Dragon

Iggy the Drake's page

3 posts. Alias of Saint Bernard de Clairveaux.



*

I've heard that sanctioning of Lost Omen materials was completed a few weeks ago, but for some reason there is a delay in updating the website. A bit understandable given staffing and the holidays, but I'm wondering if there might be a way to make this something community volunteers can easily post.

I wonder if folks in the know could clarify what the process is between sanctioning and getting information out to the community. Is there any way we can collectively make this more efficient?

My sense is that the new website is built on WordPress. It seems to me that you shouldn't need skilled developers to update the material — there are lots of us out here who are familiar with WordPress.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

I'm enjoying quite a few things about the new system (action economy, especially). That said, I'm concerned about some major downsides of the heavy emphasis on balance and making non-magical classes more attractive.

For me, it'll be hard to get really excited about the system until a couple of issues are resolved:

1) LOW LEVEL CHARACTERS HAVE TOO LITTLE DIFFERENTIATION

I was playing the season opener this last week. Lots of skill checks throughout the evening, but no one really stood out much in any given direction.

With a first level spread of bonuses that are generally between +5 to +8, it was hard for any 1st level character to shine distinctly in any given area.

One solution, I think, would be to allow first level characters to get 2-3 skills up to Expert level. Creating from first level the ability to spread out a bit more statistically.

Without this, low level play is just going to feel a lot like oatmeal. More bland than it needs to be.

2) DON'T MAKE MAGIC SUFFER — JUST MAKE MUNDANE ABILITIES BETTER

I get that we want to balance magic effects against the abilities of rogues and fighters. But to do that, we've made it impossible to create many beloved character concepts.

For example: the PC with a thousand faces.

many of my fellow 1E players have a real fondness for characters who are able to do pretty weird things at low levels.

There are disguise lovers who loved the kitsune's Realistic Likeness feat or psychic's spirit channeler discipline. These all allowed PCS to assume alternate identities for full scenarios from day one.

This kind of ability could be a bit of a challenge for judges at times, but in general contributed to more fun at the table (and some good plot twists that didn't need to break any particular scenario).

As it stands, there aren't really any low level abilities that allow constant magical effects like this. A druid has to wait until 4th level to take a Thousand Faces, and that ability's duration maxes out at one hour many levels later.

There are probably other concepts out there that face similar challenges.

It'd be great if future books could address this issue with the 1 minute / 10 minute / 1 hour duration limits, and find balanced ways to do cool things 24 hours a day.

Most folks who play this kind of concept aren't interested in breaking the game — they just understandably want to create characters that have a certain fantasy panache.

I wish we could address the problem of casters v. rogues + fighters by just making the latter more fantastic (I LOVE the new rogue), rather than nerfing magic and wonder.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

In my little corner of Pathfinder Society, a lot of folks have gotten used to long duration (i.e., day-long or longer) effects that give them the kind of character flavor they want.

For instance, the kitsune's Realistic Likeness feat, the vigilante's second identity, the psychic's spirit channeler discipline, or druid's Thousand Faces feat that around 8th level allow you to take on another identity more or less 100% of the time, which can make certain scenarios really interesting.

Or spells like Overland Flight, that let players realize their dream of a fantasy character who can constantly fly.

There can be some game balance issues with such long duration effects, but I find the narrative value of some of these abilities to be awesome.

I'd like to see some mechanics that allow for more constant effects like this in future books — grappling with how to make them balanced, but with a firm commitment to working such options into the system.

What do others think?


The Spirit Channeler discipline allows psychics to change form to another form of your type and subtype—but that the new form cannot change your type or subtype.

Metamorphosis (Su):

By meditating for 1 hour, you can trigger a slow, physical metamorphosis that takes 24 hours to complete (during which you do not gain the benefits of this new form). This ability cannot change your type or subtype, grant new abilities or natural weapons, or change your size category, but otherwise allows you to transform your appearance into anything possible for creatures of your type and subtype. You gain a +1 enhancement bonus to one physical ability score of your choice (Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution) while in this altered form. This bonus increases by 1 for every 5 psychic levels you have. Your shape and ability score bonus persist until you assume a new form or your current altered form ends. When meditating to begin your metamorphosis, you can spend 1 point from your phrenic pool either to change your size category to Small or Medium, or to gain a new ability from those provided by the alter self spell. If you do so, your altered form lasts only 1 hour per level.

I wonder what this means for Aasimars (type: outsider/subtype: native).

It's clear they could take the appearance of tieflings, sylphs, undine, etc.

It's slightly less clear whether you could take the form of, say, a rakshasa, though my sense is 'no'.

I also wonder how this relates to aasimar with the Scion of Humanity variant.

Scion of Humanity:

Some aasimars’ heavenly ancestry is extremely distant. An aasimar with this racial trait counts as an outsider (native) and a humanoid (human) for any effect related to race, including feat prerequisites and spells that affect humanoids. She can pass for human without using the Disguise skill. This racial trait replaces the Celestial language and alters the native subtype.

My initial reading was that you could assume the form or either human subtype or native subtype, but RAW this seems to imply only those with both humanoid/human AND outside/native types and subtypes.


This post is mainly directed at diehard roleplaying and storytelling fans like me, and those who game with us via play-by-post (PbP) or face-to-face (F2F).

As a diehard PbP and F2F gamer with a love of the creative elements of the game, I have frequent opportunities to debate the finer points of roleplaying and metagaming.

One question that often comes up is how much player characters are likely to know about each other, specifically in terms of metagame knowledge about spells, powers, etc.

A related complaint that often arises is that asking questions or making assumptions about such things is 'metagaming.' And that metagaming is bad / evil / the antithesis of (capital R) Roleplaying.

Maybe.

However, Pathfinder isn't just a game about roleplaying and storytelling. It's a game about cooperation, strategy, and dice, in which our storytelling is mediated by rules.

Both the game and storytelling aspects of Pathfinder are greatly aided when players and characters find ways to communicate what qualities and abilities we and our PCs bring to the table.

Put slightly more poetically, the metagame is the skeleton upon which we build the flesh of our story. Being able to speak to the metagame can be distracting, but it can also help us ensure that the overall body of the game is healthy.

The question is, how do we communicate the metagame aspect of the game, while preserving a sense of immersion, which is critical to good storytelling and roleplaying?

I submit to you the best roleplaying doesn't mean avoiding metagaming. It means recasting our metagame knowledge and requests into evocative roleplay and narration, and conveying when we're slipping out of narrative mode.

Yes, Metagame!

Let's look at a specific example from one of my PbP games: How would a Varisian bravo / battle herald possibly know that an elven cleric of Nethys, who is an extremely reticent chauvinist who looks down on humans, has antimagic field as a domain spell? It would be metagaming to suggest otherwise, if his elf had never cast the spell.

True. The Varisian likely has no in-character way of knowing about antimagic field, if the other player doesn't indicate such through either narration or roleplay.

If I were to have my Varisian say, "Hey, elf, mind casting antimagic field?" other diehard roleplayers might respond by crying foul: "Metagamer! Get a rope!"

Rather than get bent out of shape, why not look at this as an opportunity to encourage with each other more roleplaying and immersion.

Instead of getting mad at another player for asking your character to do 'X,' roll with it.

Encourage that player to reframe their request in a way that's more immersive / non-game-speak, or just respond with your in-character or narrative voice, with a smile on your face.

It could even be fun for the player being approached with metagamey requests to quickly write up (in PbP) or engage that player (in F2F or PbP) in a flashback that shows how that player's PC knows about X ability. Chances are characters are spending a lot of time together off-screen—an infinite pool of potential vignettes to tap into.

Also, when leveling up, why not take some time to talk out how your character describes their growing expertise in narrative terms? Maybe talk excitedly in-character about a new spell. Or describe narratively the lightning crackling from her fingertips, if you have a more reticent character.

Anyway, there are lots of potential ways to navigate metagaming that are constructive, and help set a positive expectation for roleplaying and storytelling. Let's help each other, instead of getting bent out of shape.

Immersion & voice

I love immersion in roleplaying games—little touches that players and GMs add that are crucial to RPG storytelling and roleplaying.

Immersion is not the same as always being immersed, and never speaking in metagame terms. Rather, it's about getting the right balance of speaking in metagame-ese and speaking immersively. One doesn't have to fight with the other, and it's hard to play the game if we don't do some of each.

The trick is finding a way to distinguish between when we're speaking metagame, and when we're being immersive.

One thing that is beautiful about PbP, but harder in F2F, is the ability to separate out-of-character metagame writing from narrative description and dialogue. A few simple tags and you're set!

It's harder in F2F gameplay, but not impossible. Some suggestions:

  • Cultivate a narrative voice, and to use it as much as possible. Perhaps you lower your voice for narration, or use the Movie Guy voice—"In a world..." (ok, please don't use that guy's voice)
  • Change your pitch or make a hand gesture when you're slipping into metagame-ese
  • Cultivate another tone or accent for your character. It doesn't have to be a perfect British accent. Just something that lets others know you're roleplaying

The more we can make clear when we're putting flesh on the story and when we're talking about its skeleton, the less of a problem metagaming will be.

What happens off-screen?

Sometimes we talk about PCs relationships with each other as though they only spend time together during the hours when we're gaming. In most campaigns, though, PCs spend huge amounts of time together.

What do they learn about each other during that time? Do they pick up things about each other? Sit in stony silence? Lie to each other?

I believe it's reasonable to assume that PCs learn a lot about each other during those long ocean voyages or caravan trips. Enough for us to give each other the benefit of the doubt about how much they know about each other. The roleplaying fun comes with filling in the details—explaining how we know what we know.

Metagame: yes. Play other people's characters: NO!

It is a point well taken that control freaks like me can really push the envelope in terms of claiming to know more than our PCs would know, and then provide 'suggestions' that are too directive.

This isn't the same as assuming that we know something unstated about each others' characters based on metagame knowledge—the subject of this post.

Let's find ways to make metagaming a catalyst for more creativity, while agreeing not to be directive jerks (which is a much taller task for jerks like me than, say, making roleplaying lemonade out of metagame lemons).


I have just begun play in a Legacy of Fire campaign online. Several of the PCs are playing Keleshite, Mwangi or Vudrani characters (from what I understand).

Unfortunately, as we look at the available avatars, there are very few available.

I've been super grateful for the free service you provide for play by posts, and appreciate that you've worked hard to broaden the range of available avatars since an earlier conversation in 2006. The options are still pretty narrow, though.

Perhaps licensing out images from folks like prismaticart.com...? I know it costs you money, but would be very meaningful for those of us who use your non-European-inspired settings or just want to see ourselves or our character types represented as options.

Of course, one could say that the options aren't wide enough around other dimensions, like body shape, gender, etc.. However, to me it's especially meaningful as a player to have options around racial, ethnic diversity, and different genders (from muscular, masculine looking men to masculine, heavy set women to slim, femme dudes).

If licensing images for a public website weren't an issue, I'd just suggest allowing us to upload custom avatars. My sense is that you use images for which you already own the rights, which makes sense.

I'd be grateful if folks responding to this post don't equate a frank discussion of race and ethnicity for 'playing the race card' or use it as an excuse to rail against 'political correctness.' I'm all for chatting about race and other elements of diversity within roleplaying games, but this is about a pretty specific request.


Hi roleplaying game superstars,

I have a suggestion for you about site organization: I'd like to suggest that your reorganize the PRD in relationship to messageboards, and actually provide space within individual rule records to link directly to discussions related to that rule/spell/item/etc.

For instance, I currently have a question about Alchemical Allocation—the way I read it, I could buy a potion of heroism once, and just keep it around as a sort of extra spell book, just using Alchemical Allocation on that one potion, again and again. Seems a bit crazy to be able to use a 2nd level infusion for a 3rd level potion, but I like the idea!

If I go to look up Alchemical Allocation on Google or the messageboards, I'm likely to get a whole bunch of different posts that mention it in passing, but don't actually address rules questions. I may or may not be able to find a response from a Paizo official, which is particularly important for Society play.

It'd be nice to shift how that's done.

Thanks! Keep up the excellent work.

Bernie

Liberty's Edge

Am I missing something? I can't seem to find any information about how to acquire Halfling sacred keepsakes, their cost, etc. Thanks for whomever can advise!

Liberty's Edge *

Hey there,

The Pathfinder Society rules say that it's possible for alchemists to craft alchemical items and poison during the course of play. It's a little unclear when during sessions this should be done. Does anyone have a sense of how to handle this?

Is it possible to do this during book keeping (i.e., while doing item buys, I do the Craft roles to see how long it takes to craft the item)? In this case, how would one make sense of the time it takes to craft?

Thanks!