Can I use the alchemical items from Complete Adventurer and Complete Scoundrel? Making alchemical items is a major schtick of the class and the list in the Players Guide is a little slim. Please, oh, please? :)
I don't remember anything too nasty from those, I'll say yes provisionally. I'll go over them again and tell you if anything is a big no-no.
It would probably be best to move most of the conversation to the discussion page as of now. While I'll still check this one, it will be no where near as frequently.
Current Players List
Tanner Nielsen
deranged
AlQahir
Gerald
MoFiddy
stardust (possible/reserve)
Eric Swanson (reserve)
I very much enjoy the idea of having a small eidolon, but I do feel the options presented for such are somewhat limited. The eidolon evolutions seem mainly geared for combat, and I would be delighted if some utility ones were added in.
Perhaps something to give it additional feats, cheap utility powers, or maybe even longer range away from the summoner. Telepathy with the summoner would be a nice option, as well. A evolution to give Darkvision 120' wouldn't seem terribly out of place.
I think the biggest problem would be the space. Summoner already takes up a good deal of room, and more abilities would make it more voluminous. Maybe a sidebar with a few tips on costing new evolutions would be warranted.
Sorry, but I'm afraid I'll be gone for a bit, my computer is pretty much dead right at the moment. The video card is fried and it doesn't have integrated graphics, so it might be a week or two before I can really do much. Feel free to NPC Mountain until I can get back. Hopefully it will be sooner, rather than later.
Sorry, but I'm afraid I'll be gone for a bit, my computer is pretty much dead right at the moment. The video card is fried and it doesn't have integrated graphics, so it might be a week or two before I can really do much. Feel free to NPC Klegg until I can get back. Hopefully it will be sooner, rather than later.
Hey guys, currently trying to make a map up using Photoshop. Anyone know where I can find a few ground/forest/sea/mountain textures I might be able to use? Preferably, I'd like to find some for free, but I might be willing to pay for some very high quality ones. I can make my own if need be, but it's a lot less of a pain to use pre-made ones.
Recently I've begun a small project to create a world for both a D&D/Pathfinder campaign setting and a setting for a series of stories I intend to write. As I know many of the people here at Paizo are lovers of novels and the amazing writing of the Paizo staff and their freelancers, I thought that this would be an excellent place to show off some bits of the setting to get some critiques. I will probably move it to some place off Paizo in a sort of blog format later, but I greatly enjoy the opinions and insight of the people here (though I admit to spending a great deal of my time lurking).
Feel free to leave any comments, questions, or criticisms here. I will warn you, it's rather unedited, so there may be the occasional grammatical or logical error. Feel free to point those out if you find them, but I don't expect you lot to be my editors ;). Thus introduced, allow me to introduce you to my world of Tarela.
Basic Setting:
Tarela World of the Hungering Star
Many wonders abound in Tarela. In the land known as Morteya, hordes of undead creatures fight endlessly amongst themselves, reliving the days of their long-dead empire. In the obsidian peaks of the Black Spires, hobgoblins and their armies wage constant war against tribes of giant warlords. Near Tarela's equator, the Godscar rests as an eternal tribute to the death of an ancient god, its shattered wastes a nearly lifeless testament to a battle between two immortals. In Helonth, the land of a thousand lakes, scholars search for secrets and engage in cunning political ploys to raise their ranks above that of their neighbors. Mysteries abound of the floating nation of Gelfarin, where no one enters and the few that leave speak nothing of the land. Many other places exist, from the kingdoms of serpent-pharohs, to lands devoid of any humanity, place of adventure are abundant across Tarela's surface.
Of Tarela's most defining features, one rises above all others in a quite literal fashion, for the sun that provides the light that gives life to so many also seeks to destroy everything. Looming in the sky roils the star-god Visharanthol, a monstrous immortal composed of flame and hatred that wishes nothing more than to devour all other than itself. It is held in check with a constant battle with the god Ochulire, who's priest fight to continually root out Visharanthol's crazed followers. Hundreds of years before today, the sun god Kel Masabd was slain by his enemy Gabach which created the Godscar that encircles half the planet. This caused the world's sun to die, causing a time known as 'The Great Cold Night'. Ochulire, Kel Masabd's nephew, was asked with Kel Masabd's dying breath to venture forth into worlds beyond Tarela to find a new star to keep the world from a slow death. Ochulire found the star-god Visharanthol quickly, but refused to bring it back at first, hoping to find a less dangerous and more malleable source of heat. It was only at the last possible moment that Ochulire brought Visharanthol back to Tarela, consigning himself to forever keeping the foul beast at bay.
The Gate-Web:
Upon Tarela is a complex web of mystical pathways that exist, linking distant parts of the world to each other and even occasionally leading to even more magnificent places. These gates are not things that are easily found and controlled. Locations of portals may shift, as well as the conditions that trigger their activations. They are also inconsistent, working at some times and becoming inert at others. At times, the entire system of these gateways has become inert for centuries, rendering their existence as mere legend amongst all but the oldest and adventuresome of creatures.
Each gate, when active, possesses a particular trigger and leads to one specific destination. A trigger can be anything from a song, a color, a unique item, or even just entering the area where it exists. Due to their chaotic nature, most activations of these portals is entirely accidental, and still many more are never activated at all. Still, there are occasionally times when a you farm maid may find a pretty stone near a place where she is gathering water, only later to disappear with a toppled bucket found near the barn door. Afterwards, the now mutated woman may begin attacking near the farm site, or a strange beast known to be from far off lands may be sighted, or perhaps nothing at all may happen. As often as not, many go through their lives without being affected in any way by these gates, even the most adventurous of heroes.
The Skinsaw Murders is a particular favorite of mine, though I find all of the first adventure path to be quite excellent. Many have said that Hook Mountain Massacre is a bit too grim for them, though.
I am 100% for playing Cleric, I loved playing it before the Pathfinder domains. Now it's just gravy. My guy shall be cooked up sometime around noon-ish tomorrow. I'm thinking Gnomish, not too sure on Deity/Domains, but something elemental would be the most likely.
If there's any room left, I'd be fine for playing anything that's left needed. Looks like you're mostly full up though, but I'll keep watch to see if you need anything.
Since we have a bunch of magic guys and an artificer, I've decided to go with a Warforged Fighter that's focused on Sword and Board. Except with a flail instead of a sword. I've got him mostly started, but I am afraid I don't quite know where in the book to find the "How much gold do I have at what level" chart.
Anyone either able to just tell me how much cash we'll be getting or (preferably) where to find said chart/formula/calculator/magic elf that tells you the answer?
Little bored at the moment, so somewhat wondering if any of the DMs out there have a PbP game they're planning to start any time soon. I'd prefer a Pathfinder RPG game, though I'm equally interested in 3.5 or possibly even 4th. I'd very much like to get into a Second Darkness, Legacy of Fire, or Council of Thieves AP.
I'm good with playing any type of character, so if you're just missing something in a current game, I'd be happy to hop in. Primarily I enjoy playing Rogues, Bards, and other 'face' characters best. I tend towards the more Neutral/Evil ends of the alignment, but I'm never against the party.
Depending on how you build your rogue, the feat can be quite a boon. Vital strike, poisons, area-effect spells, and anything where you really want them to stand still for a bit.
And remember, it says "cause an opponent to lose his Dexterity bonus", it doesn't make them flat-footed. While they can still make AoOs, they also lose the effectiveness of Weapon Finesse, can't really back up and shoot a bow at you, lose possibly a great deal of Reflex save, and a similar amount of CMD.
Also, folks that are suggesting to use Rogue Talents to pick stuff up, you can only get any one rogue talent once. I'd rule that to include combat Trick, but some DMs may not.
I love the sheer mass of the book. It reminds me of when I was a kid and reading those old gigantic science-y books. Things like 'The Way Things Work'.
The classes seem quite excellent so far, though admittedly I'm only up to Monk at the moment. I'm also extremely impressed by the quality of the book. The pages seem tear resistant and are quite glossy, and the layout and art are astoundingly superb.
Mine got shipped on the 24th...and showed up the 25th. This is especially surprising as I was using Super Save Shipping. Corners on mine aren't in horrible shape, but that may be simply due to the distribution center for it apparently being quite close.
Since I used a gift card to pay for it, I only ended up paying $1.34 for it, and essentially got one day shipping. The gift card is the only reason I didn't buy it from Paizo, couldn't have afforded it otherwise.
I couldn't find a really well-suited spot to post this, since it's kind of unique.
During the writer's strike that happened last year, Joss Whedon decided to write and produce a short film in three acts about a super villain and then put it up on the web for about a week, then sell it on DVD. Also, it's a musical.
The first two acts are up as of me writing this, and it's an absolutely fantastically funny show. I'm sad that it's only three acts. I digress, go here and watch it.
Sorry Paizo folks, I couldn't find the really big thread with all of these.
I unfortunately have to cancel my Pathfinder subscription. It's not a choice based on the quality of your product, but on a distinct lack of money on my part. As soon as I get another job, you can be assured I'll be purchasing my missed issues and re-subscribing.
A lot of the ambivalence I feel towards 4th Edition comes from the near complete lack of any sort of non-rules substance in the core books. The rules have never really been that much of a sticking point for me in any of the RPGs I've played. Normally I'm inspired by the setting, by the overall 'flavor' of the game. 3rd and 3.5 were already light enough to barely interest me, except for in the Monster Manual. The 3.0 Monster Manual was half the reason I started playing 3.0, and frankly, the 4th ed version has about as much description in it as two pages of the 3rd ed version (hyperbole, but not by too much).
It seems to carry over to the other books as well, leaving the whole thing feeling bland and 'unsaturated'. Almost all the rules seem to have been reduced to pictures more than text that's actually descriptive. While the rules don't seem that great to me in certain areas, it's really the lack of anything evocative that makes me go "I NEED to put this in an adventure somewhere" that makes me really dislike 4th edition.
The lack of quality binding, ink, and paper also turns me off to a lot. I don't like feeling as though I have to treat the book as though it's some holy relic while I'm handling it or else I won't be able to read it.
Then again, it's Mountain Dew that Nick Logue has somehow procured. No doubt its very existance is tied tosomething so horrible our ears would rend themselves from our heads if its name were spoken.
Assuredly some dark elder god is somehow involved in its creation.
I know I have some personal bias... but honestly, this is what the people who own the rights to D&D felt was right for the game, and I think they're doing the best job they can. Ripping on the work they did is not accomplishing anything.
I think that it's silly to argue and gripe about a game which is firmly in place and choices which have been finalized. D&D 3.5 is great. Pathfinder RPG is great, too. D&D 4e is great as well.
I always find this a fallible argument. A lot of people are discovering the rules of 4E right now, are dissatisfied and want to vent. What is wrong with that?
The way you seem to see it, everybody who dislikes something should just shut up and go away. Life doesn´t work this way.
I'm rather sure what rockfall means is that 4th ed is a good game, but it may just not be a good game for you.
I personally find the game a great deal more limiting than 3.5, while everyone else harps on about the flexibility of the game I just find it to be incredibly structured to the point that everything basically just does one thing. I find it to be too simplified, too cut and dry.
Then again, I did once create a mecha RPG because I thought Battletech was 'too easy to make stuff for'.
I've read through the PHB a bit (about half of it), and through most of the monsters in the MM.
I like the PHB, except for a few minor quibbles (like why fighters don't come with plate mail, or why rogues start out with such a limited weapon selection). The only real problems I have are with small characters not having their own size of weapons, where all creatures that aren't small do. Mechanically it kinda makes sense, but it really nags at me. I also don't really like the incredibly limited selection of base armors. But these are things that are pretty easily solvable.
My problem is with the MM. The monsters are boring as hell, there's almost no flavor text in the entire book, and there isn't even half a line of description for what their attacks do (to be fair, that bugs me about the newer style of 3.5 stat blocks, too). Most of the monsters don't even have a brief description, it's all just in pictures, and some don't even have that.
But the biggest problem is that once you've fought a monster you've pretty much found out all it's tricks. There's no spell list to shift around easily to make the Rakshasa easily different from the other one. Hell, they don't even have feats. Most monsters only get 3-4 lines of text for tactics. I find the MM guilty of being unimaginative, boring, and flavorless. At least in my opinion.
I gotta agree, the new "Afflictions" part at the end of the book, along with the magic item redesigns, were easily my favorite bit so far. Now poisons are nastier, easier to use, and easier to tell if your players are ready to face them.
We were doing a small playtest thing using some online tools earlier tonight and came across an oddity with the new Turn Undead and Swarms. Should the healing from Turn Undead affect swarms?
We ruled 'no' primarily on two reasons:
1) Swarms generally lose HP due to bits of them dying, not due to bleeding, bruising, etc.
2) Most healing spells are single target, and as swarms are immune to single target spells, they're generally immune to them.
We'll be playtesting in an actual campaign starting next weekend, I'll probably post notes of problems that we have in their respective folders as we come to the problems.
The playtest group included:
Hammith
seekerofshadowlight
BM
pretjah
Takasi
Kenku
I'm sure we're all familiar with some of the problems posed by the Druid. Most of the 'overpowering' aspects of the class lies in it's wild shape ability. However, just taking away the ability will be needless sacrifice of a sacred cow that I'm sure many of us have fond memories of.
My suggestion is a small change to the way wild shape and the druid in general works. Rather than just being a very static class as they are now, I suggest a movement more towards the current Pathfinder wizard and cleric with 'domains' called totems.
Each totem would be linked to a particular animal or animal type (cat, wolf, bear, elemental, plant, etc) and would give small minor abilities based on the Druid's level with the Druid being able to choose several over the course of their career. Dependant on the 'power' of the creature the totem represented, the Druid would gain Wild Shape at different points but would only be able to wild shape into animals whose totems the Druid had gained the Wild Shape ability in. For example, the Rat totem may give the ability to change into a rat at level 4, but the bear totem would only let the Druid change into a bear at level 9 regardless of if the Druid had already gained Wild Shape in another totem.
Obviously this would have to be worked with a bit, and the actual other abilities in the totem 'trees' carefully balanced. I think the idea has a lot of potential, though. It may allow for some of the problems with 3.5 Druids to be fixed, and at the same time allow for slightly more flavorful druids.
I'm not quite playtesting yet, waiting until a couple more classes come out, then I might change RotRL over to PF. Unfortunately, there's just too many non-Fighter/Cleric/Rogue/Wizards in it to really test the system at the moment, and I'm terribly lazy.
1) I may buy the books, but not too sure if I'll play, depends on how good the game ends up being.
2&3) I'll likely continue to buy Paizo stuff for quite a while. Pathfinder has yet to dissappoint, and I expect it to continue to provide enough fluff and encounter ideas to make it worth the money I spend on it even if I can't use the mechanics.
Kick ass mechanics supported by easy to modify fluff (I'll keep my great wheel thanks).
Easy directions or examples to make new classes and/or races from so that I can make Bards and Druids.
Paizo thinking the system is good enough for their things.
Frankly, though it'll be at least a year before I seriously look. Currently I still have to run Rise of the Runelords and SCAP, not to mention whatever else comes out of Pathfinder until Paizo switches (if they do).
Due to recent job changes, and a couple of people effectively dissapearing, my gaming groups has dwindled down to a pidling two PCs. I've been looking for some fresh blood to inject into the group, and due to having offended the local college gaming club by some means, I'm left to scouring the internet for PCs.
Currently our gaming is based out of Martinsburg, but may soon be moving towards Shepherdstown. If there are any gamers in the area looking for some D&D 3.5 to play, and possibly some new friends to make, just say so. We'll see what we can do to accomidate a meeting of some sort.
Unfortunately, our gaming ours are somewhat constrained to Saturdays from about 8:30pm to whenever we get tired. I'd also prefer someone that isn't familiar with Pathfinder or Shackled City (one or the other, better if you don't know much about either).
These boots of blackened metal are designed to look as though the hooves of some demonic being. When worn, the "Bloody Hooves" seem to leak blood from every crevace, yet leave no abnormal tracks.
The wearer of the boots counts as one size catagory larger for the purposes of using the bullrush manuever, and can make a free bullrush attempt on a charge attack if they take an additional -2 penalty to AC.
Additionally, the boots heavy heels allow them to be used in a Coup-De-Grace dealing 1d8 damage with a x4 critical modifier.
"Heart of the Sun"
Appearing as a styized ruby heart, this item is far less sinister than it appears. Once per day, the heart may be used to create a 10' pool of silvery liquid which radiates light as though the daylight spell. Additionally, any living creature standing in the pool gains fast healing 3, while undead take 3 damage each round from the positive energy emited by the pool. This effect lasts for 10 rounds.
I have some more, but those are the two I remember off-hand.
Ok, a quick question. This may be counted in the 'everything counts to wordcount' thing from Vic way earlier, but do the formatting tags count? My word processor seems to count them as additional words even though there isn't a space between the tags and the words. As my submission is 199 words without them, I was just wondering if they counted.
Yes I realise they aren't needed, but they make it look so much better. I'm just mostly questioning if they count as extra words in whatever program the Judge's are viewing things or not.
As for Corp names, I don't think we should limit ourselves just to Paizo, possibly something named close to one of thier products or characters that are generic enough not to be copyright infringing.
Sort of like:
Finders of the Path, Inc
Runemage Corp
Although, I do conceed that with Paizonia, more people that know of Paizo may immediately recognize it.
Then there's all the permutaions of the Paizonia theme:
Paizan
Paizorra
Paizaga
Paizoth
Paizogonia
Paizonia
etc.
Well Heck, if you guys need any miners for your Corp, I started the demo Saturday, and after a bit of leveling up some of my skills I think I may start paying for the game if I can get an OK ship by the time my trial runs out (and since I need about 1mil for it and I'm at about 1/4mil, It's looking like a good chance). Name's Hammithan in game.
Won't be on much except durring mornings and occasionally in the evenings, though.
