John Spalding's page

I played a Starfinder game at PaizoCon. I looked over the pregens. The soldier was the tankiest by far. Her AC was probably 6 higher than average. Maybe more. In play, she got up in the fight and tanked like a pro.

The four encounters we did probably isn't a solid sample size, but for those fights, things seemed about right. Monsters died in a sensible fashion, not after 8 rounds of missing.

This would be a "4" for me, but my flight doesn't arrive until 10:45am.

Good luck to the participants!

Same here. Now that Stompy has been retired I'd have a real chance.

I am guessing a dwarf AP for 3 bigger reasons. 1) a Paizo chat question over a year ago, FROM James Jacobs asking people how they would feel about an AP where everyone else plays the same race. 2) at Paizo Con I asked if Giant Slayer counted as the dwarf AP, because playing a dwarf there was pretty natural. The whole panel had an answer and there wasn't any hemming or hawing. Which indicates that it's on the table at least. 3) they mentioned a Derro announcement that was upcoming and I didn't see any obvious Derro stuff on the table. That would fit a dwarf AP.

Less important stuff, they are doing more dwarf materIal. In PFS dwarf stuff has been important. And lots of people have pretty developed ideas about dwarves. See, e.g. The last two pages of the homosexuality in Golarion page.

Things I think are on the board:

Jatembe AP -- if people keep clammoring
Lost shore of Varisia AP with Pazuzu and Kamashtu and the Misbegotten Prince

SilentServant wrote:

The secret once unspoken,

In these numbers now revealed
Train your eyes upon these secrets
Look for meaning hidden therein
Each figure imparts meaning
So find me if you can.

3:01:01 6:03:02 5:10:05 3:02:06 5:01:05 2:14:07 2:26:05
5:05:05 6:04:07 3:05:02 6:05:01 5:07:05 5:09:07 2:16:05
3:07:04 5:13:05 5:15:04 5:24:08 4:08:05 4:09:10 6:04:06
5:20:01 4:10:03 5:08:05 4:11:01 4:13:09 3:07:03 5:10:05
3:17:01 5:11:05 6:06:04 3:18:07 6:07:08 5:12:10 5:14:08
3:19:05 4:14:01 5:17:04 5:20:05 5:07:01 4:16:06 5:16:03
3:20:08 5:11:02 4:19:05 3:02:10 5:06:06 5:07:04 3:03:05
2:26:05 2:08:06 6:02:06 3:24:07

(Neat!)

Math... math... m-m-m-ath... uhhhhh... {head a'splodes}

I managed to solve the puzzles last year, so I am guessing it isn't a math problem.

I am also pretty sure this puzzle doesn't use the same book code as last year. Using that code, you would get nonsense like:

Table * no valid result* hard Chapter

Your character doesn't have to be skilled or well-polished to talk. In a good game, diverse characters with diverse skills drive an interesting story. So enjoy your strengths and weaknesses.

Being bad at diplomacy and bluff doesn't mean you must stay quiet. I mean, aren't the least diplomatic people you know loud. Aren't the worst bluffers people who tell facile lies. Isn't the least effective intimidation an act so scary people conclude you are too bonkers to work with.

So speak up. Offer bad plans. Offer unintentional insults. Make unwise concessions. Draw erroneous conclusions. Get into the conversation. Obviously, there are limits, you need to know when you being in on it makes life less fun for the next guy. But a FUN game can involve your character being bad at some aspect of the game.

That said, make sure you are a good fit. If it is a group where people wanna talk to every monster and that sounds terrible to you, it may be a bad fit. From your short description, it seems like their objection is to you ending taking abruptly with violence. If done frequently, that's pretty annoying because you are changing the style of the game from one they enjoy.

A couple friends and I tossed around the idea of running a tongue-in-cheek, Inner Sea Region themed Model UN. Instead of representing real countries, you would choose/be assigned an Inner Sea country and represent them for a few hours, like some of us did in high school. We would have a fake agenda (with appropriately themed items like "Comprehensive Onyx Regulation and Other Limits on Necromancy" or "Model Laws Concerning the Use of Enchantment in International Trade" or "Economic Development: Turning Ladders into Ten Foot Poles" [I am aware of the PFRPG price change]) and maybe some more "gamey" elements (e.g. Fort saves or die when the room fills with poison).

I don't want to request a spot on the calendar unless people are interested (and I understand that the idea is pretty far afield from what one normally does with a slot). But, it could be fun if people are interested, so let me know.

I really hope the card game isn't tablet exclusive. I would totally play on my phone or PC

To a certain extent, aren't private entities supposed to engage in viewpoint discrimination? I don't expect Christian churches to explain why the Taoists really did get things right or vice-versa. Nor do I expect NARAL to present abortion horror stories. I don't expect Libertarians to support big government programs.

I think we need people who advocate for a position and do so rigorously. What we should expect is charitable modes of argument, being hard on problems and soft on people, basic honesty, etc.

Paizo has been very open on the point of view it as advances. They tolerate other views and seem honest about what they are up to. That's pretty much all you should ask for. Not every forum need to be open to every view.

This may not help you, but this is a house rule I am playing with for Iron Gods:

By RAW, one gets an ability score boost at 4, 8, 12 etc. You increase a single stat by one point. This bonus encourages SAD characters to hyper-focus and provides very little help to MAD characters.

My system was designed to undo that.

Instead, at each level, you gain 1 point buy point. You may spent it immediately or save it. For example, if you had an 11 Int at level 1 (not counting magic or racial boosts), upon reaching level 2, you could spend your one point buy point to increase your Int to 12. However, you could not increase your 15 Str to 16 Str because that costs 3 points.

I extended the PB table for people to use when leveling up (I don't let people start with a 19 before racial mods).

Addition to PB table:
19=21 pts
20=26 pts
21= 31pts
22= 37 pts

Basically, you get a lot more boost out of increasing poor stats. You can turn a MAD build like:

14, 14, 13, 12, 10, 10

into

16, 16, 16, 14, 10, 10.

While a very focused point buy like this:

18, 10, 10, 10, 10, 8

can either do this:

22, 10, 10, 10, 10, 8

OR

20, 14, 12, 12, 10, 10.

Seems like you're the kind of person who can take what was given to them and run with it. I think I can, too, but I also need a metric to determine which AP to run with my extremely limited Pathfinder playing time. And while "I like Egyptian themed adventures" is as good a tiebreaker as any, I always go for the AP that has me more excited about the plot/execution than the premise.

I think it's hard to boil any AP down to a single metric, and for me, as a GM, ease of running is HUGE and way more important than it being a good read as GM.

For example, Kingmaker was easy to run and fun, after making one small edit ...squishing the content of multiple hexes into a single adventuring day to reduce Nova-ing.

Skull and Shackles required more work because major NPCs were pushovers or (for my purposes) really badly built.

So, for ease of running, Kingmaker comes out ahead.

I also think that giving GMs space to make stories by giving them tools to use rather than plots to use may not be interesting to *you* to read, but I enjoy it. I enjoy the little interpersonal puzzle of fitting things together - players and NPCs. Certainly less compelling on my first read through, but also frequently better in play.

In my view, books that give those sorts of tools to the GM tend to emphasize GM talent. Bad GMing is made worse and good GMing is made better. (Like paint by numbers helps very poor artists paint better, but certainly wouldn't improve the work of the great masters). I am ok with that design because I usually play with talented GMs. Other people's mileage may vary.

Whether or not Mauril's advice is good for normal play, it is not apt for WotR.

First, getting Dex to damage is easy; Mythic weapon finesse.
Second, TWF paladin puts out huge damage when you smite, and thanks to Mythic Smite, you will always be smiting.

You can have these at the start of Book 2.

Third, because of Fleet Warrior, you can almost always make a full attack.

This is available at the start of Book 3.

Build:
Paladin 5
Sentinel (from Inner Sea Gods) 10
Back to Paladin

Feats
1 Weapon Finesse
3 Weapon Focus (longsword)
5 Deific Obedience
7 TWF
7B Power Attack
9 ITWF
10B Double Slice
11 GTWF
13 Improved Crit

Worship Iomadae and wield a normal sized longsword in your main hand and a small one in your offhand (starting at 7). It is going to have a slower start, but will be super strong after Book 1.

The Sentinel boons for Iomadae are crazy good (and you essentially get full smite). The sentinel bonus makes up for the penalty to hit. And Iomadae is tied pretty tightly to the story.

I would skip TWD and use mythic abilities to cover defenses.

Again, I apologize for creating an uncomfortable environment on here and I hope people can move past that and learn from it. I am doing my best to as well.

Apologizing is a class act. Thanks for taking the time.

Jim Groves wrote:

If you and Geraint don't understand how this can be interpreted as a wretched thing to write—allow me to so inform you. It was horrible.

Oh no, I get how it was interpreted. Jessica made it clear in her first post how it was interpreted.

I also read his clarification of his concerns after the interpretation.

Then I read Jessica's response to his the clarification, and I was horrified that a Paizo employee posted such a dismissive, unthoughtful, and awful response to a customer's explanation of intent, and ended with the demonstratively uncommunicative internet slang phrase "Full Stop."

I've already weighed in on my feelings on the work done on this product in my review, a few days ago. ** spoiler omitted **

Geraint's problem is that his new interpretation stretches credulity in light of his other comments. His complaint here followed another, similarly uncalled for dig in which he felt the need to castigate an intern by name. For example, "The first taste anyone has of an AP is written by an intern..." That is not, on a fair reading, a comment on Paizo's selection of authors. The post ALSO contained what could have otherwise been a fair request to assign certain authors, but that was not all it contained.

In general, I think an apology for a misunderstanding or for causing offense goes a long way. But when you give a non-apology apology and pretend you haven't said what demonstrably you have said, it doesn't go so far.

As to Jessica, first, full stop is not an internet colloquialism, it is the British word for the period punctuation mark, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_stop , that has been used to describe that mark since at least 1593. Second, you get some leeway in standing up for support staff when people treat them poorly AT WORK. While Paizo is fun and games for most of us, it is work for that intern. I would expect most employees to stand up for their support staff who get unfairly treated at work.

Can I ask Paizo what the rationale is for farming most people's first taste of the AP out to an intern?

And, if it comes down to money,then Paizo really need to start printing and selling 5-packs again. I'd be thrilled to see five RotRL-quality player's guides added to my AP subscription.

This is abusive. Even before the update from Daigle, you had no reason to link the specific items you take issue with to any particular person. Assuming that his work is poor (or not to your taste) because his is an intern is baseless.

A manxome creature has extended its life through the consideration of paradoxes, puzzling koans, and non-sense poetry. Its primal strangeness

Creating a Manxome creature

“Manxome” is an inherited or acquired template that can be added to any living, corporeal creature with an Intelligence score of 4 or more. A manxome creature retains the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

CR: +2

Defensive Abilities The creature gains damage reduction 10/lawful.

Special Abilities: A manxome creature gains the following special abilities:

Ageless (Ex): A manxome creature does not age and is immune to any effect which causes a creature to age.

Bewildering Aura (Su): When a manxome creature is under the effects of any mind-affecting effect, a manxome creature may activate his aura of bewilderment as an immediate action. Every creature in a 30 foot radius must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 manxome's creatures HD + manxome creature’s Cha modifier) or be affected by the mind-affecting effect which triggered the aura. The aura ends whenever the triggering effect ends. A manxome creature can only have a single bewildering aura at a time.

Paradox Armor (Su): A manxome creature gains a +5 dodge bonus to AC. However, if a manxone creature has full concealment against an attacker, that attacker ignores the manxome's creature's dodge and natural armor bonuses.

Transcend Divination (Su): A manxome creature is immune to any divination effect. The creature targeting a manxome creature with any divination must succeed at a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 manxome's creatures HD + manxome creature’s Cha modifier) or be affected by insanity.

Word of Puzzlement (Su): As a full round action, a manxome creature can utter a word of puzzlement. All creatures who hear this effect must succeed at a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 manxome's creatures HD + manxome creature’s Cha modifier) or lose their ability to communicate in any language. This causes 50% spell-failure for spellcasters. This is a mind-affecting effect.

Skills: A manxome creature instantly fades from memory which grants it a +20 racial bonus to stealth and permits it to hide in plain sight.

Rather than problematic as in "overpowered", I'd like to see problematic as in "anticlimactic" spells removed.

Personally, my least favourite spells (that my group and I have an unspoken agreement to avoid using most of the time) are pretty much all divination spells. I'd remove most of the entire bloody school if I could.

1) Coming up with prophetic auguries and such on the fly is annoying.

2) Most of the spells exist purely to ruin suspense or allow a group to side-step the majority of the plot to skip to the end.

3) Scry and die. 'Nuff said.

4) The school as a whole is boring. There's no flashy effects or fun combat tools. It's literally just a whole kit dedicated to avoiding the fun parts of the game, i.e. dangerous encounters.

I feel the exact opposite way. I love when players want prophetic auguries and cryptic rhymes. I feel like divinations are the easiest way to let players into a story element that would otherwise be hard to convey.

I think the real offender in terms of archer DPR is their ability to overcome DR. Most of the time, archers scale because they have lots of attacks and 2 good ways to beat DR, cheap arrows and Clustered Shots. Giving monsters back their DR helps a ton.

I always consider banning Clustered Shots.

As stated above, make them track arrows (though I only make people track special arrows).

Limit metagame knowledge of DR.

Other tricks:

If the archer has a normal composite bow and not a bow with the new fleixble composite enchantment, any strength penalty gives them penalties.

Bows are really easy to sunder, and sundering isn't as nasty as it was in 3.5.

Level 10 Build:

Vivisectionist / Beastmorph

You can get pounce whenever your mutagen is active. Not too shabby. You have sneak attack. With the right feats you can extend it a long time and without the intervention of allies.

Feats:
WF Claws, Dazzling Display, Shattered Defenses, Enforcer, Blundegoner, Power Attack

Mutagen: Feral, etc

You generate your own sneak attacks.

Round 1:
Bite is first. If you hit it, roll to demoralize. Your attack is non-lethal but gets sneak attack (if you qualify) and no penalties due to bludegoner. If either claw hits, shattered defenses activates and extnds into the next round.

Round 2+

As long as they remain shaken, any claw hit extends the flat footed condition. If they cease to be shaken (because you suck at intimidate) another bludgeoning bite gives a free action to demoralize.

At level 13 you use Delayed Consumption to turn into something with many attacks and make this even more effective (and give yourself a stacking str and con boost). Calikang from the Inner Sea Guide is particularly nice for its 6 arms.

I read all the posts but didn't notice if anyone actually mentioned the bear trap cost from Adventurer's Armory. The 50gp and 20gp amounts that were mentioned up thread were crazy off. The actual amount from pg 20 of Adventurer's Armory is 2gp.

Shane

My PCs just reached 7th level and they still carry those traps around to defend their campsite at night.

Feats:

1 Point Blank Shot
3 Precise Shot
5 Rapid Shot
7 Deadly Aim
9 Many Shot
11 XXX
13 XXX
15 Improved Precise Shot

Other decent feats:

Power Attack - This feat alone makes you a competent mellee combatant.

Quick Draw - An ok feat if you find yourself often needoing to switch to melee.

Nimble Moves: Lets you 5' step when it would be otherwise impossible...i.e. you avoid AoOs.

Weapon Focus: The extra to hit is nice, it isn't a priority if you need something else.

Domains: Just highlights

Animal: The animal companion is nice if and only if you use it as a mount with mounted archery AND/OR take Boon Companion

Charm: The swift action charm is rocking and the low level daze isn't bad.

Destruction is more mellee oriented, but the 8th level bonus works for you

Healing: The low level ability is ok on a ranged combatant and the 8th level ability really improves your healing dramatically.

Madness: Solid ability at 1st (skill bump out of combat and decent debuff on castery types) and the 8th level ability is sweet.

Travel: You are fast and can teleport. Delicious.

Rough and dirty Inquisitor Guide: Note that some sections are not updated (builds and spells notably).

As soon as I saw Tartuk's stat block, my first thought was 'he would be so much better as a summoner'.

Tartuk the Summoner
XP 1,200
Male kobold Summoner 5
CE Small humanoid (reptilian)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +1
Defense
AC 20, touch 15, flat-footed 16 (10 base + 4 armor +4 dex+1 size+1 NA)
hp 36 (5d8+10)
Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +3
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee +5 1d4+1
Spells Known (CL 5th; concentration +7)
2nd (2/day)— Invisibility, Spider Climb
1st (5/day)— Enlarge Person, Mage Armor, Magic Mouth, Mount
0 (at will)— Arcane Mark, Detect Magic, Mage hand, Message, Open/Close, Read Magic

Morale: Tartuk fights, until things seem grim, but tries to escape.
Statistics
Str 12, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 14
Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD +17
Feats: Spell Focus Conj., Augment Summoning, Toughness

Languages Common, Draconic, Gnome, Undercommon
SQ Summon Monster III (5x/day)
Combat Gear wand of magic missile (CL 3rd, 10 charges);
Other Gear Chainshirt, mw sickle

Eilodon
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +1
Defense
AC 20, touch 12, flat-footed 18 (10 base + 4 armor +2 dex+ 4 NA)
hp 36 (4d10+10)
Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +4
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 4 Claws +9 1d4+4 OR Power Attack 4 Claws +7 1d4+8

Statistics
Str 18, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 12
Base Atk +4; CMB +8; CMD +20
Feats WF Claws, Power Attack
Skills
Languages: Same as Summoner
SQ Rovagug's Fury (3x/day) Trip +8 at 30' cone

Cryptic's Guide to Paladins

I just made a couple more edits and wanted to open it up for comments.

Any changes or thought?