John Templeton's page

Bestiary Living Spells

Remastered Kalashtar Ancestry, NPC Gallery and Path of Light.

Remastered Shifter and Shifter NPC Gallery.

Started another blog that take my video game inspired ideas for Paizo games and put them down on 'paper'. Usually PF2 but sometimes it Starfinder.

Today I did a Sonic the Hedgehog inspired character build taking a heavy lean onto the movies.

Sonic the Hedgehog Character Build.

Death's Door Inspired Build

Snorlax

Balder's Gate 3 Pregens for PF2 (Pre Remastered)

Does anybody know of any PF2 Eberron actual play podcasts?

I now have a yes to this! Arcane Arcade: Eberron City of Towers

Changeling Update and Changeling NPC Gallery

Hi, it that crazy person that brought you Shardfinder (Eberron to PF2), now posting random video game inspired stuff. Would you like to put Keese into your game? Here you go! (Apprently there a few Zelda PF2 things out there?)

Legend of Zelda Bestiary Keese.

*reads Light cantrips* wait; is this changing the Shadow undead’s weakness or are shadows gone with OGL?

Hero Point Expansion; Actions Points are Back?

Pervasive magic: Road to Dragonmarks and Manifest Zones

Does anybody know of any PF2 Eberron actual play podcasts?

I asked and looked around but doesn't seem to be yet.

Bestiary Daelkyr Symboits

Stepped away from Shardfinder to do something a bit different...

Ancestry Nurds Blog Post

Latest Shardfinder: Bestiary Horrid Animals

Latest Shardfinder: Can PF2's Beastkin be Eberron's Shifters

Ok, something weird happen. This morning I submitted an order to send my friend a gift of the Blue Skittermander Plushie/Dice Bag, Blue Skitermander Pin and the Rise of the Runelord Dice. Then on the way home that order somehow turned into my subscription order, absorbed the plushie and pin into it while sending the dice to my sidecart? Can we get this fixed before stuff shipped and make sure the right items get to the right place please?

Latest Shardfinder: Bestiary Homuculi and Homunculus Ritual

Latest Shardfinder: Rakshasa, Zakya.

To those it may concern; Shardfinder (Eberron -> PF2) will be seeing a series of bestiary updates over the next few weeks. Over my Xmas holiday I hope to transfer more content to The World Anvil Page and refine the Warforged ancestry for a January release. Additionally I will have a bit of focus on revisiting some past material and getting a PF2 artificer class, at least semi playable? By July. You may reply to this message.

Clicking the link sends you back here. I just copied and pasted it and it works.

Weird, I must of pasted the wrong code it. To Late to edtted sadly. So just post it unlinked again: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/shardfinder-2-shardfinder

Big Update to the Shardfinder (Eberron->PF2) World Anvil - Copied over Shifter, Kalashtar Ancestries with associated items and activities. Also added some art assets: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/shardfinder-2-shardfinder

PF2/Shardfinder things: currently working on converting RAKSHASA, ZAKYA. Then thinking ECG’s HOMUNCULUS including a ritual to make them. And this weekend possibly moving the content of the blog over to World Anvil so it be completely ‘up to date’.

Latest Shardfinder - Dusk Hag

Latest Shardfinder - Warforged Ancestry

Hi John,

Thank you so much for your patience as we have had a large influx of messages, and I'm so sorry we skipped your Primal and Focus downloads! You should see them in your digital library now. Thanks again for your patience!

Thank you!

Hello!

I got my shipping notice today so I went into my Digi Lib to start downloading my new toys while waiting for the physical versions to come in. I don't seem to have the Primal and Focus Spell cards in my Digi Lib (I quickly pre ordered the spell cards after the announcement about getting the digi ones free.) I have the Arcane, Divine and the Occult ones. Thank you for your time!

Looks like Gods & Magic is going to have specific rules for pantheons, which should be useful in giving guidelines for the Sovereign Host and Dark Six.

I need to review thought to see what I need to change or do different but might keep both versions depending, one for those book collectors and one for core book only groups.

Latest Shardfinder - The Shifter Ancestry

that can be represented by ancestry feats, makes more sense for them to be universal heritages.

Latest Shardfinder - The Kalashtar Ancestry

PF2 Eberron is on my shortlist for next not-using-a-published-adventure game I run; while I might or might not wind up using any of your stuff, John, the inspiration alone is worth the price of entry. Thanks!

Thank you!

Also check out out the Lastest Shardfinder Post: Karrnathi Bestiary . Time to bring out your undead.

Latest Post: Clerics and Deities, Part 1

Eberron Bestiary: Warforged Titan

and here we present The Changeling Ancestry!!

Change(Ling) Log: Changed Adopted Changeling to grant Adopted Ancestry general feats and Traveler Changeling now grants 2 languages.

and here we present The Changeling Ancestry!!

John Templeton wrote:

Seelah and Kyra really should have Healer's Tools on them if it intended for them to take advantage of their Medicine skill in that small window.

If this omission breaks your sense of verisimilitude, consider allowing the village midwife to loan the village's prized set of healers' tools to our heroes as they set off.

Or just add it to the pregen sheets...

I'm still super excited and check daily for updates here.

Oh wow! Sorry I can’t put stuff out faster! Hopefully Changeling will be out next week!

Our Eberron campaign got pushed back a couple weeks. I'm still reading stuff, but we're not actively using it yet. Your effort is appreciated.

That's cool to hear! Hope it comes online!

Well there a decent chance Karzoug can be like 5 levels down but most likely just two plus down some spells. It might be best to wait for the NPC creation rules to come out.

Well little sad as it seems I have lost some interest or people just don’t feel like jumping back and forth which is fine. Here is a bit of preview on what I am working on.

Changeling (Eberron)

Hit Points: 6
Size: Medium
Speed: 25 ft
Ability Boosts: Charisma, Dexterity, Free
Ability Flaw: Constitute
Languages: Common. Additional language equal to your Intelligence modifier (if it’s positive) plus one extra bonus language. Choose from the list of common languages and any other languages to which you have access.
Traits: Changeling, Humanoid

Heritage

Doppelgänger-Blooded Changeling
You seem to be a bit closer to your supposed doppelgänger ancestors then most. You gain low-light vision.

Ancestry Feat

Changeling Weapon Familiarity Feat 1
Changeling
You come to favor precise weapons that are easy to hide. You are trained in and gain access to Hand Crossbow, dagger, Katar, sap and kukri

Seelah and Kyra really should have Healer's Tools on them if it intended for them to take advantage of their Medicine skill in that small window.

Latest Post: Talenta Halflings

A new player at a convention I met recently had a very interesting idea for a dual-pistols Envoy.

I helped her flesh it out and it turned into a cool thing where she took multi-weapon fighting and Clever Feint. On round 1 she would move to position and Clever Feint, then on round 2 she would Full Attack, with the enemy being flat footed, she would only be -1 net on each attack.

That’s not bad and could slide some of those ideas into my build above.

So I had some thoughts on Dual wielding Small Arms and it it on my blog.
Character Concept: Starfinder - The Dual Pistoler.

Well I think practicality is a factor here. You can drag that massive magical weapon to town and try to sell it but who is it going to be sold back to for profit? Most likely no one that would frequent that place. Magic or not they better off smelting it down and selling it into many smaller weapons that the community would actually use.

Most tanks will take Con instead of Dex, Dex does add into most armor but yes not all and limiting. Light armor doesn't get any Group benefits, very limited material options and I think there more proficiency increasing benefits for med/heavy armors then there are for light between all the classes.

In a Discord chat it was pointed out to me that Drow Rogue as the same feat but it worded very different. It triggers on a hit and allows the NPC to raise their AC (as a reaction) to make the hit either not a hit or not a critical hit retroactively. This gives me a hint at intent I think and I am also not going to let an NPC version of an ability be better then a PC one so at this moment I am going to be letting my player know what the attack is so they can decide as needed unless someone shows me some clear and cut rule some where that I shouldn't.

I've been contemplating a new character - a Kitsune Samurai, to be specific, and since Kitsune take a Strength penalty, I'm considering taking Weapon Finesse, which I've just discovered to my momentary horror SEVERELY penalizes shield-use.

Bah! Fine! Samurai shouldn't be using shields anyway, I suppose. However, I don't want to bother with two-weapon fighting either for this character.

Fighting einhander with a wakizashi is easy enough, BUT I'm wondering what other uses I could put such a character's off-hand to; if there's a two-handed weapon that can be Finessed, I could go with that, too - the spiked chain is what's specified, but that thing requires Exotic Proficiency, AND needs more feats to really be worth it!

I'm hoping not to have to spend too many feat slots to do whatever, as I have other things in mind on that front (I intend to make good use of Kitsune Charisma!).

Behold The True Silvered Throne:

Wandering Ritual (Su): At 6th level, a true silvered throne can attempt to coax a nearby spirit into service with a 1-minute-long ritual once per day, gaining that spirit’s spirit ability and adding its list of spells to those he can cast using his spirit magic. The silvered throne can maintain this bond for 1 hour, or until he dismisses the spirit as a free action... He can perform a wandering ritual one additional time per day at 8th level and 14th level. This ability replaces wandering spirit and wandering hex.

Now compare it to said standard abilities:

Wandering Spirit (Su): At 4th level, a shaman can form a temporary bond with a spirit other than the one selected using her spirit class feature. She must make this selection each day when preparing her spells. While this feature is active, she gains the spirit ability granted by the spirit. She also adds the spells granted by that spirit to her list of spells that she can cast using spirit magic. She does not add the hexes from her wandering spirit to her list of hexes that she can choose from with the hex class feature.

Wandering Hex: At 6th level, a shaman can temporarily gain the use of one of the hexes possessed by either one of her spirits. She must make this selection each day when she prepares her spells. For the purposes of this ability, she can select any hex possessed by her spirit or wandering spirit. If she selects it from her wandering spirit, she loses the hex immediately if she bonds with another spirit, although she can then select a different hex to gain using this ability, from either her spirit or her new wandering spirit. At 14th level, a shaman can select two wandering hexes each day instead of one. This ability otherwise functions as the hex class feature.

Now, the Wandering Ritual does offer a little more flexibility, but its cost seems imbalanced for what you get; am I missing something? What does it gain other than a comparatively fleeting amount of flexibility within the span of a single day (especially since the Throne seems to lose Wandering Hex with NO replacement)?

I'm wondering if this is one of those things that's somehow more powerful than it looks because I'm not clear on the rules/limitations for the normal class abilities.

This one should be simple enough: If a Witch starts taking levels in a prestige class that advances its spellcasting (let's say it's a "full caster" prestige class, for what it's worth), does it also continue to gain Patron spells as it would from advancing Witch levels normally?

OK! All supplicantsapplicants fill in the following!:

Player moniker:
Character name:
PFS character ID#:
Faction:
Day Job roll OR other Downtime project:
Initiative modifier:
Perception modifier:
Sense Motive modifier:
Word that best describes your character's nose:
If your character were a sandwich, what kind would it be?:

.

.

The Reanimator could've been written better, and is underpowered as is; I accept that much - HOWEVER, something very weird is going on at high-levels, and I hope there's at least been some errata somewhere along the way:

Create Undead: At 13th level, a reanimator adds create undead to his formula book as a 4th-level extract. When he uses that extract, rather than drinking it, he injects it into the corpse he intends to animate, which rises as an uncontrolled undead 1 hour later. The extract can only create corporeal undead. This ability replaces the increase to bomb damage at this level.

Create Greater Undead: At 15th level, a reanimator adds create greater undead to his formula book as a 5th-level extract. This otherwise acts similarly to a create undead extract. This ability replaces the increase to bomb damage at this level.

Now let's take a lookee at create greater undead; it can create...

...shadows, wraiths, specters, and devourerers. See the problem?

Only ONE of these is corporeal, and that only at CL 20th!

Like I said, I'm REALLY hoping there was some errata; whoever designed it did not seem to have thought it through.

For what it's worth, I actually presented my own hypothetical means of fixing it years ago here.

For instance, if somone's a multiclass Cleric / Hex Channeler Witch, do the dice stack? What about the uses per diem?

Sneak Attack dice stack, so that would be pretty analogous, but the rules I see appear silent.

Way back when DRAGON Magazine was still a print publication, one of the "Ask The Sage" articles (whose answers were considered official!) included a remarkable question about Planetouched: Do Planetouched races, as [Native] Outsiders, enjoy full proficiency with simple and martial weapons?

"The Sage"'s answer was the simplest I'd ever seen him give:
Yes.

Considering they're often weaker than Core races by the standard of the Race-Point system, that might not be as overpowered as it may sound to some (and don't get me started on Tengu getting easier access to Elven Curve-Blades than actual Elves do! :P).

Admittedly, the above citation was in the context of D&D 3.5, BUT it was a Paizo publication, and most importantly, the Pathfinder rules on this matter remain an extension of 3.5. Note also the exception to resurrection rules that would make it clear this entry is meant to apply to [Native] Outsiders.

It has been argued since that the Ganzi's "Weaponplay" alternate feature is an exception that would prove the rule to the contrary, BUT I find it easy to believe that might have simply been an oversight on the part of a writer who was unfamiliar with/had forgotten this seldom-discussed, but in the absence of anything to trump it, canon detail. Note, furthermore, that the book the above feature was in was one of the later publications (meaning a higher chance the writer was someone with less experience, I forget whom it was), and that feature goes beyond mere proficiency anyway (and in a major way worth the price of admission on its own, so maybe the mentioning proficiency was just to be thorough!).

My Chaokineticist recently reached 6th level, which would mean she would gain the first feature of the Elemental Purist kit I had intended her to take.

HOWEVER, before I commit to it I need to know one thing:

Elemental Impossibility (Su): At 7th level, an elemental purist learns one composite blast as if she had an expanded element that matched her primary element. In addition, she learns one impossible infusion—a form infusion or substance infusion that does not need to be associated with her primary element’s type. If the infusion can be applied to her kinetic blasts normally, she can use it as normal. If the infusion is not an associated infusion, she can accept 1 point of burn as a free action to enter a state of elemental impossibility for one minute. This burn cannot be reduced in any way. While in this state, she can apply her impossible infusions to her kinetic blast, even if it is not an associated infusion for the blast type; however, if an infusion can be applied only to energy blasts or only to physical blasts, she can apply it only to a kinetic blast of that type. The elemental purist learns one additional impossible infusion at 11th, 15th, and 19th levels.

This ability replaces expanded element, as well as the 11th- and 19th-level infusions.

Expanded Element (Su): At 7th level...If the kineticist chooses to expand her understanding of an element she already has, she gains an additional utility wild talent or infusion of her choice from that element, as if from her infusion or wild talent class feature, as appropriate.

At 15th level...if the kineticist selected her primary element as her expanded element at both 7th and 15th levels, her mastery of that element increases. For wild talents of her element, the kineticist gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls, as well as to caster level and DCs.

Would an Elemental Purist lose these bonuses, or would she gain them as well as normal for fidelity to a single element?

Elemental Impossibility suddenly seems a tad underwhelming, if not.

The Archives of Nethys used to say the Sensate Fighter lost Weapon Training 2, 3, and 4 - now it says it loses all of them. The d20PFSRD says likewise.
HOWEVER, I also checked my own original hard copy of Occult Adventures, and IT says it only loses 2, 3, and 4!

That must mean either there's been errata, OR those two sites got careless about checking what it actually said (maybe one copied off the other *wags finger*); either seems plausible. Any idea which?

In honor of the new year (and my having almost finished the latter series!), this is another "back and forth" type of game: Each poster addresses the next one as the friendly Sgt. Cosgrove of Freakazoid! fame, extending an invitation to go do something mildly weird - but, rather than the ever-enthusiastic Freakazoid, we each reply to "Cosgrove" in the voice of ever-sarcastic Edmund Blackadder (AKA 'Samsara's Chewtoy'!) who always expresses his disdain for the idea by saying he'd supposedly prefer to do something else, something bizarre AND horrible!!! The contents of offer and reply need not have anything to do with each other (but if you can think of a thematic link, more power to you!).

Poster 1: "...Hey, would you like to go watch the train-eating contest?"

Poster 2: "I'd rather be fellated by a swingline stapler!

Armin Shimerman's in town, wanna go criticize him?"

Poster 3: "I'd rather operate a halfway-home for flakka-addicted zebra-mussels out of my pantaloons...!"

And so on....

Now, TO BEGIN!:

Hey, let's go watch the mummies dance!

In honor of the legendary BURMA-SHAVE ads, the rules for this game are as follows:

Each 'ad' will consist of 5 lines, each (at least ideally) made by a different poster; each poster rolls (Yes, this is an actual freaking die-rolling game!) 1d4 per post, and the result is how many words can and must be in its line. The final poster of course tacks on the obligatory "BURMA-SHAVE" (which does NOT count for/against poster #5's rolled word-quota!), then the next 5 posters compose the next. Lather, rinse, repeat.

EXAMPLE OF PLAY:

Poster 1: 1d4 ⇒ 2
EMTs came

Poster 2: 1d4 ⇒ 4
But hope wore thin

Poster 3: 1d4 ⇒ 1
Coroner's

Poster 4: 1d4 ⇒ 1
Report:

Poster 5: 1d4 ⇒ 4
"Can't find his chin!"

BURMA-SHAVE

Extra-credit for era-appropriate lingo!

Now, Let's Hit the Road!:

____

1d4 ⇒ 2

I'm Hiding

Coming Soon To A Hulu near YOU-lu!

Years ago now, I became genuine friends (very rare for me) with a poster who, for whatever reason, is no longer with us: DM Under The Bridge.

I would, really, really like to reconnect with him, an I am reasonably certain he would be happy to hear from me again. Unfortunately, I am an American, and I never knew enough about him to be able to find him outside this site, which it appears he has not come to since 2015.

Is there ANY chance anyone in the Melbourne area knows him, and/or could help me find him? I don't even know his real name (I know his profession and home city, but we all knows how or why either of those might've changed since 2015?).

What it says in the headline should suffice, I suppose; I don't want to air any dirty laundry in public (and shame on both all who do so, and on all who actively enable it - but that itself is a complaint far beyond the scope of this post, or indeed this website).

Apologies if this has been asked and/or answered before; if not, it seems like a good candidate for a Sticky/FAQ.

Okay, it's stupid, but at least it's NEW!: This is just a game where we come up with 1001+ variants of the good old "not the [X]-est [Y] in/on/etc the [Z], are you?" genre of litotical insults. SO. Without further ado:

Not the sharpest sword in the stone, are you?

Not the wiliest coyote on the ACME mailing list, are we?

Not the stickiest remora under the shark, are ya'?

Not the smelliest cheese in all of France, n'est-ce pas?

Not the most hand-sanitizing perfume in Arabia, art thou?

Not the perkiest pair of tits in the ol' porno, now are you?

Not the very-baddest man who's ever been wished into The Cornfield, is that it?!?

First of all, apologies if a different forum would be better for this.

A few years ago now, I became genuine friends (which is very rare for me) with a poster who, for whatever reason, is no longer with us: DM Under The Bridge.

I would, really, really like to reconnect with him, an I am reasonably certain he would be happy to hear from me again. Unfortunately, I never knew enough about him to be able to find him outside this site, which it appears he has not come to since 2015.

Is there ANY way you could help me find him? I don't even know his real name (I do know his profession and home city, but who knows what might've transpired since 2015?).

There's lots of good stuff in there that offers no reason not to be Society-legal (for example, I have a character for whom the Esoteric Knight prestige class would be ideal), and if the answer is 'never' just because it's 1st Edition, then that's really unfair for those of us who still play 1st Edition Pathfinder Society.

For optimal impact, *first* click here.

Done that? Good. Now - click HERE - mind the final sentence before the inset!

When somebody on here turns off their receptivity to PMs, does that mean they also forfeit the ability to send PMs, or can they still do so?

I'm asking because I hope it's the former; if it's the latter, then that must be fixed. It's potentially a blank check for people to harass others with impunity, or to preserve their own freedom of speech yet deny others theirs. I can even think of a few people on this site (won't name names, of course) I worry might not be above such dirty pool.

Most of the posts I've made on here for the past few months (at least) have managed to 'stick' about as well as a Post-It Note if I'd just used it to pet my Ragdoll cat during shedding season. It seems to be getting worse, too; it's not exaggerating to say I have to screw with it 2d4 times before I see it show up properly. Even posting this itself took two tries.

I've been on this website for about 8 years, and for this and a number of other reasons I and/or others have reported previously and not yet seen improvement on, I have to say that I am no longer at all satisfied with the maintenance of this site.

How does one combine games downloaded from GOG.com that are treated as separate games when downloaded, but are actually just expansions of the same game that would all be combined into one if only you could still friggin' buy them as CDs from stores?!!?

My Pertinent Example: I have Disciples II: Servants of the Dark/Guardians of the Light, and Disciples II: Rise of the Elves, but despite their all being expansions to the same game, they're treated as wholly separate games - so I can't access all the new Quests in the latter when I'm trying to play the former.

How do I put them all into one program?

How well would the animate rope spell jive with a snag net? Could the spell be used to wield it effectively, even without proficiency or a good CMB? What if a character DID have Exotic Weapon Proficiency in the snag net (but still a poor CMB)?

Failing that, what other ways are there to telekinetically wield a snag net (particularly with a mind toward characters who otherwise aren't good with weapons or combat maneuvers)?

PARTICULARLY those that others wouldn't likely ever see otherwise, such those as you made for your characters in single-player games, or for your characters in MMOs that disdainfully kicked the all-important "RPG" part to the curb or otherwise went down the toilet sometime after 2006!

Please use the "i" and "bigger" tags to clearly indicate which game these are from, and "b" to distinguish character name and other basic details from the backstory.

I shall start with the 6 backstories for my cadre of characters in Icewind Dale (Enhanced Edition):

MOONLIGHT SONATA, CN female Elf Sorcerer
Moonlight Sonata was nothing like her family, a respectable, upstanding, and frankly boring lot of merchants, artisans, and barristers. From her youngest days, she was *different* - seeing the world in a strange, somewhat disturbing way, plagued by bizarre incidents, and disregarding such things as rules, norms, and traditions. Then came the prodigious talent for magic that left her tutors by turns frustrated, flummoxed, and awed. Her love was discovery - taking every opportunity to join her parents on their rare business trips - and mischief, chasing after the voices in the darkness it seemed only she could hear. When she finally came of age and set out to become an adventurer, her parents greeted the development with little surprise, some relief, and no small amount of wonder - and dread - at what their daughter's place in history might come to be.

PHOTON PURESTEEL, NN male Human Fighter (Kensei)
If Photon had one wish, it would be to be clean. "Clean," to him, means so much more than anything a bath and scrubbing can accomplish (and gods know he's tried). It means liberation from the vileness of the world. It means purity in motion and action. It means standing apart and above from imbeciles and pretenders. It means merciless destruction of falsehood and deceit. It means, well...*clean.* This obsession-turned-philosophy made him a bit of an outcast in his little home village, but when a traveling warrior-mystic from a distant land came to that village for a few seasons, Photon had found someone to teach him a way to realize his will - and when a dark sorceress named Moonlight Sonata passed through, he was entranced. There was something profoundly "clean" in her Chaos, something that his trainer could never have taught him about, so when it was revealed that she was an aspiring adventurer, he followed her with scarcely a second thought. There is much unclean in an adventurer's life...but is not the victory in the cleansing?

MINA THE RELIQUARIAN, LG female Human Paladin (Undead Hunter)
A driven personality like most Paladins, Mina, who foreswore her birth-name in favor of the title "The Reliquarian," chose to dedicate her virtue to fighting the undead - but not for reasons one may think. Hers is a cheerfully morbid personality; the dead fascinate her, and she considers the undead worthy opponents. She would as soon match wits in a chess game with a cultured lich in its parlor as smite depraved ghouls in a dungeon somewhere, and perhaps that is why she came to find a fellow adventurer, the dark sorceress Moonlight Sonata, such an interesting personage to befriend. Mina's faith in the Red Knight teaches her to respect differing and unorthodox strategies, and so she respects Moonlight for her drive, imagination, and power.

IVAN KACZYNSKI, NN male Half-Elf Druid (Avenger)
Whereas most Druids are of tranquil dispositions, Ivan Kaczynski has always been an intense, driven, dynamic sort, a keen advocate of aggression in the defense of nature. However, he also has a somewhat broad and unorthodox view of what nature is, one that goes well with the strange proclivities of some of his companions, whom he encountered after the rest of his druid circle was killed, and their grove razed, by rapacious hobgoblin loggers. While he accepts that he may never find those particular loggers, he has little doubt the adventuring life will grant him ample opportunity to revisit destruction upon the greedy and the stupid wherever he may find them.

CARMEN CORALINE, NG female Gnome Thief (Swashbuckler)
Carmen Coraline is practically joie de vivre personified, her body always in motion, her mind always entertaining some foolish scheme, and her eye always on a pretty gem, an attractive man or woman, or just the next hilltop. A natural with the sword, she used them and her own charm and guile to survive the mean streets of her home city, one with few other Gnomes and many larger races who would gladly take advantage of them. She yearned for so much more, though, so when the party of Moonlight Sonata came through town on their way to freedom and adventure up north, she did not hesitate to sign on.

YORICK JUVENALIX, CN male Half-Elf Bard (Jester)
Yorick Juvenalix's Elven heritage and deviant personality made him a target of bullies in his mostly-Human home city as he was growing up - even the city guard picked on him, as the city was ruled mostly by mean and stupid people. He had two powerful weapons against them, though: Brazen audacity and a transcendent sense of humor, making him a master satirist. His wit made waves, as well as attracting the ire of those he mocked, and he began to feel unsafe in his own city - when an Elven Sorceress and her entourage offered him the opportunity to take his show on the road, as it were, he took it.

Xukong, my 4th-level Kensei/Bladebound Dhampir Magus SHOULD have a fully-filled out character profile here - but suddenly, it no longer does and I have no idea why.

I'm pretty positive *I* didn't erase it, even accidentally - the erasure's too thorough, and wouldn't have cleaned out EVERYTHING the way it has.

Rather, I suspect this has something to do with the godsawful glitches that have been saddling this site for months, screwing up and even 'disappearing' (though it had always been temporary up until now) new posts and edits (hell, it blanked out this very post the first time I submitted it).

The last thing I did with this character's profile was a very minor edit for purposes of tracking spent abilities in its current adventure - but THIS should not have happened.

Tonya Woldridge once told me before, under different circumstances, that nothing on this site ever *really* ceases to be - I rather hope that's the case this time around.

The Invested Regent is a Monk Archetype (suitable for both traditional and Unchained Monks) that replaces only the class's bonus feats (and even that is technically optional for all but the 1st).

Brawlers get bonus feats just as Monks (and Fighters) do, albeit more of them, and not always at the same levels (2-5-8-11-14-17-20 vs the Monk's 1-2-6-10-14-18).

Given that "Hybrid" classes CAN assume Archetypes from their "parent" classes provided the Archetype replaces only class features that the "Hybrid" class still has, does this combination work?

For what it's worth, I am interested in this for Organized Play.

At what point do psychic powers require money be spent on material components? Is it like Eschew Materials, where anything costing 1 gp or less is unnecessary, OR do things like fiery shuriken (requires a shuriken costing 2 sp) or grasping corpse (requires 1 gp, but no more, worth of onyx) still demand that such materials (or whatever their psychic-suitable analogues would be) be provided?

I forget what exactly it was I saw recently that raised me this qualm, but it has come to my attention that 0-level spells may, in fact, NOT count when considering the effect of Class Archetypes (the Kensei Magus being the example most pertinent to me) that skim off spell slots - ergo a 2nd-level Kensei would only have 1 + high-INT-bonus 1st-level spell/day, but would still have its normal full complement for that level of 4 Cantrips.

Is this the case, or have I been doing it correctly by shaving off a Cantrip slot as well?

Dead Mods: If this is not actually the best forum for this issue, I welcome having it moved there.

I happen to know that I am not the only one who would like an option for privileging some "Favorited" posts above others: 'Favorite+', 'Über-Favorite', 'Favorite Amongst Favorites', 'Arch-Deluxe', call it what you will. I've also seen some people Favorite things just to signify approval or "megadittoes", as the case may be. I think it would be good to have a different thing for this, too, as well as perhaps one for when we favorite things just to keep track of them.

I use the [ooc] tag (is that the word?) in my character profiles to distinguish notes, trivia, and future plans in particular from everything else...but for some time now, it's ceased to work. The tags(?) are successfully embedded(?), but the color of the affected text doesn't change.

The following is for a prospective Pathfinder Society character. If I'd have been better off submitting this to one of the Organized Play Forums, I welcome a moderator to do so:

I have mixed feelings about the Shifter. Perhaps I've simply failed to wrap my head around it (but it's incredibly rare that I can't). One thing I DO know is that, were I to play a Shifter, no doubt I'd want to be an Oozemorph...but how do I do it? I don't entirely understand how it's supposed to work, and frankly, it looks even more underwhelming than the base Shifter. I'm hoping against hope that I'm missing or failing to understand something.

Hold the "cheese," please - and if I decline any given advice, respect my prerogative to do so.

*Very Sad But No Cry - With Michael And Ball Again*

Does a natural slam attack count as equivalent to Improved Unarmed Strike with regard to qualifying for other feats? Does anything?

For context's sake, I was thinking that if it did, the Nightmare Fist feat might be great for my Shadow Caller Spiritualist's Shade down the line.

To what extent does an 8th+-level Cavalier of the Order of the Tome's "virtual" caster level count as having an actual caster level for purposes of things that effect and/or depend on a character having a CL?

For instance, could a single-class Cavalier of the Tome with no spell-like abilities from elsewhere take the Allied Spellcaster Teamwork feat?

Ever since the website revamp, the "bigger" function no longer seems to work like it used to - in fact, it looks to me like it makes things smaller now, if anything.

The next sentence should look bigger.
This sentence should look bigger.

For good measure:

The next sentence should look smaller.
This sentence should look smaller.

Okay...it seems like they both do the exact same thing now. What gives?

Also: If fixing this requires making up new tags, allow me to be the first to lobby for replacing "[smaller]" with "[drinkme]" and "[bigger]" with "[eatme]".

Everyone from Martin Luther King and Walt Disney to John Lennon and H. P. Lovecraft have expounded on the power and importance of dreams.

Many people the world over presently feel like we live in a world of lost and broken dreams.

It seems like the whole world's becoming increasingly mean, selfish, frightened, needy, angry, cruel, stupid, unhappy, and unimaginative, and the plague just seems to be spreading.

What if the problem really is within us?

What if the problem is not who we really are, but on the contrary, that who we really are is somehow being destroyed from the inside-out?

I know that I, for one, used to regularly have lots of bizarre and elaborate dreams on a semi-regular basis.

For many years now, I've had barely any...

...and indeed, my life, my mind, and everything about me have been steadily deteriorating.

Can anyone else attest to similar? If so, for how long, and can you think of what else might have changed, either as cause or symptom? Likewise, if anyone has experienced this and managed to recover, HOW???

If "dream loss" is really a contemporary epidemic somehow, it might explain SO MUCH.

My Alchemist has been sporting a non-magical doctor's mask (originally from Adventurer's Armory, I believe) for a very long time; but have the mechanics for it been changed somewhere along the way, or what? My understanding (and how I've been applying it) has been that it grants a +2 bonus to saving throws vs inhaled poisons and stench effects...but I can't seem to find anything that corroborates that (and I'd have to do some digging to relocate my copy of Adventurer's Armory).

What is the quantity of the bonus supposed to be, and what should it apply against?

If this is not the best forum for this, feel free to move this or flag to have it moved.

I've long felt that Pathfinder was terribly biased against the undead and half-dead, and in few places is that more blatant than in the Bard/Skald spell list and the Alchemist/Investigator formula list, both/all of which feature cure wounds, but not inflict wounds.

This is a bummer in particular for one of my characters, a Dhampir Skald (not that he would describe himself as a 'Skald', but that's neither here nor there). Spell Kennings and their heavy limitations notwithstanding, is there any Society-legal way some or all of the inflict wounds spells can find their way onto the Bard/Skald spell list?

The floor is OPEN!

I'm going to require the following information from all of you:

Player moniker:
Character name:
PFS character ID#:
Day Job roll OR any alternative Downtime hijinx:
Faction:
Initiative modifier:
Perception modifier:
Traits:
If your character were in an animated movie, who would voice them (dead people are allowed, just so long as the sound of their voices is well-known)?:

Introduce yourselves as you will when you are ready!

"RULE 0" FOR THIS THREAD: No wish/miracle, shadow Conjuration/Evocation/etc, or dominate/geas/possession sorts of spells, that all's too easy.

1. Repeatedly cast meteor swarm on empty, barren stretch of land that you own in the hopes that some leave behind valuable minerals.

2. Take two rock lobsters, cast stone to flesh on one and flesh to stone on the other, see which works out better.

3. Cast a contingency spell set to release a stinking cloud in the event somebody pulls your finger.

4. Cast iron body, sacrifice yourself to save a brood of starving rust monsters.

5. Visit a party or a carnival, cast maze on paying customers. STEP RIGHT UP, STEP RIGHT UP! DON'T BE SHY!!!

6. Cast power word, stun on someone who was just about to deliver an important expository monologue.

7. Cast telekinetic sphere in some large, colorful city, invent and play "urban pinball".

8. Cast bilocation when you can't decide which of two wonderful restaurants to go to this evening, so you can go to both at once.

9. Cast time stop just to take a candy bar break.

10. Cast magnetic field to cause hijinx at the bank you work at after-hours.

11. Cast as large a wall of force as you can manage in a totally pointless, middle-of-nowhere location, followed by permanency.

12. Go to an inn with an exceptionally wide range in room quality, rent the cheapest, cast dimension door to spend the night in the most lavish (unoccupied) suite instead, then again to return to the cheap room so you emerge from it in the morning. Repeat daily for as long as you stay there.