George Krashos's page

Since she's 30th level, the most ranks she can have in any skill is 33, and that happens to be how many ranks she has in Knowledge (arcana) I believe. So that means she can have 3 of them prepared at a time. The bonuses to the skill (from ability scores and synergy and all that) don't count toward that total.

Ah, thanks for that clarification James - that makes sense now.

One last question on her stat block (and believe me, stat blocks are not my "thing" as my previous post indicated): is the Automatic Quicken Spell feat version in "Complete Arcane" the current one (i.e. that only spells from 0-1 level are quickened)? The SRD still has the version that says the spell levels quickened are 0-3 ...

-- George Krashos

No, what I meant was that she has a Knowledge (arcana) skill rank of around 47 IIRC - that means she gets to cast 4 epic spells per day, not 3. Or does the "resurrection" one count as 'already cast'?

-- George Krashos

Isn't she short an epic spell?

-- George Krashos

No probs. I have all the XP I need from the Realms.

-- George Krashos

Issue #320: "The Roaring Dragon House".

-- George Krashos

Me.

-- George Krashos

George Krashos wrote:

cwslyclgh wrote:

Deimodius wrote:

I posted on EnWorld (and it seemed some people just didn't get it) that the decision to cancel the magazines can not reflect the will of the people who used the magazines unless those were the people surveyed. I don't recall seeing such a survey.

I took part in those surveys ::Shrug:: and the current descision certianly doesn't reflect my will... in survey after survey I told them that I would not pay of online content.

Maybe they eliminated responses from everyone whose name didn't include a vowel ... ;)

-- George Krashos

I am pretty sure I took the surveys under my actual name of C. Wesley Clough :P

Dang. There goes that theory.:)

-- George Krashos

Deimodius wrote:

I posted on EnWorld (and it seemed some people just didn't get it) that the decision to cancel the magazines can not reflect the will of the people who used the magazines unless those were the people surveyed. I don't recall seeing such a survey.

I took part in those surveys ::Shrug:: and the current descision certianly doesn't reflect my will... in survey after survey I told them that I would not pay of online content.

Maybe they eliminated responses from everyone whose name didn't include a vowel ... ;)

-- George Krashos

#84. I still remember wading through "Physics and Falling Damage" as well as the "Ecology of the Rust Monster". I wonder whatever happened to that Ed Greenwood guy who used to write all those ecology articles ...

-- George Krashos

I beg this audience to try and prove me wrong.

I don't think anyone has the time or inclination. It would be a wasted effort to even try.

-- George Krashos

I got a comp copy in the pre-Paizo days but not more recently for my "Impiltur" article. Who cares, I was just thrilled to get published again.

-- George Krashos

Can someone post Jason's email. My batch of queries from 2 September 2006 have obviously slipped under the radar.

-- George Krashos

Hehe. That wasn't a reflection on Dragon, it was a poke at myself. With a track record of two articles published: one in #277 and one in #346 I just did the sums ... :)

-- George Krashos

Ah good. Then the feature article queries I sent in after GEN-CON went to "the right place". I wanted to make sure as I reckon I've got another article in me which going on past history is likely to be published in #415.:)

-- George Krashos

Hmm, I may be reading your comments wrongly Mike, but does this mean that FR or Eberron article pitches outside of your 'author pool' won't be considered, or that only those in the 'author pool' can write for the Volo's Guide and Dragonmarked columns? In other words, can we submit FR or Eberron proposals independent of these columns?

-- George Krashos

Well, hopefully I'll get a response to my epic feature article query reasonably soon then.:)

-- George Krashos

The Church of the Whirling Fury (an eladrin cult) actually doesn't need conversion to the Forgotten Realms. Their patron, the eladrin paragon Gwynharwyf, fits right in to any campaign that has eladrins in it. Which FR does, so it's good to go.

Better than that: IIRC, Lynn Abbey featured Gwynharwyf in her novel "The Nether Scroll". So it appears that she has a definite, confirmed presence in the Realms.

-- George Krashos

Just stop swearing Eric!:)

-- George Krashos

- Greyhawk : 25
- Forgotten realms : 17
- Eberron : 11
- Dark sun : 3
- Spelljammer :
- Ravenloft : 3
- Dragonlance : 4
- Al-Qadim : 1
- Maztica :
- Kara-Tur :
- Oriental adventures / settings : 1
- Mystara :
- Midnight :
- Ptolus : 4
- Iron kingdoms : 2
- Scarred lands :
- Homebrew : 8
- Wilderlands of High Fantasy/City State of the Invincible Overlord: 2
- Birthright : 2
- The Styes: 1
- Council of Wyrms (v.3.5): 1
- Planescape: 1
- Freeport: 2

Added +1 to FR. Given my love for the setting, I considered adding +3 but showed mighty restraint.:)

-- George Krashos

That has clarified it, and you certainly are entitled to that opinion. But bottom-line, you can't begrudge FR fans four to six articles a year on the basis that they aren't useful to you. From my perspective the other 90-odd non-FR articles are useless to me! But I accept that not everyone gets use out of such articles. However, I don't think it's asking Paizo for too much when fans of particular settings ask for a few more articles for their specific campaign settings every year. Why can't Paizo try and get FR, Eberron, GH etc. articles in every second issue? Those articles will always be outnumbered by the generic stuff - by a significant margin. If Dragon seeks to cater to all its fans, it will have to provide articles that all its fans want. For the 'generic' fans, every issue has got something for them. They shouldn't complain one iota. Cheers.

-- George Krashos

Nothing like the facts. Here are the FR and Eberron articles for 2005 and 2006 to date:

Issue#347
Issue#346 - FR: "Impiltur: The Forgotten Kingdom"
Issue#345 - EB: "Giants of Xen'drik"
Issue#344 - FR: "A Dark & Stormy Night"; EB: "Dreadhold"
Issue#343 - FR: "Rivals" (fiction)
Issue#342
Issue#341 - EB: "Warforged Components"
Issue#340
Issue#339

Issue#338
Issue#337 - EB: "Lords of Dust"
Issue#336
Issue#335 - Bumper FR issue
Issue#334 - FR: "Cities of the Realms: Crimmor"
Issue#333 - FR: "Relics of the Realms"; EB: "Noble Born"
Issue#332 - EB: "Cult of the Dragon Below"
Issue#331 - EB: "Shapers of Shadow" & EB: "Coming Home"
Issue#330 - FR: "New in Town" (fiction)
Issue#329
Issue#328
Issue#327 - FR: "The Silverfish" (fiction)

As you can see, both worlds are averaging somewhere around 4 articles per year. Four articles out of the one hundred or so published in Dragon annually.

You might be sick of FR, but you surely can't be sick of seeing FR content in Dragon. There simply isn't enough of it to make you feel that way.

-- George Krashos

Hmm, let's see ... personal favourites ... cheesy as they may be (and ignoring some already mentioned):

STAR TREK II: The 'prefix code' scene.

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN: First scene.

ARMAGEDDON: Scene before lift-off.

GODFATHER II: The discussion about the lady tenant and her dog.

ALIENS: Anytime someone said "We've got movement!"

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN: James Coburn: "The worst (shot). I was aiming for the horse."

GOODFELLAS: The intro to the crew scene. "I'm gonna go get the papers. Get the papers."

THE SEARCHERS: The Duke striding off toward the horizon as the credits roll.

THE UNTOUCHABLES: The scene on the stairs.

WATERLOO: "I lost the Battle of Marengo at 5 o'clock but I won it back at 7!"

LAST OF THE MOHICANS: Most every scene.

MAD MAX II (ROAD WARRIOR II in the US): "You want to get out of this place? You talk to me."

THE PATRIOT: The decimated British patrol scene.

CHARIOTS OF FIRE: Both of the winning races and the scenes straight after.

Ahhh, so many more. But enough already.:)

-- George Krashos

One of the fundamental tenets and cornerstones of 3E was that whatever the 'good guys' could do, so too could the 'bad guys'. Make them run up against mobs who use their own dirty tricks against them, and see if that is something of a wake-up call.

-- George Krashos

Enjoying the Impiltur article myself, and may use it quite soon in one of my campaigns.

I was glad that they included a map of the area, that's always helpful. But the map is so full of city/area/site names that it's VERY difficult to identify what goes where. Any chance that Paizo could release either a larger version of the map so the place names doesn't run into each other, or a version with a numbered key system instead? Either would be really valuable.

Also, where's Mal? I can't find it on the map.

Finally, a couple of place names are spelled differently in the text and on the map. Is it Thelnam (map) or Thelnarm (text)? Is it Songhall (map) or Songhal (text)? There may be others, but those are the two I've found.

I'm glad you liked it.

Re the map, given the size of the article, I'm sure that space was at a premium. I'm thankful there was a map!

As for the rest, I think I answered on the WotC Boards but if you missed that response ...

The 'city' of Mal is actually a fortress, located in the Uplands, on the road that leads to its twin, Tower Ithfell. It's probably a quarter of the way along the road toward Tower Ithfell after it branches off from the Herald's Road.

As for names on the map, it is a truism of the Realms that cartographers are notoriously unreliable. Always go with the text.:)

-- George Krashos

If you feel creative, I put a bucket-load of adventure and lore hooks in my recent Impiltur article in Dragon #346. You might want to grab a copy and check it out.

-- George Krashos

And to George Krashos: WOW! I thought only Ed Greenwood or Eric Boyd could produce Realmslore in such detail and grace! Nice job, sir!

Great issue, all around from cover to cover.

Glad you enjoyed it. And the "Nice job" goes also in part to the two worthies mentioned in your post as well as Tom Costa - their encouragement and assistance was one of the main reasons you saw the article you did. Thanks also has to go to Erik and co. (especially Wes Schneider) for having the gumption to source and publish an article like "Impiltur". Hopefully not the last.

-- George Krashos

Yes! I absolutely LOVE 346. The Dragon Reading and the gambling articles were great (Though I could have sworn there were 3 ways of doing 3 dragon readings in the previews from 345. Maybe I just misread it) The only thing I thought was bizarre was the Impiltur article. Holy GEEZ that's a lot of paladins (I mean, I like paladins, but when a not yet 16-year old is 9-somethingth level? Come on). And the illustration of that Helimbraun guy just freaks me out.

Hmm, maybe I should have called the article "Impiltur: the Bizarre, Forgotten Kingdom".:)

Yep, it's got a lot of paladins - holy geez is right on the money. But given the events of the Fiend Wars and the Triad Crusade, it's not that much of a stretch to think that they'd be more prevalent there.

As for young Imbrar's stats, I wasn't responsible for them - just copying stuff out of the "Champions of Valor" sourcebook - but I will say that Imbrar is rightly considered the bright hope of the kingdom. Since he was old enough to walk he's been honed and trained into a holy warrior with (hopefully) the skills to rule a realm. He was an early maturing type - you know, the kids with the moustaches at 13 years old - and cut his teeth on fighting humanoid and bandit raiders on the fringes of the kingdom (with appropriate safeguards and healing readily available) from an early age. For a real world archetype, consider him an "Alexander the Great" figure, poised to do great things.

-- George Krashos

There are at least two: the Everlasting Wyrm (see the Myrkul entry in F&A and further info in Shining South) of the Sharawood and a small (and easily missed) notation in Fall of Myth Drannor re the summoning of a dracolich (in the Exiles battle entry I believe).

-- George Krashos

Oh, and the Cult did not create the first dracoliches in Faerûn. Dracolichs existed and predate the formation of the Cult by a number of years. Sammaster likely rediscovered the process and claimed it as his own invention.

-- George Krashos

Scott, I have a spare Player's Guide to Faerûn that I won in a competition that is gathering dust on my bookshelf. Drop me an e-mail at akrashos@bigpond.net.au and give me your snail mail address and I'll get it to you. It's coming from Australia, so might take a little bit of time, but I'm more than happy to send it to you.

-- George Krashos

Rautheene is from Greyhawk and an apprentice of Mordenkainen.

-- George Krashos

Thanks for the response.

-- George Krashos

What if I want to send you a BotB article set in the Forgotten Realms, with nice juicy back-story and some new 'rules', but given the 2k word limit I have only three, thematically linked items to be showcased - would you still be interested?

-- George Krashos

How about if you know that DRAGON have your article, have read it, might even like it, but haven't talked to you about it since you sent it in in November and haven't responded to the 3 or so e-mails sent asking what the status is ...

-- George Krashos

Adelaide here.

-- George Krashos

Mike, could you give us novices an example of this new, improved stat block?

-- George Krashos

You might want to have a read of "The Ecology of the Rust Monster" in Dragon #84. It may provide some inspiration.

-- George Krashos

Oh don't get too peturbed Mike. In the tradition of Dragon #82, you're doing a 'bunch of cherry-picked magic rings' article. If it was good enough 20 years ago, it's good enough now.:) And #82 had some great rings showcased, let me tell ya. Cheers.

-- George Krashos

Yep, and never forget we are always watching over you KnightErrantJr! We miss nothing.:)

-- George Krashos

If we had 3 issues a year like #335, I guarantee I wouldn't subscribe.

And if I could be guaranteed 3-4 issues a year like #335, I definitely would subscribe. You say tomato ...

-- George Krashos

Forgotten Realms articles.

-- George Krashos

Assuming that the new Dragon Compendium takes off (I'll definitely be getting a copy) would Paizo ever consider doing the same thing but for the various specific gameworlds that only they are licenced to show material of. Of course, I'm talking about the Realms, Greyhawk, DL et. al.

All the various FR articles, updated for 3.5E (where necessary), and collected into a hardcover would make me drool.

Just a thought.

-- George Krashos

I remember my LAST rejection - an article that was too setting-specific and something supposedly only an FR fan could love. Boy, I wish Erik was on board as Editor when I sent that article in ...

-- George Krashos

Actually I only buy Dragon (and Dungeon) for Forgotten Realms content. So, quite simply, if you want me to buy an issue put in some FR articles. If you want me to buy every issue, put an FR article into every issue. Pretty easy really.:)

-- George Krashos