Greybird's page

I know this is not an answer, but, can you clarify on the Klaus/Bruce banner part? I'm not seeing that with the description. I loved Klaus btw, was wondering if its his ghost abilities or his love of drugzzz.

It's more of an inspiration than a derivation.

Imagine of Klaus's entire family was dead and hanging around like Ben. Plus his adopted father. Now imagine that Klaus was Bruce Banner - a decent guy, but always has this other aspect pushing him to "lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

That's the RP concept. The class/mystery is that the character has ancestors giving him advice. That's simple enough to hand-wave as mechanics, but I'm using it as he constantly has voices only he can hear whispering in his ears, pushing him to do things their way.

And since he's a half-orc, half of those voices are orcs (pushing him to extreme responses) while the other half are humans or elves (pushing him to patience and peaceful responses.) And given that the mechanics indicate that sometimes one voice or another will start to have some control over his actions, he's constantly in flux. And what about his own motivations and personality? Does he even know what they are?

He'll likely be Chaotic Neutral, not so much through his own choices, but due to the constant tug-of-war between extremes with himself as the rope. To outsiders he'll likely come off as a little mad, arguing with people nobody else can hear (there's the Klaus inspiration.) A bit less Johnny Depp, though. ;)

He'll be hard to roleplay without being annoying, but I enjoy an RP challenge. I'll likely also have a short list of significant 'powerful' ancestors. When he rolls 'martial', for instance, that's Rogash getting his way.

I was four sessions into running PF2 when the lockdown hit, and haven't touched it in six months. Now I'm about to jump into a new campaign as a player, and I seem to have picked myself a character concept with a fairly complex build, and I don't know the system all that well.

The campaign will be RP-heavy, and will not require min-maxed characters, but I'd still like to be helpful when the dice hit the fan. I don't need a full build (not that I'd turn my nose up), but I could use a few tips.

The race will be some either the pre-defined half-orc, or use the 'Other Halves' rule to create an elf/orc (so elf with half-orc heritage, or orc with half-elf.) To be honest, the orc half is what's essential. The other half could be anything with a strong contrast - halfling, for instance. That's the core of the RP concept - a character in constant conflict. He'll constantly be having his orcish ancestors whispering in one ear and his human or elven ancestors whispering in the other. One telling him to exercise patience when dealing with that arrogant mayor; the other telling him to pull out his entrails. He's one part Klaus (Umbrella Academy), one part Bruce Banner.

The class is Oracle with the Ancestors mystery. It seems from my limited experience with the system that I need to be effective with everything - spells, skills, and physical combat - and be ready to switch between them on the fly.

Being good at casting is relatively easy (although I'm not entirely sure which spells to go with), and my thought is to focus on the Charisma-based skills. But how do I handle the physical combat with light armor and having to choose between Constitution, Strength and Dex? Obviously the 'easy' answer is to go ranged, but that really goes against the core character concept.

Any advice?

Thanks. I wanted to make sure I wasn't misreading it, as it isn't the way most games handle things (all types of actions tend to be isolated by turns.)

This does mean, however, that I'll have to keep track of reactions for all of the NPCs/beasties for two rounds at a time instead of one. At the end of the round 3 when the villain goes, I'll have to remember what happened back in round 2. Brain is sad.

I'm on my second reading of the core rules before my game in a couple of weeks, and one thing felt strange both times through. Standard RPG logic is that you get X actions per turn, resetting when your turn starts once per round. I've asked elsewhere, and it has caused confusion and disagreement. So, here's the question. Bear with me and read, because this isn't as straightforward as it seems:

If a player takes a reaction with the trigger "Your turn begins", where does that reaction come from?

Standard logic says that your turn just started, so it is your reaction for that turn.

The rules, on pages 468/469, however, specify that there are several things that happen at the start of your turn, including reactions with the 'Your turn begins' trigger. It also specifies that regaining your actions and reaction is always the *last* thing that happens at the start of your turn. IE - you have to take 'Your turn begins' reactions *before* you gain your reactions for the round.

The relevant text, extra stuff snipped:

" At the start of each of your turns, take these steps in any order you choose:
• If you created an effect lasting for a certain number of rounds, reduce [SNIP]
• You can use 1 free action or reaction with a trigger of “Your turn begins” or something similar.
• If you’re dying [SNIP]
Do anything else [SNIP]
The last step of starting your turn is always the same.
• Regain your 3 actions and 1 reaction. If you haven’t spent your reaction from your last turn, you lose it — you can’t “save” actions or reactions from one turn to use during the next turn.

Regaining your actions and reactions occurs *after* you have the opportunity to use 'Your turn begins' reactions. So, again, where does that reaction come from? Does that mean that in order to use your reaction at the beginning of your turn, you have to have not used a reaction during your previous turn in the previous round?

I assume that the 'one reaction per round' rule kicks in that case, too.

Historically, tiny towns like that usually relied on traveling tinkers to handle repairs and would buy specialty goods - like horseshoes - from traveling merchants. They'd buy enough to get by until the next merchant came through. If something broke, they make due without or their neighbors help them out. In extreme cases one person might make a trip to a nearby town to place an order for the whole town.

This is not historical, but the basis is, and still explains how a small village could function.

These effectively don't exist anymore. They're not even on ebay anymore.

If you aren't going to reprint them or offer them for print-on-demand, at least reconsider offering them in .pdf format so that I can display them to my players.

Heh, with four hours of sleep in the last 36, I'm surprised I'm even that coherent.

Thanks, both of you. I thought I understood it, but there were several different sections of rules that were potentially interacting with each other there (attack rules, natural attack rules, two-weapon rules) and I wanted to make sure I was putting them together right.

Yeah, my phrasing was a bit off. That was what I was doing on the last one - combining a one-hander with the claws.

The way I was reading it was that I got the regular attack, plus the iterative attack with the one-hander, then a single claw at -5 with the other (free) hand.

Thanks.

Yes, I know that this has been asked before. I've read a bunch of the responses, and they each are A) so packed with technical jargon that I (relatively new to the game) can barely sort through them, and B) often have responses that directly contradict one another. I want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly before I pull it out in-game.

Here's the question.

I just made a new character for a new game.
~He's a level 6 barbarian.
~His BAB is +6/+1.
~He has Beast Totem, Lesser, which gives him two claw attacks, 1d6 dmg, both considered Primary.
~He has both two handed and one handed weapons in his arsenal.

Here is my understanding of how his attack options would work out:

Two-hander alone: As usual (+6/+1 and mods)

One-hander along: As usual (+6/+1 and mods)

Unarmed: Two claws at +6 and STR hit bonus, 1d6 damage, 1x STR bonus damage.

One-hander with claws: +6/+1 (plus mods) with one-hander and +1 with the claws including .5 of the STR bonus damage, as they are now secondary.

Is this correct?

I will look at that.

A couple of other notes I should have mentioned:

~While I'm not going to gimp a character, I'm not really looking to create the perfect min-max optimized character, either.

~We're starting off at level 6.

The main skills I was concerned about was Disable Device, along with the supporting rogue bonuses. It probably isn't a huge issue.

As to arcane caster - I just finished playing a wizard in our last campaign, and for the same reason - it was the only thing missing. I don't particularly care for arcane casters, and won't be doing it this time.

I've played Pathfinder for a few months, but I'm not terribly experienced with the system and the character options.

So, starting a new campaign as a player, rolled stats, four players. Although the other characters aren't set in stone, it looks like we'll have an healer paladin/oracle who uses archery, an inquisitor (unknown build), and either a ranger or alchemist.

This gives us healing and plenty of ranged damage (although it has the potential for three archers.) The healer has a massive charisma, so we're set on having a party face. Depending on the inquisitor build, we may not have any frontline melee characters, and we likely won't have any rogues.

That's where I fit in, it seems. I'm trying to plug the holes in this party. My thought is to run either a rogue (to give us the skills) or a clanky front-line melee character (to stand in the doorway and keep the baddies off of all the squishy folk.)

I'd like to play rogue, but without another melee character, I'd never have a flank, and would be the only character in reach of all those nasties. That makes the melee fighter/? more likely.

The problem is, I have no desire to play a 'stand on X, roll to hit every round' fighter. I want a degree of decision making in how I approach fights so as to keep the game from becoming an endless repetition of a single action, over and over.

Here are some limitations:

~Rules are Pathfinder, but the GM is running it in Eberron.

~This is a very casual group. There is little to no role-playing, unfortunately. That means I can't compensate for a character with dull mechanics by giving him an interesting personality.

~Stats were rolled. I have either:
17, 13, 13, 13, 12, 8
or
17, 15, 13, 13, 10, 8

~Core Rulebook and Advanced Players Guide are available, and I may be able to take options from other Paizo products.

Alrighty, we had a bit of confusion at our game the other night. To get everyone on the same page, here is the rule about AoO:

An attack of opportunity "interrupts" the normal flow of actions in the round. If an attack of opportunity is provoked, immediately resolve the attack of opportunity, then continue with the next character's turn (or complete the current turn, if the attack of opportunity was provoked in the midst of a character's turn).

So, here's the situation:

1 B 2

1 = PC 1
B = Bad guy
2 = PC 2

Bad guy, who is almost dead, has paralyzed PC 2. He chooses to perform a coup de grace to finish that PC off. This provokes an attack of opportunity from PC 1. The attack of opportunity kills the bad guy.

Which interpretation of the rules (specifically 'then... complete the current turn') applies:

1. The attack of opportunity, having killed the bad guy, ends the fight and the coup never occurs.

2. The coup and the interrupt both occur (ie - they are simultaneous), killing both PC 2 and the bad guy.

The way it is worded it could be interpreted either way.

It may be helpful to look at where the idea originally came from.

The ancient Germanic berserker, which comes from ber (meaning bear) and sarkr (meaning shirt) were warriors who wore the skin of a bear when entering battle and believed that they were channeling the spirit of the bear, gaining its strength and rage. (There were also wolf berserkers, called ulfedhin.)

They'd work themselves into a trance before battle. Exactly how this was achieved is a point of contention. Some believe it was purely psychological, others believe that they used certain psychoactive drugs to achieve the trance. Whatever the method, when they fought they fought on pure adrenaline, but with fogged emotions and diminished rationality.

They were exceedingly strong (think about stories you've heard about adrenaline giving people strength during a crisis, then think of bringing that on intentionally), and by shutting down their emotions they were free of fear and hesitation, and oblivious to pain (again, think about highly drugged individuals today who are essentially immune to law enforcement pain compliance, and who can be shot several times and not react.) Once they were done, though, they'd 'come down', and be out cold - if the wounds they'd sustained didn't kill them as soon as the trance/drugs wore off.

There was nothing of anger in what they did. There was nothing of emotion at all. It was all about forcing a psychological and physiological change.

Of course, Pathfinder/D&D isn't Germania, and our barbarians aren't Norsemen or Visigoths. Still, it is the real-world equivalent and inspiration for the rage powers.

What do I want for future tablet tools? A Windows version, that's what I'd like to see. Not everybody has a tablet or compatible phone, and I hate the idea of all of these great tools that I have no way to use, especially when I already use my PC for GMing tools (softrope, combat manager, .pdf docs etc.)

*approached (move action if needed to move more than 5 ft), and rolled a grapple check (CMB vs CMD)
*That grapple check would provoke an Attack of Opportunity (AoO) if the person trying to grapple did not have the feat Improved Grapple. Pretending he does have that feat, and makes the grapple check ~

Normally true, but there is no grapple, CMB, CMD or attacks of opportunity in the beginner box.

I'd have them make an attack roll, perhaps with their base attack bonus + STR mod vs. the goblin's touch AC to grab them, then have an opposed STR check each round for the goblin to get away (+4 to the player.) It's simplified, but would achieve the same thing.

Thanks for the work on this. Fantastic work.

How about the rule called "common sense?" GMs don't control player's opinions and decisions with dice rolls unless they're under a compulsion or some similar effect. Paizo wouldn't write a rule that takes control of the character away from the player in every conversation. It wouldn't happen. It makes no sense, and is against the spirit of the game.

If you want players to believe a character is trustworthy, play the character that way, and let them make skill checks to confirm it. If they still don't - well, that's called free will. Players don't always do what the GM wants, and the challenge of GMing is in figuring out how to deal with that.

I'm getting ready to play with my kids. I've been playing the full game for a while now, and my plan is to transition them into the full rules slowly. The thing to remember is that the BB rules and the full rules aren't two separate games. They're the same game, just with a few pieces trimmed here and there. You don't need to jump fully from one to the other. Make it a transition.

My plan, as it stands now:

1 - Play an adventure or two with the pregens to let them learn the basics without fighting with all the details.

2 - Play a short campaign with custom made characters. Since they will already know the basics, character generation will actually make sense to them. They'll understand why an 18 is good and a 4 is bad, or what skill points actually mean. I don't plan to change much of anything on this first campaign. The point is to make them as comfortable with the basic rules as possible. The only thing I'll likely do is that somewhere around level 3 or 4 (when they seem ready), I'll switch them to the full character sheets I use in my regular games. I won't be adding any extra info (CMB, etc), I'll just be having them get used to finding the basic rules stats on the full sheet.

3 - Start a new campaign. Characters will be generated with the Core Rulebook this time. I'll start them with the full list of available skills/weapons/feats but we'll start only using the basic rules. Leveling up will be via the full rules.

4 - Every couple of adventures/every level I'll introduce one new thing. I will only introduce a new rule when the previous one has been seamlessly integrated into our games. I'll likely introduce flat footed first, as it is easy to understand and doesn't involve a huge load of procedures (hint: Note your flat footed AC on your character sheet so you aren't trying to calculate it each time.)

5 - Next will be combat maneuvers. I will NOT attempt to teach them these. It'll just confuse them. Instead, I'll give them a written list and say, "From now on you can try these things if you want to." We'll tackle them as they come up. Heck, most experienced regular players don't know how to do a combat maneuver steal off the top of their head, either.

6 - Attacks of Opportunity will be next, as they affect a lot of other activities, from casting to moving to drinking a potion.

My goal is that we'll be implementing the last of these rules about the time they hit level 5 and officially 'graduate' to the full game. Of course, if anything starts to be a problem and 'jams the gears', I'll move it back to the bottom of the list and reintroduce it later.

Another huge hint: Spend five bucks and buy the Sord-PF. Print it out. Punch some holes and keep it on hand. It summarizes the rules in such a way that you can look them up in seconds instead of minutes. You'll still need to read the full version in the core rulebook, but afterwards you can use this as a handy reference to the whole thing.

Yep, this is to you.

I'm a single parent of two kids. I'm also a gamer, and have been since elementary school. I know that when my kids show interest in something, I like to check it out first. I like to see what I'm getting them into. Since I frequently check official forums, I figure that some of you will end up here, trying to decide whether this RPG hobby is something you want to get your kids into. Maybe you want to find out whether this hobby has any real-world value. Maybe you're like me, and grew up during that raging paranoia of the early 80s that had parents thinking that a game would have their kids hiding in the sewers and sacrificing to dark gods. Then again, maybe you don't know the first thing about it. Like I said, this is for you.

What RPGs are: They are, essentially, interactive storytelling games. Think of them as a mix of telling ghost stories around a campfire and improvisational theater. One person (called the game master, or GM) is in charge. He has an outline for a story. He sets the stage by describing the situation and the players take part in the story by describing their responses. Conversations with characters in the story are simply acted out between the players and the GM. If you imagine a game of cops and robbers for big kids (and yes, even adults) you won't be too far off the mark.

All those papers and dice? The papers list equipment and abilities every character in the story has access to, and they rate each character's strengths and weaknesses with a number. A powerful warrior might have a strength rated 18, but an intelligence rated a mere 9. The numbers are used by essentially (simplifying for clarity) adding them to the roll of a die. The higher the rating, the higher the result of a die roll. 18+(1 to 20) is usually higher than 9+(1 to 20.) The higher the result of a die roll, the more effective an attempt to use an ability or skill is. That warrior's attempts to use his 18 strength will be much more effective than his attempts to use his 9 intelligence.

Ok, now to the nitty gritty. Now that we know what these games are, what do they actually do to your kids? I'm going to use myself as an example here, mainly because I know myself well and keep myself close at hand. I rolled my first 20-sided die when I was nine years old, and am still rolling as I inch ever closer to the big four-oh. Here is what it did to me and how it affected my life:

~I got constant practice with on-the-fly mathematics. This is obviously less relevant as an adult, but when I first started, the numbers I was adding and subtracting a hundred times a game were as complex as what I was getting in school, and I had to learn to do them quickly, accurately, and in my head.

~On a similar note, the game introduced me to the concepts of probability and statistics. Trust me, after you've played for a while the difference between a 5 in 20 chance and a 7 in 20 chance becomes significant. Is it worth it to take a chance on that slippery rope now when it makes it 15% harder to succeed, or is 15% too much to risk? Can your kids answer that? They will after playing RPGs for a while.

~They got me to read. I don't just mean I was reading the rules, I mean that I was reading everything, and constantly. You never saw me without a book in hand. By the time I was ten years old I was pouring through novels like mad, and this was in a time before Harry Potter, when 'young adult' fantasy novels weren't available. Along those same lines...

~...They got me to study, and to love studying. I'm not kidding. Playing and loving a game full of exotic cultures and medieval settings made me want to know more about those things. I started studying in elementary school, continued with courses in college, and still study and learn every chance I get. What am I talking about? These games led me directly to study, at various times: Art and art history, music history, ancient and medieval history, social and cultural anthropology, philosophy, military history, archaeology, mythology, folklore, literature, sociology, zoology/botany/biology, linguistics, language (I still have a smattering of ancient Greek and Latin), numerous historical crafts and skills, and more. I have numerous bookshelves filled with everything from medieval histories to Shakespeare, from mythology to language texts. Being introduced to a fantasy world based on our own creates a hunger to understand, and that can blossom into a love and fascination with our own world that last a lifetime.

~A strong imagination. That may not sound like much as an adult, but a strong, practiced imagination is the number one tool for problem solving and innovation. Problem solving is all about looking at a problem and thinking of a solution that can solve that problem. That's called imagination. Innovation - the ability to find new approaches and methods - is an invaluable tool in almost any profession or industry. In a society that tends to downplay imagination in adults, a tool like RPGs that constantly and actively exercises one's imagination can be a huge advantage.

~A social life. All of my best friends growing up were people I met through gaming. That's true as an adult as well. It may seem counter intuitive, but you can't game and stay a loner. I doesn't work. You meet great people in gaming. The game requires imagination and a healthy intellect, and the people with those qualities are the ones you end up spending your free time with. In fact, I met my wife and the mother of my kids when she was a player in one of my games in high school. We may be divorced now, but we were together for nearly 15 years. That isn't bad for a hobby.

As to the bad stuff? Well, I didn't ever sacrifice any of my friends to any dark gods, although when I was a teenager, I did sacrifice a great deal of junk food to a dark gullet.

Anyway, my kids are eight and ten. I got them the Beginner's Box a couple of weeks ago, and we'll be playing our first game together this week. After all, I have to look to their future, don't I? What better way to do that than to introduce them to something that will, essentially, trick them into doing extra, voluntary homework for the rest of their lives?

No! You asked the question three times. I can't stand to be asked the same question three times. It just irritates me.

I do believe a -2 per size category penalty applies for each size between that of the wielder and the intended wielder.

It seems that if you gave the dagger to the tiny fey, it may be longsword length, but the grip would be as big around as its torso...

I doubt I'll buy too many, as the random bit really kills it for me. I see the economic reasoning, but if I have a game in two weeks, and I desperately a troll and four goblins, randoms aren't going to help. It would be faster and cheaper just to go to Reaper and buy four goblins and a troll.

Still, I can't say I won't pick one up here and there, just for the 'what the heck' of it. I do have a couple of questions, though, as I've never so much as held a WizKids miniature in my hand. I'm a painter, and have been for more than 20 years. The solid blocks of unshaded color on these things makes me nuts. If I get any plastics, they'll be taken on a tour of my painting table.

What I want to know is what kind of plastics are these things made of? Are we talking a hard, inflexible plastic that holds a paint job, like, say, GW/Citadel plastics, or are these the soft, flexible plastics like the Castle Ravenloft or the Reaper prepaints?

Oh, I understand the business end of things. I've spent enough time in that world that I don't actually blame Paizo for not shelling out money when they know it won't turn a reliable profit.

Although I will say that I think that some things that are of core value to players should stay in print (say, flip-mats of basic terrain types, like desert, woods, swamps, snow, maybe a set of cards of buildings) in order to support customers who want to use them in conjunction with fresh products. Sort of a 'basic supplies' line that, while they may not be hugely profitable in and of themselves, will enhance the value of the rest of the line.

At some point, I'd also love to see a compilation of some of the earlier, unobtainable adventure paths. A Rise of the Runelords set in a single binding, for instance (or as a 'campaign in a box'.) Even at $120 it would be a value. Burnt Offerings alone is currently going for $170 on Amazon!

I've got to admit that as a new player, just coming into the game, this is a bit of a pain. PDFs are an alternative for books, but with so many flip-mats, map packs and so on going out of print, those of us who weren't customers during the initial printing (and who can't afford a $200 cart now to catch up) are going to be out of luck on having access to any of these products, even if we play for years to come.

The guy who starts playing a year from now and wants some mats and tiles for his games will be pretty much out of luck, as half of the choices look like they will be gone for good.

Actually, I was going to suggest the same thing. Anyone with a staff is just a snip and a stick away from having an axe.

It's been like this for me, here in the central US, for days. Thirty seconds to a minute for a link to respond, then an error/"not avaialable" page a lot of the time.

Wayfinder! It's free. ^_^ (Also, not canon, or official. But free!)

I already grabbed that, too. Coincidentally, I just finished listening to a Know Direction podcast about it. ;)

Hmm. I don't think there really are many that would help with Rise of the Runelords.

Awesome. You've made me spend enough money here already!

Yeah, I checked into the conversion. I've already got a list of bookmarks on already converted RL material, and I'm handy with conversion anyway. My old RPG world was made for Rolemaster, then converted for AD&D, GURPS, and WFRP at various times.

Just one more question (you believe me, right?)

Which supplements (Chronicles, Companions, etc) would complement Rise of the Rune Lords?

I appreciate all the help. There are some good folks here. That, in and of itself, is a mark in Pathfinder's 'pros' column.

Er, by "societies" I was actually referring to the factions guide. Stupid caffeine deprivation.

Yep, I grabbed the Serpent's Skull already, but thank you. I'll likely check into the Societies, Cities, and Gods books, grab the region books as I need them, and hold off on the big one until the new release, then.

Ahhh. I saw you mention that you picked up Pathfinder; didn't think I'd see you over here, though.

Yeah, I stick my head out of my shell from time to time. ;)

Yes, same Zurai :)

Same Greybird, er, Blackhawk

Thanks for your patient answers. I really appreciate it.

I'm putting the book you linked in to my cart as we speak. Even though I've been out of it for ten years, the ten years prior to that I spent almost exclusively as a GM. I really like to know a world before I use it, and I very much prefer to know a region well before I run something there. It lets me convey more atmosphere and gives me more tools should I feel like breaking up the pace with a side quest, or should the players go somewhere completely unexpected.

Say, you aren't the Zurai from OO are you?

I'm brand new to Pathfinder (I've been away from rpgs for ten years), but love what I've seen so far. I'm wanting to run some things in the official setting, but I'm a little thrown off by which book is which. There are guides in the Chronicles, guides in the adventure paths, and guides in the Companions sections. There are 3.5 guides and PF guides. There is a Gazetteer. There are guides to factions and guides to cities. There are bits and pieces all over the place, and I have no idea how they all fit together.

I get that the Chronicles represent the setting proper, and the Companions are written for players, but do the Companions have enough information for a GM to run a game in an area, or do the Companions and the Chronicles guides overlap, and if so, which one where?

I'm wanting to start running a game in Golarion. There is the Pathfinder Campaign Setting book. There is also the Inner Sea book. Am I correct that the latter is an update and will replace the prior? If so, is it worth spending $50 (a lot of money for a single parent of two) for a book that will be obsolete in a few months? If not, is there anyway to get the basics on the world other than keeping my players in limbo until February?

What other materials are going to be obsolete with the release of the new book? Are half of the guides (the 3.5 guides) going to become irrelevant afterward and need replacing with new ones?

An easier question, to get me started: I'm getting the Serpent's Skull adventure path via subscription. What area is this set in, and more importantly, which of the myriad guides will apply to this area directly?

Yes, I know there are a lot of questions there. Pathfinder is going through a bit of a reorganization right now, going from being a product associated with That Other System to being its own product. I'm sure it will sort itself out eventually, but walking into the middle of it with no background on things is a bit confusing. I can't really afford to invest money in the things I don't need (say, guides to things I'll never see), or worse, in things that are going be be outdated in a couple of months.

Thanks for any help.