Mr. Bojangles's page

I'm getting ready to have some fun in the Dragon Empires and I'm really enjoying the primer and the gazzeteer but me and my players have some questions regarding the various ethinic groups the comprise Tian Xia. What was the ethinic inspiration for each group? We've figured that Tian-Min is based on Japanese and Tian-Shu is based on Chinese but we're having some issues with the others. I was wondering what everyone else's take was. We use this kind of stuff during character creation as it really helps us immerse ourselves in the setting with names and cultural trends.

This is what I think but I could be way off:

• Tian-Dan: Vietnamese
  
• Tian-Dtang: Korean
  
• Tian-Hwan: ?
  
• Tian-La: Mongolian
  
• Tian-Min: Japanese
  
• Tian-Shu: Chinese
  
• Tian-Sing: Indonesian

So I built these back in the good old fury filled days of the Pathfinder Beta. They're for an oriental campaign setting I've been creating and have seen some play time. So far no complaints from the players but I thought I'd throw them up here and get some more thoughts on them.

Tengu Racial Statistics:
+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Constitution
Medium: Speed 30ft
Flight: Tengu have a 20 ft fly speed (clumsy). A Tengu may take 10 on any fly check even when distracted. A Tengu may not fly and wield something in his hands as his arms are also his wings.
Master Swordsman: Tengu are regarded as the best swordsmen in the world, bar none. Respected even in the heavens and hells for their skill, the Tengu make it a point to teach all the members of their race the basics of swordsmanship. As a result all Tengu are automatically proficient with one sword-like weapon of their choice. This proficiency can include both Martial and Exotic weapons. See GM for what qualifies as “sword-like.”
Master Blacksmith: Tengu have produced some of the most legendary weapons and armor, especially in the days of their great kingdoms. That skill continues today. Tengu gain a +2 racial bonus to Craft (Armorsmithing) or Craft (Weaponsmithing).
Keen Senses: Tengu gain Low Light Vision and a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.
Air Affinity: The Tengu are the ones who taught humans the basics of Air manipulation and communing with the spirits of the air. The Tengu's natural association with the Air Element grants the Tengu a +2 racial bonus on saves vs. spells with the Air descriptor and effects generated by Airbending. In addition, they gain a +1 racial bonus on Caster level when casting spells with the Air descriptor and a +1 bonus on their Airbending skill checks.
Hatred: Hundreds of years ago, the Tengu ruled much of this portion of the world, but in the end they were destroyed by the neighboring empire of Spirit-summoning Ogres. Both races have declined into pale shadows of those days, but the Tengu remember well the horrors, even if the Ogres don’t. Tengu receive a +1 bonus on attack rolls against Ogres and Spirits (devils, demons, fey, undead, see GM for clarification)
Defensive Training: The Tengu, now living in their mountain eyries, face constant threat of attack from their new neighbors the giants. Consequently, all Tengu have been trained in defending against their attacks. Tengu get a +4 dodge bonus to AC against monsters of the giant type.
Languages: Tengu begin play speaking Tho Fan and Tengen.

Vanara Racial Statistics:
+2 Constitution, +2 Charisma, -2 Wisdom
Medium: Speed 30ft
Climb: Vanara have a 20 ft climb speed. This grants them a +8 competance bonus on climb checks. A Vanara may take 10 on any climb check even when distracted.
Keen Senses: Vanara receive Low-Light Vision and a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.
Prehensile Tail: A Vanara’s tail can be used as a third hand. It can be used with skill checks involving precision manipulation and hands in general such as Disable Device and Sleight of Hand, albeit at a -4 penalty. The tail can support the Vanara’s own weight if his strength score is high enough, allowing him to hang from his tail. A Vanara cannot use this ability if his own weight is less than or equal to his medium load capacity or he is carrying a medium load.
Natural Athlete: Vanara receive a +4 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks.
Simple Weapon Mastery: During character creation a Vanara chooses three simple weapons. These weapons function as one size category higher for damage in the Vanara’s hands. This ability does not stack with Improved Natural Attack for Unarmed Strikes
Earth Blood: The first Vanara, Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, was said to be born from a mountain and Vanara reflect some of this myth in their connection to Earth Magic. All Vanara have a +1 racial bonus to CL for all Earth subtype spells and a +1 bonus on Earthbending checks. They also may use the psionic power Stomp 1/day at half hit-die CL. This is a spell-like ability rather than a psi-like ability that functions as a Transmutation (Earth) spell. The Save DC is 11 + Cha modifier.
Fearless: The Vanara are well known for their laughter in the face of Death and many have died with a smile on their face. The Vanara have a +2 racial bonus on all saving throws against fear.
Languages: Vanara begin play speaking Tho Fan and Vani.

And before you ask, yes, I totally jacked Tho Fan from Jade Empire. It functions as the "Common" tongue in this part of the world. Mainly because, like in Golarion, Common already exists in the more European styled areas.

I was working on redesigning the final boss of the Legacy of Fire AP when I came across an interesting question.

When using the Conductive weapon quality from the APG with a Scorching Ray of at least CL 11 (so that you have all three rays), do all three rays automatically strike the victim of a successful attack from the Conductive weapon? That just seems rather....excessive. Awesome, but excesive.

Zenzirad comes off as being a truly awesome weapon initially. The greatest creation of a master azer wizard-smith. It sounds like the kind of thing he would describe as the culmination of his life's work. A sword forged in ebon flame, fire that can burn the unburnable, specifically made to fight Jhavul. Yet....when we get to the actual stats of the weapon, a +1 outsider (fire) bane, frost falchion (or whatever weapon your party might like, greatsword fo me), it just felt kind of a let down.

Now I'm not one to define what makes a weapon awesome. I firmly believe that even a +1 weapon can be badass given proper fluff and circumstances, but this just seems kinda.....meh (though after reviewing "The Impossible Eye", I see plenty of opportunities where it will rock).

I want my party to like this sword, it seems like the perfect fit for our cleric. It just seems like it's a little below the power curve for magic items, especially at later levels during The Final Wish where even Tempest will be a (total) +5 weapon (+2 outsider fire bane, icy burst, i think) and will apparently exhibit more abilites when used against Jhavul and his followers. Will Zenzirad do the same, seeing as it was made specifically for the battle vs. Jhavul? I have my own ideas on what to do there, but I was just hoping to see if something like that had already been added to the adventure.

Does anyone think that making it fire subtype bane instead of outsider fire bane is too much?

Please cancel this order. I'll get to it at another time. Thank you for your assistance.

I don't know if anyone else posted this but, for your Gnomey(?) pleasure. An excerpt from an article on ENWorld:

Gnomes. GNOMES. Gnomes are insane. Gnomes can *turn invis* once per encounter after they've taken dmg. They can also choose to roll "hide" instead of intialtive at the start of an encounter. Hello Gnome Rogue. And by "hello" I mean, "Please, for the love of god, stop stabbing me in the back." My friends quote was "Man, I hate gnomes! They're stupid! But now I can't stop picturing a pack of gnomes sitting in the trees doing the clicking noise that the Predators make in the alien movies. Stupid stealth gnomes. I'm going to have to play one."

Suddenly Gnome Ninja's are not quite so silly to think about.....not that, you know, they ever were.....don't hurt me.

I can post the rest of this article if anyone wants. It's peeks into the books from gaming store owners who have the books or have seen the books and were kind enough to share what they saw with ENWorld.

I was reading Dungeon 149 and drooling all over the book. I love the massive stat blocks that I've dreamed of but was always too scared to make myself. With such truly legendary and epic npcs, and my own lack of knowledge on many of their backstories, I more than likely would have made them look like teletubbies than the incredible characters they are. Now I remember seeing other such legends besides Iggwillv and Orcus in articles like Critical Threats (Warduke springs to mind, and I remember reading something about Evard being published somewhere), but I've never seen or read them myself as I've only been reading Dungeon for the past 3 years. My question is who are the greats that have been published in Dungeon and what issues are they in.

I was reading up on the scout and saw its nifty little abilitly at 18th level to gain freedom of movement permanently. That a sparked a memory of seeing.....somewhere.....that the freedom of movement spell allows the benefactor to ignore the max dex limit of armor. Does anyone have any idea what im talking about. If so, where is it? If not, I'm clearly loosing my mind. Thanks.

Hey, this is my first thread at Paizo, so bear with me if I have no clue.

I’m currently running an introduction to Eberron campaign for myself and some friends using adventure modules like “Grasp of the Emerald Claw” and its predecessors. We’ve just finished the last of them and I’m wondering what some ideas to follow it with are. I’m too impatient to wait for the next one.

I’ve started some problems between the Valenar and the Talenta which led to the Hellspike Prison adventure. I’ve also had (!!Spoiler!!) Xulo the Creation Pattern stolen by someone who was disguised as Elladren d’Cannith. This was all prep for the introduction of my boss baddie, but now I don’t quite know where to go next.

My mysterious leader is a Half-Silver Dragon Rakshasa (dragon disciple). I’m thinking he’s a rogue member of the Lords of Dust who was estranged by his fellows for the whole half-dragon thing. Now he’s a little upset at the Dragons of Argonnesen and is working on a way to kill them all. I was planning on a disease of some sort. The party’s already fought an insane, malformed dragon as part of a side quest.

I’m just looking for some ideas on connecting the dots, or any better ideas…..Heeeelp!

Thanks, Peace