Nazgar's page

One option I would like to see is more detail on the background of your character. Something supported in the mechanics, not just fluff. The 4e backgrounds went in that direction, but I was wanting something a little more substantial.

One of the game systems I am into right now is FantasyCraft. It is based off of the OGL but has some major differences when it comes to races, classes and equipment.

One of the things I like about FantasyCraft is how they separate out someone's background versus their class. They have specialties, which is "what you are", versus their class, which is "how you do it".

Your specialty gives you some benefit, such as a feat, and some other smaller benefits, like a situational bonus to a skill or maybe a minor ability. It is a cool way to break out of being like everyone else in that class. So two soldiers, one with the Barbarian specialty and one with the Shield Bearer specialty can be fairly different besides skill and weapon choices. But their core class abilities remain similar.

I'd like to see something similar to this in the next edition. You could house-rule a lot of this, but I think it would work better as a fully-developed option.

I am also a fan of allowing a skill availability based on background, to a small degree. Having some wiggle-room when choosing skills I think is a good thing.

If at all possible, I would like to end my subscription with the Kingmaker AP. I have enjoyed the APs, but I have enough scenarios I want to run to last me for the next 10 years. :)

Also, I thought I saw a post about picking up the last AP book at GenCon. My search-fu has failed me, so I am wondering if that is possible and if so, what do I need to do to arrange this?

Thanks!

In this order, I have three products: two pathfinder companion books (Taldor and Osiron) and a t-shirt.

The t-shirt arrived just fine, by itself in a 4x4x6 box, all rolled up inside.

I waited for a while for the other shipment to arrive, but I never revieved anything else. Then I happend to be looking at the invoice sheet that arrived with the shirt and noticed it had all three items listed.

I was wondering if someone accidentally sent the shirt seperately and flagged the order as completed, and that is why I never recieved the other two items.

I have a subscription to the Pathfinder adventure path and those arrive just fine. This is the first problem I have had, and I figure it is just a simple misunderstanding. If someone could clear this up for me and send me the two companion books, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Chris

I second Sebastian's comments about the alea tools. As an alternative, it is possible to get 1 inch poker chips in a variety of colours (I bought a bunch from Paizo, but I don't think they carry them any more). If you need, you can stick them on the bottom of a mini with blue-tack or something similar. But Alea tools are better.

I have used thin foam sheets cut into 1-inch squares to indicated conditions. They come in a variety of colors and you can get them in a craft store in fairly large sheets for like 2 bucks apiece. I used them in a convention game playtest this last weekend and they worked great.

During my game, by far the biggest time-sink was the players figuring out what their powers did and what options to do. Half the group had never played 4e, and one had never played an RPG before. There were seven players and the first combat took nearly two hours, as people suddenly realized it was their turns and scrambled to figure out which power was best to use.

The next two encounters went faster, and I was able to get three encounters (including the 2 hour one) in roughly four hours. A smaller group more used to 4e can definately do it faster. If the players are new to 4e, expect them to freeze up at first, deciding on what powers to use. Once they get confortable, it will go quicker.