Nazim's page

They've got (often less than) four hours to run a game that someone (the mod purchaser, at the minimum, if not everyone, at a convention) is *paying money to play,* and make it an enjoyable experience for everyone at the table. Allowing what has traditionally been an *optional* feat to grant a single player the chance to monopolize twice as much of the limited game time available for everyone at the table seems like a bad idea.

Class abilities, such as Animal Companions, Summoning spells and Familiars, already toe this line during combat, and yet at least have the self-limiting factor that the 'critter' class features are not often regarded as full NPCs, and, usually, don't take up a whole lot of RPing time.
[...]
Heck, I can write it into my backstory, if I want. Wizard Bob has a flunky. His name is Poncy, he's been with the family forever, and he stays at home and minds the alchemy shop while Bob is adventuring. Bob writes down (and attempts to sketch, poorly) the exciting new things he discovers, and send Poncy letters of these 'adventures' whenever he's in town, so Poncy even gets to serve an RP function during the adventure, as Bob stops to describe a monster the party has just fought and asks various party members if they know a better word for 'grotesque.' Best of all, this 'old friend' Bob is writing letters to could be completely imaginary, and my character a quirky duck indeed! Who would know that the letters he's sending off are only going to stack up on the characters doorstep, as there's nobody there to read them?

You highlight how an additional character in the party can take up a lot of gameplay time. However, your example, if implemented into actual play, would occupy just as much time. And I do like the example, but it seems to defeat the solution provided to the problem you perceive. I agree that certain character abilities take up more time than others. I agree that there are time constraints. But I can't find a convincing argument that makes removing the leadership feat from the game a good solution.

Certain mods also have very specific situations written into them, which require the party to not go wildly off of the four-to-six person group, as the party has to take a boat somewhere, or all have to get into a sliding room that moves through the pyramid, or whatever, and every single mod author shouldn't be expected to account for the 'four-to-six-man-party' being potentially a dozen strong.

This can certainly be a problem, but it remains a problem even without leadership. We can still hire hirelings, and have eidolons, animal companions, familiars, mounts and guard dogs. All these can pose issues in the situation you described. Should we therefore ban mounts?

Nazim wrote:

Joshua J. Frost wrote:

Leadership isn't allowed for many of the reasons noted above and for many not noted above.

Josh, has this been discussed publicly elsewhere? I don't mean to drag you into this discussion, since you seem weary of it. But I would like to read the other reasons, if it weren't too much trouble. And I don't mean that sarcastically.

Asking Josh to explain his decisions in detail would have the effect of appearing to create an open debate, and I don't believe that that would be advantageous for the organization.

That's not to say that we're not receptive to feedback—it's pretty clear from the way that the Pathfinder Society has evolved over time that we do listen to suggestions, but when Josh says that he's considered something and made a decision, please, let's all do him the courtesy of not second-guessing his rationale.

I certainly didn't mean to ask you folks to run paizo through a committee of first time posters. I really meant what I wrote. I was asking if the issue had been discussed publicly elsewhere...

I can't please everyone and I'm not going to try.

I can certainly respect that.

Just please me. :)

I wish there were something a bit closer to downtown philly. I've been to redcap, but it would be nice to have the same set of consistent players. If anyone else is looking for something closer to downtown, I'd love to hear about it.

Hope to see more of you on the boards.

Have a good one.

Thanks, and likewise.

1. My Cohort was cleric and at his highest level he hit level 16 which gave him access to planer cohort. So at one point I had a PC, Cohort, and a planer cohort (Astral Deva). I felt this did get a bit munch so I kept the two in the backgound...Buffs, heals, and little to no offense and DM controlled my two other EGO's when needed especailly the astra deva. My followers were never a part of the main quest. They help run things for me in between downtimes and what not and maintained our "Base of operations" DM and myself were cool with that use of followers.

2. When I DM'ed the Age of Worms campaign cohort were at first allowed. We still had 7-8+ players and now many people took the feat. So the party size went up 50%. Many of the players ae just not up to par when it comes to running a single PC and having a cohort just slowed things down way to much. I had to step in a ask people to get rid of the leadership feat and reselct something else. Gave everyone a extra Fate point due to DM intervention and moved on.

These seem excellent ways of dealing with problems. Once I babysitted a PC that was a high level spellcaster in a thoroughly houseruled 3.5 campaign. I was terrible at it, and it wasn't because of the houserules. I didn't know the spell lists, and it was a very powerful character. Looking back at it, I probably did one thing right with the character during that session. For the rest of the time, I might as well not have played.

What I mean to convey is that some folks (players and DMs) can't really deal with the feat. That's fine. I suck at plenty of things myself (I can provide people with a list, but I'm not sure the bandwidth would carry it). But the feat is not the problem. It's the folks that abuse it, or don't know how to use it.

I'd be fine with a PFS limitation that the cohort must be 3 or 4 levels lower than the PC. I'd be fine with not allowing the cohort to participate in combat. I'd even be fine with not allowing the cohort on the adventure proper. But this contradiction where the regular rules allow it, but it's not allowed in official rules, and there's no clarification on how a high level character that has that kind of resources should work around the feat ban leaves such players in an awkward limbo with respect to how to deal with this. Because banning the feat is like saying "we don't think players should be allowed to do this." But player characters are supposed to have good staff at hand. Even great staff at hand. So what's a paladin supposed to do for a valet? A priest for a flock? A magician for a day-to-day bodyguard? A fighter for a seneschal? A batman for a robin?

Nazim wrote:

Having said that, if it's so disruptive a feat, then why even put it in the book?

I would have preferred replacing the Leadership feat with some AD&D-style rules for NPC henchman, but that's just my preference.

I would have liked that too.

Leadership isn't allowed for many of the reasons noted above and for many not noted above.

Josh, has this been discussed publicly elsewhere? I don't mean to drag you into this discussion, since you seem weary of it. But I would like to read the other reasons, if it weren't too much trouble. And I don't mean that sarcastically.

To clarify, would you want to run an Eidonon as your PC? Or an Animal Companion? Most likely not. Why? Because they aren't as powerful or effective as a PC. Yet you would have no trouble playing the cohort, because it IS a PC. With a slightly lower level.

I would rather play the PC of slightly higher level, all other things being equal. I would have trouble playing a lower level PC than the one I'm playing. I know players who would rather stop playing than play a PC of lower level. One of them, a good player at that, says so, as a policy, whenever there's a hint that level-draining monsters might round the corner.

There's a faction mission. Accomplishing it requires, say, a skill check. Having two characters under your control gives you a far higher chance of completing said faction mission.

This can be the case with any other type of companion. Say the familiar can pull off the skill check while you couldn't. Should we ban familiars?

First, no class is balanced around having Leadership, with the possible exception of an 8th level Nobility Domain Cleric - who gets a different power in PFS instead.

I can't really make sense of this. If it's so overpowered, how come not everyone goes for it? Or am I misunderstanding you?

Second, there is a huge difference in the capabilities and complexities of an animal companion, and a cohort. The problem is *not* with the power of the cohort, but the options available.

Describing the difference as huge seems excessive. There's more choice, but that can be addressed. Put together some pregens and limit cohort choices to those pregens. But I'm not really buying the fact that the difference in the quantity of options makes the feat unviable.

Third, they take too long. More players/cohorts = more time, almost exponentially so. These are 4-5 hour time slots. Can you imagine a game with 7 players, with 7 cohorts? If each (n)pc took only 1 minute to resolve an action (which is short usually - and remember this is only 7 players deciding the actions of 2 people each), only 16-20 rounds could be adjudicated in the entire session.

I don't beleive that every player would have a cohort if leadership were allowed. The fact that not every player aspires to have the leadership feat proves this particular point. I'm not saying it's a weak feat. I want it. But I want it so that I can formalize something I think my character will have at higher level: a good secretary. They're so hard to find. ;)

Point one rebutle: It would allow certain players to control more than two units on the board. What happens when the Summoner has a cohort? With a table of 7 characters, that's not needed.

If the summoner has a cohort he has to decide which participates actively in any given encounter, as the current rules would deal with a summoner that had a warhorse.

Point two rebutle: nerfing the feet is pointless. Cohorts are fifth wheels.

I can't reasonably respond to your conclusion. I could say something about your feet, but it would obstacle an intelligent conversation. Instead, I'll ask you if you mean that they do not contribute to the game (in very broad terms), or that they are not useful to the adventure (in an in-game sense).

Point three rebutle: Adding another character to the mix skews the power formula used to determine what level to run an adventure. You can't argue that the cohort can't be added as it's a full fledged character. The rest of this arguement you put forward is strictly one about fluff. So for the sake of arguement, I say "Adventurers are a self reliant lot and don't need anyone more than thier peers."

It's two or more levels lower than the character. To that extent, it's not a full-fledged character like other player characters are. Having said that, if it's so disruptive a feat, then why even put it in the book? The current situation allows the feat for non-PFS play, but casts a shadow on it. This makes it problematic for characters to have any kind of long-term collaborators, since the mechanic that replicates that is "frowned upon." That's an awkward gaming sitation to be in, especially if you're playing under different DMs, like folks often do with Pathfinder Society.

Point four rebutle: It is too much. I don't want to handle a seperate sheet at a Con for just a cohort. I don't want to deal with meta game elements with cohorts and faction missions. I don't want to deal with the ecomionics of having a cohort, nor do I want to help keep track of what someone's leadership score is. Everytime one of your cohorts is killed, that goes down by one, got to make sure that into your conditions gained section.

The DM shouldn't handle the sheet. The player does. And if the player cheats or makes a mistake, it's just the same as if the player cheated or made a mistake in any other part of the game.

If you seriously review every character for legality every time, you should be rather quick at it by now. I don't think DMs should do something like that every time. They should review the sheet of someone who is new to the game, or if something looks suspicious, but this is not something that the DM has to check every time. At least that's my opinion.

Please don't take this as just somone ranting. As a GM who is working towards my second star, I find that there is great relief in not having the leadership feet to deal with. It's hard enough to get a large table through some slots. Let's not make this harder.

To be honest, you do sound like you're ranting, but it's fair. I've certainly opened the door to that. And you sound overworked. ;)

Ever since 1e, I've heard DMs wince at the notion of players that bring in henchment, hirelings, or other forms of assistance. In 4e, they've gone to the extreme of unifying the actions of the character and the companion (to some extent). When a disorganized player tries to use this kind of resource, I agree that it's a pain in the neck. But if players are disorganized, there's a solution for that: they should get organized. But when players have everything set up neatly, it's not a real problem at all.

PS: it's rebuttle. Like your're butting, but again.

http://paizo.com/paizo/about/contact

josh@paizo.com

Thanks. I wonder if I should take this there, at this point. I'll see what he says.

Preamble
First, I apologize if this post is a nuisance to the authors and organizers that put together a game that entertains so many, including myself. I'm grateful for their work, and it's certainly not my intent to be a pain in the neck. I've searched the boards and I didn't see any satisfying and complete explanation. I tried to find a way to post the following to Mr. Frost privately, but couldn't find a way. I know there's a little envelope thingie next to his profile, but it wouldn't work for me. I imagine that much of this has been rehashed among playtesters, so I apologize again if someone has to repeat themselves in this thread.

The Point
My opinion, to be frank about it is that denying use of the Leadership feat is unfair and unreasonable. It is possible that the feat should be nerfed a little so that cohorts do not outshine other party members, but as things stand, characters with high Charisma and several class features (clerics who choose the nobility domain, for example), lose out on a normal development that most such characters would normally have within the RPG environment. The feat simply integrates and formalizes such a development in terms of game mechanics, which makes things easier on a DM. Further, the denial seems out-of-place when the rules expressly allow characters to bring along a helper of sorts, with the limitation that only one such permanent "helper" assist in combat. Working within this limitation takes care of any legitimate concern that the Leadership feat might be problematic. Therefore, I don't understand why it has been denied use in PFS games. I'll try to list the possible reasons why someone might have resorted to banning the feat, and why I think each reason falls short of being valid.

Argument against Leadership #1: Leadership allows a player to control two units in the game
This is true, but it's not a reason to ban the feat. Players often control two units in the game. Rangers and druids have their animals, summoners have eidolons, and spellcasters have familiars. Further, the game lists guard dogs and mercenaries (albeit under the sanitized term "expert hirelings" - for which there do not seem to be any stats) as legitimate purchases. Therefore, this argument does not seem to carry weight in this particular game design.

Argument against Leadership #2: Cohorts are too flexible/powerful/shiny to allow a character to play them.
This is arguable, but let's assume it's true. Wouldn't a better fix have been to nerf the feat then? Limit the level of the cohort to the character's level -3 or -4. If cohorts are too flexible, deny them the ability to multiclass. If they are too shiny, make them dull. If the feat was banned under this argument, the ban is an overreaction, and out-of-proportion.

Argument against Leadership #3: The additional followers generated by high level characters are problematic.
This I just don't buy. Many, many high level characters (both player and non-player) of every kind have all sorts of staff helping them out. Whether they be bought, magicked or otherwise. Whether it be guarding, attacking, exploring, messaging, or holding your reading book, high level characters command appropriate resources, and removing this feat from play does nothing to restrain that. Therefore, targeting this feat because resources are overwhelming seems just plain wrong.

Argument against Leadership #4: The feat creates too much additional work.
This is also false, at least to the extent that it might be considered "too much." The feat creates additional work for the player that chooses it, but the player that chooses it obviously wants the additional work. As to the additional work required of DMs, let's say, for sake of argument, that it's the equivalent of another player in the game. I actually don't think it is, since players often have an extra hoop to jump through when figuring out how to cooperate with each other, while the player with a cohort will usually be already well-integrated. But assuming that it's the equivalent of another player, I don't see how this creates too much work for the DM.

In Conclusion...
If it's not too much of a pain, I'd love to read why the feat has been banned from PFS games. It's not a way to circumvent the money/equipment system, and I can't think of a way in which it causes problems. Again, please forgive me if this comes across as obnoxious or trolling. I'm a big fan of the game, and of the serious work you've put into it.

I recently started playing this.
The early going seems tough (but just about doable, at least for me) without spending any real-world money on in-game purchases.
My recommendation for those playing without real-world money purchases is to get the second chest-cracking stand in the bank vault as soon as you can raise the crystals to unlock it. Then maybe expand parade size to two or three, and start saving to unlock Pluto. (Which latter is going to take some time, since Pluto is 150 crystals.)
And as a general comment, apparently once the California Screamin' ride is unlocked, you are in danger of getting dropped into special events. This is a problem if you still only have a very small team of low level minions to do things at that point.
I landed in the 'Princess and the Frog' event with only Mickey, Goofy, Woody, Jessie and Tinker Bell on the team sheet and lost several days not even able to get off the event starting line, because none of the minions I had could search for a crucial item necessary to unlock the first event character, Eudora.

British comedian, Rik Mayall - who amongst other parts played 'Lord Flashheart' in two series of the British TV show Blackadder - has died.
*Link*

Information to follow in the next few days...

Now that everyone's had a chance to recover from the excitement of 2012, (and get a summer of sport out of the way) it seemed about time to get a thread rolling for PaizoCon UK 2013.
Although PaizoCon UK 2013 is still a ways off yet, I will mention (as Rob does on the PaizoCon UK site) that OddCon is coming up in Telford in mid-October.

Bring out your dead!
This thread is here reporting the demises (however temporary) of Characters in Jade Regent campaigns.
The usual format for making such reports is:
Name:
Race:
Classes/levels:
Adventure:
Location:
Catalyst:
The Gory Details: (optional)

This thread is a GM Reference thread for Part 6 of the Jade Regent Adventure Path. Links for the individual threads for each part are as follow:
The Brinewall Legacy (Part 1)
Night of Frozen Shadows (Part 2)
The Hungry Storm (Part 3)
Forest of Spirits (Part 4)
Tide of Honor (Part 5)
The Empty Throne (Part 6)

This thread is a GM Reference thread for Part 5 of the Jade Regent Adventure Path. Links for the individual threads for each part are as follow:
The Brinewall Legacy (Part 1)
Night of Frozen Shadows (Part 2)
The Hungry Storm (Part 3)
Forest of Spirits (Part 4)
Tide of Honor (Part 5)
The Empty Throne (Part 6)

This thread is a GM Reference thread for Part 4 of the Jade Regent Adventure Path. Links for the individual threads for each part are as follow:
The Brinewall Legacy (Part 1)
Night of Frozen Shadows (Part 2)
The Hungry Storm (Part 3)
Forest of Spirits (Part 4)
Tide of Honor (Part 5)
The Empty Throne (Part 6)

This thread is a GM Reference thread for Part 3 of the Jade Regent Adventure Path. Links for the individual threads for each part are as follow:
The Brinewall Legacy (Part 1)
Night of Frozen Shadows (Part 2)
The Hungry Storm (Part 3)
Forest of Spirits (Part 4)
Tide of Honor (Part 5)
The Empty Throne (Part 6)

This thread is a GM Reference thread for Part 2 of the Jade Regent Adventure Path. Links for the individual threads for each part are as follow:
The Brinewall Legacy (Part 1)
Night of Frozen Shadows (Part 2)
The Hungry Storm (Part 3)
Forest of Spirits (Part 4)
Tide of Honor (Part 5)
The Empty Throne (Part 6)

This thread is a GM Reference thread for Part 1 of the Jade Regent Adventure Path. Links for the individual threads for each part are as follow:
The Brinewall Legacy (Part 1)
Night of Frozen Shadows (Part 2)
The Hungry Storm (Part 3)
Forest of Spirits (Part 4)
Tide of Honor (Part 5)
The Empty Throne (Part 6)

Well: Now that we've all had a couple of weeks to recover, it seemed to me to be about time to get a thread for the fourth annual PaizoCon UK posted, PaizoCon UK 2012.
This will, of course, be the highlight of the British summer in 2012, although apparently there may be some kind of 'olympic' event going on at the end of July/start of August... ;)

Fugitive Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic has been arrested in Serbia after 16 years on the run.

Gen Mladic, 69, was found in a village in northern Serbia where had been living under an assumed name.

He faces charges over the massacre of at least 7,500 Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995.

Serbian President Boris Tadic said the process to extradite the former Bosnian Serb army chief to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague was under way.

Following the arrest of Radovan Karadzic in 2008, Gen Mladic became the most prominent Bosnian war crimes suspect at large.

Serbia had been under intense international pressure to arrest him.

The detention, President Tadic said, brought the country and the region closer to reconciliation, and opened the doors to European Union membership.

Mr Tadic also rejected criticism that Serbia had been reluctant to seize Gen Mladic.

"We have been co-operating with the Hague tribunal fully from the beginning of the mandate of this government," he said.

Serbian media initially reported that Gen Mladic was already on his way to the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

But Serbian prosecutors later said the procedure to extradite him might take a week.

A spokeswoman for families of Srebrenica victims, Hajra Catic, told AFP news agency: "After 16 years of waiting, for us, the victims' families, this is a relief."
...

From the BBC website: *link*

On another thread pertaining to a Wayfinder forum?

Let me resurrect this thread.

I would love to have a section of these forms where we could discuss published articles as well as plan new ones.

Dear Mr. Humual,

Ask A Succubus Journalist
PS
I did consider naming this thread 'The Pit', as this is a common practice when naming such hot-spots where fearless exposers of Asmodean lies like to hang out; indeed it is to some extent echoed in beautifully chaotic fashion in your world in so far as I believe Paizo Publishing has a 'Pit' where their brains trust lurk.
However I considered this too confusing for a first-time thread. I would commend it as a possibility for a subsequent (perhaps longer term) thread.

<puts out the welcome mat for a Much Needed And Uniquely Important thread>
(more stuff to follow at some point)

I'm currently taking a very crude look at posting patterns over RPGSuperstar since 2008 in terms of raw numbers of posts, and on the first forum I came across, whilst double-checking numbers I found the numbers of post do not add up to what they purportedly 'should'.
This page http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/rpgsuperstar/previous/ rpgSuperstar2008, makes a claim of '1423 posts in 34 threads' for Round 1 of RPGSuperstar 2008. Actually going into the Round 1 forum of that year to check that figure against the number of posts claimed there for individual threads, I only reach a figure of 1347 posts in total from the 34 threads listed on the forum.
I've checked this 1347 figure twice, once with a calculator and once with a spreadsheet.
Help! What's going on here, please? How accurate are the claims for posts for threads or for forums? Are posts on invisible threads being counted for the pruposes of total numbers of posts, but not the actual threads which they're on for terms of total number of threads?

I post this thread in response to a suggestion by one of the 2011 top 8 on another thread:

Once voting closes tonight, I was thinking of starting a thread where we, the top 32, can post any thoughts/reflections/comments we had on the contest and maybe some advice to future participants. I encourage any of the top 32 to chime in if you want.

Hoping that you have found this post Helpful (TM?)...

Neil Spicer (of course ;) ) had something to say on this last year. With a bit of situation specific preamble (which I have omitted) he offered the following psychological analysis on one of last year's threads:

...I think a lot of people who fail to make the Top 32 go through the following stages:

A Bunch of Psycho-Babble:

Spoiler:

1) Shock and Denial - As in, "Why didn't my item make it through?"..."How could the judges possibly reject it?"..."It's so much better than many of the others that made the Top 32." If someone fails to make it multiple years in a row, I suspect this phase doesn't last as long the second or third go-around. Instead, they move straight into phase #2, below.

2) Pain - Once the shock of not being selected wears off, there's the pain of rejection that sets in. It hurts not to have the opportunity to compete. It's a severe blow to the ego. You start to doubt yourself and your abilities. And, to some degree, you fear how others perceive you...i.e., that you're not good enough. That continues to sting until you move into phase #3.

3) Anger - After dealing with that pain for awhile and watching how the contest plays out, sometimes people get angry about it. They may even lash out with harsh critiques at the other contestants' stuff, partially to prove to themselves (and the world) that they really do "know their stuff" but also it's a bit of a stress-release for them to go through this phase and get the anger and pain out of their system. But, like any fire, anger eventually burns itself out. There's only so much fuel to keep it going. And, once it's gone, you move into phase #4.

4) Depression, Reflection, and Loneliness - By this point, the anger is burned out and the pain has dulled. Attempts to garner further attention seemingly fall on deaf ears as most of those interested in the contest have become absorbed by the stuff the actual competitors are creating...or they're just no longer receptive to such outcries. So, those who get stuck in this phase start to feel more and more isolated and lonely. Others may eventually try and pull them back to cheer them up, but it's still a legitimate phase someone typically has to get through on their own before they can turn the corner.

5) An Upward Turn - With the calmness of the isolation, eventually someone who got rejected starts to organize their thoughts better so they can deal with their depression and shake themselves out of it. With additional encouragement from friends and such, that helps the upward turn stabilize.

6) Reconstruction and Working Thru - Now that a person's mind has completely left behind the depression, anger, and denial, they get back to functioning normally again. Their inherent creativity takes over and they start to work on new ideas.

7) Acceptance and Hope - With their creativity in full swing, the person starts to have hope that their new ideas could succeed where the original one didn't. Or maybe they realize the contest just isn't for them and they find a completely new interest to spark their creativity. This allows them to look back on their previous idea and accept that it wasn't good enough at the time. But they aren't burdened with the denial, anger, and depression anymore. So, it allows them to let it go and actually move forward...either with another attempt at the contest...or some other endeavor.

I would like to highlight that Neil says 'a lot of people' at the start of the section I quote; not everyone may fall into the analysis he presents, but I hope his thoughts are able to help at least some of those who read them.

Edit:
With regard to posting items for feedback/peer review, I suggest that posters wait for either an official 'Clark give me feedback' thread to be posted by the judges or until at least 24 hours have passed since the announcement of the top 32 (so that the latter can enjoy their moment in an uninterrupted spotlight :) ).

Hah, and that's what I get for not double-checking stuff. :D Paizo have actually posted in advance of Round 2 this time around what (in broad outline) the theme of all the rounds will be. So, get working away on ideas for possible archetypes right now...

For the first time in a while I checked my Pathfinder Wikia page and saw an automated message there on my 'talk page' about the wikia having moved to wiki.
Since the address at the top of the screen said I was still at wikia, I'm not sure what's going on?
Are there now two copies of the Golarion wikipedia around, if so which is more up to date, and will steps be taken to delete the old one (which I assume may become more and more out of date and thus dangerously misleading with the passage of time) and link visiters to the old wikipedia site to the new one?
Will there be an email message sent to all known contributors/editors of the old wikia, informing them of the situation so that they can update bookmarks, create new identities, register with new w2hatever the technical terms are, etc?

I know Wintergreen has been a bit busy with other stuff recently, but to try to get things rolling with regard to 2011, are UK Pathfinder Society members (and other gamers) happy still with Birmingham as a location for the convention? Given how 'cosy' the Year of the Shadow Lodge event was this year, it seems we need to look at larger rooms, at the very least, for 2011 and checking whether Birmingham as a location for the venue makes sense too.

Plus if there are any other comments/suggestions/feedback?

'Final APGs leave the booth' as in 'sold out'?
Okay. That's impressive. Time to get cracking on the errata now for all those happy customers, Jason... ;)

Edit:
Oooh. Someone's posted a mystery overnight on the APG errata thread, you might like to have a look at if you're short a mystery for Calistria thus far.

Further Edit:
*Link*

Oh joy! The summer holidays are coming up, but there is still decent BBC drama around.
Benedict Cumberbatch takes on the role in this 21st century spin of Holmes.

Edit:
And at one and a half hours (and that's a straight through one and a half hours with no ad-breaks here in the UK), the BBC gave tonight's story the time to work properly.
Oh, and interesting use of text on screen in several places, though I'm afraid that those with visual impairments will miss out here.

;)
Congratulations on your own forum, Treantmonk. (At least all the threads here at the time of my posting have your name in the title...)

I am posting this thread as a humorous protest in response to the 'other' religious thread on this forum, which I find depressingly predictable.
Maybe this thread will get depressingly predictable in time...
But for now:
*Flying Spaghetti Monster vs Azathoth, Fight!*

Dear customer service,
I gather that products shipping to distributors in Europe (and thence to game stores) move by boat anyway, so are unlikely to be affected by Eyjafjallajökull's recent activities, but what comfort or hope are Paizo able to offer those European customers who receive direct shipments from Paizo normally?
Whilst I have no current personal stake in the direct shipping question, I feel it would still be useful to have some clarification on this for those who do.

P. 54

...The Starstone itself rests in a massive cathedral perched atop a pillar of rock surrounded by a seemingly bottomless pit. Three bridges cross this expanse, one for each of the Ascendant's faithful. A fourth bridge, corresponding to Aroden and maintained by his aging clergy, crumbled when an earthquake rocked the city a decade ago and has not been repaired...

...In 3890, Geb took as his Harlot Queen the former warrior-goddess Arazni, Herald of Aroden, who was slain by the Whispering Tyrant Tar-Baphon during the Shining Crusade. Geb stole her corpse from the Knights of Ozem in Lastwall, reanimated her as a lich, and enthroned her in Mechitar, where she has reigned alongside Geb for the last 8 centuries...

...The ghost of the immortal necromancer Geb rules the undead dictatorship that bears his name. He rarely manifests before his people these days, trusting the governance of his kingdom to the debased lich Arazni, the Harlot Queen of Geb...

...The Harlot Queen: This creature is the only known mummy created from the remains of a goddess. In life she was Arazni, warrior-herald of Aroden, who ascended when she passed the test of the Starstone. The Whispering Tyrant killed her during the Shining Crusade, and though her allies the Knights of Ozem buried her with full honors, the necromancer-ghost Geb stole her remains and animated her as a mummy, believing her the only creature worthy to rule beside him...

Help! First, Classic Horrors Revisited asserts that Arazni had taken the test of the Starstone (and isn't it usual Paizo practice to give 'test' in this context a capital letter for 'Test'?) when all the references which I can find in the Campaign Setting and Guide to Absalom indicate that Aroden, Norgorber, Cayden Cailean, and Iomedae are the only ones who have achieved divinity by this route (and the number of bridges in Ascendant Court to the Cathedral seems to back this up); second, Classic Horrors revisited asserts that Arazni was animated as a mummy, when again the Campaign Setting (and indeed the Arazni entry on P. 53 of Gods and Magic) seem to indicate that she was animated as a lich.

What's going on here, please? As far as I know the Campaign Setting is supposed to trump other products.
(I will copy and paste this post to the Campaign Setting thread and copy any official response there back to this thread.)

With Elaine's and Dave's novels due out in the autumn, giving some publicity to Golarion and possibly introducing some to it for the first time, will there be Season 2 scenarios set in the landscapes visited by the two novels?
It might be useful to have around some low tier scenarios set in Irrisen and Ustalav it seems to me, to ease newcomers familiar with the novels into PFS and Golarion.

Clarification, please: It seems to say on the voting thread that voters have six votes in Round 3... Is that correct, and if so is there an explanation for why the change in official format?

As of the current date (6th February, 2010) the following is the last known post by Jason Bulmahn on his journal, 'the codex of infinite pains':

Sep. 17th, 2009

The Zoo
So, yesterday I took a little trip to Steve Irwins zoo just outside of Brisbane. I had a fell post to go with these pics, but something went wrong and only the picks came through. I will clean this up when I am home, but for now, keep the following in mind. I got there in time for the croc feeding and I got some great video footage. I will load it up when I am home. This zoo was very hands on, allowing us to pet and feed the kangaroos and koalas. They are surprisingly soft. The lizard you see here is quite common, running about like scaly squirrels. Crazy. Well, GenCon Oz is about to begin for me, so more to come later.

More never did come later.

Conspiracy theories anyone?

My best wishes, as it says in the title...

Josh:
At what point does the updated playtest document that Jason just released take over from the old playtest documents for the purposes of PFS play?
(And for that matter, when do the actual Advanced Player's Handbook rules take over from the playtest rules?)

If you could clarify this, please?
Thanks.

Are contestants free to do whatever they wish with items which were rejected? I suspect we will be seeing quite a lot of that phrase 'good enough for an item book but NOT for Superstar' or variations thereof in the next few days.
So may I submit a rejected item which I created to an item book (or other publication) should such an opportunity arise, or do I have to file off the serial numbers and rename it a 'helm-spear of troll-laughing' first?

I understand that Paizo staff enjoy having holidays, and earning more than a slave labour wage, but I have some concerns about the 'three hardcovers a year' schedule which is being lined up. At the end of 2009, I gather, hardcover sales did massively well; extra staff were taken on, The PostMonster General was able to take a holiday for the first time in years, and an additional print run of the core book had to be ordered as the first one had practically sold out. Given Paizo's usual high standards of quality I would be surprised if these hardcovers (Core rules and Bestiary) had not done well... they are the basic rulebooks which you need to play the game.
I have some reservations however whether future hardcover products will sell so well. The advanced player's handbook and advanced game mastery guide might sell almost as well as the 2009 core books on their own merits, and Bestiary II, 'filling in' monsters which there wasn't space for in the first book could also do pretty well it seems to me; but somewhere down the line, the topics of rules-related hardcovers may become increasingly peripheral with smaller and smaller audiences paying for the same amount of effort and hard work put in by Paizo. A psionics book (assuming that ends up in hardcover) may not have much appeal beyond to those interested in psionics play. An epic psionics book (if that too ended up in hardcover) may only appeal to those interested in both epic level play AND psionics. Bestiary V full of the completely weird snaky creatures of a small island off the coast of Vudra (for the sake of argument assuming that all regular monsters have been covered by then, and 'themed' bestiaries are being released) will be of minimal use except to druids looking for exotic creatures to wildshape into, and for GMs looking to run games slanted towards that set of monsters. Okay, I may perhaps be compressing the timeline here in which matters may come to this point, but it seems to me that that was the corner with hardcovers (especially in their Forgotten Realms line) that Wizards of the Coast painted themselves into in a remarkably short span of time.

To reiterate my opening, I understand that hardcovers are (if popular enough) highly profitable, and that they can be very good for Paizo staff, but beyond what is currently scheduled, I hope that Paizo is looking outside of the conventional RPG box for future releases. My own suggestion is that possibly there could be an annual of some sort? I don't mean one which re-releases old material, but a sort of 250+ page 'super-pathfinder/wayfinder'. Marvel and DC comics sell thousands of annuals every year, after all, and they are essentially in the same business as Paizo - that of telling stories, albeit ones with a much higher emphasis/weight on artwork.

Anyway my thoughts on this subject, in the hope of getting a useful discussion about the future of hardcovers started...

Whilst those who have made the top 32 wait nervously to discover that they have and what their next assignment will be, and those of us who haven't wait for sudden disappointment, I thought I'd post a thread for gag villains on this forum.

So, to get things rolling:
Froodlepip Bignose, crime-lord:

Once Round 1 is over and nothing remains but soul-crushing horror for those who are not facing the quite different insanity of trying to write Round 2 entries at the last minute which they hadn't thought that they'd actually need, posters might like to post items somewhere like this thread for Clark to grind to slime in best undead demon lord fashion.
Be warned, post your item here and what you learn may well be to your cost! Or lead to the worse still torture of Clark never getting around to giving you feedback if you were somewhere near the bottom of the pile of posts when he finally became too engaged with other matters to respond to any more items...

I think last year the thread Clark posted with this title was duly stickied to prevent it from dropping down the forum until it was ready to receive posts...
If someone at Paizo might like to do this again this time round, if it seems a good idea?

Edit:
I would assume that as with last time the judges would prefer posters NOT TO POST ITEMS FOR FEEDBACK UNTIL THE TOP 32 HAVE BEEN FORMALLY ANNOUNCED, PLEASE.

...The eidolon takes a form shaped by the summoner’s desires. The eidolon’s Hit Dice, saving throws, skills, feats, and abilities are tied to the summoner’s class level and increase as the summoner gains levels. In addition, each eidolon receives a pool of evolution points, based on the summoner’s class level, that can be used to give the eidolon different abilities and powers. Whenever the summoner gains a level, he must decide how these points are spent, and they are set until he gains another level of summoner.

The eidolon’s physical appearance is up to the summoner, but it always appears as some sort of fantastical creature. This control is not fine enough to make the eidolon appear like a specific creature...

Given that the eidolon takes a form shaped by the summoner's desires, I think it reasonable to assume that some summoners are going to pick something incredibly sexy looking of the opposite gender... And that furthermore some are going to go so far as to mate with their eidolon, repeatedly.

The homepage of the Oerth Journal appears to have been hacked (at the time of the posting of this message). Does anyone know if the message that the hacker left identifies them as the same hacker that has attacked Sinister?

Edit:
Checking some of the old threads it seems someone claiming to be FatiH from Turkey hacked Sinister on one of the occasions Sinister was hacked, but I find no references to who was responsible on other occasions.
Whoever it is who has hacked the Oerth Journal has left some sort of message in a script I am not familiar with and (in English) the claim that they are called 'LOphtiran' and are an 'Iranian Hacker'.

There are a number of Pathfinder Society events scheduled for Game '09 in Manchester this weekend, which the excellent messieurs Wintergreen and Rob Silk of these boards have helped to organise.
*Link to GameCon site*

(edited)
Every other week we seem to get a new thread being posted now asking about pathfinder novels/fiction.
Is there any chance that someone at Paizo could please write a 'standard' email to be automatically sent to everyone as they register with Paizo, tell them as part of the registration process that they're being sent an email (so that hopefully they will go look for it and fish it out of anti-spam to read) and in that email, besides a welcome message from Cosmo, explain what the Pathfinder fiction/novel state of affairs is?
Please?
Pretty, pretty, please?
I'll set a horde of flumphs on you if you don't? :)

Edit:
Umm, on second thoughts, arguably by contributing to the flumph petition thread, I actually have already contributed to a flumph infestation. Okay. I'll think really hard about posting an on-topic flumph thread on every active forum which doesn't already have at least one such thread if you don't... ;)

I would also inquire as to what effect a bard using a shadow conjuration from a scroll to duplicate a summon instrument would have on any performance made with the resulting instrument, but since shadow conjuration cannot be used to duplicate bard-only [creation] or [summoning] spells, the situation is unlikely to arise....

Post your PC deaths here!
The time-honoured Paizo boards format is:

Name:
Race:
Classes/levels:
Adventure:
Location:
Catalyst:
The Gory Details: (optional)

I gather that Turin the Mad is running Council of Thieves, so I shall expect to see a goodly bodycount reported from his group, if from no-one else. (Especially given that PF #26 was written as a Pett & Logue 'special'.)

So would there be interest in such a product, either as a pdf or a dead tree product?
What would people like to see in it?
Are there chefs or cooks out there with the time on their hands and inclination to write such a thing, as a patronage project perhaps?

(edited, clarity)
Dear Dread Lord of Golarion,
As of today, my Flagship local games-store still had not received delivery of Pathfinder #24.
I am informed that there is a possibility that it may finally be on the shelves (along with the Cheliax book) later this week.
I do not purchase sufficient products, given the cost of international postage, for it to be worth my while buying direct from Paizo; however the disregard for speedy delivery of Paizo products to stores in the UK by the conventional distribution/stores method (and occasional crinkled corners) is something I find very frustrating.
I am likely to take a break from adventure path purchase for the duration of Council of Thieves whilst I review whether the aggravation of knowing the shop shelf dates are being repeatedly held up by a supply chain that apparently cares little for the Paizo RPG customers is worth enduring.

Sorry about this. :(