Posted back on Apr 26, 2015, 02:39 pm.
So, we're now millionaires.
Most of it's tied up in our paid off house.
We have an investment property, paying itself off but we own half of it.
And we have superannuation tied up until retirement.
I was hoping to be able to retire, but I'm still a fair few years away.
My wife's job imploded. She has a much lower paying job now, but she's happy and working part time. We save her entire income.
The investment property almost lost us a fortune. We think the seller was taking cash in hand or fixing the books, but as soon as we bought the place, the tenants didn't pay any rent. We hadn't increased it or anything, but after months of no rent, we eventually had to evict and the tenants trashed the place as they left. Fortunately, it come with insurance and the place was finally fixed up and now we have boring tenants. We haven't raised the rent since before covid and everyone seems happy.
I'm still working my mediocre job that I hate and covering all our expenses.
We still have no children.
We still have no major medical issues.
Next step in the dream is to save enough for me to retire. Should take 3-5 years.
Will update again then. :-)
I am very invested in PF1, but assume I'll get drawn in to 2nd Ed as everyone decides how good it is. Will likely play some 2E but may never GM. Still, give it a few years. :-)
Congratulations.
Our IRL game stopped after book 5 due to players getting jobs, moving and having children.
I look forward to reading it and comparing notes. :-)
Hope I'm not too late to the party.
As above...
I'd let the assassins succeed. They bring the PCs the head of Armag.
And, as has been pointed out, "Armag" appears again a month later.
But this time, he's hiding out in the tomb, undergoing the quickening or whatever. This seems like the perfect reason to go back to the mod like it was written. This is why the baddie hides at the end of the dungeon :-)
I read the first 350 comments.
Add me to the "Do not like." brigade.
I want my hero to fail at things s/he can't do.
I want to invest only once and be able to compete with low level NPCs.
I want to be unbeatable at a skill because I invested at EVERY level.
And I don't want to ignore the laws of physics at higher levels with just training.
The rules were originally that if you want to try something then you could:-
Succeed.
Fail.
Roll.
This system appears way more complicated AND less granular and refined. The Playtest may change my mind. But Core Pathfinder has always been my sweet spot.
Introduce another NPC to give them the info they need. But instead of giving them the info they need, give them a side quest to the info they need. And maybe another side quest after that. When they finally reach their objective they learn original NPC had the short cut.
Maybe they'll even talk to original NPC again, and she can say, "Why would you do that. I can tell you a better way." And maybe charge them too. :-)
Isolda Lebeda, Human Wizard and cousin of the fiancee to King Regent of Brevoy, Nikoli Surtova.
Ursula, Human Rogue (Spy). An orphan of the streets of Restov, taken in by the thieves guild and commandeered by interests unknown to monitor the fledgeling nation.
Yaneshi, Human Oracle of Life who watched her mother kill herself while searching for immortality.
Karl Medvyed, Human (Red) Dragon Disciple rumoured by some to be Choral the Conquerer reborn.
Otto Orcson, Half-orc Paladin of Iomedae struggling to abandon his heritage and live up to standards he's never known.
Together with half a dozen NPCs they rule the Freelands as a council where all are supposed to be equal.
Lily Teskerton was their first spymaster but stepped down after Grigori the Bard exposed her entire network. She has been replaced by Yuri Gargarin, Karl's long time friend and confidant.
Oleg and Svetlana were also on the original council as Treasurer and Councilor but have since been replaced by Karls cousins Tatiana Medvyed and Vladimir Medvyed respectively.
Jubilost Narthropple was the original Warden but was replaced by Isabella Gargarin, another of Karl's entourage.
Kesten Garess was their Marshal and Akiros Ismort their General. Kesten has been replaced with Gunta Eisenzhan, another of Karl's cousins, whereas Akiros continues to serve as General, and as Yaneshi's protector and lover.
Karl is engaged to his childhood sweetheart, Natasha while Ursula has herself recruited the cunning orphan Tabatha as her apprentice and lover.
Apart from the towns of Olegton and Tatzleford, they have placed Stockton in the plains, Jhod's Rest in the forest at the temple site, Karlsburg where the quickling fey tower was and claimed both Varnhold and Fort Drelev, which they renamed Fort Liberty.
Since they've built a lumber mill in every forest hex they can, their internal threats are the environmental terrorists, Nature's Scourge, stolen from the Villain's Codex, and Corax the lumberjack who heads the entire woodcutter guild and has never done anything illegal but abrasively disagrees with everything the PCs do that doesn't directly benefit the lumberjacks.
All the external threats to the kingdom have been systematically overcome, but now war is on the horizon as we enter the fifth book of the Adventure Path.
My tabletop players are just beginning book 5 of Kingmaker. They look like they'll complete the entire AP by early next year.
They called their kingdom "The Freelands", called their capital "Radiance" and based it out of where the Staglord's Fort was.
Their kingdom has grown at an alarming rate, but they're about to go to war though I suspect they'll win that and grow bigger even faster.
So, here are my notes for my 3.5 pantheon which was supposed to only have 9 Gods
PELOR of Bytopia Warrior of Light, The Shining One, Lord of the Sun Lawful Good God of Light Domains: Good, Law, Sun, War
Favoured Weapon: Mace
Favoured Race: Humans
ELDATH of Elysium Lady of the Lake, Goddess of the Singing Waters, The Healer Neutral Good Goddess of Water Domains: Good, Healing, Protection, Water
Favoured Weapon: Net
Favoured Race: Merfolk
EHLONNA of Arborea Mother of Life, Ehlonna of the Forests, Goddess of the Woodlands Chaotic Good Goddess of Life Domains: Animal, Healing, Knowledge, Plant
Favoured Weapon: Longsword
Favoured Race: Elves
MORADIN of Arcadia Stonefather, King of the Mountain, Lord of Might Lawful Neutral God of Earth Domains: Earth, Law, Protection, Strength
Favoured Weapon: Warhammer
Favoured Race: Dwarves
BOCCOB of The Outlands Lord of All Magics, Keeper of Wisdom, Sage of the Gods Pure Neutral God of Magic Domains: Knowledge, Luck, Magic, Trickery
Favoured Weapon: Quarterstaff
Favoured Race: Gnomes
OLIDAMMARA of Ysgard Master of the Four Winds, The Eternal Wanderer, The Laughing Rogue Chaotic Neutral God of Air Domains: Air, Chaos, Luck, Travel
Favoured Weapon: Shortsword
Favoured Race: Halfling
WEE JAS of The Grey Waste Queen of the Dead, Collector of Souls, Lady of Sorrow Lawful Evil Goddess of Death Domains: Death, Destruction, Magic, Trickery
Favoured Weapon: Dagger
Favoured Race: Undead
GRUUMSH of Gehenna Lord of Flames, The Slayer, God of Battle Neutral Evil God of Fire Domains: Evil, Fire, Strength, War
Favoured Weapon: Spear
Favoured Race: Orcs
LOLTH of Pandemonium The Dark Queen, Mistress of Poison, Lady of Shadows Chaotic Evil Goddess of Darkness Domains: Chaos, Death, Destruction, Evil
Favoured Weapon: Whip
Favoured Race: Drow
Then Dragonstar bought out its 12 generic gods which worked nicely so I added another 3 gods to my world to be discovered.
The Father------Light
The Lover-------Water
The Mother------Life
The Smith-------Earth
The Magus-------Magic
The Stormlord---Air
The Reaper------Death
The Warrior-----Fire
The Trickster---Darkness
The Judge-------Protection
The Merchant----Time/Luck
The Destroyer---Destruction
BAHAMUT of Celestia The Protector, King of Justice, The Blessed One Lawful Good God of Protection Domains: Good, Healing, Protection, Strength
Favoured Weapon: Morningstar
CHRONEPSIS of Baator The Watcher, Hand of Fate, The Keeper True Neutral God of Time Domains: Knowledge, Luck, Magic, Trickery
Favoured Weapon: Scythe
TIAMAT of The Abyss The Destroyer, The Serpent Queen, The Many Chaotic Evil Goddess of Destruction Domains: Destruction, Evil, Trickery, War
Favoured Weapon: Flail
Dragonstar had this exact concept and worked it awesomely.
They had 12 gods but I can only remember some...
They had the Father, the Mother, the Warrior, the Stormlord, the Merchant, the Magus, the Destroyer, the Trickster.
My own world had 9 gods- 1 for each alignment; Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light, Dark, Life, Death and Magic.
The whole problem is everyone participating across scale.
I loved Star Wars D6 and tried to convert the rules to fantasy. I discovered a lot of issues.
D6 is my favourite system but it's best for things on a human scale. The aliens are slightly stronger, smarter or faster, have telepathy or such, but on the whole they have the same power level as humans. Shoot them once or twice, they get hurt, a few more times, they fall.
For vehicle sized things, D6 used the same rules but shifted scale and generally you couldn't hurt a vehicle unless you had another vehicle. Likewise with starfighters, capitol ships and so on. Everyone could contribute at every scale. The rules broke down when your character wanted to fight a creature the size of a vehicle, or when your starfighter went against capitol ships.
Pathfinder/D&D rules handle scale better, but unrealistically. You stab the 10th level fighter twenty times with a dagger and she still doesn't fall. But that also means she can take on the vehicle sized dragon. Hit points, while unrealistic, allow for better interactions of scale.
Ultimately, I loved Dragonstar. Not only did the setting unite sci fi and fantasy sublimely, but instead of being sci fi with magic, it was fantasy with technology.
You could take low level characters with laser rifles hunting wyverns or fighting back ogre cavemen. And the rules worked well.
But put someone in a starfighter and the rules collapsed. The Pilot Class who had been useless all game now took over and the other characters did nothing or died trying. Whereas in D6, all the characters could contribute because they were all the same scale.
My takeaway from all this is to make sure all characters can contribute all the time. Fighters, wizards, rogues, clerics all have their part to play in creature combat at high and low levels. Make sure they all have their part to play in vehicle and starship combat too.
My wife and I are going to be millionaires.
We are saving 70% of our income and investing it.
We both have good jobs, have done the math and we can do this.
It will take us about a decade.
We have several unfair advantages-
We were born white middle class in a first world country.
We were raised to value education and both have degrees.
Our education was mostly freeish- we don't live in the US.
We don't have children and don't intend to have children.
We are both healthy.
We are both frugal.
Why aren't we millionaires yet?
Until the past few years I was working when I wanted at stuff I liked.
I was studying to get that degree.
Our jobs pay a lot less than a million dollars a year.
We are unable to borrow 10 million dollars to invest and turn into 12 million and pay back the 10 million plus 1 million interest.
What could stop us?
Some or all of our investments crash.
Losing our jobs.
Having children.
Getting seriously sick.
Divorce.
These are ordered from most to least likely.
The crash wouldn't stop us, just delay us... possibly until the next crash. And the next, and so on. If we can make it to a million, we should be able to diversify enough to avoid those sorts of things.
When we succeed it will be due to hard work and luck. Lots of luck.
But still better odds than the lottery.
My first impression is that Pathfinder can't go on forever. No other game has why should Pathfinder be different.
But they are different in a lot of ways. They've built a huge, stable and loyal customer base. They appear to be driven by customer satisfaction over profits, realising that it's better to have less profits over a long time than more profits all at once.
And most of their profits are for the adventure paths which are theoretically story based as opposed to system based.
They can't go on forever, but I believe they have a lot more than 3 years, even though I think they may have reached their peak already.
So, two options really- they reach stasis where they have carved out their niche and they hold it. Not too bad really. The loyalists get their regular dose of game and the company continues to turn a tidy, but regular profit.
The problem is that things change- people change. The 70's saw the birth of RPG's, the 80's saw complexity as the sign of a good game, the 90's went for flavour and setting, the new millennium opted for streamlining of rules and now we have new systems experimenting with themed resolutions for flavoured play styles.
So, second option, they change. If they follow true to their current style, they change with the fans. They ask what the people want, they playtest, they provide.
My guess is that with all the unchained options and strategy guide and such that they are collecting information for a second edition. Few RPGs are perfect, and most go into a 2nd ed. Why not Pathfinder? It's certainly the thing to do if sales start going backwards too much.
That said, they are taking things slow and steady, carefully learning from the mistakes of other RPG companies.
My prediction- 2nd Edition released in 5 years with a big focus on backwards compatibility and a few choice APs re-released and updated under the new rules.
Do what real people do- cherry pick your information and place more importance on your information than theirs. If the NPC is particularly obnoxious, accuse the PC of cherry picking their information.
Real people believe lots of dumb things, generally based on confirmation bias and inaccurate information. Your NPCs can do that too. If the PCs persist, just use a circular argument.
If the NPC is right, just tell the PCs they're wrong because they haven't taken all factors into account. Magic and Gods are two particulars that you have access too that are always pretty unpredictable.
Last but not least, don't over use. Always keep arguments minimal and brief. Attack or distract the party if necessary. Remember, you're all there to game and have fun.
I ran a home brew basic D&D back in Uni which lasted 3 years and took characters up to about 16th level. I switched it to AD&D 2nd Ed and it died a short time later. Was also co-GMing a Star Wars D6 game that went about 3 years too.
Then moved cities.
Ran AD&D home brew that went maybe a year and 4 levels.
Played in another campaign or two that went a few levels over a year.
Eventually ran a 3rd Ed game that went 3.5 over another 3 years and got character up to 14th level or so.
Was in a game that finally got my own PC from 1st to 12th level. Lasted a few years but fold after the GM had her second child.
Ran Kingmaker- died at the end end of the first book as players didn't gel or have time.
In a Carrion Crown that just died (on hold) after 3 years, 11 levels and halfway through book 5 as 1 player working out of town and another just had her 2nd child.
Ran Skull and Shackles weekly for over a year to halfway through book 4 before scheduling and party split up.
Greetings all. Monk, rogue, wizard... I'm thinking I'll go cleric. There haven't been enough of them lately. Thinking maybe dwarf, but no idea really. I'll go over the players guide and build further over the weekend.
For now, Hi, looking forward to gaming with you all and
I was gonna play that character too. But can't because he is totally evil.
PFS doesn't distinguish between disruptive characters and evil characters. Since disruptive people tend to be drawn to evil characters (broad generalisation) PFS bans evil, and so CN has become the alignment of choice for disruptive players. In this way, the GM can tell disruptive players to stop killing good guys as it is an evil act.
So, alas, the character that does everything they can to fit in with and help the Pathfinder society and other characters, just so they can kill and loot, is evil and banned while the crazy guy that can't work with one character, let alone an entire party, without starting a fight and ruining any plan that comes up is CN and so totally legal.
A variation on this character I wanted to play was the 'moral compass'. The character would always suggest the most evil course of action as reasonably as possible. They would encourage gently any course of action containing even the slightest questionable behaviour.
"Torture the prisoner- think of all the lives we could save."
"Take it. They probably don't have friends or family that need it more than us."
"Of course you can do that to the body. It's dead now."
"It'll be okay. Just one lie can't be that bad."
The idea would be to metagame turn the entire party to Lawful Good. :-)
Hiya. Sorry to get political, but 50 Shades actually has little to do with sex and BDSM and the 'soft erotica' tag is way off the mark.
I just read this review that makes me realise how dangerous the movie really is.
50 Shades Review
Ultimate MAgic
Ultimate Equipment
Ultimate Combat
Advanced Class Guide
These are the main hardbacks.
You do not need all these.
I have just the core and the APG, and I have not yet run out of characters or ideas.
Even if you do want everything, you do not have to buy these all at once.
If you are new, I would recommend starting with just core.
After a few months, buy APG.
Then after a few more months buy your next (possibly UC) and months later your next again.
I had nine gods-
LG God of Light favouring humans
NG Goddess of Water favouring merfolk
CG Goddess of Life favouring elves
LN God of Earth favouring dwarves
NN God of Magic favouring gnomes
CN God of Air favouring halflings
LE Goddess of Death favouring undead
NE God of Fire favouring orcs
CE Goddess of Darkness favouring drow.
All was in balance and opposition.
Light Water Life
Earth Magic Air
Death Fire Darkness
Over the campaign the players discovered 4 old gods, parents of the current pantheon.
NG God of the North - Metallic Dragons
LN God of the West - Crystal Dragons
CN Goddess of the East - Dragon Kin
NE Goddess of the South - Chromatic Dragons
To help players familiarise themselves and recognise the pantheon, I named them after the Greyhawk gods, except for water.
Pelor, Eldath, Ehlonna, Moraddin, Boccob, Olidammara, Wee Jas, Gruumsh and Llolth. Old gods were Bahamut, Falazure, Aasterinian, and Tiamat- stolen from the dragon gods in 2nd Ed D&D.
I also had the original 1 god, Io, also stolen from the Monster Mythology who somehow created the four dragon gods.
I later discovered "The Twelve" from the Dragonstar campaign setting, which mirrored mine quite nicely.
The Father, The Mother, The Lover, The Smith, The Magus, The Stormlord, The Reaper, The Warrior and The Trickster. (The last three, the Merchant, the Destroyer and the Judge I kinda dumped under the Magus, the Trickster and the Father respectively.)
Nine Gods Domains:
PELOR Warrior of Light, The Shining One, Lord of the Sun Lawful Good God of Light Domains: Good, Law, Sun, War
Favoured Weapon: Mace
ELDATH Lady of the Lake, Goddess of the Singing Waters, The Healer Neutral Good Goddess of Water Domains: Good, Healing, Protection, Water
Favoured Weapon: Net
EHLONNA Mother of Life, Ehlonna of the Forests, Goddess of the Woodlands Chaotic Good Goddess of Life Domains: Animal, Healing, Knowledge, Plant
Favoured Weapon: Longsword
MORADIN Stonefather, King of the Mountain, Lord of Might Lawful Neutral God of Earth Domains: Earth, Law, Protection, Strength
Favoured Weapon: Warhammer
BOCCOB Lord of All Magics, Keeper of Wisdom, Sage of the Gods Pure Neutral God of Magic Domains: Knowledge, Luck, Magic, Trickery
Favoured Weapon: Quarterstaff
OLIDAMMARA Master of the Four Winds, The Eternal Wanderer, The Laughing Rogue Chaotic Neutral God of Air Domains: Air, Chaos, Luck, Travel
Favoured Weapon: Shortsword
WEE JAS Queen of the Dead, Collector of Souls, Lady of Sorrow Lawful Evil Goddess of Death Domains: Death, Destruction, Magic, Trickery
Favoured Weapon: Dagger
GRUUMSH Lord of Flames, The Slayer, God of Battle Neutral Evil God of Fire Domains: Evil, Strength, Fire, War
Favoured Weapon: Spear
LOLTH The Dark Queen, Mistress of Poison, Lady of Shadows Chaotic Evil Goddess of Darkness Domains: Chaos, Death, Destruction, Evil
Favoured Weapon: Whip
My question too- what does happen when an escalation cycle isn't stopped? Does it keep growing until everyone is forced to ally and deal with it? Does it hit an overly large but potentially manageable size and then slow or stop? If so, would that size be determined by nearby populations or terrain? Is it possible to lose areas of the map to monsters "Don't go into the southern corner of the woods, only the best return to tell the tale."?
I understand that the default assumption is that an escalation cycle will eventually be stopped but... what if it happens where few have explored? Or it gets fed by the curious players nearby? Or people are busy fighting their own wars while winter is coming (tm)? :-)
Can you end a charge with a Vital Strike? I know most feats don't combine (standard action, full attack, part of full attack, etc) apart from Power Attack, but what about charge which ends with a 'single melee attack'?
Traps do damage and can only be removed by rogues. You can tie spells to them to do funky stuff. They do little, if anything, to further the story.
Haunts do damage and can be removed by anyone who fulfils the special condition. You can tie spells to them to do funky stuff. The special condition can be something that furthers the story.
I think haunts are superior to traps story wise, and inferior damage wise. The tension with haunts is knowing something will happen and that you can't stop it.
Haunts should take at least a round to manifest.
They should have a scary description of how they manifest.
They should be suppressible with positive energy once they manifest.
They should be always persistent.
They should be only destroyed by a special condition.
If players want to bypass the haunt, they pay the healing tax every time they do. And it affects them multiple times. Otherwise, they go off somewhere else, find the story condition required and use that to defeat the haunt, with little extra expenditure of resources.
Detection should be a non issue. The haunts shouldn't be able to be detected until they manifest. The only way you should be able to find out about one is rumour, hearsay, or some other forewarning.
The haunt manifests. Party gets actions. Haunt attacks.
Give it an initiative of 0 if you have to. It appears as its action. Characters respond by either fleeing and taking no damage, or by fighting it. If the latter, they can only hurt it with positive energy and it attacks them every single round until they flee, suppress it or destroy it.
This is particularly apt for PFS, where combat is almost always an option for bypassing an encounter, but rarely the best option.
Lastly, and this is being stated rhetorically, but you don't have to use them if you don't like them.
LOL. The answer to the thread on how to use Haunts in Carrion Crown is "Don't!"
My wife GMed us through the Haunting of Harrowstone. She hated the rules for haunts. She wanted to be a good GM and she read the rules for haunts and checked the forums and tried so hard. She's an actual lawyer and still couldn't piece together the rules. Ultimately we did what we always do- we rolled a d20 when we thought it would help.
After that, we had an awesome time.
The scorching ray trap almost killed one PC. We managed to save him and we avoided that area afterwards. The burning brands- another trap, more damage.
But Father Charlatan- that was awesome!!!
Why did Father Charlatan work sooooo well!!??
Because it didn't trigger immediately.
Because we knew something was wrong with our Sorcerer but we didn't know what. The GM said we could see Father Charlatan behind the Sorcerer every time my Paladin used detect evil. And with the Sorcerer being a halfing, that just added creepy and disturbing child abuse issues, all put there by our imaginations, because the GM didn't reveal much at all. She just smiled quietly and answered our questions. We fled the dungeon with our Sorcerer and tried to fix him. It took ages. We even gave up for a session or two and returned to Harrowstone to slaughter more undead. Eventually, the Oracle had an idea and we took the Sorcerer to the church. He explained his idea to us.
The Sorcerer has never been hurt!
We all looked on sceptically. He got the sorcerer's permission.
Then stabbed him with a dagger.
"I rolled a 3...+2 strength damage."
"You... you're adding strength?"
"I want to make sure it works."
"You... you're adding strength?"
We almost died with laughter. Then, as per the rules, the GM took the player outside and the tension flooded back in and rose to new heights.
The GM tried to follow the haunt rules, but they just got in the way, so we mostly ignored them.
"Can I lay on hands the haunt?"
"Umm, sure, roll a d20. Make it a touch attack or somesuch."
"What does he do?"
"He thrashes about some more?"
"I detect evil. What do I see?"
"Chains. Strangling him."
"Try some holy water. A symbol. Cures. Anything."
The battle was intense and memorable. I don't think we'd found the haunt siphons at that point otherwise we would have used one and mayhaps that brilliant piece of story would instead have been a footnote of "Yeah, whatever, it dies."
My long winded point?
Haunts are a brilliant concept. The mechanics are terrible.
Just like traps, they detract from the game when used poorly. But, when used well, they add so very much more.
Because the haunts are plot and story based, they need less rules, not more. They are continuously compared to traps, but instead of using trap rules, or disease rules, or curse rules or any other already established and known rules, we made up new rules for haunts. And sadly, the idea has suffered because of that.
(1.) ceases to be lawful good,
(2.) who willfully commits an evil act, or
(3.) who violates the code of conduct
loses all paladin spells and class features.
Nope, you missed 2, and what willfully means. He didn't willfully commit the killing. No will, no evil act done by him, no falling.
Nope, you missed (3.) Any one of those 3 acts will make him fall. That's why there's a comma before the 'or' at the end of part (2.)
Rynjin wrote:
The Code:
Quote:
a paladin's code requires that she respect legitimate authority, act with honor (not lying, not cheating, not using poison, and so forth), help those in need (provided they do not use the help for evil or chaotic ends), and punish those who harm or threaten innocents.
Nothing in there about killing innocents.
You know why? Because that's covered by "Evil Acts". Killing a child is an evil act. No doubt.
However: " who willfully commits an evil act"
He did not willfully commit the act.
There is nothing in the Code that would cause him to fall in this scenario. Period.
There is no part of the Paladin's code that allows slaying an innocent child.
She respects legitimate authority, none of which says kill the child.
Act with honor- killing children still doesn't count.
Help those in need- note there is no "when convenient" attached here. Note there is only one conditional here at all.
And everyone's favourite- punish those who harm or threaten innocents. Such as those who kill an innocent child, say.
Killing a child is an Evil Act AND it is against the code. The paladin falls.
Wizards lose their magic to spell resistance or in an antimagic zone.
Fighters have many foes with Damage Reduction.
Rogues only get sneak attack under some circumstances.
Paladins lose their abilities when they kill innocent children.
If someone is not comfortable with the fact that there are some limitations on being a Paladin, they may want to choose a different class. I'm not sure which one though, since most classes can be nerfed by a bad save of one kind or another.
(1.) ceases to be lawful good,
(2.) who willfully commits an evil act, or
(3.) who violates the code of conduct
loses all paladin spells and class features.
Killing an innocent child violates the code of conduct. The paladin falls.
The character fails his save. Something bad happens.
As always, there are spells to counter a failed save- stone to flesh, restoration, raise dead... atonement.
Rules solved.
Roleplaying
LG: "We must do everything we can to help those less fortunate than ourselves."
CE: "He was in the way. It's not my fault."
Paladins take responsibility.
If this player wants the powers of a Paladin, without the LG mentality, he should be playing an anti-paladin.
A paladin who ceases to be lawful good, who willfully commits an evil act, or who violates the code of conduct loses all paladin spells and class features (including the service of the paladin's mount, but not weapon, armor, and shield proficiencies)
Atonement Spell
This spell removes the burden of misdeeds from the subject. The creature seeking atonement must be truly repentant and desirous of setting right its misdeeds. If the atoning creature committed the evil act unwittingly or under some form of compulsion, atonement operates normally at no cost to you.
I think it's pretty clear cut- he loses all his abilities until he seeks atonement. The longer he whines that it's not his fault and the longer he isn't sorry for what has happened, the longer he loses his powers.
You also might want to point out that whether the player is sorry or not, his character must be truly repentant for the spell to work, as per first sentence of spell.
Just show him the rules AND show him how to fix it. He may whine but you've shown him the way and all he has to do is follow. He can use the money saved from the Atonement to pay for a Raise Dead- also a 5th level cleric spell.
I actually did this. My paladin for carrion crown is a silent, sombre man sporting perpetual stubble.
Garvin Tanner took his younger brother adventuring and when his younger brother was killed by a wight and then rose as one, Garvin dropped his sword and fled. Too ashamed to return home and admit what had happened to his parents, Garvin gave his life to Iomedae and now works, not so much to uphold good, but to die destroying evil.
The party wondered why he was using an axe and when they'd suggest a possible evil action he'd shrug and remind them that they could start their journey down the path of corruption, but if they did he'd be waiting for them at the end of that journey. There have been very few questionable acts since.
Eventually the party bought him a magical greatsword and when they asked why he was so reluctant to accept it the whole backstory came tumbling out.
We're halfway through the adventure path, and even if he makes it through the whole path and saves the world, he'll still have to return and face his parents.
"Mum? Dad? I... I'm home."
I came in with Basic and 2nd edition. 3rd ed was a huge improvement except it went from 4 classes to 11.
Way back in the good ol' 2nd ed days, I rolled a fighter with 18/impressive strength. So I gave him a 2 handed sword to capitalize on this. That meant I couldn't afford decent armour, so I gave him hide armour, and lo, a Barbarian was born. Since that day, I can make pretty much any character I want to play using just the 4 core classes. With dozens of skills and hundreds of feats, it has never been easier to play the character you want to play. And all without 23 extra classes.
I loved 2nd ed having rangers, druids, bards and stuff as subclasses.
Swashbuckler? Put your fighter in a floppy hat.
Investigator? Max out your rogue's perception skills.
Witch? Play an elderly female wizard.
Druid? Give your cleric nature spells.
I understand I don't have to use any of the new classes.
I've certainly never needed any of them.
There's only one thing you need for a game based on imagination.
$0.02
Aura moderate necromancy; CL 10th
Slot headband; Price 20,000 gp; Weight —
Description
This item is a silver eight pointed star containing a small clear diamond at its centre. The star is affixed to a silken cord and tied around the forehead, worn so that the star sits upon the wearer’s brow. There is no mundane way to determine what function this item performs until it is placed on the brow of a deceased humanoid. The soul of the wearer of a Phylactery of Pharasma immediately returns to the deceased creature as if raise dead had been cast upon the subject. However, the subject does not gain two permanent negative levels and this effect is temporary until such time as the subject is actually raised or resurrected. Additionally, the clear diamond changes colour to match the wearer’s alignment as shown in the following table.
Lawful Good - White
Neutral Good - Blue
Chaotic Good - Green
Lawful Neutral - Yellow
Neutral - Grey
Chaotic Neutral - Orange
Lawful Evil - Purple
Neutral Evil - Red
Chaotic Evil - Black
Should the subject be slain again, their body crumbles to dust and dissipates and they can only be revived by a miracle, wish or similar magic. Should the phylactery of Pharasma be removed or destroyed (2 hit points, hardness 1, and damage reduction 5/slashing), the soul will depart the body once more, returning the subject to its dead condition.
Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, detect chaos, detect evil, detect good, detect law, raise dead, restoration; Cost 12,500 gp
In designing it-
I used White for purity, Black for corruption. (no surprises there)
I used blue for good and red for evil tying them to water and fire which I also link to Good and Evil and have standard game tropes.
I used Green for CG and life and nature.
I used Purple for LE mostly as an opposite to Green and for its closeness to red.
Grey for NN I used as an obvious balance of Black and White and for its lack of colour/alignment.
Yellow for LN and Orange for CN were somewhat arbitrary.
But I wanted to use the 3 primary colours, the 3 secondary colours, and the Black, White, Grey as my nine alignments.
I allow core rulebook, and some stuff from the APG. Everything else is case by case. I only bought APG because I found it going cheap.
Most banned would have to be Ultimate Magic.
Whatever happened to using personality to make characters different? Is every rulebook beyond Core saying Core doesn't have enough options? 500 pages of rules and you can't realise your dream character? Please!
There's always risk with random dice rolls, but many people think that risk lies in rolling poor stats, in which case rerolls may or may not be allowed. Risk also lies in someone getting high rolls and dominating the party with awesome stats.
The simple fact of the matter is that using a random method, someone will roll better than the rest of the party, and someone will roll worse. If you're going to give rerolls to try and give everyone similar stat values, you may as well just cut to the chase and assign a point buy method.
You do not speak on behalf of my Y chromosome.
Our patriarchal society's constant depiction of airbrushed women as the norm sets unrealistic expectations that do insurmountable damage to both men and women. These expectations are shown from birth and taught as we grow, as naturally as walking and talking. While you may not have personally engineered our societal perceptions, the market was made by men, for men, and the emergence of a market for women is still a comparatively new occurrence and still controlled by men.
Just because your peer group defines ugly women differently to the majority doesn't mean society as a whole allows women to look or dress how they please. The simple fact of the matter is that if you judge women based on appearance, be they coat rack or not, then you are contributing to the problem.
What I don't get is the (apparently very common) notion of looking at an obviously photoshop'ed image and go "I'm going to starve myself to death so I can look like that!"
People have less free will than you think. Girls are sold these images as easily as we are sold Paizo products. We geeks have stereotypes we try to live up to, books and movies we must read and see. Paizo bases its sales and advertising on qualities we geeks share and outcomes we desire. We place pressure on our fellow geeks to be like us- "Oh, you have to see blah!", "How can you dislike bleah book?"
Likewise, certain assumptions are made about what women must be and they are punished for failing to comply. You talk about 'an obviously photoshop'ed image' and forget that billions of women are constantly, endlessly, everyday, bombarded with images both more and less subtle than this one case. And only a few million women develop eating disorders.
Whereas we geeks are only bombarded with Paizo products when we visit here. And I'll wager a larger percentage of us geeks fall to the advertising here, than women do to photoshop elsewhere.
Yeah, give racism to NPCs... because no one is going to bring that in in real life!!!
This is a GAME people. People play to have fun. People play to be someone else. The last thing you want is to create your hero and have them treated like crap because of race, gender or religion. We get enough of that BS in real life. We don't need NPCs doing it too.
By all means, have nasty, bigoted NPCs where appropriate, but make no mistake, the more racism there is, the more everyone will play white male humans or even worse... not play at all.
Anyone who thinks that is unrealistic- get over it! Golarian has magic. Golarian has Gods that grant divine power. And all those Good gods say, "Don't be a racist shmuck!"
And it makes perfect sense for Golarian to be less racist than the real world. Racism is a learnt behaviour and while every race thinks it is better than the others, they have also had millenia of trade, learning and worshiping the same gods with those other races.
And if you still think racism should be part of the game, protest by playing a black, female character- not so much fun now is it?
Morons!
In answer to the original question, NPCs should act based in their own qualities... not the qualities of the person they address. Lawful Goods will most times try and treat everyone equally, Chaotic Evils will treat people based on relative power.
The right to vote is mine, but no party, (or candidate) has earned the right to mine.
Perfect then register your protest by either defacing your ballot paper or leaving it blank.
As sad as it is, that's the plan.
That's exactly what the big parties want. If they can stop enough indecisive people voting, then their fanatics will push them over the line so much easier. The last thing they want is to be forced to negotiate with a smaller party that got lots of protest votes.
I believe, since you can pick your core alignment and since you automatically drift back to that alignment, that penalties for breaking alignment should be harsher and unknowable to stop people trying to game the system. Anyone can make a mistake. Make two mistakes and you may start drifting, 3 or more and you should be well on your way to a long wait back to core alignment. 500 points a mistake just seems a lot of leeway when you have 5000 per category, especially when you can even change your core alignment.
I like the whole setup. A lot of thought and effort have gone into it to make combat more than just a click fest and it looks like an experienced player with a weaker character could quickly even the odds against a more powerful foe with only one or two real strategies.
What does bother me is the 3d200 system. The averages are not 50, 100, 150 for taking the lowest, middle and highest rolls respectively. At tier 1 you will roll under 40 almost half the time. Your chance of getting 100 or more is 1/8. Once you hit tier 2, there's a mighty sudden jump in skill. And tier 3 is the opposite of Tier 1- you get over 160 almost half the time. Hopefully, these numbers won't seem so extreme once they've been enmeshed invisibly into the system. The never missing just means you do lots of low damage most of the time. Could get frustrating very quickly, but we'll see.
That said, seeing the combat system does tempt me to consider dabbling with a more martial character.
He doesn't appear in the AP anywhere else, so I moved him across with the others.
It'll change from game to game for plot reasons.
My PC's befriended him, then one of them screwed him over so the rest are being really nice to get him onside again.
No one dead yet in my Play by Post. In my Face to Face, we avoided any deaths in The Wormwood Mutiny but so far we've had three deaths in Raiders of the Fever Sea. And we've only just reached Mancatcher Cove. I don't think any of them have been too unfair, except Mancatcher Cover. The baddie is listed as CR8, but half the party are level 6 and they didn't come close to a win.
Whalebone Pilk:
Having tried putting into harbour to avoid the Death's Knell, when they put back to sea and it comes for them the third time, they say f#$% it and ram it head on. This makes for a very thin bottleneck between the two ships where pirates and Brine Zombies slaughter one another. Unable to reach Whalebone Pilk, Brutius, the half orc Sorceror, comes up with the brilliant plan of swinging by rope across the rigging onto the Death's Knell. He zaps Whalebone Pilk with his short-ranged Scorching Ray and finds himself suddenly unable to breath as the air is sucked from his lungs. By the time the rest of the party scythe their way through the zombies and defeat Whalebone Pilk, it is too late for their fallen comrade.
They get him resurrected at Besmera's Throne with a lot of fast talk, diplomacy and money.
Isabella 'Inkskin' Locke:
They are aboard ship when Isabella 'Inkskin' Locke flies out to greet them and lightning bolts Captain Elneth. Fortunately the rogue makes her save so she lives. Ka-Hina the cleric casts obscuring mist, so unable to see the party, Isabella casts geyser around the main mast, boiling the unfortunate NPC lookout. Brutius leaves the obscuring mist and casts flaming sphere at Isabella, who responds with another lightning bolt. Brutius fails his save and plunges into death.
Mancatcher Cove:
The canopy creeper is wayyyy tough. Brutius' player has created a replacement half orc greatsword wielding damage dealing fighter. Alerted by screams in the middle of the night, the officers charge on deck to see vine tendrils carrying off their crew. With no sorceror, their ranged damage verse the beast is laughable. I nerf it somewhat by remembering to -20 from its grapples, but every hit is still 1d8 damage and -1 strength, it still gets 4 attacks and it's still 100' away from them. The fighter and Ugo, the natural weapons ranger shapeshifter, eventually try climbing up the vines to the creature, where they discover that my descriptions of crewman being bitten in half was less flavour text and more an indicator of its immense bite attack. The fighter successfully retreats down for healing after 3 hits, but Ugo stays on and is eventually grappled and falls unconscious as Elneth arrives. By now, drained of strength and with no one to flank with (as if), she does 1d6-2 damage and realises there's little to be done and swings back down to join the surviving officers and crew below decks. The creeper proceeds to devour Ugo, a fitting end for the cannibal.
An evil character is more powerful than a good character.
Two good characters are more powerful than two evil characters.
The advantages of evil are that you take stuff from the weak. You lie, kill and steal and you do so to further your own power. The disadvantage of evil is that you do that to evil characters too and they do it to you.
The disadvantage of being good is that you hold yourself back to help the weak. You wait for them, lend them food and stuff and protect them where you can and you do so to further the power of the group. The advantage of being good is that good characters do the same for you.
Healing should always be easier for the good guys. Even if good and evil healing are identical, if you're almost dead, the good healer will heal you. The evil healer may decide he likes the look of your loot.
This is why evil gets slaves, mind control and undead - they can't trust anyone else.
Is enchanting a weapon another leg of its production (harvest, refine, craft, enchant = magic weapon) or is enchanting a weapon a matter of quality (harvest QL300, refine QL300, craft QL300 = magic weapon)?
Is there a QL50 magic sword and a QL300 non-magic sword and if so, how do they differ?
And while I agree the best way to craft stuff is to go from specialist, to specialist to specialist, will it be the only way? Can there be a way for me with my QL300 skill to make a QL300 item from QL100 materials by taking 10 times as long and using 10 times as much?
Will it be impossible for my character to build a lone hut near a harvest point and then refine and craft items on my own? Or will it merely be hard, slow and incredibly dangerous?
Colour coding quality seems okay- I see the need to stick with old tropes and make the most common quality white. Instead of reinforcing old tropes to new players, why not take the opportunity to standardise a new simple system. Say ROYGBIV, or just ROYGBP, with White still as the most starting standard.
Or lose the colours and have descriptors. I got tired of having +1 to +5 weapons and instead called them Eldritch, Mithral, Vorpal, ??? and Adamantine. Surely the community can come up with half a dozen descriptors meaning lightly magicked to KABOOM! :-)
Hmmm. The crafting process does sound overly complex though I do agree with much of it. The longer the chain of events required to make an object, the more there is that can go wrong. Additionally, what if I want to do everything myself? Will I have to multiclass?
I know and agree that working with others to create a chain of supply and refinement should be the quickest and best way to craft items. But, will it be the ONLY way? How does a 300 skill crafter make a 300 quality item if there are no other 300 quality resources, miners and refiners about. Will there be a (long, drawn out) process that lets a crafter use their full skill? Or is it a case of you may never construct a 300 item unless every resource and step is also 300 skill or quality?
Will this also mean that the best quality items won't appear in the game for two years because no one will be 20th level until then? Or will there be some way to organise groups of people together to create a better result than any one could on their own? Such a mechanism could also be used in rituals- a group of casters in a besieged city trying to cast a meteor swarm spell before the invading army breaks through and kills them all?
Buy DragonStar from Fantasy Flight Games if they still have it.
Setting already there.
Has its own fanbase already.
Ties to the monstrously successful Pathfinder universe.
Rules easily converted from Pathfinder RPG.
However- if they want pure Sci Fi, if they don't want it tied to pre existing licenses then
-They'll need their own setting. People that don't want setting will still buy the product and use the system. People that want setting won't buy if it's only system.
-The setting (galaxy, universe, whatever) needs an over-arching conflict for the players to join, ignore or take advantage of.
-Tech level can't be insane. Too high and you start introducing magic equivalents.
-Starship combat is an issue for SciFi RPG's- either the worst pilot will get too easily killed, or you end up with passengers on the ship while the pilot and gunner PCs do all the work.
-Plenty of aliens to choose from BUT no special abilities for them. As soon as you start it's a slippery slope and suddenly you have overpowered shapeshifters.
-Simple standardised RPG system. All aliens and humans should be roughly equal in power so no need for 20 levels and hundreds of hit points. Variety comes from the universe and the technology- not from character's classes and magical abilities.
Ultimately, what I want from a SciFi RPG is Dragonstar, or original Star Wars D6 system. If Paizo can make me a system that's easy to learn, and a setting that's grandiose with a couple of novel twists then I'll probably buy it.
Pets shouldn't be too much of an issue if they're just some pixels that do extra damage. If people want their pets to be PCs, then they may have some issues. :-)
SAD sounds like it will be great.
Alignment should start at whatever you want- simple setting when you create the character.
Alignment should not change when you're offline.
To maintain that alignment, you should work for it though. If you do not live up to your alignment it should drift.
And it should drift to True Neutral.
Paladins and Monks should work to be Lawful, not drift there by doing bugger all.
Meanwhile, good/evil Druids and Barbarians shouldn't be losing their mojo just because they had some R and R.
If you don't want to be 'punished' for having a certain alignment, don't display it in an inappropriate place.
Lawful Good Ville will be the safest and easiest place for the peaceniks, but Mr Evil can expect to get hammered there.
Mr Evil should be spending his time at Chaotic Evil Town, where he can gank whoever he wants at the risk of being ganked himself, and where Ms Good will get hammered by everyone solely because she rocked up without a Heinous flag.
