Marcus Aurelius's page

During playtesting with Pathfinder RPG with my group I've been getting a lot of grumbling from spellcasters who can no longer take Concentration as a skill. I've scanned the pages of the Core rulebook to see if it has been incorporated with other skills but I note that it doesn't exist.

Now I know that PF has been playtested by all you guys here for a good while and wondered whether there are any benefits added to the game to compensate for the removal of this skill.

I know there is a standard concentration check for casting spells is still there along with the relevant Ability Modifier due the caster (I never liked the CON bonus in the original 3.5 skill anyway because it seemed a fudge but Concentration had to be spellcaster neutral)

I also am aware that there is a combat casting feat that gives a +4 on Concentration checks.

I am also aware there is a camp of players who think spellcasters are too powerful (I am not one of these). But seasoned adventurers including spellcasters are aware that they are going to be in hostile situations often so I felt having a skill that allowed them to cast spells during dangerous melee situations needs some skill or ability that they can improve without losing their spells.

A lot of my spell casting players are losing spells more often than they were used to in 3.5 and even the non-spellcaster players are noticing this hindrance.

Is there any rules I can point out to my players that the system is still balanced as I am the one with the most knowledge of PF, and they are currently not willing to purchase all the books unless they feel happy with the overall system.

Now don't get me wrong, there is a lot of stuff in PF that they adore so it's not a make or break, but I really don't want to start introducing hosts of house rules as I want my game to be completely PathFinder.

Anyone any ideas to help me here?

Will it be possible to buy these critters in multi-packs?

I've noticed people talking about Orcus, but nobody anywhere I can see mentions Demogorgon? WizardsOTC can't have copyrighted him because he appears along with Orcus in the beginning of John Milton's "Paradise Lost".

Has he fallen out of gaming favor or been destroyed.

Anyone know where he went? He owes me 10 bucks and 20 cents from a poker game we played a few years back :)

I noticed in the Pathfinder bestiary that the Glabrezu disguises itself to tempt mortals, and possesses the Veil spell. However it has no ranks in the Disguise skill. Is this deliberate?

I was disappointed to note the lack of the trebuchet in the siege engines section in the core PF rulebook. Trebuchets were the most powerful siege engines prior to the invention of the cannon. Why the omission?

I was reading the PF Breath of Life Spell in the PF Core rulebook last night and its wording I feels needs clarification.

First off: The beginning description states: Unlike other spells that heal damage, breath of life can bring recently slain creatures back to life. If cast upon a creature that has died within 1 round, apply the healing from this spell to the creature. So far this is all well and dandy.

It then goes on to say: If the healed creature's hit point total is at a negative amount less than its Constitution score, it comes back to life and stabilizes at it's new hit point total. If the creature's hit point total is at a negative amount equal or greater than its Constitution score the creature remains dead

Now if the slain creature is touched within 1 round it recovers - fine. Now the problem comes in the first statement where it specifically uses the word slain. To me a slain creature is one that has a negative hit point amount equal or greater than its Constitution, otherwise it is simply unconscious and dying.

What it fails to say is that. "After 1 round breath of life acts under the second statement, i.e. it can be used, but at that point it cannot restore slain creatures to life".

Now this is my reading of it at present and the question is:

Providing the character is administered breath of life in the round it goes down it can be revived from being slain. After all this is a fifth level Cleric spell and in the same power ranking as Raise Dead. Does the description need further clarification or am I missing something?

EDIT: For HTML errors

I have a question that perhaps someone can answer. What exactly is the difference between cover and concealment? I was re-reading the rules on this in the Pathfinder core rulebook and it wasn't readily apparent to me (probably because I'm a bit dim:).

More importantly, what distinguishes Full Cover from Concealment? Are they the same thing?

Would love to know.

Looks like we are being treated to more fluff from Wizards of the Coast. Why do we need a Player's Handbook 3. Were 1 and 2 not up to scratch. I know why. All the new books I've checked out recently from Wizards are thin tomes with large fonts (i.e. low word count) and ridiculous price tags.

Personally I felt that Wizards had pulled off a remarkable rule system with the advent of D&D version 3 (and 3.5 was an improvement)and I would say, arguably, that this was the acme of their rule system achievement. I invested heavily in 3rd edition D&D over the years and was impressed with the scale and quality of the Forgotten Realms supplements which I relied on for my own adventures.

Then suddenly D&D 4 comes out and we're plunged 100 or so years into the future in FR where everything changes. I could live with that, but the new rule system I believe is a shambles. It appeared to me that Wizards had oversimplified the game, perhaps in order to boost sales of even more books and appeal to the lazier gamer. Do we not have enough games of this ilk already?

It was bad enough that there was a rule change, but having no further support from Wizards for 3rd edition aficionados, I felt like giving up gaming altogether. I've been playing since the 1970's when the first edition came out.

I understand that any company wishes to make a profit, but why not tweak the rules over the years with the help of GM and player feedback, release more actual source books and most importantly publish more adventure modules. Is it me or was their a dearth of adventure modules published by Wizards for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting? My favorite adventure and for my players was the brilliant large scale adventure "City of the Spider Queen" by James Wyatt.

It wasn't until I discovered Pathfinder by Paizo that I realized there were others out there who still loved 3.5. I was very excited about this product and the rule tweaks are excellent. I purchased the Core Rulebook and Bestiary immediately and I am looking forward to the new Pathfinder source books to be released in the future. It's great I don't need to throw away all my old 3rd edition books after all I just need to convert them.

Please, please Paizo don't go down the same path that Wizards went.