Lanx's page

I have managed to ninja a T-Rex and still live to tell the tale. :o)

[Wild shape does, however, automatically heighten any form spells you DO cast to match the current level of wild shape]

I do not think this is right. Casting a form spell uses a spell slot; if you want to highten it you have to use a higher appropriate spell slot.

Wild shape is a focus spell.

You can add more forms to your wild shape list with druid feats; your feat might grant you some or all of the forms from a given polymorph spell. When you transform into a form granted by a spell, you gain all the effects of the form you chose from a version of the spell heightened to wild shape’s level.

That is: When you transform [using wild shape] into a form granted by a spell [given to you by your extra feats] ...

I know, as it is written, you seem to be right, but I think the wording means that all the forms of your wild shape ability grants you are automatically hightened; not all the polymorph spell you casts.

Every time you gain a level, make sure you do each of the following:

• Increase your level by 1 and subtract 1,000 XP from your XP total.

So, yes, XP carries over.

Only the forms of pest form are available for druids of lvl 1 and 2. When you reach 3rd level, your wild shape focus spell is level 2, and you can also choose from the forms granted by animal form.

See, this does not seem to be clear (to me, at least). You do not cast the respective spell, you gain forms of that spell to your wild shape list, but you are using the feat to change into the respective forms. As such, the diminished spell level from form control should have no meaning for changing into the form of an insect for an hour with lvl 6 (or a dragon for an hour with lvl 12). But you can not use the hightened benefits of these forms untill much later (because of the diminished spell level). That's how I read it.

So, to clarify: You can shift into an insect for one hour with level 6, as soon as you take the feat Insect Shape?

The description of Form Control states:

If your next action is to cast wild shape, wild shape’s spell level is 2 lower than normal (minimum 1st level).

What does that actually do?

Can I use insect shape for an hour as soon as I get the feat with lvl 6 (the spell level being 1, not 3)? Or do I have to wait untill I reach druid lvl 9 to be able to use insect shape for one hour?

Thank you, that's it. This is answering my question.

Ah. Which one?

In PF1, you were flat-footed at the start of combat as long as you had not have a chance to act (CRB 1 p. 178). This seems to be gone in PF2 since nowhere in the new CRB this is mentioned. But there seems to be a hint of the old rule in the example of play at the beginning:

James: "Okay, and I get to add extra damage due to sneak attack."

Rogues have the ability to deal extra damage to foes that haven’t acted yet in an encounter.

and p. 181:

Sneak Attack
When your enemy can’t properly defend itself, you take advantage to deal extra damage. If you Strike a creature that has the flat-footed condition (page 620) …

So the example makes sense only if the enemy is flat-footed because it hasn't acted yet.

So: Is the old rule realy gone, or is it an oversight?

I just played Rumble Road recently (rating: reasonably risk-free). I don't have the Caravan location in front of me, so I don't know the exact wording, but I interpreted it to be either you can attempt the check or you can summon and defeat the danger. I didn't read the danger as being a consequence.

Which is correct?

To close or guard the location Caravan

you either

succeed at a Wisdom or Perception check

or you

summon the danger.

So, you are correct, the danger is not a consequence.

Since this issue isn't corrected in the updated playtest rules (1.3), a friendly reminder for fixing this in the next edition.

Since this issue isn't corrected in the updated playtest rules (1.3), a friendly reminder for fixing this in the next edition.

I have a different problem now... ** spoiler omitted **

You should have an encounter on your way to Oleg's trading post, after which you are prompted to rest.

Since I got no reply to my email from last Saturday, I'll try it here: When will the second part of the May shipment ship? As of now, it is in the sidecard, including the one item which has already shipped (and arrived here in Germany). I dearly hope that that this item will not ship twice; and I dearly hope that sidecard will ship before the June shipment (but I doubt that — which means that I have two monthly shipments in one fiscal month on my credit card).

The most interesting question arising from the article for me is the relation between Erastil and Jaidi, since they seem to have mostly overlapping areas of interest.

Not necessarily. Now that Mac and Linux platforms have been unlocked, those games need to be developed as well. The Mac has a different processor and system architecture than a Windows machine, not to forget a different OS as well.

Actually, the Mac has the same processor as most Windows PCs.

Now that the Mac version is funded, the Kickstarter becomes interesting. I will take a closer look.

Hmm ... this background story looks like the perfect outline for a future Pathfinder Tale.

searches desperately for the "Like!"-button but finds none; so settles for an evil laughter

MUHAHAHAA!

Wonderful, thank you very much.

I noticed an oddity with my order: last week I received two emails that my order will ship; the first one on Tuesday without Pathfinder #10, but with an exact amount of shipping fees (- $10), the second one on Friday with Pathfinder #10, but with no shipping costs at all (which seems to be wrong).

Today my Order history says that one book shipped on Monday and two comics on Tuesday (Pathfinder #9 and Goblins #3), the rest is pending - but at the same time "Pending Orders" says "You have no pending orders". I did not receive any shipping emails, and there are no PDFs on my download page, but there should be one (at least). My credit card tells me that there were three payments on the 22nd to Paizo, so I would conclude that the whole shipment has already shipped.

There must be something wrong, I think.

Not only is it taking until almost September to ship an order created on August 9, it will probably be October before I'll actually get the package. It's big, over $200 in price and including $60 in shipping. And since Paizo's shipping process doesn't allow for an invoice to be glued to the outside of the package, that invariably means that a package of this size will be held up in German customs. They will then usually sit about two weeks on a package like this befor actually notifying the recipient to come an declare it. So 2-3 weeks shipping plus customs hold-up means that it'll be October until the stuff is here. Ah well.

My shipment to Germany is still pending, too, like yours, but I think we will enjoy it much earlier than you fear, and here is why: Since it is a big shipment, we will almost certainly get a priority mail instead of the normal standard mail, and so the parcel will reach us in just over a week (and not in the 3-5 weeks as usual). Of course, this time customs will most likely intervene, but even then one can never know if you are actually forced to go your nearest customs agency to pick up your shipment, or if you are lucky and the customs will be collected by your post delivery man (as was the case with my July delivery).

But such an index would be very useful. And to avoid obsolescence, it should be a PDF only publication which could be updated every so often.

Irori will be pleased ...

Okay, I have a question. I saw a reference to the Champion of Ironi Prestige Class. Where do I find this class?

That would make an interesting prestige class indeed ...

My subscription page says: NPC Codex Box will ship on May 17th.

It's amazing.

And envy leeds to greed ... please stay in line, you will receive your Sinhedron marking in just a few moments.

My subscription shipment which will contain this tome should ship by December 21.

I love this book. Can I marry it? Is that legal somewhere in the US?

Springfield. Go to Springfield and ask for Homer Simpson.

No, of course not. This is the backbone of Paizo's business model; they don't want to weaken it in any way. Which is why they don't do hardcover compilations of older adventure paths, which would be in some way similar to your suggestion (only the adventures, neatly bound in one volume).

And on the other side, many articles in an adventure path volume are directly related to the story of the current AP, it would be a loss to not have them.

If you want to safe money, you could go for the PDF instead of the softcover.

Lots of discussion here, but nobody's brought up what I see as the biggest dilemma...

What do we call it?!

UCa (in contrast to UC, or UCo, as it may be called in the future).

Actually they did not create the nephilim but fleshed out the story of Gen 6:1-4. The "giants" of v. 4 are "nephilim" in Hebrew.

Congratulations, this is well deserved.

Kicktraq suggests around 830k as a base figure at this rate...

Kicktraq

Linkified.

Yeah I was looking for something able to use all the polymorph spells as class features (SLAs or SUs) and possibly getting minor benefits in their humanoid form (like aspect of the beast). Hopefully we'll get one eventually, wizards, sorcerors and magi don't get full bab and are a bit MAD if you want to turn them into shape-shifting fighters.

The only PRC that approaches the theme of the shifter is the Veiled Illusionist, who does not use polymorph and the like but illusions to change into other (mostly humanoid) forms.

and they can again by making dragons more than just the sum of the color of thier scales.

[...] Unfortunately, the information about Heidmarch Manor in Seekers of Secrets is relatively riddled with errors, including the fact that the map of the manor was accidentally based on Magnimar's zoo. [...]

On the surface, it's just your typical lowly zoo, but in reality, it's the home base of a extensively trained Penguin Pathfinder Strike Force ...

My copy arrived today in Germany.

My problem is that this should be a month earlier or a month later. My birthday is in October and Christmas in December.

You are a lucky one: now you have birthday in October, deluxeday (Deluxemas?) in November and Christmas in December!

So, why is it that so many are failing their will saving throws? Is there a symbol of persuasion anywhere on the page casting charm customer?

(OK, I am a librarian, that imparts a huge circumstance malus in this particular case ...)

Domesticated Kitsune?

No, no, no, domesticated werewolves. But you'll need a big newspaper made of silver ...

I look at that image and shudder. Those tusks are the mammoth's teeth, and they have a nerve running through them about as thick as your wrist (if they're anything like normal elephants). Imagine that in your tooth!

And you are surprised that this mammoth is sooo angry?

But ... he is the ruling pharao, just as Grand Prince Stavian III is the ruling emperor of Taldor (and Charles is the Prince of Wales as sovereign over this county, not as son of Queen Elizabeth). "The Ruby Prince" is something like a titular name, just as his father was the Crocodile King.

Edit: I just scrolled up and saw that I just answered a post before. But it's true none the less.

See here

and

here.

Of course, Paizo charges the day the preorder ships. The saving plan mentioned by some people here was only meant as suggestion or private strategy to accumulate the needed money for the time Paizo actually charges your card.

Lanx wrote:

Just to get that out of the way: Since Pharasma is true neutral (and not good, as wrongly stated earlier), there are no paladins of Pharasma.

Well, technically, the Paladin class entry doesn't say that Paladins must follow deities who are within one step of LG. As a result, there could be a Paladin of Pharasma, though she would be an unusual choice of deity for a Paladin.

This is true, but

Of all the gods of balance, only one supports and promotes a holy order of paladins: Abadar.

This makes paladins of Pharasma extremely unlikely.

Just to get that out of the way: Since Pharasma is true neutral (and not good, as wrongly stated earlier), there are no paladins of Pharasma.

And on a different note: to demand a taboo has to be uphold all the time and without exception is a purely lawful streak. I don't think (IMHO, of course) Pharasma would not allow a cleric to temporarily ally with an undead to prevent an even greater undead menace to reach its ghouls ... um ... goals.

There is always the Starstone test. Is it called the starstone, I can't remember, but that is how Cayden Caylean made it

... and he can't remember, either ...

I think you make the same mistakes in judgment that a lot of fans do - assuming that Hasbro is responsible for all of WotC's functional decisions with regards to the D&D brand.

You also make some really unsupportable claims, like the idea that 4e is obviously worse than 3e. That's ignorant. Not only is that a wildly subjective claim, but even trying to look at it objectively (in the sense of product moved or brand growth) is impossible without an expert's eye for the strength of the market in general and the external factors that have been at play for the last five years.

Finally, they don't owe you or anyone else an apology. They may end up delivering one, but it will be to appease you rather than because you deserve it. They said, "We're going to make the Dungeons & Dragons that we think should be made, and we know we're going to lose some customers in the process, but that's how the world works." They shouldn't have to apologize for wanting to take bold strides, and it's kind of shameful that you would ask for one.

If you don't want to contribute your input to whatever comes next, that's fine. It's your call. But you're being offered the opportunity to influence the direction of the hobby, however slight. It's preposterous that you would find something to criticize about that offering, but I suppose that some people can't get past their own sense of misplaced indignation.

Let's make it simple. Let's look at Pathfinder vs. 4E sales for 2012. Or, if you like, for six months in the past and six months in the future from today. Look at popularity on amazon.com. I'll stand by my statement. When 3E came out, people didn't fracture off a 2E company that would then increase in sales until it overtook WotC. 4E has somehow managed to do what no other edition before it has done in 35 years -- to be overtaken by an upstart. I don't think it's a terrible game. I think it introduced new elements that didn't appeal to certain people and that were very difficult to work around if you didn't want to use them. A huge amount of the PHB is taken up with lists of powers - if you don't like that system and you shrug it off -- suddenly half the pages you paid for are worthless.

As far as an apology goes, yeah I'd like to hear WotC say, "We made 4E to try and connect with WoW players. We didn't capture the WoW audience. We alienated people who like the face to face interaction. We regret that. This is what we've learned. This is how we're going to move forward." WotC doesn't owe me an apology unless they want my money. If they don't want my money, that's fine. But if they want my money, they need to admit that producing randomized fortune card packs was a bad idea. They need to admit that *requiring* miniatures was a bad idea. That MMORPG combat roles and very specific powers was probably not the best idea for a table top RPG. If they don't want to do that - if they're proud of those things - that's fine with me. Now that Paizo is around, I don't care if WotC drops D&D all together. That would open up more of the market to Paizo, and frankly, I trust Paizo way more than I trust WotC.

I don't feel entitled to anything from WotC-- they're not giving out hardback books for free. I pay for them, and I'm entitled to and I deserve whatever I can I pay for.

Look at the product reviews on Amazon -- the 4E PHB has 3 stars. The Pathfinder Core Rulebook has 4.5. Maybe WotC should be apologizing to themselves.

Nobody needs an invitation from WotC or anybody else to influence the direction of the hobby. WotC isn't doing me any favors by asking me to spend my time telling them what to do for 5E when 4E fumbled the ball.

I guess this is as good a place as any to post my feelings about 5E D&D.

4th Edition
* I own a bunch of the books (hundreds of dollars)
* I played it for a summer back in 2008 and again in 2010.
* My biggest gripe is the powers system. I feel that the action descriptions are too specific. When I play, I feel like Ken or Ryu on Street Fighter --"Haduken! Haduken! Haduken!"
* When I read the intro to the D&D 4E PHB, I felt like it was a sales pitch.
* Ever since 3E, WOTC has been mentioning miniatures more and more as a necessary part of the game. They've never appealed to me, and I resent the emphasis.

These are all typical reasons why "old school" D&D players dislike 4th. I have friends who like 4th. I think 4th can be an enjoyable game, but it's (a) not free enough to appeal to me, (b) obviously focused on taking my money, and (c) not executed as well as Pathfinder (e.g. adventure paths?).

I think mechanics changes resulting in (a) was a misplaced reaction to the growing popularity of WOW. I think (b) is caused by the difference between these two links:

http://www.google.com/finance?q=hasbro

http://www.google.com/finance?q=paizo

And (c) is what happens when you dump a bunch of passionate, talented people who have been working on D&D for years.

I'm a good candidate for D&D 5E to target. I have enough disposable income to buy every 5E D&D product they can make. I am willing to buy more than I'll use, just so I have the option of using it. Just so it can look pretty on my shelf. Paizo is doing well because they're selling me more products than I actually use. Congratulations on the subscription model -- it's a way of getting more money out of me without making me feel like I'm being targeted.

Why would I play D&D 5E? Pathfinder already has such a huge lead in terms of content for the modified 3.5 system. Am I going to buy yet another Forgotten Realms campaign guide? I haven't even had time to read the 4E one yet. If I wanted to play Forgotten Realms, why wouldn't I just grab my 3E Guide and use it with Pathfinder?

Why should I even trust WOTC? Why should I believe that 5E isn't just another money grab? Mike Mearls needs to answer these questions before I'll have any enthusiasm for 5E. 4E was the nail in the coffin as far as my relationship with the WOTC brand. If Mike Mearls wants me back on board, he needs to stop talking around the issue.

I see this in Silicon Valley all the time. You have business focused on getting return for their investors (e.g. companies founded on the premise they will be sold after 12 months), and you have businesses focused on building a product they love ("lifestyle businesses" which never make anybody super wealthy, but which offer people work that they enjoy doing every day).

Lisa Stevens has one of the biggest Star Wars collections in the world, so I can believe she's a pretty big nerd, and that her criteria for success as a business is more than just financial.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Goldner

What about the CEO of Hasbro, Brian Goldner?

I googled for "brian goldner dungeons and dragons" and I find this:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/5765766-post205.html

There seems to be evidence that Brian Goldner likes making CCG's because they are profitable, but I don't see anything suggesting that he plays Dungeons and Dragons or that he cares at all about it as a cultural institution.

"Sometime around 2006, the D&D team made a big presentation to the Hasbro senior management on how they could take D&D up to the $50 million level and potentially keep growing it. The core of that plan was a synergistic relationship between the tabletop game and what came to be known as DDI."

Systematically, WOTC is set up to fail, because the way it gets funding is to pitch business plans premised on making as much money as possible. This is why there are D&D "Fortune Cards" -- because Hasbro wants to make money, and since they're used to making money w/ randomized card packs (a.k.a. CCG), they're going to try and make D&D into a randomized card pack. This is why D&D has randomized miniatures.

Executives make money using one method, and they try to apply that method across the board, regardless of whether it makes sense in the context of adding value to the product. They say stuff like "leveraging existing strengths." But at the end of the day, they're crapping on the product to try and make more money. Owners of Hasbro stock think this is fine -- that's why Goldner has his job.

But consumers hate it. And if you don't have shareholders to answer to, you can't feel very good at the end of the day when you make a crappy product, especially if you're making a crappy product and not getting rich at it.

In the 5th edition announcement, Mike Mearls says:

"Our mission is to ensure that D&D enters its next 40 years as a vibrant, growing, and exciting game."

I hope he can enter the next 2 years as a vibrant, exciting game. Much less the next 40. If you read between the lines, he's saying that D&D 4E won't be a vibrant, growing, and exciting game in the next 40 years. He doesn't discuss why. He doesn't acknowledge the failure. He doesn't say anything specific enough to make me believe that he recognizes what needs to be fixed. All he's saying is that WOTC wants me to spend more money on yet another set of rules with vague specifications. Since he's not saying what the problem is, I have no idea what 5E is fixing, and therefore I have no idea why I'd want to buy it.

"By involving you in this process, we can build a set of D&D rules that incorporate the wants and desires of D&D gamers around the world. We want to create a flexible game, rich with options for players and DMs to embrace or reject as they see fit, a game that brings D&D fans together rather than serves as one more category to splinter us apart."

This sounds nice, but it doesn't mean very much. There's already oodles of content to embrace and reject in previous editions. Why do I need more? WOTC would have done better to delay announcing 5th Edition until they actually had some concrete value to offer. I have zero confidence WOTC will deliver a compelling product, both due to the performance on 4E and due to the systematic challenges they face as part of a publicly owned corporate structure.

"There is a lot of work to be done, and I’m hoping you have the time, energy, and inclination to pitch in."

Why would I have the inclination to pitch in? Why would you expect me to? To help make Hasbro profit? The book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" says to admit when you're wrong, because when someone believes that you know you were wrong, then they can believe that you can change your behavior and fix things -- they can believe you have good intentions even if the execution isn't perfect.

D&D 4E isn't a terrible game, but it's obviously a worse game than 3E. You can see this just by the rise of Paizo and Pathfinder. By not acknowledging the problems with 4E and by not apologizing for the damage 4E has done to the D&D brand, WOTC is sending me the message that they don't truly care about what I think. They may say they want my input on 5E, but their attitude towards 4E says otherwise.

Mike and Hasbro can hope all they want, but without offering some concrete value and without expressing a meaningful, specific opinion about what makes D&D good -- why would I waste my time playtesting? I could be playing Pathfinder. Right now, the best thing WOTC can do for fantasy roleplay is to give D&D a rest. They should hire some of the people behind Eclipse Phase and revisit sci-fi. Whatever they do -- dump the powers system. That's what I could get behind.