Master Of Desaster's page

In addition to my earlier post, I read chapter 10 again on a "short instruction" on casting a spell.

Actually the chapter does not give a real order of what applies. Well, 3E did as bad as well, though a short checklist would be not a stupid idea.
Especially as it contains about 10 steps - many of them are dependent on the spell in question as well.

And as this list is long, I came to ask myself: Are there unnecessary steps ? Too rare-to-be worth having it ?

Actually there is one hardly worthy thing: V&S Spell Components.
D&D 3.5 in its core rules has less then 60 (but close) Spells that do not feature both steps. Pathfinder Beta has less Spells in the book but maybe only ~ 25 do not have both V&S.

So the real question to be asked would be: Is it WORTH to keep such a few spells as exceptions to the V&S system ?
Especially those ultra rare cases of "all S + ..., but bard V&S".

Except for rules-lawyering there is no need to keep this split. It might have been vital for AD&D 1/2 when there were maybe 200 spells in PHB, but not for 3E/PF RPG where most spells are V&S + (M|F|XP){0,3}

I also like that I've seen that many spell writeups have been improved in readability.
There is one little thing that I would suggest to improve writeups for spells with "safe (partial); see text" - split those texts into "safe fauiled", "safe succeded".

Further splitting up "prerquisites" and effect would enhance those texts as well.
Some 3E writeups were jumping between effects and "applies to" tags ... The PF RPG writeups have a distinct split, but making that split instinctively visible using some horizontal bars won't cost much space, but would be pretty pleasing to a reader if applied to all spells that take more space then a few lines. (Dispell Magic e.g.)

URG ... that makes Darkness something between a Cantrip and a 1st level Spell. And you forgot that its duration was cut down to 1/10th (and still can be dispelled).

Arcane Lock is just a way to safe a few goldpieces. DC20 that's a simple Lock. That's a 50% chance for a 1st lvl Rogue with a Dex of 18 - without spending a feat.
1d20+ 1 (trained) +3 (class skill) +4 (Dex) + 2 (MW Thiefs tools).
Not that a 1st lvl Rogue is to good at lockpicking, the lock just is not "arcane" (read: good) any more.
In 3E the DC would be +10 to a normal door (and there was not that much as option to boost ones ability to go beyond that at lvl 1 through 4).

I can see that the new Arcane Lock favors NPCs (so that they can sneak into a room that PCs consider safe), but it also works the other way round and PCs will get into areas that should be "of place" without actual waiting or looking for a different way ...

Hi there.

Well I'm new to pathfinder (since yesterday). I browsed the more relevant sections of the game and one thing really struck me.

It's magic.

I know it's a freaking lot that I will talk about now, but I think if Pathfinder actually wants to attract new players (and not just lengthen the lifetime of 3E for diehard fans), then Magic could need a little improvement.

My personal beef with spellcasting has always been - and it continues in Pathfinder Beta - that there is no "short summary" on how to cast a spell. You eighter know those 4 to 20 Pages how to interpret a spells header or you have to pause a game just to find it out once more.

Well there are spells one gets used to pretty quickly and there are a few standard procedures (e.g. area effect damage spells).

If all those spells that would fall in such a common pattern (I call it "Casting-Procedure"-Type - short CP-Type ) would get a quick summary.
If you make a reference to where the "how to cast" instructions as a short todo are placed or if you alter those headers and have an index entry and glossary entry that explains this ... it would be GREAT.

I know it duplicates something, but it would be a gaming aid for all of the more casual gamers.
If I write all of it up, I'll need a few pages, true.
But writing a few pages for gaming aids should never be considered wasted space (also shorter spell headers will compensate that as well
- as there are hundreds of Spells).

IMHO D&D 4E has overdone it in formalizing their power-headers, but 3E Spell headers are simply needlessly unfriendly.

Annonymus Rules
Further there are several unnamed rules in spells. These would also fit well in a separate chapter as it is always the same.
I cannot give all of them right now - as I don't remember them all, though a few are pretty common.

Typical examples:
- Affects one [willing target/creature/monster/plant] of [size category] or 2 of ... or 4 of ..
- Normal animals don't get a safe, but Magical Beasts, Dire Beasts and Trained Animals and Familiar get a safe ...

Give those things a referencable name ...
I know it's one more index lookup, but making such things easy to find tables or named paragraphs would make some things more memorable - and writing/printing out spells a lot shorter.

Some sample CP-Types:
- Automatic
Actually I found this the hardest one to explain newbees. Because you got a long header and then ... they don't believe you that they don't have to roll any die.
And the worst they quickly assume that all Spells work that way ... unless it is specially marked (The next habit those people pick up is casting all spells as if they were a Area Attack Spells).

- Summoning
There are a few spell families, but most Conjuration(Summon) Spells work the same (something that I consider useful). All spells require a full-round action, can be dispelled and have a Duration of 1min/CL.

- Mind Affecting
Same here. Many enhancements that are Mind Affecting work the same in casting.
Why write out the same aspect multiple times ...

- Arcane Armor Penalty
- Ranged Attack Spell (only)
- Ranged Area Attack Spell
- Spell Penetration (only)
- Safe halfes [REF/FORT/WILL]
- Safe negates [REF/FORT/WILL]
- Partial Attack
- Partial Spell Penetration

- Special (See Below)
Well, I think that only a few spells would fit that category. But I don't play every week, so I may be wrong.

- Classical Method / You're on your own.
Consider all spells with 3.5 stlye headers as "classical".