HalfOrcHeavyMetal's page

Soooo ... after far, far, far too long away from these boards due to a shortage of funds, time and a rather complicated story involving three cats, a dog, a very hot Australian summer and my computer's fan, I'm finally back.

I've been DMing since ... 2013. Jesus. So much for my break and getting back to being just a player, but I've managed to convince one of the groups to take a break from our homebrewed world (Pathfinder, Words of Power magic system, no divine magic, all homebrewed races using the Advanced Races guide, etc etc) and step back into Golarion for a change of pace.

I love Sanctuary and all the races, campaign hooks and lore I made, but I need a break from my own stuff to recharge my creative batteries.

Where was I? Classes. Bah. My brain is faulty from a lack of sleep.

Thus far I've been asked to build five characters for the DM to peruse and then run together with the rest of the party's submissions to see which combination is going to work best for the campaign. It's a four person party and the DM has already given us permission to use the Recruit Feat for additional muscle if we absolutely cannot cover every 'base' with our array of PCs.

1) A Ratfolk Alchemist, basic version, who specializes with pistols, a morning star and healing potions, functioning as the Party's standard healer and a moderate damage-dealer, as well as the Party Face, or Assistant Party Face with the Cosmopolitan feat allowing him access to Diplomacy and Knowledge (Local) as class-skills. I'm actually quite eager to try this as I normally go for a Normal sized character and have a issue with smaller, slower races, and not being the party's combat power-house or conjurer of get-outta-jail-free magical shenanigans is going to be interesting. Joining the Pathfinders opens up great opportunities to sell, buy and barter for knowledge, trinkets and trade-routes from the more adventurous Pathfinders in the Lodge, after all.

2) Half-Orc Urban Ranger/Skirmisher Ranger. An old favourite combination of Class Archetypes I have used before to great effect, no magical abilities, a pet dog at her side and a list of bounties, people who owe her money or people who just has annoyed her enough that she's willing to play rough. Going for a Switch-Hitter build since it's generally very powerful, but focusing on, again, firearms rather than bows for the ranged weapon angle and a basic longsword for the melee angle. Going to build around being the party's go-to source for finding information in town, digging up trouble before it hits and being the bodyguard of our less-durable folks while the folks with beefier hitpoints tank the dragon with their faces. The Lodge offers an interesting place where she's not considered a muscled freak or a thug simply by dint of her appearance, or at least she'll be in the company of those to whom she's simply unusual rather than freakish or terrifying.

3) a Kobold Sorcerer with the White Dragon Bloodline. Short of both temper and size, but at least civil enough courtesy of the Cosmopolitan feat allowing him access to both Knowledge (Religion) and Knowledge (History) in addition to his native Class Skills in his eternal search to figure out how on Golarion a Kobold from a desert tribe was born with the blood of a Dragon from the frozen roof of the world! Access to the Pathfinder Lodges will hopefully mean less of the smooth-skins will be attempting to stab him or throw him out of the cities he will visit in the future to try and unravel the truth of his heritage.

4) Gillman Divine Defender Paladin with the Riverfolk and Slimehunter alternative racial traits, using medium armor and a rapier and medium shield to serve as the party's tank and backup healer. She'd be an interesting, if unorthodox, hunter of abominations and ancient threats, always looking for some hint of 'The Vile's' influences on the surface world, her people's name for the Aboleths, and rumors that several of the Runelords might have had pacts with The Vile has driven her to the one place where she hopes she can find not only information, but potential allies in her quest to scourge the world of The Vile's influence, if not The Vile themselves.

5) An Elven Oracle of Metal with the Tongue's Curse, to tie into the Starmetal angle of the campaign and provide a more durable healer who can stand shoulder to shoulder with the beefiest of meat-shields and potentially act as bodyguard to our magical artillery. Having the Oracle 'dealing' with a Celestial who is constantly with him and tends to 'help' during combat, meaning the poor Oracle can only speak in Celestial and is probably going to have to learn bluff to be able to speak via sign-language and improv to his team-mates during combat would also be hilarious to play up. Joining the local Pathfinder Lodge, if only to get the 'helpful' Celestial spirit to stop pestering his dreams with images of seven-pointed stars would simply be delightful for him.

Thoughts? Or should I push for a more stat/feat/trait heavy build before asking for advice?

Hey all! It has been ... a significant amount of time since I last logged onto these boards. Getting retrenched and then the retraining and scrabbling to find a new job in a area suffering heavy depression of both jobs and hope was not fun.

Four years of not fun at that.

That said, I've got money under the belt again and am looking to finally start adventuring in a digital Golarion, and while I was a original kickstarter ... I never got my invite/download details, so first of all, need to figure out how to get that fixed.

Also, as an Aussie, how badly am I likely to get screwed playing when most American players are asleep? Finding myself heavily frustrated with WoW, my old nemesis, and looking for a new online game where I won't cop the rough end of the pineapple just because I am a functional adult and thus cannot play games during the night and sleep during the day.

And the most important question ...

Can I roll a Half-Orc yet?

Now, watching FRANKIEonPCin1080p's Day Z machinima series, something has popped up repeatedly.

You gain an appearance based upon your actions. Heroic Players get a specific shirt and pants, Bandits all share a similar outfit, etc etc.

Should a 'Flag' basically skin a character with a generic 'outfit'? Basically, get a 'Thief' flag, your character adopts a generic costume fr the duration, or should it be a big, floating icon over the character's head that's basically saying "Pinata Here"?

Now, rather than further derail a thread that's gone so far off the rails it's a train trying to be a submarine, I'm going to cherry pick a couple of lines here that made my brain tick over in an interesting way.

GrumpyMel wrote:

Unless I'm missing something, you would pretty much create a catch-22 here Ryan for new organizations seeking to enter the game and establish a settlement or existing organizations seeking to recover from a lost settlement. In order to be effective in the things that are needed to begin to create a PC settlement you need to be a member of a company but if you are not already a member of a PC settlement you can't be a member of a company. See the problem?

I see that people who want to form a Settlement might do the required things while being a member of a PC Settlement.

Why would a Settlement want/not want members to eventually 'bud off' and form a new Settlement a few Hexes over?

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Pros:

1) Living next door to your Parents.

Assisting friendly PCs to build up a new Settlement, while still allowing them access to your training facilities, can encourage them to build a mutually beneficial Settlement of their own.

Settlement A helps Settlement B 'bud off'. Settlement A is focused on Warrior and Rogue-style training with access to a metal-rich mine Point-of-Interest (Referred to hereafter as a PoI). Settlement B opts to, rather than compete with Settlement A for the PoI and similar training halls/structures, focus on a Temple-Settlement, providing training for Clerics, with a side-line in alchemical items and reagents and even a Shrine to allow PCs to bind their spirits to a friendly Temple-Settlement. It's a win-win for both Settlements.

2) Burying the Hatchet.

Ambitious players will want to spread their wings, and rather than keeping them under your thumb, or exiling them, and either option causes bad blood, giving them supplies to start the new Settlement, as well as other forms of assistance can go a long way to building bonds of trust and mutual respect, especially if the new Settlement is allowed to self-govern, and the old Settlement just chips in with some 'Dad's advice' when a trouble crops up.

3) Leap-Frogging Settlement Building.

This might sound strange at first glance, but consider two Companies work well together, but they're just too large to conglomerate under a single Company banner, and the leaders each don't wish to relinquish control to somebody else. So Company A builds the first Settlement, while Company B assists but gathers resources for the next Settlement.

Then, Company B heads out, and Company A assists in turn, providing manpower and resources where Company B might be falling short. In time, the two Companies might be able to build multiple Settlements in their own style, selling the Settlements to Companies who may lack the time or skills to build their own, and become a powerful voice in local politics with their knowledge of each Settlement's building composition and vulnerabilities.

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Cons:

1) Like butter spread over too much bread.

Maybe a new Settlement might be in order, but your own isn't quite finished yet, and those uppity bastards are poaching some of your people to furnish their ranks, while your own Settlement is losing talented players, and the nearby Hexes are coming under additional strain as the two Settlements both harvest at full capacity, outstripping the Hexes' ability to replenish their resources.

Sooner or later, Floggit and Leggit Building teams are going to pop up, and perhaps even a war might loom on the horizon.

2) Cloned!

Great, the new Settlement is starting to take shape ... and it's exactly the same as yours. What the hell. We talked about this. No, stop, don't do ... gah.

But the other guys have decided since your setup works so well, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and they'd like to be rich and well-defended just like you. Sadly that means there's going to continue to be a shortage of training halls for specific archetypes, and once again, the resource nodes and PoI's you depend upon are going to get hammered.

3) How sharp the serpent's tooth!

People clash all the time, and in a game where getting the last word in is an assassination contract away, abrasive players will find themselves in a lot of hot water, and unfortunately, MMOs have shown that abrasive players are also ambitious players, wanting to be the very best, and often that means leading the rest of the abrasive, ambitious players, who all wish to lead as well.

Maybe your Officers were a bit too houlier-than-thou to your best Gathering Squad. Maybe your Bandit Crew were complete jerk-asses to the Wizards for the last time. Maybe you're just a despot and the cream of the crop know they can't dislodge you with your army of well-bribed cronies, so they'll up sticks and shuffle over to the next building site with an army of disgruntled folks at their backs.

Oh s*@&, you've got a Settlement going up full of people who'd dearly love to see you turned into the Golarion version of a Turducken and fed to the nearest apex predator.

Have I missed any points? I fear the lack-of-sleep and coffee-driven burst of thought has spluttered and faltered again.

Distilleries hidden deep in 'Hideouts' located in the wild Hexes, producing high-grade moonshine.

Smuggling rings bringing contraband such as poisons, narcotics, moonshine and the like into Lawful Settlements.

So-called 'Black Markets', hosted by high-rep Evil Companies and Factions, where Bandits and immoral Merchants can get together and trade booty for goods, or make compacts for safe passage for specific caravans.

Do we need or want these things in Pathfinder online? If we do, how should we go about the creation, use and destruction of these things?

I know I'd love to be able to be a brewer in the game, producing the Mead, or Beer, or Ale, as a nice little side-line business for my adventuring character, or as the 'business front' for my crafting character.

Alcohol might serve as a Development Index resource in addition to the old uses as an ingredient for a molotov cocktail or plain old social lubrication.

But the concept of Smuggling also appeals to me, especially if there's a risk that your wagon can be converted to have hidden 'areas' on it where contraband can be stashed and need a trained badge to attempt to locate. A settlement that bans specific items could become a proverbial gold-mine for the smuggler with the moxy and the gear to get the goods inside the city walls.

Bottles of high-grade alcohol that the local taverns can use to spike their own drinks to get their patrons drunker faster and divest them of more coins, poisons for PCs looking to eliminate the competition in an untraceable manner, illegal narcotics (Which would be fascinating if there's an addiction mechanic involved), so on and so forth.

I can see an infamous 'Black Market' being less a game-mechanic and more an in-game 'invitation' by powerful PC factions to come to Hex "X", to a specific land-mark, and bring your goods, your coins and your slaves. Held every real-life month, the Black Market is the scourge of the Settlements, where stolen goods are traded, broken down and remade, 'slaves', NPCs stolen from PC Settlements, are branded, broken and disseminated throughout the Bandit Clans and Evil PC Settlements, and wealth taken from sacked settlements and raided caravans is traded for goods the Bandits and Raiders can't easily manufacture themselves.

Finding the Black Market without an invitation could be grounds for slavery or death for the unfortunates in question, but assuming you could get back to the Settlement and let the Factions know what's what, it could become a huge player-driven event as the Settlements unite to deliver a killing blow to the Bandit Clans and Evil Trade-Companies, but this is a collection of some of the most prolific and powerful Bandits and Raiders in the game, and they won't go down easily, or without payback at a later date.

Depending upon the size of a Settlement, should there be a limit of how many people can 'set' the Settlement as their home? IE, much like WoW allows players to set their 'Hearthstone' to a tavern?

The Population Limit shouldn't affect people coming in to trade, repair or train, but rather it sets a limit on how many people can call a Settlement 'home'.

If so, buildings such as the Barracks, Inns and 'Houses' could expand this limit, allowing more players to 'set' that particular Settlement as their home or base-of-operations.

Now I'm also working on the assumption that most Settlements will also possess a Shrine of some kind, which was mentioned way way back as what your spirit is drawn to when you die, and then run back to your body to fully resurrect.

Possession of the Shrine allows the Settlement to become a vital trading point for Adventurer and Merchant types, who will exchange loot from the Wilds for equipment from more civilized areas, enriching the Settlement and the Controlling Factions and allowing the Settlement to grow and expand.

Thus, 'border' Settlements will want lots of Barracks and Inns to attract Adventurer-type PCs to their settlement, which allows them to offer adventurers a secure resting site, and control of the Shrine also allows them to dictate who can and cannot 'bind' themselves to that particular shrine, setting the tone of the local PCs.

Evil Settlements are obviously going to want Evil PCs, or Neutral at worst, while Lawful Settlements will of course want Lawful PCs to be in the surrounding Hexes.

But if a Settlement has a limited amount of people it can support, and the Shrine's ability to accept 'binds' from the Players is limited to the amount of 'player slots' in a Settlement, then that means resources that could be turned to production and processing of raw goods into finished products will have to be turned towards player 'housing' to increase the amount of 'bind' slots available in the Shrine.

A 'Wild' Shrine may not have a player-limit, but a time-limit, meaning you can only be 'bound' to that Shrine for a number of real-time hours, necessitating continuous trips back to the Wild Shrine to ensure your spirit doesn't leave the world for good if you die.

'Wild' Shrines would therefore become the sits of vicious World PvP as a natural resource that any developing Settlement will want, as it means they don't have to spend resources on building their own, and existing, powerful Player-Factions or developing Player-Factions, or even Bandit-Clans of PCs, will fight to dominate the Hex in which a Wild Shrine can be found.

In the latter case, the Bandits who possess a Wild Shrine would be wise to have their Hideout nearby, so that upon logging in, they can quickly reach the Shrine, 'bind' themselves again and then go out hunting for resources or other Players without concern. They may even set up patrols, traps or even place Charmed Mobs around the Shrine to keep exploring PCs away from the Shrine, knowing full well that the relic will draw whole armies of ambitious Players to their Hex.

Now, one of the things that really sets Golarion apart is that there's loads of tension between the nominal PC races.

Humans think they're the high-tom-titty and are the paragons of racial intolerance and pride. Half-Orcs are the bastard children of two races who have been beating the hell outta each other for millenium, hated and loathed by all. Halflings are the slaves of half a dozen nations. Dwarves have no tolerance for 'free spirits' and carry a racial grudge that's a corner-stone of their entire society. Elves look down on the 'lesser' races, and believe the current domination of Humans on Golarion to be a merely temporary condition, and the occupation of the territories they abandoned to escape the Age of Darkness to be a horrible insult. Half-Elves live in-between two worlds, treated with envy and lust by Humans and disgust and contempt by Elves. And Gnomes are either adorable or insane, chaotic engines of change and the eternal search for new experiences, be they for good or ill.

So, what I'm asking is "Should the NPCs react differently due to the race of the PC(s) in question, or should their reactions be dictated by Alignment and Renown alone?"

Now, something that's been bandied around is that Coin (let's refer to it as 'Currency' during this debate) is something that will be relatively limited in the Pathfinder World, at least at first, and the spread of currency will be semi-controlled by the 'Faucet' of Goblinworks-made/controlled Quests, found in Treasure in instanced 'Dungeons' and occasionally on some types of monsters.

So what happens if there's not enough Currency in the world?

At the risk of being thrown to the Torch-and-Pitchfork Mob (again) ... why not a secondary system of Barter and Material Goods in the place of Currency?

Fully controlled by the Players, Barter is a system where Player A and Player B negotiate between themselves, trading X amount of [Bags of Flour] for Y amount of [Skinned Rabbits].

Player B then goes to the next Farm/Tavern/Village/Town/WHATEVER IS G+*-D!%NED CLOSEST and trade some of his [Bags of Flour] for more goods, then moves on, trades some more of his [Bags of Flour] and other Trade Goods for more trade goods, so on and so forth.

And people are doing this everywhere. Goods are being shuffled around without needing long, painful merchant convoys, and the Smarter Merchants are running around trading for goods in one Hex that might be scarce, or even non-existant in another Hex, and making a profit in Goods and a small bit of Currency in that way.

Furthermore, would a selection of Trade/Crafting Goods be considered an acceptable substitute for Currency in terms of Quest-Rewards?

Party A and Party B are both sent out to gather Ore from a Wild Hex, knowing full well that the Miners they are escorting will inevitably attract the attention of nearby hostile NPCs and Bandit PCs, and demand a suitable payment in advance for their efforts.

Party A demands Currency up-front, while Party B accepts a majority of Crafting/Trade Goods and a smaller amount of Currency.

Both Parties survive, and the reward waiting for them is approximately the same in basic value. Party A has the benefit in that Currency is worth the same no matter where they go and is relatively light-weight, while Party B has the benefit in that their Trade/Craft Goods can go up in price if they head to the right Hex/Settlement.

Now, we're all salivating over this game, but let's stop and think for a second.

Bringing up the Unholy One (World of Warcraft), something that pisses a lot of folk off is that every expansion it's yet ANOTHER series of minerals to grind, more types of precious stone, more types of herbs, idiotic variations of hides and leather to harvest, yadda yadda yadda.

Yet ... should the leather we get from harvesting and refining fifty rabbits be equal to the leather we get from harvesting a Cave Bear?

Copper, Bronze, Brass, Iron, Silver, Gold ... fairly standard metals in fantasy, and I think that they should make up 90-95% of what we harvest in terms of mineral ores from the Wild Hexes/Mines/Dungeons.

Mithril should be rare. Adamantite should be ludicrously difficult to find, as it is a 'Star Metal', or found ridiculously deep underground. Somebody walking around with a Mithril Longsword is a Pimp-in-training. Somebody walking around in Mithril Fullplate is a walking national treasure (for that settlement).

Somebody wandering around in Adamantite Fullplate ... you're holding a 'Gang and Spank me' sign the instant you step outside your house without a full posse backing you up.

I suppose what I'm asking is, should the 'rare' materials in game be EXTREMELY rare, like a 10-5% spawn rate compared to the other materials of the same 'type', or should it be a slightly easier ratio? And how hard is too hard? Would such a low % (And remember, we're talking about truly massive Hexes that have random spawning nodes/creatures that will be popping up randomly within the Hex to prevent bot-farming and the like!) cripple people trying to reach a certain 'Tier' of gear, or is the whole point to ensure that every man and his dwarf isn't doing the harlem shake in their +5 MacGuffinite artefacts of same-ness?

Do we go for the old 'Epics are for the Epic People', or do we offer a slow but reliable method for everyone to eventually get their hands on the Rare/Epic level items/Materials?

Now, something that has got me more than a few emails and letters is my comments about a 'Heinous Only' settlement I used as an example.

Rather than Fighters, Clerics, Wizards and Rogues, I used (as a joke) Blackguards, Cultists, Necromancers and Assassins, where Necromancy was legal, Slavery was commonplace and the Goodly were told to get out.

How do you guys think such a scenario would work out?

Obvious ground rules would be:

No attacking each other, unless you are defending your livelihood or property from a thief, or Fullskucker the Incompetent, who has had a few too many beers and is trying to make off with one of your goats again.

Career Bandits are hands-off, so long as they don't get uppity and attack OUR merchants.

Merchants are hands-off unless they have good alignments or are actively agitating against the status quo.

I wonder how 'Slavery' will play out? Are we talking a low-maintenance form of NPC 'Helpers'? Will Slavers/Hirelings be able to handle the menial jobs such as Farming, cutting down trees and cleaning?

How complex will our orders to the Undead Minions of Necromancers and Cultists be? Can we give them patrol routes and then log off, trusting in the Derp Brigade to patrol that sector as directed until A) we log back on and give them commands or B) Jerklord the Doucheadin runs up and smites them into dust ... again.

I'm quite interested to hear your thoughts on this, my fellow players, as a strong settlement, where everyone had the Heinous Flag, would be an interesting wrinkle for other players to deal with.

Do you turn a blind eye, so long as you're personally unmolested by this Love-Child of Geb and Thay, do you strive to break their hold on the land, even if their presence is holding the local Goblinoids and other Monsters at bay, or do you try to open trade and dialogue with them?

Now, certain actions in Pathfinder Online are set to be "Heinous", which basically makes you 'fodder' for each and every person in the game. You're effectively a guilt and alignment-free pinata for the other players.

So why would you do it? Why actively put your neck on the chopping block while simultaneously mooning the rest of the players?

Why do people do stupid/evil/cruel things in the real world? Power.

So, how much more 'powerful' should the acts that will give you the "Heinous" tag, and eventually the "Villain" tag, grant you over other players?

Now, from this little bit of text taken from the PvP Section of the Goblinworks Page, we can assume you'll get your Heinous/Villain Tag/Flag/I-Like-It-Rough Sign from the following actions.

1) Raising and using the Undead in any form.

2) Buying, capturing and using Slaves, in any way, shape or form.

3) Summoning or, ahem, 'Consorting' with entities form the Lower Planes.

4) Possibly allying with overtly evil forces, such as a Green Dragon, a warband of Hobgoblins or a group of NPC bandits not allied with Scarwall.

Undead .... there's been a lot of talk on the Boards about using Undead to form cheap 'swarm' armies to overwhelm settlements or to use as upkeep-free 'traps' in player-made dungeons.

So what makes an Undead stronger than, say, an Elemental or a Summoned/Bound Outsider?

Skeletal and Zombie Undead are all but immune to cold damage, have damage reduction and .... well, it's easier to list the things they are NOT immune to than what they are. Also, Mindless Undead don't demand shares of the party's treasure, don't form unions and won't complain if Fullskucker the Manly decides to entertain himself by gibbing a few minions while the Assassin and Necromancer work on the Magical Trap in the next room.

Hell, you can put them at the bottom of the lake and order them to guard a chest full of treasure, which makes an almost fool-proof anti-theft device against most low-level players.

Perhaps Undead are the only 'Summoned/Conjured/Bound' creatures that players can create that aren't on a timer? Meaning that a Necromancer can possibly, given enough onyx gems and corpses, field an army up to a set size of disposable troops that need neither food nor rest, and are not plagued by such piddling annoyances as fear or mercy.

Slaves represent a troubling aspect as not only are they living creatures bound against their will, but in Scarwall and Hell Knight-controlled/allied Hexes ... they're legal.

And where do you get Slaves from? What purpose can Slaves serve for the budding Evil Overlord that warrants the Heinous Tag and the inevitable Tea-Bagging Marathon to follow?

Slaves can, ironically, function quite like the Undead, except instead of a once-off cost of spell components (and possibly a high-level spell slot(s) taken up!) you need to feed them, give them some form of clothing and tools for their assigned task and make sure there is some method to stop them running away!

A theoretically limitless work-force that you can drive to the brink of death and not have to worry about Union or Guild repercussions, that you need only spend the bare minimum on to do what you want them to do. Unlike a 'Hired' NPC to take care of your Farm while you're away or Sell your goods while you're out of the 'Shop', a Slave would likely have minimal overhead costs at the cost of always looking to escape if they can get over their fear of you/magical bindings/surly overseers you've hired to keep them in line.

Summoning Demons, Devils and Yugoloths is going to be a big No-No just about anywhere, although in Hell Knight controlled/allied hexes, Devils would probably be a sign of great power and status, rather than 'heinous' crimes.

Imps to serve as your Familiars, Succubi to entertain your troops (and use their telepathy to flush out any potential saboteurs/uppity underlings) and more are all just a few spells away for the budding Conjurist .... assuming you have the components to cast the spell and both the willpower and talent to avoid being dragged down to the Lower Planes as a snack.

Young Red Dragon harassing your soon to be Temple of Fleshy Evil (All hail the Succubi Cults!)? Time to call on some fire-resistant denizens of the Lower Planes and have them assist good old Fullskucker the Manly in an (un)righteous ass-kicking on the uppity Wyrm.

Needing to bolster your efforts to destabilize the town of annoyingly goody-two-shoes a few hexes over? Summon the right sort of Fiend to possess an important NPC Merchant and send him on his merry way, with the Possessing Fiend funneling all those tasty merchant routes and defensive positions right back to you!

What do you guys think? What should be the 'pay off' for succumbing to Evil on such a grand scale? Why risk the 'Heinous' Tag if not for greater power?

Now, one of the strengths of the Elder Scrolls game is how easy, and prolific, Mods are for the games.

The purpose of this discussion thread is to argue the Pros and Cons of Goblinworks having 'events' every few months where people with the correct talents to create new skins/items for armor, weapons, creatures and even player races can send in their contributions, and Goblinworks organises a voting system with the contributions that they believe will work within the game, and turn down the rest.

The Pros ....

For almost no work on their part, Goblinworks gets access to some very talented people doing 'spot' work for them, and they get their Player-Base to vote for what they want, which helps the company tweak the game to be more fun for that Player-Base.

The Winners not only get bragging points for the new items/skins/meshes that appear in the game, but it also puts their name out in the market in game designing and related areas of expertise, helping them get a foot in the door, as it were, to job opportunities and expanding their portfolios.

The Players are getting new and updated content that they have voted for, and relatively little expenditure on behalf of Goblinworks ensures that more resources can remain devoted to the game's running costs.

Now, the Cons ....

This means people will have at least partial access to the source code of the game, meaning that abusive and/or 'cheating' Mods will become easier to create/find/use.

Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, none of these games are MMOs. So you can be a Half-Dragon Spellsword with a nudity addon and Alduin's younger brother as your companion, and nobody cares.

You take that into an MMO ... people are gonna get pissed. So that means that more resources are being spent on this 'cold war' between the Hackers and the Cheaters, who have been effectively 'given' free reign to do their thing because the 'code' is readily available.

And most of them will see nothing wrong with this. Talk to people who regularly pirate games and you'll run into the same mentality, "I want it, but I don't want to have to pay for it because it's too expensive!", and when told the price of the games is so high because of piracy, they will then respond with "Well then, they should lower the price then!"

Now, something that has bugged a lot of MMOs is that sooner or later, through gold-buying or multi-boxing armies, a small cadre of players will create artificial choke-holds in crafting or leveling by harvesting all the materials or continously killing all types of a specific mob and listing the items for hideously overpriced amounts.

WoW, specifically Wyrmrest Accord, the server I play on, has six people who are known 'Auction House Players' who are very intelligent, albeit amoral, players whom have written their own macros and addons and spend all day every day camping the Auction Houses of Horde, Alliance and Neutral, sniping necessary crafting materials to help level a crafting profession and putting everything of specific brackets and much-needed items up at prices impossible for a new(er) player to reach, and even painfully expensive for longer term players.

2 of these players are already on their third 'batch' of accounts after being perma-banned for creating multi-boxing teams of 2 characters per tower, with one bragging about running 5 towers at once, with well-geared characters that would run off of 'slave' macros, meaning that a single player could sit back, have these characters run across specific maps and destroy everything in their path.

Each character would have two gathering skills, and other characters on the same accounts would have two crafting skills, enabling the multi-boxing player to effectively 'wipe out' a map.

The other problem is their 'usage' of the Auction House is borderline 'economic griefing', yet Blizzard does nothing except increase the amount of gold we recieve from Dailies, which merely prompts these 'Auction Players' to up their own prices.

So I put it to you, my fellow Forumites and our Soon-To-Be Goblinworks Overlords, how do we nip these aggravating sorts of situations in the bud?

Local 'Markets' Only? A sizeable guild, or even a Multi-Boxer with sufficient funds, can bypass this with ease, either using the multi-box system or an out-of-game solution like Skype to keep in touch.

Artificial Limit on maximum sale prices? Doable, and it makes sense, but it also has the problem of putting 'limits' on Players, and people hate that.

NPC Merchants? As much as I like a 'standard rate' from the NPCs, dedicated AH-Griefers will simply buy all the merchants' goods unless they somehow get flagged, and the Merchants won't sell to them. And then it's just getting a friend to buy the goods for them.

Now, multi-boxing teams of farm-toons can easily be sorted by roving Bandits, Game Master spawned Mobs or just irate bands of other players who decide that an alignment hit is worth it to send these bastard packing, but I fear the impact of these 'Players' who aim to cause economic havoc just for s@&~z'n'gigglez, as they put it.

How many of us here, honestly, just want to play an immersive fantasy game?

How many of us want to be part of an online sweatshop after spending anywhere from 6-14 hours working in real life?

Brainstorm with me here. How do we stop the Gold-Farmers, the Auction-House 'Players' and the Multi-Boxing Farmers from getting a cancerous toe-hold on our beloved Golarion?

Now, this is just theory-crafting and discussion, as Goblinworks has not released anything concrete about how many 'free' structures can be built on a Hex besides the Settlement itself.

What about Players who, through overpopulation or choice, cannot build their own house, or indeed find a room to claim as their own, inside a Settlement, yet they have the wealth to build their own?

I have a couple of theories.

Each 'Hex' is broken up into 6 or 7 smaller Hexes that occupy the space within it, I believe, with a variety of terrain types for the 'Hex' that is controlled. IE, a single Chapter might control a Primary Hex (the larger one), and inside that Primary Hex is 6 or 7 different terrain types, for the purpose of this discussion we'll call them Micro-Hexes.

Each Micro-Hex has some of the semi-hidden 'Hideouts' scattered about, as well as some building locations that may or may not be suitable for specific buildings.

You wouldn't build a Lumber Mill in the Plains, and you don't have a Quarry next to a lake, for example.

Farms, I think, would be the more likely candidate for 'anywhere you can', but depending upon the type of Primary Hex you end up with, the terrain type of the Micro-Hexes is going to be a big roadblock for most Chapters to work with in the first few months.

Let's say players want to build a Farm. Start off small, single room building for sleeping/storage, barn to hold the animals and produce, cheap fence around a starter-size field/pasture, yada yada yada.

Over the next few weeks, the players have managed to build the farm up to a very profitable level, making the original 'house into a large 2-storey structure with a basement, with plenty of individual rooms for the 'workers' to occupy, solid walls and a slate roof to make the 'house' a fortress in case of the bandit attack, several barns now, dozens of fields and pastures, it's looking good.

But how many Farms are we going to be able to build on this Micro-Hex? Just the one, or dozens? Is there a maximum size a Farm can grow to, necessitating all the Farmers specialise in individual types of farming, to ensure a wide selection of produce is available and that nobody is in direct competition with each other, or can a Farm spread out indefinitely?

Likewise, Lumber Mills can become insatiable if the demand for wood for building structures, for firewood, for crafting of weapons and other tools, and it might be possible for a Lumber Mill that is irresponsibly run to clear-cut a Forest-type Micro-Hex, causing a great many problems, such as now-homeless monsters, furious Druids and Fey incursions or environmental problems that might spread to other Micro-Hexes within the Primary.

And what about homes? Building a 'House' outside of a Settlement might be possible, with the right money to the right person, but obviously Goblinworks wishes to avoid the 'wall of sheds' that other MMOs that have allowed freeform buildings have endured, with Guilds of Griefers going out of their way to 'lock' other players within areas.

I could see people getting sick of the 'noise' of other players going out with some friends and making a 'lodge' in a relatively secluded area, and over time, this might even become a mini-settlement on it's own as the need to make their own crafting/training stations to keep up with their increasing skills makes the owners of the 'lodge' build up their little paradise.

Over the course of several weeks ... there are 2 'Settlements' within the Primary Hex, although within 2 different Micro-Hexes. What can/will the Controlling Faction of the Primary Hex do? Do they welcome the increasing Development Indexes this 'Secondary' Settlement will provide for their domain, do they (rightly) fear this new Settlement might very well become the home base of a rival/hostile Company/Charter/Guild?

Can individual Buildings outside of a Settlement be razed to the ground? How many individual Buildings can be built outside of a Settlement before the Game goes 'no more' because all the development sites are taken?

I could fully see large Merchant Charters/Guilds building their own 'safe houses' outside of the Settlements, where convoys of their people can pull in and store goods under lock and key, before a second convoy comes in to pick up the items and finish the job. Rather than a single Convoy having to wend it's way through multiple Hexes, having 2 or 3 convoys 'passing the baton', if that makes sense, allows the Merchants to get back to their home Hexes quickly to keep an eye on more sales/chances for profit/'home' warehouses and given the sizes of the Primary and Micro-Hexes, also ensures nobody is stuck in the saddle for 5+ hours to deliver turnips to Sir Doucheadin.

That said, having a 'drop off' point also makes a solid target for Bandits and Raiders, who now don't have to camp every deer-trail and smuggler's route in hopes of catching a Convoy with it's collective pants down.

I apologise, but trawling through the page has left me a little dazed and confused. Another Kickstarter? Ack, I'm not sure if I can afford that, and all the way over in Aussie-Land, still haven't gotten my stuff for the original Kickstarter yet T_T.

I've also seen Beta comments ... when exactly will the BETA open up? I'm eager to put my tower on the line and see if Australian players can sign up to Pathfinder Online! Does this mean I'll have to fork out another $100 dollars to gain the 'early access' or is that $100 minus the $75 I've donated already?

Aaaaaaaaaaargh, so much stuff to catch up on!

Many apologies and flailings in advance!

Something I noticed in the Blog is that Dragons will be encountered in various places.

Now it's a topic that's dripping with Holy Cow marinade, but I'd like to suggest that Dragons are not something that should be lumped in with the other monsters. We're talking an enemy on par with a Master Vampire, a Lich, a powerful Demon or .... just a really powerful enemy.

When a player sees a Dragon, it should not be 'wah-hey, pile of treasure somewhere nearby!' it should be "OH GODS, WHERE IS THE EXIT?". A Dragon should be something that makes anyone but a large, trusted band of Heroes (or Villains) quake in their boots. To take one down should be an epic moment in and of itself, let alone the resources you could harvest from it or the treasure waiting to be looted, or the Lair now vacant and ready to be remodelled into a formidable base of opperations.

And g~@%%#mit, Dragonbone Thrones, PLEASE. When a Dragon is finally killed, so many things can be done with the body. Can you imagine the joygasm of a Necromancer finding a Dead Dragon and being able to permanently 'add' that Dead Dragon to his list of summonable Undead? Or the Fighter who can take the scales, horns, bones and hide and turn it into a suit of armor.

To prevent TL:DR, I guess what I am asking for is to avoid the Warcraft Model where a Dragon is just another mob to be tanked, ganked and spanked. A Hex known to contain a Dragon should at once be a dangerous zone, and yet attractive to ambitious and/or powerful Heroes/Villains eager to conquer the beast and claim the hoard ..... or just conquer the beast and use it to wreak havoc on their enemies!

On one hand, gaining a rare drop is hilariously fun, especially when it comes out of a creature that should never have had it in the first place.

"Oh, wow! Look at that sword! Where did it drop?"

"Actually I was working on the farm..."

On the other hand, actively targeting well-equipped NPCs for their gear is not only far more challenging, but also allows you to 'pick and choose' your targets based upon their gear and potential challenge. Yes that Hobgoblin in Full Plate with the Earthbreaker that seems to be shooting out small arcs of lightning is going to drop some excellent items ... unfortunately he'll also be USING those Items on you during the battle...

What do you guys think? I apologise for not being too clear, but right now I've got the mother of all migraines and I can't sleep (1am where I am right now)

Now, something that appeals to some people is being able to go into other people's in-game structures and either take everything or cherry-pick what they need.

Obviously in NPC Controlled Lands, Thieves have the potential to end up being chased down by Warden NPCs if caught and forced to defend themselves from angry store-owners (who might just be able to take an Ogre down with their bare hands ...), and the PC who just had his stuff taken should be able to recover the items in X amount of time, after the Guards confiscate the loot, process it to make sure the Thief is correctly charged for the crime and then restored to the owner.

Now I'll leave the 'how to get the stuff back'/'how to make thieving fun' discussion to you guys, because right now I have a fever and am not thinking too clearly.

But what about defences? Barring the Windows and having multiple locks on the door will keep the Casual Thief out, but what about the Career Thief? Brute Thieves will just simply pry the bars off your windows or smash their way through the door, Magical Thieves will just turn into mist and seep down your chimney or just use Knock to get inside, Subtle Thieves might even pose as friends who have been mistakenly locked out to Guild-Members of the Owner to gain access.

Hopefully Players will be able to use Traps within their own homes, to a certain extent, but it is my hope that Players and 'Guests' will not be able to set off the traps without actually trying to. For example, the owner and another player he has listed as a 'Guest' can enter the building without a care in the world, but another player trying to sneak in before the door is shut would have no such protection, although I fear this becomes a little too cheesy.

I still put my hand up to be able to trap my own house if I so desire, but I also hope that we can pull off the 'Traps' in such a manner that they are more deterants to would-be thieves, and actual challenges for Career Thieves to overcome, than something cumbersome players end up having to spend more money than Solomon Mines can provide just to keep their stash of +1 Beer getting raided every time another Player gets thirsty.

Something that just occured to me, with Paying Players, what should we (and yes, assuming I can get a slot in the game, I will be pumping my money in) be getting for that extra $15-20 in Goblinwork's pocket?

Here are a few ideas, and I hope we can debate these and future ideas as workable, plausible or just broken.

Greater Ability Scores:

Piecemeal Accounts (paying for certain things but others are free-to-play) should gain a +2 to two ability scores. Full Accounts should gain +2 to four ability scores.

Increased Skill Improvements:

Piecemeal Accounts gain 5% bonus to leveling their skills. Full Accounts should possibly gain a 15% or maybe even a 20% to leveling their skills, meaning a Paid Account will allow the player to, if not increase their 'level' faster than a free-to-play Account or a Piecemeal Account, then allow them to 'branch out' in those skills, meaning they can level 7 skills in the time it would take a FtP Account would take to level 6.

Now, here comes the idea I am fairly certain will result in the torches and pitch-forks.

Buying Gold.

Now, before the Forumites tear me limb from limb, it is inevitable the greasy, foul tentacles of the Gold-Farmers will inevitably sink into Pathfinder Online. By all means, fight them tooth and nail, but for players who want their gold now, being able to buy it safely from Paizo should be an option, and should hopefully undercut any attempt by the Goldfarmers to get a toehold into the game's economy, thereby making it extremely impractical and highly uneconomical to attempt to sell gold to players via a third party (Gold Farmers).

I know I certainly wouldn't object to being able to start a character with some additional gold in my pocket. Maybe a $1 = 10 gold, to a limit of 1000 gold (100 dollars) per month limit per account. Buying Gold should come with an agreement that Players buying the Gold will not go out and attempt to destabilize the Game Economy with malicious intent.

Just quickly throwing this out before I go brave the wider world for sustenance, but should characters like Vengarr and Link and other 'staple' running jokes from the Tabletop World get nods in the game or not. Either way I think it would work, although hopefully NOT to the level some games do, which turns it from being a marginally fantasy MMO to 'Swords, Spells and CHUCK NORRIS!' Online.

I can see it being funny, but at the same point it would speed up the growth of the inevitable Barrens Chat cancer in the global channels and could be a bit jarring if in the middle of an extremely tense and attention-grabbing fight or mission, to have one of the NPCs turn around and go "Hey, hey Link, listen!" to the Gnome Fighter or something stupid like that.

Probably not making much sense. I blame the cats for distracting me by sticking their heads into my shoes and then falling over with revolted looks on their faces. The fact that six cats all did it to one pair of shoes, right after each other, makes me think they're setting me up. again.

Something that bugs the sheer ever-loving hell out of me is that most MMOs I play either don't have Oceanic Servers, or if they do, they refuse to put up RP Servers out of some bizarre idea that Australians and New Zealanders are too busy fighting off enraged drop-bears and randy sheep to Roleplay.

Other Players might find themselves marginalized due to faults of their own, or the actions of larger groups of people, such as Guilds who might slander them or deny their choice of Character Race within their 'region'.

So what about Cohorts?

Now, this has the potential to make every Class a Pet-Class, but before the enraged sodomizing begins, the Cohort system I am thinking of should NOT be an equal-power companion. At worst, 1/2 your 'power' level, at best, 2/3rds. Every Cohort is different, building upon the same Skills and Merit Badge system as the Player Characters, but they will never be so powerful as to rival another Player of similar level.

For Example, we'll say Player A has a Cohort, who is 2/3rds as powerful as he is. Player A has an approximate power-level of '13', so the Cohort has an approximate power-level of '8', rounded down.

Player B is trying to get back at Player A for some reason. Stole her horse, ate her chicken mcnuggets etc etc. Her power level is '8' too.

Player B decides she'll get back at Player A by killing his Cohort. As a Pet, the Cohort can't 'die' per-se, but the loss means that Player A could be without his Cohort for an hour or more.

Player B and the Cohort fight, they have equal levels but the Cohort is fated to lose. Cohort's power level might be the same, but Player B is much more adaptable, has better health and saves and is likely better equipped, unless Player A has been blowing some wealth on his Cohort, which should cost just as much as equipping another PC out!

Ideally, a Cohort should function as your back-up in adventuring, should the worst happen and you find yourself unable to play with your friends for a period of time. Not as effective as another Player, but with some help from yourself, the Cohort can make it possible to Solo-Play to a greater extent, and maybe even help with Crafting.

When grouped up, however, I fully see Cohorts going back to your 'home base', or 'splitting' from the group to set up a base-camp outside the entrance of the dungeon you are in. Getting battered by the mobs, get out of the dungeon, stagger back to base-camp and have everyone's Cohorts help heal everyone, assist with getting your weapons and armor back into shape and restocking your supplies.

I also see a Cohort as something your character has for life, with only a few ways to permanently lose or change your Cohort.

A Hireling, on the other hand ....

Hirelings are mercenary sort, be they crafters, fighters, mages or priests or any other type of character, and you can hire a new one at any time. Hirelings also come pre-equipped dependant upon their level. For example, a 1st level Character cannot hire a 15th level Hireling, but a 15th level PC can hire the 15th level Hireling.

Furthermore, dependant upon their level they may have access to magical abilities, special combat maneuvers or even just a talent in some other direction.

The difference between Hirelings and Cohorts is that a Cohort needs nothing from you except equipment and leadership. A Hireling is already equipped, but demands payment promptly and on time, thus forming a permanent drain on your wealth, cannot be 'trained' to do other things like a Cohort can and in certain situations, might even go so far as to abandon you if the going gets too tough or leave your side if another PC offers a higher wage.

Now, I somehow did not get picked for the GM position this time (Not really sure why, everybody liked the last Pathfinder Arc, the Second Darkness Campaign I ran them through, but I'm not complaining!) and I have been offered a position at the table.

Currently we've got five people, with two people angling for the Primary Caster positions, one person to be the Primary Face and one person aiming for Primary Melee Combatant, whom we have positively locked down as a Cavalier.

Now, I'm somewhat torn as to what role I should fill, and what Class I should use to do so. After the sheer unmitigated badassery of Skyrim I am leaning heavily towards a straight-up Barbarian, no archetypes, just run around and snipe with a Composite Longbow or cleave some skulls with a Battleaxe.

But we're likely going to have either a Bard or a Tactician Fighter as our 'face' and our two Primary Casters are currently dueling over who gets 'healing duties' (Dueling as in they've dragged out the old Xbox and are currently fighting it out via Phantom Crash, best 3/5) so I don't yet know if we're going to have three people capable of healing or just two and a boomstick/mind-controller.

So my other two options were an Archery-archetype Fighter or a Boreal Sorcerer.

Anyone have any suggestions? And I know this is a very slap-dash post with very little useful information. Just any advice from your own adventures would be greatly appreciated!

In regards to the comments brought up in "X would be cool...." thread, would anyone else be interested in Plagues, Disasters and Good Fortune?

Imagine beggars move into the village. Beggars can be fed, clothed and sheltered and cared for, some might become actual workers, others will remain beggars, but overall they are just there to pump for information in most games. Players might even disguise themselves as Beggars to get into a city or a district relatively unmolested (flea-bites don't count) or to hide from an enemy player.

Beggars can be easily placated with some bread and cheap wine and some copper coins, but ignored, they might turn into an actual physical threat, mugging people, stealing from merchants, so on and so forth.

But what about their diseases? Players might not pay much attention to the guys in rags in the seedier part of town, but what happens when some start turning up dead from the plague ... in the grainary? Suddenly, the primary food source of the town is now unclean and has to be either purified by magical or alchemical means, or burnt down and rebuilt.

What about all the bread and flour made before the bodies were discovered? Is the disease now in the food or is it safe to eat? Suddenly people are afraid of what they are eating, or if it's in their houses, is the bread/flour being eaten by vermin such as rats or mice? Can rats spread the plague to the PCs and their NPCs?

What happens if the algorhytm running the seasons decides "Hey, time for a drought!" and the amount of water in the region is vastly reduced? Suddenly the rivers are reduced to a trickle, the streams and ponds have all dried up, the fish-farms are stuffed, crops are withering in the fields and people are dying of thirst.

Players with access to fresh water are suddenly besieged by NPCs desperate for their supplies, paying through the nose if the PCs were fortunate enough to have their supply protected somehow, or risking outright mayhem as NPCs attack them if not so fortunate.

Players who can create water via magic suddenly are in high demand, using Create Water to slowly, painfully refill the town's water-containers, and black marketeers will go after any source they can find and charge ludicrous amounts.

The flip-side to this is the Seasons of Plenty. That same Algorhytm decides "Hey, it's time for a bumper crop!" and the farms in that region are producing more food than the people can possibly eat, the livestock are exploding with newborn (not literally!) and 'wild' resources such as the forests and monters within are producing large or possibly high-quality resources when Players track them down.

A lot of people remember the WoW Plague and the Wrath of the Lich King World Events fondly, and being able to log in to completely unscheduled 'regional events' would be a nice way to keep players on their toes, although perhaps having the 'bad touch' events such as plagues/droughts/fires/monster invasions/Satyr bachelor parties to the following levels.

FREQUENT/OFTEN/COMMON/UNCOMMON/RARELY

Once or twice every three months (real time), perhaps, with certain events more likely to happen during specific seasons?

Now, I can't program a DVD Recorder, let alone an MMO, so take this as the ramblings of a Gamer with an in-heat Cat climbing up and down his legs like the unholy offspring of Freddy Krueger and a Furry and a light fever.

Consider the game starts, you pick your race, facial details, body type, gender etc. You then get to pick one of five 'Avatars'. The Warrior, the Thief, the Mage, the Priest and the Jack-of-all-Trades.

The Warrior grants you the best melee/ranged attack bonus in the game and the most robust health, but your reflexes and will-saves are nothing to boast about and you have little innate talent for magic.

The Thief grants you the middle-ground melee/ranged attack bonus, excellent reflexes and direct access to the ability to Stealth and Use Poison, but your constitution and will-saves are somewhat lacking, and again, magic is not your forte.

The Mage grants you the worst possible melee/ranged attack bonus, but you are able to wield the Arcane Arts like a Warrior swings his sword! Your mind is a bastion against all assaults, you have full spellcasting ability, but you're about as tough and agile as one of your precious books....

The Priest has access to the middle-group melee/ranged attack bonus, and excellent constitution and will-saves and the fortifying powers of the Gods flow through like like a river, but you're none too agile and you need a free hand to cast spells, and the Divine Gifts are notoriously lacking in offensive spells.....

the Jack-of-all-Trades has access to the middle-group melee/ranged attack bonus, decent saves across the board and a fairly good aptitude at spells. What you lack is true mastery of any of these things. Warriors will always be able to out-fight you, Thieves will be able to out-flank and stealth you, Mages will be able to out-blast and -summon you and Priests will be able to heal longer, better and faster.

From any of those five 'Avatars', you can specialize into any 'Class' you want once level 4 or 5 is gained.

Is your warrior a man who wants to become the best there ever was with a Longsword and a Tower Shield? Go Fighter, and then later on pick up the 'Stalwart Defender' perks/skills/focuses and go for your life. Want to be the guy at the front shouting orders and telling everyone what to do (granting buffs) pick up the Cavalier path (obviously with a focus on Teamwork feats/perks/skills instead of mounted combat).

Obvious 'Class Paths' I can see. Warrior: Fighter, Barbarian, Cavalier/Samurai, Gunslinger.

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Is your Jack of all Trades looking to specialize and focus his many talents? Go Bard to be a second-line fighter and all-round buffer and trouble-spotter. Go Alchemist for some explosively good times. Go Magus and make the Mage and Warrior green with envy. Go Inquisitor to make the heretics sweat holy-water. Any of those paths allows your JoaT to fulfill any number of roles in an adventuring party without tying yourself down to a single 'role'.

Obvious 'Class Paths' I can see. Jack of all Trades: Bard, Alchemist, Inquisitor, Magus.

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Your Thief wants to make her mark? Follow the Dark Path and become an Assassin feared for the ability to kill with a single strike, or become a master tracker and hunter of men and beasts as a Ranger. Perhaps the Spiritual Path appeals to you, so become a Monk attain enlightenment, or maybe you prefer a bit of good old fashioned bedlam and larceny as a Rogue? Regardless of your choice, you'll seldom be the front-man in combat, but your actions will nevertheless always help shape the fate of your comrades.

Obvious 'Class Paths' that I can see. Thief: Rogue, Assassin/Ninja, Monk, Ranger.

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Does you Mage seek ever greater paths to the ultimate mastery of the Arcane? Does she seek out dusty tomes and focus upon a singular school of magic, or does she awaken a hidden magic within her own blood? Does the binding of a powerful creature to your side appeal to you, or does trafficking with ancient and mysterious spirits call to your true nature? Wether you become a force of elemental destruction, a mysterious healer who spurns the Divine or the master of a ferocious monster, the choice is yours.

Obvious 'Class Paths' that I can see. Mage: Wizard (Specialise in one 'School' of magic, take penalties to two others), Sorcerer (lose the ability to learn every spell but gain more magic-points and supernatural 'gifts'), Summoner (lose a great deal of outright offensive spells but gain a powerful monster companion and a modicium of melee/ranged talent and more hitpoints) or Witch (lose a great deal of outright Damage spells but gain great mastery over spells that bewitch and befuddle, and gain the ability to heal and hex your friends and foes!).

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Many things test your Priest's Faith, and in time she will turn to the Gods for greater strength to see her comrades through their adventures. Wether you become a powerful but cursed Oracle, a stout-hearted Cleric, a Righteous Paladin (or a Foul Anti-Paladin) or the wise and mighty Druid, only the Gods can say for sure....

Obvious 'Class Paths' I can see. Priest: Oracle (powerful divinations that grant insight into the enemy and challenges ahead, and a mixed bag of specialisations available, but the Curses bestowed upon the Oracle can punish them severely if ignore), Cleric (A fairly obvious choice for healing and outright secondary combatant), Paladin/Anti-Paladin (Either path sacrifices a great deal of Spellcasting Ability for the ability to rival even the brawniest Fighter in close combat, along with powerful supernatural abilities tied to their respective paths) and the Druid (less healing ability than either the Oracle or Cleric, but makes up for it with a broader array of attack spells and the ability to transform into powerful animals and summon nature's allies to your cause for brief periods).

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Now something else that came to mind, but when you first 'start' your character, you pick 'farmland', 'forest', 'village' or 'city' as your starting region. Depending upon your Avatar choice, you get a selection of 'professions' you can choose to do.

For example, let's say a Warrior chooses 'Village'. Village 'Profession' are 'Guard', 'Militia Member', 'Thug' or 'Villager'. Each of these selections, as well as your starting zone, add a set of hidden attributes to your character that will affect how NPCs react to you at first, and then modify later reactions when your PC is more (in)famous, powerful and the like. Actions taken during the first Day and Night of your Character's life in their Starting Region (which should not interact with other players just yet) further modify these 'Hidden Stats' and help shape your character in subtle ways that help define him as different from the next sword-swinger.

Also these hidden stats continue to accrue through-out the game. I'm not talking Alignment here, that's a separate conversation, but let's say you're the Warrior from the 'Village' with a Profession in 'Thug'. People are a little bit put off by your attitude at first, but after your choices in the village led to a bandit raid that killed several Villagers, you're much more careful about who you take jobs from and are determined to wipe out every Bandit you come across. You sit down in the tavern, order a beer and a meal and overhear two NPCs talking about you.

"Hey, it's that guy from X Village! Yeah, he's mean as a cut snake, but he's a good man under all that, goes out and sticks it to the Bandits and Monster like a real hero should!"

While these 'Hidden Stats' should influence NPCs and either help or hinder certain skill-checks, at not stage should they be outright hinderances to the game. Let's say each stat is a %, based upon your race, gender, avatar, starting region and starting profession. A Half-Orc or Dwarf Warrior 'Thug' from the 'Village' would naturally gain a higher % towards being intimidating and similar in comparison to an Gnome or a Half-Elf, but we're talking a % of .5 or so here. Enough so that there is a minor difference without it being a collossal "TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!! You picked the Gimp Choices!" from the NPCs and Game-In-General.

What do you guys think?

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.

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.

EVERYONE FROM THE ADVANCED GROUP (Hecatonacles) GET OUT!

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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.

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!

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.

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.

Can't seem to find one anywhere, but then again I don't have every single manual Paizo makes. Seems to be some of the Archetype Monks' special abilities rely upon causing critical hits, and with the exception of the Temple Sword, every Monk weapon has craptastic criticals.

Now, there's just something about the Savage Barbarian that appeals to me greatly, and not just the concept of delightfully well-built Half-Orcs running around in loincloths and little else.

It's a Barbarian build that, as far as I can see, benefits more from Dexterity and the Two-Weapon Fighting tree than it does from the Two-Handed Builds so common to the class. With a High dexterity, and depending upon the race, the ability to take the Ironhide Feat and then Improved Natural Armor or the Two Weapon Fighting/Two Weapon Defence feats, the Savage Barbarian can easily hold it's own against the other Barbarian builds.

Now, I would appreciate some other people's encounters with this class, as I tend to be hideously biased towards Barbarians (#>_>#).

Assuming a Dexterity capping out at 18, the Savage Barbarian could burn 4 feat-slots to gain TWF, TWD, Imp TWF and Double Slice to keep up the damage and then burn a fifth slot for Improved Shield Bash. Slap on a +4 Furious elemental burst Scimitar and a +5 Bashing Arrow-Catching Light Shield, plus the usual fun of Ring of Protection and Amulet of Natural Armor, and the Savage Barbarian is, from about level 10 on, easily comparable to other Barbarians in terms of damage, defence and mobility.

Hitpoints, however, as well as straight-up damage from the much-beloved Two Handed Tree, suffer, and at lower levels the lack of a high AC can be cripplingly restrictive, forcing a Savage Barbarian to actually be far, far more cautious in engaging the enemy.

Now we don't use Point-Buy system in our games (tends to end up causing cookie-cutter PCs, but that's just us) but a Point-Buy Savage Barbarian is Multiple Ability Dependant in a way that makes a Monk feel better about themselves. Strength for Damage, Dexterity for Armor, Constitution for Rage duration and Hitpoints, Intelligence can remain at 10 or even 8-9 and the Barbarian can still do his thing, Wisdom and Charisma tend to be a little situational, but having even moderate bonuses in both of these Abilities helps with both your outdoor skills and saving throws and being able to scare the crap out of nearly everything with your Intimidate Skill and Rage Powers.

Obvious items I can see a Barbarian needing are Bracers of Armor, Ring of Protection, Amulet of Natural Armor, a Furious weapon of some description, Cloak of Resistance and a shield or off-hand weapon of some description.

Anything I've missed here? It's 12:30 in the morning, my cats are eating my toes, there's a howling storm outside my house and I have to get on a train at 5am today to go see my mother in hospital, so I'm fairly certain I've screwed up at least a few times here.

Now, according to the Ultimate Magic book, an Alchemist can choose to be a Chirurgeon, a healer. They trade in the use of Poison for the ability to heal more effectively, and one of their abilities, the Anaesthetic ability, grants them the Skill Focus (Heal) feat and the ability that when using the Heal skill in/on/under conditions that would normally inflict damage to the target, can ensure the patient only takes minimal damage.

This ability replaces Poison Resistance +4. Does this mean a Chirurgeon 'skips' Poison Resistance +4 and then goes on to gain Poison Resistance +6 and Poison Immunity at 8th and 10th level? I can't see this working out too well, but then I am of the mindset that the Chirurgeon instead gains +4 Poison Resistance at 8th level and +6 Poison Resistance at 10th level.

I'm also assuming that Swift Poisoning is also removed from the Chirurgeon's list of Class Abilities as I can't see a class gaining Swift Poisoning without the ability to use Poison in the first place, but that's just me.

Does anyone have an Errata link or something similar I can use to wrap this up? Seems to be a little bit of a loop-hole here.

Now, I love the Monk, but one of the things that has bugged the Class for a long time is that the Class Abilities seem to be counter-productive. Flurry only works when you make a full attack, but you have this fantastic movement speed. Slowfall is highly situational, and the class has been accused of being a 'fifth wheel'.

Now, personally, I have used a Monk as the party 'Tank' to great effect and have loved every second of it. Nobody is faster than me, I have the singularly best saves in the game, I am NEVER unarmed and I am a Caster's worst nightmare given flesh. As the type of PC who is capable of locking down threats faster than anything I've seen bar a high-level Wizard or Sorcerer, can basically laugh in the GM's face with those high saving throws and has (assuming they can get a full attack off) a full free Two-Weapon Fighting Feat Tree plus the Double Slice feat, and can freely substitute disarm, sunder and trip combat maneuvers for unarmed attacks as part of a Flurry of Blows. That is just freaking awesome.

but what about people who want the 'Monk' without the 'Wire Fu'? No Speed Bonus, no Slow Fall, no Abundant Step or Quivering Palm?

I could fully see the Sumo Archetype gaining additional Bonuses to their AC Bonus Class Ability in place of the Slow Fall, bumping their AC by 3 at most, perhaps. All that bulk is not just fat, but thick, powerful muscle. Perhaps instead, gaining DR 1/Slashing or Piercing, going up to a maximum of DR 5/Slashing or Piercing at 20th level?

I could fully see the Sumo Archetype gaining a bonus on Overrun, Bull-Rush, Trip, Drag and Reposition at the same rate as they would gain +10 feet to their Fast Movement ability. The entire fighting style is based upon forcing your opponent either out of the ring or forcing anything other than their feet onto contact with the ground.

Shiko, the part of the tradition where the Sumo/Rikishi lifts their legs as strait and high as they can go, and then lower it with great force, traditionally to drive Demons away. Replacing Quivering Palm, the Shiko could perhaps grant the Sumo bonuses to attack and defense against one target that is opposed to his Alignment on at least one axis (Lawful Class, so either Chaotic, Good and/or Evil), useable once per day.
Still trying to figure this one out, which ability would be most 'useful' without being game-breaking and/or useless.

Abundant Step ... make the Sumo's Unarmed attacks be treated as Ghost Touch Weapons by expending two Ki points, for a number of rounds equal to half his monk level plus his Wisdom Modifier?

Just bouncing this around, but does anyone else have any suggestions?

Now, We've got Merisiel and Kyra fielding questions, with Kyra obviously distracted by the Undead, Rovarug-worshippers and a death-seeking Black Dragon and Merisiel being, well, Merisiel.

So, with the appropriate bait put in place, this thread is designed to lure an Iconic in, we all ask them a handful of questions, give them some treasure, then reset the trap for the next iconic. Politeness towards the people taking time out to respond to our questions and lack of squicky/lecherous/antagonstic comments, please, this is supposed to be fun, not Trollolololol Boot Camp.

On one hand, the movies have been good, Michael-Bayed but still enjoyable. The trailer for Transformers:DotM contains lots of explosions, but also lots of drama between the Autobots and Humans, who already have some unstable elements within their alliance to begin with, mostly on the Human side where the usual beauracratic nonsense is hard at work defending their pensions, er, America.

The clip includes a giant worm-like transformer chewing through a building with Sam Witwickey and the new long-limbed love-interest inside, and ancient Cybertronian warships pounding the ever-living crap out of Chicago (I think) while Optimus Prime displays his dual-wielding skills once again with what looks like the remains of Jet-Fire once more.

Part of me, the eternal nerd and transformers fan-boy, is Squeeeeeeeing harder than a schoolbus full of Michael Bieber fans, but the rest of me is trudging through a sea of doubt and loathing at the thought of the plot following the route of Movie Two, ie explosions everywhere and 'AMERICA SAVES THE WORLD BABY!', rather than Move One, where the interplay between the characters, both CGI and Normal, was as much a part of the movie as the overly shiny fight-scenes.

Also, Laserbeak and Shockwave. *SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!*

Now, a fairly recurring theme in most fantasy is magic is as much belief as it is the reality of the world in question. Magic is varied, but most falls under the umbrella of casting your hands around making magical symbols and speaking arcane formulae. I've put up my hand to be GM after the Kingmaker Campaign ends, and would like to try my hand at a slightly altered Pathfinder Campaign, specifically the parts that seem to always cause derailment and/or shenanigans. Magic, in other words.

Now while I like the concept of the Truenamer Class, it seems rather limiting. Instead, taking concepts from Psionics, Sorcerer and Wizard classes, making the class having access to a pool of 'Power Words', grouped into 'Least' (cantrips) Lesser (1st to 3rd), Power Words (normal) (4th to 5th) Greater (6th to 7th) and Penultimate (8th to 9th) level. Ultimately, Power Words are interchangeable in terms of level, but the combining of the words is what truly decides their final 'level'. For example, casting a 'Normal' Power Word Spell means a 4th or 5th level spell, meaning the caster can use 4 or 5 different Power Words to create a spell effect of their own design. On the other hand, certain Words, such as 'Empower', 'Enlarge', 'Maximise' should correspond to certain 'levels' of Power Words, to avoid players getting their hands on some of the more powerful Metamagic 'Power Words' right off the bat.

The theme I am going for is not so much that Power Words are spells, but rather, Spellcasters can combine these words differently every time they are cast to create new effects, meaning that even with a limited spell selection, a Caster can still add a great variety of tricks to their particular bag. To combat 'Blaster Syndrome', any caster also has a limited number of times per day they can use the Power Words without risking critical damage to themselves, similar to the Power Point System from the Psionics. Arcane casters start with 10 points, 'Divine' casters start with 5, to compensate for their greater physical abilities.

For example, a 1st level 'Mage' would have 5 Least Power Words, plus two Lesser Power Words plus a number equal to her Intelligence Modifier. The Mage also has a number of Points equal to 10 + her Constitution Modifier (only permanent bonuses, not temporary ones). Least Power Words can be used without penalty, but any other level drains points from the Power Point table.

Casting a Power Word drains one point, and the more Power Words used, the faster the Power Points are drained, at a cost of 2 Power Points per additional Power Word used. So if the Mage wanted to cast a fire spell with a broad area of effect, combining the Power Words for 'Fire' and 'Burst'. If the Mage can beat the Spellcraft check to shape the Words to suit her need, she can choose to create a burst of fire, dealing 1d8 Fire Damage + her Intelligence Modifier in a 5 foor radius anywhere within 10 feet of her position. I'd base the Spellcraft check on a DC 10+ the number of Power Words used.

Same mage, some levels later, we'll say level 10, decides she wants to cast a similar spell as a 'Normal' Power Word Spell. She has the ability to string the Power Words together in groups of 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 words, and is faced with a vicious Troll. The Mage combines the words for 'Fire' 'Empowered', 'Lingering', 'Ranged' and 'Wall', creating a Wall of Fire that remains for a number of rounds equal 5+the amount she beat the Spellcraft check by. The 'Fire' Power Word deals a base damage of 1d8 damage, but the 'Empowered' adds 50% as much damage to the final effect, not including the bonus from a high Ability Score for her Intelligence. The 'Ranged' Power Word allows for the Mage to place the effect anywhere within 20 feet per point of Intelligence Bonus that is within sight of her location, as opposed to 5 feet as per normal under the rules I am currently thinking up.

I know this is a rambling and chaotic post, but if you can understand it (and I do apologise, should not be posting this late at night, not with a screaming headache and the neighbours having more screaming matches to disrupt my concentration) and don't mind, would you please post some ideas, critique or any oversights I've missed? Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Now, the group downed the Stag Lord, finally, but my Half-Orc Skirmisher/Beast Master Ranger ended up with one arm cut off by the now-sober Stag Lord (and man was the Stag Lord pissed about that!) and our Cavalier PC has left back to Restov after inter-PC conflict has made it clear he would be a highly unpopular King (in game, he's leaving because we're all a bunch of 'peasants' with no gratitude for all 'that he has done for us'. Player is actually eager to retire him and make a 'disciple' of my own now-retired Ranger, he's quite interested in the Beast Master archetype.), leaving us with an open 'Tank' Slot and my character effectively neutered, given his focus on fighting with both head and butt of a spear.

Now, I'd love to have continued with my Ranger, but one-armed as he is, he'd be unable to continue adventuring without some extreme cheesiness on everyone's part, so the GM is taking him as an allied NPC, likely be using him during the 'King-Making' sections of the game as an Warden or Marshal.

So I've been asked to fill the role of the 'tank', and while I love the Fighter Class, I'm looking for a 'bandit' or 'trapper' themed character, and a Barbarian feels very much like that sort of class, to me at least.

Now, would love to make another Half-Orc (race just appeals to me) but that would be cheesy, so a Human (ex-bandit, trapper, adventurer) or a Dwarf (miner, explorer, adventurer) would be the next 'logical' options.

I'm thinking One-handed Weapon and Heavy shield (a further tick towards the Dwarf Barbarian and the Dwarven Waraxe), heaviest armor I can wield and stocking the character equally with defensive and offensive gear, such as armor qualities that would make the Barbarian as tough as possibly to bring down while still allowing decent damage output.

Favoured Class Bonus to hit-points, which is a change from my usual choice of Skill Points (I like versatile characters, personally find a canny character can survive longer than a flat-out combatant can, if only by talking their way out of a fight or setting up the battlefield to their advantage), but I am wondering, which Barbarian Archetype should I be using?

'Standard' Barbarian is one I know and love well, adaptable and easily suited to an outdoors-turning-city campaign.

I am also looking at the Drunken Brute/Invulnerable Rager for flavour reasons as well combat effectiveness.

Does anyone have any suggestions on Rage Powers and Magic Item combos they wouldn't mind throwing at me while I try and get this character 'grounded' into the Game-World? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Any advice is welcomed.

Now, for some time the party has been messing around, heading to the south-west and south-east of Oleg's Trading Post, we've brought the Kobolds into line, made them valuable trading partners for Oleg and Svetlana, helped old Bokken out with some supply troubles, befriended Tyg and Pervilash (more trouble than they're bloody worth, but then they keep using my precious maps sleeping mats!) and dealt with a lot of wandering monsters, undead Trappers, cleansed the Shrine of the Elk and even Mooseknuckle the Immense, an Ogress Bandi and her halfbreed family, an ally of the Stag Lord, whose death has finally made the other players remember what we were supposed to be doing in the first place.

Unfortunately they are convinced that the Bandit, Stag lord, must be hiding in the forests to the east and south-east, to much fsdjgh-ing from the GM (and myself, who helped him with the campaign's alteration for 6 players) despite the note to Mooseknuckle being quite clear that the camp was on the northen edge of the Tuskwater Lake.

Thus we're heading south-west, towards what I believe will be the lair of the serpent-dragon-monster-things a panicky trapper was talking about, and am curious as to how anyone else would help me and the GM get the party back on track without using the 'Leash of GM-dom' to pull them into line?

Seriously, watch this only if you have a strong stomach. That said, I'll be using this for two-headed NPC sometime in the future...

*goes to scrub brain with wire brush and industrial-grade bleach*

Just flicking through YouTube in a moment of weakness, and thought, "Hey, this kinda reminds me of ...."

Then again, I'm the guy who thinks "Animal I have Become" and "Indestructable" are great music for planning a Barbarian Character to, so >_> YMMV (a lot).

Calistria was the first one that came to mind while listening to this song.

Shelyn for this one right here.

Gorum in the aforementioned Indestructable video ....

For Pharasma, this one seems to be the best fit I've found in her role as 'Goddess of Fate'.

Asmodeus, again going with Disturbed here, Into the Fire.

Now, flicking through Fable II because Rifts is a boring WoW clone and the gaming group has cancelled the game for the next week because of RL Scheduling Hell, I'm thinking about the next campaign, in which I'll be GM as I've had two years off and feel it's time to step back up to the plate and give some other people a chance, and the game is a lot of fun (yes, the Fable Franchise bit hard with the way they wrote the story after the first game, but bleh, what can you do?)

Now, almost all 'defensive' actions are taken via blocking with your weapon or rolling out of the way .... and thinking of kicking out 'high fantasy' to the curb and making it an 'emerging steam-technology and magic fighting for supremacy' era, where armor isn't common except for light armor. Not so much that such armor isn't useful, but culturally such armor is reserved for ceremonial purposes and anyone seen clanking down the main street in armor is going to get either laughed at or accosted by the Guards, who alone would be the ones allowed to wear armor and weaponry openly in towns.

So, what I was thinking, in addition to the 'four base classes' I am tinkering with, should the classes get a built-in AC ability? Ie, for the 'Warrior' Base-Class (effectively the Fighter class sans the Medium, Heavy armor and Tower-shield feats, +2 Skill points), should they gain a +2 to AC at first level and increase by +2 every 4 levels?

The 'Priest' base-class (think Cleric, no armor proficiency, +4 Skill points) should maybe gain +1 to AC at first level and increases by +1 for every 6 levels after that.

The 'Rogue' base-class (think Rogue with some Bard-abilities hybrid, sneak-attack is being changed atm to something else, martial weapon proficiency) should perhaps gain +1 to ac at first level, and increase by +1 every 4 levels.

The 'Mage' base-class (hybrid Witch/Wizard class, still in design, +4 Skill points) should gain +1 to AC at first level and increases by +1 for every 6 levels after that.

I'm thinking of making Combat Expertise a free feat to the 'martial' characters, Warrior and Rogue base-classes, and thus making feats that rely upon the characters being more mobile and aware of the uses of cover, elevation and footing be more crucial to combat than encasing yourself in a half-ton of Adamantite and charging the enemy army on your own.

I'm trying to think of a way to give the characters their higher AC without the armor, and currently while a class-based scaling AC, representing training, experience and just plain luck.

Anyone had any games using a similar system that can offer me any advice? I can see shenanigans where items such as Amulet of Natural Armor and Bracers of Armor suddenly become King, but I'm also trying to create a campaign where PCs aren't completely dependant upon outside sources for their in-combat survival.

Short version of this campaign: Human, Kobold, Hobgoblin and Dwarven societies are in the middle of an evolution past the traditional 'kill the other guy' mind-set and are advancing into cautious trade-alliances and co-operation, Elves, Giants, Orcs and 'Other' are trying to expand their territories the old fashioned way, or are struggling to sabotage the advancement of technology and/or the new alliances to maintain the way 'things should be'.

Actual monsters are nominally restricted to Normal and Dire Animals, Abberations and Magical Beasts are mostly extinct and/or restricted to distant continents/Magical Schools where they are kept as valuable samples/breeding stock. Certain breeds such as Gryphons and other 'iconic' Magical Beasts survive as either 'domesticated' or otherwise intergrated into Humanoid Society.

Dragons have since mostly abandoned civilisation, having learned the hard way that advancing technology can hurt them just as much, if not more so, than Magic and Steel ever could.

Outsiders are mostly void from the game, as is planar travel. The Beyond is inherently hostile to Mortals, even powerful ones, twisting the mind and body into insanity. Hell doesn't let anybody back out once they get in, and Heaven won't let anybody in for fear of 'mortal corruption' ah-lah the Black City of Dragon Age infamy.

Now, in our Kingmaker campaign, my Half-Orc Ranger is heavily based off the video-game character Rau from the Mark of Kri game and is using the Spear Master feat from Dragon #330 to use a spear as a Double Weapon, much like the Taiaha Rau uses.

As the game progresses (We're still running around in the woods at 4th level and haven't managed to find any decent leads on the Bandit King's hideout, I'm assuming even some fairly decent Survival rolls on my part and some interrogation of the various bandits we've caught are leading us in the right direction .... I hope!) I intend to 'create' my own Exotic weapon based upon my Character's fighting style.

I am thinking a Double Weapon, one end is spear-like, the other end is club-like. Attacks with the spear end do Piercing or Slashing 1d8/x3, attacks with the club end do bludgeoning 1d8/x2, and the weapon cannot be thrown, but can be set against a charge.

Anything you guys can see with the weapon, problems or bugs or loop-holes I can close would be greatly appreciated!

EDIT: For those who never owned a playstation or the game, here is Rau, as imagined by 2 Cents of Deviantart , and can I say it looks awesome!

Rules are simple, everyone adds to the list, and you add a funny picture to the post. We've all abused the Cohorts gained through Leadership in one form or another, and I think it could be amusing to see how people 'see' such actions.

Use 1: Human Shield, as depicted by this poor bastard here.

Now, reading the feat's text, I'm seeing '....reduce the damage by half to gain a +4 to AC and CMD ....'.

What does this actually mean, 'damage'? Are we talking about the weapon's base damage or the damage plus strength bonus? For example, using a Great-Axe, would we be (on a theoretical damage roll with a weapon sized for a Medium character and 14 Strength) be looking at an 1d12+3 and then halve the damage, rounding down, or would it be 1d12, halve the damage rounding down, then plus the strength bonus?

Now, I'm hoping to keep this argument out of the 'Evil' argument sea of chaos, flames and randy Trolls, but it's inevitable that we'll at least dip our toes into that unholy maelstrom at least once.

That out of the way, why was the Assassin kept as Evil, when one of the main complaints of the Players all through the PrC's existence (in 3.5, at least) was that the Assassin wasn't a welcome addition to most gaming tables, as most PCs and/or Parties tended to end up North of Neutral more often than not.

So, why was the Assassin kept as a purely Evil Prestige Class? Why not Neutral and Evil Alignment (and obviously not good, making a living off killing other people just ... does not match the PrC!)? Even the text on page 378, "Neutral Characters sometimes become assassins, frequently thinking of themselves as simple professionals performing a job, yet the nature of their duties inevitably pushes them towards an evil alignment." seems to suggest that even a Neutral Character can become an Assassin, but the 'job' of killing people for money will almost always (99.999999%, repeating of course) end up with your soul heading towards Hell, the Abyss or somewhere in between.

None of the PrC's class-abilities scream "EVIL!!!!!!!" at me, like the Anti-Paladin, or arguably the Shadowdancer's Undead Shadow Companion (which is Undead, but not Evil. Hooray, Paizo!). Death Attack, while ominous and heavily dependant upon the target not noticing the Assassin and not *'recognizing' the Assassin as an enemy (Friendly Backstab Ahoy!), none of the other abilities are any more 'evil' than the average Rogue's. Or for that matter, most of the other Classes and Prestige Classes.

* Recognizing the Assassin as an enemy..... hmmmm. Would an Assassin that has engaged a target in combat, uses a Ring of Invisibility to hide, waits for 3 rounds, studying his target, be then able to use his Death Attack ability? I would rule 'yes', but the wording seems to be a bit strange. Knowing the big scary Half-Orc with a poisoned Shortsword is somewhere in the room and about to forcibly remove my kidneys doesn't seem to mean jack when he's invisible and I (theoretically) have no method of detecting his presence.

Now, it occurs to me that we have all these 'a wizard did it' monsters out there, Hippogriffs, Bulettes and worse still, but we don't actually have any NPC-PC Class that can actually, mechanically, pull this off.

The premise I am thinking of is a minimum of a 10th level Character that can enter the Prestige Class, requiring at least 7 ranks in Arcana, Dungeoneering and/or Nature (Two of the above three) and Spell Focus in either Transmutation, Enchantment or Necromancy.

Obviously slanted towards Wizards, but Sorcerers, Witches, Summoners and some Divine Spellcasters could access the Prestige Class. I'm not sure how we could get Alchemists access to the PrC, but then that might be a different aspect we could look at, a Arcane Caster/Alchemist Combo PrC that allows the PC/NPC to turn the arcane knowledge and alchemical know-how into creating monsters for a living!

Now, I'm thinking 'average' Spell Progression, or every Even Level (level 2, level 4, level 6, level 8, level 10) and the ability to fuse two creatures together at first level (minimal control over what abilities the creature has) then greatly improving the ability at 4th level (nominal control over the creature's abilities, ability to imbue minor spell-like abilities) and then perfecting the ability at 8th level (full control over what abilities the creature(s) would develop, ability to imbue moderate spell-like abilities).

Other Class Abilities would be the ability to create Aberrations (baseline) then Magical Creatures (3rd level), Half-Dragons (5th level) Half-Celestial and -Infernal (7th level).

The ability to apply Charm Person to any creature you create as a permanent effect (limited to a number of creatures equal to the primary casting ability, possibly at 1st level, and being able to cast Charm Person under the same guidelines a number of times per day, only affecting your creatures.

Ability to 'enhance' your creatures during the creation phase through applying Transmutation, Enchantment or Necromancy spells, such as Bear's Endurance, Scare or Touch of Idiocy, for example, allowing the creature to be fundamentally tougher, have the ability to scare enemies or have a natural attack that can deliver a temporary penalty to one mental ability score.

Possibly even the ability to create your own homonculus as a bonus ability? Your thoughts, I'd like them!

Now, if any players from my group are reading this ..... *deep breath* ..... FLUMPH OFF! You bastards have already stolen my Bard, my Inquisitor, my Ranger and now my Cleric, go use your own greymatter for once, g*!*$#it! Here we go, Half-Orc Sorcerer (bloodline to be determined with your help, hopefully!)

I'm thinking Elemental, Draconic, Serpentine or Shadow as my Sorcerer Bloodlines, and these are spells I am thinking I should be taking, and I'm also aware that most Paizo campaigns officially 'end' around the level 13-15 mark.

I am also wondering whether or not I should go Full Sorcerer (although I loathe having that miserable BAB Sorcerers and Wizards must endure), going Dragon Disciple (Rawr) or take a level of Fighter (I know Ranger is mathematically better than Fighter, but those bonus feats, and the fact I am trying to avoid a heavy coating of cheese, points to the Fighter as my go-to dipping class) and take 7 levels in Eldritch Knight before swinging back to Sorcerer. While I know that our current party, Bard, Inquisitor, Ranger, Fighter, Cleric plus my Sorcerer pretty much has the Melee/Physical Ranged part fairly stitched up, I enjoy having a little bit of 'Oomph' in that direction with every character I make, if only for the inevitable scrap the caster will get involved in.

Obvious feats would be Combat Casting, Defensive Combat Training, Magical Aptitude, Spell Penetration, Cosmopolitan and either Forge Ring (if going Full Sorcerer or Dragon Disciple) or Arcane Armor Training (if going Eldritch Knight)

Any and all suggestions on the composition of the 'Ruthless' Sorcerer is welcomed. I have checked out the (unfinished) Sorcerer Handbook made by Minstrelinthegallery, but I wanted to double-check with some other people first.

And again, Jason, Sarah, Martin, Luke, Michy .... stay the eff away from this, please, you guys have systematically yoinked every character concept I've statted for this and the past three campaigns. Cut it out.

And here is why.

Now, the Campaign itself is still two weeks away, GM is adding encounters and beefing encounters up, combat-encounters at least, to account for having six people in the party rather than five.

Brevoy strikes me as a great place to be an adventurer, because quite frankly, they don't care who you are or what you did, so long as you're competent enough to get the job done and loyal enough to not turn around and stab them in the back.

Now, I have a couple of character concepts to work through and I'm hoping people could go 'Aye' or 'Nay' to each one's 'utility' within the Campaign.

Human Rogue/Fighter/Assassin (Lawful Evil) Sent by a patron in the River Kingdoms to see the new Kingdom of the Stolen Lands has ties to his own organisation, for the purpose of trade and the eventual elevation of the Patron from an exiled Noble to an actual King (or Queen). Extremely dutiful, the Assassin will be very methodical, capable of taking care of traps and enemies equally well and be well schooled in intimidation, lying and sweet-talking people into doing what he needs done. Going to really challenge myself here as I find it incredibly hard to pull off non-good characters without sliding towards either Batman-ish antics or snapping and going "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF" and converting to Good, normally after being made to choose between Moment of Ultimate Evil and Pet the Dog moments.

Half-Orc Ranger (Chaotic Good) A wanderer and all-round adventurer, able to track a bandit, good with a sword, good with animals and a capable healer in a pinch. Thinking of using the Skirmisher Variant Class and dropping a few (just a few) ranks into Craft (brewing) and Diplomacy. Very much a 'comfortable' fit for me to play as the Character will give me the ability to be a switch-hitter as well as character that can provide utility to the party in and out of combat.

Half-Orc Inquisitor (Neutral Good)(Sarenrae) Basically as the Half-Orc Ranger, but more focused on people-skills. A former bandit himself, the Half-Orc struggles with his violent up-bringing at times but tries to continue his dedication to redeeming others as he himself was redeemed.

Ack, will post more later, it's nearly midnight. Gah.