Russ Taylor's page

I'm hoping next year we can have more than a week's range to submit the event. I realize there was notice in the boards, which I only found after digging as I'm not a frequent board poster. A few weeks and an email notice to past event runners would be fantastic.

Last year, the deadline was also a week (eventually extended), at the end of March. This year, the deadline was over before March started, and I went looking at the start of March for it and found out again that I was too late.

Please, please make 2019 more friendly to event runners. It's making me feel like my contribution to the convention is not valued.

Forgot about Reiko, good catch, pH! Yeah, genderfluid =/= transmasculine, but it's a facet that's also underrepresented in our hobby, so once again, excellent marks to Paizo for extending the banner of inclusiveness!

It's at most a line or two rather than a developed character, but the Rakehell (ruler of Duskport in Ilvarandin) is genderfluid. Loosely inspired by Orlando, particularly how the character was presented in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

(yes, not a trans man, but the post caught my eye)

What if you forgot to charge your phone? What if you had it on silent? What if you didn't construct contorted scenarios to justify your visceral reactions?

Best day ever!

You should probably put them one level lower, as their CR is considered one lower. This will indeed still be an upgrade (with a size that varies depending on their gear allocation and how much was in the Big 6 already), but honestly, it's probably more in line with what their challenge likely should be, there just wasn't a way to do it before without overloading your PCs on gear every time they win a fight.

I'll probably pick the level that corresponds to the NPC gear as compared to PC gear, references those two tables in the CRB.

Maybe Hydra pulled strings to keep her available, in case they needed to open a bunch of mail.

Except the PBR stands for "Pathfinders Before Runelords" :)

The Strategy Guide was put together and printed before the recent FAQ ruling that reversed that rule and introduced the exception that the corners—as in D&D v.3.5—are indeed threatened.

How annoying. I checked and re-checked that when the book was being written, making sure that it matched up with the rules as they were at that time. Some times you just can't predict the future :)

I haven't regretted keeping mine :)

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I *LIKE* it!
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The problem is that Guts has a cannon in his arm, not a pistol. Maybe that's the closest you can get to being him, though.

That, and playing as a Titan Mauler. :)

If you're talking home play, see about talking the Gamemaster into an implanted weapon that takes up the entire arm (so you can't use it for anything else). I'll be using that system for larger weapons implants (two-handed firearms, one-handed melee weapons)when I run Iron Gods this Fall. This could also work for a leg-implanted machine gun or similar craziness, though I'd suggest that take an exotic weapon proficiency too.

Changing a limb into a weapon opened up whole can of worms that didn't seem suitable for a brief item entry.

James Jacobs wrote:

Implanted weapons must either be light melee weapons or one-handed firearms.

Note. This includes monowhips. HANDLE WITH CARE.

As one of the three people on the planet that actually enjoyed Johnny Mnemonic, this pleases me greatly.

Certainly one of the inspirations for that particular bit of cybertech (both movie and short story) :) There was some priority on not taking a whole page for the rules for it, so it's a simple approach and I hope Gamemasters override anything that offend their sense of silly.

@Russ Taylor - My 11 year old and I played your "Right Place, Wrong Time" game at PaizoCon. The game must have inspired him as he had me subscribe so he could GM this as his first AP. He's already reading away.

Thanks for a great game! I look forward to playing Iron Gods!

Wow. That really makes my day to hear. Thanks for sharing that! You were both great to have at the table.

Just started reading the Android article and I have to say whoever wrote that intro paragraph needs a round of applause. It was both beautiful, moving, and exactly what I wanted to start stepping into the mind of that races. Even got me a little misty eyed.

Thanks! I don't know how much Adam improved on that paragraph, but I was struck while writing it how being an android means never knowing your descendants, the closest thing to biological children androids have.

If they had robots and didn't have one with a saw blade, I'd have to call shenanigans.

You're welcome :)

I was thinking "Amiri demonstrates a robot's vulnerability to critical hits", myself.

For people not doing Iron Gods, you can use this book without owning the Technology Guide.

Influences for me include A Canticle for Leibowitz, Hiero's Journey and its sequel, Universe and Common Sense, Starship, and Thundarr the Barbarian. Surely more if I spent more time thinking about it.

The book definitely needed twice as many pages, which just means everything in it needed to be twice as cool to make up for it.

I don't know what the final form of that technic sword will look like, but I can tell you that I was not thinking "lightsaber, only copyright safe" when I wrote game stats for it. I was thinking "what sort of sword would someone who had mastered both technology and magic want".

I find the sentiment of "they're my friends, so screw these random strangers" to be pretty close to the essence of evil. Your friend can live. All you have to do is kill someone you don't know...

I still think her hacking IS her superpower.

Only in the Wesley Crusher sense.

If they said "Skye could do this, if only she were here" one more time, I was going to barf. Your hand-picked team didn't come with an electronic warfare agent? Really?

I for one would appreciate the casting of a female hacker who didn't look like she spent her mornings in a makeup chair. Not every TV character needs to be a model.

Heisenberg might like a word with you.

This thread is like a flashing beacon begging me to get myself banned from the boards.

I tend to not tip but not out of douchebaggery. I want the wait staff to be angry. I want them to complain to their boss. They deserve a guaranteed fair wage and shouldn't feel like they have to kiss ass to get one nor do I think customers should feel they have to bribe someone to not f!+~ with their food or give them poor service. This whole exchange is inherently antagonistic and is unnecessary. I'd gladly pay more for eating out if this were remedied.

When I do tip I tip well even upwards of 50-75% if you really impressed me with your service. I make good money.

If you don't tip, don't eat out. Simple solution. You're abusing the system out of a pretense of nobility.

Makes me think of the orlens wielding a four-handed sword in Gamma World.

Thundarr's certainly one of the influences I keep in mind. And Gamma World. And Flash Gordon serial style scifi.

Hmm. Interesting thread.

These are good questions. Many of which might have answers.

By choosing to make yourself helpless, you could go to an effective -9 from your flat-footed AC (less if you have a negative dex Mod). A potential -5 lower than flat-footed for 0 Dex, +4 to hit for helpless.

There's a least a few more hits for Sincubus coming just from stuff I worked on. :)

I'll just go with Ucom and Ucam.

Zmar wrote:

Give kaiju a two page spread with mammoth artwork. Make them BIG! :D

Yes, But what would the kaiju be doing with the mammoth? ;)

He would hug it. And squeeze it. And name it George.

Story feats can be taken after character creation as well, so that should be fine.

With two nods, I say absolutely take your ideas out to 3pp. Repeating says you've really got some design mojo going on, regardless of the final placement.

Less than 200 contestants out of tens of thousands of entrants, anyone who made that cut twice impresses the heck out of me.

Two rolls, keep highest?

Because if they don't sell out of the first printing (because people are waiting for a second printing), then there's no reason to make a second printing. You do second printings when you run out of books :)

The thing is, game rules aren't a programming language. Trying to ruthlessly parse the language of the rules doesn't get you the right answer, it just gets you an answer. That's why you're not having much luck convincing people who don't agree with your interpretation.

All these are answered in the core rules. Force effects count against incorporeal touch attacks, but not other touch attacks. So..

1) 18
2) 10
3) 10

I'd be curious if anyone who worked on this book would be willing to mention what they did.

Ross, you too!

Things I believe I wrote...I apologize if I took credit for an item I didn't do. As always, many of these items were improved considerably in development. Any errors are likely mine :)

Weapon: gladius, rhimphaia, tepoztopilli, amentum, atlatl, quadrens, great terbutje, hooked axe, wahaika, taiaha, kestros, flying blade, harpoon (all from Ultimate Combat)

special materials: angelskin, blood crystal, greenwood, primitive materials (from Ultimate Combat)

adventuring gear: candle lamp, ear trumpet, portable bridge, soap (maybe)

tools and skill kits: parasol/umbrella

food and drink: dwarven, elven, gnome, halfling, and orc trail rations

armor special abilities: balanced, bolstering, brawling, deathless, defiant, expeditious, harmonizing, merging, putrid, radiant, ramming, warding

specific armors: breasplate of vanishing, catskin leather, equestrian plate, hamatula hide, invincible armor, mail of malevolence, prismatic plate, warden of the woods

specific shields: beligerent shield, dragonslayer's shield

weapon special abilities: adaptive, advancing, conserving, cruel (Advanced Race Guide), countering, deadly (Advanced Race Guide) grounding, guardian, invigorating, limning, ki intensifying, mimetic, negating, neutralizing, phase locking, quenching, thawing, valiant

specific weapons: bastard's sting (renamed), bloodletting kukri, cutthroat's apprentice, dagger of doubling, dwarfbond hammer, everflowing aspergillum, hellscourge, hushing arrow, lasher of the howler, spirit caller, summoner's sorrow, void scythe

rings: ectoplasmic invigoration, transposition

belts: anaconda's coils, belt of equilibrium, belt of might hurling, cord of stubborn resolve, sash of flowing water

staves: courage radiance, understanding (all from the Field Guide)

eyes: eyes of the owl (Field Guide)

feet: sandals of the lightess step (Field Guide)

hands: trapspringer's gloves (Field Guide)

head: circlet of mindsight (Field Guide), magician's hat, mask of the krenshar, veil of fleeting glances

wrist: armbands of the brawler, bracelet of bargaining, bracelet of second chances (Field Guide), charm bracelet (improved a fair bit from turnover)

slotless: anatomy doll, chime of resounding silence, coin of the untrodden road, dragonbone divination sticks (renamed), embalming thread (renamed), incense of transedence, insignia of valor, nightdrops, pipes of dissolution, restless lockpicks, void dust

Ki Itensifying is the upgraded version of Ki Focus, so it includes that. It's a +2. It's for manufactured weapon using monks (just like Ki Focus), and lets them do swift action bull rushes, repositions, disarms, or trips after hitting someone by spending a ki point. These don't provoke and any bonuses applicable to the weapon add to the CMB check. Very evocative ability :D

Use stunning fist with your temple sword, then trip the enemy so they're out for at least 1.5 rounds :)

Glad you like that one :) I think that's pretty close to the turnover for it. And yeah, I had kung fu movies going through my head when I wrote it.

CAAAAAAAAYYYYYDDDDDEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNN!

Washington and Oregon have an agreement allowing merchants to skip charging Oregonians sales tax by checking a driver's license and retaining a record of the sale with the ID # recorded. With tax up to 9.5% with the change in venue and the option to pick up subscriptions at the show, I'd like to encourage Paizo to take advantage of this agreement between the states and save their Oregon customers some of their hard-earned cash.

If nothing else, it makes shopping at the show much more attractive. This applies to a few other areas, but I bet Oregon customers makes up the largest share of such persons at the show, given the closeness.

http://dor.wa.gov/Content/FindTaxesAndRates/RetailSalesTax/Nonresidents/def ault.aspx

Thanks for your consideration, and if not in 2012, perhaps in 2013.

Where does it say that?

You're not enhancing anything. You are gaining an ability in exchange for another.

It's improving an ability a dwarf normally has. Take that original ability away, and I, as a GM, am not going to let you improve on it, because the base is gone.

Rule entries wind up much longer if every little "loophole" like that needs to get annotated to prevent people from abusing the rules. Long rules entries means less cool stuff for us to use. So as a player, and as a GM, exercise a little restraint on trying to rules lawyer an unfair benefit, and enjoy the better (as in more content-rich) rulebooks we get as a result.

It's equivalent to trying to get to the +6 Str level of rage without passing through the +4 level on the way.

It's kind of a pointless argument, because people who read rules are either capable of seeing this sort of cheese for what it is and behaving, or aren't capable of understanding why anything that appears to be written in a book isn't ok to abuse.

This was great. One of my favorites in the line, and well-timed for getting a feel for Numeria for the Inner Sea Bestiary.

Now linkified!

For reference, Russ Taylor is the one who wrote the archetype, so what he says is the author's intent. Perhaps Paizo thinks differently and didn't catch it, of course, but until then, we know the intent.

I do have to admit, part of my intent was swayed by not wanting to waste a large block of words on a skill refactor. It was said at the time that it was not kosher to say "archetype loses X as a skill and gains Y", so any change to skills would have required listing the entire skill block.