Lee Garvin's page

Hey Caedwyr, I have no idea if you still need your answer, but Noble Animals normally have a lifespan of around 100 years, unless the natural animal's lifespan is already longer than that. So for tortoises, for instance, it would be the same for both natural and Noble.

- Lee Garvin

A question in case the developer ever happens to stop by. Do Noble Animals live longer than normal animals of their species or do they have the same life expectancy? The entry for the Noble Tortoise seems to indicate that Noble Animals have an extended lifespan over the normal animal versions.

Hi Ambercat,

I would recommend picking up Improved Natural Attack to beef up your Bite, and maybe Improved Natural Armor. Your best bet, though, is going to be to safe some xp to use toward the Armored Aura and the Magic Claw Deed Trees. You also should give serious thought to the Herald of the Moon Deed Tree, which I have copied here:

Herald of the Moon

Prerequisite: Noble Wolf only.

1st Deed: Servant of The Pale Lady.
Prerequisite: You must spend an entire night of a
full moon howling.
Benefit: You receive a bonus to all rolls at night,
depending on the phase of the moon.
Phase of Moon Bonus
New +1
Quarter +2
Half +3
Full +4

2nd Deed: Wisdom of the Pale Lady.
Prerequisite: You must spend a night sleeping in
the presence of an oracle, seer, or prophet of some kind.
Benefit: You can cast augury once per day.

3rd Deed: The Pale Lady’s Blessing.
Prerequisite: You must bathe or swim in a moonlit sacred pool.
Benefit: You can cast magical vestment on your fur
once per day.

4th Deed: Vision of the Pale Lady.
Prerequisite: You must travel to the moon or to another
plane of existence.
Benefit: You can cast commune with nature once
per day.

5th Deed: The Pale Lady’s Champion.
Prerequisite: You must kill a werewolf in single combat.
Benefit: Once per day, you can evoke this spell-like
ability. Your height immediately doubles, and your
weight increases by a factor of eight. This increase
changes your size category to the next larger one, and
you gain a +8 size bonus to Strength and a +4 size
bonus to Constitution. You gain a +4 enhancement bonus
to your natural armor. You gain damage reduction
5/-. Your size modifier for AC and attacks changes as
appropriate to your new size category. This effect doesn’t
change your speed. Determine space and reach as appropriate
to your new size. This effect lasts for one
round per your character level.
If insufficient room is available for the desired growth,
you attain the maximum possible size and may make a
Strength check (using your increased Strength) to burst
any enclosures in the process. If you fail, you are constrained
without harm by the materials enclosing you—
increasing your size cannot crush you.
All equipment you wear or carry is similarly enlarged
by the spell. Melee and projectile weapons deal more
damage. Other magical properties are not affected by
this spell. Any enlarged item that leaves your possession
(including a projectile or thrown weapon) instantly
returns to its normal size. This means that thrown
weapons deal their normal damage (projectiles deal damage
based on the size of the weapon that fired them).
Multiple magical effects that increase size do not
stack.

I just re-iterate my recommendation for Noble Wild. It isn't a free product, but it isn't that expensive on PDF and has excellent alternative systems (3.x/OGL) for playing animals, which translates well for blink dogs. I bought it just because it was a great read, not because I had any hope whatsoever of getting my current gaming group to play. (Alas. Had a group that would have given it a try, but they'd scattered to the winds by the time the book came out.) It's 3.x, so some conversion would be needed especially for abilities that cost xp, since that mechanic was done away with in Pathfinder.

Actually Bitter, I translated Noble Wild to Pathfinder. You can find it here:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/77980/The-Noble-Wild%3A-An-Animal-Pla yer%E2%80%99s-Handbook-for-Fantasy-Role-Playing-Games-%28Pathfinder-Edition %29?term=noble+wild

The lack of hands issue is addressed through various Deeds, a type of magical ability, and Noble Animal Magic can be performed without hands.

Hi Romaq!

Thanks for buying The Noble Wild; I was overall pleased with how it came out.

As far as your questions go, let me take a stab at them:

NW was intended to be a sort of "toolbox" supplement, allowing you to take what you like and play with it in your own way, building as you go. In that respect, the very thin world-building I did was more an attempt to show an example of what one could accomplish. One of my chief inspirations was, of course, Narnia; hence the talking-animals-as-specific-bloodline thing. I thought this was important because it made the characters remote from the experiences of a human of the 21st century, but made them different enough from the other (non noble) animals so that you didn't have the moral quandary of having to eat someone who was begging you quite clearly in your own language not to.

The "Serve or Challenge" question is again, just a tool. Think of as a litmus test for your character's philosophy: Do you bedevil the two-legs around you by stealing all of their shinies because you think they don't deserve them? Or because you think they have good taste, and want them to know you think so?

As far as Magical Transparency goes; yes, this is the most unpopular and most ignored element of the book. I included it because I imagined a GM introducing NW to an ongoing campaign and trying to explain why, if magical talking animals existed, the world at large seemed entirely unaware of them. I thought that if their magic occupied a different stratosphere, as it were, the question would not be so awkward. This was also a reason for making the Noble Animals rare: Not every Lion you ever run across is Aslan, nor every horse Shadofax.

If Magical Transparency doesn't suit you, just don't use it.

As far as the perceived "toothlessness" of the three laws, well that would be up to the local Noble's council, and how they decided to run things. The whole purpose of the third law is to gather and discuss disputes, which would include violations of the first and second laws.

Imagine if you will:
The council is called and the Stag King calls the gathered animals to order. It appears Roohga, the alligator, has declared himself "god of the river," and is eating any who venture near, natural and Noble alike. This is clearly a violation of the second law, and must be dealt with. Volunteers are called for; enter the PCs.

At another council, a coyote is reprimanded because his "service" to a particular family of gnomes has driven one of them mad. He must now explain his actions. The coyote, in the fashion of his kind, spins a tale explaining how it is sometimes necessary to be cruel to be kind, and that the family is all the stronger now that they know their own limits. Depending on how charming and persuasive he is, the Stag King might order him to make reparations to the gnomes, choose a new group of humanoids to "serve", or to finally admit that he has been "challenging" the entire time.

Ultimately, it's intended to be a societal pressure, and nothing more. Think about how may blatantly illegal actions your human and elven characters perform on a regular basis!

I hope this answers some of your questions. If I missed anything, or if you have others, please continue this thread!

There's actually a book that can cover this to an extent

The Noble Wild

Not sure how it deals with speaking but it's got most of the animal stuff covered. Still want to houserule gnomes as familiars into a universal rule

The Noble Wild was inspired, in part, by the Narnia books, so that is the perfect option (IMHO).

Talking is handled fairly simply. Noble Animals (the smart ones) begin play speaking their own language and High Fauna, a sort of common tongue for Noble animals. They can take Common or other languages as a bonus language if they have enough Intelligence.

That's what I thought, too. It just seemed like I was getting something for nothing, having to only spend points on 5 stats.

If you want an official-ish ruling, I would say making STR your dump stat is not a problem. If a species has a fixed low STR (1, 2, or 3), give the character a point-buy of 8 for STR, then put the other points where you will. After the buy is complete, drop STR to 2 (or whatever the species has). That way you get ~some~ points for your low STR, but not so many as to be unfair.

Thoughts?

Lee Garvin

Yep, that's me.

To answer the two questions in your post:

Yes, the humanoid would know it was a familiar. Humanoids who serve as familiars do so because they have felt a "calling" that is difficult to explain to anyone who has not felt it.

Noble Animals can learn Common, but they all speak High Fauna.

To the non-question part of your post; the energies involved in being a familiar make it impossible to cast spells for yourself. If any character of the Greater Familiar class ever gets any levels at all in a spell-casting class, they cannot be a familiar anymore.

That said, it's YOUR game. If you think you have a way to make it cool, then go for it.

By the way, for a flying squirrel, simply use the stats as given for squirrel and add:

Membrane Wings: The character has wings made out of skin along the side of its limbs. This allows them to glide at a speed of 30 with a maneuverability class of poor.

Hope that's helpful. It's about as official as you're gonna get ;)

Also, pick up a copy of d-infinity issue number 1. I did a short bit in there giving stats for hedgehogs and porcupines, along with a deed tree for them.

If anyone comes up with a cool deed tree or variant species or anything else, please post it on Skirmisher Publishing's forum. We'd love to hear from you.

Lee Garvin

Hey folks, If you are curious about The Noble Wild and will be at GenCon, make sure to stop by the Skirmisher booth, where I'll be running demo scenarios created just for the con!

Be sure to come by and say hi!

See you there,

Lee Garvin

Is there an errata for this product? The Noble Canines are more than a little confusing with regards to size increases and the stats for wolves are ridiculous (+8 Dex? really? not even Noble Cats get that).

Sorry guys, This got past us. If you replace the wolf's stat line with the following, you will get a much better result:

• -2 Strength, +6 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom.
• Size: Small.
• Size Threshold: 2nd Hit Die.
• Natural Weapon: Bite (1d6).

Remember, these are the stats for a 1st level, size Small wolf, barely past a pup. when he gains his size threshold, he gains some Strength and Constitution, and loses some Dexterity.

Most definitely up my alley. I assume that we would have to wait for a second printing (pdf not included), before the errata would be incorporated into the book?

No, I'm fairly certain the errata will be incorporated into the book (as well as some new art!). Ah, the glories of instant data transfer!

It's a wonderful time to be an animal.

Awesome book (I got it at Drivethru before the pdf appeared here but good no matter where it's from) but one problem is that several of the Natural Talent Tracks and bonus feats are still Track which is no longer a feat in Pathfinder.

One other question is: some animals have had their stats changed for the Bestiary (dogs as an example had their dex dropped to 13) so was there an intention to keep thes animals statistics consistent with 3.5? Just curious, still excellent though.

D'oh! Sorry, really thought we had caught all that stuff. I am preparing a brand new errata for the editor to bring it more in line with the Pathfinder rules. Unfortunately, most of the work on this edition was done before the Bestiary came out, so I only had the 3.5 SRD to work from. Now that the Bestiary is out, I guess I'd better adjust a few things.

The changes will be available as an updated download, meaning it would be free for those of you who have already bought it.

Until that time, replace the "Track" feat anywhere you find it with "Skill Focus (Survival)".

Thanks for the feedback,

Lee

P.S.
Am I the only one who would be interested in seeing folks post ideas/war stories/observations about The Noble Wild?

It is, indeed, a physical book. The .pdf is available now, with the hardcopy coming out sometime in late Feb or March, I think. This entry is for the pre-order of that hardcopy (also available at your FLGS - if not, raise a stink).

I, for one, also enjoy the tactile pleasure of a flipping through an honest paper-and-ink book, but there is also something to be said for the convenience of having your entire gaming library on a small netbook.

The quandarys of living on the cusp between two ages.

I have the 3.5 version. I'm just hoping someone can tell me whether this version has enough changes to warrant an upgrade.

Well, I can tell you that we adjusted everything rules-wise to fit with Pathfinder. That means that nearly all of the species stats are ever-so-slightly different, in keeping with the comparable power levels of Pathfinder. Also, the species classes and prestige classes have been upgraded, becoming quite a bit more powerful, but totally in line with Pathfinder. Finally, in what is sure to be a controversial move, the way level adjustment was handled has been changed entirely. I'll let you take a look at the book to decide whether I went in the right direction or not.

Overall, I am very happy with how the new edition turned out (and not just because we got to use one of my brother's drawings for the cover). The Pathfinder is a natural outgrowth of 3.5, and makes a lot of common sense changes to the rules, as well as one or two pure genius ones; I was happy t work with it.

Hope you like it,

Lee Garvin

Anyone else seeing anything similar, or did I just catch the game store at a low ebb in inventory given that I was shopping immediately after Christmas and during a bad recession?

Well, the store I work at (Game Parlor in Chantilly, VA) has not reduced the number of lines we carry, but we have had to suspend our "Loyalty Points" program and reduce our staff and hours. We used to be open 10 am to 10 pm every day. Now we are 11 am to 9 pm.

We provide a place to play as well as shop, and sell drinks and snacks to the folks who come in to play. Unfortunately, the players tend to spend very little during an evening - drinks and candy and the occasional set of "luckier dice" is about it. They tend to buy more books and supplies on other days, and bring them back for their game nights.

Most of our customers are pretty loyal, and thank Zog for them! They'll check reviews online, then come in and buy the games from us.

Plus, I told everybody that Amazon kills puppies. I've seen them do it.

What do you think? Is 4E fitting, or would I be better off using 3.5/Pathfinder RPG?

Also, what kind of adventure would be appropriate for kids of that age, as well as adaptable to two players?

Well, I can't help but plug a couple of products by myself and a friend of mine. The Noble Wild is an animal player's handbook for d20/OGL 3.5 rules, and allows players to take on the roles of magical animals. It received an ENnie nomination last year, and it's available on DriveThruRPG at this address:

It has the advantage of providing kids with the action and adventure they want, but keeping the violence slightly disconnected from themselves (and therefore non-imitatable) but still with consequences (not like the A-Team where thousands of rounds of ammunition and explosives are sprayed around but no one ever gets hurt).

If 3.5 is still a bit too complex for you, go into your FLGS and pick up Fairey's Tale, by Sandy Antunes and a few others.

As far as what kinds of adventures to use, I favor rescue-missions and "simple" mysteries and ghost stories that can be solved in a single session.

Hope this helps,

Lee Garvin

For my own part, I am a fan of the Savage Species method as well (in fact, if you check out my book, "The Noble Wild," you'll see that I used a variant of that system for many of the animal species), but as a previous poster has said, sometimes a race just gets more stuff. Unfortunately, this often leaves (for balance reasons) a Level Adjustment for the race. I've always felt that particular rule to be one of the Kludge-iest and most often ignored. I really liked how Pathfinder handled the multiclassing / preferred class issue, and was hoping there was something equally elegant and simple for this. You know; one of those ideas that is so simple that anyone could have thought of it but no did? Terry Pratchet's definition of genius.

Hey everybody,

forgive me if this is something that has been gone over already, but how are Level Adjustments to be handled in Pathfinder? I have a collection of new PC races that I wish to port over, and some of them have level adjustments.

I personally hate that part of the rules for 3.5, and would love it if a way has been found to do away with it entirely, while still allowing a wide variety of player choices.

Thanks,

Lee

I've been to the Game Parlor in Woodbridge, and it's got a great selection of interesting stuff.

However, I won't be going back, because the best selection in the world isn't enough to make me put up with the guy behind the counter making obnoxious phallus jokes when I'm just trying to buy stuff and leave. Creeped me right out, it did.

Sorry to hear about your less-than-satisfactory experience. If it helps, the employee most likely to have done that no longer works there, for a variety of reasons we won't go into (but customer complaints did enter into it).

Perhaps you'll give us another chance?

Hey everyone,

The news says that between 2 and 5 million people are expected to be in Washington DC for our new president's inauguration. We figure that at least some of those folks will be gamers. So, while you're in town for this historical event, why not take a break and step over to nearby Chantilly or Woodbridge, Virginia and check out one of our Game Parlor locations?

You'll be amazed at the sheer scope of both stores, with an incredible selection of board, card, miniature, and role-playing games; from big-name to small-press publishers; new stuff, old stuff, stuff you had forgotten about or perhaps had despaired of ever seeing again!

Not only that, but both stores offer over a dozen tables for free game-play, whether you want to grab a quick pick-up game or join an on-going campaign!

Don't just take my word for it! take a look at this review:
http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_1132.html

More info can be found here:
http://www.GameParlor.com

I get inspired by all sorts of things - movies, tv, comics, conversations, overheard snippets of strangers' conversations taken out of context (that's a fun one), and (naturaly) tabloid headlines. I don't bother reading the stories, since they are rarely as creative or compelling as the headlines.

The strangest place I get inspiration from, I think, is from random shapes. I see a bit of styrofoam packing material, or an arangement of coins on a table, or a pile of Lego blocks, and suddenly I'm Richard Dreyfus in Close Encounters: "This means something. This is important."

I think: What would a builing shaped like that be for? What kind of society would use that pattern as a symbol? Is it a tatoo? A corporate logo? What would cause an otherwise random universe to throw together a landmass in that shape?

This kind of daydreaming has led to many of my favorite campaigns as well as a number of cool professional projects... It's also why I had a "C" average in school and has cost me a number of day jobs. :/

Hi, I'm Lee Garvin, the author of the aforementioned Noble Wild. I'm really glad that someone was asking about this subject, because it's the whole reason I wrote the book.

Talking animals have been a part of fantasy fiction since there's been fantasy fiction. So I figured there ought to be a way to represent it in games. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and I hope other folks will find new and fun ways to spice up their campaigns with it.

Just as an example, in one of my playtest campaigns, we had an owl wizard with an elf familiar, a rhino cleric, a tiger paladin, and a rabbit bard. And no, these are NOT anthropomorphics, but real, honest-to-goodness animals.

If anyone has any questions - please, post them, either here, or on Skirmisher Publishing's forum http://skirmisher.com/forum/index.php?board=28.0

Keep it Wild,

Lee