Joseph Mandato's page

Thank you @Joseph Mandato, please let us know how it goes.

Will do!

Oh, one suggestion for people who use 3D terrain (like Dwarven Forge) as well as map printouts like bwatford's. Don't throw out those old printed out maps when you're done with them. You can cut out pieces of dungeon decor like beds, bookcases, altars, etc and use them to spruce up an otherwise spartan Dwarven Forge layout.

I will be using the Clock Tower map on Monday - as usual, I think it'll really improve immersion for my players and make for a memorable game. I made a small donation to your paypal in thanks!

May I ask how you're storing your Pathfinder Battles minis? I've found just putting them in bins or plastic bags the way I do D&D minis leads to breakage. I'd like to find something that travels easily but isn't too bulky.

Sure! For the most part, I have the Pathfinder Battles minis mixed in with the D&D minis (Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!). I use old D&D booster boxes with themes like "dwarves", "undead" or "arctic", and throw them all in there. I have a lot of the larger or cooler looking ones out on display (like the Clockwork Reliquary, for example).

If I'm looking for a particular mini, I take out the labeled booster and dump them out on the table to sort through them. I'm relatively careful when doing this, but I'm kind of a clutz, so some of them always wind up on the floor, and I haven't had any break. Maybe I've just been lucky.

A big problem I had with the D&D minis wasn't breakage, but horribly warped figures. Going back to my first few boxes of Harbinger, I remember getting an Axe Sister whose double axe blades were folded in on themselves so badly I couldn't pry them apart, even with the ol' boiling water trick. I've had bases on some large minis so warped, they wouldn't sit flat on a table. I've only had one case a badly warped mini in PB - Highlady Athroxis's polearm. Pretty much EVERY D&D mini polearm was warped. I remember lining up a squadron of those female Ogre Skirmishers, and remarking on how every spear was pointing in a different direction....

Anyway, that's a long way of me saying the soft plastic used in D&D caused me way more problems than the harder plastic in PB. Everyone's mileage may vary, of course, and I appreciate hearing your perspective. Maybe I've truly just been lucky and I should start storing them a little more carefully before that luck runs out!

We don't want them to replicate that. The more rigid plastic is a *big* part of the reason why we think most Pathfinder Battles minis look better than most D&D minis, and we think that most customers will decide that any reasonable additional care required on their part will be worth it. That said, we also want to make sure that minis are not so fragile that they're broken in transit—we want WizKids to find a happy balance there.

I agree whole-heartedly. I probably have thousands of the old D&D minis, and the only compelling reason for me to continue buying minis is that the Pathfinder minis blow the old D&D ones out of the water in every way (sculpt, paint-job, detail).

I've been purchasing the Pathfinder Battles minis since the first set, and only had one instance of a mini coming out of the box broken (Locust Demon from WotR), and never had one break on me due to storage or rough use (and my two year old plays with them). I think the balance that WizKids has stuck is perfect.

Absolutely beautiful miniatures. I'm looking forward to seeing them in person!

While my budget has a limit, I'm not worried about market oversaturation, because not all the sets are designed with me in mind. I'm a player, not a GM, in Skull and Shackles, so I likely won't be spending a lot of money on those minis. I love the goblins, so I've already dropped some coin on that builder series. I have a ton of DDM undead minis, so I won't be spending any money on that set

So, personally, I'm really happy that most sets have a theme and/or specific audience, even if it means some don't appeal to me. I might only GM 1 out of every 3 AP's, but for the ones I do, I'll be glad the minis are there for me to throw gobs of money at :-).

I've written the High Sentinels as being all but wiped out in my game. I had a new player join shortly after the Lodge and offered to let him be the last surviving Sentinel but he picked a different backstory.

Too funny - I offered the "last surviving Sentinel" route for the sorcerer that just joined the party (he accepted, though).

Five and and a half books from now, I'll have to remember the Lodge as a place the PC's can retire to, after saving the world from certain doom.

My party was much more successful in the re-match. It was still a lengthy combat, with some memorable action.

This time, I had Rohkar stay invisible most of the combat, and use his channels to heal the undead. It wound up being very effective - there were a number of zombies there were ALOMST destroyed (down to 1 or 2 HP's), and then brought back to full with great rolls on the 2D6 channel. Once he became visible (after using a Hold Person to drop the barbarian), other party members finished off the remaining zombies and got into melee, and it was over from there. The turning point was a Cause Fear save that the fighter made after the barbarian dropped. It could have gotten a little ugly had she fled while the barbarian was held.

As an aside, what did other parties do with the Lodge after killing Rokhar? Try to use it as a temporary base of operations, or try to help repopulate it with replacement Sentinels? Or just ignore it and press onwards?

You do realize that in his tactics, Rokhar's use of Channel Energy is used to keep his Zombies healthy... not as an offensive weapon against the party. To be honest, he should have been written as a Rogue 1/Cleric 2, so that his Channel Energy would be much less lethal to 1st level characters.

I do, but what's a GM to do when there are no uninjured undead when Rohkar's turn comes up in initiative? I mean, I suppose I could have hit them with a Cause Fear (he'd already used Hold Person), but channeling seemed the logical route. My players are smart enough to know when I'm pulling punches, and would honestly prefer I play it straight. The player that went down missed the save and the D6's came up 5 and 6, I think, so there was some bad luck thrown in there, too.

I'm with you on the Rogue level, though - great idea. Wish I'd thought of that before the battle!

When I ran the Rohkar fight last session, it nearly ended in a TPK as well. The party was relatively small (2nd level witch, 2nd level fighter, 1st level barbarian), but their tactics were sound. Rohkar's channels (and some missed saves) were just too much for them. One character dropped after a couple of rounds, and then they wisely retreated after healing him up.

Rematch is tonight! The barbarian is now 2nd level and a 4th member has joined the party, but Rohkar will be prepared for them, so I think it'll still be a tough battle.

I ran my first session of RoW yesterday, and the Massacre Site map was a HUGE hit. My players were excited to hear there were additional maps in their future. Thank you for all the time and effort that went into creating them. One of my players was completely new to Pathfinder, and you had a part in making his first game a memorable one.

Just got a brick (which I split with a friend) and I was VERY impressed with these minis. Excellent use of transparent plastic and dynamic poses throughout. There were some real standout paintjobs (like Sheila Heidmarch), and the Clockwork Reliquary was just a sight to behold. The Hill Giant was the only large that didn't impress me. No broken ones - hurrah!

General question - where is the best place on the boards to start a trading thread? I used to do quite a bit of DDM trading, but I don't see much of that happening here. Are there people interested in trading, or do most people order a case and already have at least one of every mini they want?

Does anyone know what Wizkids policy is on returning damaged miniatures for replacements? One of the great things about DDM was if you had any damaged figures you would send them back to Wizards, and they would send a replacement free of charge, no questions asked (so long as the set was still in print, of course).

$1,091,124

So close to 1.1 and another mini!!!!

Email sent out to gaming buddies, and I recently upped my pledge. Fingers crossed!

Hurricane Sandy kept me from testing this earlier, but here goes nothing...

EDIT: Yipee!

I had a similar issue with my FLGS. They were sold out in days because they received only a portion of what they ordered, and I missed out on buying any.

Congratz! They're going to have to create a "platinum" Ennie for the Rise of the Runelords minis next year...

Glad to see folks are enjoying this one so much! Liane's currently working on an outline for another novel, so hopefully you'll see more of her before too long. :)

Awesome news! Can't wait to hear what it is about!

Another error I noticed was at the bottom of page 46. Written about a one-armed woman: "She raised her other hand..."

That and the one gbonehead and snapdragon mentioned were the two biggies. In both cases, I had to go back and re-read a little bit to make sure I hadn't missed something. Once I realized it was just an editorial gaffe, I happily went on reading the book (which I gave a 5 star review - I thought it was amazing). But for those two instances, my immersion was disrupted. Punctuation mistakes don't take me out of the story like that.

That said, I can't say enough good things about this book. I've read all of the Pathfinder Tales, and this and Death's Heretic have been my two favorites. I really, really hope Ms. Merciel writes for the line again!!!

Wow... those stone giants are unbelievable. Awesome poses, and their look just screams "Pathfinder". I have a few other stone giant minis, but I'd be embarrassed to line them up next to these guys.

Thanks for posting the maps! I'm 3 games into HoH, and my players will almost certainly be researching in the Town Hall next game, so the timing is perfect.

I was thrilled to see this announcement on ICV2. I will DEFINITELY be getting a subscription to this. And I haven't had a subscription to a comic since Chris Claremont era X-Men!

The item does seem pretty overpriced to me.

To avoid having my players just sell an item that could strengthen the thematic elements of the AP, I'm considering making it more reliable. I'm thinking of allowing the Oracle in the party (who has the Life mystery and the Channel revelation) expend one of her daily channel uses to have the brass planchette temporarily function as reliably as the cold iron one. Spending two uses will crank it up to a silver.

I figure that first I should keep it simple probably something 4th lvl or below I've been a player for several years so I have the rules pretty well down. Never been a DM before. Advice from Experienced DM's is highly appreciated.

I'm a GM of 20+ years, and I have to agree with the other two posters on CotE - especially if you are GMing for folks new to Pathfinder. I ran it for a group of players completely new to the game, and what was supposed to be a one-shot adventure has turned into an incredibly fun year long ongoing campaign.

Should you decide to run it, do check out the "Chronicles:Pathfinder" podcast, available on iTunes. Their very first episode includes a lengthy interview with the module's author (Jason Bulmahn), and a very detailed and spoilerific deconstruction of the adventure. Some of their suggestions really helped smooth out the (few) rough spots in the module.

The goblins look great! The skin tone is just about perfect, and the poses are dynamic.

One question for you, Erik. In the photo (at least on my PC), the teeth of the goblin heroes aren't quite visible - I can just see gaping black maws. Do the teeth stand out more in person (like they do for the warriors in the photo)?

Also, a brief plug for folks who like reviewing things: If you enjoy a novel (whether mine, some other PF Tales book, or a totally unrelated book), please post a review on its page at Amazon.com! Posting an Amazon review is one of the best things you can do to help an author--even if it's not a 5-star one--as it helps raise the book's profile, and people pay a lot of attention to what other readers have to say on there. This is especially true if you're already reviewing it on Paizo.com--it's easy to crosspost.

Happily done! Hopefully, Amazon approves the review soon and there will be another five star rating of your novel on Amazon :-).

I strongly prefer the solo and PvE experience - I've eschewed PvP servers for years now. That said, I trust that any venture the Paizo folks are involved with will yield a fun, engaging and innovative end product. If that new venture includes a strong PvP element, then I will give it a shot with an open mind, and prepare for Paizo to once again wow me. After all, there was a time I didn't think I'd ever enjoy running adventure paths :-).

The Venomous Snake is the perfect size and coloration for a Cindersnake, so it has a very "Golarion" feel to me. Love it.

Another for Jessica as a Gray Maiden!

Thanks, Erik. I for one am thrilled with this news, even if it just represents the initial foray into apps. As luck would have it, I am getting my first iPhone on Tuesday, and guess what will be the first 2 apps I get? :-)

Well, I just got my iPhone and the first two apps I purchased were iFumble and iCrit. Simple, but very useful - exactly what I expect in an app. Can't wait to use them in game.

I'd love to see a treasure generator and a random encounter generator in the future!

We'll be doing a formal announcement early next week. You guys get the news early because you're paying such close attention to the message boards.

Thanks, Erik. I for one am thrilled with this news, even if it just represents the initial foray into apps. As luck would have it, I am getting my first iPhone on Tuesday, and guess what will be the first 2 apps I get? :-)

Does anyone else feel the character classes with companions could stand a little extra love?

... So, to make a long story short we could benefit from an expanded mount/companion selection. The beast need not even be new if they provided the stats for progression so they would be legal for PFS play. What do you folks think?

Couldn't agree more. Such a book (3rd party or by Paizo) would be very popular with my gaming group.

I agree, it is such an easy thing to do to demoralize and give the enemy -1 while at the same time giving party plus ones to some things and the check is quite easy. 1d20 + intim skill vs. 10 + HD of mob.

Demoralize should give a -2, no?

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/intimidate

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/conditions#TOC-Shaken

How about using the Intimidate skill to demoralize, when there are no other combat options available? Intimidate is a class skill for a bard, so even if you have only one rank in it, you can have a +7 (1 for rank +3 for the ranked class skill bonus + 3 for CHA). Could be a +9 if you put 3 ranks into it, and could be as high as +11 at next level assuming you raise your CHA at 4th.

Not as effective as a trip, but no need to spend feats on improving your CMB or range attacks.

Would be fun to roleplay a street performer gnome demoralizing an enemy, too :-).

In general, bards seem to have a lot more options at 4th level, when they can at least get 2nd level spells, so no need to do anything drastic at 3rd.

As far as Aegir, who says evil can't be hospitable? Have you not seen any James Bond movies? The bad guy always likes the finer things in life and puts on fantastic parties.

While Aegir is known for his feasts attended by all the gods with goblets that refill themselves, he also demanded human sacrifices from every ship crossing the seas. Slaves and prisoners were tossed overboard to appease him and his priests would sabotage vessels of captains who failed to sacrifice to him.

Regarding Aegir and hospitality, in Lokasenna, Aegir's hall is firmly established as a fridhstead, a place where no blood should be spilled. Even though Loki breaks fridh*, killing one of Aegir's servants, Aegir remains passive. Though I acknowedge your point that hospitality need not always translate to good, I would submit that an evil host wouldn't simply let a malcontent party crasher kill his servat. At least we agree he definitely isn't chaotic :-).

* there really isn't a great translation for "fridh" from Old Norse, but "an actively maintained and productive peace" is somewhat close.

Regarding the demand for human sacrifices and his priests sabotaging vessels - I'm not aware of any sources that support this, and would be interested to hear of any you might have come across. Aegir's wife Ran comes across as a little "greedier" than him in the lore (between her net and her name meaning "theft"), so I'm with you on her being evil.

Anyway... the site is VERY well done. I've looked at similar efforts, and they usually drive me batty with dozens of blatant errors. Your's is a cut above.

SO happy to hear that maps will be included in each upcoming novel!

Great resource, Perram. I've passed the link to both of my gaming groups and I'm sure we'll get a lot of use out of it. We have 5 or 6 people in each group, and only a couple of core rulebooks, so it'll be a great help to have the spellcasters access these index cards rather than hog the core rulebooks :-)

Available for download now: click here

Chronicles: Pathfinder Podcast

Episode #008 Kingmaker 1: Stolen Land with Tim Hitchcock

This episode is dedicated to all things Kingmaker. The hosts call upon Jason Bulmahn and James Jacobs for a special rules clarification concerning the Alchemist. Azmyth and Steel_Wind address a serious matter we call Gamers without Borders. On the Character Concept Workshop, Research builds an enhanced Druid grappler who is a member of the Order of the Viper. On the Monster Mash, Mark converts the Sylph and two evil fey of special interest to those playing in the Kingmaker Adventure Path. We discuss the Kingmaker Player Guide at length and the hosts make suggestions on appropriate character classes for use in the Paizo award winning Adventure Path. Tim Hitchcock, the Gold medalist at the Gencon 2010 Ennies and author of Kingmaker 1: Stolen Land joins us for interviews in the Companion and for an encore interview during the spoilerific Chronicles section of the podcast. We feature a new musical track by Satyr, intended for listening by player characters of at least 4th level and host CherryPie memorializes two of the Fallen in our Stolen Lands: Obituaries. Lastly, Steel_Wind and the rest of the podcast hosts review Kingmaker 1: Stolen Land in epic detail. It is a huge sandbox of a podcast, weighing in at over four hours plus of geeky Kingmaker goodness.

Really looking forward to this one - I'll check it out later today. I usually GM, but this will be the first cast I'm listening to with my player hat on. While I mourn the loss of a couple of hours of spoilerific content I can't listen to, I'm happy that my GM will benefit from your insights and create a better game for me :-).

First off, I LOVE the podcast. I'm running The Price of Immortality trilogy now, and I'm finding your inputs and the interviews invaluable. I've implemented some of your suggestions (such as replacing a certain NPC in Everflame with a PC's relative) to great effect. And getting the perspective of the various AP and module developers is a real treat.

My suggestion would be to include a player focused (non-spoilery) segment on how to develop a character background that will mesh well with the AP or module you are covering that episode. Something beyond "you could take this trait". Really get into the details, referencing the campaign setting or Pathinder Companion books. Obviously, this would only apply to the first book of a given adventure path, but I personally would find that far more valuable than, say, the character build segment.

Wow... incredible. The medals were all well-deserved. Congratz to all involved! Paizo is a tremendous company.

My vote is for retiring the iconics. I own every AP book and have never used them once, nor have any of my players.

This is great news. I'm a big fan of Know Direction and am really looking forward to another quality Pathfinder podcast! My morning commute just got happier...

May hat is of to you sir! This is something I've been looking for. My girlfriend is an active asatru and somewhat of an expert on norse mythology. I'll forward it to her and I have a couple pdfs you may find useful. Let me know if you are interested. :D

Looks great!

A couple of minor things.

Jotnar is the plural of Jotun.

I don't believe Aegir should be Evil. He is one of the Jotnar (like Skadhi) that "plays well with others". In the eddic poem Lokasenna, for example, he serves as the host to all of the Aesir and Vanir. Perhaps True Neutral? He is far too hospitable to be Evil.

Backgrounds from my party:

Human (Chelaxian) Cleric of Pharasma: Worked as a kind of funeral director at the chapel, before it bacame the cathedral. As such, he had lot of background knowledge about the Late Unpleasantness, and the many deaths that resulted from it.

Halfling Rogue: She is Bethana's (from the Rusty Dragon) daughter, so knows Ameiko as well.

Elf Wizard: I also went the "Thassilonian scholar" route - she is studying the Old Light with Brodert.

Gnome Sorcerer (Fey Bloodline): She is an herbalist and has travelled with Varisians, so she is acquainted with Madame Mvashti.

Human (Chelaxian) Paladin: He's the only non-local, but is from Magnimar, and knows the Foxglove family.

The Pathfinder RPG is not part of any subscription, but there will be ways that some folks will be able to get the PDF for free—we haven't finalized those details yet, though, so I can't say any more at this time.

Ooh! Good to know! :-)

I'm about to start the article about this saucy elven goddess. If there are things you want to know, now is the time to tell me. :)

I'm very interested in the mythic stories of the Golarion gods (like the tale about the blind orphan who nursed Desna's avatar back to health after her battle with Lamashtu). These myths really make the gods come alive to me and my players.

Details about holy days and any rituals would be great, too!

Thank you for asking :-)

Give them some paper and let them write it out, if they feel like it.

If not ask them what their favorite aspect was, what they disliked the most and what they wanted from the session.

I don't believe I was as clear as I could have been.

I'm not asking how to physically capture the information, but I'm wondering if Paizo is specifically interested in the feedback from newer players, vs. those of use who are converting from 3.5 or 4th edition. Do they want this broken out, or mixed in with the feedback from the veteran gamers who may (naturally) be comparing their Beta experience with the various editions of D&D.

There will be people in my game who have never looked at a 3.5 PHB, and have no idea that 4th edition even exists. If Pathfinder is to grow and thrive in the long term, it will be important to appeal to these people (a fact I'm sure Paizo understands :-).

Any other GMs out there using the Beta as an opportunity to bring new players into the game? Or bring back old players who haven't gamed in a while?

I'm doing a little of each, which will make for a larger gaming group than I'm used to, but I think it'll be worth it. My Beta group will be a mix of complete or relative newbies, and veterans who have been playing since the days you had to color the dice in with crayon.

Paizo guys: is it worth breaking out the feedback from new players, who haven't a clue what 3.5 or 4th edition are? Any other suggestions on how to capture/report feedback from newbies?

Joseph Mandato wrote:

I'm aboslutely thrilled with the changes to the cleric, and I can't wait to see how he plays at higher levels.

Without discussing channeling energy (which we all agree is fabulous), can you explain why the changes in the cleric class from 3.X to Beta have you so thrilled? Do you find that the changes to domain powers add to your excitement and/or ability to flesh out the character/roleplay?

Sure.

I like the at-will abilities. My cleric can use the fire-bolt ability whenever he wants, but it is really just a nice back-up weapon for when I'm out of spells or for when wading into combat isn't an ideal choice or possible. The ability to conjure fire at will is a physical manifestation of my connection to the sun goddess, which can be used for dramatic effect in the right roleplaying circumstance. So, I've found this is not an over-powered ability, but one that I nonetheless choose (despite the x-bow being a better option at low levels) to use because it fits with the character.

The Rebuke Death at-will ability has come in handy, too - especially as a priest of Sarenrae in the beginning of CotCT. I've developed into a bit of a hospitaler, giving healing to any severely wounded guardsmen who need my aid, whenever I am at the Citadel (which has helped the party gain their trust, and led to roleplaying opportunities). I haven't even tried to use it against undead, yet.

Regarding the 2nd level abilities, it is nice to have access to both of my domain abilities, rather than just the one I chose to memorize at the beginning of the day. In 3.5, my cleric could have chosen Burning Hands OR Cure Light Wounds as his 1st level domain spell. In the combat I described above, he wound up using BOTH of those abilities. I still have to plan out my other spells at the beginning of the day (and I really obsess over those choices), so I get the best of both worlds. I'm looking forward to getting both Lesser Restoration AND Resist Energy at next level, rather than being forced to choose between the two.

Got to cut this short - need to prepare for a meeting in 15 minutes :-)

I've been playtesting the Alpha (and now Beta) rules with a cleric, which has long been my favorite class (since the aforementioned specialty priests in 2nd edition).

We had a lengthy battle in our last game, in which my 2nd level cleric (with Healing and Fire domains) really shined. He used both of his bonus spells (cure light wounds and burning hands), and at least three channel energies. Two of the channel uses brought up companions from negative hitpoints. And both of those companions were too far away to otherwise get to.

The side benefit of those channels was that I had more then enough hit points to stay in combat, relieving the other party members so they could swig potions after I got them up into positive hit points.

The BEST thing about all this is that I actually got to use my other spells in this combat (including a command spell which helped turn the tide). I'm finding that I'm only spontaneously converting one spell a day into a cure.

Of course, the fact that I've taken selective channeling as a feat allows me to make greater use of those 30' healing bursts in combat. As far as I'm concerned, that feat is a must-have for any cleric!

I'm aboslutely thrilled with the changes to the cleric, and I can't wait to see how he plays at higher levels.