Plato's Nephew's page

Plato's Nephew wrote:

I'm really enjoying this issue so far (only picked it up yesterday). I did find a small mistake, or at least an omission. In the Grootslang's description, it says mentions "Scissor tusks" in the special qualities, but they are not explained. What are they?

It's a remnant. The original monster had far too many special abilities and attacks and such; this happens a fair amount, to tell the truth. Just ignore the mention of "scissor tusks" entirely; those two words should have been cut from the monster's stats.

Thanks James, you have been most helpful. In my campaign, the PC party has just entered a swampy region, and I was hoping to throw some of the creatures from the 'Serpent Skull' books at them. Didn't want to have to worry about if a monster I was using was incomplete or not.

I hate to do this, but "Bump!"

I made my previous post nearly a month ago and no one replied. In fact, nothing else was posted here at all so I'm not sure if it's even been seen. I'm just curious if it was a typo or an omission or something. Surely someone else has noticed the "Scissor tusks" special qualities for the Gtootslang. Can anyone tell me what it is?

SQUEEEEE! Ahem, I mean, oh, it's arrives next week? I am quite pleased by this.

I'm really enjoying this issue so far (only picked it up yesterday). I did find a small mistake, or at least an omission. In the Grootslang's description, it says mentions "Scissor tusks" in the special qualities, but they are not explained. What are they?

In the game I'm running, one of my players built a construct using the Animated Object rules. The construct (Mr. Tik-tok) has the 'Metal' special ability, and as such, sports a hardness rating. During a recent battle, Mr. Tik-tok was the subject of a spell that gave it DR 10. The monster it was fighting by-passed the DR, another player said that the monster still wasn't doing damage as it still had to contest with the hardness. I ruled that Mr. Tik-tok would have either DR or hardness, at the very least, only the most protective would apply, as they both do the the same thing. This caused some consternation amongst the players, and myself.

I guess what I'd like to know is what is the relationship between DR and hardness? Does one trump another? Can a creature have both, and if so, do they overlap or stack? Please help.

See page 53 of the Pathfinder Core rulebook. Badgers have been animal companions from day one in Pathfinder, so there was no need to add this material into Bestiary 2.

James is indeed correct (of course). This should also rectify complaints that anyone may have had that the noble badger was missing from the "Familiars" entry in the first Bestiary. That being said, so where are the ring-tailed lemurs now James, huh? Huh? (Kidding!)

I finally was able to pick-up a copy yesterday (slow arrival to Canada it seems), and I can't get enough of it! I want to use everything in my campaign, whether a creature fits or not. I do have a quick inquiry though.

I noticed that the write-up for some of creatures that can be taken as Improved Familiars gives the prerequisites (ex. Brownie), but some don't (ex. Silvanshee). It' shouldn't be difficult to figure out myself, but I was just curious what you guys thought. The one creature that surprised me the most in this manner was the badger, and it not have information on being either a familiar or an animal companion.

All-in-all, I am really enjoying the book and can't wait for the Inner Sea World Guide to come out next. Keep-up the good work guys!

Are we discussing the Giant Panda or the Red Panda? Because a starfish-headed red panda couldn't be a Deadline Monster; Red Pandas are not bears!!! They are actually more closely related to skunks, raccoons and weasels.

But enough with today's biology lesson....

As I was reading this thread, I thought that this might make a pretty fun new contest for Pathfinder. Most print magazines will occationally run contests for the readers. How about, for Pathfinder's first official contest, you have readers submit they're very best "Deadline Monster?" It could be fun/funny, and the winner could have their creation featured in an up-coming issue.

They tend to multipy when you get them wet. But remember, just don't feed them after midnight....

jlward wrote:

So, do you also track the performance of covers painted by individual artists and make decisions about who to hire for future covers based off of those metrics?

Absolutely. Also the colors used in the skyline, the types of cover lines, the presence or absence of numbers in cover lines, the composition of the cover, the presence of keywords such as "Greyhawk" or "Forgotten Realms" on the cover, and so on and so on.

I don't suppose you might be able to give us a rough idea into your findings of what makes a popular cover?

I can only think of one issue where a female character was wearing an actual chainmail bikini. Issue #282, the April Fool's issue for 2001, has Dixie looking into a full length mirror and seeing her "Gamer Girl" counterpart looking back.

Here's the cover art: http://paizo.com/image/product/magazine_issue/dragon/282/cover_500.jpg

I just thought of an awesome idea: a Modron Binder! After Primus' death he/she/it became a vestige. So why not have a sub-cultural group (like a cult) in Modron society who look to have a closer relationship with their god by joining together physically with Primus?

As a slow-witted Paladin I once knew was fond of saying, "Evil is as evil does."

My present character is a Warlock, so new invocations are something I also search out constantly. There are more in the Magic of Incarnum and Cityscape as well. Plus, I believe that I saw one in a Dragon issue in the last couple of years too.

I haven't read any of China Mieville's books yet, but I promise I will soon. I enjoied the issue greatly, and I would pre-order the campaign setting sourcebook tommorow, were it made into such. I hope there shall be a web enhancement for this issue appearing soon (wink, wink, nug, nug).

There is only one small piece of info missing from the articles that I hope can be provided regardless; do the individual races of Bas-Lag have preferred leanings alignment wise? I suspect that like most other insectile race, the Khepri have a Lawful aspect, but that's my best guesstimate.

How's this for anti-Munchkin: one of my fellow players in our present campaign is taking ONLY levels as an Expert until he qualifies for, get this, Horizon Walker. If he survives that long....

Wow, I'm so glad to see that this thread has been picked-up so quickly! You've guys have lots of great ideas; Greyhawk, Enhanced Epic Level Handbook, Heroes of Intrigue/Mystery. All great ideas.

Some of these ideas may never become books, but only from letting our opinions be heard can we let them know what we'd like. Ain't democracy great?

Any ideas about what books might you like to see?

I think that for their next 'Races' book they should do "Races of the Planes". I know the Planar Handbook was created for players, but in this one they would examine the Slaadi, Modrons, Genasi, Mercanes and maybe Paraelementals.

Fiendish Codex I is released in June, and it focuses on Demons. Fiendish Codex II in December, and it focuses on Devils. Well, how about next year they release Fiendish Codex III, and make it focus on Yugoloths? They have not gotten nearly as much coverage as the other two races, maybe this would help them gain more noteriety.

D&D is fantasy role-playing based on Europe during the middle ages. Oriental Adventures gave players the chance to give their campaigns an asian flavour. Eberron lets players incorperate a steampunk-esque bend into campaigns. Well, why not make a Forgotten Realms book that updates some of its old spin-off settings? This will allow players to add Mesoamerican, Arabic or various other east Asian flares to some of their games.

I'm sure that there are good reasons why some or all of these books will never get made, but if these are things that players would really like to see, they'll never get made unless we let ourselves be heard, right? Let me know what you think, good, bad or indifferent.

Holy crap.... I've become attatched to these characters, and they just keep dying. And so quickly too. Wow, I hope they can get out of this.

What!? Argh! But this stat block format is so long and boring! It just makes things more complex than they need to be. First the character stat block format is changed, and now this. What's next? *sigh*

Pudding. Lots and lots of pudding.

I only started reading this today. It rocks! I can't help but notice how everywhere the adventurers go is just so filthy. Or might that just be a little bit of Tyralandi's personal biases seeping through?

There are classic scenes of civilians during war that need not be gruesome to be effective:

- still burning/smoldering buildings
- meeting a group of dirty, dowtrodden & injuried survivors/refugees
- a nearly naked infant walking, crying and covered in blood that is not her own (mother's?)
- rescuers franticly, and unsuccessfully, trying to dig-out people trapped under a collapsed building
- dead livestock left up-stream from a village to poision the drinking water

Ok, so I'm getting graphic & gruesome now too, but all you need to do is look at the nightly news and you can find ideas.

Wow, do you guys ever get out of the house? Only a few minutes ago the film "Munich" lost at the Academy Awards. Now tell me, would there not be many people who would see the men portraied in that film as heroic and good?

The late-KGB, the CIA, Mossad, MI6 and so many 'spy' organizations have people in their employment that 'clean-up' when conventional channels are not available. In most cases, these men and women are doing what has to be done for the 'greater good' of their homelands. They many not have a Good alignment in game terms, but Evil does not apply either.

As someone mentioned earlier, in Joss Wedon's amazing film Serenity (go rent it tonight!), The Operative knew that what he did was evil, but he beileved that the ends justified the means. A little twisted, but not evil.

Oh, and yes, there is actually a base class for someone whom wishes to be a non-Evil Assassin can take: the Ninja. The Samurai were the Emperor's elite, public warriors. While the Ninja was his swift, dark shadow.

Kobolds, yeah, I've always seen them as having personalities like Tweek from South Park. I've even got a Kobold character named T'wyk for an up-coming campaign. lol

Hey, don't worry about it. My own mother didn't think I had it when I brought it up. Had to get a shrink's say so first.

About the game, I just wish I had a better computer so I could actually play. But for now, I'll just live vicariously through the message board. Weeeeee!

Ecology of the Adventurer next issue(#342). I can't wait!

I agree with Lilith that the creatures' running around like ADHD kids who didn't take their meds are kinda weird to get used to

As an ADHD sufferer, I resent that comment. This is a complex, and in some cases, debilitating mental illness. It is the #1 most commonly hereditary mental disease.

Most people believe that those with ADHD are wild and uncontrollable. In truth, there are at least 11 variations of the disease. It should be called Unfocused Attention Disorder; hyperactivity occurs in only a small portion of the ADHD population.

Most individuals with ADHD are most likely better at video games that the rest of the population. We have an ablility to hyper-focus on activities we have real interest in. This would actually let a ADHD player better involved themselves within their game.

Please don't think that I mean to be a jerk; I just want people to know the reality, not the myths.

Like Rangers and Paladins, Savants gain the ability to cast spells at a higher level than 1st. I was wondering if, since this was the case, they case at 1/2 their class level too?

If they do, is their caster level the same or different when casting arcane and divine spells?

Or, am I just think about this to much?

Anyone Canadian here? There is a regular news magazine show on CBC Radio 1 every night (As It Happens). Tonight they interviewed a certain Mr. Gary Gygax (maybe you've heard of him?) They discussed D&D, how to play and also the up-coming release of this new online game. This is some big mainstream media attention our little hobby has attracted.

Ecology of the DM? *shutter* I guess Dragon has done evil-themed issues in the past. :P

Might make a good web enhancement.

I read the list, and this wasn't on it, so it could be possible. Here goes: Ecology of the Gamer. lol It could be done for the April Fools issue. Last year's 'Flaws for Commoners' in Class Acts was hilarious, and this could be something similar for the Ecology section. Just a thought.

Suggestion for Dragon Compendium II: why not include in the collection some of the new items, monsters, etc. that make their first appearances in Dungeon? Yes, the content wouldn't technically be Dragon, but why not create a collection of those too?

I'm really looking forward to seeing much of the pre-3.0 stuff converted. I have been able to find most of the back issues from #274 on, so I found the supplements from before then the most informative. But its also really helpful getting the 3.0 articles converted to 3.5 too.

'Complete ...' classes have been added to 'Class Acts'? Sweet! This just goes to show what a nice, tightknit community gamers are. If we politely articulate our thoughts, be they appreciation or criticism, the people who run things are willing to listen and change accordingly. :D

On that note, anyone working on any new Warlock invocations? *wink, wink, nug, nug*

Argh! I have to wait until Tuesday to find out exactly how cool all these "new" critters are. I love seeing all that old stuff updated and converted. Heck, its why I got the Dragon Compendium too.

I can't think of any company that pays playtesters. But hey, if you find out about one, G-cubed, let us know! ;D

You guys don't need to pay me; I'll playtest for free! :D

I've been wondering about something though since I first saw symbionts and grafts in the Fiend Folio; if a PC aquires a symbiont or graft, does their level adjustment change? Or is it considered the same as aquiring an intellegent weapon? If its like a weapon, could a PC (or NPC for that matter) buy a symbiont? I thought that the Eberron Campaign Setting would have gotten intothat more, but it was just one more disappoint I had with the Campaign Setting. *sigh*

WTF!? Dude, I just tried to download the PDF preview, and my computer says that it contains a virus!? Weak, dudes, very weak. I don't expect that from company sites like Paizo.

I retrack my previous statement. It was I that had the virus. I appologize for any undo stress that this may have caused anyone. As well, I appologize for any negative results that may have been passed on to Paizo. I am working to fix the problem now. (I couldn't fix it earlier because I was out playing D&D. lol)

Although, I did finally get people to reply and react to something I posted on here. I guess being controversial is the way to get attention then, eh?

WTF!? Dude, I just tried to download the PDF preview, and my computer says that it contains a virus!? Weak, dudes, very weak. I don't expect that from company sites like Paizo.

I have yet to play him yet, but a paranoid and easily frightened Kobold Sorcerer named T'wyk. He dotes on his lizard familiar, and is only really agressive if anyone mocks his claims of having draconic ancestory.
He is going to take progess through the full Dragon Disciple prestige class and then take the Half-Dragon Paragon class from Unearthed Arcana. By the end of it all, the character will be referred to as T'wyk the Half-Copper Dragon/Kobold Paragon Sorcerer/Dragon Disciple. lol By that point, I may let him start to gain courage.

The answer here had a lot less obscenities than the ones I usually give you, too.

;-)

LOL I would never expect a lady like yourself to know any obscenities.

Congrates Amber! :D I've always liked your work. Now, I'm not going to ask what's in this book (as I'm sure its all really top secret), but can you let us know what the book is about? :D

Yes, yes! I want Gremlins! Oooo and Fremlins were really cool too! My first cohort was a Fremlin Sorcerer.

I would really like to know how to calculate Challenge Ratings for if/when I create a new creature to submit. I have to admit as well that some NPC profiles do not seem to be well balanced. A single NPC with a ECL of 5 is given a CR of 5. So that means that a 5th-level NPC wizard is meant to be a balanced threat for a party of four 5th-level PCs? If the party includes a 5th-level wizard of its own, then there must really be a problem with how Challenge Ratings are calculated. I hope Dragon does an article to deal with this and help clarify things soon. Or maybe Paizo or Wizards might be willing to even do it as a web article sometime in the near furute?

I noticed that the True Necromancer prestige class in Libris Mortis has Arcane/Divine spellcaster progression for each and every level. But then again, you'd have to want to be a Necromancer in the first place to take the class.

In a campaign I was running, both my fighter and barbarian bought tower sheilds, as well as having "regular" shields. I was confused as to why they would waste gold on gear that was essentially useless to them. Until they entered a valley. They were attacked from above by a large number of Orcs with various levels in Warrior, Fighter or Barbarian. The fighter and barbarian stood side by side with the sheilds above them and have the other members of the part huddle beside them. I think the all gained between 50% to 100% cover. Only one character was injured, and that was from the rogue who came-out from under the sheilds to make faces at the attackers. He deserved the sling stone in the nose. lol

Yeah, and the story practically writes itself:

The demons named are all children of Tiamat. She took her son, the demon/monster/god Kingu as her second consort. Kingu was made the War Commander of Tiamat's forces against the other gods (who she hated for kiliing her first husband, Apsu.) Kingu was given the Tablets of Destiny (or Fate) to wear over his chest as armor.
Marduk was the god the other gods made their hero to stop Tiamat. After killing her, Marduk imprisoned the other demons, and took the Tablets of Destiny from Kingu. He later made humanity out of Kingu's corpse as servants for the gods.

So if we were to put it into D&D, Kingu would be a powerful (and some what insane) demon that seeks the return of the Tablets of Destiny. He belives that it is his right to control the fate of humanity as they are all "his children." The double danger of Kingu regaining the Tablets of Destiny are his control of all fate, and regaining a measure of his sanity. If Kingu becomes sane, he could rally other demons around him, organizing them into a large and near unstoppable force. And that has always been the saving grace with demons; while there are too many of them, they are too chaotic to organize. A demon army lead by Kingu would be a threat on all planes and peoples. Someone could even have a story in which legions of devils are force to fight side-by-side with various celestials against Kingu's vast demon army.

Hey, I'm not all that familiar with the Demon Lords from earlier editions (ie. no familiarity what so ever), but I have a few suggestions. You guys can shout me down if I'm mentioning anything already done, or was done as complete crap. I just read the Enuma elis, the Babylonian creation story. It has a number of names of various demons/monsters; Kingu, Kulili, Kusaiqu, etc. These could tie in nicely with article on Mesopotamian myths in issue #329.

Fighter, with Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting and a light weapon in the off hand, using a Full Attack Action:

20th: +18/+13/+8/+3 : +18/+13/+8 (Seven attacks each round)

And to him I say, "Good day, sir." And hopes that he slips in my sh*t as I run like heck in the other direction. lol