Reaperbryan's page

My 2 cents:

Atheists on Golarion are practitioners of Athiesm - A, a prefix meaning without, and Theism, meaning 'faith in a god'. (loose translations, I'm not an English major). Thus an atheist professes worship of no god. "Do they exist? Sure. Are they powerful? Yes. Am I going to give them one copper shekel or one sheaf of wheat as an offering, a request for power, or a thanks for the harvest? No. My hands sowed, tended, reaped. My belly gets the grain, and those in my community if I choose to sell, barter, or share. Gozreh wants my bloody wheat, he can come get some, I've got a bushel left that he can have before winter if he'll give me a fair price."

Agnostics are unsure which gods are right. Which ones are worthy of devoted worship - or, at an extreme, unsure that any of them, with their petty squabbles and tawdry backstories are any better than ordinary people that happen to be able to level mountain ranges - and frankly, 4 of them are ordinary people that have that power level.

This will not of course end the debate, but it's how I use it in my games.

I was messing around on the intertubes and found this, a tour of Reaper's casting works. It's neat if you have 15 free minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3HqXSEUFac

WooHoo! I'm on YouTube!

//waits patiently for the money to start rolling in//

Can we expect it soon? I'm about two months away from starting my KM game and I would need to receive and paint it first.

I know that this week, we're shipping these to distribution:

Which has a Kingmaker figure, a Serpent Skull, one Inner Sea figure for use in all Golarion games, and one figure (I am ashamed to admit)I'm not sure about the Product origin for.

Stag Lord was originally slated for May but did not arrive from the sculptor on time. I would expect it to be the 4th selection for June (which originally the Gray Gardener was to be released in June, so this is one that came in early). Dirty secret: Sometimes a sculptor turns in a green late, and we have to do that.

I'm sure your customers would love (hint, hint) to see a page with just a rough time line for releases. At least the order in which they'll come out, if not actual dates. Is that feasible?

I would really like to purchase Vordakai, Cyclops Lich, but only if I can get by the time my players reach Kingmaker Part 3. They're about to begin Part 2.

I show these for June:

July:
60079 Lyrie Akenja
60080 Pathfinder Agent
60081 Runelord Alaznist
60082 Vordakai, Cyclops Lich

August:
60083 Samurai
60084 Ninja
60085 Gunslinger
60086 Ameiko Kaijitsu

Also note that the August product release is linked somewhat to some upcoming product that will be relevant at the time of the model releases....

Nemitri wrote:

vow of poverty should be renamed vow of sucking.

Yeah, funny thing about poverty, it sucks.

+1

Wouldn't you sell more AP minis if players could get them by the time the the correlating AP issue is shipped?

Why are the AP minis coming out so late?

Is it because the minis line is still relatively new and yet to be streamlined? Do you wait until you know if a character is well-received before its commissioned?

This is so much a more complex question with a harder answer than it sounds.

Let me give the simple answer of: Paizo has hundreds of awesome figure art we at Reaper are using to make these figures. If we focus only on the new AP stuff, the hundreds of awesome figures that came before will be obvious in their absence. What we are trying to create is a useful mix of 'New and relevant to current audiences, and inclusive of the really cool stuff from the past'

Stag Lord might be a year too late for a lot of you. But somebody out there is just about to begin Kingmaker, and that GM will be happy.

Our party got one of these and painted a set of ladders and a door.

The ladders got us down a pit and back up without falling in, and the door got us out of a room with no exits.

As a GM, I would not have allowed the door to create a tunnel behind it, but as it was on a normal wall, the door replaced that section of wall.

I'm not sure how I would rule on using pigments to create "negative space". Holes, pits, tunnels, etc. It works in Roadrunner cartoons, but I'm playing Kingmaker, not Toon.

My opinion right now is that I'd rule that the pigments can create positive items, but not empty space. Or if empty space were argued convincingly enough, that it would have to be a) small and b) higher DC. drawing a realistic tunnel on a page is hard. Just look at deviant art...

Enpeze wrote:

Well I guess sooner or later the mini business will change to CAD file sellers instead of selling real pewter or plastic minis. 3D printers will take it over. They will be cheaper in some years and everybody can print their favorite minis out by themselves. (not prepainted of course...)

Eg recently in Austria there has been introduced a 3D printer for only 1200 Euro and the size of a coffee-machine.

http://diepresse.com/home/techscience/hightech/662754/TU-Wien-entwickelt-kl einsten-3DDrucker-der-Welt

Someday, those 3D printers will even produce decent enough quality output to produce minis, too.

I am far from impressed with any samples that I've seen or have been exhibited from these deals.

We spend a lot more time than most people* researching all the variant ways a mini can be made. To that end, we buy CAD minis from different 3-d rapid-printers and such every few months. We are very intrigued by the technology, and really do hope that some day, we can harness it as we now harness fire and lightning.

Right now, the figures that we get don't quite have the quality of a hand-sculpt.

That's not to say there aren't some computer generated models that work- there are plenty. But the desktop 3-d printer technology is not there yet.

*I have to guess this is true, really. It is possible that you spend more time than I do worrying about the future of the miniatures biz. If that is so, we may need counseling, and perhaps could consider a group rate....

I don't think the Reaper section of the store even mentions Asylum; I'm guessing that Reaper doesn't want any confusion between their unpainted metals and their prepainted plastics.

There was a LOT of confusion when we first launched the LE plastics, about which brands were going to "convert" to PPPM (NONE, all lines we had then and have now are either/or, and none that started as one ever changed to the other), which were being "replaced" etc. (NONE, while we have cancelled some licensed properties in the past, and do occasionally prune our selection down, no product line has been cancelled wholecloth since the LE line was introduced, and cetrainly none were "repalced" by it).

So yeah, we try to keep the brands Asylum and Reaper clear and distinct.

And I feel the way you do about pogs. If you're struggling for cash it might be cheaper, as you can get dozens for the same cost as 1 3d figure, but it's not (MY OPINION) the best solution for character and tactical representation. Likewise, Monopoly tokens, dice, and coins, all of which are perfectly reasonable, but none of which are "the ideal solution".

Bear in mind my bias, however.

Just to be clear, I'm looking for something suitable for a huge sized miniature. I've already got a couple large sized owlbears.

The http://www.reapermini.com/FigureFinder#detail/14614 Owlbear is significantly larger than the other 3. It could easily be placed on a 3x3 base, although it won't fill the entire 3x3 footprint, it fills more like 3x 1.5. You'll have to use at least SOME imagination.

It is, IMHO, the best owlbear mini I have ever seen.

I may, of course, be biased.

What do you have planned for the line? You should definitely do a marilith. I have the metal one, but I haven't painted it yet, don't know when I will, and we really need a pretty marilith. The DDM one was way beyond ugly.

Also, I have this metal fury which I think is from Reaper.

And some spellcasters. We definitely need some of those.

And mosnters. And everything else! :)

I'm in the loop a little - I sit in on about a third of the LE planning meetings. But 99% of the time, I'm too busy on the production floor cranking out unpainted metal miniatures. I am a chair on the board that helps vote on which of the offerings up for consideration will go to the prototyping stage, but I'm not very deeply involved with LE as a whole.

With that disclaimer, We're looking at 6 non-dinosaur releases this fall, I'm pretty sure it's got wolves, a wizard type, and some fire/acid beetles. I can't recall the other 3. I'm thinking there was a ghast or a ghoul, but I'm drawing a blank. Not being on the final committee, I have no notes to refer to, I'm just trying to recall the voting process.

Some of the figures we showed in the past on our site never got prototyped in plastic - the version we showed was the metal copy we send to our supplier as a Master. Some of the figures got prototyped, and then voted down after that. For every 4 figures we release, we protoype 12. For every 12 we Prototype, 20 got made as Masters.

Plastics are a very different business model for us than the metal we've worked with for two decades, and we approach it much more cautiously - many of you could probably name a dozen or so companies and products that were sunk by pre-painteds, and I am pretty darn adamant that I not be one of them.

If you're at PaizoCon, Origins, or GenCon, I'd love to talk in person. (this goes for any of you, not just KaeYoss.)

Reaperbryan since you are paying attention here, I will tell you there is one thing stoping me from buying your Pre Painted Minis, The Bases, they Drive me crazy, they are way to small and the minis constantly fall, and are not really sized for 3.5 size rules very well.

We are working to improve the tipping issue in future releases - one poster on our forum suggested gluing them to pennies. They cost only $.01 each, which is cheaper than any other basing material he could think of, and provided enough bottom-weight to stick 'em down.

As for sizing, we battle with scale creep and with base sizes - sometimes to make the figures dynamic and impressively built, we sacrifice a little of the "strictly 100% accurate" in terms of game rules. Then again, we're also trying to be universal, these aren't specific to 3.x/Pathfinder/4e. And while most people can agree on the size of a horse, a werewolf in "crinos" form is anywhere from normal human sized (teen wolf) to 12 feet (White Wolf). D&D/Pathfinder's interpretation is just one, and our artists are artists, and sometimes do what pleases them.

I'm a firm believer that supporting the competition to keep it healthy and to keep product top-notch is a much healthier and desirable attitude, as well as a more long-term successful scheme, than making the largest amount of money that you can in the shortest time possible.

I think that my ideals have been proven to work by Paizo, themselves.

I like to think that we follow a similar business model, given that our figures are the cheapest New Figures in the business, (there's a company that re-releases expired licenses, and he can do cheaper than us because he has fewer up-front costs, but that's neither here nor there). I also like to think that that's one reason why Paizo approached us about doing their figures. Quality Product, consumer-friendly price, consumer-friendly customer service, and respect for the hobby.

Reaperbryan wrote:

Is this within walking distance of the Coast Bellevue? I'd like to go, but we're relegating to walking distance or cab rides, and I'd rather save my $$ for the food everybody here tells me is so amazing!

Yes, definitely. It's a short walk even if you get slightly lost walking over w/out the crowd to guide you :)

Thanks!

Our reservation is in, and the space is BOOKED! We will have a good amount of additional space this year, in antici.........pation of about 100 people attending.

The specifics:

PaizoCon Meet and Eat

At:

Crab Pot-Bellevue
2 Lake Bellevue Drive
Bellevue, WA 98005

Starting at 6 pm, ending at 9 pm-ish.

Orders will be on separate checks, and the 20% gratuity will be automatically added to the bill.

Oh, and as of this post....35 attending thus far.

Is this within walking distance of the Coast Bellevue? I'd like to go, but we're relegating to walking distance or cab rides, and I'd rather save my $$ for the food everybody here tells me is so amazing!

The people who use miniatures are going to want to paint miniatures.

As the bread-and-butter of my company, i certainly hope that demand for unpainted metal figures is high. But I can tell you there *IS* a demand for pre-painted plastics, because we sell those, too.

And they are all going to want to play Warhammer. Because its pretty much the best miniature game out there.

Really? Because most of the people I know that buy the Pathfinder Minis or the Dark Heaven, Chronoscope, or Warlord Minis we sell play D&D, Pathfinder, or some other tabletop RPG.

Minis are only for Warhammer? They don't even MAKE metal miniatures anymore...

KaeYoss wrote:

Reaperbryan wrote:

Have they been the holy grail of minis? No. There's thousands of people that don't even know LE exists.

If there's only thousands of people that don't know of LE, I'm saying you're doing very well. Because I'd guess that there's billions of people who don't know about Pathfinder. :P

Don't get me wrong - I'm a big fan. I get all the LE minis (except the dinosaurs). Love the rats, by the way.

Well I was one of the ones that didn't know. This is the first I knew about it. The funny thing is I had heard of the Legendary Encounters but didn't know they was prepainted plastic mini's.

The comment I heard once described the product as "the best kept secret in the miniatures industry" **sadface**

Fortunately, your character is Lawful, so get him on the Law rather than the Goodness aspect, though question that too. If he says he detects Evil from you, freely admit that you are no angel but also that you never pretended to be otherwise, and state that all men have their virtues and their sins. If he admits that he is using a paladin's Detect Evil ability to Detect Evil from you, mention that this is an invasion of privacy, which is itself an evil act. Not the greatest of sins, certainly, but not the smallest either.

Ask the paladin if he had just cause to inspect your aura and moreover if he was doing so under some legal authority and if so which. Remind him that presumption of innocence is the cornerstone of justice (which is LG by another name) whereas presumption of guilt is the cornerstone of tyranny (LE) and ask him which of those two alignments he serves. Tell him the tale of the inquisitor who, in his zeal to find diabolic witches marked with the devil's mark, spied upon a group of virtuous maidens while they bathed, leading to their suicide and ruin, not to mention the inquisitor having his eyes struck out on the order of the Katapeshi judge, who wisely remarked that just as men who violate chastity should be made eunuchs so they can never sin that way again, just so should those who willfully violate modesty and peep into the privacy of the harem be made blind so they may never act on such temptation again.

Those who read auras without permission or even just cause? What would the wise Saranraen judge say about them?

Mention that justice is nothing, however, if it is not tempered by mercy, and magnanimously say that you will forgive him his trespass this once if he will swear by all that is holy that he will not violate your privacy so again.

If he presses you that you really have done something evil and wicked, tell him that your sins are your own, but the only one you will submit to be judged by is Lady Pharasma when you die. Mention--truthfully--that the paladin's shining...

+1

Kevin Andrew Murphy wrote:

Basically, talk him around enough that he decides to take you on as a project to redeem a sinner while you work on him and see how long it takes you to get him to fall. After all, once he's an ex-paladin, he won't be quite so problematic and will likely end up a more tractable Lawful Neutral.

Thank you, this made me laugh out loud.

As to the Paladin/Player, part of the *fun* of LE is using the law against him. Ask him what crime you've committed, who appointed him judge/jury executioner, etc. Bug him for last rites for *everything* he kills, make him donate to the needy, etc. Volunteer him for things "Why yes, madam, if your doxies can withstand the lectures on virtue, I'm sure my holy companion will use his mercies to cure disease, for no charge." etc. Bascially, if he wants to play an aspect of the paladin to make your life difficult, use the class to make his life difficult.

At the same time, you should sacrifice *some* resources for your own good. Donate to some orphanages, offer to use your (non-icky) spells to help a community, etc. If the townsfolk love you, it doesn't matter how much of an evil bastard you really are. I was able to do this with Shadrach, taking short term risks, to allow me to (literally) get away with murder later.
** spoiler omitted **

+1

Mairkurion {tm} wrote:

Evil Lincoln wrote:

I often ponder questions like this when I am Xeroxing my Kleenexes.

I hope you had a coke fresh from the fridge while you were doing that.

I bet he googled how to do it.

And then used a Q-tip to clean the Xerox Machine.

Also, Guilty. I refer to my Kingmaker game as "My D&D Game" when I don't call it "my Kingmaker Game".

Oh, and I have a full set of Pathfinder and D&D 4e Books. I do refer to 4e as 4e, and not as D&D though...

Reaperbryan:

Who paints your pre-paints, out of curiosity? I've always wondered if this is a machine process, or if there's some outsourced group of painters?

There's a mask that is applied and sprayed on. We don't do the process in house, so I'm not sure, but I am told that it's all robots/spray masks. I would not be surprised if there wasn't a step involving humans and a paintbrush, but our supplier tells us this isn't the case.

Pale wrote:

Man, I didn't even think of the cost of oil equating to plastic costs (a big ol' "dur" on me for that).

Soo... pre-painted metal minis would be a more economically viable product, then?

In low volumes, quite likely.

Hm, look at me, linking to a competitor! Bad representative of Reaper Miniatures!

Nevertheless, I give you:
http://www.frpgames.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=27270

Crystal Caste made these 5 packs of pre-painted metal figures for ~20 USD. They are mostly on clearance racks, now, despite a good level of painting and good quality for the price.

My guess is CC has the same problem we face with our Legendary Encounters line. The secondary market for DDM has made consumers think that a mini should cost a dollar, and $4-5 each is "outrageous".

c'est la vie.

[

I take it you're a rep from Reaper Miniatures then? Cool.

Ah, yes. I'm sorry, I go by ReaperBryan on so many forums that sometimes I forget to intorduce myself.

I am Bryan Stiltz, can be reached at bryan at reapermini dot com if you need verification. (Hey, there's some clown on the paizo forums that says he's you, goes by Reaperbryan, is he you?). I am Reaper Miniatures Production Manager. It is my job to interfere at every level with the productivity of the workers, in theory helping them make the correct quantity of the correct part numbers at the highest standard of quality in the timeliest of fashions. I am sure they would tell you it is my job to stand over them and fuss about something they never even noticed and I should just chillax before I have an aneurism.

I'm only tertially involved with the Pathifinder pewter miniatures, in that I make them, although what gets made and all that is above my pay grade.

Thanks for the support - yeah, for 9 years now I've been listening to the doom and gloom prophesies on the internet every time an announcement is made. Plastic will kill pewter minis. p-65 will kill pewter minis. Paper minis will kill pewter minis. Pewter Minis would be easier to paint if they were not so small. ad inifnitum.

Anybody wants to talk minis directly with me, I will be attending PaizoCon as I did last year, look for me near the Paint and Take.

Karelzarath wrote:

Does that strictly take into account maximum encounter size with a given enemy or is that the sum total of enemies? For example, if there are 18 spriggans in the AP, but the party never encounters more than, say, 4 at a time, does that count for 4 or 18?

Don't know about Bryan's list, but mine are the "number encountered at a time". So, in your example above, 4 spriggans.

Same. Max needed for any given encounter. So for the example, the box would have 4 Spriggans.

Pale wrote:

I'm happy that Reaper has already implemented my genius idea! ;)

While it's been a good business model for Reaper*, 41 minis over 4 years is a lousy model for GMs. It works best as a small supplement to the DDM line. But then, buying Horrorclix singles (I have 37 unique pieces) is also a good small supplement to the DDM line

*As a note, Reaper is one of the "good" companies (like Paizo) with great products and a great relationship with their customers. Reaper making a profit and remaining strong financially is a good thing for the games industry.

As the line grows, its sales grow, and as the economy stabilizes, its sales grow, and we are able to turn that growth into further line growth. We're working on 6 more models for this year, which will be our first year of more than 4 models added since inception.

(not the movie)

Yeah, it's slow, and we hear that a lot. And it looks sometimes like we're not listening, because we're not speeding it up as fast as we're being told to. Heck, I don't know how many times I've had this exact conversation on our forums. But thanks for the consitued support - you will see that support return back to you as we grow all our products - plastic and metal, licensed and not.

Triga wrote:

OK let me rephrase, the masses do not posses the skill to paint in a high quality fashion, also the money to buy large amount of pewter minis and the time to paint them, so that you have a monster manual of them, well thats a bit much.

The market for cheap mass produced minis is there. And if they can be painted and still sold at a reasonable price point, the market for them is even bigger.

One thing I think you're not picking up on is that making pre-painted plastic minis is expensive. It is VERY hard to make a profit on them.

Case in point: Reaper Miniature has a line of NON-random, pre-painted plastic minis called Legendary Encounters. (Also mentioned elsewhere in this thread). When Legendary Encounters first came out, there was great hope that they would fill in a great need for non blind miniature packs. Many miniature fans (including myself, though I am a metal minis collector) thought they would sell very well.

Thing is? They haven't sold well (to the best of my knowledge). They started coming out in 2007 and there's only 35 items in the line now (some of which are out of stock) because they just weren't selling.

Um.. the reason they are out of stock is because they are selling. Very well, in fact. Better than our ability to resupply them, it turns out. We've gone through 4 full print tuns in four years, just released 4 new models, and are about to release 4 more.

Have they been the holy grail of minis? No. There's thousands of people that don't even know LE exists. Legendary Encounters is the marketing style the OP is asking for, but the volume isn't quite there yet, in terms of # of mini choices for the consumer. But it's getting there! We're making them happen, but we've all seen plastic come and go, and take companies down with them. We're trying to do this right, and not sink our ship, which has been the leading name in metal figures for two decades.

Don't forget also that the launch of this line came right before the recession began. We had battle plans, and we had to make changes, and it has been frustrating for all of us, both as consumers and as the manufacturer.

Oh, And I think I can say there is a market for pewter figures - It's kind of my job to make them, and I sell a few million each year ;)

In case people are interested...

A single AP volume can contain anywhere between roughly 40 to almost 150 enemies that might require a miniature for battlemat play. So far, I think Legacy of Fire's "The Impossible Eye" has the most encounters in it that I've found.
An entire AP has significantly more than that. The Kingmaker Adventure Path has over 600 possible minis required for it, and that's not even taking into account random encounters.

We had a similar question on our forums when we announced the Pathfinder lIcensed metal figures. Someone asked if we would do a boxed set of all the figures needed to run an AP.

On a lark, Ed & I sat down and crunched numbers. Just to Run Kingmaker :the Stolen land required over 100 miniatures, and at projected MSRP would cost over $400.

And that's just one book of the AP.

And yes, I have that list if anybody needs it.

ReaperCon 2011 will have 3 tables running society mods all weekend, May 19-22, Denton TX

I wouldn't bother playing with any group that required me to be completely "optimized". Such a game just wouldn't be fun for me. I think as long as your group isn't one of those, you should be fine.

+1

Washers washers washers.

They're heavy, so they lower the center of gravity and make it less likely the mini tips over.

That weight gives the mini a good heft, even if it's a plastic or resin mini.

They're commonly available.

You can buy them singly at hardware stores if you just need a few.

You can buy a big box at a discount.

They're available in many sizes (from Small to Large), and the default is a grid-friendly 1" diameter.

If you put the shiny side down, they slide nicely (though I prefer the flat side down).

They're ferrous, so you can use them with Alea tools magnetic bases.

They're durable as hell.

A nickel is cheaper. Pennies even more so.

We recommend using a blade to cut off any excess metal on the underside of the figure that is a result of the casting process. If you have files, you can then file the base smooth. If the base is slightly bent, with flat tipped pliers, you should be able to bend it back into shape. Gluing these to a prepared base, such as the ones we sell, or Litko, GW, etc., or even to a washer, penny, or other flat object will help with stability on models that are top-heavy or have narrow bases. Superglue should do the trick quite nicely.

I'm quite sure the files are on the server, so something must have gone wrong when you downloaded them. Did you download them directly, or did you check them out with subversion?

Since my hard disk died a week back, I need to re-download the entire project anyway (among hundreds of other things), so I can't oblige right now. I suggest you try downloading them again.

Tried again, different browser, it works. *sigh*

Thank you for doing this! I'm mostly modifying them to be US Letter/Landscape, because I personally prefer that, even though I know it's less popular overall.

Sadie - most of the AI files are showing a 0 bytes, and won't open. A few will, but Character Info, Combat, and a few others won't. If I give you my e-mail can you send me those core files?

bryan at reapermini dot com

Thanks!

Are we looking at this from a lich-as-player-character perspective, or from a GM's perspective?

As a player, I can come up with some hiding places that are pretty much fool-proof.

As a GM, I want a lich's phylactery to be:

• Certainly findable after one or two passes. After the arch-villain returns once or twice, the party should be able to realize that he keeps coming from the serpentfolk city of Ilmurea. Kill him before he leaves there, and trace his phylactery to the filthy morlock warrens beneath the training academy.
  
• Remote enough to allow the vulnerable lich to reform. That's the big problem I see with "a gold dragon's skull" or "the crown of the King of Varisia." A gold dragon will notice a lich forming next to her, and will kill it over and over. Any kingdom that allows a nascent lich to reassemble itself next to the sovereign has to be a pretty nasty kingdom.
  
• Hidden in a place where the search will be a fun adventure.
  
• Representative of some aspect of the lich's personality. The best thing about the flour keg is that it tells you something about the personality of the witch. On the other hand, what does it say about a mage who keeps his phylactery and a chest full of money and useful magic items in a locked chest at the bottom of the sea? What sort of genii-binding mystic bargains with efreet to keep his phylactery secure in the City of Brass?

If the party is going proactively lich-hunting, an outstanding Gather Information check or some magical divinations ought to guide them on their way to attempt to retrieve the phylactery before confronting its owner.

+1

Reaperbryan wrote:

I do some graphic design work, and if you don't mind, I'm gonna grab your open source files and make some sheets of my own based of your work - as you've said (and my group has taught me whenever i try to make sheets for them) what one player wants in a sheet isn't what everybody else will want.

Still, You've added some innovative features (the money block was my favorite) that I'd like to begin adding to my own things.

Thank you for all the work so far!

Go ahead! If you make changes that you think other people might like or that might be worth incorporating into my sheets, feel free to post it back here.

Just remember the terms of the license: if you publish sheets based on my work, you should be honest about where that work came from.

I don't intend to publish them, although I'll be happy to send you my files once I'm "done" (are we ever really done tweaking?)

These are really because I've spent 25 years searching for the "perfect" sheet... a LOT come really close, and I've never seen or made the Perfect one yet...But man, it's fun to try!

I do some graphic design work, and if you don't mind, I'm gonna grab your open source files and make some sheets of my own based of your work - as you've said (and my group has taught me whenever i try to make sheets for them) what one player wants in a sheet isn't what everybody else will want.

Still, You've added some innovative features (the money block was my favorite) that I'd like to begin adding to my own things.

Thank you for all the work so far!

Selgard wrote:

I am not saying there may not be some slow time- just that it can be compensated for with preparation on part of the player.

-S

SOME players maybe...but a good majority of the players I play with, no, this will cause a pretty large slowdown. Even for prep casters, now you have to look up 3 effects instead of 1 spell. For spont casters...oh dear god.

Players such as myself, who adored the flexibility of Ars Magica, Mage:The Ascension, etc., we WILL spend all the extra time developing a dozen readily available rotes from our existing words. Plus, a hundred new rotes/spells/word combinations will be posted on these forums within days of this going live for all(published). No effort needed - copy + paste!

And players for whom that's a lot of work, well, it's not like Wizard and Sorcerer get deleted... this is just an option for people that want it, and not a mandate. One can avoid the headaches by not trying the system if you don't think it's a good fit for your style, or banning it as a GM if you know that it's beyond your group.

If a ranger is unaware that the foe they're fighting is a favored enemy ( which I think is a rare case), as the GM, I'd just adjust their rolls "behind the screen" for them. That way no one can cheese it as a creature identifier. I routinely add or subtract bonuses behind the screen when the players aren't aware of a particular situation.[\quote]

yeti1069 wrote:

Maybe allow a Sense Motive check when the players notice that the ranger is having an easier time/is being more effective against the foe than others are in order for the ranger to realize that he's been fighting as though he were battling a <insert favored enemy>?

Both. GM add in the bonuses "behind the screens" and after a few rounds of the bonus, let the PC discover them on his/her own.

So the more I thought about +1 being runic the more I liked it, the only troubling thing is that it implies that each +1 weapon has runes on it...

Flavor to the rescue

as says any educated crafter, "runic weapons don't necessarily bear runes, it just so happens that in their heyday when magic enchanting of blades was in it's infancy the first weapons to be crafted were done so by inscribing certain runes on the weapons. As learning progressed we got past the days where you even needed a rune on a weapon for it to be magical, but by that point there were many weapons that had already been crafted with runes and to the layman a magic weapon was identified by the presence of runes (although that was also an easy way for scam artist to pass off mundane blades as magical). Add to that the fact that inscribing runes is still the easiest form of enchanting, so much so that even hedge-wizards and cultists can do it, and the fact that runes inscribing commonly can't create the stronger enchantments the other classes of enchanting allow, and you have the reason that the lowest tier is still referred to as runic to this day."

Nice explanation

+1

Also consider that you can vary up the actual combats with monsters other than kobolds - if the kobolds have a gladiator pit, they might have a slew of other monsters in various pens - a gelatinous cube as a keep cleaner, a few ogres, trolls, maybe even a dragon in a harness, the kobolds are trying to "tame"...

Cure Light

Core:Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger. 5
APG: Alchemist, Inquisitor, Oracle, Witch. 4.

I don't know about Ultimate Magic.

What classes cannot cast spells? If you're a gnome with Magical Linguist or Pyromaniac, all of your character sheets will have a few spells on them. That question is harder because there's more than one way to add spells to a (normally) non spellcasting class.

The simple, but not entirely accurate answer is
Core: Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, Rogue
APG: Cavalier.

Whichever product you, as GM, decide is the accurate map, and the other map(s) are "explorer's maps/spy's maps" that are incorrect because(insert campaign-useful-reason here).

Alternatively, Enevhar's answer, if you aren't comfortable with that decision.

Compassion and peace are her greatest virtues

Sounds like in those nations, they take a view on slavery akin to 1700's and 1800's Religious Southern US of A.

"Masters, be kind to your slaves"

Nothing in her description precludes slavery, it precludes cruelty. We live in an enlightened era, and consider slavery itself cruel, but I'm sure it defenders in Qadira are quick to point out that slaves are fed, clothed, and sheltered by their masters, none of which are free. Were that person not a slave, they would be on their own, and many would starve, or suffer cruel fates at the hands of the harsh land and the beasts around them.

There were cultures where slaves were beaten and tormented, treated with less respect than you'd treat a hammer - a slave is a tool, not a person. And there were cultures where slaves were simply people that had a job, but no choice in the matter. With the above quote in mind, I'd suggest that Qadiran slaves are probably treated well, and the whip is reserved for punishing recalcitrant or lazy slaves, and good slaves are more like servants than true slaves.

Especially if you are running an Adventure Path and you don't need XP to set the pace of advancement, this is a good technique.

It's not for everyone, but it is definitely a very common approach.

I use luck/hero points as a piecemeal reward for my players, and just level them up when they "ought" to.

This is the approach I plan to use in my Kingmaker game, starting next week. They'll level to 2 at a certain point, then to 3 at a different point, so they can be level 4 when they begin book 2.

If they do something that in years past I would have awarded bonus XP for, such as heroism, excellent roleplay, etc., Hero Point. Or Two.

I'm also considering adapting Deadlands' system of fate points, which work similar to Hero points, but in Deadlands there's 3 varieties, and each kind of point can only be spent on specific actions, but I don't want to complicate things. For most of my group, this is their first Pathfinder game.

I used to award individual XP, plus bonus XP when merited. I never had a character more than 1 level higher than anybody else, though, because my merit awards were +100.

LazarX wrote:

Witches don't have to be female.

Witches don't have to be rustic.

Witches don't have to be Diannic, or Wiccan.

Witches don't have to dwell in the woods.

But they've still got the gingerbread houses, right?

I been walking through this wood for hours; I can't go without my gingerbread.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, TELL ME I STILL GET MY GINGERBREAD!

Gingerbread is a class feature in an upcoming Witch Prestige Class, but not a default assumption, no.

You also don't automatically get warts, but as a trade off, water won't melt you automatically.

I was sad when I finally reached the end! Congrats on the getting to the charter!

I wonder if my group would like to do the same thing. I'll have to ask!

Anyway, thanks for doing this and keep it coming!

james maissen wrote:

Reaperbryan wrote:

mmmm hadn't even considered deaf. That strikes me as a *very* serious drawback, for the benefit of a free slightly-better-than-normal feat.

Casting all of your spells as silent without increasing the casting time?

The penalty on initiative isn't that bad considering most of your actions will be reactive anyway.

As to the direct drawback, read lips. A later levels if you really wish, go with a level of diabolist and get a 'mouthpiece'. Could be fun.

-James

In my college years I worked with the deaf, and have no illusions about the seriousness of the condition. I could convincingly RP it, but my RL knowledge supports my belief that it is not appropriate for my character.

As a GM, I would never allow a player to simply "read lips" either. Reading lips requires adequate lighting, focus on the speaker, and clear diction from the speaker. A deaf person cannot read the entire parties lips at once, nor could they read with any accuracy monster lips - like kobold or dragon. The shapes a mouth shaped like that would make would be different. Players with helmets or masks, such as paladins or rogues, would likewise be unreadable. Beards, believe it or not, make it harder to read lips - I was asked by one girl to trim my moustache and goatee shorter because they obscured my lips. So Gandalfy wizards would be problematic. In combat, I'd never be able to understand the party, because I'd always be looking at my attacker, or if I was free from melee, I'd typically be looking at their backs as they formed a wall around their healbot. If they turned around to make their intent known to me, The GM should whack them with an AoO.

All that aside: Conceptually, the stealthy halfling oracle silent casting all the party buffs and heals from shadows is neat. I even looked at whether a level of Shadowdancer would benefit (it might, assuming you were ok sacrificing your highest tier of spell level. The concealment gifts of shadowdancer are...

And now, after discussing this with my wife (We met in college and share the same experiences in the deaf community) she thinks that While I am accurate above, I'm being far too harsh. a 30 minute conversation later, I more-or-less have to play a deaf oracle now, to keep the peace in the house.

Reaperbryan wrote:

mmmm hadn't even considered deaf. That strikes me as a *very* serious drawback, for the benefit of a free slightly-better-than-normal feat.

Casting all of your spells as silent without increasing the casting time?

The penalty on initiative isn't that bad considering most of your actions will be reactive anyway.

As to the direct drawback, read lips. A later levels if you really wish, go with a level of diabolist and get a 'mouthpiece'. Could be fun.

-James

In my college years I worked with the deaf, and have no illusions about the seriousness of the condition. I could convincingly RP it, but my RL knowledge supports my belief that it is not appropriate for my character.

As a GM, I would never allow a player to simply "read lips" either. Reading lips requires adequate lighting, focus on the speaker, and clear diction from the speaker. A deaf person cannot read the entire parties lips at once, nor could they read with any accuracy monster lips - like kobold or dragon. The shapes a mouth shaped like that would make would be different. Players with helmets or masks, such as paladins or rogues, would likewise be unreadable. Beards, believe it or not, make it harder to read lips - I was asked by one girl to trim my moustache and goatee shorter because they obscured my lips. So Gandalfy wizards would be problematic. In combat, I'd never be able to understand the party, because I'd always be looking at my attacker, or if I was free from melee, I'd typically be looking at their backs as they formed a wall around their healbot. If they turned around to make their intent known to me, The GM should whack them with an AoO.

All that aside: Conceptually, the stealthy halfling oracle silent casting all the party buffs and heals from shadows is neat. I even looked at whether a level of Shadowdancer would benefit (it might, assuming you were ok sacrificing your highest tier of spell level. The concealment gifts of shadowdancer are nifty). I might even consider the silent casting feat eventually, and live with the increased casting time and level.

I think I'm leaning towards half-elf, using the bow option, rather than the stealth option.

Thanks for the advice, now I just need to hammer out a spell list, and a feat tree!

mmmm hadn't even considered deaf. That strikes me as a *very* serious drawback, for the benefit of a free slightly-better-than-normal feat.

You might be interested in these 6 player conversions for Kingmaker. Every encounter is increased or revised to make it roughly equivalent in challenge to a group of 6 as it would be to a group of 4

You'll be an awesome healer without ever spending a Feat on it (well, maybe Selective Channeling, if you wind up doing that a lot while facing living foes...or Reach Spell, see below).

So, This comment struck me, so I pulled out my CR and checked...

CPE heals ALL living things in the burst. (yeah, to you all that's probably a DUH, but my players have pulled a fast one on me, and I'm new to Pathfinder, I assumed it to work on allies only.) This is going to change my Wednesday Night Pathfinder game significantly.

Good advice, but now I feel stupid. Oh, and I just outed myself as an idiot on your boards, so twice as dumb...