George Erickson's page

Both do exist in Golarion, for the record, both by their nature as part of the Player Companion line and in the specific context of the Hold of Belkzen. Specifically, I imagine the butchering axe as a creation of the Steel Eaters tribe, while the orc hornbow may be made from the horns of these creatures.

As for your concerns about game balance, I support you doing whatever is best for your campaign. If your group enjoys the weapons more with their stats adjusted, then you've made the right choice. ^_^

I truly appreciate the work you have done. I love your creativity, and descriptions of the items you created / reworked into the system. I am honored to have the creator take the time to give an answer, and so rapidly. The book is done exceptionally well, and the work you put in is astounding. I have written several times and I understand how people come up with some questioning. I am a veteran playing since 1979, my mother taught friends and Iand was our 1st DM for the Original box set during winter when weather was inclement. I have DM'd now for 20+ yrs. and I respect and appreciate all that you do to further the game I love.

Thank you. G.

If My questions have been asked, pls direct me to the thread. (Newbie)

I have serious reservations about allowing the Orc Hornbow & Butchering Axe from this book into Golarion. Were they written to be part of Golarion or just campaigns that also use Orc?

If allowed in Golarion, why? They set the new standard, upon which other weapons will be built, just like the mistakes made in 3 & 3.5. Larger weapons and better dmg. does not a better campaign make. I have already house ruled these weapons.

Allowed in Golarion:
1. Orc Hornbow be reduced to D10/x3 D8/x3 for small
2. Butchering Axe be reduced to 2D6/x4 D10/x4 for small

Reducing these to weapons places them still as Exotic Weapons per the rules of creation, and also does not break a damage threshold that has been set for Medium characters for some time as 2D6 / D12.

The Strength requirement does attempt to deal w/ imbalancing, but I believe not enough. My power-mad group are finding some interesting ways to get them on character builds, and I had to stop the madness.

Any assistance would be welcomed, Thank you. G.

Well, since my thread has clearly gone off-topic, I will take advantage of Isabelle's kindness as well, if I may :) Is the Butchering Axe considered an Orc weapon for the purposes of weapon familiarity? It doesn't have 'Orc' in the name, but according to the description, it pretty much seems it is.

Anyway, I'd still appreciate other suggestions on the Longbow/Hornbow choice.

I am so sorry Gray Warden. My group has been all about the Hornbow/Butchering Axe issue, I read your post and saw you had received an answer from Isabelle Lee the direct source and received a proper answer. I was only hoping to possibly get the same results.

As of now, I believe in all matters not covered (yet) I would take the Longbow & Dead Eye. unless you are in an AP or Campaign that has many open battle sites. My previous AP I just finished was the Shattered Star with my group and cover was definitely an issue in the dungeon crawls. If you need to be mobile to get your shots w/o Dead Eye I would suggest using the Hornbow and take advantage of the Focused shot feat (adding Int to dmg). also depending on your choice in this matter, you could also use Erastil's Blessing feat and use your Wisdom on the ranged attack roles. if your build requires the Wisdom stat.

Again my sincere apologies for the Off-Topic questions. G

Derklord wrote:

While we're at it, may I ask what other weapons you wrote for AA2?

Certainly! ^_^

I actually wrote all of the new weapons and armors, and was responsible for adjustments to those reprinted from older sources. In addition, I wrote all of the weapon and armor modifications and associated options, as well as a number of equipment tricks, special materials, alchemical items (including the concoctions and their table), and other assorted items. If it appears in the Implements of War, Alchemical Wares, or Equipment From Abroad sections of the book, I was responsible for it. It was a pretty big project.

I apologize: if my ??'s have been covered.

When designing the Hornbow and Butchering Axe; was it intented to create the new high damage dealer? I understand the rules you followed & don't see a problem based on the systems use and how the rules could be used to create them. Why though create two wpns that are now top of the food chain damage dealers? Other than you could, was there a consideration for the catastrophic dmg repercussions when paired with feats, spells & size that these (2) weapons could have on the natural order? Such as Giants? In a world that is supposed to be primarily Human, what were the reasons to just supplant humanities weapons w/ Orc weapons? How were the Orcs w/ numbers and these weapons ever subjugated by any race?
I appreciate the work and effort for the jobs you have taken on, I also love the creativity. I remember as 3 & 3.5 started introducing items, weapons, & armor. They allowed some very injurious ideas into the system, that were always changing the *New* Hot Weapon, Feat, Spell, or Class that players aimed for. With a new campaign starting my players are all angling for these wpns,which to me is a huge warning sign. We are all Power Gamers @ heart and if I was still playing I would also... Hence my sincere concern and questions.

Thank you, for your time and patience. G.

I am in week three of running SS, and the players are enjoying it. I hit a snag in the jungle though; I had rolled a random of 4 Cannibals. Distance to perceive is horrible, than come all the A.o.O. for movement, since neither side can 5 foot.
I have read through many of the 400+ posts and I would like to know what Mr. Jacobs had thought about his build when he created this playground? The Cannibals have Fleet and thus should move a bit faster, but when the "Wetwork" starts. making them fast, is not as beneficial as the feat Nimble Moves would have been. Charging has been taken out of the equation, so both sides are readying actions to strike when threatened plus gaining the AoO for the provoked movement.
I saw where another poster changed One of the NPC Boons, so that it granted them Jungle Fighter. Like it for the party hate it for the inhabitants. If they have two feats as a human, my feeling is that Nimble Moves is #1 / Followed by X-Y or Z. The monsters do not gain traits, so there is no love for them there.
This also comes into play with many of the encounters with ground based encounters. Just a bit nerve wracking @ the moment, combats look like throw / move draw /throw again the fights are in slow motion.... The Rages do not start until they can engage in melee, since it is a very short one (6 rds).
In that encounter the wizard hit one with a sleep, down! Bloodragers throw Chakrams kill (2) more. The last Cannibal died as described above, Movement provoked while Raging, plus a readied maneuver. Total damage to group a single javelin hit That did (4 pts).
At least they didn't take a prisoner and give the CE Slayer a reason to show off his intimidation / Interrogation tactic, which is to slow cube 1" sections of flesh and meat every so often to feed to the Dimorphodon we retrieved for Sasha.

I thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. In regards to PF traits, I was referring to the society traits of the Pathfinder Organization. Again thank you for your help.

continuation question sorry, What dieties would they worship since most of the current pantheons spawned after Aroden or were race specific? Also, would you allow Azlanti characters to have advanced firearms, since they were so techno savvy? Also would Pathfinder traits be available to an Azlanti, since most PF traits per class are based on the study of ancient tomes, history, archives?

Did the Azlanti age as per human? Or did they have longer life expectancies due to magic, and or technology?

The Wizard could use wands of Infernal Healing, just remove the evil descriptor and treat it like Vigor. Fast healing 1 for 10 rds. Guaranteed 10 HP, great for out of combat healing. The nice thing is the spell scales later to be Fast healing 4 for 10 rds. Guaranteed 40 HP. Remember if the Wizard is also the healer and main crafter, the loss of that character might mean TPK.

My group is also heading to Thistletop soon. We handled characters a bit differently, we have 2 players plus myself. The 2 players are playing 2 each, and I run an SPC. (Semi-playable character). We have worked it out that one of theirs has to be the Rogue(it's no fun finding your own traps), and wizard or spellcaster(They can than make their items). There other choice is an open one. If no healer in the group, it becomes the SPC. This is a way to keep them on track, and I also still feel part of accomplishing the mod. for myself on a personal lvl.
I have not had a break from Dming in like 12 yrs. so I at least get the feel of playing. The ROTR was written for 4 characters on the fast track, but if you look at the xp breakdown 4 or5 is no difference. I only have to modify the treasures in encounters to keep them in the curve.
With the new crafting rules and no loss of XP for crafting, the characters as they lvl. will be able by 5th to create wands, magic arms/armor, also thrown in may be wondrous items, potions, and scrolls. With the proper feat selections.
As to your questions: first off it assumes the characters are 3rd or just short for Thistletop with 4th by the end of the chapter. If they aren't, they are probably ill suited to tackle the challenge without a TPK being a high possibility. They should have 3000gp at 3rd lvl. per the charts. This is more than enough money to have M/W gear, Wands with charges, scrolls, and potions.
My group was still a little light at the end of the session on the Gp/Xp, so to make my life easier an emissary from Magnimar, (Temple) thanked them for being stout heroes with gifts of healing I felt they would need. As for the Xp, The Goblin Squash Stables are offering 5Gp bounty on each pair of Goblin ears. I had Shalelu ask them for help protecting the surrounding farms in these troubled times. I essentially endeared them further, to the locals and got the Lvl. and Gold to match up.
If you insist on 3 characters, and do not want to use Ameiko or Shalelu or an SPC, than you better be on some epic stat array, and maybe use the the Double Con score for initial HP. Option #2 get them at least 1-2 levels higher than suggested for the area in the story. This might offset the lack of characters. Remember the domino effect becomes much nastier with less characters, and TPK's are hard to defend against. I roll everything on the table, no hidden die rolls to adjudicate hits or misses. I find if the players see the dice, they feel trust. A win is earned, not doctored to advance the storyline.