Godu's page

Tells (and others)

This book reprints material from previously published books. The new additions are VERY limited. I agree that I can use an artifact anywhere I want to but I want NEW artifacts not ones I can go back and find on my own.

Paizo essentially asked me to pay for material I already own and use. I would have welcomed a few pages of indexing for existing artifacts and stats for those that were lacking but unfortunately most of the material in the book is a reprint of what I have already seen.

My opinion is that this is a book that is put out for those who do not get the Adventure Paths (or want to get them) to flesh out the world for them. In that frame this is an excellent book.

But to ask those of us who are subscribers to accept material that we already have; that we have already used or plan on using; have already updated and/or created our own stats for is... not productive.

This is all that I am going to say on the matter.

Thank you.

So... I thought about this post and decided to do it here instead of in a review of the product.

I thought that the production standards of the product where fine.

However, I am annoyed that Paizo decided to write a book on Artifacts and fill it with reprints of what they have already published. I was looking forward to seeing some new and interesting items that I could use in unexplored places NOT items tied to specific Adventure Paths which I had already seen.

From my perspective this was a book of fluff... I already had the crunch and the settings the artifacts were used in. To be asked to pay for this as part of my support of the Campaign Setting and Paizo is... disheartening...

I also am not a fan of the Metagame Artifacts. These artifacts essentially replace GM-Player communication with... pink elephants. Why not just ask your GM to allow you to create a new character or reformat the one you're playing; why the need to introduce an artifact... And if a GM and a group cannot cover for a player when they cannot attend a game... Sigh!

Thank you!

I'll ride the wounded red dragon down the tunnel...

I cut the portcullis chain! (my all time favorite)

Yes, it is evil.

At low levels the Slumber Hex is unbeatable!

If you combine with a rogue to get sneak attack on slumber'ed enemies...

The Healing Hex is very useful as well; especially if the party either lacks a cleric or has a cleric that focuses on combat.

Evil Eye is an excellent hex but I, personally, feel the Slumber Hex is a bit better at 1st level. Fly is also an excellent choice for an early hex!

Mage Armor is a good spell choice even if you plan on staying toward the rear...

A crossbow is very useful as well at low levels especially if you have a decent dex (for AC...). I have never used a melee weapon as a witch...

Your hexes will be much more powerful and useful than your spells at lower levels.

I actually pulled off two 20/20/another number during one gaming session... There was much excitement but we all (myself included) decided that the 3x20 = insta-kill was, perhaps, a bit much. This group did not come up with another house rule since I did not get the third 20...

For my games I allow an additional die of damage for every additional 20 (so exploding damage concept) but I do not increase anything except the damage die past the initial Crit doubling.

Once a year I make a Bacon Explosion. Requires:

2 lbs italian sausage
~15 slices of thick cut bacon
your favorite pork rub
your favorite bbq sauce (a sweet sauce works best, it sets up nicely when basting)

If you smoke it, it takes around 1 hour per inch of thickness. Essentially it's bacon wrapped bacon, with some sausage and bbq sauce added.

And then you need to deep fry it!

I played 2E during my college years and for a good while after. I enjoyed the settings and the books and thought it was a fine system.

However, I also had pages of house rules...

I liked the shift to 3E since I eliminated most of my house rules! Pathfinder is even better at this.

And it looks like the Gulf is heating up as well. Two potential systems with 50-50 chances to come up toward Texas and Louisiana.

Although the high pressure system causing the drought will most likely keep the worst of the storms out of Texas maybe we can pick up some rain.

Forgot this... archers! In a setting that allows space archers will generally halt the use of the hex. The witch (myself) moves into hex range and sleeps an opponent (thus identifying myself as a caster) and is then fired at by multiple archers who are (still) out of my range.

As a first/second level witch it does not take very many arrows to make me decide to fall back... or fall unconscious...

Tunnels and indoor encounters limit the archers but increase the risk of an opponent being able to close into melee range. While the hex is much more functional in melee combat than a spell the witch is still a very soft target for most melee creatures...

So archers (or other ranged combatants) and multiple melee opponents that are able (or potentially able) to close with the witch will force the character to decide just how brave they want to be as well as think about how much healing the cleric is willing to spend on them.

Having played a witch with the Slumber Hex I agree that it can be quite powerful against low HD creatures... then again, without the Hex it is likely that at least one session would have degenerated into a TPK...

Having a witch opponent use the hex against the players is certainly a fair move - but moving to gang up on the players and hammer them just because they found a cool toy is likely to lead to loss of fun and create an adversarial GM-Player relationship.

While I have not played, yet, a higher level witch my expectation is that the Hex will lose utility as we advance and creatures gain improved saves and have access to spells and abilities that will negate it.

I would certainly use some of the options put out by the other posters (Brambleman's list is nice) for some encounters - if only to give other players a chance to shine while the witch tries to figure out what other powers may be useful.

I understand why they have the ability - both the cavalier and the samurai are, historically/romantically/whatever mounted figures. However, I do agree that it would have been nice if they had other options.

For the cavalier in my campaign I came up with a weapon focus similar to (abet weaker than) that of the paladin's. I just replaced most of the mount/riding bonuses by level with weapon bonuses. This seems to be working and my player is much happier.

I do think that the mount ability has great potential for swaps with archetypes and look forward to seeing what happens with that.

I agree with everyone else that there is very little about the orcs anywhere in the Eberron library.

The old "Dragonshards" articles by Keith Baker (still archived on the WotC website I think) offer lots of detail about just about everything except the orcs. Even the discussion threads that Keith Baker participated in only mention, briefly, those orcs which live adjacent to the Demon Wastes and worship a deity/force/etc similar to the Silver Flame.

Basically they appear to be open to whatever interpretation you would wish to put on them.

The problem with using Karrnath (or Vol) as a patron is that neither faction would ever want to open the Bottle of the Bound, and release the Lords of Dust. I can't imagine who would, which is why I am having trouble choosing patrons and early goals.

The anti-paladin could easily be a soldier from Karrnath who has been wildly disenchanted with the end of the war (believing Karrnath was going to win and Kaius III is weak for signing a peace treaty) and is now looking for purpose in life. An agent of the Lords of Dust would most likely see this as fertile recruiting ground and the AntiP may well drift towards the LoD seeking power to re-ignite the war and conclude it as he/she thought that it should have ended...

You could also move slightly away from some of what is written and make Kaius really evil. He is seeking to ally himself with the LoD to defeat Vol (perhaps to take her place) and is willing to sacrifice lots of people to do this (preferably from Breland, Thrane, or Aundair). The anti-paladin could, in this instance, actually be an agent of the king...

Opposition in both cases would come from the Silver Flame and Vol and you might well get political ramifications/situations as well in Karrnath if you want to go that direction. In both cases the Sovereign Host and Dark Six could be played as opposition, quasi-allies, or even ineffective light entertainment...

While not "bribe-able" per say I am always a bit more generous when happy. When I am not happy I tend to use the players/characters to generate amusement...

Arwen Grace (a.k.a. houstonbaby) came into the world at 4:31 a.m. healthy, with all of her fingers and toes and a nice crop of hair (and her daddy's cleft chin!).

:)

Congratulations! We may have some clothing that we can pass on if you need any!

I agree with this. I am currently running a paladin in Second Darkness (currently 9th level). In normal combat I am there to back up the fighter and help keep the minions off the spell casters. The fighter and mages do the big damage and generally clean up the board.

About once every game session we do face an opponent that is open to my smite ability. When this happens the fighter and I tend to switch roles with him keeping minions away from me while I go after the main target.

I do not think that the smite is overpowered, especially in a series of encounters where I am forced to choose whether to use a smite or save it for a potentially appropriate opponent later. It most combats my paladin cannot come close to the damage the party fighter can dish out - which, I think, is the point; I get to be great once or twice a game session while then falling back and allowing other people to shine doing their stuff.

To go back to the green dragon at the start of this: I would certainly have a big smile on my face if I got to melee an evil dragon. My question here would be, I guess, was that the only encounter or were there a series of other fights and puzzles that involved the other characters? The GM who is running the SD campaign also tends to max out hitpoints for most creatures to help keep them up for multiple rounds.

Houston Derek wrote: "No, the government took money from an individual (actually lots of individuals) to pave that road. Now, I know in Europe this is all done voluntarily, and no one ever tries to get out of paying taxes, but here, the only way government collects the money is by threatening to imprison people who don't pay up.

So, not in Europe, where these things never happen, the U.S. Government basically collects taxes the same way a loan shark does. Well, except it is easier to recover from a broken kneecap than it is a prison sentence."

Uhm Derek, (pardon the failure of the automatic quote above)

While I certainly respect your opinion I really hope that you are just speaking hyperbolically here since that statement is just not true.

Greece only has about a 1/3rd tax payment rate, which is part of the reason they are in so much trouble right now. Both Britain and France have fairly efficient tax enforcement agencies that compel payment of taxes.

Further most Western European governments have a VAT system as well as income taxes; which is why gas and other commodities are so much more expensive in Europe compared to the U.S..

I'm looking into finding a real Gunslinger type prestige class but would anyone see a gamebreaking issue with allowed an arcane archer to use a firearm instead?

Yes, the IK Character Guide has the Gun Mage as a base class as well as at least one Prestige Class based on the GM. They also have some good 3.5 rules on firearms as well as firearms and equipment.

I have a Gun Mage in one of my Eberron games and while we heavily tweaked the fluff and guns (elemental power instead of gunpowder) the class does not appear to be over powered.

Let's just childproof children and lock them away until adulthood while we are at it.

I find that bubble wrap and duct tape work for me...

I figure that my gaming conversations are the reason the FBI/CIA/Insert Black Agency Here/Neighbors tap my phones and monitor all my Email and calls... I'm doing my part to keep the informants employed in this economy!

I'm rooting for Cote D'Ivoire in the Group of Death,

their game with Argentina was my #1 favorite game from the last cup in Germany.

I just don't think I can root for France this cup. :-/

I am definitely rooting for Cote d'Ivoire! I'd like to see an Ivoirian-France match up. That might even give Court Fool the violence he is looking for...

Does the New Zealand team open with the Haka as their Rugby counterparts do? That would be something to watch.

Group "G" has apparently been designated this year's "Group of Death" which is regrettable for Cote d'Ivoire.

Unfortunately the U.S. team looks a bit less than competent this go-round. Their occasional flashes of brilliance will not be able to defeat a solid, consistent team (i.e. most other teams in the Cup) and advance. I will certainly be rooting for England!

silverhair2008 wrote:

Kirth, it sounds like one of two stations that I know of. One is 93.7 FM and the show is the Walton and Johnson show. The 93.7 station is sold as the Classic Rock Station. I hope this helps.

That's indeed the one! I checked the dial for the station number, but didn't know the show. Thanks!

EDIT: Alas, I fail to see any hint of transcripts on their web site.

Walton and Johnson... yeah they are the reason I listen to NPR in the mornings in Houston. I figure that their transcripts are condemned as "toxic waste" by the EPA and moved immediately to a haz-mat site for disposal.

Derek is most likely correct when he says that they are a parody of the Glenn Beck approach to politics. I just cannot drink enough alcohol by 8AM to make them palatable.

1) Do find caffeine (cup, bottle, can or pill) significantly improves your ability to keep the game running full steam?

2) Do you prefer having less then, more then or the exact recommended number of players for the game system your running?

1) Large coffee in face-to-face games - reinforced by the fact that we play in a public place and I need to drive to get there.

1a) Rum when running through my play-by-Email game! Definitely makes the battles more fun as well as the role playing. Don't have to think quite as fast as in person... and I get the chance to edit and re-read my posts before sending...

2) I prefer a few more but will adjust the challenges upwards when I have more than 6.

I can probably make the "special guest appearance" here and there, but I think the new job might preclude me from playing Sundays regularly.

Sucks, too. I miss playing with Godu and ObRay. (I play with airHayilverSay and essJay on Mondays.)

I eagerly await the guest appearance of the damage monsters you create. I seriously lost count of how many dice you were rolling at one point...

Godu. In pathfinder all races have any as favored class

See, I get a shiny new book and get lost in irrelevant details and scantily clad racial icons, missing the important stuff... sigh!

Kirth Gersen wrote:

Krigare wrote:

I live down near Clear Lake

My game's all the way over in Westchase. Dunno if Silverhair's might be close enough for you, or if he's got any openings.

Heh, one of my friends lives out there, its not that far of a drive =p

All the way over would be like, Katy or Conroe =P

To break into the thread...

Silverhair can contradict me but we do need people for the Pathfinder Society Games we play on the last Sunday of the month (or try to play if we can get enough people) and I can certainly take another player in the games I run there (usually the 1st of the month - we just started so everyone is still 1st level).

We currently play at Asgard Games, on Kirby immediately south of 59.

I don't play in Kirth Gersen's game since I have family obligations and am only let out once a week... Derek can vouch for me... and we are still waiting so him back on Sunday at some point as well.

I haven't seen anything personally, but I'll give it a crack:

Pathfinder Warforged Racial Traits:
+2 Con, +2 Int, -2 Wis (built tough, machine-like memory, no creativity)
All other traits remain unchanged.
Can choose any class as favored class.

Pathfinder Warforged Scout Racial Traits:
+2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Str (built for speed, machine-like memory, small size)
All other traits remain unchanged.
Can choose any class as favored class.

{In Pathfinder all races gain +2 to a physical and a mental stat and -2 to one stat, except human-based which gain +2 to any one stat. The warforged are not overly powered compared to other PRPG races, so they don't need the double penalties. I figure a machine will have a higher Int than normal, but may lack perception of the real world (except the scout version).}

I would give them Favored Class: Fighter since that is what they were built to be. Perhaps allow the scout to choose Rogue.

I have not had a major problem with WF in my Eberron games, although my players tend not to min-max so much. Clearly the race can be abused. Certainly with PFRPG I think that the difference between WF and other races shrinks.

I do think that WF have a distinctively Eberron flavor and so would be a more difficult fit in other worlds. Zobeck has a nice take on the clockwork soldiers which gets away from dragonshards and suchlike...

Any fresh blood I get has to be "untainted" by the modern expectations gamers seem to have, and that is a rare thing these day.

Eh, nevermind. Just bring me my Geritol and get offa my lawn!

I think that this is the first time I have ever been referred to as "untainted"... I guess I will just have to work harder.

I have to agree with derek though - in games I played and GM'd the threat of instant death did provide excitement and thrill - not to mention the occasional chance to run through multiple characters. For longer, campaign length games I feel that it is the responsibility of the GM to provide opportunities for character survival at 1st level - with the recognition that the player has every right not to take advantage of such "opportunities" and have their character die.

Hey Derek,

The BBC is currently running a story about Obama's gaff... so really, it is only the American media that is useless - not that that should be a surprise really.

I don't have any pot but I live near a middle school so...

I would love to say "I'll be there" but unfortunately Feb 6 is the expected due date of our second daughter...

Since I would like to continue gaming in the future and not have my wife either burn all my gaming materials (heat the house for the winter!) or cause me grievous bodily harm I am going to have to miss this one.

Great Sorrow and Consternation though!

Hey and Howdy!

I'm down in the Meyerland area and would be interested in a Pathfinder game, or whatever else really. My apologies for not picking up this thread earlier!

I'm currently running a PBEM Eberron campaign and we are transitioning to the Pathfinder rules which everyone seems to like.

Stuck around with Gustav, we're not in an evacuation/storm surge zone so I figure a tree through the roof is the worst (with a Cat 3 or 4)and I can always cut my way out afterwards... maybe... unless the zombies show up... although now it looks like it will most likely just be rain Tuesday or Wednesday and little wind.

Perhaps we should all chant "54-40 or Fight"

At least then I would not have to deal with Homeland Security when I wanted to see the melting glaciers... besides, if we took in some actual Canadian Breweries... hmmmm...

Ah, a feast! What fun. Please welcome our admiring and jealous neighbors, offer them some wine... and prawns with sauce... Please, don't worry about the taste, it is merely a strange and exotic spice, meant to, uhm..., enliven your culinary experience!

Hasbro has apparently also forced the game scrabulous off of Facebook (over copyright issues) but promised that they would make their own on-line version of scrabble available... apparently their website crashed and was then hacked before anyone was able to download it...

Perhaps they pulled people off Gleemax to try to make their on-line Scrabble work... based on their success with the DDI my brother-in-law, who is a Scrabulous fanatic, is going to have to find another hobby.

I'm not sure whether I should be (a) concerned that there is another person on the boards using the name Sebastian and this thread is in his honor or (b) using the interest shown in this thread to finally start that cult I've always dreamed about.

Thanks for the kind words (except for those two faced bastards in the crowd (you know who you are) that are trying to use kindness to lure me into complacency and friendliness - it won't work).

First a magic card, now a warlord in a 40k army. All I need now is for someone to name a kitten after me.*

*But don't go thinking that will keep the cute little thing out of the furnace. It won't.

Ha! Sebastian's mind control powers are so great I named the Kitten after him before I even knew he existed!

Unfortunately the kitten-Sebastian is likely to merely bask in the heat and come looking for kippers if thrown into a furnace... not that I have not considered that solution on occasion!

You could make an adventure out of the party trying to get their stuff to a market.

This would work well, I think, in a POL that assumes that once there were all these interconnections and now they are gone. The party can work to rebuild some of the routes if they are interested in that kind of campaign or just use the old routes as a way to "blow this joint" once they have what they believe is enough money to make in the "big city."

I think that the concept of starting off in a small village with little or no resources is a good hook for an adventuring party and campaign.

I’ve found that having a new child (my first) has done wonders for my lack of sleeping… I thought I used to know what fatigue was, and then my daughter introduced me to an entirely new level of sleep deprivation. Even after a year I have not been able to recapture those glorious days of feeling completely rested. As a consolation, I do find that I am now a cheap drunk…

The real joy is those days in the field when I get up (or more correctly, get out of the house) before dawn and interact with heavy machinery. My wonderful command of Germanic and Slavic languages is a complete failure when interacting with Spanish speaking equipment operators. And then there are the undocumented gas lines…

The most recent, really memorable, goof up came a few months ago in my previous Eberron campaign. I was running one of the Sharn adventures from Dragon Magazine where the characters have to descend into the depths to stop the evil guy from opening a permanent gate to Fernia (plane of fire).

They descended into the old tunnels and managed to force the young red dragon guardian to surrender. The next step was to descend down a deep pit into the depths. The artificer had not taken any points of “Climb” and so was terrified of attempting the 30+ meter descent and falling to his death. In his panic he apparently failed to realize that he could be lowered down the shaft by his companions or otherwise get out of making climb checks (these guys did have plenty of rope).

His solution was to make a deal with the surrendered red dragon to heal some of its wounds if it would allow him to ride it down the shaft… Why he thought this was a better choice then the rope still escapes me but… The other characters attempted to dissuade him, although perhaps not as emphatically as they might have since I think they sorta wanted to see just what form the ensuing chaos would take…

So the artificer straps himself onto the back of the red dragon (he made some good diplomacy and intimidate rolls and the dragon [me] had a plan…) and prepared to go. The dragon was healed of some of its damage and then dropped down the shaft. Everything going to plan so far… However, the dragon did not stop at the bottom of the shaft but instead flew down a wide corridor into a cavern filling with molten rock from the opening gate to Fernia. The dragon, fed up with the situation, was now going to fly through the gate and escape…

The artificer attempted to draw his weapon and beat on the corkscrewing dragon… but it turns out that not only did he not have skill points in Climb but neither had he taken any points in Ride… After an abysmal roll he was forced mainly to concentrate on holding on as he barfed over the side. In desperation he did manage to cut himself free, just before the dragon reached the gate, and jump off… into the pool of lava. He managed to make a save and land partially on a rock but he was now badly injured and facing the main bad guy while his companions, using the rope, were still in the process of reaching the lower level.

He did manage to die heroically, distracting the BBEG while the rest of the party rushed to the site in time to see him torn apart by some spell.

So, “the red dragon incident” has become synonymous among my players for doing something foolish and excessively complicated in the face of easier and safer alternatives. Quite amusing, although, perhaps not quite the myth and legend that has become known as the “Portcullis Incident”

I had two in a row during my last class. I was teaching World Geography at a community college and we had reached New Zealand… the parliament building in Wellington looks almost exactly like a Dalek. Most of the class just looked at me like I was crazy when I brought this to their attention. Then later in the class someone brought up the fact that the “Answer” was 44… I got to be geek and professorial all at the same time by correcting it to 42… at that point, again, almost the entire class looked at the two of us like we were idiots. Sigh!

I have expressed my opinion of WotC’s decision to kill Dragon and Dungeon on their boards and so will not repeat myself here. Especially as I see that I agree with most of the other posts.

I am looking forward to Pathfinder and hope that it will only improve what was published in its precursor magazines.

While the price of Pathfinder will be point, I will also add that since I have chosen to give my hard earned (usually) cash to Paizo I will not have the money to pay for any E-zine or other online content that WotC puts out. I will more than likely still purchase the occasional WotC material (I am a fan of Eberron) but they have certainly lost the portion of my gaming income which went to those two magazines.

Paizo’s response to this has been excellent! They have treated me with respect and with the belief that I am an intelligent and, potentially, annoyed customer and attempted to answer any questions or concerns I may have, even on this weekend.

WotC on the other hand...

So full points to Paizo! Own goal for WotC!