Hal Maclean's page

This is the third attempt I've made to post something. Each time I end up deleting it after the first few sentences.

Everything seems trite and cliched.

And then it just hit me.

Mike would know how to fix it.

Maybe he'd casually cut out a sentence and merge two others into one. Or he might send it back for revision with a couple offhand comments that would make me slap my forehead and wonder why I didn't see the problem myself.

He was a wonderful editor. He made everything better. And of course, he was a fantastic writer in his own right.

The thing with great talent is how much we are willing to forgive. For most people, if they can produce what others can't, if they prove, time after time, that we need them more than they need us, they let the darkness out. And we accept that as the price for the wonders they create.

The thing about Mike is he wasn't like that. Even with all his gifts he was still warm and generous and filled with joy.

There's a thread in my email stretching out over months that began as just another rejection. I replied with a joke. He replied with a joke. And then a witty observation. More banter from me. And more banter from him. Every now and then I commented on how weird it was that he was taking time out of day to keep a perfunctory rejection email thread alive. By then he must have realized he didn't need to salve my feelings but he kept on hitting reply.

I wrote a lot of things for Mike. He was my favorite editor. Everything he touched came out better. And, in my own way, I feel like I came out better too.

I'm sad that I never got to meet him in person. But I'm ever so glad that I got to know him even if just at a distance.

I can only imagine how much pain the people who actually knew him the flesh must feel.

As for Mengkare. So far I've kept it a little ambiguous. Hermea is clearly a personality cult dedicated to the "Golden Leader" but none of my players are sure how much of a role he plays in the darker side of the island. Are over zealous followers misinterpting his commands or is he sanctioning these actions?

My overall concept when developing this version of Hermea was to mix sterotypes of an idealized/exagerated 50's tv show with the way cults ascribe miracles to their leaders.

"Gee whiz, I had a hard day. Better make that milk a double. Praise the Golden Leader for inventing cows."

I've actually been running a Hermean Exiles campaign since Christmas. So far so good.

It's a great premise for a campaign. Especially for players that don't know a lot about Golarion. A group of 16-year olds kicked off their island home and dumped on the mostly legendary mainland (or the "Outside" as Hermeans call it).

I had a lot of fun with a series of "What every Hermean knows about..." essays as part of the campaign documents.

A quote from one of them:

Tips on dealing with them: Ulfen require a firm but understanding hand. Speak slowly and clearly to them. Use small words and gestures to help them grasp difficult concepts. People unused to dealing with Ulfen often mistake confusion for disagreement. Don’t make that gaffe. If an Ulfen seems to argue with you be patient but firm. Speak more slowly and use simpler words. Explain what he is to do and make sure he understands that you won’t tolerate any backtalk.

Some of my players have really enjoyed the experience of figuring out what parts of Hermean general knowledge they can take at face value and what they can't.

Last one...

-Each race’s take on the meaning of good-maybe some mechanical crunch to support that perspective

-good weapon and armor qualities

-good special purposes for intelligent items

-“good books” and the advantages gained once you read them-presumably the writing fades after reading so the whole party can’t read the same book-different effects then the ability enhancing books but a similar concept

-Thoughts on the seven virtues and how they oppose the seven vices-maybe some crunch tied to the virtues

-battle prayers-feat-standard action to make the prayer, gain a short term advantage after making the prayer-tie different advantages to specific god, theme, etc

-Angelic mutagens

-More channel foci (Adventurer’s Armory) themed on good concepts, gods, etc

Sorry for multiple posts, I worry about things getting eaten if I type too long into just one.

Advantages gained from using Celestial as a verbal component in spells

-good traps? Static effects that benefit good creatures or harm evil ones?

-I know some people are down on traits right now but I think they still have a lot of unexplored potential. For instance, what about a new trait category? Alignment-So, good traits-

-Speaking of optional subsystems, hero points have never really gotten the attention they deserve, especially when compared to traits-so what about expanding on them in the context of good heroes?

-Tokens-advantages gained when good creatures give you something physical as a reward (e.g. an angel’s feather)-maybe bonus spell components or affecting a class feature

-Martyrdom-a way of affecting your allies, enemies, or surroundings one last time even as you die for your beliefs-

Some more thoughts...

-Feats that grant you various sorts of combat advantages when you wield your god’s favored weapon (not just for clerics, any worshipper-but maybe more for the cleric?)

-bless has already been taken as a name but some sort of spell (maybe with a greater or lesser version) that grants allies specific benefits themed on each of the good gods or something similar. Maybe the effects are greater if you actually support that particular god. Could also apply to other good themes like higher planes or concepts.

-spells that enhance holy symbols or favored weapons

-“Virtue is its own reward”-benefits gained from acting in accordance with specific good concepts, maybe a balancing mechanism that uses the limitations of a virtue as the starting point-or maybe some benefit gained when you gain a long-term disability by following your conscience

-A feat tree that allows you to form a connection with one of the good outsider subtypes-either use that one as a guide or grant different benefits depending on which subtype you choose

Odds are late to this party but some ideas to add to the pile.

-variant holy waters (themed on good gods, good concepts, good outsiders, the higher planes, etc)

-a bunch of new spells with good as a descriptor

- ways to tweak the celestial template applied to summoned creatures in order to support other sorts of good themes, more specific planar origins, good gods, etc

-good alchemical items and special materials

-Feats that grant bonus spontaneous casting lists for good clerics-maybe tie these lists to a god or other sort of good ideal-if necessary create some new spells to fill any holes

-Ways to tweak animal companions or similar creatures on good themes

Hey all. I have a question about Rheumy Refrain in Blood of Fiends on page 28.

It states:

Quote:

"If the target fails its Will save, whenever it attempts any action other than moving up to its base speed or making a single melee attack (but not both) in a single round, it must succeed at a concentration check (DC 10 + your Charisma modifier) to avoid wasting its action because of a fit of coughing and sneezing."

My question is, how is a Concentration check made for non-casters (Fighters, rogues, barbarians, etc)? Is this an errror in the print or is there a rule I'm not aware of non-caster Concentration checks?

If it is an error, what check/saving throw is used to replace it?

First, sorry to leave you waiting. This got developed after it left my hands so I was hesitant to step in right away.

I think it's simplest to handle non-spellcasters with a level check + Con modifier. My rationale for this is that it's the default for everybody. However, spellcasters receive special training on how to "play through the pain" which allows them to make a concentration check instead.

Hope that helps. :)

I'm going to toss up a weird reply: Feeblemind. It's a spell-level 5 choice whose counter, Heal, is spell-level 6. That's a pretty big gap. A big gap in which one could be reduced to a barely-sentient twit. Potentially a nearly-useless twit if one is a spellcaster.

That's the sort of spell that, if I were faced with the threat of it in real life, would make me shudder at the implications. Do Not Want. The overwhelming majority of my characters Do Not Want, either.

Feeblemind is really good when you combine it with Handle Animal. You can use it on any creature with an Intelligence of 1 or 2 (albeit with a +5 to the DC). I've only used it as a GM but my PCs had a major freakout when a monster ally got turned into a pet and attacked them.

Sean's so busy that those Dos Equis guys had to hire an actor to play him in their commercials... :)

Stay thirsty Sean's friends.

I've skimmed my PDF copy of this book and I *like* it!

I particularly look forward to giving my players expanded options on Tiefling characters. one note though - the Quillipoth horrors might not even understand/recognize (or care!) that humanity has two genders. Given that those things violate reality as much as they violate their victims...its possible that they might 'infect' male OR female victims as hosts for their tiefling spawn.

just a little something to give your players a bit more squick factor when considering potential storylines/backgrounds for your newly minted squid horror child.

Glad you like it. :)

I so wish I had thought of your Qlippoth idea. Would have given the term "Motherless" a really interesting additional wrinkle.

And as long as we're throwing out ideas for Companion books...

Allies of Golarion

No character is an island. This book would take a deep look at the ways characters can add other creatures to their repertoires. Whether through class features (animal companion, eidolon, familiar, etc), the Leadership feat, summoning monsters through magic, or creating constructs or undead the game already presents a number of options. However, these options could get even more interesting, and fun, if we gave them more depth by expanding the ways a character can use them.

Some possible ideas to explore:

-Roleplaying notes on ways a bonded creature can affect its master’s personality and behavior

-Special considerations relating to creatures like hibernation, going into heat, unusual diets, etc

-Cultures and organizations that make use of bonded creatures

-Special equipment intended for bonded creatures

-More for mounts and their riders

-ways to improve or change a cohort/bonded creature

-A new feat tree using Leadership as its base focusing on cohorts

-more on monster cohorts

-forming a bond with an intelligent item (in ways that differ from the black blade magus), vehicle, location, or something similar

-“Guardian Angels” ways to customize summoned monsters and maybe turning them into recurring NPCs

-Using bonded creatures in spellcasting

-Something like teamwork feats but which apply to bonded creatures or cohorts

-New tricks for Handle Animal skill

-Ways to improve constructs (construction materials, buffing spells, more ways to spend construction points, etc)

-Ways to enhance animated or created undead

Here's maybe an odd idea: Infamous Monsters of Golarion -- a Player's Guide to defeating some of the more infamous critters of the world all written from the point of view of adventurers. So no Bestiary info, only legendary info and the equipment, spells and magic items commonly believed/discretely shared by historical NPC's. Of course the info is "incomplete" but that's the most info PCs would probably know having grown up with tales of legendary beasts and learned from their families, mentors, or teachers. I would expect the vast majority of monsters would NOT be in this book, but I figure there are a few dozen that are infamous "known" threats to civilization... It's essentially a monster hunting guide for the players that I'm suggesting.

I like the idea of "Monster Hunters of Golarion" type book. I'm not completely sure if I get what you're aiming for here.

Are we talking something like the old first and second edition ecology articles Dragon used to run? As in, a story supported by a bit of crunch found in either footnotes or an appendix?

I'd suggest an approach that's maybe a bit more efficient given the limitations of a 32 page book.

What about using Kowledge checks as a framing mechanism instead?

You could use this approach to present a bit of flavor text as a first person account, a proverb, nursery rhyme, or what have you and then the crunch that supports it.

An example.

Owlbear

(Knowledge (arcana) DC 19

That thing just ignored us and went after the hives. Little Jimmy got almost within swiping distance of its claws before his mother grabbed him and dragged away. Guess when it comes to honey the bear part of it has more sway than the owl.

Owlbears revel in the scent and taste of honey. If within 30 feet of honey an owlbear must make a DC 15 Will saving throw to avoid spending its action consuming the honey. It gets a +4 bonus on this saving throw if it has a target within its reach and automatically makes the save if it has taken damage within the last minute.

That's just off the top of my head but you could fill a book with lots and lots of little tips like that for a wide variety of monsters.

Quick question about the keepsakes describes in the Halflings of Golarion sourcebook. The overview mentions that that allow divine casters new options when casting certain spells. But do they allow the halfling to cast a spell they ordinarily wouldn't have access to?

For example, I would like to give my character a Harvester's Pouch or a Persuasive Arrowhead since they match his deity best. But he's a cleric and the spells are for druids/rangers (Goodberry and Charm Animal). Do the keepsakes allow him to cast those specific spells?

Thanks in advance!

That wasn't the intent when I wrote the article. The keepsakes are foci which give you the option of casting one of your spells in a different way to bring about a different effect. They don't give you access to spells you couldn't already cast.

Sorry. :)

Also, don't be fooled by the fact that many of the NPCs in the Gamemastery Guide are listed as having potions of personal-range spells; I just forgot that rule when I was writing the umpteen stat blocks. :(

(of course, you could just as well create single-use wondrous items that do the exact same thing for the exact same cost and are not restricted to non-personal 1st-3rd level spells, so just call them "elixirs" instead of "potions" and you're all good)

Just make sure the antagonist uses up all those elixirs of true strike before the PCs loot his body... :)

The term archetype has found its own niche but you could do Companions focusing on a particular adventuring theme pretty easily. For instance, "Hunters of Golarion" could take a deep look at monster slaying/capturing and maybe bounty hunting too. While you could do up some history in the flavor section much of it could probably focus on tactics instead. What about countering various monster abilities? How do you take down burrowing/climbing/flying/swimming creatures?

Personally, I'd hope that the book would offer up something for each class and showcase how of them could take part in monster hunting.

Speaking just as a fan and a subscriber. Those back page articles are the first things I look at when I get a new Companion and this often determines who eager I am to read through the rest.

Also, though I recognize there are some circumstances where it makes sense, as a general principle I prefer crunch in those articles over flavor. The main parts of the book are usually weighed very heavily towards flavor anyway.

I once made a halfling paladin/monk who wasn't good for anything but saving throws... :)

Unless whomever developed my turnover meant to insert something about cost in the text, sacred keepsakes don't have a price. When figuring out what to do for the book I noticed that halflings have these coming of age tasks. If they want to become accepted as adults they are supposed to do something to show they are capable of assuming adult responsibility. Once they accomplish their task they pick up some kind of momento or souvenir.

I thought it would be interesting to tie this bit of racial flavor to a simple mechanic. Halfling keepsakes allow a varient casting for a single first level divine spell. It's not really enough of a benefit to justify any sort of cost or requirement (like tying it to a trait for instance).

In a sense, your character earned the keepsake before the start of play by doing his or her coming of age task. It's a fun way to work something extra into a backstory.

I can see myself playing a wandslinger. I like anyone willing to push at the the tropes of heroic fantasy and try something different. If this round had word limits of maybe a 1,000 or so I think Josh would not have taken some of the short cuts he did; and worked out some of the mechanical wrinkles in his write up.

I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do in later rounds.

As someone who has unfortunately perpetrated some nefarious easter egging in my early writing work, I had to learn the valuable lesson:

Don't try to be clever. Try to be awesome.

Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da BATMAN!! :)

GMs take note. This concept has a lot of potential if you apply it to an NPC.

You thought the guy who didn't know he was a lycanthrope was an interesting NPC to drop into an adventure? Imagine the guy who doesn't realize that his nightmare is running amuck?

I don't know if I'd let a player take this but I'm going to use it for an adventure or campaign one of these days.

This gaming year I plan to:

Graduate from monsters and source material to writing adventures.

"Graduate?"

Adventure writers may assemble the jig saw puzzles but we make the pieces. :)

One thing I'm doing this is year is establishing "Friday Fiction". That way at least 20% of my writing time gets allocated towards cracking the fiction market.

This might make budgeting my time a little tricky if I get a big project but hopefully I'll stick with the resolution all the way through 2011.

This was developed from the version I sent in so don't take me as the final voice but it was intended as just one attack.

The original mandate for this spell (and a few others) was to come up with something that helped out a particular spell casting PrC. I think this one was meant for arcane tricksters since it fits the theme of "roguery at a distance" as it were.

Plus, halflings make everyone vomit. ;)

Except for ones based on "Halfings of Golarion"... :)

I do this sometimes without even realizing it. Not too long ago I sent in my turnover for "Haflings of Golarion" and Sean sent back a note about using jokey names for some feats I had written. They were part of a feat tree so I used portions of a well known phrase to link them together. Hadn't even occurred to me how that would look to someone who wasn't in my head.

It's definitely best not to do something that deliberately. :)

"Enemy Hammer" was my spell (one of a couple of things I did to make it into the preview). I don't want to step on Jason's toes but I'll quickly drop in and say the intent when I wrote it was if you make your save nothing happens to you that round (act normally).

Hats off, some very creative people are coming up with some really cool ways to use this spell. :)

RiTz21 wrote:

Not sure if this was reported...

But in the PRD, in the Creature Type section, the Giant Type title should be renamed to Giant Subtype

RiTz21
http://TheOnlySheet.com

Our policy is to only make corrections to the PRD when it disagrees with the most recent printing of the book, with any relevant errata. (Since this is clear error, I'm forwarding it to the editorial team, so it will probably be corrected in the next errata release for the Bestiary.)

I've noticed this issue around giants as a type/subtype a few times. Here are the only two I can remember off hand.

(gnome racial traits)

Defensive Training: Gnomes get a +4 dodge bonus to AC against monsters of the giant type.

(giant form II)

This spell functions as giant form I except that it also allows you to assume the form of any Huge creature of the giant type.

Snorter wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

Cryptozoology is a HUGE influence on Pathfinder.

It's how they find their freelancers!

Oy!

It's funny because it's true... :)

It also makes me wonder what's better for the humanity: locking Mr. Pett and Mr. MacLean in a maximum security mental institution, or having them write more books for Paizo ? Maybe both can be done at the same time.

Locking us away would probably increase our productivity... :)

You'd be surprised how many writers have read at least one dictionary. I think it's the equivalent of atheletes getting up when it's still dark outside just so they can exercise.

They actually like doing it.

Gorbacz wrote:

Are you trying to tell us that Mr MacLean isn't a split personality of yours ... Dr Pett and Mr MacLean ... I can totally imagine that !

Absolutely not.

Hal

Ditto.

Mr. P.

I'd guess they forgot to put a 1 in front of the levels. Meaning it's for levels 12-18.

I did the petitioner template for Bestiary 2. Assuming it makes the cut you might get some answers to your questions when that book comes out.

Mikaze wrote:

Toilets

17-20 Outhouse Mimic

Totally using that one!

It's a baby house hunter! :)

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

ThelistsarebackTHELISTSAREBACK!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

And my eyelid just stopped twitching last week... :)

Weapon Trick: Shield

Keen Eye: "Your chance to avoid having to make a saving throw against that creature’s gaze attack increases to 100%"
...Why not just say using your shield to avert your eyes automatically avoids the Gaze?

Shield Gag: " At any time you may release your shield, which means you both lose the grappled condition and return to your own squares, though your shield remains in its mouth."
Umm... Pathfinder grapple no longer "merges" the squares of grappling opponents.
If a creature with natural reach starts a grapple, their TARGET is moved adjacent to them, but if you are STARTING a grapple (as per Shield Gag), you yourself never move squares and are always inhabiting your "own square"...???

(incidentally, I like these varying effects stemming from one Feat but which have varying pre-req's, both feat and skill rank-wise. they have some of the feeling of 3.5 skill synergies, but more interesting)

Been awhile, but for Keen Eye I think it's because the existing rules about avoiding gaze attacks used percentages so it just seemed simpler to keep the same mechanical format.

Not sure about Shield Gag. I'd have to look at the text more closely before I could say whether there was a reason or just one of those anachronisms that sometimes creep in once you introduce an updated set of rules.

Glad you like the synergy concept (which is actually what I call them btw :) ). Their "mix and match" nature opens up a lot of territory.

The random tables might be neat, though.

That's the section Richard Pett and I worked on. I think we turned in something like 120 to 130 pages worth of lists and tables (and nearly 40,000 words).

Wes told us to make these lists useful for both beginners and old hands at running games so there's quite a range of stuff in them. I don't know if I should get too specific before the book actually comes to light but there's some really fun stuff in it.

The argument is that you (should) have the right to control access to your land or your building.

And the sign said long haired freaky people need not apply

Something about this whole issue seems tailor made for a song... :)

I created the arrows in "Elves of Golarion" and that didn't stop me from stripping out the flavor and turning a few into bolts for a crossbow using PC. Not saying I'd do that for an official supplement but I didn't have a problem in my own campaign.

I really should check them over for balance before hitting submit but I don't have the book in front of me... :)

Jesse Decker went out of his way to send me some very encouraging (and insightful) rejection letters back when he still worked at Dragon many moons ago. It's something I really appreciated. Hope things work out for him.

Richard Pett and I did a few pages worth of books you can find in libraries for the GameMastery Guide. I have a bunch of random tables for determining things like book topics and language which I use to stock libraries. I might have posted them somewhere on the forums already.

70...pages...of new spells? Probably a ton of new feats too? Class abilities? Etc.?

My free time is going to tank when this book comes out and I get to add it up to the Archives. o.o

That's an affirmative :)

I almost lost my mind just coming up with all kinds of new spells, feats, magic items, alchemical items, special materials, gear, weapons, armor... And I'm sure there's a few things I missed from that list too.

Archiving them to boot? I'd have to change my name to Pinky and let the Brain do all my thinking from then on.

Pesh and Tobacco - Both of these are "addictive" but when I went to see what that means exactly it seems that there aren't any rules for this in Pathfinder.

Download Wayfinder #2 and look for the article called, "Drugs of Golarion." :)

Not only will you find a handy little sidebar offering up a simple system for addiction but also about two pages worth of new addictive substances which I had to cut from the Black Market section of Adventurer's Armory.

Wayfinder isn't official but the sidebar at least is a codification of the implied RAW found in different Pathfinder sources. By this I mean, there aren't really any hard and fast addiction rules that I'm aware of. But if you read the description of various addictive substances you start to see a pattern and the sidebar uses that pattern as its template.

Any other Willie Walsh fans out there?

Big fan here.

I remember when "PC Pearls" came out and I realized that I now shared a credit with one of the big names from the best years of Dungeon (no offense to the 3rd edition and beyond :) ).

With the Great City Urban Bestiary it's now two. Gotta scheme and get at least a few more.

However, I think that the book suffers from the "what the hell are Companions supposed to be" syndrome that plagues the line from the very beginning. After Paizo decided that Companions are player-focused books they decided to divide each into Combat, Faith, Magic, Persona and Social chapters.

I've written a goodly number of those two-pagers found at the back of various Companion books (so I'm pretty biased :) ) but, as a subscriber, they are my favorite part of the books. Most of the Companions have a lot of flavor and those two-pagers are the crunchy anchors that keep them from floating away.

Will "Pectoral Crest" ever be discovered in an update to the PDF or will it be in a book later on?

Maybe it will become one of the great mysteries of Pathfinder...

Or perhaps someone will create one for next year's RPG Superstar. :)

The one I originally did was not great so I cut it before I sent my turnover to Sean (which was already running long anyway). If ever pressed to come up with a new one I'll do something different and leave the first version safely buried somewhere within my hardrive.

My random thoughts on a first read:

Weapons -

Throwing Shield: Yes! Steve, John, and Jim all approved this item.

The shield tricks… YES! Now, something to make life interesting for the sword and board types.

:) I was thinking of them when working on that section.

Also...

Why do bayonets render crossbows/firearms unusable when mounted? That's not how they work. A to-hit penalty I could see...

Plug bayonets did block the barrel, ring bayonets, or any other slot based system, don't. I originally did both but likely they got merged together.

I don't have the text in front of me so I can't say the exact rationale for why you can't use them as both a ranged and melee weapon. Maybe the bayonet is designed to fit into the firing groove? An issue of throwing off the aim?

As a matter of game balance it seems okay to require users to make a choice about how they intend to employ their crossbow during combat.

Worse comes to worse, there's always the thumbnail expedient of creating an Exotic Weapon Proficiency... :)

Thanks for the clarification, Hal!

Now my curiosity is piqued - I must walk away and distract myself before it gets the better of me. Argh.... ;)

Trust me, you don't want to see it.

Developers cut for space. I cut for crap... :)

I was so happy to see this on my Downloads page this morning! :D

I just noticed an ommission under the Channel Foci section. The table on Page 24 lists a Pectoral crest (75gp, 4 lbs.), but there is no description for it in the section. Did this get cut, or is there info on this that can be shared?

Thanks!

Hope you enjoy the book :)

The Pectoral Crest is my bad. I actually cut it even before I sent it to Sean but somehow managed to miss chopping it from the price list.