling, close to the Dutchess/Putnam county border. We currently have a small 3.5 game going but the majority of the players are college students and I'm worried the game might collapse down the road.
So, we're looking to connect with other gamers in the area with the hope of possibly putting together a solid group down the road.
Hello! I've got a fair amount of gaming experience. I've played and run 3.5 games. But I'm new to both Pathfinder and the campaign setting. I was hoping a DM out there might like to run a campaign to introduce myself (and perhaps a few others) to Pathfinder and the world of Golarion. I'm sure a good campaign for jumping into the game and setting will come along here but, to be honest, the sheer number of people who jump into each thread can be intimidating. So, I thought I'd try my luck just asking outright. :)
I'm using the Beginner Box to introduce my kids to gaming. My son is 10 and my daughter is 6. He's playing a rogue. My wife is stepping in to play a fighter and provide support. My daughter probably isn't ready to play a full character so I was thinking she could be their special pixie friend and help fill in the two biggest holes in the party: lack of healing and lack of ranged attacks.
This is my first time running Pathfinder, too. So, does anyone have any ideas on how to build a Beginner Box friendly pixie with healing and long distance attack abilities for a six year old girl?
