Robert Billingham's page

Neverwynter wrote:

In description, it does not say anything about staves being limited to the spell's class. Could a wizard use a Staff of Life (which contains Heal)? Thanks.

Staves are spell-trigger items, which require the spell to be on your spell list. So under most circumstances, no, a wizard can't use a staff of life. Use Magic Device still works though.

Thank you for the excellent help.

"A monk's unarmed strike is treated as both a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons."

So can I by the rules get the fists enchanted?

I asked Monte Cook as well. I asked why is it a big deal to enchant the fists since they are melee weapons anyhow. This is what he said:

"My answer would be no.
I put a feat in the Complete Book of Eldritch Might as well as Arcana Evolved called Hands as Weapons that would make it possible, but without some kind of special feat/item/etc. I wouldn't allow it."

To get back to the actual topic for a little while:

Zorro.

Meaning: There's those great heroes everybody knows and loves (except the corrupt government), but since they don't go around telling everyone their real name and identity, the stuff cannot be traced back to their doors.

Just like Zorro. Or Blackjack (to use someone from Golarion as a reference)

No, not in this one. It says people walk up to them and thank them or marvel at them as vampire slayers, etc. The point behind fame. People are supposed to know who they are. That's why I think it's unrealistic.

100 Names for a Post Apocylyptic Fantasy novel you yould write.

1. 'Salt' I know there are like three or four post-apocalyptic fantasy novels called 'Salt' out there but I'm thinking this is a good name for a story about merchants who have control of an uncontaminated source and they export to places in need of Salt as a Preservative for keeping food over the non-food producing periods as well as mummification of nobles.

Zerolight

One of the better things one of my players pulled on me.

He faced away from the group in the general direction he suspected the rogue was in.

Cast Detect Magic, is there magic in front of me? Yes...
Cast Cone of Cold. CoC hits a bigger cone than DM does.

Generally, if you can pinpoint their general area via a detection spell, AoE spells are effective. Ice Storm in particular since it allow no save.

You could also level the playing field with mass invisibility or something similar. You can't see them, but now they cannot see you either.

Finally, look at the high end summon monster spells. Some of those creatures have special senses.

Can the rogue with spellcraft or some sort of permanent detect magic cast on himself detect that he's being detected by another creature trying to find him?

Back when I was in the Army, we would start on Friday right after the final formation, and play through until PT monday morning. We would catch a little sleep as needed and stock pi;e the food and snacks to minimize other breaks in the action. Crazy days. We hit all the classics, Temple of Elemental Evil, Against the Giants, Tomb of Horrors. My favorite hands down was Vecna Lives.

Awesome. Good times, man. My original character is still alive but has been unplayed in several years. He is a 32nd level paladin (3.5) but had gone through the transformations from 1st edition until then. My buddy built his own incredible world where we fought against the likes of Vecna and Mordenkainen etc. Too many interesting adventures to recount.

On December 24, 1983, I was stranded by a friend's house for 3 days with other members of my gaming group. The air temperature dropped to -40 Fahrenheit and the wind chill got down to -70 Fahrenheit. This was before fuel injection, so the oil in the cars became sludge.

We played Against the Giants and watched movies on VCR. It was a great three days of fun. I wonder what good memories people are making this weekend?

Another good one William. That temperature is insane!

Robert Billingham wrote:

ChrisRevocateur wrote:

Back in high school we used to game all weekend. We'd get off of school and all head from our respective campuses to Jim's house, start pretty much as soon as we got there, and wouldn't stop until Monday morning when we had to go back to school. As each person nodded off we just found some way that their character didn't have to be in the action, and once the DM went to sleep, those that were still awake would play video games until he was awake again.

Then again, 3/4 of the group had horrible insomnia (myself included), and we weren't really involved in anything else.

Ahh.... the days of Dr. Pepper and Totino's pizzas. Incidentally, our DM couldn't cook a pizza for the life of him. Heck, once he tried to cook two at the same time. One came out blacker then black and the second one came out still frozen in the center. Don't ask me how he did it, it's like that time Jackie's roommate set off the smoke detector by boiling water. No explaining it, it was just fail.

LOL! That's some great memories! That's very similar to us actually. Dr. Pepper we would drink and stack the cans until they hit my mom's cellar ceiling! One of the most memorable times for us (this is 1st edition) was when my buddy, who is like 6'7" rolled his die, and it flew into the air, then flew off the table, bounced off the floor, and disappeared down into my basement's sump pump - a dark, dank scary spider place... From there on, "Sump Pump!" became the cry for anyone that tossed their die wildly and lost control of it.

Dr. Pepper is much better Game Fuel then Mt. Dew in my opinion, though this new Mt. Dew Throwback actually tastes good! You tried it yet? It's not all thick and syrupy, nor is it sickly sweet.

My old best friend, who I gamed 1-on-1 with when there wasn't a game a Jim's, was 6'7" and also generally overenthusiastic.

Wow, that's awesome. Maybe every gaming group back then had a 6'7" guy and I never knew it, lol.

Might be perfect for D&D, but I think it would be even better for Pathfinder!

Ahhhh, you are right Vic! I'm sorry I did that - I use the term D&D to mean "the game," hence, Pathfinder. LOL.

Back in high school we used to game all weekend. We'd get off of school and all head from our respective campuses to Jim's house, start pretty much as soon as we got there, and wouldn't stop until Monday morning when we had to go back to school. As each person nodded off we just found some way that their character didn't have to be in the action, and once the DM went to sleep, those that were still awake would play video games until he was awake again.

Then again, 3/4 of the group had horrible insomnia (myself included), and we weren't really involved in anything else.

Ahh.... the days of Dr. Pepper and Totino's pizzas. Incidentally, our DM couldn't cook a pizza for the life of him. Heck, once he tried to cook two at the same time. One came out blacker then black and the second one came out still frozen in the center. Don't ask me how he did it, it's like that time Jackie's roommate set off the smoke detector by boiling water. No explaining it, it was just fail.

LOL! That's some great memories! That's very similar to us actually. Dr. Pepper we would drink and stack the cans until they hit my mom's cellar ceiling! One of the most memorable times for us (this is 1st edition) was when my buddy, who is like 6'7" rolled his die, and it flew into the air, then flew off the table, bounced off the floor, and disappeared down into my basement's sump pump - a dark, dank scary spider place... From there on, "Sump Pump!" became the cry for anyone that tossed their die wildly and lost control of it.

I find this post to be exceedingly funny and I don't know why.

Man with this blizzard here on the east coast, it reminds of years ago when I was in high school and we played through the whole storm and into the next morning. Tonight would have been a great night for a game!

Robert Billingham wrote:

Clark Peterson wrote:

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why you dont wait until the 11th hour to submit.

Thanks but that wasn't helpful sir.

How right you are! I was not trying to be helpful.

I was trying to point out, as an object lesson, that waiting until the last minute of a month long contest to submit an item is fraught with peril and one should not do it. Hopefully the OP here will not become the poster child for the missed submission because of waiting till the end and having a technical glitch.

I certainly hope this particular submission went through so it can be considered. But If you wait till the end to submit and then are "not available the rest of the day" then probably you should not have waited to submit.

Luckily Gary gave instructions that may help.

But again, this contest is like a job interview. People need to be reminded about that, it seems. If I have a print turnover deadline and am waiting on you for changes and something has to go to the printer, emailing me that you had it all done but couldnt send it but that I should note that you had it done in time doesnt help me at all. I need to actually have your changes to me. I wont be anxious to use that freelancer again to do work because they are not reliable.

Your comments are on the excessive side. Unnecessary. While there is certainly truth to your words, and I understand where you are coming from (in fact you are completely right), I posted in need of help - that was the point of the post. I am not in need of an object lesson. I shared your comments with peers and they agree. Your additional response was slightly too harsh.

On the other hand, I appreciate VERY MUCH Gary's humble and helpful response.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why you dont wait until the 11th hour to submit.

Thanks but that wasn't helpful sir.

Oh James...of course you are right. Note the word "fetish" above. Wishful thinking, daydreaming, the need for high-powered creations to throw at my epic players who are using strangely concocted 3.5/Pathfinder builds...I could go on...but at the very least, on the verge of Thanksgiving, I want to thank you James and Jason, Monte, Sean Wesley and the rest of the team for putting out such great material. Thank you, and I mean it.

Excellent screen - very durable, but definitely could have had more fold-outs like the Hackmaster screen ;-).

Not a big deal - but the entry for Ghoul (which comes up in Council of Thieves) is lacking an explanation for its paralysis attack which is clearly defined in the 3.5 MM. Thanks.

I have the characters roll a level check - it's an easy like DC 5 Wis check.

One of the greatest things about the old Dungeon Magazine was that I could use the crafty high-level NPCs from the 13th - 20th level adventures in my own high-level campaigns...any chance a cool supplement with like 20 high-level, slyly built NPCs of various classes could be in the works???

James, you guys are doing an awesome job. Just keep in mind that you can't please the whole crowd all the time...keep up the great work.

One thing I noticed is that the Erebus campaign assumes leveling at certain points in the campaign, but it doesn't seem to match up with the medium progression as stated, since it does take more to level in pathfinder. Oh well, that's where the DM responsibility comes in to engender creative fill-in encounters.

It seems that the old method was a bit easier, but maybe not...now, there is no cross-reference of character level, simply the XP budget/CRs and then you hand out a number depending on the # of players in the group. I like it - it seems that with the higher XP required it takes longer to level, which seems to balance out the higher-powered nature of the classes. Is this a correct assessment? What do others think of the new XP system?

Okay, so what I understand is that you can sneak attack undead now, if they are not incorporeal. Is that correct? Secondly, undead are now not immune to critical hits unless they are incorporeal or unless you have a ghost touch weapon or other means of ignoring their concealment. Feedback is appreciated!

Thanks Abe! That's how I ruled it. Just checking.

Situation: Player readied a standard action versus approach so that his melee attack would go off when the enemy stepped into the square in front of him. But the enemy only took a 5 foot step. Does the 5 foot rule still override the Readied action?

In the new Adventure Path (Council), there is much content in the front matter that is critical to convey to the players but can often get buried in paragraph after paragraph (this is nothing new to this mod). For example, I identified about 6-7 key scene points that I had to roleplay for the players but needed to be dug out from inside a paragraph somewhere. When combat sections appear, things go more smoothly.

My suggestion: create Guide Points or some sort of Key Markers that allow the DM (through a shaded area or section) to identify a section that will be relevant to convey via speech to the players.

28th - 33rd.

You must always receive permission from the original publisher if the copyright is still intact. If it is no longer under the rights of the publisher then you should be fine, but also willing to work with the author.

If anyone doesn't like the iconics, just do what I do - my players draw their figures (most are articistic) and I clip those to the screen, or I cut up a beautiful shot of Conan from Frazetta and put that on a panel - or for example, I cut out a picture of Grazz't with his lover from an old Dragon magazine...every few months I will change it up.

He did, and failed...

Thanks James! That clarifies it - I am sure this question has come up a million times over the years. Now I will have to break it to my power-gaming epic-loving assassin who always argues that he's right. :-)

Thanks. The Assassin has hide in Plain Sight, but not greater invisibility. Plus the enemy had true seeing. However the PC is a two-weapon fighter, so it seems like he would get two sneak attacks right? Before the rest of his attacks kick in with normal damage.

Situation - high level assassin was hiding in plain sight, invisible, etc. etc. and his enemy had no idea he was there. The PC is 26th level and has seven attacks. He was right behind the guy and waited. On his turn, should he get a sneak attack on every attack, or does he get only two? (he has two weapon fighting) and the rest just normal attacks?...thanks for feedback.

Loved the 3.5 Power Attack, its simplicity and power. Can anyone show me how this new feat is integrated with other feats potentially? I am considering canning the new one in favor of the old...what do others think?

I love it. Thanks.

Okay - my core 3.5 player for years likes the new cleave, but correctly states that "it's good, but it's a totally different feat." I actually agree with him to an extent. What do other GMs think of adding in Pathfinder feats to the 3.5 game as additional options - thus both Cleaves would be available...or giving the players the option to choose which Cleave they will use. It's the DM's call obviously whether to make a whole change - but just throwing it out there to others...

You guys rock! I have to say, PAIZO messageboards are an incredible source for idea sharing and rule clarifying.

When you consider the fact that for 10,000 gp, everybody bought the greater crystal of true death...

It just bothers me that rogues can sneak attack undead. and yes, tha'ts the way it's always been. that's what made it so fearsome to face an undead. Something has to be said about the dread of it all. it's sort of why I don't like Death Spells being gimped either, despiteunderstanding it. It's like we jazzed up everything for characters when there was real fear of death. And why is the rule of massive damage still in? that rule is absurd!

If this was posted elsewhere please let me know...but sneak attack "some" undead? Will that be defined in the Bestiary or is it explored in the Core Rulebook? Has there been updated language from the Beta to the Final?

Did they give undead more hit points as a result? I am not happy about this since the ability to not be able to sneak attack undead has been a mainstay in core D&D since the beginning.

I believe Krome has it right. Excellent discussion guys - you all have helped me understand how potent the new cleave is.

What do you mean by move and attack all combatants? You mean a 5' step? It sounds like if there are dudes in front of me, they have to be "adjacent" to one another - the only difference between whirlwind and great cleave since with whirlwind they just need to be "within reach."

I think I am missing something here.

Change is hard. Did anyone else get that resistant feeling to the change on Cleave? And at first I couldn't figure out what made it different from Whirlwind Attack but it's a matter of adjacent foes only (great cleave) vs. foes within reach (whirlwind).

Sounds good guys - I'ts just good to hear others that feel the same way! Please keep posting here if anybody actually does this...I'd be glad to contribute to the Wiki. Do you think PAIZO would start a WIKI on this? I would think they already had this somewhere as an internal document, don't you think?

Exactly. I know my players - and I am forseeing that there will be a LOT of rule lookups - has anyone been talking about that? the big changes are no big deal. It's the small differences that will mean everything. WE NEED A RIDICULOUSLY LONG (I don't care how long) COMPREHENSIVE "DIFFERENCES" Sheet.

Hi all - just received the Core Rulebook - it is awesome! But I need to print off a sheet or two of all the differences between 3.5 and Pathfinder to give to my loyal and yet skeptical 3.5 players. Anybody know where that is available?

Can anyone confirm for me that the core rulebook will be shipped as the first installment of the new RPG Subscription? because I got that in lieu of pre-ordering the actual book.

Please launch a revised (less broken) Epic Level Handbook for Pathfinder. That's something that is absolutely necessary. Please involve all the minds on this one (not that I am telling you to do your job :-)), including SKR and Monte.

In July we officially kick off the Pathfinder RPG with the release of the Pathfinder Bestiary. The massive Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook follows in August, but beyond that we have not yet announced additional rules support for the game.

That support IS coming, and we're in the process of finalizing what form it will take.

The current plan is to release between 2-3 hardcover rulebooks per year, including additional Pathfinder Bestiaries.

What form would you like these books to take? Would you be interested in subscribing to such a line, provided the books cost somewhere around $35 a pop?

What titles/ideas would you like to see us explore?

We're all worried about rules bloat. What is your opinion of new classes and races?

Are you as tired of prestige classes as I am?

Discuss.

Thanks everyone. the d6 came about because it keeps it at the same damage level as the other bloodlines, but I do agree that force damage is a bit more kickin' than acid for instance.

The claw "shape" of the ray is simply for flavor.

Hi everyone, I've included a customized Rakshasa bloodline (which I created) for Pathfinder that anybody can use or critique as you like. Let me know what you think. It is scaled to the power of other bloodline powers etc. in the beta book.

Rakshasa Bloodline:

Brilliant and malevolent, full-blooded Rakshasas are nefarious outsiders who cherish power above all else. In their far-ranging quest for self-pleasure and status, Rakshasa often pay little heed to the lives they destroy in their wake. Some of the more nomadic of the race have scattered mixed progeny across the realm of Golarion – a rare event indeed. The influence of these bloodlines have enhanced sorcerous tendencies in some of the more common of races.

Class Skill: Diplomacy

Bonus Spells: Disguise self (3rd), detect thoughts (5th), displacement (7th), phantasmal killer (9th), baleful polymorph (11th), disintegrate (13th), greater polymorph (15th), iron body (17th), time stop (19th).

Bonus Feats: Alertness, Combat Casting, Dodge, Quicken Spell, Improved Initiative, Spell Focus, Persuasive, Spell Penetration

Bloodline Powers: Tainted by the power of the mystical Rakshasa, you gain many powers that illustrate your power over mind, body and time.

Claw Force Ray (Su): Starting at 1st level, you can unleash a force-based ray that takes on the shape of a tiger claw. To do so is a standard action, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. The Claw Force Ray deals 1d6 points of force damage +1 for every two caster levels you possess.

Arcane Barrier (Su): At 3rd level, you gain +1 on all saves versus arcane spells. As you begin to exhibit more control over your body, you also gain DR 1/Piercing, which increases to DR 2 at 7th, DR 3 at 11th, DR 4 at 15th and DR 5 at 19th.

Zero Presence (Su): At 9th level, you can turn invisible a number of rounds equal to your caster level. This ability functions as greater invisibility. These rounds need not be consecutive.

Revealing Eye (Su): At 15th level, you gain the ability to see things as they really are. This ability functions as True Seeing at half your level (thus 15th level sorcerers could use it for 7 minutes) but it does not need to be used in consecutive rounds as the spell. To activate the ability is a standard action.

Empty Mind, Empty Body (Su): At 20th level, you’ve gained a form of mastery over your mind and physical form, granting you a continuous mind blank effect. In addition, your saving throw bonus versus arcane spells increases to +3 and you can go ethereal once per day as the spell ethereal jaunt for your level.