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I and my fellow gamers enjoyed the compilation of the Monster Ecologies column. Is there any chance that the 'Class Acts' columns from Dragon will be reprinted as a separate compilation? Or that they might be placed into a PDF file and then sold to whomever wants it?
the game is about having power balanced between the various players, right? the fighter lives by his/her muscles and the various athletic/combat feats available to him/her, the rogue survives through her/his wits and thus needs a lot of skill points to acquire high levels in various skills, the cleric achieves victory through force of will and the power of the deity, while the wizard bends reality to her/his will through pure strength of mind (intelligence) or through pure strength of personality (charisma) I am happy that 3rd edition (and 3.5 edition) permits almost anyone to multiclass because I think this option permits players a full range of options with which to customize their characters: whenever I create a new character, I usually think about the primary class for the character as well as at least one secondary class for the character. In the case of a sorcerer, I will either consider a rogue or a cleric for the other class. That is, I will start as a rogue or a cleric, advance a couple of levels in that class and then, suddenly, 'discover' my sorcerous powers. In this manner, the multiclassed sorcerer gains extra abilities to enhance survival. I am very tempted to do a sorcerer / favored soul / mystic theurge combo.
consider placing this weapon in the treasure: +1 alchemical silver light mace, with the attributes of ghost touch and holy; the alchemical silver will be great against Kyuss worms and werewolves;
I will try Pathfinder for a few months. If it fulfills my gaming needs, then I will continue my subscription; if not, then I will cancel it. I am puzzled as to why "suddenly" a "new" campaign world is needed, especially since Eberron was supposed to be the hot, new campaign setting. Kara-Tur was once trumpeted as the hot, new world, then it was Krynn, then it was Athas (Dark Sun), Spelljammer was the means to tie the various campaign worlds together, yet the old standards of Greyhawk and the Realms continue to exist. Will Varisia have the same longevity as Greyhawk and the Realms? Or will it shrivel up and vanish into the ether just as Harn and the "DragonQuest" world did?
If D&D is in the process of being vaporised by Paizo, Wizards and Hasbro, then these companies are about to lose a customer. I never saw much purpose in Magic: The Gathering with the marketing induced restrictions on which cards were "common", "uncommon" and "rare". Miniature play is fine when used in conjunction role-playing games, otherwise you are just playing a version of a version of the Siege of Borodin wargame, or even a very weird game of chess. The alternate realities of the D&D game were actually soothing to me; giving me a opportunity to lay my day-to-day ultra-Vulcan Borg personality aside in favor of something far more human. By Van Neumann, Turing and Dijkstra!
My disappointment with Paizo, Wizards and Hasbro began when Code Monkey Publishing lost its license to continue the development of e-Tools and to issue downloadable digital versions of the various rules supplements. While I have learned how to 'fat finger' new spells, new magic items and other things into the 'House Rules' section of e-Tools, several of my less technical adept gaming companions seem lost without the ability to download the digital versions of the rules supplements. Also, my capacity for purchasing a new set of books after each "new" edition premieres is slowly coming to an end: I bought nearly all of the Second Edition rules supplements to more fully enjoy the game. When the Third Edition was announced, I thought "finally, all the spells and other what not in one book!"; I now have the rules supplements for both 3rd edition and 3.5 edition. I am approaching the age of 60 and I would prefer that my personal library in my senior years consist of something other than D&D books that have been made obsolete by an endless procession of new editions.
Try this idea: a real world version of Waterdeep's 'Yawning Portal Inn'. A restaurant with a medieval atmosphere, complete with meals served on trencher style slabs of bread and cow horn style goblets. Gamers who wish a private place to play may descend into 'Undermountain' (upstairs area) via the Yawning Portal elevator.
my last geek moment? for me, this must be my last non-geek moment and that was in December 1976...... in 1977, I jumped head first into a memory core dump and ever since I have been a COBOL Cowboy, a Fortran Freak, a PL/I Playboy, a Hewlett Packard 3000 Heirophant and similar things; I can out-Spock Spock and I am more Borg than the Borg (I eagerly embraced assimilation, there was no resistance); White is the color of my hat
Favorite animal? the housecat....somewhat lazy, always ready to eat and very capable of biting your hand off if your ruffle the fur the wrong way Favorite color? blue....the color of the sky on a clear, sunny day when Nature is restful and peaceful White room? time to close my eyes and dream
where am I at? Springfield, Illinois: 200 or so miles south-southwest of Chicago, Illinois and 100 miles or so northeast of Saint Louis, Missouri; we relentlessly proclaim ourselves as a) the site of the only house that Abraham Lincoln ever owned, b) the place where Abraham Lincoln is buried, c) the site of the One and Only Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (despite the incessant hype, it is a nice place to visit), d) the Chilli Capital, e) the Home of the Horseshoe Sandwich (a 4,000 calorie open-faced sandwich that is smothered in cheese)
I always thought that the Deep Space Nine concept was a good one: where the main characters stay in one spot and deal with each new visiting ship. I have severe reservations about any series that involve the Kzinti: you will be mixing elements from Niven's Tales of Known Space and from the Star Fleet Battles (SFB) wargame with the classic Roddenberry vision of the future, and the result may well be an unwieldy mess. If you want to do an entire series based around the SFB General War featuring the Andromedan Invasion, then it would make sense to introduce the Kzinti, the Klingons, the Lyrans, the Tholians, the Gorns, the Federation, the Romulans, the Interstellar Concordium and other star faring civilizations as they band together (or not) to combat a common foe, with a multitude of weapons and tactics in play.
There is a small problem with a Feat Compendium: at which point does WotC begin the compilation of such a tome? With each new rules supplement (Cityscape, Dungeonscape, Complete Mage, Complete Scoundrel and so on), the Spell Compendium has become a little more out-of-date. There are spells that my favored soul PC uses that come from the Players Handbook II, which are not in the Spell Compendium. The best solution that I have seen so far, is the on-line list of feats, spells and prestige classes that is maintained on the WotC web site. Granted, there are times when you want the permanency and solidity of a book in your hands but when it comes to keeping things updated, that on-line list is hard to beat.
As someone who currently has a 15th level favored soul of Waukeen in a Realms' based Age of Worms campaign, I find that I have an overabundance of spells from which to choose. There are the spells from the PHB, PHB 2, Spell Compendium, and the various Realms source books. But I can know only six (6) first level spells, six (6) second level spells, six (6) third level spells and so on. Due to my enhanced Charisma score of 22, I have bonus daily spell slots with which to cast my small selection of spells many times over. I do not feel that my character is stunted by a limited assortment of spells; as for the lack of domain spells, so what? My innate energy resistances are always in force and soon I will have a permanent set of wings.
not to steal any of your thunder, and you can definitely keep the hurricane force winds (two category F2 tornadoes ripped through Springfield, Illinois in March 2006) but we had an ice storm on November 30 and December 1 and some folks in central Illinois are still without power; I have a fair idea of what you are going through and I will be patient; I have seen the stories on National Geographic and the Weather Channel about Mount Rainier's potential for trouble as well as that Cascadia Rift subduction zone along your Pacific Coast; whether that is worse (or better) than the New Madrid fault, I will leave for the geologists to argue about on a lighter note, the Chicago Cubs fans continue to tell the St Louis Cardinals fans to simply wait until next year when the Cubs will definitely win the World Series
after White Gold Wielder came out, I had assumed that the saga of Thomas Covenant had come to an end; being the guardian for the Arch of Time does tend to imply a certain end to the saga
if anyone sees the symbol of Vecna, it seems that you should substitute the symbol of Myrkul (although I would prefer to use Velsharoon and really stir the plot pot)
Also, why does an AP have to go from levels 1-20? It sounds awesome in theory, but I don't think many gaming groups that start an AP from the first adventure actually make it all the way to the twelfth. ....spoken with someone whose group made it all the way through any of them. People lose interest. My gaming group, focusing on the Realms, consists of 5 to 6 guys (ages 30 to 54), who meet once a week on a Saturday afternoon; we have completed SCAP; we are currently slugging our way through AoW with 14th to 15th levels PCs and we are contemplating STAP in the near future; my nom de plume was a single class human warrior in STAP who finished the path as a 20th level PC; in AoW, I play a 15th level human Favored Soul of Waukeen who is becoming well known for his use of the Bolt of Glory spell (Spell Compendium); in STAP, I am planning on a water genasi cleric of Deep Sashelas though I am not happy the Realms version of STAP borders on a yuan-ti area or that Talona and Savras are the dominant temples in the area....
I have always enjoyed those articles in which Volo has praised the "tourist" attractions of one locale or another, but with an acerbic comment from Elminster detailing some of the dangers that Volo has glossed over (these articles I will photocopy and refer to for local knowledge tidbits); if Wizards of the Coast, Ed Greenwood and Paizo wished to collaborate on a compilation of past articles of this type, I would be willing to purchase such a thing.....there was one such effort in which Volo listed the wise sayings of various people with Elminster contributing his own comments on the wisdom given.
actually, I received my copy on Friday, December 15, 2006 at my central Illinois home; it may just be the usual USA Christmas time shipping crunch
The old, decrepit hacker in me (aged COBOL Cowboy and Fortran Freak) loves so-called planetarium music and similar sounding New Age instrumentals. Jonn Serrie, Enya, Arkenstone along with Wagner (Ride of the Valkyries) and the Toreador Song.
unfortunately, music is verboten at our gaming table, as it simply adds to the background chatter (and, boy, do the players chatter during the gaming session!)
I have two (2) of these books on pre-order; I intend them to give to the two DMs in our adventuring group. If they like them, I will buy more.
sorry, I finally reread the FRCS segment on the Chult Peninsula and it does note the presence of the Temple of Talona in the area. when our group finally shifts over to STAP after finishing AoW (and possibly while concurrently playing a Mysteries of the Moonsea campaign), I am thinking of playing a water genasi cleric of Deep Sashelas with an air genasi cleric of Akadi as a backup. as the intrepid Indiana Jones once said, "I hate snakes!"
Our adventuring group had a total of six (6) players in the SCAP: one rogue/sorcerer, one straight fighter, one cleric and a motley bunch of multiclass wizard/warriors. Looking back, having the straight fighter multiclassed as a cleric would have helped. We literally drank the city dry of cure light wound and cure moderate wound potions, the straight fighter (whose name I use as my nom de plume) figured out very early on that his chances of survival were enhanced when he kept the cleric character well supplied with cure moderate wound wands. In short, buy every cure wounds potion you can, buy / craft every cure wounds wand you can, know when to retreat, know when 'a bridge too far' situation is about to happen and you should survive.
has the player considered the spirit shaman from Complete Divine?
a cleric with no domain spells? try looking at the Favored Soul in "Complete Divine"; this is essentially a divine spellcasting version of the sorcerer: limited number of spells per level, increased spell slots per level, no undead turning, but with energy resistances at regular levels.....
see my post under the Forgotten Realms Conversion Notes.... essentially, I decided that St. Worgul was a dwarf elevated to demigod status by whichever dwarven god has trade and commerce in its portfolio; I simply treated the shrine to St. Worgul as a shrine to that dwarven deity;
'..The Church of Tempus replaces the Church of Kord.
However, the two "prominent faiths" in Tashluta (Sasserine) are Savras and Talona, as discussed in the write-up of Tashluta in Serpent Kingdoms. In effect, the Church of Tempus does not play the same role in Tashluta as the Church of Kord does in Sasserine. It is replaced by the Church of Talona. Is that clearer?......' I had not anticipated that the Savage Tide Adventure Path would be mired in the Serpent Kingdoms where the snake-heads (aka yuan-ti) might be the "good guys". In fact, I had proposed the following deity conversion to my DM: in Shadowshore, Brandobaris for Charmalane, Vergadain for St. Worgul, Talona for Koruth, Mask for Olidammara; in Azure, Valkur for Osprem, Umberlee for Procan, Akadi (for reasons of my own) for Xerbo; in Cudgel, Hoar for St. Cuthbert, Torm for Kord, Moradin for Fortubo; in Champion, Torm for Kord, Hoar for St. Cuthbert, Kelemvor for Wee Jas, Tymora for Norebo, Nobanion for Llerg, Red Knight for Kelanen; in Sunrise, Lathander for Pelor, Jegal for Istus, Tyr for Heironeous, Ilmater for Mayaheine, Rillifane Rallathil for Rao (I chose an elven deity for a ward that is ruled by an elven family); in Merchant, Shaundakul for Fharlanghn, Waukeen for Zilchius, Selune for Celestian, Istishia for Geshti (Eldath as an alternate), Lliira for Trithereon, Beshaba for Ralishaz, Gond for Bleredd, Helm for Dalt; in Noble, Kelemvor for Wee Jas, Finder Wyvernspur for Liir, Deneir for Lendor (Savras as an alternate), Sune for Myrhiss, Milil for Lydia, Azuth for Boccob. I had based my choices on the portfolios associated with each of the deities and I tried to choose what would fit best. Our Lady of Poison as the dominant deity, eh? The real power behind that church rules from the shadows, as is only fitting for the Lord of the Shadows.
If the person with the Smoking Eye template dies somewhere other than on the demiplane of Occipitus, then his spirit and his body will reform on the demiplane of Occipitus without suffering any CON point loss. If the person with the Smoking Eye template dies on the demiplane of Occipitus, then that person is dead since Occipitus is now that person's home plane.
While I do not doubt that there will eventually be a 4th edition of D&D, I hope that that event does not happen for another six or seven years, at least. When 3rd edition appeared, I bought every new source book offered for 3rd edition. When edition 3.5 came out, I continued to buy every new book that was compatible with 3.5. (My DMs are the primary beneficiaries of my shopping lust.) With each new source book, I am stunned by a new list of character classes, feats and spells to consider. More than anything else, what I could use right now is a Complete Feat Compendium, as well as a Complete Character Class Compendium. These two new compendia do not need to published as (shudder) conventional books: keeping them as downloadable (for a fee, say $10 per download) PDF files would be fine (assuming that the Paizo staff does the editing of the files). This way, I would be able to simply visit Paizo on a monthly basis and see if I needed to download a new set of compendia.
For what it is worth, my DM plopped the SCAP on the western edge of the Lake of Steam primarily because Cauldron is set in a dormat volcanic caldera and the Lake of Steam is an volcanic region. We finished the SCAP about four months ago and we are now in the Age of Worms. My handle is the name of the character that I played in the SCAP.
One of the planetouched, possibly an air genasi or a water genasi. The arrogance of these beings fits in with the arrogance that I have acquired over the years in mainframe software development. I would probably be a sorcerer armed with cone of cold and lightning bolt spells. If I had a Ring of Sustenance, then I would never need to leave my PC. Of course, after 28 years in the software development field, I am beginning to feel like a lich.
My group of six (6) players consists of the following characters: a dwarven ranger, a dwarven fighter/rogue, a dwarven cleric, a dwarven fighter/wizard, an sun elf warmage and my character, a human favored soul. We are using the Forgotten Realms setting, we are currently around 5th level and we have just completed the Dire Stone mine portion. An interesting party dynamic is shapeing up in that the dwarven cleric character apparently thinks that my favored soul of Waukeen is luring the dwarven faithful away from proper veneration of the dwarven pantheon. Now can I help it if the favored soul has have more cure spells available than the dwarven cleric? |
