Cross-polinating threads here, and I do apologise in advance, so I'll spoiler this.
Spoiler:
On the subject of Pathfinder Online, do you know if Goblinworks will be writing the scripts, quest dialogue and overall story arch, or will it be in Pathfinder's hands?
Also, if Iconics do make it into the finished game, what do you think Merisiel would say to random PCS? Any examples?
And if there was a giant fiendish Tyrannosaurus Rex as a rare-spawn boss, would you be chuffed about it? What do you think it would drop?
EXPLORER (Thoughtful 30% Exploratory 100% Social 91%) (Physical -38% Reward Drive -42% Competetive -71%)
"No stone unturned!"
Description:
It's not so much the wandering around and poking about, but that euphoric eureka moment the Explorer strives for. The joys of discovery do not necessarily involve geography, real or virtual. They may derive from the mental road less traveled, the uncovering of esoteric or hidden knowledge and it's creative application. Explorers make great theory crafters. The most infinitesimal bit of newness can deliver the most delicious zing to an Explorer.
Secondary influences
this made me go ( O . o )
Explorer Killers enjoy seeing the world, meeting interesting people...and killing them. EKs love all discovery, but finding an edge over the competition is best. Always seeking new opportunity, an EK likely knows the ten best places to find certain types of opponents, as well as ten different ways for taking them down.
Sadly true, this part!
Explorer Achievers have been there, done that and have the t-shirt...in fact they have a plethora of t-shirts, badges, trophies and other rewards. EAs are the completionists of the gamer world. They like to find new places, quests, easter eggs, unlocks, maps etc. and check them off as have, visited or beaten. Like real world travelers, EAs enjoy collecting memorabilia that helps them relive their experiences later.
I do this so much on WoW, it's not funny!
Explorer Socializers are the glue of the online world. Not only do they like to delve in to find all the cool stuff, but they also enjoy sharing that knowledge with others. Explorer socializers power the wikis, maps, forums and theory craft sites of the gamer world.
This might sound strange, and possibly earn me some pitchforks to the back of the head, but I would love to see the 'best' weapons, armors and magical items in game be player crafted for the most part.
Yes, I said it. PLAYER CRAFTED. Most MMOs I have played tend to go "DERP! Level a profession, then cry tears of blood because all your hard work means jack-shit for 90% of the game!", and that irritates me a lot. On one hand, a randomised loot drop is part of what Table-Top gaming is about, with players having to use 'weird' items to survive then selling them later to get their desired items, or deciding that "Hey, this is kewl!" and changing their style to keep the item(s). On the other, being able to build not only your own character, but their gear, and thus tailor their attacks, defensive abilities and assorted to your own personal specifications (within reason of both Coding and Sanity) would be a great selling point!
Player wants an adamantite sword, but the RNG Gods disapprove and keep giving him Cold Iron. Player tracks down some adamantite ore, finds a decently skilled PC Blacksmith and lays out his plan.
Hopefully PC-Crafted items can be modified visually between 5-10 different 'skins' for each part of the model. Top/Middle/Base for weapons, Shoulder/Chest/Legs for armor etc.
PC now has his Adamantite Sword (already Masterwork quality) now it's time to track down an enchanter, and he's got a pouch full of materials for the enchantments after a few weeks of the RNG Gods playing keep-away. Another PC is found with the right skill and the right techniques, the sword gets a +3 Holy enchantment and our player goes out and starts making a real dent in the world.
Now, that example is a bit rushed, and there are many holes in the plan, but imagine that, yes, while Players can effectively 'gear up' by stabbing everything in a dungeon to death and bringing back the Princess to her father, the nature of an MMO means that the Random Number Generator will inevitably give the Players crappy items, or items none of them can possibly use.
Rather, the rewards coming in the form of masterwork weapons and armor and similar that can then be used by the players to make their own custom gear, would ensure that A) no wasted coding/gear and B), and this is the most important one to me, every player can make their own character unique, WITH THEIR OWN HANDS.
One of my biggest bug-bears with MMOs is that we always seem to end up an army of colour-coded units in our identical armors with our identical weapons and our identical attack rotations. We can't do much about the last part, but the first two we can.
Players crafting their own gear also creates a vibrant economy, with players being able to offer their services to not just themselves and their friends/guild members, but other players. While I can see the greedy abusing this system to spam whatever Auction House is put into play (and please, please, please put a cap on the Auction House system so the thriving gold-selling economy never gets more than a toe-hold in Pathfinder Online, I play Fantasy Games for just that, Fantasy. I don't want to work in an online sweatshop when playing on a new realm because there are fifty people buying up every low-level necessity of the crafting profession and selling them for 200 gold a single piece.) the flip-side is that Players can be challenged in turn by NPC 'Trades and Services Guilds' that also offer these services, albeit at a higher cost, but gold pumped into the 'NPC Guilds' will have a positive effect on the local economy, whereas players trading amongst themselves will have a positive effect on the Players, but less so on the local community.
Maybe some sort of Karma-meter that goes down with unprovoked assault - with the exception of duels and maybe deep wilds. With negative Karma increasing death penalties (and possibly other penalties, like, worse reaction from certain NPCs - those possessing ability to detect evil/high empathy, etc.)? Unless some other MMO already tested that method and found unworkable (none I known of).
Very much this. Start whacking non-hostile NPCs and PCs for no other reason than to take their stuff and teabag the remains, the game will keep track of it and eventually you'll reach a level where an NPC will figure out who is on this rampage, either through witnessing your actions or through magical divinations, alert the authorities and you can kiss your ass goodbye. Welcome to become Bandit #125872628 in the forrest.
That said, I am looking forward to 'Bandit Clans' of Players, but not so much the looting and taking of my stuff. Or rather, I'd prefer to see a gold hit and a loss of a minor magical item rather than coming back to my corpse to find it stripped bare and covered in whatever humiliating stuff the other players have scrounged.
Knowing my luck I'll come back to find my burly Half-Orc lying dead on the ground in a wedding dress with a dead goat next to him....
Sitting next to an ex-pat from pommie land, you should hear him go on and on about how the immigrants have ruined his country, and the riots have only made him come out with more horror stories of how he hated living next to a 'immigrant intergration' (Is that even a correct term, what?) district. Had his car broken into close to twenty times, had a knife pulled on him (and I will not use the terms he did, as I find them intolerable) by young men of ethinic minorities.
We don't know enough about what started the riots, but given what my work-mate has said, the locals of the districts were given large hand-outs by the government, and then turned around and made the districts their 'turf'.
Possibly heading into Bogan territory here, I apologise in advance!:
In their defence, they (the rioters and primary targets of Operation Trident) are less than 50% of the population, the migrant-descended families coming from the Middle East and Africa, and are effectively dropped into an alien culture thanks to Government ineptitude, earning a lot or ire and resentment from the locals who see these 'freeloaders' getting new houses, cars and free medical care when they themselves are struggling to make ends meet, rather than being slowly brought into their new homeland and being educated on the social and cultural ettiquette of their new home.
Listening to my work-mate, I can see how the contempt of the british has been simmering for a long, long time, but at the same point, actual refugees, those fleeing persecution and violence, should be wanting to put as much distant from their former culture as they could, rather than demanding the institution of the same religious courts that helped bring about the current predicaments of their former homelands.
Looking at it from 'their' point of view, it's an alien culture, the people are strange and don't like them for the actions of the criminals who abuse the system to get a free ride into the country, pushing real refugees into a no-win situation between feel-good government policies, wide-spread contempt and hatred of their minority and political point-scoring. My heart goes out to those people who honestly come to England, or Australia, for that matter, to escape their old lives. My loathing goes out to those who use the system to get into the countries as freeloaders to perpetuate the same vicious cycles that made their own countries dysfunctional.
I honestly believe in the Police. They face an unrelenting battle against people who call them 'Pigs' and far worse, are constantly assaulted, spat on, insulted and generally treated like invaders for simply trying to uphold the laws of the land. Perhaps if the 'offenders' tried having respect for not only their 'people', but the country that deigned to take them in and take care of them (remember, any country is free to pull out of the U.N. charter and start shipping refugees to where-ever they wish, something would-be touchy-feely types should remember!) and they might in turn find the government and people of the land they have come to might be more understanding of their culture shock.
Then again, I have had the unfortunate experience of having to lay into three men of the lebanese origin to pull them off an off-duty female police officer whom had booked one of them for drink-driving a few days ago.
She recieved forty-two stitches to her face alone, lost eight teeth and will have permanently diminished vision in her right eye for the rest of her life. They broke two ribs, both collar-bones, dislocated one of her shoulders and caused internal bleeding from when they were jumping up and down on her.
For 'assaulting' these men to get them off the police officer, I almost received a conviction of assault. For the past six years, I have been harrassed by their families and been targeted by them as a 'racist'. I've had my car broken into several times and shit smeared over the seats and windows. I've had a petrol bomb thrown at my place of work. I have been assaulted several times, despite eight restraining orders against them and their families, and had several teeth chipped, multiple injuries requiring stitching and come out of my house in the morning to find my dog cut up and mutilated and spread out across my front door-step.
I consider these mugs to be animals. I do not consider the Lebanese or the other minorities to be coming into Australia to be anything other than honest refugees until proven otherwise. To do otherwise would be to become the very same hateful creature the people who I speak of are.
Dealing with this sort of 'arrogant immigrant', it is very hard to feel sympathy for the rioters in England, but I will ask everyone involved in this thread to simmer down and wait. We don't know enough about what is going on to comment, and unless somebody is going to stand up and say "I live in this district, and it is like this ..... ", none of us can truly say what the situation is or what is the root cause.
I apologise if I offend anyone, but this is a rather volatile issue, and I happen to feel quite strongly about it.
Please do not demonise the Police for trying to keep the majority of people safe from a small sub-group within a minority who abuse their position for personal gain and care nothing for the people around them.
Please do not demonise a racial minority for being the scape-goats of political point-scoring and grand-standing, who are now being cut adrift by their government for reasons beyond any hope of their control.
Headed back to WoW myself. Anyone wants to yell at me for being a nub, on the Wyrmrest Accord server, Hordeside, Krenk (85 Orc Warrior), or Torzul(80 Troll Priest), Gassum (80 Troll Rogue), Jhenga (82 Orc Shaman), or Graforn (55 Forsaken Hunter).
Having not played the Savage Barbarian archetype before as a long-term character (thrown them at the PCs a few times as fodder-troops, but that is very different from a PC character looking for more than a few rounds of life!) does anyone have any suggestions on useful builds for the player?
I have pointed out a high dexterity, Bracers of armor and other magical defences incorporated into a sword-and-board build would really mesh quite well with the armorless barbarian as written, and nothing is stopping him from tossing the shield away and dual-wielding to victory, or going for a reach weapon and dancing his way across the battlefield with Acrobatics.
But I am also a little worried about his build. Currently his submitted character (Human Barbarian 1) has a 20-point build of 14 each in Strength and Constitution, Dexterity of 16 (including +2 racial bonus from being Human), Intelligence of 10, Wisdom of 14 and Charisma of 10. Stat-wise I have no arguements, he's kept most scores at 'good' levels and hasn't minmaxed to hell, and seems focused on staying a vanilla Human, putting his favoured class bonus to Hitpoints and has taken Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Two-Bladed Sword) for flavour and put his Human Bonus Feat towards Extra Rage to mask his 'average' Constitution score.
Problem I can see is that even if he takes the full TWF tree, including Two Weapon Defence, he's leaving himself a touch vulnerable to being unable to crack tough Damage Reductions and is also going to heavily depend upon his Rage ability to boost his Strength and Constitution scores in a pitched fight. They're not overwhelming concerns, but I am worried he might be taking the easily-squished path, and I would dearly love some advice on the matter from other gamers.
Oh look, another Britney Spears .... or is it Ke$ha? Yet another 'success', the latest offering of 'super-white' tartlet polluting the air-waves? In her defence, at least the GaGarmel can actually sing.
I wouldn't put her in the same pigeon hole as those two. Lady Gaga is just plain bonkers. Meat Dress. That's all I'm saying.
Plus, this isn't really soft-core porn. It's weird birth fetish stuff. If you get excited at that video.... I don't know. I just don't.
You didn't see her in the first few clips (around 30 seconds in?) firing a belt-fed heavy machine gun with an orgasmic look on her face, with the camera angle pointed so it looked like it was coming out of the moneybox?
Or the hilarious impression of a crack-addict dancer while wearing the ittsy-bittsy bikini? Just ... maybe I'm getting too old to YouTube anymore, I guess.
Oh look, another Britney Spears .... or is it Ke$ha? Yet another 'success', the latest offering of 'super-white' tartlet polluting the air-waves? In her defence, at least the GaGarmel can actually sing.
Sorry, just, graaargh, should not need soft-porn in tweeny-targeted pop-music. And just think, A couple of decades ago we had to sign up to dubious web-sites to be able to download that stuff, now it's on MTV...
Alright, grumpy old fart rant is over, I'm going back to bed.
Sorry James, I was referring to the 'Original Seven' in the terms of Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Halfling and Humans.
I think, correct me if I'm wrong James, he understood what you meant by "original seven", but didn't understand what you meant by "homebrew of them".
*facepalm* You are correct. Dear god I become less and less capable of coherent english as time passes, and it's my primary language!
What I was trying to ask (third time is the charm, right?) is, James, in any of your 'homebrew' games, did you ever offer to your players a race outside of the 'usual' seven races, Dwarves Elves Gnomes Half-Elves Half-Orcs Halflings Humans?
On a different topic, is the Summoner's ability to summon only an Eidolon or their Summon Monster ability a method to reign in their power, or is the Summon Monster ability intended as a 'fallback' ability for the Summoner to rely upon in the highly likely case the Eidolon is either Banished mid-fight or slain outright?
Will we ever see some Errata for the Synthesist? I'm loving the concept of the Eidolon being a form of 'Supernatural Armor and Weapon' for the Synthesist Summoner, but as it is written now, too many of the Class Abilities are open to cheesing/nerfing.
That's the beauty of it - you can keep trying as much as you want! Pre-emptive birth control FTW! :)
Hmm. Dwarven hookers. A whole new definition of 'scared straight.'
Pfft! Says you! I subscribe to the Creed of Sir Mix-a-lot, thank you very much!
And I have to admit the inability to interbreed does raise an eyebrow to me, given how closely Halflings and Humans are connected, and given that the two races have literally been side by side since .... well since they were recognizeable as their respective species, it seems strange that there isn't mention of at least a few mixed bloods.
To those going "Ewwww size difference!" may I say, as a guy standing six foot six and 145 kilos, with a girlfriend who barely makes it to five foot and weighs in at a whopping 60 kilos .... shaddup. I notice nobody mentions the squick at Gnomes been cannonically mentioned to enjoy partners from multiple races! You're just biased against hairy feet!
Sorry James, I was referring to the 'Original Seven' in the terms of Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Halfling and Humans.
And hah, I played Alliance, then Horde, and stayed on the red-shirt team till the start of this year. Blizzard's moderators annoyed me with their ham-fisted tactics (involving one troll derping in a thread and getting every other poster getting banned for a full month in several incidents on the RP and Wyrmrest forums, and then being unable to actually talk to someone about the issue) and the whole "Oh hey, Horde is Evil now!" shtick they pulled out and proceeded to beat long-term Horde Role-players with.
Apart from those two complaints, loved WoW overall, but Blizzard just became too arrogant and back-handed for me to enjoy the game anymore ... bah. Dodge Rift if you are asked to play it, the concept is fun and the classes are great, but once everyone is high level the low-level zones are constantly invaded and destroyed by the NPC Rifts.
I get what you're saying about the Drow as well. For how many years have they been the 'chocolate-skinned white-haired red-eyed Demon Elves'? It's almost embedded in the average Gamer's mind that that is the visage of the Drow race as a whole.
Did you ever have any homebrew races out of the Original Seven?
If I might ask the following questions about your thoughts on the status of some things in the Pathfinder manuals as things stand?
Was it tradition that kept the Drow as dark-skinned and red-eyed, or was it to keep 'brand recognition' with the race? Given their magical genesis, I can understand the colouration, also the dark skin allows them to easily blend in with the darkness of their 'native' environment. But if you had the chance to 'do over' would you change the physical description for the Dark Elves or leave them as they are?
Something myself and the other gamers in my group have noticed, given that the 'original' Core Classes are represented without any Half-Orcs or Half-Elves, was this due to wanting to push the different regional Humans or because half-races are 'extreme minority' races compared to the other races of Halfling, Human, Dwarf, Gnome and Elf?
Did you ever play any of the Everquest MMOs, and if so, did you like the concept of the three 'factions' and the inclusion of nominally 'monster' races (Ogres and Lizardmen and Trolls spring to mind immediately) appearing as balanced PC races or was the sheer number of playable races something that irked you or made you sweat bullets at trying to balance them in an open-nature game such as the Tabletop?
Am I lucky that my country's custom department doesn't allow live man-eating centipedes to be delivered via the mail?
And again, echoing the sentiments of other posters, thank you very much for answering our questions and engaging in our banter. It is greatly appreciated.
Any insight from veterans of this Campaign would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to ensure I give my players as smooth and enjoyable campaign as possible without too many 'jarring' incidents where the new rule-sets might not mesh well with the Campaign As Written.
Consider Mage Armor as less an invisible suit of armor and more like a semi-permeable sphere of force-energy around the target. It's made up of tens of thousands of particles of Force energy, enough to deflect and absorb the kinetic energy of most physical attacks to a limited extent, and as a happy side-effect, also creates interference with the incorporeal due to the way that Force energy interacts with both the Astral and Ethereal Planes. The spell provides enough Force energy to potentially do to a Ghost or Shadow what Mage Armor normally does to arrows, swords and the occasional Goblin launched from a catapult.
Think of Mage Armor as 'Pliable' Armor. It's there, provides an AC bonus, but it's not a 'hard' form of armor. At the same point, it's not a 'Soft' form of armor like a deflection or dodge bonus. It's more ... the way I am describing it is a little difficult to put into words. Think of it like a rubber suit. Yes it provides limited protection against whoever is belting the crap out of you, but it's not exactly going to provide any additional force to any attacks you make in turn.
Think of it like a very, very, very, very, very, very, very weak form of Wall of Force, as rather than being a solid plane of Force energy, you have a field of Force energy particles surrounding the target in whatever configuration the particulars of the spell and the caster decide, such as a shimmering globe or a second skin or even a halo! There's enough power there to grant as much protection as a Chain Shirt, but the presence of anything that could possibly disrupt the field, such as Armor, throws off these particles to the extent the spell fails and the Force energy particles dissipate without any effect.
It's interfering with the Ghost/Shadow's attack, but not enough to stop the Incorporeal Undead cold. Likewise, that same spell cannot grant the target it was cast upon the ability to 'touch' the Incorporeal. The spell simply lacks the power to provide both a localised Force energy particle field and the cohesion of those same Force energy particles into a tight enough field to be able to offensively affect incorporeal targets.
This is purely in the vein of low-brow humor and taking the mickey out of the Iconic Seoni.
As noted in the title, the site has links to NSFW sites, click at your own risk. Paizo takes no responsibility for anything you may see or feel following this link. I will accept only the blame for filling you head with this insanely catchy toon and >_>.
Liz, if this is a problem, tell me and I'll delete the thread ASAP.
The Link:
BOUNCING OPPAI ANIME LEGENDS at the Sankaku Complex site. AGAIN, the site contains NSFW links, click at your own risk, Paizo will accept no responsibility. I will merely wait for the screams of outrage. Also apparently Anime Girls are made of rubber *winces*.
I believe the term we're looking for here is 'Too little, too late.'
Mind you, hopefully this will get people thinking about just how much of our media is controlled by so few.
Also maybe see the day FOX is forced to change their flagship news channel from the Fox News Network to the Fox Entertainment Network. Not one bit of real journalism involved in that heap of garbage. Also chuckling a bit at all the other media going nuts over this. Glass houses guys, glass houses ....
How do you feel about Drow? Pity, revulsion, horror, fascination?
What would be your first reaction on bumping into a Drow? (hilariously, have the mental image of you literally running around a corner at full tilt and smacking into your Evil Twin)
Which of the following items would you consider 'mandatory' for a long trek through the wilderness?
Decanter of Endless Alcohol (As Decanter of Endless Water, but has a potent illusion spell woven into it to make the water taste like whatever alcohol you choose.)
The Gourmet's Satchel (As Bag of Holding I, but with a Gentle Repose spell woven into it to keep food fresh for months, enabling you to take tasty treats from civilisation with you.)
The Pocket Palace (Can generate a Secure Shelter containing soft beds and a warm bath, hidden behind a Major Image of the local terrain to prevent uninvited guests.)
Consider that most of the 'anime' Demons borrow heavily from existing creatures for their forms. It's not beyond the capability of a possessing spirit to twist the form to something more powerful, but still resembling the original form.
Oni Tengu? Giant cyclopean bird/man with razor-sharp feathers and a cruelly hooked beak. Alternatively a man-sized Tengu with expansive wings, glowing eyes and a three-part beak.
Human Oni? Smaller version of the Ogre Mage, but with a more intelligent feel to it and/or greater supernatural/spell like abilities. Remember Ogre Mages are the result of an Evil Spirit possessing an Ogre. The same Evil Spirit/Oni possessing a Human has a lot more to work with, though the host body is more fragile it is also more balanced in ability scores and is also more likely to be able to slip into societies with greater ease than their larger cousins.
An animal-based Oni would certainly be menacing, imagine a giant sentient evil Serpent of supernatural origins, or a Demon Horse that makes Nightmares flee in terror.
Now, it's been a long time, nearly three years, since I last GMed, and after bashing my head against a mount olympus-sized writer's block, decided to run this module as it is one nobody in the group has run and we're currently a bit fatigued from the Kingmaker Arc and a more 'straight path' adventure will give people a chance to rest a bit more and just focus on flat-out fun rather than strategic planning (which is fun in it's own way!)
Now, got all the manuals for this, including the Pathfinder Companion for Second Darkness, and am planning on allowing the PCs access to every class, as well as the Gunslinger but barring Paladin (for obvious reasons given the Riddleport start and the fluid alignment needed for certain sections of the campaign) and also allowing the following races:
Tiefling (Including variants from the Council of Thieves campaigns, always with the Infernal Bastard trait)
Tengu
Assimar (Celestial version of the Infernal Bastard trait)
Possibly another Native Outsider race, again with a variant of the Infernal Bastard trait built into the race.
All Native Outsiders are vulnerable to effects that would affect Humanoids, just to ensure everyone is on the same playing field, as I've found in previous campaigns people will often jump to the Assimar or Tiefling to avoid effects that would cripple Humanoids, but then complain bitterly when the GM points out that also rules out the beneficial spells that only affect Humanoids.
Any issues anyone has had adding the Advanced Player's core Classes to Second Darkness? I'm also planning on handing out 'cheat sheets' to the Players, stating that they will be rewarded for having ranks in Bluff and Sense Motive and Profession and Knowledge (Dungeoneering), Favoured Enemy Human, Elf and Abberation, feats like Spell Penetration, etc etc, or would I be giving too much away?
Current party build based upon some friendly chatting (taking pains to try and avoid leading them to obvious 'roles') is a Tiefling Fighter with a fetish for polearms (likely leaning towards the Polearm Master archetype) a Tengu Rogue using a Double Sword and building to become a combat fiend (probably poisoner, given her past builds) a Halfling Witch (likely our healer) with a focus on protective/reactive Hexes, a Human Sorcerer with the Adv Players Guide Class Focus for additional spells (walking talking boomstick) another Tiefling, probably a Bard with a fetish for mind-bending and apparently the last guy wants to make a Dwarven Gunslinger with a deep and abiding hatred for magic (looking at some variant racial traits most likely).
So thus far we have
Battlefield Controller/Tank (Tiefling Polearm Master)
Skirmisher (Tengu Poisoner Rogue)
Healer (Halfling Witch with the Healer Patron and the Hedgewitch Archetype)
Ranged Damager (Human Sorcerer with the Fire Elemental bloodline)
Party Face/Controller (Tiefling Bardess, unknown Archetype)
Magician Mangler (Dwarven Gunslinger)
Any obvious holes in the party's lineup? I can't see any, but if there is, I'd like to be able to offer Hirelings that the PCs can employ (re: pay!) to handle this.
Bust size is irrelevant to beauty, first of all. And I wouldn't sabotage anything anyway... especially since as an elf she'd have a longer lifespan.
True enough about the bust issue, but what I was asking is that if Kyra was turned into an Elf, would you sabotage any attempts to turn her back into a Human?
Took it back to EB, got the money back as credit (which will be funneled into Skyrim >_> later on this year) and after a day and a half of downloading !O.O! from the Windows Games homepage, Fable the Lost Chapters is finally freaking installed .... dear god the characters are ugly, but it's worth it!
Many thanks to all that gave up their time and brain-cells to come help me out here, it was greatly appreciated!
Flicking through the Second Darkness manuals (having given up on trying to write my own given lack of time/funds/fact nobody has played this series yet) and I've noticed the Ghonhatine beastie, and the write-up states that the flesh-warped Trog requires ever greater supplies of food to sustain it's mutant physiology.
In that case, does it mean that a Ghonhatine could technically live for decades if wearing a Ring of Sustenance? Or would the ring only function for a short while before being 'overloaded' by the ever-increasing demands of it's wearer?
Has there ever been a moment when you've woken up bolt upright in bed screaming?
How do you handle the soul-crushing horrors you've seen in your adventures.
Ever had the opportunity to bind a Succubi and wrangle a service out of her? AND NO I AM NOT BEING LECHEROUS, stop looking at me like I'm some drooling lackwit.
Ever encountered the Blackguard Iconic?
As an Elf, you are proficient with Longswords, Rapiers and most varieties of bows. Why do you not use bows or longswords in combat? Surely it's more tactical to pepper your enemy with arrows from hiding, lure them into a trap, and then gouge out their kidneys with your rapier, than getting close enough to accurately hit with a Dagger?
Would Harsk Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee if he was given a +5 Speed Seeking Distance Heavy Repeating Crossbow?
At the risk of taking a +5 Bane (Giant) Earthbreaker to the face, what would you do if Kyra was turned into an Elf via a magical/supernatural accident? Would you take steps to sabotage her transformation back into a Human form, or is it that vitality (and greater bust size >_>) of hers that appeals to you?
Yes, 5 different re-installs, done all my updates. Ah, PC info ... hang on. (computer novice) Will get them asap, but actually do not possess an XBox 360 anymore (was lent to a friend whose room-mate went nuts and sold everything. Literally. Hocked all the DVDs, computer games, small digitial items, consoles and even the fridge, microwave and dryer and disappeared. We're still trying to track her down.) and never bothered connecting it to the internet, mostly a LAN thing. Also apparently I can BUY the damn game for $9.99, but they don't sell to Australia. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, way to go Microsoft ....
Edit: hoping these are the details you are after, Dragnmoon!
Windows Vista Home Premium, Service Pack 2, Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU, Q9400 @ 2.66 GHz, 4.00 gb Ram, 32-bit OS.
EDIT EDIT: Just managed to find a way to download it via Games for Window (it seems one redirect tells you it's unavailable in Australia, but if you go in through your computer's link, it works fine. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF Microsoft strikes again!) and am currently waiting to see how this sucker works out. Will hopefully be able to take the physical copy of the game back to EB and get a credit, rather than a Refund.
Right, after getting the run around for THREE HOURS with Microsoft eventually saying "Oh, we don't do much for people outside of America", I've resorted to begging for help here.
Here's the 'errors', as close as I can put them up here, and for the sake of all our sanity, I've tried the /cmd function with little effect (does little to help if you have to use /cmd with 4 DIFFERENT CD's and know blast-all about Computer Programming, Computer Language or the like. I hit the power button, insert the CD, push 'yes' is about my limit of finesse with the almighty computer.
Error 1305. Error reading from file C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Fable – The Lost Chapters\data\graphics\pc\textures.big.
and
Fatal error: -1603 Consult Windows Installer Help (Msi.chm) or MSDN for more information.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, if anyone could spare the time. Have been dying to go back to the original (And superior) Fable for nostalgia, picked up the game for the PC (cannot find it as an XBox game for love, money or virgin sacrifices to Skorm!) ... and typical Microsoft shenanigans ensue!
Just saw it. I'd ..... rank it about equal with the First Tran-Bay movie. Yes, I know, blasphemy, but overall it was an enjoyable action flick, the Autobots were without exception the only transformers with colouration, I'll admit a love of the Wreckers, bad accents and all. Just .... angry scottsmen, singularly most terrifying force known to man, now armed with intergrated gattling cannons, super-human strength and endurance and ever fouler personalities than Slag suffering from the 4 million year Itch.
Female love interest was about as interesting as any other piece of fap-bait, but I'd still rank her about the same as the previous love interest: there to give the lonely young men false hope of another Wet T-Shirt segment ala Spiderman. Kinda got her confused with the female blonde government agent from the first movie, which is kinda depressing when you consider that apparently long legs, sex appeal and fly-on-the-wall acting apparently cuts it for the leading female role.
So Liz doesn't have to come break my face again ...:
Wheely and his Cohort died heroicly. Oddly more than I thought Bay would give bit-part characters. Decepticons die like the cannon fodder they are, but Megatron's 'babies' out in the African desert are never shown to die. I smell yet another movie. Hopefully Michael Bay is kept away and Steven Spielberg falls back on his own chops to direct it.
Humans kick arse, once obligatory Heroic B+!$% Slap of Destiny is delivered to all and sundry, and tear Starscream to pieces and then proceed to chew Soundwave up like a cheap chew-toy. A nice touch, given that now we have Energon detectors and apparently HEAT-round modified weaponry is stockpiled in enough numbers to literally drown the Decepticons in ammunition.
The new face on the block is a nice foil to Optimus. One values life and freedom, the other values Cybertronian life and wishes for a return to racial unity. A nice touch for the 'shades of hero' theme and how easy it would be for Optimus to lose faith just once and start a gradual slide into absolute villainy.
And the final fight with Megatron .... THAT WAS IT? Millions of years of hatred between the two, endless fighting, losing countless friends and allies to each other ... and bang it's done. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah....
Still, I'd give it a 3-3.5 outta 5. It's nowhere near the fun the original animated movie was, but still it's not nearly as terribad as the second movie.
On the subject of Goblins, Hobgoblins are the result of Goblins magically mutated by a powerful artefact, if I recall correctly. Does that mean that Bugbears are, in term, another off-shoot/mutation of the original Goblin race?
How often do you encounter folks who've never met an Elf, and how many times do you have to sit through "What's wrong with your eyes?" questions?
If you ever came across a malfunctioning Mirror of Opposition that instead spawned friendly versions of whomever was reflected in it, what would you do?
*readies Decanter of endless Tar and Feathers for the inevitable Troll response from the peanut gallery*
Have you ever encountered a person, thing or event in your adventures that made you go "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!", and if so, can we have some specifics?
Which would be cooler? A cloak that allows you to turn into a flying animal at will for as long as you want, a baby unicorn who thinks you are it's mother, or a sentient back-talking magical weapon?
At the risk of incurring the wrath of Seoni's player and earning a Service GNinja Earthbreaker to the face, we'd need three different game engines, one for the world and one each for Seoni's Magic Mountains.
Screams like a little girl as he's savaged by the female gamers and GNinjas!
On a more serious note, while the NWN series can make for a good platform to build off and get the general idea up and running (and possibly wave the finished product under Paizo's nose to show it can be done!), we'd need a new game based upon Paizo rules, not 3.5, meaning coding would have to be changed, and we'd also need to source a game engine that is both free to use, compatible with the OGL and a top-down or diagonal camera view and complex moving characters such as the NWN II Series did.
No small undertaking, but if we got enough consumers to stick their hand up and go 'Aye!', and people were willing to help Paizo bankroll the thing, we might just get this particular ball rolling!
James, flicking through my old Monster Manual and the Ultimate Magic, I notice the Stats for the Pig familiar and the average Dog from the Monster Manual are just about interchangeable. Would you personally rule it viable for a Sorcerer/Wizard/Witch to have a 'Dog' familiar, using the Pig Familiar stats?
At what time is the PDF version likely to be available? I'd love a Hardcover version, but living all the way out in Australia makes shipping costs prohibitive and my local game-store (three hours away and $80 worth of fuel!) hasn't stocked Pathfinder items since the Dungeon & Dragon magazines were cancelled.
From a Flavour point-of-view, would you rule it's legal for a Two-Weapon Archetype Fighter to use Unarmed Strikes with the Class Abilities, or does the old 'Unarmed Strikes are not Manufactured Weapons' ruling apply here?
Just finished reading the Book of the Damned, Volume 1:
spoilers abound, you have been warned!:
When Asmodeus and Lhys first quarrelled, and then the coming of the Mote-that-would-be-Sarenrae, and their final, tragic meeting, I have to admit I teared up a bit. Many, many kudos for painting Asmodeus as the tragic, conflicted and deep character he always deserved to be. I almost find myself cheering for The First.
Now, I'm fairly certain I've got as many of the PDFs as I can get, but I can't find this 'Advanced Bestiary' that is mentioned in the 'Cave Creature' insert, page 17 of the Pathfinder Chronicles: Into the Darklands.
Probably having yet another brain-fart, but after trawling back and forth through the site and my downloads, I can't find it for love nor money.
First off, sorry for the Meme James, I just couldn't resist the temptation.
On to the questions then. Given the Lizardfolk have written that they can gain climb speeds if not found in swamps, but still retain their hold-breath racial ability, does this mean that the Lizardfolk's ancient empire was once a semi-aquatic one? I'm thinking vast, primordial swamp with sweltering heat, dinosaurs and large stretches of open water where Lizardfolk Cavaliers on Elmasaurs patrolled the borders, or am I going too heavily into the Warhammer Lizardfolk mythos here?
On to the subject of Orcs, something I have been giving a lot of thought .... are they the spawn of Rovarug? It would make quite a lot of sense that they are biologically and mentally designed to basically eat, ravage, burn and destroy everything in their path, sort of like the Tarrasque sans the second part. I'm thinking the Orcs are born of the blood shed by the Rough Beast during his imprisonment, taking form deep underground and then going on to continuously assault the Dwarves till the Dwarves went up to the surface, driving the Orcs before them. Or are they just shock-troops designed by the Vault Builders that went feral?
Be very careful with those. A laser pointer can blind a human through bad luck and a cats eyes a even more sensible. Don't maim your pet for fun!
God no, I'd never forgive myself if I did that. Soon as the head comes into the laser-light, the finger comes off the button.
Still, it is hilarious to send a 'scrum' of cats charging down the hallway chasing after the little red dot. Finally, a way to use the Handle Animal skill on the humble house-hold cat effectively!
Oh, I know about that one, and I am tempted to throw it to the player (via a story-reward if he can pull his monk's head out of his ass long enough to accept humility, but that is a different kettle of fish) along with a weapon like the Bill or some other halberd-like weapon.
I am a little concerned about offering him that, as knowing the player he'll take that other feat that allows a Monk to use Deflect Arrows as often as he wants while using a polearm (but can't catch the missiles due to this)
At the moment, have one of my cats having an absolute fit. With three laser pointers, turned on the first, pointed it directly at one section of ground, and little Bruce jumped right on it. Pointed the second one next to that, and then Bruce jumped to that. After some time, the cat finally figured out it could 'catch' both points of light with both front paws.
And then I activated the third laser pointer with my teeth, directly between the cat's paws. Spent a minute trying to not choke to death on aforementioned third laser-pointer as the little cat's head exploded trying to figure out with what she was going to catch this third little dot, and then I turned on all three laser pointers at once. Immediate flip-out from the cat as her little paws just went all over the place trying to 'herd' the dots together.
Building a giant tree off the coast right now, and thank the Gods for fast-growing trees, currently making it to 21 blocks tall and still going. Anyone know if the shears (new item) and the blocks of leaves (sheared from living trees) will allow me to artificially put leaves on my man-made tree?
The answer is "YES". Now up to 52 blocks tall, rooms on the 'outward' branches, eighteen of them, plus stairs and ladders connecting them all. Now off to the Nether to gather more Glowstone to speckle through the tree's branches. Getting a real teldrassil (BLEH!)/ Fairy Tree vibe off my new home, although my Obsidian and Lava Tower still holds a warm place in my black, shallow little heart.
I just double-checked the Errata, Amulets of Natural Armor are an Enhancement Bonus, so they stack with 'natural' Natural Armor, such as those granted by feats or innate abilities of the wearer. If the wearer instead is under the effect of a spell or similar effect, only the greater ability takes effect.
I also agree the Savage Barbarian could have been built a little better. Naked Courage, for example, should increase the natural armor bonus every 3 levels, not 6, but the fear bonus should not alter, I believe.
Oh, and I also agree with the feats. But given that as-written the Class seems heavily slanted towards stacking Dexterity and Constitution, a Raging Barbarian with dual-wielding skills would be an awesomely fun character.
Building a giant tree off the coast right now, and thank the Gods for fast-growing trees, currently making it to 21 blocks tall and still going. Anyone know if the shears (new item) and the blocks of leaves (sheared from living trees) will allow me to artificially put leaves on my man-made tree?
