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I'm having trouble finding some information online and I'm hoping you guys can help me. I'm writing up a backstory to my character in the serpent's skull campaign and I'm kinda stuck trying to figure out what day summer solstice would have been on that year... Does anyone know what day it would have been on? Thanks for your help!
No answers?
I know no one mentioned this before hand, but couldn't the cards be considered like a wizard's bonded item, instead of getting absolutely nothing from them? They are an inanimate object that the witch must keep with her to cast spells. Why wouldn't they use the bonded item list instead of the familiar list? Or has anyone found an official update for it? I just started playing one and it seems odd that they would get nothing for it... or should the cards be intelligent, able to talk(at the appropriate level), make perception checks, help manufacture magic items, have skill ranks... all the things an actual familiar can do.
That is... a bit odd, but works I guess.
I never saw it answered above, but how will the symbols for true neutral be shown? They don't seem to have a place for the symbol...
Not too many, I'll give you that, but we do find them. We're playing through the Jade Regent AP and two sessions ago found a secret entrance into a castle that was a 5 ft oval-shaped hallway and only about 5.5 ft tall. Taking my eidolon through that would have been hell if he were large. On the other hand, a wand of reduce person should completely fill that gap, since it will probably only be a one level deviation (I really like my wings). Thanks for the idea, badgerish!
This level, I'm thinking about getting rid of my wings and giving myself a +8 Diplomacy and a +8 Ride and giving my eidolon the mount evolution so I still somewhat have the mobility that I'm used to. The issue is that I'm human and therefore my eidolon has to be large. I don't mind that, but I like being prepared for every contingency. So what I'm wondering is if there is a way to make my eidolon medium sized in case we have to fight in a 5 ft hallway? I could make my eidolon medium size and use Evolution Surge whenever I want to ride him but with a mount setup that seemed a counter-intuitive way to go about it, since the spell only lasts for 1 minute/level. There should be a way to temporarily reduce his size for 1 minute/level instead of increasing it. Any ideas that aren't super expensive? Transmogrify is a bit expensive and can't really be done on the run, otherwise, I'd just use that.
Because as we all know, relationships, romance and even message have nothing to do with story. Are in fact all best avoided if you want good stories. Just off hand, I love this sort of stuff in my gaming and I don't find a distraction, but necessary to the game. Throw in a romance or throw in NPC's for me to get to know as people and always add in backstory and motivation! Why in the world people like playing games where the default answer to their GM is "I hit it/I spell it" is beyond my ability to comprehend. For me, it isn't enough to think, "I epic-ly saved the world" if I feel I had no stake in that world. Npc's give me that connection. I want to know that I saved someONE, not just someTHING. Another reason I enjoy Paizo. I will add that while forcing the players to tie themselves to NPC's (a la Jade Regent) originally annoyed me, its due to those connections that my character in Jade Regent is now my favourite character of all time, and that I'm enjoying that game to the extent that I am. Paizo has proven to me that if we give it a chance, they will lead us to wonderful places and thus I am more than willing to place my trust in their knowledge of story for my games.
I loved the Eastern supplements but I haven't heard anything on the sales yet. I really hope the do more. Tops on my list are a full discussion about each of the countries and how they act and whey believe on a societal level and a book like the inner sea gods one on all of the Tien deities. Sorry, that was supposed to say "...how they act and what they believe...", not "and whey they believe". This is why I need to stop hanging out here when I'm supposed to be asleep because I have work the next morning. *grin*
I am a straight white woman in my thirties and let me say, it is possible to have male heroes but I was always the one who latched onto any female character in a story and made them my favourite. I always assumed it was the same for everyone, male, gay/lesbian/trans, colored... Everyone. Its one of the reasons I love what Paizo is doing. That said, I do agree with the others here who have suggested that they would like more men offered up as relationship bait. I look for that in almost every game I play, and while Sandru is great and all, I was a bit put out that three of the four NPC's in that AP were female and that the other two were relatively young compared to him (okay, Shalelu is an elf but she looks like 20 years old whereas Sandru is definitely past that). I don't want to see the exclusion of anything we've seen thus far, but yeah, attractive/intelligent single men would be a nice addition.
Well, here's hoping that there will be some new information on Apsu for my Paladin/Dragon Disciple. Also, that enough humans worship Daikitsu that she will get mentioned at least, hah. Daikitsu is the one I am most hoping for more information on. I can't wait to get a copy! I'll be putting in my pre-order tomorrow. Oh! More on the Whore Queens! Finally my Way of the Wicked Witch who is following them and Callistria will have more information to play with! Vengeance is a dish best served... Cold, fresh, whenever, so long as it is served.
I loved the Eastern supplements but I haven't heard anything on the sales yet. I really hope the do more. Tops on my list are a full discussion about each of the countries and how they act and whey believe on a societal level and a book like the inner sea gods one on all of the Tien deities.
Several factors (time, resources, space) prevented us from doing that.That's a wonderful resource Adam, and it's great to see it posted so we don't have to wait until the second book. I only meant as a character creation tool, its a bit late in book two. Though I agree, getting the gazetteer of Wati will be very useful as well and (for at least one of my players) more important than the ancient deities. I'm just overly fond of the deific information provided in my roleplaying games. The deities books are always the ones I look forward to the most. Speaking of which,I believe Inner Sea Gods is coming out this month. I will be disappointed to not get more on Inari and her Tian counterparts, but this will be one of the books I'll be adding to my shelf immediately!
The Kitsune don't have things like that holding them down. As I see it the Kitsune can be tweaked to look a certain way to refer to where they come from just as Kuzunoha Kaijitsu Suggested" I'm going to love slipping into the culture while I add in a prominent Fennec-folk NPC for my players to find."So maybe the Kitsune would look... Its just such a wonderful idea, since foxes are one of the few animals that do live pretty much everywhere. Like coyotes, they are adaptable beasts. My favourite race. I wish I could play them more often, but my next two character ideas are set and we tend to play full adventure paths before starting over, so it'll be a while before I get to play one rather than npc it.
That's a wonderful resource Adam, and it's great to see it posted so we don't have to wait until the second book. Oh! Thank you for that! Though you'd think they'd have included that information elsewhere rather than in the second book of this campaign if we could still use it for character creation...
Thank you! That's exactly what I was looking for. I tried doing a search, but I must not have been using the correct terms for it.
I assume there are templates for making creatures other than just good/evil. Does anyone know which books or where to look on the SRD for the lawful/chaotic templates? I'd like to print off a copy of all five (since I'm going to take the Neutral template feat from Champions of Balance) so I have them close at hand. Speaking of which, is there a updated list somewhere of all the creatures you can summon?
It's never appropriate to kills a PC, but it's always appropriate to let a PC get themselves killed. Thank you! This is more what I was trying to say when I said I pulled my punches. If there was no chance of death, it would lose the fun. I've killed one character in my latest adventure path, and almost taken one characters hand twice, but I find players have a lot more fun in that spot between panic and dead, when they're on the edge and pulling out everything possible to win.
http://youtu.be/VFtlDhksGHA I watch the PBS Idea Channel show and they had an episode on how D&D can you a confident and successful person. Insert Pathfinder wherever he says D & D and you have your argument. Offhand, I think this a great idea and Pathfinder with its focus on diversity and appreciation of other cultures is a much better teaching tool than D & D.
I'm going to be running this adventure for my group, and I must say, I'm really looking forward to it. Also, due to an awesome idea from another thread on the forums here, I'm going to be adding in a kitsune npc (fennec-folk FTW)! Seriously though, this is a great Player's Guide. I can't wait to run this AP!
This idea is so awesome... I'd like it for a few other cities as well. Instead of Beginner Box Set call t a City Box Set and include a four page map of the city as well as a notable place (like the Rusty Dragon) in it. This is an awesome idea. I wholly approve!
I love the kitsune race but I only play in Adventure path/long games. Thus, I get don't get to play new races as often as I'd like. Hasn't stopped me from pickling up every 3PP item about them I can get my hands on. From a less fan-girl perspective, I do want more love for all the races since I generally hate playing "common" races. I think a book about Beast folk, in and out of inner sea, sounds awesome (fennec-folk OMG yes!). I also want more information on the Samsaran race and Tengu and I would snatch up a new Tien Xia race/place book in an instant. As for the "get your Asian mythology out of my game", one of the the things I like about Pathfinder is that they're not going the safe route. All humans are not white, all npc's are not straight and all culture is not European. That diversity is why I love Pathfinder. Offhand, the next campaign I'm running is the Mummy's Mask AP, and I'm going to love slipping into the culture while I add in a prominent Fennec-folk NPC for my players to find.
I try not to kill off characters and occasionally, only as a gm, I will pull my punches to do it. However, if your group knows that you're likely to pull your punches that way, they start acting like you'll always do it. Personally, if bad luck happens, let it go and kill the player. If, on the other hand, this is because you didn't realize that it wasn't just the dark before they got the upper hand and that the challenge really was overpowered for them, then you might want to pull your punches a bit. Never pull your punches after the fact though. The one time I did was when a player died to a Human slaying arrow and a fellow player (a bard actually) realized that he could have afforded a second saving throw. I let it pass and the player agreed that he was out of this fight, regardless. As to the "he had it coming since he was a bard" thing, I believe that any class can be good, if they're well played. Bards do great as secondary characters; secondary cleric, secondary wizard/sorcerer, secondary fighter... they fit just about everywhere. Likewise, being a fighter isn't just in the AC or BAB bonus. We have a fighter in a group that I'm playing with who only has a 12 to 14 AC. He's made it up in hit points. The "I have more hit points than you can possibly imagine" route. Basically, here what I'm saying is let the players do what they want. If occasionally that brings death and destruction raging down upon their heads, all the better. After all, we can't learn if we don't know we've made a mistake, right?
I just wanted to let everyone know that the gnome bard in my group took Khazrae under his wing... her and specifically, her eventual redemption, are now his reason for not Bleaching. He totes her around everywhere, a Khazrae keychain, if you will. I believe he mentioned that he planned to try and kill the undead her and then resurrect her to be his minion with the leadership feat... Good times, particularly since of the party members is Janivan (who ranger-ly hates outsiders) and the other is a half orc ranger (whose obsessions are not only evil outsiders but also undead). Oh, the arguments and bullying going on my table while the ranger constantly threatens the bard with "throwing his head into the ocean" is sort of awesome, though I sort of wish I could lower the inherent bullying, even if it is all character motivationally conceived.
I lucked out. The two female PCs in my group didn't mind the male roles at all and just accepted the play being what it was on the basis of "I hate this stupid city and everyone in it, let's just get this over with so we can go to the party." The cleric just flat out hated being in a play at all but got over it when she learned she got to whip people. This sounds a lot like how my game went. All three of the players are men, playing men. One is a gnome bard (who loved the play and the chance to show off), one is a human elderich knight (who sighed heavily and dealt with it, though he didn't really have any performing skills) and a half orc ranger. The player of the ranger loved being in the play, but his character has no charisma and no skills for it. His comment was also, "So I just have to whip Karl and Locke when they get annoying? And occasionally talk? (thinks for a second) But I still get to whip Karl? And Locke? Where do I sign up?" As for me, being a female GM, the play was reprehensible, but I made my city a lot more friendly towards women, even if the play wasn't. Janivan was the woman with the group, and I think she decided to sit that one out, based on the fact that there were no female parts and that she felt about the same as the half orc about becoming an actor without the inherent joy in getting to whip her fellow adventurers.
Which is more evil: punching a random stranger in the face knowing you'll never see them again or punching your friend in the face knowing you'll have to deal with how he/she feels about it for a long time afterward? Evil done to a friend certainly makes me feel worse than evil done to a stranger. It's a cruel thing to say, but morality-wise, I would put evil done to a friend as worse, making it more evil. Kassa, you are awesome! Kuzunoha would never get along with you (she hates it when her eidolon gets hurt and insists that he gets cured before she does by the party healer if she's out of spells) but a game where the two met would certainly be awesome! Kuzunoha is firmly Chaotic Neutral. She can be cold and actually has psychopathic tendencies, needing to kill (what she considers to be) sentient species if she gets too stressed out. On the other hand, she only does it with the intention of "protecting her friends", which helps along with her basically protective, and occasionally self-sacrificing, nature to keep her neutral.
This is a wonderful idea for a podcast. I wish there were more out there.
Why do you think the ritual takes a minute? It has to render. This is just awesome! ^_^
I will give you that, Simon. I think the real difference is in what the creature is to you. If its nothing but a tool that the summoner calls for their amusement then it isn't evil, it practical. If its a friend and ally, then its evil. Don't know if I like that outlook on it, but I will admit that yes, in this case it feels a bit like what's good for the goose is not good for gander, since you know this particular goose. Definitely a grey area and one I'd love to see a Dev comment on it, since they did leave it so vague and open to interpretation. Thank you, AbyssLord, for posting this. Its a fascinating question!
Personally, I start from a basic concept like "Swamp Witch" for an example. Then I'll find a race that works (in this case, Were-Crocodile Kin) and then I start building the character around that idea. 95% of the time, I start from concept. The one I'm currently playing though, the concept was "summoner maybe???" and she didn't solidify into a character until I chose my game trait (it was in the Jade Empire adventure path) to be Ameiko's sister. My GM or husband came up with the insult, "You and your imaginary friend" that Ameiko used on my character and the best of angry sibling rivalry ever has was created. I don't think I've ever built a character depending on the stats though... If the stats absolutely can't be played with the concept I've thought up, I start thinking of new character concepts to match what I have, though I find this a rare occurrence only happening once or twice in my (nearly) 15 years of gaming.
Evil? No. You're not killing the creature. It's a summon. It still exists even though its copy is destroyed. Summoners... The original Xerox Photocopier.
I'm playing a summoner right now and I play it as my eidolon loves me and wants to follow my character... in fact, he gets annoyed when he doesn't think I'm being adored and treated as wonderfully as I should (because every girl needs someone who's behind her 100%). However, my character could never think about killing him. It would be like biting your own finger off and not something done lightly, even if he will come back at half hit points the next day. But I notice the books leave it very vague, and some summoners seem to prefer "summoned tool" to the way I see it as "summoned ally". I wouldn't call it evil, but I would say that your eidolon would be completely right to tell you off afterward. Also, this is what house rules are for. If I found a player abusing that rule by killing it rather than healing it, I'd add the rule that this is considered an evil act and will eventually turn your character evil, in the same way that summoning a creature with the evil descriptor will eventually turn your summoner evil. As for summoners not getting called for their shaky morality for summoning creatures to get bopped on the head like field mice, I think it is because of the way 2nd edition D&D Planescape described the process. When someone from a Prime summons a creature to aid them, that creature comes and must obey the summoner. However, when they die or the spell ends, they return to the planes in whatever state they were in before they were summoned. It hurts, but since to them it isn't "real" the pain fades within moments and since no "permanent" harm was done, it is not considered an evil act. Interestingly enough, if you want to have a fun game, have a group of planar characters randomly summoned down to fight on the Prime. How each reacts after they get back is a great opportunity for role playing!
I hadn't actually heard of this book and I do try to keep up on the extra books. I'll check out this one and see about picking it up, though none of these seem particularly like feats I would take. She's a Chaotic Neutral Tien woman, more focused on using her summons to fight her battles... I'm hoping to start going through and finding more chaotic things to start summoning, instead of all the good and evil choices that they mostly give you.
Personally, I love odd characters though... One of my favourites in 3.5 was a Feytouched Fey-Ri Bard... She was awesome. Not a phyically awesome character at all, but as a social character, she kicked ass.
I'm playing a summoner in the Jade Regent adventure path (in case you didn't notice from my forum name), and I'm loving her. I'll say that she is a strong character, but she really doesn't appear OP to me. However, my question is less about summoners themselves and more about summoner feats... Mainly, why there are none. There are a few (Spell Focus: Conjuration, Augment Summoning) and two or three that you can take to buff up your Eidelon (Resiliant Eidelon and the like), but I've found a lot more summon feats out there that as a base summoner I can't take. Sacred Summons requires a level of Cleric (you need Aura), the Moonlight/Starlight/Sunlight Summons require you to have Summon Nature's Ally, which as a base summoner I don't have access to (which is another question all its own. If I'm a summoner should I not have access to all the spells titled "Summon ______"?). Is the answer just "Balance" or is there another reason? Are there any other decent summoning feats you guys know?
I let my characters keep their characters when it happens. There is nothing quite as awesome as watching those not dominated or under a spell try to think up ways to save their friends without dying or using up too many resources at once. Also, there are always in game rivalries between players. You can attack those people, to the exclusion of pretty much everyone else. It also makes for some incredible role-playing afterwards as the characters try to repair the trust the party has in them, though in general, your other players should be willing to accept them back without too much trouble. After all, bad rolls can affect just about anyone at any time. I also suggest using it somewhat sparingly... If your players know that their only challenges are other players, it takes away the point in sharing treasure and money between them.
Darn it.... Ignore that last post. I'm on a tablet, left for two minutes and returned to see that my cat apparently posted while I was gone. Sorry about that and for the record, I agree. Standpoint is amazing!
This... Just forever. This is the reason I turn to Pathfinder products! As a woman, I love seeing just as many (or more) women in suitable armor as women dressed in clothes like Seoni's. Sexual relationships are the same. I like knowing that there are multiple types of sexuality in the world (though I agree, it seems to be a bit more lenient/noted for the female characters than the male ones... I didn't know about the Sandpoint couple until now) and I like knowing that everybody isn't white. This is the world I want to play in!
I'm beginning to feel like @Nathanael is just complaining to complain. I'm not quite sure about the "other classes don't have dead levels" argument either. I'm playing a hedge witch and a summoner right now; both have had "dead levels" by your definition. I put them off as easy levels to update. If you don't like wizards in this generation, find something else. There are always going to be levels in which you don't get as much as others. It helps to add balance to the game. Personally, even when I had the option of Prestige Classes, I still preferred playing a single class. I hated feeling like I had to take a prestige class just to keep up or that I couldn't be the character I wanted until X level. Now that I can go up in a single class and feel like I still have options, I'm loving the game much more! It gets me excited to try the new classes, even if sometimes they aren't as powerful as other classes that aren't already out.
I don't mind the new classes. Usually, I'm GM'ing, but I'm now fortunate enough to be playing two characters and neither of them are from the main book(a summoner and a hedge witch). On the other hand, I'm also the sort of person who isn't very fond of the main races either; give me a sylph or a kitsune any day, please. Gnomes are cool, but just not enough for me. On the other hand, I can say that some of the classes could be more effectively made into a class alternative... Mostly the Asian counterparts. These classes need to exist, but probably don't need to be a sole class. If we're going to go that far with all of them then why is the "White Haired Witch" just an alternative rather than a full class of its own? Still, I like the changes the Summoner (which could only be done before by combining cleric with sorcerer or wizard), the Oracle and the others give you instead of being just a run of the mill cleric or wizard. Heck, the moment sorcerer appeared in 3.5 I fell in love, so maybe I'm not the one to talk here. In general, I am right on board and excited to see what the new classes will be though. We all have classes we prefer playing anyway... just find the five that you like the most and stick with those, giving the others a quick review when making a new character, in case a different one suddenly catches your fancy!
I'm playing in the game right now and my character is Ameiko's younger (maybe) half-sister... Apparently Lonjiku wasn't above getting it on with hot Minkain women who came to town. My character was shipped off to Turandorok Academy young and then brought back whenever Ameiko ran off, since I human and could be the next "heir" if she didn't return. Due to this, my character and her sister have a hate on for each other, while desperately trying to protect them as the only family either of them have. As my sister, she is arrogant, brash, occasionally quick-witted and seethes about my character growing wings (I'm a summoner). We bicker back and forth constantly, to the point where the party thought it was better to separate us two, except when actually on an adventure. Koya is an unoffical Mom to the caravan, though my character considers her more Grandmother than mother (If anyone was a more mother figure to her, it was probably Ilsoari Gandethus of Turandurok Academy. Shalelu got introduced to sex that she likes and has become a bit a nympomaniac, dragging off the gentleman of her attentions whenever she gets an urge (while still desperately in love with my sister, Ameiko). Our Sandru is currently in a funk of the highest order. I was the one the prince of Urdu Agonie wanted to marry, and that night after he met his now married love, one of the other party members convinced him to take me to bed. He was so drunk, he didn't remember it, but Koya had the biggest explosion at my character the next morning (one of the other party members is her foster child and my childhood love) about how "the Kaijitsu women like destroying her sons" the next morning. Ameiko ran in to smack around Sandru (who hadn't even woken up yet) asking what he'd told Koya and everything sort of exploded. The flashback from that incident is still being played out. Mind you, I loved my character and the other PC's and NPC's so much, I literally wrote a novel about Kuzunoha and her life before the adventure started... It's about 55k so far (I'm still editing it and adding in missed scenes). I may start posting it on my website... eventually. I also wrote a 10k write-up of the scenes with her childhood sweetheart and her having feels surrounding her sleeping with Sandru. As my GM is fond of saying, "If you build it, they will come..." |
