Franz Lunzer's page

Well, I just checked my August Society order (#37021454) and am experiencing the same issue as Eledriel is:

Order Total of $14.37
Payment of $15.81

On the bank-statements its $15.81 = €16.00 (+ €0.16 exchange costs)

This is also on my July Society sub (#36980264), but not on my July extra order (#36700175). My June Society sub (#36948440), May (#36920582), April (#36876110), March and Febuary Society subs all show the same signs, only the January one (#36776658) is listed a bit different, with a line "Estimated Sales Tax" added in.

I hope Paizo can find those additionally charged taxes for purely digital (international?) orders automatically and refund all affected customers without every one of us having to come in here on our own.

I don't order physically any more, so I can't tell if Zaister is the only one affected.

Hello Mr. Bauman,

Sorry, that was actually the wrong ticket ID, that was the cancellation where I did get a confirmation, although not in reference to the ID.

The right ticket ID regarding the VAT / IOSS situation was 152488. (We can take this to PM or email, if you want)

Regarding your solution and reaching out to customers:
I get that even for you it might be hard to find out, who is affected and who isn't.
Still, it'd be great to see you informing your customers that they might be affected and to collect those receipts and not throw them away (like I did).

I feel a little screwed over by Paizo right now.

I get that you didn't do this to your customers on purpose. I know that changing the way you do business because of changing circumstances isn't easy, and sometimes you make mistakes, and your promise to reimburse not only the VAT collected, but also the fees your customers had to pay in addition is reassuring that you did not in fact want to screw your customers.

It's just that, I saw this promise more by accident than being informed by you directly. I didn't collect my receipts from the local customs office. Will I now get any reimbursement at all? Just getting the VAT charged by you would be enough for me.

I know that we are living in ... interesting times. I know that you doing business in these times is hard on various fronts, internally and externally, with suppliers and customers, that all have their own problems.
I see that you want to treat us customers right and want to have lasting relationships with us.
That is the Paizo I know and care about.
That and your fantastic Pathfinder second ruleset and wonderful Lost Omens setting is the reason I still buy your books, albeit more digitally than ever before.

I really hope you can sort out those CS Issues you seem to have right now.

Take care,
Franz

(I'm glad I saved my reply before hitting that [Submit Post] button. Damn server goblins)

If Paizo has already assessed and collected VAT for orders from Europe, we will reimburse any fees assessed by your local customs office due to this issue. We will also continue to reimburse such fees until this issue is resolved. This reimbursement will be in the form of store credit added to your Paizo account. To receive this reimbursement, please send an email to customer.service@paizo.com with a copy of your receipt(s) from your local customs office and their associated order number(s).

Thank you Mr. Bauman, and Paizo for this. Too bad I did not keep a copy of those receipts.

I too did reach out to Paizo and never got more than an automated response [157212 ticked ID].

Could you please also send out an email to all likely affected EU subscribers so they too know about this solution? I suspect that most (like me) don't regularly check in on the boards all to often.

... by the power of this new FAQ, one purchase'll do it.

corrected the url in the link, hope it helps

I just hope my new $199 sunglasses arrive soon.

As I was saying, maybe in the Dragon Empires such a 'dragon buddy' AP makes more sense. I'm not that trained in Tian Xia lore.

WotR: I haven't made it that far in the game, a small bug is grinding my progress to a halt right now. Maybe a spoiler there?

Franz Lunzer wrote:

Well, yes. But also: dragons in Golarion aren't known to be domesticated.

So I don't know if the dragon nurturing concept is something Paizo would want to tackle.

Domesticated is possibly the wrong word here, I'm envisioning more of a mutual bond between mount (be that a dragon or something else) and rider, such as the relationship between Laurence and Temeraire, Hiccup and Toothless or Last Shadow and Jake Sully, etc...

Sure, I used that word for a reason.

Because even in the Temeraire books, most of the other dragons aren't treated as equals. Temeraire has to fight for them to be treated better.
In Avatar, the wild 'dragons' and 'horses' have to be domesticated by bonding with them. I don't know if they are treated as buddies, or more like horses or pets. Yeah Jake treats Last Shadow well, but that's the departure from the norm, as far as I remember.

That is very different from the Golarion I know.
I don't know if Golarion has any examples of dragons being in such a relationship with a humanoid. Maybe in the Dragon Empires?
I do think the other way around is canon, with a dragon 'herding' or nuturing humanoids.

Well, yes. But also: dragons in Golarion aren't known to be domesticated.

So I don't know if the dragon nurturing concept is something Paizo would want to tackle.

I would like a document I can download ...

The PDF of the Core Rulebook is usually updated, when new printings are made, to incorporate Errata. With PF2 though, Paizo also does errata in between new printings, so it's not always up to date.

Last update to the Core Rulebook was November 2020...

I too miss the downloadable Errata documents of first edition (labled "3rd printing to 5th printing" or somesuch)

I'm glad the union is recognized now.

I do hope and expect the safety and lifelyhood of workers at Paizo is improving, but that is a process that takes time, and I'm willing to give the Paizo management some time, to work out things with the union and the workers the union represents.

In the meantime, I reinstated some of my subscriptions, and ordered some PDFs. I will keep an eye on the forums and the UPW blog, to see what the union is achieving, and if Paizo is becoming the safe and welcoming workplace I hoped it would already be.

Would anyone be interested in PDF only subscriptions if they were merely a convenience (auto billing and dropping of PDFs in Organized Play scenario style on the street date) and not a way to get the PDFs earlier?

I absolutely would be interested in that.

Charge me full price of the book and drop the PDF on street date. I don't need to remember to come and get every PDF of every product line I want. I don't have to pay for shipping to Europe. I don't have to pay VAT when the books arrive. I don't need to find space to store the books.

I don't know if Paizo is making more or less of a profit with a PDF sale. Chances are, they'd be making more.

But, as far as i gather, as soon as they offer a pure digital subscription of books they sell physical as well, they'd probably have to lower the volume of their print-runs. Which makes books more expensive.

The Post Preview does not format posts correctly. The bbcode for "list" is simply displayed as new lines, with no bullet point characters or indentations, when previewed. Even copy+pasting the minimal example code provided int he "how to format your text" of

• one
• two

Does not properly display the code during preview.

one
two

The above is just the lines "one" and "two" being written on new lines with no other text or formatting for comparison. Under Preview, they're identical. Pixel-perfect identical.

Tested on two separate computers in both Firefox, Chrome, and Microsoft Edge. No extensions installed on Edge.

I guess upon posting this, we'll see if it's a bug with the previewer or if the list functionality is broken.

I did not change a thing in your post, but it seems to work in the quote and when i copy the list below:

• one
• two

Or not. Strange

So... would this be a good time to put some orchestral "Let It Be" stuff here? Y'know... for relaxation purposes. ;)

I don't dare to click youtube links, is that Beatles or Frozen?

There is a middle ground to all this, the one I'm about to go now:

I did cancel my subscription, because I wanted to send a message the company can verify. At the same time, I will buy Paizo's products, to support the writers and editors and the company, because I love the (inclusiveness of the) setting and the rulesystem of PF2.

Additionally, I signed up to some of my favorite authors patreons.

I know it's not the perfect solution. It might make books more expensive. It might put Paizo in a tight spot. I hope it will make them think about how they do their business, and how they treat their employees. It will be hard for me to verify any changes. But I'll keep on the lookout for official statements, and the transparency Aaron has spoken of.

...

So, in order to regain customer trust, Paizo will have to be proactive and show that it is accountable over the long haul. I don’t think there is an instant fix. Lost trust has to be re-earned. I think this will require that we be transparent in new, perhaps uncomfortable, ways. Fortunately, there are steps in place to move us in that direction already, exciting things, that we simply haven’t had time to announce yet because it is Gen Con Week. And there are even more ideas we are discussing internally to be considered and budgeted for–formal, systematic, administrative, intentional changes. The staff has given management an earful, not for the first time, and it’s going to take time to process it.
...
I understand the tactic of withholding with your dollars and your subscriptions, and you should do what you feel you need to do, but it’s the people who help us keep the lights on that every organization listens to the most. If you like playing Pathfinder and Starfinder, games with diversity and inclusion baked in, I invite you to consider being one of those people.

Aaron, thank you for your response.

I was a charter subscriber. (I was thinking about canceling because shipping to Europe was getting more expensive and I was focusing more on online play, but I did not intend to cancel my various subs until the end of the year, at the earliest, and maybe not even next year. I enjoy the setting very much, the AP's for the most part, and the ruleset for how smooth it is to play.)
Canceling my subscriptions right now is the (only) way I can make management feel my displeasure. Sure I can voice my opinion on these boards or others, but that's not as measurable in your sales charts.

I will use the money I used to set aside for Paizo to support the authors I came to appreciate.
I will buy Paizo material in the future, to vote with my wallet for stuff I want to see produced.
But until I see Paizo being proactive in making the offices and warehouses an accommodating environment, until I see Paizo being transparent, until I feel you earned my trust again, I won't be subscribing.

Hey, you fine Customer Service people!

Please cancel all my current subscriptions.

Thanks for long years of awesome customer service.
Franz

...

I'm a bit concerned that many beta testers have posted they flagged a lot of these bugs pre official launch but Owlcat never addressed them.
...

That is concerning to hear.

I had a minor bug yesterday that in a 'cutscene' there was no speech displayed on screen, I remember that in Beta that text was displayed.

Not gamebreaking, you can interpret the gestures the NPC's make to indicate the missing text, but a bug nonetheless. And hard to report, if you don't know that the text is missing.

I haven't played WotR all too much over the weekend, but during that time I didn't have any issues.

I like the story and visuals so far, the voice acting is great.

I think OP meant consentia, to sgree upon something

I think D and H are illegal.

If J and K are illegal because of the wall touching an 'end-border' why would E and F not be illegal as well?

You can charge the price when the PDF is released, and ship as available.

Or charge the PDF price and then the difference when the physical product ships.

Wait. What did you order, when you set up the subscription?

Pathfinder Adventure Path subscription

... With your ongoing Pathfinder Adventure Path subscription, we'll send you each new Pathfinder Adventure Path volume and charge your payment method automatically as we ship each product. ...

Rulebook Subscription has a similar language

So, you pay to receive a physical book.

I believe there is a legal issue if they charge you for the PDF (that you didn't order), or charge the full price ahead of time of shipping.

Still around, for now.

With higher (international) shipping costs, playing on VTT and all that, I might drop out by the end of the year... Not sure yet.

I take it that it is using the PF1 rules (or equivlant)?

Close to PF1 rules, but also not quite. Same as Kingmaker CRPG was.

TOZ wrote:

Yeah, weird that everyone gets their PDFs under the same rules.

Equal rules, unequally applied. I’ll PM you when Taipei users start getting theres.

Not Taipei, but Austria:

Like I said, sometimes I get access early, sometimes it's later than street date.

Being a Europe-based subscriber, I don't get Old_Man_Robot. I never felt like I was a "second class customer" at Paizo.

The subscription costs the same for me as it does for any US-citizen.
The shipping&handling costs for that subscription are different, but Paizo being a US based company, that's to be expected.
Sometimes my shipments are among the first being handled, sometimes they are at the end of the line. Most of the times, if there aren't any unusual circumstances (like Gen-Con release or such), I have access to the PDF before 'street date'.

Paizo has 76 employees (as of July 2021, if my google-fu can be trusted). That's not a multinational corporation. I'm sure they are looking at ways to distribute their products as best they can within financial constrains.

I too am at a point where I look if getting my books by subscription is still the best option for me.
Buying the PDF's here and the books at my FLGS is the other option, but at the same time, it is more demanding on my time: I have to put the PDF's in my shopping cart here, once they are released. I have to go to my FLGS and pick up the books, once they have them in store.
For me that is tedious and error-prone. (I did and do own some books multiple times, because I thought I didn't buy them before, only to find out I already have them on the shelf.)

So, simply for convenience, I kept my subscriptions up for so long. Because of said convenience, Paizo isn't getting more money from me: If I had canceled my subscriptions before covid, I would have payed them for the PDF's directly, and Paizo would have got money for the books sold through distribution.
Now, with the move to digital play, I'm not sure I'm going to have much use for physical books going forward.

you can use this link on AON

I do wish it was included in the players guide to make more space for other stuff but the rest of the AP is so good i dont really care tbh

linkified

Also, is there an easy way to pull artwork from the PDFs for Foundry VTT ?

There is the PDF2Foundry module, that sets up a load of things and imports the artwork, but it usually takes some days to be updated for new AP's.

Other than that, you'd have to look at some image extraction software.

I'd say, if they don't have a sense that automatically overcomes the invisibility, or a reason to disbelieve the illusion, they shouldn't have a reason to attack that square again.
That is most likely intention behind drop dead.

I'm affected as well. $15 shipping for a $17 AP volume.

Awesome work! Thank you!

Just as a counterpoint:
I'll be getting just AP #169, and my shipping to Austria (Europe) is at $5.65, so it's not a universal problem.

Even going from 1 square = 5ft down to 1 square = 1 yard makes things really nice. That 10ft by 10ft room goes from 2x2 squares to 3x3 squares and 3yards is practically the same size as 10ft.

Additionally, converting to metric from yards can be done 1:1, as the difference is, (for a game,) negligible.

I understand that a US company likely won't start using metric for a game that most of their customers are going to play in the US, using imperial. But it'd be nice to use such imperial units that are close to metric ones, like yard and meter (1:0.91), or quart and liter (1:0,95)

Oh man. I won't have an April/May order, but June... wow.

On the positive: I'm / We are (probably) going to get a full AP in a single month!

That is positive, right? Well, I'm looking forward to it.

...and is going to start Strength of a Thousand Fists of the Ruby Phoenix (Level 11-20, 3 part AP) very soon.

...

Whoops, got my AP names crossed.

PF1 doesn't have 3 part AP's, but PF2 just finished Abomination Vault (Level 1-10, 3 part AP) and is going to start Strength of a Thousand (Level 11-20, 3 part AP) very soon.

Early in PF1 there was sort of a mini campaign with Darkmoon Valey modules, IIRC.

But, playing once a month, maybe look into Pathfinder Society Scenarios? You should be able to finish one per session. For PF1 they are available up to level 15 I think. There is less of an ongoing story though.

Pathfinder (2) Adventures (new name for the modules-line, stand-alone adventures) are usually 3 levels of play (like 1-4, or 5-8), yet there are no mini-campaigns (one Adventure leading to another).

Well, what other word would you have used to get the same impression to other readers?

Cathedral, though it's used different than the definition is, brings out a certain expectation/picture in a readers mind.

Yes, words have meaning. And sometimes they are used in a way that portraits an object/place/... differently than the words original meaning would suggest, so that others quickly gather an impression.

Even Merriam-Webster has a second definition of the noun cathedral:

something that resembles or suggests a cathedral (as in size or importance)

- a cathedral of business
- the sports cathedral

English isn't my native language, so I might not bring the point across as clear as others could

Thanks CrystalSeas and AnimatedPaper, now that makes sense.

Wait. If the books are printed in China, and are sent to the West Coast, why would the travel through the Suez? There's just the pacific ocean in between. Suez is for Ships from East-Asia/India/Australia to Europe, maybe East coast, isn't it?

Umm I'm still unsure of what I do here since I can't afford "ap books shipping at same time"

In an attempt to migitate costs, you could buy a Paizo.com Gift Certificate with the amount you'd pay for this months subscription.

I think Yqatuba didn't ask how many attempt to take the test, but how many just take a stroll over one of the remaining bridges just to have a look around inside the cathedral.

The first step for the test is crossing the pit without taking the bridge.
I now too wonder, how many just take the bridge and have a nice day on the steps leading into the cathedral.

...

And there is no way that 8 to 1 odds on the price of 4 buns translates to enough for a hotel room and arena seats.
...

You seem to have missed this line:

Well, no mercy then. The baker dumped her earnings for the day out onto the railing. “Three consecutive.”

So more than the price of 4 buns * 8.

But yeah, 8 to 1 odds seem sorta low, for such a specific bet.
Unless the Abadaran priest (and some others betting) knew that the 'underdog' is actually a worthy contender. Lei probably isn't the only one to recognize the uniform of the 'Academy of Golden Arms'.

Thanks Aaron. Babysteps.

#4-20 should be a high level scenario.

Also on Astral

In light of the International Transgender Day of Visibility, I want to bring attention to a request to bring said visibility to the Paizo boards: make the gender-field of peoples profiles more visible on the message board.

That field is already available on all profiles, and is optional. Show that fields entry next to a Profile's name on top of the post on the message board, it would be great for visibility. Keep it optional, so everyone can decide on their own, if they want to reveal their gender/pronouns.

...

That said, if this sells really well, we can probably make a case for prioritizing old fiction higher in the overall scheme of things. So buy, buy, buy, and tell your friends.
...

Sold.

...

Ron opens all four doors at once.
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Is that an ancestry feat? ;D

Would it be cheaper for you in Europe to buy a pdf version when it comes out and then but a paper copy from your local game store?

Probably true, but if you also have the legacy advantage you would lose the 15% off of other products and that gets weighed in the balance.

But man, international shipping sucks all the way around. Worse now than I have seen before.

It mostly depends on how many and which lines you are subscribed to, and how the local post office handles imports.

In my case for example,

Also: Ease of use. I can set up a sub, and don't need to manage the purchase of PDFs every month. Bonus: sometimes you get access to the PDF before street date (always has been irregular, but in the last year it didn't happen as often as before).

I suspect this thread is as true today as it was 9 years ago:

Subscriptons for PDF only

Oh, I know. I just think and hope that, with the current situation and the push to digital tabletops, this option can be re-evaluated.