Search Posts
This is something I would definitely be more interested in as a PDF product. If you could get your hands on some of those perforated card sheets I've seen around the net, it would be a winning combination. Otherwise, I wouldn't be too interested in buying the blank cards as a printed product.
Mearl's statement makes a pretty silly oversimplification of open source projects and ultimately skips right over the reason that the SRD never grew or changed, that being Wizards of the Coast themselves. And even the assessment that the core never grew is pretty absurd; what about Mutants and Masterminds, or True20, or Pathfinder? Or does it only count when it's WotC's D&D? Honestly. These bizarre comments just give me headaches.
There was a Stephen R. Donaldson short story that had a man dropped off in a wild game park where the animals bore cybernetically implanted weapons and could shoot back. I believe there was a gorilla with a blaster for a hand. Seriously. You can't come in here, talking about this gun-fisted gorilla, and not give us a title. How am I supposed to read this story now? This is gonna keep me up all week! This is worse than the time I lost my pen and had to call off work for 3 days while I looked for it! Jerk!
Those are awesome. The slurks turned out incredibly well. Plan on doing more for other products? Thanks! If I have the time, I'd like to put some figs together for the Carnival of Tears I'll be starting in a week or two. And I'll probably need a new kobold king for the Revenge of the Kobold King. I used to be a lot more into the minis, but I got burnt out because I felt like I had to have something unique for every session. Now I just pick one or two things that the prepainted minis don't cover well and see what I can do.
My wife and I put together a couple simple minis conversions for the end of the Crown of the Kobold King. I wish I'd had the time to make a Forge Spurned, but alas the clock is rarely on my side. I put up some pictures on my blog if you'd like to check them out. If anyone else has put together custom minis for their games, I'd love to see 'em!
I used my fey step to jump up behind the Elf and the thunderthingy to knock him off the pedestal. One of the fighters then swooped in and bashed him to death with his daily so I didn't get to use my acid arrow after all. I think almost everyone that I've talked to knocked that poor evil elf off of his fancy perch. I mean, the whole setup just screams "c'mon, I DARE you to blast me off of my tower!". Good times. More fun playing at home with our group, though! Yeah, I'm always a lot more tensed up when I'm running for strangers. I definitely want to run at least one game with some of my regulars.
"Look, Jumbles! It's the Horn of Truth, fabled for its ability to discern lies! I feel like I'm holding a piece of history itself." "Truly, tis something to be treasured, Gruff. However, it only affects elves, and since we're in kobold country, we won't get much use out of it. Maybe we should sell it?" "You can't sell something this precious! This is something to be treasured, to be passed from father to son!" "You're right, I couldn't possibly sell it. >smash< Now I can make that Belt of Weightloss I've been dreaming about. Help me gather up this here magic dust, friend." "Now you're talkin'!"
BTW, neither of the players that had the wizard stuck to the magic missile the way your guy. Or if they did, they didn't complain about it. She was excited when she got to slap the BBEG off of his perch with Thunder-whatever, but aside from that I think that she was hoping for a greater variety of at-will abilities, and compared to the others, her damage output didn't seem that stellar. She didn't want to get stomped on in melee, which didn't leave much beyond the Magic Missile after the first round or two of combat. I think she could have survived a few fights myself, but that was her choice and she stuck with it. Out of curiosity, what else did your guys do while playing the wizard once the Encounter and Daily powers were used up?
I believe the dragon is in an adventure in the DMG. Well, there IS an adventure in the DMG that features a white dragon, but the provided adventure specifically calls it "the other Worldwide D&D Game Day Adventure, Against the White Dragon". But after posting just now, I got to thinking, so I called up the shop. Apparently the "adventure" was part of a stapled set of trivia games or some such, which they only got one copy of and I never saw. The "adventure" is just a single page encounter with a white dragon. For anyone that DID run that fight, how deadly was the dragon?
Dragon?! Man, now I'm kinda mad. I ran a session at the FLGS on Saturday, and the shop only got the one adventure, the one with the statues of death. I noticed right away the dragon mini, and even the adventure mentions the dragon at the end, but no copies made it to the store for some reason. The statues, those were brutal. Knock you down, get a free attack. Try to get up, they get a free attack. What does it matter that standing no longer provokes an attack when the one time it comes up is against an enemy that gets the attack anyway?! It took the players a little while to figure out that they were better off using their At-Will powers rather than simply attacking, despite my numerous encouragements. The wizard player was pretty bored with Magic Missile, and at one point got up and left, telling another player "just keep Magic Missiling". All in all, people seemed pretty "meh" about the rules, but I made sure we all had a good time anyway (well... except for the wizard, and another guy who just shows up for these events for free minis and has ZERO interest in 4th Edition, and is quite glad to tell you this while playing the demo). I let the players keep the figures for whatever they killed, and I gave the unused White Dragon to the sole survivor, who ran for his life after seeing two of his pals get crushed to death by the statues. I was a bit put-off by the lack of any sort of starter rules in the provided adventure. I didn't get a lot of time to learn the rules beforehand, having just purchased the books on Friday, and I'm sure there were plenty of mistakes on my part. I was also surprised at the lackluster materials provided; you'd think they'd want to send roman candles and cake for this event, not a sack of ho-hum d20s and character sheets that looked like they I typed them up in Word and printed at home.
In terms of the statement in question and others like it, its largely open to interpretation and depends almost entirely on your own point of view. It could be poorly worded, or it could be deliberate revisionist history. As an example, look at the latest DDM Preview, specifically the Chain Golem, where we're told "One of the minis of the Dreamblade line, the Iron Thug, provided inspiration for this monster". Now, are they trying to say that Chain Golems are all new for 4th, something that they just now made up? Well, sure looks that way, but why in the hell would they need you to believe that? Are they trying to tell me that the Iron Thug figure wasn't just a castoff Chain Golem figure to begin with (seriously, look through the Dreamblade figs and tell me with a straight face that there aren't any figs that began life as art requests for DDM). Again, what illusion are they trying to project here, and to what end? Personally I don't see anything malicious about either statement. I also don't think that its petty or a stretch for people to get upset over it, as contradictory as that may seem. People like to see their game company act like Regular Joe Excited About Games and not Corporate Owned Business Folks, regardless of the validity of either assessments. And thats assuming that there really is, or needs to be, a hard separation between the two, or that one end is assuredly better or worse than the other. Its just that, well, no one wants to see the hydraulics poking through the fur of the Chuck E. Cheese robot band. They just want to see furry animals playing the banjo. Nothing wrong with that, in my opinion. My last thought: I really appreciated the dedication to Gary Gygax. I may be mistaken, but I believe the books went to print well before Gary's passing. If thats correct, then they would have had to go to some effort to have it included in the product before printing and still have it ready in time for its release date. Either way, I thought it was a very thoughtful and respectful inclusion, and I think WotC should get some props for that.
Now roll for initiative ! Watch out! You don't want to mess with a Stereofm that has surprise!
Strength 6
Ouch. Weak-willed sorcerer I guess.
Book and page number or it doesn't exist. Oh, it exists. Book of Exalted Deeds, page 44.
*Not to mention the sai - but honestly - who throws a sai?* Starts with a T and ends with a Urtles. Also that Tacos chick, the one from the funny books. More to the topic on hand, I would agree that monks need to be able to do a little more healing, and I really feel that they need more ki points all around.
If we discuss backwards compatibility lets discuss bonuses to gather info and diplomacy. Where did THAT go? My super diplomatic half-elf player went ape-s**t! Gather Information has been rolled into Diplomacy. Skill Focus will give you +3. It's still in there, only now you have the option to apply the bonus to a different skill. They also now receive the elf's ability to spot secret doors. All in all I'd say they're doing pretty good.
I've wondered for a while now why the people who want to see a major revision don't just put together a group to do just that? The OGL and the SRD are there for anyone to use. It seems that there exists a growing number of individuals who wish to produce a game that falls outside of the scope of the stated goals for the Pathfinder RPG. I say, get together and hash it out! People are playing all kinds of variants out there; True20 and Castles and Crusades off the top of my head. While I would hate to see more division amongst D&D players, I would rather see 20 flavors of the game than 2 or 3 versions being played by people who aren't at all happy with any of them. The existence of the OGL means that you can not only play your own group's specially seasoned home-ruled version, but also print it, sell it, and spread it out for all the enjoy. I think the ideal of a true community designed game is a fantastic and powerful ideal, just not one that fits with Paizo's goal for Pathfinder.
Regardless, the rules say this is how a 1 character party should perform against challenges EL=level. (Ie, 50-50 fight on average). If you don't like that methodology, this isn't the place for that - propose a better methodology that's actually capable of getting the relevant data or accept the fact that this is the best way of doing it. And if you still don't like it, ignore it and let those of us who care continue without being berated about it. But I believe May has proposed a better methodology, that being to play the game as it is most likely to be played: by more than one player. These tests, while entertaining, are pretty much useless given that the expected use is for a group of characters. The only thing these tests are proving is that the CR system isn't perfect and that a creature's CR is not balanced against a lone PC. Yes, there are a lot of variables to a full party playtest. Being that this game is "a product of your imagination" as the ads used to say, I would sort of hope so. So what do you do? You do what every play testing/CR balancing text I've ever read says to do: get 4 players and run them through an encounter. Now run it again. Now run it again. Change the environment. Change some variables that are likely to change in actual play. Run it again. Takes lots of notes. Asks the players lots of questions. Will you get hard numbers, mathematically crunchable numbers? Not really, no. But this isn't Texas Instruments Presents Adventures in Log Land. Your tests are sitting down and eating an egg, then some butter, then some sugar, then some chocolate chips, then sitting under a heat lamp. A real game is a chocolate chip cookie.
I have to throw in my vote for the wolf-in-sheep's-clothing from the 1E MM2. For those of you who don't know it, the wolf-in-sheep's-clothing is a monster that has evolved (?) to visually mimic a tree stump with a horned rabbit sitting on it. Hey. HEY! Don't you go makin' light of the Wolf-in-sheep's-clothing! There's nothing funny about getting your arm chewed off just because you like to pet the bunnies. They won't get ME again, I tell you what! I had all the tree stumps on my property dynamited to the kingdom come. Not get gonna get me again!
Superscience!
Its not 'put it to sleep and run away' or 'disable and run away'. The point is to get past the challenge. Makes sense. That's 4 ranks of spellcraft, which is a +4 (ranks) +3 (in-class) +5 (Intelligence) = +12 check. DC 17 (fails 20%), and only if the Aranea goes first. My bad, I'm used to seeing statblocks with all the various bits of the skill added up. I hadn't even considered it and so didn't bother to do the math myself. Well then, I look forward to the level 7 tests.
Sorry, I'm being confusing and I don't intend to be. "The contention" in the above post refers to Cappadocius's accusation of rigging. I should have clarified the difference between that and my own issues, but I didn't so net result = Jum fails Diplomacy check. I'll agree that you've certainly adjusted things, however I do still disagree with a number of issues, and you seemed less than willing to discuss. I apologize, I'm not trying to be antagonistic here. I can see that I've misunderstood you, and I'm truly sorry for that. Now, let us discuss, if you will? I think perhaps it would help, for future playtests, if you gave some more detail on what you consider a win or a lose. This, I believe, has caused some confusion. For instance, I don't really agree that the pit trap "wins" merely by damaging the character, and I imagine I'm not alone in that. But I will say that myself and others would probably not have argued as much if you had stated that as the victory condition to begin with. Similarly, I don't see a lot of distinction between putting a foe to sleep and running away, and just running away. In fact I would probably hold the first instance as more of a loss, as the encounter has used up a spell. In the barbarian playtest, for example, he flees from both the rats and the centipede swarm, yet loses. In the hydra example in this playtest, she puts it to sleep and runs for a win. In the revisited example, she limits it's combat abilities but will ultimately have to flee, as she has no practical chance of killing it. End result: blast off a bunch of spells, run away, still a win. As to the pit trap, grappling hook or no, she still has to actually climb out. Not an easy task for a character with a 0 modifier (-2 Strength +2 halfling) in a skill that doesn't allow Taking 20. She'll likely fall and take damage, which by your standard means a lose. She might even die trying to climb out. Yes, I know you've already put it down as a lose; however, you chalk it up to a simple mistake in equipment, rather than the fact that she's unlikely to climb out unscathed. I know, I'm being picky here, but I feel that it is important to point out nonetheless. Last point, the aranea's web does in fact affect spellcasting, though I'm more inclined to believe this comes from a lack of complete explanation in the creature's entry and not some flim-flaming on your part. While in the web, you're considered Entangled and would have to make a Spellcraft check of 15 + the spell's level or lose the spell. With a Spellcraft of 4, that will change the outcome a bit. Thanks for taking the time to discuss things. I look forward to your response.
How is it rigged? Are you saying these aren't valid options for a wizard? The contention is that, when confronted with an error in your calculation or reasoning, you have yet to concede and alter the outcome of any test. Which comes across as assuming a win and explaining it after the fact. At each point, you're arguments become harder and harder to swallow. The fact remains that there have been a number of mistakes in your testing. I'll have to agree with Cappadocius here, it would seem that it's pointless to discuss the matter further. Thanks for the interesting discussion. Edit: I stand corrected, somewhat.
I'm curious as to how you calculated the EL for the endless sea of rats, which you've stated is around 30. Could you be so kind as to share the math you've used? Edit: I'm just curious because I always get a little confused with calculating large numbers of creatures with CRs under 1.
Doesn't the hydra's 5 hit dice put it over the limit for Sleep? And not to beat on a dead horse, but the wizard would most certainly take damage from the pit climbing out, as she's likely to fail a couple checks and fall.
Also, not to be nit-picky, but doesn't everything on that list have darkvision except for the elf wizard? It seems like you've only taken that into account in the case of the orc fight. It seems to me that something like that would put the halfling at a serious disadvantage in just about every test.
The problem is that you're considering this a win for the wizard, who now has to climb out, and could fail a couple climb checks, potentially getting killed in the process. Compare to the barbarian, who will survive the fall, and could much more easily climb back out, which you've considered a loss.
I find the choice of Appraise an odd one. I would think it would make more sense to go with Knowledge(arcana). Mostly its just weird that wizards can now calculate the value of your fancy necklace or tell whats best to steal from your mantle. It does, however, fit my view of wizards as kleptomaniacs with odd tastes (how do you explain how a wizard always has enough of those costless material components on hand? cause he steals the stuff, every chance he gets!). I always preferred the image of Gandalf combing through dusty tombs, trying to figure out what this crazy ring is, as opposed to "Hold on, IDENTIFY! Yeah, its a +1 Longsword. Now, for my next trick, I'll need a candle and some sweat...". I can't really expect people to suddenly live without Identify, but I can expect wizards to quit eyeballing my jewelry.
I think you strike a good balance. Yes, its cost 100gp, but only once, and I agree that its better as an automatic success rather than a one-time skill bonus. I myself prefer my magic items mysterious, and never really liked Identify, but its something I wouldn't deprive my players of. What I do like is the ability to Identify without spells, just not the way its done in the Alpha. But I think I'd be better off posting on that in detail over in the skills section.
He's the definition of a berserker. And obviously a barbarian can channel supernatural forces through his or her rage - Cu Culainn could, and when it comes to the D&D definition of a barbarian being "a warrior who fights using rage as a battle tactic", he's the man. Well first I would say that berserkers are a whole other animal. "Rage" certainly fits the berserker, but I've always thought of it as something more akin to an adrenaline burst, like those stories about people lifting cars to save loved ones and such. But thats probably a distinction many wouldn't agree with. Secondly, it would seem to me that Cu Culainn's abilities were due to being the son of a god more than anything else. Again, maybe I'm just splitting hairs here. I calls 'em like I sees 'em. To me, a barbarian is one who has lived without all the comforts and safeties of a civilized world. Wheres a fighter draws from rigorous training in the weapons, armor, and tactics of war, the barbarian draws from the very basic need to survive. Each day is a bitter struggle to see the next dawn. It is survival of the fittest. It is in this struggle that a barbarian learns to push past his breaking point, to fight on with every last ounce of strength and determination, to rise up when another man would fall. In these struggles they become not men of war but savage beasts, developing speed and agility beyond that of their foes. They tap into a powerful force within, a primordial will to survive that men of the civilized world have forgotten, let atrophy and vanish. It is not magic that powers them, but a deep connection to their primitive ancestry, a will to fight and live that suppresses the pain, fear, and fatigue that would put down a lesser man. I'm no anthropologist, but I don't remember any cave drawings of dudes cracking lighting out of their clubs. But thats just my view and maybe it isn't for everyone. Maybe people want to see barbarians fly and spit acid and what not. And thats fine. But I know its something I won't be using when I play as barbarians, for whatever thats worth to you.
Here they mention that "Power Cards" will come with the Character Record Sheets, which to me implies that you're expected to use them. I think it's more for ease of use. My wife and my DM's wife both use spell cards for our current 3.5 game, simply because it's easier for them to A. choose spells and keep track of what they have left, and B. easier for them to have the spell rules on hand rather than flipping through the book. The cards in 4th Edition are just there to make things a little easier for people.
Spoilers, perhaps, so tags to the rescue! Spoiler: My players didn't see much of a benefit to having the fat bard follow them around, so they've left him with the kids in the abbot's room, 10 on the map I believe. The room is pretty easily secured once the upper level is mostly cleaned out, so it's a pretty safe place to stash the kids. They're after the last kid now, and had considered leading the kids they've rescued back to town after the rogue became infected with ghoul fever. However, given the amount of time it would take to walk back to town, then back to the dungeon, it's a pretty safe bet that they'd end up returning too late to save him from being sacrificed.
Actually, this bonus is even greater with the skill revisions. Jump previously had a -6 penalty for those with a 20 ft. move rate (halflings), so previously a halfling had an overall -4 penalty to Jump. With that penalty removed, that's an extra +6 bonus to a halfling's jump skill. Thats true, however that also means that classes like the barbarian and possibly the monk (possibly because we haven't yet seen the Pathfinder monk) lose any bonuses they would get from having a speed greater than 30. To keep the comparison limited to races, dwarves and gnomes will also benefit from this change. If the reason for dropping the halfling's bonus on thrown/sling attacks is due to increased skill bonuses, then I'm still not convinced that they shouldn't still get it. But it's something I can easily house-rule in if it doesn't make it into the finished product, and if the majority feels that it's a fair trade then I really can't complain too much.
Katman, thanks for bringing this build to the boards here. I'm really digging the Height of Battle ability. I'm picturing a fighter stabbing his sword into the heart of some monstrous foe, then plunging it deeper with a burst of strength to finish the job. Cool stuff!
Just to be clear, they're not banning Gauntlets of Ogre Power (for example); they're just increasing the price by 50% (for an "inappropriate slot" as Joey Virtue pointed out). The change seems extremely mild to me, but YMMV. :) I believe the concern is more centered around how this increase in cost will affect material written prior to the change, specifically the value of equipment or treasure from encounters. Also, while not expressly prohibiting Gauntlets of Ogre Power, the 50% cost increase does discourage it in favor of a Belt of Ogre Power, or perhaps a Shirt of Ogre Power. The end result being the effective removal of a classic D&D magic item in some games. Elven Immunities (p.5): It occurred to me that I'd not be sure, as DM, how to handle something like sleeping pollen etc. against an Elf. The immunities paragraph explicitly states magic sleep effects, but it also follows that as Elves don't sleep, they should be immune to all sleep effects. In AD&D, we had the awesome explanation in the 'Complete Book of Elves' about how it works and what the Elves do instead of sleeping. Is this the same for Golarion Elves? A tighter explanation paragraph would solve this. While elves don't naturally sleep, that doesn't necessarily mean they can't be forced unconscious. As for sleeping pollen, I'd imagine that would classify as "poison", which, as stated in the description for Drow sleep poison, elves would not be immune to. But yes, I would also love to hear what elves do instead of sleeping in Golarion.
I would also like to see that +1 bonus retained. If you added the skill bonuses to a 3.5 halfling I could see removing the attack bonus, but the increase is due to skills being combined and not an actual extra skill bonus. While this does result in the halfling having better skills than before, its something that everyone that takes Move Silently/Hide/Jump/Balance/or Tumble will benefit from. In the case of Move Silently/Hide and Stealth, thats something that ALL small races will now receive. I don't believe that a +1 on attacks made with thrown weapons and slings is overpowered at all, considering the low damage of small weapons and the -2 strength adjustment. Thats my opinion anyway, and if you believe I'm understating the benefits of the skill increases then by all means let me know.
See my post here on that. Thanks! I did a search but I must have missed that one.
I'll just come out and say it: I don't like this one at all. It just doesn't fit with me, that raging fury translates to elemental power. Its too magicy for me and seems to exist solely to allow the Barbarian to smash through a bit of damage reduction. Just my 2 cents.
I noticed that Halflings no longer receive a +1 bonus on attacks made with ranged weapons. Is this a balance issue, or was there a specific problem with the bonus that needed to be fixed? I know they already get +1 for being Small, but I thought it gave them a nice edge considering the low damage output from using small weapons and the -2 to Strength.
Makes sense. Still kinda strange to have separate power categories and then have one at 1st level that doesn't fit. But I guess you really can't jam everything into neat little packages, unless you wanna play Tetris.
Thats... interesting. Not to be overly critical, but it seems odd that they've already got a "special case" power that doesn't really fit into one of the pre-packaged categories (At-will, Encounter, Daily). A friend of mine had a chance to flip through the book, so I asked him if the paladin received any more uses from leveling (the book has the stats for leveling the characters up to third level). Apparently not. It also doesn't mention the ability being based on the Wisdom modifier, but as its just a sampling of the rules I could see the writers leaving that out for simplification.
Ah! I'm sure they exist somewhere... but to be honest, I don't remember seeing crossbow bayonets anywhere statted up as an actual weapon. If you find one... let me know! You'll find one in the Ultimate Equipment Guide 1 from Mongoose, page 179 to be exact. I thought there was one in the Arms and Equipment Guide from WotC, but I must have been thinking of that wand crossbow thing.
A knight without armor in a savage land?
This is something I'll have a hard time judging without playing it out. I can see it as a good thing and a bad thing at the same time, depending on how things unfold in a game. Somewhat related, I never liked the Gloves of Dexterity. The flavor of the item never really jived with its end use for me. "Here's these gloves that'll nimble up your fingers, for fine work like picking locks and such!" "Oh cool! Now I'm better at dodging blows, I act quicker in combat, and I'm more agile when it comes to escaping firey doom!" "Wait, no, you're supposed to be picking locks or something!" "Nope. I'm gonna go shoot some arrows into someone, with super nimbleness!"
I like this part: "a missed attack never damages a minion.". That means, area spells are not instant kill to minions, even if they do partial damage on a miss. So... if you were to, say, Fireball a group of minions with their leader in the middle, and you missed, the leader would take some damage, and possibly die, while his minions would keep on marching. So they've given the cannon fodder Evasion?
I would buy all of those. ALL OF THEM!
I'd just like to throw in my 2 cents here. I really like the rage powers, though I'd have to play it to really get a sense of the point/benefit ratio. Theres only one power that really doesn't fit for me, and thats Elemental Rage. Maybe if there was some flavorful explanation it might make it easier to swallow, but how does being a whirling dervish of fists and elbows ignite/electrify/freeze/acidify your weapons? At this point you're not talking about a raging hulk of steely thews, you're talking about Superman's Superhypnosis (power for the sake of power vs. thematically relevant abilities). This is one of the things I don't want to see in Pathfinder. Keep the magic with the magic users, please.
I read it more as latching onto your foe with your teeth, like some kinda crazy apeman.
Given a BAB of +6 or more, you should be able to decide to use CLEAVE IF/AFTER you hit with your first attack. Otherwise, if you have to declare at the start of your turn, and then miss the first foe with your first attack, do you still have the option of then making your second attack (or subsequent attack) that round? Not as written, no. You must make a single attack as a full round action. Like Power Attack, its something you'll have to decide on before rolling the dice. |
