Gailbraithe's page

Hasbro is releasing a new version of Monopoly. The whole game is controlled by a computer to prevent cheating. It even rolls the dice for you.

I don't even have the heart to actually do this. It's just too easy.

"HASBRO premiers new features for Dungeons & Dragon 5E in new release of Monopoly."

Hah hah. ::sigh::

Here's something that I've always hated about D&D, and thus by proxy continue to hate about Pathfinder.

You know how in movies there's sometimes a guy who gets stabbed or shot and then lies there dying until the main character can get to him, and then he says something monumentally important to the plot and croaks?

You can't do that RAW in any version of D&D or in Pathfinder. In Basic and Advanced 1E you were either 100% alive or you were 100% dead. I think 2E introduced the -10 as an optional rule, and then 3E solidified it.

By 3.5/Pathfinder you are either 100% alive, disabled, dying or dead. But talking is a free action, so you do that all you want when you're disabled, and you can't do it at all when you're dying - because you're also unconscious.

Of course, you can totally handwave it and do it anyways, but sometimes that bites you in the behind.

Say you have an NPC general you want to die for the story after he gives command of his army to the players to fight the BBEG's army, your whole plan can be unraveled by one player with a cure light wounds handy. Not exactly hard to come by. This really sucks if his last words were, oh, let's say: "I am done for. You must lead my army into battle against the BBEG's forces now. Only you can do it. Gasp. Argh. I have faith in you. Grunt. Do not fail me! x.x"

And then the stupid cleric goes "Dear lord, please do not let this important plot point occur. Amen." and the general opens his eyes and says "Oh, I'm suddenly conscious and in no mortal danger! Huzzah! I'll take my army back now, thank you."

And yes, that is a true story (more or less) from a 2E campaign I ran.

But I just had an epiphany. Mortal wounds! I know how to model them! Just like diseases! Except you "catch" them by being reduced to disabled or dying by a critical hit.

Here's some examples of what I'm thinking:

Sucking Chest Wound
Type mortal wound; Save Fortitude DC 23
Onset immediate; Frequency 1/round
Effect 1d3 Con damage; Cure 2 saves

Gutshot
Type mortal wound; Save Fortitude DC 18
Onset immediate; Frequency 1/hour
Effect 1d2 Con damage; Cure 1 save

Head Trauma
Type debilitating injury; Save Fortitude DC 15
Onset immediate; Frequency 1/day
Effect 1d2 Int damage; Cure 4 saves

Thoughts?

Like I said: "I know that you'd never respect my right to be angry at the way you're treating me, and won't bother to defend yourselves from what I'm accusing you of when you can just censor me and move on."

Paizo won't discuss their moderation. It's lump it or leave it.

You people have no actual respect for your users. If you did, we could have a real conversation between equals. But that won't ever happen.

Let's help paizo figure out what we, the players, want from the game. Please fill in the five empty slots below. Select from the list below, which covers most of the realistic possibilities for upcoming releases. Please only quote the section between the lines in your reply.

----DO NOT QUOTE ABOVE THIS LINE----
This should be the upcoming release schedule for Pathfinder RPG:
1. Ultimate Combat
2. Bestiary 3
3. Advanced Race Guide
4. ?
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
----DO NOT QUOTE PAST THIS LINE----

For ease of quoting, here's a list of the likely candidates for upcoming releases (titles are speculative, see spoiler for explanation of titles):
Bestiary 4
Bestiary 5
Bestiary 6
Gamemastery Guide 2
Immortal's Guide
Mythic Heroes
Pathfinder Alternative Rules
Ultimate Adventure
Ultimate Magic 2
Ultimate Psionics
Other

Some rules for this poll thread to keep things sane and useful to the paizoans:
1. Please read under the spoiler below before voting so that you know what you are voting for.
2. Do not include commentary on what you would like the book to include specifically (the time for that will be when paizo announces upcoming releases, when we'll start seeing "Wish List" threads).
3. Do not respond to other user's votes. This is a poll, it is not a discussion thread. If you agree with a user's votes 100%, you should favorite their post - however do not post your own list if you favorite an existing post. That would be like voting twice.
4. Try not to abuse the Other category. The Other category is for ideas that are truly not represented below, not for ideas that are basically like one of the items listed below but subtly different. I intentionally kept the descriptions broad and vague since the ultimate decision on content is up to paizo.
5. The titles given are placeholders, a vote for a book is not a vote for a book under that specific title.
6. If you are confused by these instructions, see the next post for an example of what your response should look like. The better we all are at following these instructions, the easier this poll will be to tabulate, and thus the more useful it will be for paizo as a planning tool.
7. Do not vote twice. This ain't Chicago.

Hey Vic, Gary, whoever handles this stuff:

First of all, just so you know what I'm going on about, I'm talking about this page, which I get to by clicking the PATHFINDER logo over there <--- right under the paizo logo, and then clicking on the "Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Compatible Products" link.

Now, maybe I'm just being nitpicky and overly concerned about semantics, but I think that link should only show third party publishers, and not paizo's own products. Because Paizo's Pathfinder books aren't compatible with Pathfinder, they are Pathfinder. A thing can't be compatible with itself; that's an irrational nonsequitor. It's all noon blue apples.

But the real reason its bugging me and I'm posting is because I can't find any page that shows all the 3PP stuff sans paizo with a Bestselling sidebar, which I really want because the bestselling 3PP stuff is a) probably of decent quality and b) more likely to be familiar to more players, and thus more likely to actually be allowed/get used/provide value after purchase. You'll notice that the Bestselling list on the Pathfinder page is the same as on the Pathfinder Compatible Products page, so its redundant and doesn't help.

Anyways, it seems to me that the Pathfinder Compatible Products page should be that page. And the page that the PATHFINDER logo over there <--- links to should be more like this page that takes you to everything paizo sells with Pathfinder on it.

It wasn't until I started poking around trying to find the Pathfinder page (as opposed to the Pathfinder RPG page) that I realized you guys are actually making a distinction between Pathfinder and Pathfinder RPG, which I personally find counter-intuitive (since most people refer to the Pathfinder RPG simply as "Pathfinder"). I know whenever I click on the PATHFINDER (RPG) logo over there I am subconsciously expecting to be taken to the Pathfinder page, and always find it a bit disorienting to not be able to reach modules, APs, companions, etc. from the Pathfinder RPG page.

Long story short, I think it'd be nice to a) have a page with a bestselling list that is just Pathfinder compatible third party publishers, and if b) the Pathfinder link over there took you to something that combined the best of the Pathfinder and Pathfinder RPG pages, maybe ditch the randomized image and add the box with links to the faq, forums, etc.

Maybe change the name of the Pathfinder RPG page to the Pathfinder Core Rules & Expansions page?

Just some suggestions. Take 'em or leave 'em.

This morning I headed down to my car like I do every morning, ready to drive to work. When I climbed in my seat I noticed something was off immediately - the seat had been adjusted. I looked down at my change tray and it was empty. Someone with grubby fingers had been in my car.

Then I remember that I had left a box with all of my paints and modeling supplies in the backseat. I turned and looked and my heart broke a little bit. It was gone. Stolen. Over a thousand dollars worth of paint. No resale value, no reason to steal it, but stolen all the same. I just about cried. I can't even think about replacing the hundreds of bottles of paint I lost, let alone the fifty or so brushes, the coils of green and brown stuff, the diamond files and jeweler's saw. I just don't have the money right now.

After work I went down to my FLGS, Gary's Games in Greenwood (Seattle) to pick up some paizo stuff. Knowing he'd feel my pain, I told Tim (the manager) about the theft while he rang me up. And of course he's like "That's awful." All I was looking for, a little commiseration.

Then he tells me that his plan for the weekend was to take down the old display of Reaper Pro Paints that takes up too much wallspace for a mostly discontinued line, and that he was going to get rid of the smattering of paints that were left. And he invited me to take whatever I wanted, completely free of charge.

It was only a dozen or so pots of paint, and some pretty funky colors to boot (Gnoll Flesh? Wut?), but who cares? It was the nicest thing a game store owner has ever done for me, and it took what was shaping up to be a bad day and turned it right around.

So I'm just posting this to let you all know that if you're in the Seattle area and thinking about buying some RPG stuff, try checking out Gary's Games. They aren't just a friendly local gaming store, they're the friendliest local gaming store.

I just had an idea for a feat for monks that would help monk players achieve certain concepts of monks, specifically the fortune cookie proverb spouting wise monk who is extremely clever -- think Egg Shen in Big Trouble In Little China or The Old Man in The Golden Child (both played by the late and great Victor Wong):

Words of Wisdom (General)
You use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Charisma modifier when making Diplomacy and Bluff checks. Diplomacy and Bluff are class skills for you.

Designer Notes (i.e. this is not part of the feat):
A monk who uses words of wisdom for a Diplomacy check may not speak loudly or forcefully, but he is capable of so clearly communicating his insight while showing respect and awareness of others that they are inclined to listen to him and consider what he has to say.

A monk who uses words of wisdom for a Bluff check never actually lies, per se. He instead presents ideas and concepts in such a manner that his meaning is enigmatic and open to interpretation. Sometimes he answers questions with more questions, and yet the his interrogator is left thinking he has received an answer. Other times he quotes some ancient proverb that sounds like its relevant. While many people use a lot of words to say nothing entirely on accident, a monk using words of wisdom does it with a skill and insight that few can match.

I recently submitted a piece to the Pathfinder Fiction Contest, and was interested in joining the Pathfinder Chronicler forums and participating as a writer/editor, but I've got no response after multiple emails to Zuxius. I registered at the forums and got a confirmation email and clicked the link, so I'm registered...but I can't post and can't read anything but the General Discussion forum. It seems like every other forum is password protected, but it's impossible to even inquire about the passwords.

Does anyone know what's going on over there? Does anyone have an alternate means of reaching Zuxius other than the zuxius@pathfinderchronicler.net email address?

I want to make a Harrow themed character to justify my purchase of the Harrower miniature. I'm fishing for advice on how to do that.

I'm thinking the obvious choices for base class are Oracle, Sorceress, or Witch. One can prestige into Harrower from any of these classes, each uses Charisma as their prime requisite, and each has access to divination spells.

Because divination spells aren't very combat oriented, I was thinking the Witch, with her potentially much larger spellbook, might be the best choice. But the firepower of the Oracle and Sorceress are both tempting.

What do you recommend? And if you recommend Oracle or Sorceress, what Mystery/Bloodline would you go with?

I'm interested in joining a new or existing group for Pathfinder. I can GM, but I'm currently looking to play. A game that meets on the weekend would be best, but I can swing a weekday night. I can play any kind of role and would be happy to fill any gaps in the party.

Yesterday afternoon I got an email from my dad, who live sin California (I'm in Seattle). He's going in for a major operation, a lesion on his lung. Open lung surgery. It's apparently very risky.

My dad is such a tough guy, I didn't even bat an eye at first. But last night I suddenly remember that he's almost 70, and he's not the superman I remember from when I was a little kid anymore. And now I'm worried and fretting.

So help me out. Share a story about a loved one or family member who faced a major challenge and came out on top. It'll give me hope while I wait to find out how the surgery went.

I'm in an argument on another board with a fellow who is attaching much weight to the fact that "the Beta Ruleset is the very first Pathfinder product in print which doesn't carry the orange '3.5/OGL compatible' logo." He claims this is some sort of evidence that Paizo is nefariously plotting in smoke-filled back rooms, plotting to invalidate 3.5 D&D with PRPG.

I kind of suspect it has a far more mundane reason, and is not as he suggests an attempt by Paizo to secretly telegraph their next evil move.

Does anyone know the actual reason the 3.5 OGL compatible logo is gone from the Beta? My first assumption was "oversight," as in "Someone forgot." But then I realized maybe it was some issue stemming from the Beta's nature as a replacement for the core rules.

I'm running a Pathfinder playtest in downtown Seattle, every other Tuesday at 6pm. We usually play til 11pm. It's fairly "beer & pretzels" style gaming, with a skew towards the outright silly at times. I'm the DM, and I'm running DCC #51: Castle Whiterock. The party is about 5th level, so we got ten more level of gaming to go before we're done.

We recently lost a player to that dreaded nemesis of gaming, the schedule change, and are seeking to replace him. Possibly with a her. Anyone can play, everyone is invited to ask about playing, but the decision to allow any new players is ultimately up to the whole group, not me, so any new players will be strictly provisional. That means if you can't cope with being voted off the island, you might not be interested.

You can contact me madness237@hotmail.com for more details.

Discussion of aquatic creatures is going on in several threads. James is talking about revising the rules for aquatic creatures (and maybe aquatic adventuring?), and we're also talking about what monsters should go in the Pathfinder Bestiary.

And I was thinking that maybe the majority of the aquatic critters could be pulled out of the main bestiary and given a bestiary of their own. That would free up space for more standard adventuring beasts.

So let's pretend that we're James and crew, and were going make a Aquatic Monsters Revisited book. What creatures need to go into it?

10. Tritons

My least favorite of the non-evil aquatic races, Tritons seem to serve little purpose except to engage in the rather silly act of "riding" hippocampus. I think the Triton could use the most re-imagining. Rather than make them aquatic elf mermen with two fish tails for legs, I would make them the aquatic equivalent of humans, something closer to the Aventi from Stormwrack. Cast them in the role of Atlanteans in Marvel (and DC) comics: lawful, militant, and imperialistic. The Tritons form nations under the waves. Generally thought of as "good" by surface dwellers for their ability to keep sea lanes clear and safe, they are reviled as bigoted tyrants under the waves.

9. Sea Elves

Ditch the name "Aquatic Elves" which is weirdly scientific, and go with the alternative "Sea Elves." They're the surfers, perpetually living in the moment and following the current where it takes them, living in harmony with the sea and their allies the dolphins.

8. Lacedon

In the most treacherous reaches of the sea, there are graveyards of ships. The lacedons -- born of drowned sailors -- haunt these regions like their ghoul cousins haunt necropolis.

7. Koalinth

The tritons exact huge tributes from the sea going nations. The koalinth are the reason why. Savage and vicious, but supremely clever and well organized, the koalinth (aquatic hobgoblins) are pirates who strike from under the sea and send ships into the depths. They are kept in check primarily by the Triton armies, who scour the sea for their strongholds and destroy them.

6. Merrow

Dumb savages beasts, merrow are like sharks but meaner and dumber. Merrow follow vast circular routes, moving from feeding ground to feeding ground. Aquatic elves kill them on sight, and they avoid triton areas. They are frequently recruited by koalinth to provide muscle.

5. Merfolk

Merfolk are an obvious choice, but I'm not sure what to do with them. Something that splits the difference between the wild and carefree Sea Elves and the imperialistic Tritons. Sea farmers and city builders, they diplomacy to avoid falling under the control of the Tritons.

4. Scrag

Scrags make their home in kelp forests and sargassos, hunting in packs to take down large prey such as whales that wander to close to their hiding places. Other species avoid these dangerous waters.

3. Locathah

In the farthest reaches of the seas, locathah live as nomads, following the great schools of cod, halibut and tuna that fill the sea. But where the tritons rule, locathah are slaves, forced to perform menial labor for their triton masters.

2. Kraken

The ancient and mighty kraken control vast regions of the sea, exacting tribute from all who would live in what they know to be their seas. The kraken fills the role of dragon of the sea, ruling through fear and legend, and only occasionally rising up from their homes in the deepest trenches to remind new generations of their terrifying power.

1. Sahuagin

With the Kuo-Toa forever gone thanks to being WOTC's product identity, the Sahuagin are the perfect inheritors to the role of "Deep Ones," dwelling in the darkest pits of the sea, worshipping the kraken and things even more disturbing, and only occasionally rising up to terrorize the coasts.

Discussion of aquatic creatures is going on in several threads. James is talking about revising the rules for aquatic creatures (and maybe aquatic adventuring?), and we're also talking about what monsters should go in the Pathfinder Bestiary.

And I was thinking that maybe the majority of the aquatic critters could be pulled out of the main bestiary and given a bestiary of their own. That would free up space for more standard adventuring beasts.

So let's pretend that we're James and crew, and were going make a Aquatic Monsters Revisited book. What creatures need to go into it?

10. Tritons

My least favorite of the non-evil aquatic races, Tritons seem to serve little purpose except to engage in the rather silly act of "riding" hippocampus. I think the Triton could use the most re-imagining. Rather than make them aquatic elf mermen with two fish tails for legs, I would make them the aquatic equivalent of humans, something closer to the Aventi from Stormwrack. Cast them in the role of Atlanteans in Marvel (and DC) comics: lawful, militant, and imperialistic. The Tritons form nations under the waves. Generally thought of as "good" by surface dwellers for their ability to keep sea lanes clear and safe, they are reviled as bigoted tyrants under the waves.

9. Sea Elves

Ditch the name "Aquatic Elves" which is weirdly scientific, and go with the alternative "Sea Elves." They're the surfers, perpetually living in the moment and following the current where it takes them, living in harmony with the sea and their allies the dolphins.

8. Lacedon

In the most treacherous reaches of the sea, there are graveyards of ships. The lacedons -- born of drowned sailors -- haunt these regions like their ghoul cousins haunt necropolis.

7. Koalinth

The tritons exact huge tributes from the sea going nations. The koalinth are the reason why. Savage and vicious, but supremely clever and well organized, the koalinth (aquatic hobgoblins) are pirates who strike from under the sea and send ships into the depths. They are kept in check primarily by the Triton armies, who scour the sea for their strongholds and destroy them.

6. Merrow

Dumb savages beasts, merrow are like sharks but meaner and dumber. Merrow follow vast circular routes, moving from feeding ground to feeding ground. Aquatic elves kill them on sight, and they avoid triton areas. They are frequently recruited by koalinth to provide muscle.

5. Merfolk

Merfolk are an obvious choice, but I'm not sure what to do with them. Something that splits the difference between the wild and carefree Sea Elves and the imperialistic Tritons. Sea farmers and city builders, they diplomacy to avoid falling under the control of the Tritons.

4. Scrag

Scrags make their home in kelp forests and sargassos, hunting in packs to take down large prey such as whales that wander to close to their hiding places. Other species avoid these dangerous waters.

3. Locathah

In the farthest reaches of the seas, locathah live as nomads, following the great schools of cod, halibut and tuna that fill the sea. But where the tritons rule, locathah are slaves, forced to perform menial labor for their triton masters.

2. Kraken

The ancient and mighty kraken control vast regions of the sea, exacting tribute from all who would live in what they know to be their seas. The kraken fills the role of dragon of the sea, ruling through fear and legend, and only occasionally rising up from their homes in the deepest trenches to remind new generations of their terrifying power.

1. Sahuagin

With the Kuo-Toa forever gone thanks to being WOTC's product identity, the Sahuagin are the perfect inheritors to the role of "Deep Ones," dwelling in the darkest pits of the sea, worshipping the kraken and things even more disturbing, and only occasionally rising up to terrorize the coasts.

Here's a thread to post links to pictures of your Pathfinder Society character. I celebrated my first official Pathfinder Society adventure (The Silent Tide! Great adventure!) by drawing my character, Elar Stravan.

Elar Stravan Character Portrait

If you look at his earthbreaker hammer, you'll notice that it says "SMASH TYRANNY" on the side, and features a relief of the Eagle of Andoran on the hammer face. Imagine the mark that would leave!

This is the #1 most common issue I hear being raised against the Pathfinder RPG: that it does not solve the problem of high level play. I am uncertain what exactly the problem is. I don't generally do high level play. Most of my campaigns in 3.5 have stopped before level 10.

But nobody ever says what the problem is, just that 3.5 had it, and Pathfinder doesn't solve it.

Can anyone explain to me what the problem is exactly?

There are very few additional changes I would make to the Pathfinder RPG between the Beta and the final. I think the game is very solid right now, and would generally prefer to see no more significant changes to the basic 3.5 system. Many of the suggestions I see being thrown around don't appeal to me very much.

There are a few areas I think still need polishing. These are my suggestions, and my reasons for those suggestions:

1) Over on EnWorld Wulf Ratbane presented an alternate experience system that made encounter balancing far simpler.

I know that Jason and Erik have already seen Wulf's system. I'd like to see this implemented in the final version of the game.

2) Several people have responded positively to my Fighter Weapon Training proposal. Rather than providing a +1/+1, it would provide a +1/+1d6.

Even at 20th the bonus of +4d6 on an attack is far from unbalancing, and not only secures the Fighter's place as the best fighter. It also helps keep the fighter in the game compared with spellcasters.

3) I think the Sorcerer's spell progression table is annoying. There is no significant reason that Sorcerer's should be delayed in gaining new spell levels compared to the Wizard, Cleric and Druid. I feel WOTC unfairly crippled the sorcerer out of fear that it would be too powerful compared to the wizard, and Pathfinder has ALMOST fixed the damage they did.

I suggest shifting the Sorcerer's entire table up one row. Thus they would gain their first second level spell at 3rd level, like every other primary spellcaster. While this has some effect on backwards compatibility, the addition of bloodlines has already made the sorcerer one of the more conversion intensive

4) Make the Dodge feat provide a simple +1 to AC. Please! Just make it so players can add it into their permanent AC calculation, so that I never have to hear "Oh wait, last round I was dodging that guy so he actually missed!"

I'll add more suggestions to this thread as I think them up.

One of the only things I don't absolutely love about the new Sorcerer is that bloodlines are called bloodlines, which really implies genealogy. However, with the Destined and Arcane bloodlines, obiously there is room for some non-genetic bloodline concepts.

With that in mind, I present my rough draft of the Chronos Bloodline, a time-touched mage.

Chronos
You have an innate connection to and understanding of time and space. Perhaps you were born out of time, or your parents are time travelers. Whatever the cause, you manifest amazing abilities related to the flow of time-space in addition to the more usual magical talents.
Class Skill: Knowledge (history).
Bonus Spells: true strike (3rd), mirror image (5th), haste (7th), dimension door (9th), teleport (11th), contingency (13th), plane shift (15th), temporal stasis (17th), timestop (19th).
Bonus Feats: Combat Reflexes, Dodge,Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes,Mobility, Quick Draw, Quicken Spell, Skill Focus (Knowledge [history]).
Bloodline Powers: Chrono-sorcerers develop a strange relationship with time, bending it around them like cloak, and using ti to accomplish incredible feats.

Time Twist (Su): Starting at 1st level, you can create a time twist as a standard action. The time twist targets every character adjacent to you whether friend or foe. Targets that fail a Will save (DC = 10 + 1/2 Caster level) are dazed (as the spell) for one round.

Temporal Flux (Ex): At 3rd level, as a swift action you can wrap yourself in a fluctuating field of temporal energy that grants you 20% concealment. At 11th level, this concealment increases to total (50%).

Space Time Shift (Ex): At 9th level, you may teleport up to 20" as a move action, or 40" as a full move action. At 13th level these distances increase to 30" and 60" respectively. You must be able to see the location you are teleporting to.

Time Immunity (Su): At 15th level, you gain immunity to the effects of the following spells: hold person, mass hold person, and slow. In addition if you are caught in the area of effect of a time stop spell you did not cast, you may act as if you had cast it.

Chronomaster (Ex): At 20th level, you have become truly one with the timestream. You are never surprised and automatically go first in initiative, unless facing another Chronomaster. In addition, you are permanently hasted. Finally, you cease to age entirely and are immune to all aging effects.

Hello my fellow Andorans! While there already exists a thread for our folk to rally and prepare, I realized while reading it that I did not know these names and faces.

I am Elar Stravan, a simple son of the earth, and lover of freedom. My father was a miner, as was my father's father, and his father before him. I myself seek a somewhat grander fortune.

When I was but a boy, my father and his fellow workers accidentally broke through a wall into a long abandoned and buried crypt. I still remember the strange men and women who flocked to our small community upon the discovery of this crypt, seeking to plunder and loot its contents. Most of thos ewho entered were never seen again, but eventually two men came out claiming to have fought great beast and carrying sacks -- SACKS!!! -- of gold and other treasure.

It was then that I saw my calling. I reckoned that if I could find other crypts and dungeons buried beneath the ground, I could stake my claim on them, and make a fortune selling plunder rights to these adventurers. That is why I joined the Pathfinder Society, to seek out dungeons and sell the rights to the treasures contained within, and to gain access to a network of those foolhardy enough to crawl in a dark hole full of undead and other nastiness.

I came to join the Andoran League several years later. I had begun working the mines myself, seeking to earn enough money to buy a sword and some armor, but found myself constnatly short on funds. the local baron taxed our mines so much that we could barely keep food on the table, let alone save for our future. That was how the Andoran fellow foudn us, and he convinced us to strike against the barons. He brought us arms, and taught us to lay traps within the mines. We fought long and hard against the barons, and eventually we won. I discoverd then that there was no greater gift one could give than freedom, and my loyalty has been to Andoran ever since.

Who are you? What drove you to join the Society and the League?

Dummy post to force my original post to appear.

Getting really sick of this bug.

Nevermind, I realized I was clicking on the Pathfinder Society Forum link, and not the General Discussion link.

Here's a question I have about something that I'm a bit confused about.

The Faceless Stalkers, to use a random example, are released under the OGL. So in theory I can use them in my own OGL adventure.

Let's say I'm going to publish and adventure called The Lost Temple of Ratatouille, and I want to use Faceless Stalkers in my adventure.

Can I call them Faceless Stalkers? Is the name of a creature part of its inherent game identity?

I know I can't reprint the whole entry with the Golarion specific background and all, but could I rewrite it in my own words with whatever changes I wanted to make? If I said "The faceless stalkers were created in the distant past by the aboleths, but have long since abandoned." would that be a violation of product identity, or is the basic concept of the creature part of its game identity?

If I wanted to include original artwork in my adventure that depicted a scene with a faceless stalker, would that be violating the product identity, or would that be derived from the creature as depicted by it's game attributes?

I'm just really confused by how the OGL works exactly.

Yeah, so I'm going to post this and then the original post will magically appear, yeah?

So I originally placed this order:
745582 Jul 21, 2008
Dungeon Warduke T-Shirt (XXXL) Pending
Pathfinder Chronicles Ongoing Subscription
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (OGL) Beta Release Print Edition Preorder, expected August 2008
Pathfinder Chronicles: Campaign Setting (OGL) Hardcover Print Edition Cancelled Jul 21, 2008
Black God's Kiss (Trade Paperback) Pending
$8

And today I get news that this order is shipping:
1004510 Jul 26, 2008
Pathfinder Chronicles: Campaign Setting (OGL) Hardcover Print Edition Shipping
Pathfinder Chronicles: Curse of the Crimson Throne Map Folio Print Edition Shipping
$76.05

And I'm wondering if there is anyway to hold off on shipping these two books til my whole order is ready to ship, or if not, if the t-shirt and book (Black God's Kiss) can be sent with the Chronicles stuff?

We're still a few weeks away from the public release of Beta, and then it's another year more until the final Pathfinder RPG is released. I've only run a half dozen sessions so far. So you might think I'm being rash, but I'm just going to come out and say it: Pathfinder is better than Dungeons & Dragons. I actually knew it the day I read Alpha version 1. Possibly even before I read it, i at least intuited that it was the better than D&D.

Let me be clear about this: I don't mean "Pathfinder is better than Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition." I mean Pathfinder is better than Dungeons & Dragons in any iteration in any edition.

Why? Because of Fighter Weapon Training.

No, no, I'm totally joking. That's not why. The real reason it's better than any other edition of D&D -- and don't fool yourself, Pathfinder is a new edition of D&D, more so than 4E is, it's just an edition without legal permission to call itself what it is -- is this: Paizo doesn't own Pathfinder. They own the name, sure, but not the game itself. They don't own the mechanics. The crunch that drives Pathfinder material can be used by anyone who wants it.

The OGL made 3.5 fundamentally superior to previous editions, because it allowed other people to print adventures and supplements for D&D, which creates powerful creative competition. But WOTC's commitment to the OGL was, ultimately, weak. After releasing the psionic rules and unearthed arcana, WOTC stopped supporting the OGL. They began releasing the seemingly endless stream of splat books -- Complete This and Complete That, and they refused to share.

Two games began to emerge: There was WOTC Dungeons & Dragons, which used the WOTC core books + splats. Then there was OGL Dungeons & Dragons, which was WOTC + various OGL products. WOTC D&D experienced rapid power creep as the books stacked up, and OGL D&D did not, primarily because few particular OGL books became so common as to gain wide acceptance. So OGL material -- adventures and the like -- tended to hew close to core.

Watching characters from the Tome of Battle blast their way through a well-written and properly balanced -- by the core rules -- published adventures (such as the excellent Dungeon Crawl Classics) pointed to the problem of WOTC not supporting the OGL by allowing third party publishers to use Warlocks, Knights, Warmages, Beguilers and the like, or to use a wide range of monsters, or most importantly, to use the many new feats and spells that made post-core WOTC characters rather ungodly powerful compared to the rather pathetic core. It was impossible to keep balance between the two. Couple this with WOTC's general tendency to "fire and forget" and fail to support classes after publishing them, and one ended up with splatbooks composed of equal parts almost cool but unsupported elements and cool but unbalancing elements.

It was also a pain in the butt for anyone who wanted to write and publish the adventures they ran in their campaigns for others to run. I ran my players on a little Goonies-inspired "secret island pirate treasure hunt" adventure that they still talk about to this day. Unfortunately, the elements that made it so memorable weren't OGL.

So we get back to Pathfinder. I like the fluff Paizo produces, and I pick up the Pathfinder APs to read them, but they aren't the sort of thing I run. Too many NPCs that aren't meant to be killed for my tastes. I prefer stuff written in the old skool style, because I'm old skool, and so I've tended to run DCCs for the last few years. Since Goodman Games has decided to do DCCs as 4E, I think there is space for a new company to step in and start offering the same essential product as the DCCs.

And here's the really cool thing: In 2009, when Paizo starts releasing splatbooks of their own that introduce new classes -- and they will, trust me on this, its just part of business: they new to keep selling new things to old customers, and they'll follow a similar pattern to WOTC. This time it will be different though, because everything they release to build up Pathfinder -- everything crunchy at least -- will be OGL, and whoever it is that sells me my old skool adventures will be able to incorporate those new elements in the Pathfinder core.

It's the final realization of what Ryan Dancey started. It's community owned gaming. If Paizo releases a splat with a new "Curseblade" class and then decides they don't want to support it because it falls under their profit threshold, a third party publisher willing to publish in B&W and with lower quality art may find it meets their profit threshold. If someone wants to do an adventure with Sinspawn but set in some world other than Golarion, and used with a different origin, they can go ahead and do that.

That's what makes Pathfinder better than Dungeons & Dragons. It's D&D, with almost all of the tropes one expects from D&D, but it's finally, ultimately, ours and not theirs. And that is wicked cool.

Though seriously, I am really going to miss displacer beasts. And mind flayers. And beholders. Stupid %*&@$! WOTC not sharing all of TSR's toys.

Since Paizo is rapidly expanding into miniatures, maybe a minis forum would appropriate? Maybe even one where people can use the image tag, and share their finished versions of the various iconics and Pathfinder nasties?

As an official minis geek, I can tell you that minis geeks appreciate these sort of things. We crave recognition for our talents, and when we get it, we buy more minis. Hint hint. :)

In my never ending quest to do something different with every campaign, I decided to create a comic strip based on my alpha playtest campaign. I mentioned it in the fan art thread, someone asked if I could share, and so here it is, Castle Whiterock Pathfinder Alpha Playtest Campaign Comic (photobucket album).

Now, I can't actually draw worth spit, so I used a vector graphic program called Inkscape and did it in the style of Rich Burlew's Order Of the Stick. It's really the only style that really captures the true nature of my players.

So a few years ago I came up with this idea for a character. I tried to create her using 3.5 rules several times as different books became available to me. I created her using the 3.5 PHB, Spell Compendium and Complete Divine. Then later I picked up the Book of Enlightened Deeds and used elements from that book. I tired the character as a sorcerer, a flavored soul, a sorcerer/flavored soul/mystic theurge, and a wizard/cleric/mystic theurge. Nothing really worked out, and I never created an effective character. At 1st she was pathetic, and at 15th she'd be equivalent to a 10th level character.

So this was a real test for Pathfinder. Had Jason improved the system to the point where I could make this character with a very offbeat concept? Let's find out.

Here's the concept:

Character Concept: The character is rooted in Buddhist mythology, and I imagined her as being from Southeast Asia (India).

The first svatantrata senani was born some 600 years ago in a small mountain village. She became a powerful mystic theurge and used her magic to free the mountain she lived on from the rulership of an evil demon lord. As she neared her death, she studied at the feet of the wisest yogis of her day, and in doing so achieved enlightenment. Rather than ascend to nirvana and free herself from the mortal coil, she choose the path of the bodhisattva, and reincarnated to continue her struggle to free mankind from the shackles of demonic rulership.

Aishwara Ramidipoor is the 17th reincarnation of the svatantrata senani. She was discovered by the monks of the Temple of Purifying Fire, an order devoted to assisting the newly reincarnated svatantrata senani in her mission. They trained her for eleven years. As her eighteenth birthday approached, Aishwara felt that she could learn no more, and that it was time to begin her mission. She has set on a career as an adventurer in order to develop her powers and seek out evil, especially evil from the outer planes.

Core Game Concept: The svatantrata senani is primarily a spellcaster (blending divine and arcane magic) who focuses on defeating evil outsiders using purifying flames. She also wields a longsword and while not an especially gifted fighter, is capable of defending herself.

This is what I created using pathfinder:

The true test, of course, is what the character looks like at 9th level, and here Aishwara is at Name Level:

I think we have achieved a real success here. Here is a character I would proudly play in a campaign, and expect to hold her own as a full and valued member of the party. She's primarily an arcane spell caster with just enough divine flavor to sell the "reincarnated holy warrior" angle. She can use a sword with enough effectiveness at Name Level to soundly defeat a first level warrior without resorting to magic, but the sword is mostly just for posturing.

So how did Pathfinder help?

- More feats meant achieving the full concept concept quickly, rather than having to wait forever to get the necessary feats to make the concept work.
- The Celestial bloodline approached perfection for achieving the concept, especially the Bonus Spells and the Heavenly Fire ability. It's like Jason read my mind. The bonus Divine spells eliminated the need to do any multi-classing to flavored soul.
- The overall improvements to the sorcerer as a class eliminated the need to spend all my feats on bloodline powers, which also accelerated the time it took to achieve full concept.

How did Pathfinder not help?

- Heal as a class skill for the Celestial bloodline is okay, but would make more sense if the Celestial's bonus spells included cure spells. Knowledge (Religion) would make more sense, especially since the Celestial gets "Skill Focus (Knowledge (Religion))."
- The Bonus Feats for the Celestial are made of weaksauce. This is a really lame list, and I picked Extend Spell because it was the only vaguely useful thing in there. These could definitely use some improvement. The mounted combat related feats in particular are like lame with an extra scoop of lame.
- I have the same problem with Wings of Heaven that I had with the same ability on the flavored soul: it feels inherently biased towards a pseudo-Christian interpretation of the Celestial concept. Angelic wings implies angels afterall. However, this is a trivial point, since Celestials tend to actually have big feathery wings, and I can't blame Jason for embracing what is already canon.

Overall, I would say Pathfinder passed this test with flying colors. A+

How does one go about reporting another user who is being insulting and trying to provoke a fight? Sebastian's comments to me in the "Gut Reactions to 4E" thread are quite aggravating and insulting.

So I have some ideas for a couple of themed products that cash in on popular tropes that are pretty proven sellers (Pirates!):

DOCK/HARBOR FLIP MAT:

A new flip-mat featuring a few docks and bit of the shore (a boardwalk? That street where you get your carriage after getting off the boat) on one side, and the harbor bottom on the other.

The docks would have at least one berth large enough to (in theory) accommodate the ship from the Ship/Open Sea map, and then a smaller jetty (see how I throw out these terms like I know what I'm talking about?), and then the boardwalk would have a bit of shops, and maybe the front of a tavern, and enough road to run some horses down.

There is very little that is as fun as fighting on docks. Because Bull Rush becomes so much cooler when everyone is fighting on 10" docks. I've used the docks map from Atlas Games' Backdrops more than any other map I've ever purchased (though the Mountain Pass and River Crossing are going to get more use than it ever will).

The harbor bottom wold have some rocks, maybe a rusting anchor with seaweed, the barest outline of sunken ship now buried under sand (with maybe just enough sticking up to provide a few squares of cover, a place for a rogue to hide), a lot of sand, some starfish, maybe a lobster or crab, all with a "it's under water!" effect over it. Something that can be used for just about any underwater/sea floor encounter, because those sorts of encounters typically end up being fought on a big blank battle map. This is already pretty boring, but will quickly become unacceptably so now that I have been spoiled by the flip-mats series.

PIRATE BOOTY ITEM CARD DECK:

Pretty obvious when you think of it.

It would mostly feature magical pirate stuff: an anchor, spyglass, sextant, magical compass, bejeweled eyepatch, single earring, wooden eye, cutlasses, rapiers, pistols, pile of gold coins, keg, monkey, dirk, belaying pin, bottles of rum labeled "potion," etc. All of these are things I've seen in repeated pirate themed adventures, like the Freeport stuff.

Then a few items that are clearly of use in underwater adventures. Magical flippers, goggles, a primitive diving suit. These show up in a lot of aquatic themed adventures as well.

And finally, a handful of unique and standard magic items that look like they were designed by sea dwelling creatures. Maybe some kind of shimmering shawl (like a selkie might have), Coral rings, wands, and staves, shell-shaped potion bottles, a spear, trident, harpoon, and crossbow. Some of these would have the delicate grace of elven work, specifically sea elves, others would be rougher and crude work of Sahuagin or Locathah barbarians, and a few might even have slightly Lovecraftian look, born of ruins in the deepest depths of the sea.

So after watching a 3.5 Monk get clobbered by the new Combat manuever rules in my last session, I was eager to see how Jason would redo the monk. And for the most part I approve greatly. The Ki abilities alone bring the monk fully into the top tier of core classes, and I cannot wait to unload an eight strike flurry of blows on someone. It will be awesome. That said, the one thing i really wanted to see fixed is still broken.

Here's an example of my problem with the Monk vs Combat Manuevers:

Bandar is a 1st level Elven Monk with the following stats: Str 10, Dex 16, Wis 16. Bandar's starting AC is 16. Bandar's starting CMB is +0

Zurg is an 1st level Orc Warrior with an 18 Str and 10 Dex. He has a morningstar (weilded two handed). His attack is: +5 morningstar (1d8+6). Zurg and Bandar get into a fight. Zurg wins initiative.

If Zurg simply swings at Bandar with his morningstar, he has to roll an 11 to hit Bandar. If Zurg decides to Trip Bandar, he provokes an AOO and has to roll a 10 to successfully trip Bandar.

Wait...what? The super nimble Elven Monk whose amazing insight enables him to easily evade attacks despite his total lack of armor is easier to trip than to simply hit, when tripping someone is supposedly a much more complex maneuver than simply bashing on them?

That doesn't make any sense!

Let's advance Bandar forward to 3rd level, and now Bandar has Manuever Training. Bandar's AC is 16, and his CMB is +3. Zurg needs to roll an 11 to hit Bandar, and a 13 to trip him.

Advance Bandar to 10th level (all stat adds go to Wis): AC 19, CMB +10
Advance Bandar to 20th level (all stat adds go to Wis): AC 22, CMB +20

Now let's try something different. Instead of gaining Manuever Training, let's say that Bandar can add his AC bonus (WIS + level/4) to his CMB from first level.

Bandar at first level: AC 16, CMB +3
Bandar at third level: AC 16, CMB +5
Bandar at tenth level: AC 19, CMB +12
Bandar at twentieth level: AC 22, CMB: +23

Not a huge difference, but it prevents the oddity of fast, nimble monks that are easier to trip than hit at low levels, while reinforcing the central concept of the monk, that their insight makes them deadly fighters.

I'd love to hear any thoughts on this.

Started my new campaign, Castle Whiterock, using the Pathfinder Alpha playtest rules. I have five players, only three could make it to the first session.

We're using a 28 point buy system for character stats, and the racial hit point bonuses. The three characters that were made are:

• Goldenaxe, a Human Fighter. He took the Defensive Combat Training feat.
  
• Zoltan, a Halfling Rogue. Plans to multiclass to Hexblade.
  
• Barth, a Human Fighter. The player was pleased to discover he did not need to take Combat Expertise to take Improved Trip. Plans to multiclass to Wizard.
  

Hopefully next week we'll be adding a cleric and sorcerer.

I know that Paizo makes the Maps of Mystery available for download, and I desperately need to download one of them for an adventure I'm running tomorrow (I can't find my copy of the issue anywhere!), but for the life of me I cannot figure where on this website they are hidden. Anyone want to throw me a bone? Please?