Lorenz Lang's page

So Whirlwind only works on creatures one or more size categories smaller than you. So a large creature vs. a large elemental would be immune to the whirlwind.

With powerful shape you could pick up large creatures, as long as they fit in the volume of your whirlwind, huge creature and larger (my error in the post) would be immune.

That's another headache. Volume isn't a rules term.

Isn't it quite difficult to compute how many creatures can be caughtby the whirlwind?

So the question is what is the size of the whirlwind? The only size category we have to base this off of is that of the elemental, as there is no size category for a whirlwind.

Why not deduce it from the height as I did above?

In game, I think of it as smaller whirlwinds do not have the same wind "force" as larger elemental, even if their whirlwind is the same size. So a small elemental can't pick up a medium or small creature because its winds aren't fast enough. It is like the smaller the elemental the slower the wind is within the appropriate wind category.

If this is the official interpretation, I'm the last to argue it.

Whirlwind size equal to elemental size works for me.
It's still a powerful ability, almost or even slightly unbalanced IMO.

LL

I agree with the interpretation of "it comes into contact" as
entering the space, attacking with a touch spell or unarmed attack.
I would allow weapon attacks without having to save.

Note large creatures would be immune to this effect unless the druid gains the powerful shape feat at which point huge and large would be immune.

Note once inside the whirlwind it has no special resistances or immunities to attacks, including strange situations where a person grapples the whirlwind and prevents it from moving.

Why would large creatures be immune?

"Creatures one or more size categories smaller than the whirlwind might take damage when caught"

So, isn't it the whirlwind's size, not the elemental's?
The whirlwind from a large elemental is up to 40 ft. high,
so it's within the 32' to 64 ft. category of gargantuan (tall).

The second point is giving me headaches too...
Grappling or pinning a whirlwind seems strange.

A Bard from the movies no one mentioned:

So they sent for a witch with a terrible twitch
to ask how my future impressed her.
She took one look at me... and cried,
"He, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, *HE*!
What else could he be but a jester?"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049096/

Danny Kaye is da Bard! :-)

I always loved the Bard class and love the new Bard even more, but...
:-)

Deadly Performance just doesn't cut it. It feels wrong.
Only Man-o-war kills! ;-)

In celtic myths magical music comes in the three 'flavors'
sleep, joy and sorrow. One of Orpheus' coolest stunts was
the lullaby for Cerberus.

I would like the Bard to be more poetic, artistic, sophisticated,
than just killing his foes.

And I'd give him options instead of one (boring)
Instagib power.

For example (without much crunch/mechanics, sorry)
the following three tunes:

I. Sleep (mind-affecting enchantment [compulsion])
Causing magical slumber, not like Sleep,
more like "Sleeping Beauty" from the fairytale.
Let his foes sleep (with/without aging) for, say,
10 years times the Bards Perform check result.

II. Domination (mind-affecting enchantment [charm])
Pied Piper of Hamelin... ...and the Beatles :-)
This needs an upper limit for victims under control
at any one time, I think. HD <= Perform check result?
Without automatic (no save for victims) "refreshing"
through new performances the effect wears off slowly:
charmed after some time, then normal friendship, then
pleasant memory...

III. Sorrow (mind-affecting enchantment [compulsion])
Blinded (with tears), Deafened (i.e. not paying
attention to any sounds), Sickened, and unable to
take any actions for the duration of the performance.
Afterwords the victim leaves the area and wanders
away for 1 hour times the Bards Perform check result.
The victim can only move during this time and take no
other actions.

(Save DC Perform check result should be kept IMHO.)

Perhaps the balance isn't right, I'm not too good at that...

LL

While I don't think the fighter needed any more boosts to be more than an equal to the rest of the classes, Bravery is a decent class ability - makes good sense. I also like that it is an untyped bonus, and not a Morale bonus, which is endlessly overused for fear effects.

With the weakening of Heroes Feast to grant only a +4 (morale) bonus, I think you find a lot more characters being frightened away already. Fear saves tend to be automatic, area effect abilities with high DC's (either from going off a prime stat (Lich), or high Hit Dice (Dragons)).

Lorenz Lang wrote:

The Fear spell (3rd/4th level after all) could need

a small improvement IMO. Become "shaken" for one round
per two levels or even one round "frightened" and then
"shaken" on a successful save for example.

I don't think it's a good idea to make Fear an auto-run effect for everyone even on a save...

Leaving opponents shaken for 1 round on a successful save

is too weak for its level.
It should be more than 1 round, allowing the same caster
to cast another fear spell in the next round.

Frightened on a auccessful save is probably too much,
that's true.

Cheers
LL

A successful save vs. fear leaves the victim shaken
(for one round in the case of Cause Fear and Fear).
A second fear effect will result in the "frightened"
condition, even if you save. That's not worthless,
but close. ;)

The Fear spell (3rd/4th level after all) could need
a small improvement IMO. Become "shaken" for one round
per two levels or even one round "frightened" and then
"shaken" on a successful save for example.

LL

My point is that D&D alignments don't bother with long philosophical tracts trying to weasel moral systems around to that conclusion. They just flat out tell you that killing people with the opposite view is not only right, but necessary. Do so without pity or mercy, and the forces of Good will give you a shiny.

"Good characters and creatures protect innocent life."

"“Good” implies altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings."
(From the alignment section of the RSRD.)

How's that telling Good characters to kill Evil people and take their
stuff? Without pity or mercy?

Evil people can be innocent and they are certainly sentient.
Which makes killing them without pity or mercy a violation
of Good alignment.

LL

Dear Game Designers for Pathfinder RPG,

Although the Sorceror has been improved in Alpha 2, the following changes should make it truly worth taking straight rather than prestige-classing.

1. Add Diplomacy, Gather Information, and Perform to the class skills. The sorceror tends to have a stronger personality and artistic flair so it should show in his/her class skills.

This should be dependant on the chosen bloodline. Artistic Undead? :-)

IMHO the skills should be added to some Bloodlines. For other
Bloodlines other skills would be more appropriate:
I'd give Fey Sorcerers Handle Animal, Knowledge(Nature) and Survival
for example. Draconic Sorcerers /need/ the Fly skill, I'd add
Appraise and Perception to that (or Knowledge(dungeoneering)?).

2. Add a class skill(s) depending on the chosen bloodline. It doesn't make sense for the sorceror to gain Skill Focus for a skill that is cross-class.

As said above, I fully agree. It makes each Bloodline even more

different, which is a good thing.

3. Create Sorceror Only Spells that the Sorceror can cast depending on his or her bloodline. Make these automatically known IN ADDITION to spells known. Make enough that the player of a sorceror can choose different bloodline spells at a given spell level.

Sounds good too.

4. Increase the Sorceror's skill points to 4 points per level. The wizard already has many more points because of Intelligence being the wizard's key ability. I think that is a point in design that many designers for 3.5 tend to overlook.

IMHO you are right, but for other reasons. (The Int argument

is a bit too metagaming.)
Only those classes with a focus on something else should be at
2 SP per level IMHO. The Clr, (Ftr? Hmm.) Pal and Wiz are too
focused on non-skill stuff to get more than 2.
I think, 4 SP is the "normal" level of skills, which is what the
Sor should get.

None of these changes will unbalance the class unless an unbalancing spell is made as part of the Bloodline Spells. In addition to any changes that may be made to Bloodline Powers and feats after playtesting, do these things and the sorceror should be just right.

And give him Eschew Material, seriously.

110% of groups house-rule it anyway. :-)

Another point: Metamagic!

C'mon! Just let them all use it at the normal casting time.
Either for free or increase the slot an additional level.

The arcane bloodline would need new powers then, but it's
worth it IMHO.

LL

I just read p. 10-11:

"Terrifying Howl (Su): ...
...must have the hunter’s cry rage
power to select this rage power."

Greetz
LL

With the upcoming book, I can't wait to take a look at the Monk class. Being a huge fan of the chinses martial arts movie genre, I've always had a problem with the Monk class. It just seemed to lack the versatility and playstyle I was hoping for. Where are the Monks who use the Sabre, Straight Sword or Spear? What about the fantastic acrobatic displays - sure you can move super fast and tumble past your opponents, but what if you want to leap up on that 10' wall? The large damage dice that a high level monk could deal just seemed like an overcompensation for the lack of cheaper magical items that could give them combat bonuses.

In any oriental campaign I'm the first who wants to play a

Monk - I love the class.
In a generic fantasy campaign - never ever. The Monk from 3.5
and older eds is a very special class, not even fitting in every
oriental campaign as they are 110% chinese IMHO. Even in a japanesque
or indian campaign they're out of place.

Then there's martial arts (via feats) vs the Monk. I like the idea of the Big Half Orc Fighter specializing in Martial Arts, doing massive damage with his fists (Light Armour training, Close weapon group) Two Weapon Fighting feats, Improved Trip, Improved Grapple, etc, just pounding away doing impressive damage.

Bare-handed fighting pugilism, pancration etc are part of

western history and mythology OTOH. There are 100s of pictures
in one of the tombs in the egyptian valley of the kings showing
two stick figures wrestling (holding, throwing etc, it's all there).
Pancration was a classic olympic discipline, Beowulf wrestled
the Grendel and ripped off his arm...

Or the Rogue Martial Artists, tumbling around his opponent, using his magic spell ability to cast Jump and be able to leap small buildings, and just using improved feint to do that one attack that does massive sneak attack damage.

So my question is, if you add Martial Artist Feats, is the Monk really needed?

As much as I like the class, I've to say: No, not in the 'core' rules.

Not the Monk as a taoist mystic shaolin monk, anyway.

Can what you are looking for be simulated with other classes and multiclassing?

For the most part I think it can. The only thing I see missing is the unarmoured AC bonus from wisdom and a few things of flavour. If the monk class stays, how can it be improved? How can we add flexibility?

And if we go the way of Martial Arts feats, what should they be like?

Should they start out as a 1d4, then goto 1d6 then 1d8 in a feat chain? Should they allow full damage on the off hand when using two weapon fighting? How about allowing the "shield" bonus with two weapon fighting? What about gauntlests or other items (monk's bindings around the hands and feat) that allow magical bonuses?

What are your thoughts?

Skester.

Unarmed fighting is disadvantagous against armed opponents and

monsters with teeth, claws, stingers, horns and other unpleasant
parts of their anatomy. :)

Doing insane unarmed damage like the monk or even 1d8 should be impossible to achieve with a feat chain IMHO.
The Monk with his Ki and all, okay.
But non-magical and non-mystical damage of more than 1d4 or 1d6
is killing my suspension of disbelieve.
Just imagine the following jackass-choice:
1. Allow one of the Klitschko brothers a free hit
or
2. Allow somebody a free swing with a longsword
:o)

The Monk is the only class I wouldn't miss in the 'core' rules.
:-/
A Ftr should be able to improve his unarmed fighting with feats,
but not too unrealistically so.

LL

Lang Lorenz wrote:

1. Let 1st level PCs survive (longer). It's okay if the
Wiz goes down on a crit of a greatsword, but dying
(less than -9 hp) from full health with one hit should
be very rare.

We die at -CON-score HP

Missed that bit. Is it in the alpha-rules?

Lang Lorenz wrote:

2. No fixed hp at 1st level. Each 1st level Ftr with Con 16
starts with 13 hp? Boring. Some randomness should be present.

Yep, as mentioned above, we do the CON-score + HD-roll at 1st level

Lang Lorenz wrote:

3. Race should make a difference. The more the better.

Fixed or random? If random, a possiblity is a creature type's HD, so there is no need to assign every player race an individual number as it is done in fixed. If creature type HD are used, modify the roll by constitution-modifier?

Maybe... 4 -> d4, 6 -> d8, 8 -> d12 and I'd add Con mod in this case.

Would be a bonus racial HD at 1st level with Con mod as normal
for HD then.

LL