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Thank you for this!

Clearly we need a subset of rules to determine height and weight along with 6 prestige classes, 20 feats, 5 spells, a new domain, and 2 monsters with the theme of height.

Anastasia,

I found these on ENWorld originally. Keep posting the videos! I love them. The music, humor (both clean and dirty), and characters are great. I rarely get to see other people's games so this adds another level of enjoyment to the videos.

I love the human mage (Orlin? I can not check his name since I'm at work and can't watch the videos). He is surprisingly funny, especially when he berates the dark elf.

For Pathfinder - the GM's version of the Realms. Post Spellplague, pre-4E.

In fact, the only thing that I can think of that'd be HARDER to fit into an established game world or campaign than a new race is probably a new ability score. As a result, you'll see us do rules for new races before you see us do new ability scores.

So I have to sit through some annoying new race before I can see the Chutzpah ability score added to the game? What the Hell, Paizo? What. The. Hell.

;p

Col. Samantha Carter (Stargate SG-1)

Probably one of most well-written female characters I've ever seen.

hear hear!

Oh God. And the stammering indecisive JRPG love interest...

True for more than just the JRPG. Most of the time, capable women are strong, confident, sexual, alluring, and EVIL. If they are good, they are purely defensive/healer characters. Deedlit (from the novels and the second anime series) and Lina Inverse are rare exceptions.

If only Troy McClure's book "Get Confident, Stupid!" were actually in print in those universes.

Mikaze for the win!

...Of course, the newer movies are worse, with Padme existing as a pretty weak character who is there primarily to turn Anakin into Vader and to die in childbirth of a broken heart. ...

I'm not the biggest fan of Star Wars, but I'm going to defend the Padme/Lei thing. Watch the movies in numerical order. Padme becomes weaker and weaker as time goes on. She breaks under the pressure and is a victim. Then her daughter comes in. Lei is what Padme was not: a strong female lead who does NOT crack.

I like the female characters who are well-rounded, like their male counterparts. They don't need to be the best at anything, but they need a dang personality.

I'm sick of the ultra-bad-ass-babes who are better at everybody in everything and they have bewbs!* They are either overly sexual OR so asexual it's a joke (based on if the writer wants to write some sensual theme or not). Or, in Japanese storytelling, the good-girl type who wont/cant do anything and just stand around with their arms across their chest like they are permanently praying.

I've fallen out of novel-reading as of late, and the novels I've recently read are very female-lacking (the Gotrek and Felix novels, where the only female character is antagonistic and spoiled.. I think that says something about the author). There are some female characters I can site from anime and manga, but I doubt people would know what I'm talking about.

Edit: and for the record, I refuse to read any novel, play any game, or watch any movie where the male lead is the ultimate bad-arse too. I'm more of a Bilbo Baggins-type of fan. Nedless to say, I have a VERY limit amount of entertainment to read/watch/play.

Wouldn't a PHB## that contained new classes/races/etc and basically a new laternate setting cause a divide in the customer base?
Group A, B, and C all play D&D.
Group A plays with the PH1
Group B plays with the PH2
group C plays with the PH3

An adventure comes out referencing races and classes in PH3. Group A and B do not have those races or classes, and their settings do not support either. A and B do not purchas the product because it is "useless" to them. You just lost 2 potential sales, and every time this comes up, if the groups are purists, you will only be able to seel to 1 of 3 customers.

Apparently White Wolf did this to themselves. They had people who played Werewolf, but then that was further divided into groups that played wolves, groups that played felines, dinosaurs, raven, etc.. TSR when they made so many setting-specific books. It's why WoTC's tries to have a lot of 'adapting setting-specific feat/race/class/power to another campaign.' It certainly kills some of the setting specific flavor, but it allows them to reach a wider audience.

If you start as a wizard and roll HP randomly, you won't live long enough to pick up a rogue level.

And a fighter who rolls a 1 for 1st level hp? How did he ever survive fighter school?

Really, we need max hp at 1st level, if not higher. It's hard enough to design adventures that dont already kill at least one PC without pulling every punch when making 1st or 2nd level games.

And as far as gaining new abilities as they multiclass, it was always wonky if you just say 'ding! I'm a mage now!' I think that's the DM's responsibility to judge what is and what is not appropriate.

AND I thought one of the key factors of 3E was that there was a lot more versatility in character than in 4E? Your first level choice was IMPORTANT and it DID matter if you were a fighter 2/rogue 2, or a rogue 2/ fighter 2. Part of the flavor of the game was what levels you take and when you take them, right?

Please don't assume that some folks' dislike of this, is just because it's 4E. Alot of people don't like 4E because of it's rules. This is a 4E rule.

No. It's a 3E rule that migrated to 4E and became a more prominant part of the system. Others named the feat that was introduced in the Miniature's Handbook, I believe, which came out before 3.5. It was then added into one of the class books. It was 3E's attempt at imitating the Taunt and aggro management of video games. 4E just added it as a more universal class ability.

Does the "Mark" know he's marked?

Yes, the enemy knows that it has been goaded/taunted/etc.. Things are aware of status effects on themselves (including being Marked) and their enemies (like an enemy being bloodied)

The whole concept feels like a video game.

There is no denying that. It's definately one of the more video game-like aspects to come from 3E.

My two local B&N have become my LGS. They're just as well supplied and know about the same amount of info on role-playing games as my LGS.. Which means that they know nothing.

I just have 10 less minutes to drive.

Welcome to the MBs. I'm like you - I enjoy 4E and play both 3.5 and 4E. I'm a fan of Paizo. And even though my group is migrating to 4E, I'm still planning on running the Pathfinder series and I already own a lot of their gaming aids.

So in essence, I may not be playing PF, Paizo is still getting my cash to invest in making it a success.

And I'm definately tempted to go back to 3E if they simplify the DM's life and higher-level play. I'm happy with most of what they've done for lower-level play already.

Last Friday my group just surpassed our "sweet spot". It was our PCs vs. 6 huge giants. THe fighter was so souped up that he had 5 attacks, and took about 4 minutes to resolve his round. On the other hand, during an extensive dungeon he gets 1 attack in a round, since all our casters usually kill the enemies within 2. Fights are either ultra-short, brutal and one-sided (PCs for the win) Or they are very very long but still one stided (PCs for the win).

Echoing what people said, but hey, it was asked:
- Rounds take too long to resolve.
- Too many boosts and mini-systems for the melee fighters to work out (this spell boosts your strength, you have a +1 flaming holy greataxe, and you have Enlarge Person so that's a +4, and you have a girldle +6, and you are in rage, and you are wielding a 2-handed weapon, sooo.. Let's figure out what your new strangth bonus will be and then add 50% more)
- Too many magical items, and 90% of them are sold for gold because other, often 'required' items are taking up the same slot.
- Too many skill rolls. THe new PF skill system fixes this, but we are still using 3.5 since the GM figures if we reduce teh skills, any skill points in those skills that are removed should be lost. So the rogue does a Hide + Move SIlently in almost every hallway, then Search + Disable Device in almost every room. For the record, in the entire run of the published campaign, there has been 3 traps.
- High level spells are complex and hard to look up. Another thread pointed out a spell that references another spell, that references yet another spell. The GM is often sitting there having to look up spell after spell.
- Dispel Magic = 10 minutes of figuring out the correct numbers. Mostly for the equipment weapon-reliant PCs. Each time we run into a behold it becomes "My spell save DC is 21.. no, wait.. 19.. Oh no.. 18. I think.. Hold on."

Unrelated comment
- Anyone with a true Neutral alignment has far more versatility when it comes to equipment (can use holy AND unholy AND axiomatic AND chaotic), and is much more safe when it comes to alignment-based spells than anyone else. If protection from good/evil/law/chaos remains, there needs to be protection from apathy so the true Neutrals need to start worring about those effects.

Re: Character Change
I faced this problem too. I find that multiclassing and prestige classes allow for a great shift in a character, which usually revitalises a person's interest in a character while the character remains relatively the same. Single-class characters (Wizard level 1 to 15, for instance) are often the ones that are ditched over time.

Of course, the character could go through some IC life-changing event to allow a change and maintain interest, but that's up to the GM and not the system.

The real question is: When Pathfinder comes out, how will they communicate to players that it is the continuation of 3E D&D? In the three groups I belong on (so 16 people) only 3 know what the OGL is, or 20, or that there are companies that make games that are similar to d20 D&D but not exactly the same and not all d20 books were made by WoTC.

I hope that Paizo is building up a strong commercial push.

BYW as a side note, I heard that Wizards is going to do a setting a year with D'n'D now. I'd be intersted to see how they market Planescape.

"We at Wizards feel that what got in the way of fun in Planescape was the Planes so we've removed them from the game, so that now you can travel the planes without actually traveling the Planes. Please enjoy."

WOTC

Now thats a truly a dead cow.

They not only changed the plans, the concept of the planes, and how they worked, but they merged Spelljammer with Planescape. Now you ride around on the Astral sea with a Astraljammer.

Edit: For the record, even though I was a super-fan of Planescape, I rarely think of the Great Wheel as being a sacred cow. Oddly, though, I think most of my players did since no matter the setting and no matter how often I said the Great Wheel does not apply to setting A, B, and C they would still think that it did. hm.

Going back to the OP and earlier posts on the thread..

My group is playing in a WoTC-made campaign (the Forgotten Realms Weave campaign). At one point we had 2 8.5x11 pages with 2 columns each of magical items. In those 4 columns, only 4 items were considered any good, and many items that might be interested were sold because the people that could use it were already wearing stat-boosting items and other 'crucial' items.

This is definately a problem.. But it -is- fun to get all that wonderful gold!.. But it's still a problem..

I've also seen a flaw where characters who are built at later levels tend to have better items that are more suited for their character than those who have been adventuring to reach the same level. They are given a set gp amount in the DMG and can cherry-pick items, while when a GM rolls for treasure randomly, the PCs may not find the items they want/need for their character. Couple that with the adventuring PCs being in towns with a lower-then-adequate gp limit for their needs, means that they will often be sub-par compared to characters made at that level.

Has anyone else seen or experienced this? Am I missing a step in the RAW?

[the usual eh...

wait!?! DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER!

IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!

And I feel fine.

Smurf

Sympathy for the OP, and apparently for McCoy. I did not read the thread so I can't make any comments about that.

But..

Never forget that a lot of people like to have things clearly defined in 'black and white' as it were. In this case, you have some people who are 3E and some who are 4E. To some of those people, a person who likes both defies the two options that they have laid out in their own head. You are not allowed to like both. You are either with them or against them. Invariably, they will see you as the enemy too. It's just the nature of being human.

I don't know if I made any sense there, but.. Well.. It's the internet.

In Russia, Smurf smurf you.

How can you smurfing say that on here. That's so smurfing smurf that I'm surprised the smurf moderators haven't smurfed you.

Don't mind me. I'm just trying to get in on the Smurf icons, provided that's still going on..

ANd of course I get Smurfette.. Shoot. Smurf Smurf Smurfysmurf

Does Ryan Dancey offer stock advice?

But the d20 system is unimportant to WoTC now that they have 4E. Why would they suddenly change the d20 OGL if they no longer use it and are no longer making products for it? The new, more strict, license relates only to the 4E system. If WoTC were to sue Paizo, it would be out of spite. I firmly believe that this will not happen.

Edit: Also, there are other companies that have printed the two big no-no's: XP and Ability Score Creation. They just say "uses the rules for the d20-fantasy game" or something along those lines. They even print the OGL in the back of the book. Check out the World of Warcraft RPG, for instance.

Since I don't know the Paizo "Who's Who" I have no idea who I talked to. All I know is that I spent most of my moola on Paizo stuff by far, and if the GameMastery little red book was on sale there, I would have spent even more. In fact, I should have purchased a little more...

Damn you, Paizo for supplying good products and taking my money.

Wheaton was there, and I missed him? Damn.

2nd edition... I almost never got to play, but I GMed it a LOT. I remember that I could whip up an adventure in 15 mins to an hour, depending on the level of complexity. NPCs were generally a breeze. It was a DM's friend, usually. Too bad my players were not easier to deal with. What I really liked were the settings of 2nd edition. Settings like Planescape, Ravenloft, Birthright, Dark Sun, Spelljammer, and the continuation of old settings like the Realms, Grayhawk, and Mystara. I really miss the settings.

Yet, I still feel that 3.5 is better. Way better. Of course, I am tempted to take a look at Hackmaster, since it claims to be the 3rd edition of D&D using the previous edition's rules. Is it possible to play the game without delving into the level of humor that the game claims to have?

My interpritation would be that there is no stacking effect at all. It's just like drowning but without the water.

I used this ruling when I pit my PCs against four of these cadavers.

So, I learned the hard way that their listed CR is definately off. What IS their CR supposed to be?

Giff are only silly if you play up their uniforms, names and odd British accents. In my old AD&D campaign one of the high level wizards had four giff bodyguards. I ran them the same way bodyguards for rappers and rock stars tend to act--aloof, pushy, arrogant and all so willing to pummel somebody.

Seconded for truth. I think that a lot of "silly" elements from older games are a matter of perception. Any race could probably be interpreted as either silly or serious. Settings work that way too.

The Giff, neogi, and Arcane (aka Mercane) were the three best things that came from SJ, IMO, and I now have them for 3.5. I am a happy kobold.

Personally, I loved this issue and the articles that convert old information in previous issues. Would it be possible to see these articles in another Dragon collected volume? I can dream, can't I?

Ok, just a short one....

If I give you experience points enough to level up at the end of the session, FOR THE LOVE OF HEXTOR level up your F*$cking character BEFORE the next session. I, and the other players don't want to wait 45 minutes for you to decide if you want to select sleep or fear as your bonus spell this level...WE WANT TO PLAY!!!!

oooh, this one is very true. I also feel the same way about shopping for your character.

I hate making high-level NPCs in 3.X. They take so long to make, and are around for only 3 to 5 rounds normally.

I hate trying to keep up with every D&D book that comes out. My players read the books for the feats and spells, and memorize choice selections to aid there character. I need to look at monsters, setting info, races, PrCs, NPCs, et al. I don't have the time to memorize the minor things that the players can, and thus my NPCs may not be up to par with the PCs.

I hate that I feel bad when I restrict books for the players to use, even though I know I have every right to.

I hate that when I am GMing, I forget so many of the basic rules that I normally remember.

I hate that I have never had a character reach a level beyond 9th since I started playing 2ed, and even then, it was only 1 PC. I hate how every campaign I've played in has major restrictions on characters, especially when it comes to magic. For instance, no divine casters, or no arcane casters, or humans-only, or all three of the above. I hate that I am the only GM that uses traps or locks. I hate that other GMs do not declare that they will NOT use traps or locks, so when I (or someone else) plays a rogue and places many skill points in Disable Device or Open Locks, they are totally wasted. I hate that I have only been a PC in three campaigns that reached a conclusion, rather than the GM dropping the campaign. And of those three campaigns, the highest level I reached was 9, and the lowest level I reached was 4.

I hate how I spend several days preparing adventures and few other GMs I play with do this. I hate that most GMs I play with do not read the adventures before they begin to run it when they are using the published adventures.

I LOVE having a kobold as my avatar. :D

Personally, I like the tiefling design - horns and all. What's with her sword, though? What kind of blade is that?

but I thought tieflings were only supposed to have one or two *minor* features to hint at their fiendish bloodline. This chick has a strange tint to her skin, spots, a tail, and these HUGE FRICKIN' HORNS! Seems more like she should be a half-fiend, or as I said, a half-dragon. (Yes, I know half-fiends are supposed to have wings) Just my take on the matter.

When tieflings first appeared in 2ed (at least, that’s when I became aware of them) all their images had traits that were clearly not minor. Goat legs, tail, weird skin color, etc... Compare the iconic tiefling to the half-fiend in the MM, and the tiefling's traits are definitely minor when compared to the half-fiend image.