Nice going Mike! :D
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Ah man I wish I didn't miss this! I have a bunny who is awesome. He has to bless our dice and minis when we get them. He's also been known to throw minis for fun. Little jerk.
Awesome! I look forward to seeing the rest of the Beastiary. Anything involving bunnies and you have me for life!
Thanks Dan for all your hard work! Joe and I (Shaina) wish you the best and an easy move. Congratulations to Mike! We look forward to gaming some more, but keep your goblin bane weapons to yourself. ;)
Linkified for you. I like that flask the alchemist has. Looks dangerous! Thanks for link-ifying them for me. I didn't realize I needed to do more with them. I appreciate it. The flask was my first attempt with a larger glass item. I'm still pretty new with painting, but my husband really liked it!
My husband and I received the Goblin Boon at GenCon this year, which meant I needed to paint us some miniatures. However, nothing existed that we really wanted, so I cannibalized and modded us some minis. http://i.imgur.com/RuYcO24.jpg I recently started a miniature and general geeking blog. The process of making the miniatures can be found at these three posts: http://nerddrasil.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/goblin-modding-part-1/ http://nerddrasil.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/derpy-orc-and-the-goblin-stylist / http://nerddrasil.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/we-be-pathfinders-goblin-modding -part-2-complete/ I hope you will take a peek. Thank you!
I agree, I'd pick one or the other. Or give a player the choice of one or the other depending on what they would prefer.
Nah, not really. I just wanted a slightly goofy pose, and it's what came to mind at the time.
I just finished a doodle of my goblin and my husband's goblin in Pathfinder Society. We were lucky to receive the boon at GenCon this last year. I give you Packie and Flingy! http://i.imgur.com/RNVdD.jpg
You don't. You had to complete the Part 2 of the "Race for the Runecarved Key" Special at GenCon this year. This was a run-once event that will not be repeated, and the Goblin boon is unlikely to be awarded again. If it is, it will probably be for another one-shot event at GenCon (Maybe Paizocon.) Here is the beauty of the boons: considering all the reasons you have listed, this forces players to get really creative to explain why a goblin would be a Pathfinder. Our group (hi, I have a goblin boon) are considering the idea that a small group of baby goblins were found in their pens, helpless, during a clean up of a Goblin camp. Perhaps a Pathfinder was there and was of such an alignment as to find it extremely distasteful to slaughter babies (even if they were goblin). Why not try an experiment? Why not put the nature vs. nurture debate to the test? And so, you have a reason for at least 6 players. You have baby goblins, raised in a non-goblin, controlled environment as a social experiment by Pathfinders.
Was your table "Too Many Bards"? (I think that was the name.) One of my friends ran that group thru the 1st part. He had a blast with that group. No we were not, but I think I remember them being on the list of tables that advanced to round two.
I like this. Amusing and appropriate for the deity. If it's a stunning piece of art, nude or not, why would a paladin of Shelyn destroy such a thing?
If we have a GMPC then they are always cohorts of another character. You will not be the same level as everyone else, and you don't get to make big choices. They usually end up being a skill monkey or combat support, but are little more than sidekicks. It's important to let the players figure things out and to shine. It's hard not to get into a character you create. If a player doesn't ask the GMNPC for a skill check, I simply don't do it. If I don't hear a, "Hey, Ms. GMPC, do you know anything about this item?" then the character is a statue. I may also let them step in to assist checks that the player narrowly misses. I will help if I can without taking any glory.
I was the GM/VC that stopped by your table and watched for a bit. You guys were some of the most engaged and enthusiastic players I've ever seen. It was fun just to watch you guys play, and see the panic of a closing portal before you. :) I remember you! We were really having a great time, and everyone at the table got along well and was so valuable to our survival. I don't think we would have made it out if everyone wasn't on their A-game. I felt like the jerk dashing to the portal, but everyone who was still breathing got out. We might have been louder if I didn't have a cold (my voice was touch and go for the whole con). I might have over shouted Nani, who was next to us! It might have been for the best, the swears might have corrupted the little ones.
Thank you for such a quick reply! I will check again over the next few weeks.
I see the session I participated in for the Cyphermage Dilema, but not the special. Will Pathfinder Special: Race for the Runecarved Key part 1 and 2 be added to our sessions? Or do we not get to claim the EXP for the event?
I was also in the tier 1-2 group that got the Goblin. I'm excited about this. I was never really into goblins, but the challenge this presents is really exciting to me! I picked up some Goblin stuff after the event and look forward to giving this a go. I am going to have trouble talking Goblin. Then again, you could likely take some pointers from LoL Cats. I can has horse burgers?
This year was my first GenCon and first time playing Society (although I have been playing Pathfinder in general since Beta). My soon to be hubby and I played together and had an incredible time (can you say nerd pre-honeymoon?). Mustering was not much of an issue for us. It did look chaotic, but I admit that we jumped some of the volunteers about 30 minutes before the event with a full group and landed at table #2. We were grabbed by four other people who were friends to complete their group and it ended up being really great. Everyone had experience with the game and were really cool. Our group won top of our tier (1-2) for both events and walked away with Goblin boons. The event itself was really different for my sweetie and I. We come from a group that tends to run a little slower (aka extremely RP heavy). This fast paced and timed event was a refreshing change. The sense of urgency really got us hyped up, and many high fives and hugs of relief occurred. For the second part we had Mike Brock DM for us, which we were all excited and terrified for. He did an amazing job (and on very little sleep!) and convinced one of our players to hop on the dragon's back (to his death). We lost two players in part #2 and narrowly escaped with, maybe, two minutes left. It was wild! I, personally, had a wonderful time. The new people we met and the deep sense of urgency gave me the experience of one of the best games I have ever played with Pathfinder (Carrion Crown being a close second). I am moving to Baltimore in a few weeks and will have a few PFS options there. I will certainly get more deeply involved with Society after this event. Prepare thyself for the Goblin Queen! And good luck to the DM who will be getting our Goblin party next year!
Agreed there. My fiance and I aren't going to be playing the First Steps, but just reading through so we can choose beforehand. For us, there was no faction that really called to us. We'll likely go with the default Lodge.
It's hard to die in Society unless the character is very badly built ("the usual 10 CON, I don't do damage at all, and I don't do combat types" characters). So just have good AC, good HP, and don't go off trying to do things by yourself, and you should be fine. Good to know. If that's the case I won't worry. My fiance and I will be playing together and we are aware of dungeon rule 1: don't break up the party! Unless you have a smelly troglodyte. Sometimes reincarnation goes wrong.
I, for one, am excited. My fiance and I have been playing for years, but we never played in a society event. We are a little bummed we need to start at level 1, but we need to start somewhere. A friend of mine had an experience with a bunch of new players with significant others who weren't interested in the game as well: and ended up killing his favorite character to play. Terrible shame. I hope that's not a common occurrence.
No insult. :) That's about right. Excluding two of them in terms of being social zombies. But I'm thinking I'm sort of an exemption to the girl rule. Wouldn't be the first time.
It IS Cthulhu. Technically he's not safe for any age.
I have spoken nicely, I have asked nicely, I have yelled, and I have banned them from my apartment. They just won't sit up and leave because it's "too hard to maneuver around the table," and that they'd, "have to do it too frequently." When I ask how they manage at work or in classes they say, they "hold it for an hour and head to the rest room." But they can't do it for me. If there wasn't so much history with the group, and the games weren't such quality, I'd leave.
My DM style is...tricky. I love creating characters and I love spinning stories that makes out some characters to be the bad guys when they are absolutely not. Putting the players in situations to make very touchie judgment calls is a favorite of mine. Nearly all my villains are "grey area" villains in which they are not down right evil, and even sometimes absolutely righteous. My players are almost always somewhere in the neutral range, so I like putting them in questionable situations. I give them conflicting information in order to for them into touch choices. For example, they were sent on a mission recently to kill a necromancer's apprentice. Upon checking things it, they discover the apprentice was a cleric in cover trying to unearth documentation in order to try to change some of the law regarding necromancy that were too lax for her order. AKA lawyer under cover. Despite being a good character with noble intentions, she almost found herself dead if not for a single party member really pushing to leave her be. Not to mention several deaths of innocent people because someone failed their sense motive a few times. I'm also not the DM out to kill the players. I enjoy challenging them, and share in their successes, but my goal is not to screw with them at every turn. Just the occasional turn. But I will punish stupid. Being a resent graduate of art history and archaeology my games are very historically rooted. I'm big on making props, and big on "fun" game items. Let's just say my players are going to have some fun with cursed items this week. My players seem to agree I usually set up high fantasy games, although they think I have a knack for world politics and subterfuge (the former I wouldn't agree on, but if they think so, so be it!). The world they play in I spent several weeks creating with full maps, towns, populations and such. Each "city state" in the world they are in has it's background and larger world issues, as well as customs. They can start anywhere, doing anything. I present them with a few options initially. If they take the bait, then they are in store for a planned story. If not, I will go with it and give them something else.
We have a good deal of comedy in our games. Be it completely in character or out of character referring to the game. We have a player who got so drunk that he was useless for a mission. We put him in a boat and shoved it into a lake...without paddles. He also coudn't swim. Also, I have had my own character capture a weaselly thief, and instead of taking them to the authorities, decided he would be off better used at the whore house since they employed no mean to service women (she had been turned down earlier in the campaign for nookie). We had a character who had emerged from a necklace (was trapped) that was in the possession of my barbarian. Being that the necklace was, "Mine," she refereed to this character as, "Mine," throughout the rest of the campaign instead of his actual name. Not to mention reminding him that has her possession he's not allowed to make any choices of importance. I have a character who is a bug bear rights activist...yes. Among others. Insults run rampant as well.
This is sometimes an issue for me. Sure I'm ok with a little bit of mess. It happens. And I think I am lucky I have never been in a filthy situation. My issue? Farting. Being in a small room with limited ventilation with 4 guys with terrible diets blowing ass, literally, every 30 minutes. And I don't just mean a small piffer. I meant a wet your pants, clear the room ripenss of the pants. I shouldn't have to pull out the medical masks for a game. I have spoken to them about it but apparently according to man law: they don't have to leave the room when they are in majority. I called BS since it's my apartment. They then followed it up by saying they can't hold it in. Nonsense. How does the rest of the world of males do it on first days? Classes? Work? Sometimes there is a slip. But this is a case of being too lazy to sit up and walk 10 feet to spare me. All of them couldn't possibly have a medical issue. ::sigh:: No manners.
But then you must remove a fair number of spells from the game. How would you approach that? Ban the use of the spells against alignments?
I have been feeling that way witch my witch as well (level 7) until the last campaign when she was the savior of the day. Dispel magic was our friend against an insanely strong enemy with a butt-ton of stat enhancing armor. Granted, had to throw my hero points to replenish when one failed, but it made the main baddie hitable. Some things a pretty neat, but you need to get used to the idea that you are likely going to be a support character.
I generally take the stance that fate is relative in the game. You can believe in it's power, or you don't have to. What's true for one person/thing doesn't have to be for another. But the Aeons believe in it to a very extreme extent. I feel they would have very black and white views. But just because a high level Aeon is a believer in ultimate fate, doesn't necessarily make it so and it doesn't mean the player is bound by what that creature believes. The player could quake in fear and lose all sense of their own free will or not. It's up to them. But this character's idea of fate and a living being role in the space of time never has to be the end-all-be-all. I suppose I create a conflict of fate and free will with the players. But it's a great age old conflict regardless.
Oooh shiney thread! I must be boring because I really didn't show my sorcerer's blood line dramatically. She had one eye that was golden in color (celestial), but was not terribly noticeable unless you got up close. This became more apparent as she leveled. I intended to give her the full golden eye treatment if she ever reached 20. Drats, campaign ended at 16. Our DM for that campaign gave me a glowing aura when she hit level 10. Not that I minded. She had multi-colored hair, clothes that did not match in the slightest, and was also a part time "Bug Bear Rights Activist." The glow was the least of her worries.
They can deliver a touch spells for you once you reach a caster level of 3. But it will put your companion at risk. And who would want to do that? :p Spectral Hand is a much better replacement at higher levels.
This has come up a few times in game when players did not feel their alignment should take a shift. The question that helps us is: "Did your PC like doing the torturing action?" The answer is a simple Yes or No. No room for debate. If it's yes, you get a mark towards evil. If no, you remain the same if you are good or neutral. We leave the alignment shift decision ultimately up to the DM. When I DM, I might focus a little more on intent. But my players are pretty consistent in their reactions and usually remain rather neutral.
Woah let me re-type this thing. Lost my entry. I will be using the Akhana in my current campaign if the players follow up something that is currently present. I am working the the aspect of the Akhanas' understanding that living things deeply influence cosmic balance and that sometimes "life must give way to death," in order to maintain that balance. A side quest that I presented to the two players (a cleric of Pharasma, and a spy track rogue) after they needed to fake their own deaths for royally failing an adventure. However, they were both in the form of gnomes (not their original race) for the adventure presented previously. I have a group of zealots known as the, "Order of the List," who essentially record and maintain episodes of fate in terms of who is supposed to die, and stay dead. They had a "clerical error" (pun intended) which listed my two players as being fating to actually die. However, they became confused when the two gnomes in question were not gnomes, but a human and an elf. Not wanting to admit their wrong-doing, or go about fixing it themselves, a few agents of the order give the players an offer. Had the cleric followed any other deity this option wouldn't have come up. They were going to be allowed one month to find two gnomes to send into their respective afterlives that would not disrupt fate, nor cause issues for their list. Both players became frustrated by the group, and I trust are going to do their homework and try to take them out at some point. After all, ho doesn't like calling cults into question and taking them out? I hadn't intended to use the Akhana since I did not have the Bestiary 2 until last week, but this beauty is going to be the head hauncho for this group.
I pre-ordered this some time ago, so I'm really hoping it comes in the mail today! ::squeal::
I always considered it in cultural terms. For example, westerners are slowing have a show for extended childhood/adolescence. We live at home longer, we wait to get married until we are much older, and considering the demand for higher and higher education we are in school much longer before starting our careers. Sometimes our maturity reflects it, sometimes it doesn't. I figured that it was more-or-less a socio-cultural outcome for a demand of certain qualities such as a vast knowledge of x, skills in y, and experience in z. Certainly their long life spans would have something to do with them taking their time with it as well. I don't think it makes elves incapable of being mature, intelligent individuals before reaching 110, but I don't think their peers consider them truly independent or mature until then. It's the elven equivalent of being able to rent a car.
It's so nice to see this thread here! I plan on apply this week after graduation. Despite living in PA, I'm more than willing to move across country. My background in archaeology and art history sends me overseas every summer with ungodly amounts of equipment, so what's a move with a couch and a couple hundred books? :)
Agreed! I'd love to see some more of them. A friend had attended GenCon and also mentioned that there was a speaker discussing the stories behind the iconic character design. As in why a character has a certain chink in the armor or where they received specific scars. Would love to see something about the character design as well.
Just got mine! They are really nice. I can't wait to start sanding and inking these little suckers. Thank you again to the person who gave me the amazon link. Got myself a set and 9 individuals of d4's, d6's and d'8. They are in blue moonstone and just gorgeous. Can't wait to try them out Saturday.
I had to ask since I had been looking for awhile for individual ones. I heard some really great things about them as precision dice. And honestly after a few years I have never, ever critted, perhaps it was the dice all along?Indeed! If your die's distorted against rolling on the 1-20 axis, you'll find that you roll 20's far less often. Precision dice don't have this distortion, and as such grant equal access to all numbers on the die. I wish I knew about these years ago, but these suckers are ordered and I am beyond giddy! :D
Errr? I bought pierogies in VA the other day from the local supermarket, the pierogies were made in NJ, the proximity to PA helps a lot. They are definitely harder to find outside PA, but not impossible. But they aren't considered common school lunch food outside of PA either. It's weird but I've heard from people working for Aramak that PA is the only state that pierogies are served to kids in their schools. Also, oddly enough, this spell check doesn't have pierogies in it for a spell check, which shows the rarity of the food, even in common language. I could be wrong but I have run into quite a few people who had no idea what they were. And I went to a boarding school to find many people unaware of pieroies and also very quickly addicted to them. XD Like a pagosh too I guess.
I had to ask since I had been looking for awhile for individual ones. I heard some really great things about them as precision dice. And honestly after a few years I have never, ever critted, perhaps it was the dice all along?
No worries, my panties aren't usually pulled into a knot over internet debates. :)
I thought you just combined your total "familiar having class levels" for determining what powers your familiar has. Other then the "its your spell book" part the familiars are more or less the same. I don't know, I think the issue is that we don't know how this is supposed to be worked out. Especially since wizard and witch don't have the same familiar list. But in time, maybe there will be a write up on how to make this work.
I thought you just combined your total "familiar having class levels" for determining what powers your familiar has. Other then the "its your spell book" part the familiars are more or less the same. I'm going to be lazy and not look this up since I'm not sure off the top of my head what the abilities are. Let's say you start as a wizard with a cat who gives you a +2 to your perception. Then you get a level in witch and could a goat and they give you a +1 to your AC. Now having both a +2 to perception and a +1 to your AC would be rather over powered. So you really should only have one. But that's just a passive ability to start. Then as you both gain levels more abilities are added. Witch familiars open up different spells depending on the animal you choose. And they generally get better every few levels. But each animal type has special abilities you can use and choose from. This multi-classing issue with possible multiple familiar could get really confusing and OP very easily. I think that's the issue we're trying to address?
But more animals is always handy.I agree! I'd like some research, too. For example, the RL jaguar's bite strength is far stronger than the leopard's, and the hyena's is one of the strongest in the animal kingdom, but none of the stats reflect this. Simply assigning the hyena something like Improved Natural Attack (bite) would be a sign that the folks at Paizo really do their homework, and don't just slap some stats down at random. Agreed. I'm arguing survivability of a bat familiar due to choosing a specific breed and eating habits. XD Aren't we detail-obsessive?
All of us are generally college students. I'm an antrhropology/art history major and I generally play casters of some sort. Although one of my favorite characters has been a barbarian, the only non-magic class I have played. We have a Computer Forensic guy and he generally plays rogues. He likes being a sneaky liar and disarming things/finding traps. Although he's about to play an old man Summoner, so that's going to be fun when he slips and breaks a hip. XD We have a Philosophy and English Major, he's almost always a bard. He loves telling and recording stories. He's usually a play write. he's also the most likely to contract VD in game. And we have a college drop out who generally plays the dumb brute fighter who is the comic relief. He generally does the big stupid thing that screws up entire quests or gets someone killed. Like killing a little girl's dog on a cursed island thinking it was evil. Then getting an axe int he back from her father. Or stop drop and rolling while in fire in a burning building... for 9 rounds until dead. We have, in a way, booted a problem player who's a sociology and psych major who loves creating characters that never works with party-cohesion. he likes to sell us out to get all the credit and reward money, takes titles, steals from or tries to kill the players...yuck. Not to mention cheats.
In case it appeals to you, we've been fully statting out all variant forms of monsters mentioned in the bestiary as well as making pre-formatted stat blocks for familiars and summonable creatures on d20pfsrd.com. Check 'em out :) Oh yes, we have this site on hand while we play. :D But more animals is always handy. Love the site by the way!
Isn't Handle Animal Cha-based? Wild Empathy certainly is! But certainly I don't consider "commune" and "study" to be synonymous. You begin with an empathetic link to the familiar. You don't know how to communicate past emotions. I would assume that communing the the animal would be a behavioral study. You need to participate and observe to understand the animal, at least until you level and can communicate in another way. But isn't this familiar above average animal intelligence? Would you still need Handle Animal? I'm not sure you need to handle an animal that's already your familiar anyhow. Or Bluff and Diplomacy, more likely, insofar as you're skilled at telling people what they want to hear?. Bluff and diplomacy surely if you are trying to convince someone of something they don't believe or won't believe. But if a group has a pre-decided expectation to solve an issue, and then you know that's what you need to do, you are not trying to convince them of anything. no need for bluff or diplomacy. Overall, I think you make a solid argument for the witch to be Cha-based; Int-based still comes off as a stretch to me. I don't think your wrong, but if a character is intelligent enough they can always find a loop hole to make general social stats a moot point. Or as a player I'm ungodly deceptive myself to get away with those tactics. :p
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