The giant octopus makes up to four Strikes with different arms, each against a different target. Each attack counts separately for the octopus's multiple attack penalty, but the penalty doesn't increase the penalty until the octopus has made all the attacks.
My question pertains to the second sentence. I'm assuming "the penalty doesn't increase the penalty" is a typo, and the sentence is meant to read "the penalty doesn't increase until the octopus has made all the attacks." If read thus, does that mean that none of those four arm attacks takes a penalty to the attack roll? And if the giant octopus uses its final action to make a standard arm attack, then the -5 penalty would be applied to that attack roll?
I recently created a Patreon account. I'm putting up regular offerings of material for original Pathfinder RPG, 5e D&D, Starfinder, and possibly more, as well as original fiction, essays, and material related to Aerda: The Wounded World, my post-apocalyptic fantasy setting.
You can help support my efforts for as little as $1 a month. With enough of a following, I'll be producing PDF collections of related works for patrons to download. Check out my page at https://www.patreon.com/jeffalee and subscribe if you like what you see. If you want a better idea of who I am and what I have to offer, you can see a comprehensive list of my writing credits on my profile page.
Thanks for your interest and I hope to be able to say hello to you as my newest patron.
I recently created a Patreon account. I'm putting up regular offerings of material for original Pathfinder RPG, 5e D&D, Starfinder, and possibly more, as well as original fiction, essays, and material related to Aerda: The Wounded World, my post-apocalyptic fantasy setting.
You can help support my efforts for as little as $1 a month. With enough of a following, I'll be producing PDF collections of related works for patrons to download. Check out my page at https://www.patreon.com/jeffalee and subscribe if you like what you see. If you want a better idea of who I am and what I have to offer, you can see a comprehensive list of my writing credits on my profile page.
Thanks for your interest and I hope to be able to say hello to you as my newest patron.
I've written a tale for LPJ Design's NeoExodus Legendary Tales, a collection of stories set in the NeoExodus Campaign Setting and featuring the settings iconic characters. The Heart of Midnight is available through DriveThru Fiction/One Book Shelf in pdf, as well as through Amazon. (Free for Kindle Unlimited readers, and free to borrow for Amazon Unlimited customers.)
If you decide to read this offering, please consider leaving a review as well, even a short one. It would be much appreciated. Happy reading!
I'm the GM for this event. Since the lottery opens up tomorrow I wanted to get a thread devoted to this game in case anyone has any questions, and for those that get a seat at the table once the lottery is over to pop in to do so as well, or just to say hello.
There's a contest going on over at Kobold Press. Five finalists have been selected and voting for the winner is open to the public. Each is a 5e magic item take on an actual blade forged by Todd Gdula, KP's resident smithing expert. Give the link below a click and vote for your favorite creepy cutlass. Polls close May 23rd.
I am pleased to announce that Gun Metal Games is producing a Pathfinder compatible version of Interface Zero 2.0. This is a cyberpunk setting set in the year 2090. We are running an open playtest of the material for the next month. If you'd like to participate, the playtest document is available free for download from the link below. This document includes our new combat rules, hacking rules, 15 pregenerated characters highlighting all available classes and races, and several scenarios for GMs to run. Our design team—Savannah Broadway, Robert Hudson, Louis Porter Jr, Andreas Rönnqvist, Mike Welham, and myself—look forward to your feedback.
You can download your copy from DrivethruRPG. It should also be available here on the Paizo site in the near future.
You can post your feedback here, on the Gun Metal Games website forum, and we'll also accept feedback via email. Links to the feedback areas are provided in the introduction of the playtest doc. Thank you for your interest, and game on!
Got a couple of cool projects to run by people at Paizocon, probably on Sunday (night) and Monday (morning), since I'm not running or playing in any scheduled games those days.
First up, I should have the playtest document for Interface Zero 2.0 for Pathfinder (from Gun Metal Games) with me. If you're interested in playing a cyberpunk game using Pathfinder rules, I should have a short scenario and pregens ready to go.
Also, I'll be looking for feedback on a new hybrid class, the deadeye hexer (gunslinger/witch hybrid). Again, short scenarios to test the class abilities at various levels. This will be released through LPJ Design, and the finished product will feature not only the new class, but also additional content (new spells, archetypes, magic items, etc).
So if anyone's interested, let me know and we'll set something up. Otherwise, keep an eye out for me in one of the open gaming rooms where I'll be looking for people some pick-up playtesting.
Just wanted to express my admiration for the official judges who are providing commentary and insight on the submissions, as well as to the voting public taking the time to weigh in and critique. It takes time and effort, especially when you take the time to provide feedback. I hope the finalists appreciate the efforts you make.
I'm reviewing freelancer submissions for LPJ Design, and I'm already tired after two of them. 32 maps or a couple hundred magic items? Forget about it.
There are a lot of folks already doing item critiques, so I'll take a pass on that. (Though if you want my specific thoughts on an item, feel free to shoot me a PM.) Instead I'm going to do a list of general advice to address a number of stumbling blocks I saw this year.
Read the Rules:
It seems a bunch of people jumped right in this year, as they seem to do every year, without learning about what they're getting into first. So you have disqualifications right off the bat, because people submitted wondrous items unaware of the format change.
Speaking of format, a whole lot of items didn't do as well because entrants used an improper format, or sometimes no format at all. While not every voter places as much value on formatting as some, nearly everyone will vote for the better formatted item out of two equally creative pieces of work. You can't follow the rules and do your best if you don't know what's required of you.
Write What You Know:
This is one of those cliches that gets thrown at writers all the time. However, it's cliche because it's true. If you show, as a writer, that you don't have command of the language, or the subject you're writing about, then you've lost your reader (in the case of this contest, your voter).
Don't assume you know everything. Go back to basics. Creating a staff? Then go look at the rules for staff creation in the book. To this day, when looking up rules for a game, I'll find that I'm remembering things from 3.5 that were changed in Pathfinder. It's never wrong to refresh your memory on how things function. That includes the language you're using. There are certain formats for rules that are used. If you're using them, then your item will look and sound more like a Pathfinder item. For example, the use of "to" and "on" in reference to bonuses. You add a bonus "to" a static number (+2 enhancement bonus to Strength) but you add a bonus "on" a roll or check (+5 competence bonus on Bluff checks).
Some of the most painful voting moments I had were where people used language that was either ambiguous, or simply wrong. (Don't call your item a "bodkin" if it's not a dagger. Yes, there are types of arrows that go by that name, but they're "bodkin arrows," not just "bodkins." "Frog-crotch" is another type of arrowhead, but most people wouldn't think of naming their item the "Frog Crotch of Scalping.") If you're going to pull out the 25 cent words, be sure you're using them correctly. Also be sure you're using them appropriately. Use the beautiful language for the item description. Stick to plain language when dealing with the actual mechanics.
Think Like A Designer:
This one's tricky and not always easy to define. I'd define it as "think about your item from multiple perspectives. In other words, if you're approaching your item creation by saying "I'm going to make the coolest item for a fighter ever!" then you're being too limited on your perspective. You're designing an item as a player. You're looking at something from the perspective of how cool it would be to have such an item in a game. That's good, but it's not enough. There were plenty of items in this year's mix that seemed cool on the surface, but once I started thinking about running a game where one of the PCs had a particular item, I'd see the nightmare that it would cause (in terms of action economy, or slowing the game down to determine the effects, or some other thing that would cause a general headache in play rather than roleplay).
Likewise, you can't look at it purely from a GM's perspective either. That's how you end up with items that aren't so much an item as they are a plot device, or an item that would be fine for an evil character, but would likely be destroyed by a more traditional party of heroic PCs who won't sell it because it will just end up in the hands of some other villain.
I fell into this trap myself this year. Mark Seifter's comment on my item talked about a nightmare scenario where players would sacrifice their own items to power up the weapon. It had not even occurred to me. That kind of munchkinism is not the way I play, and it's not how my group plays. I could easily argue that a good GM can keep this from happening. (It's not like hacking things to bits in the next room is quiet. One Perception check and the monsters in the next room are coming in to attack, or preparing themselves for battle.) However, my group isn't the mass of Pathfinder players at large, and not every GM is going to handle things the same way. It's something that I should have considered during the design process. I left a loophole for potential abuse of the item, and it cost me.
So, that's it. Feel free to discuss or question. Hopefully this will be of use to those participating next year.
Year after year there have been disqualifications that didn't need to happen. If you're serious about competing, then there are a few things that you'll want to be sure you do.
1. READ THE RULES. Even if you've competed every single year, read all the rules available, beginning to end. One person was already disqualified because they submitted in the early hours of the contest without looking at the rules, and they submitted a wondrous item.
2. FOLLOW THE RULES. Format your item correctly. Don't do things your way, or use the Ultimate Equipment format because you like it better than the formatting in the Core Rulebook. Part of being a freelancer is being able to do what is requested of you. You can still be creative and follow the rules.
3. CHECK YOUR WORD COUNT. The submission entry form has an automatic word count. Preview your submission before you hit the "Submit" button. Owen has already said that there's no wiggle room on word count. If your item is awesome at 301 words, then it will be awesome in the discard pile.
4. GET YOUR SUBMISSION IN ON TIME. As you may have noticed, the Paizo site has been down in the last couple of days due to inclement weather. In years past there have been people that have submitted right at the deadline and for whatever technical reason, their submission did not process. Don't be that person. Finish your item and get it in with time to spare. There's nothing wrong with holding off so you have time to make edits, but there's also no reason you should be rushing to get your item in before the clock counts down either.
One more. This may not get you immediately disqualified, but it's a pet peeve of mine and happens every year.
5. DON'T MAKE A JOKE ITEM. (SERIOUSLY, JUST DON'T.) Your item should have a "Wow!" quality to it. It can wow with simplicity. It can wow with complexity. It can wow with elegance, originality, or expertise. What won't wow people is if your item is obviously meant to be a joke or--worse--based on a bad pun. If your item is a tooth, blue in color, that sticks in a person's ear and allows them to use message to contact other people...well, you've just wasted the time of the person reading your submission. This sort of item is made for the punchline of the joke, not to get into the Top 32.
Further info can be found in the discussion thread. Please keep any questions or comments to the recruitment thread until I've decided to bring you into the game. Thanks.
I'm looking to expand my freelance workload. I've been writing professionally for the last two years. Click on my name and check my profile for a comprehensive list of my publication history. If you have any small to mid-size projects you need a writer on, shoot me a pm and we can exchange email addresses and discuss them. If you're looking for new pieces to publish, I have a few elevator pitches lined up for things I'm working on in my spare time. By-the-word rates are negotiable, and I'm currently looking to build up a base of residual income, so profit percentage is also an option.
Imperial Armories makes handcrafted leather goods for Ren Faires and conventions. Recently they sold this piece, only to have the customer cancel the payment after receipt. They're now out about $3,000 and appear to be having trouble getting legal action taken against the culprit.
If you're a crafter, then take heed of this potential problem. If you're attending cons or fairs, then keep an eye out for this suit. Informing local law enforcement and giving them access to the above link and contact info for the vendor might help resolve this issue.
So last night my players rescued Sandara and Cog by the skin of their teeth, rested up, and successfully took over the ship. Plugg and Scourge survived the fight. The party decided to maroon them and had the two swim to the shore of Bonewrack Isle before leaving with their new ship.
I haven't been roleplaying Plugg as the type to forgive this sort of thing. So...
Spoiler:
I figure there's a good chance that they'll both succumb to ghoul fever before another ship visits the island. The plan is for them to show up later in the party's career with a new vessel, the Red Repast with a loyal and hungry crew of ghouls.
Can anyone think of a good spot in the AP to drop in this encounter? I'll likely find a good time later, but figured I'd fish the forums for ideas, because sometimes you people come up with some real gems.
I know you're all likely busy with con season in full swing, but I'd like to get this resolved soon.
I ordered two Paizocon badges (Order #3109924) for me and my partner. However, she's not going to be able to get the time off and won't be attending, so I need to return the unpersonalized badge for a refund.
I was looking over the infiltrator archetype for the ranger and noticed that while the adaptation ability replaces favored terrain, there's nothing to replace camouflage, which relies on the favored terrain ability to function. Seems this archetype is being shorted an additional ability to make up for it.
There was a post on the Pathfinder RPG page on Facebook that I think deserves consideration and wanted to make sure word got back to Paizo promptly, so I'm reposting here. Also, since this community is usually friendly and often pro-active, someone here might already have something that could help in this situation.
Mark Christopher Hoke wrote:
hey all!! I am trying to help out a friend. I am trying to find a history of the world of pathfinder. I know it little by little in a lot of books but here is the catch...my friend is blind. So any know of one that maybe out there or is there anyone that may want to make one up on youtube? I think it would be a great idea and my even be fun. I would do it myself but I dont know how to do it. Any help would be great thanks!!
With the exception of one year where I mentally substituted the contest deadline with one for a term paper (paper got done nearly a week early, missed the contest) I've entered RPG Superstar every year.
This little baby was my first rather ridiculous attempt at getting in the Top 32. Behold, the...
Elven War Helm
The original helms of this design were crafted by elven war wizards and bestowed upon gifted commanders who achieved merit defending their homelands. The secrets of their crafting have since leaked to the world at large, and many a wizard or sorcerer has found it advantageous to have a cohort in possession of one of these items to command their minions while away.
The typical elven war helm is crafted of mithral, usually in the style of a hawk’s or eagle’s head. The wearer of the helm gains a +2 competence bonus on all Cha based checks, and can utilize the following additional powers:
Telepathic bond, once per day
Sending, once per day
Message, three times per day
Moderate varied; CL 9th; Craft Wondrous Item, creator must have the Leadership feat, message, sending, telepathic bond; Price 66,820 gp; Weight 1.5 lb.
Run it through the checklist, and you'll see a bunch of no-nos. Never got feedback, never saw the light of day beyond the judges reviewing it.
As of 2013 I was one of the alternates to the Top 32. One bad case of stomach flu and I would have been in the contest. Also, in 2012 this item was the seed for the Helm of the Communal Mind, one of my first published RPG writing projects. I took my half-baked idea of a helm that can help coordinate people in combat and created something entirely new that was good enough for someone to want to publish.
My point here is that if you want it badly enough, then take your non-wins and learn from them. If you don't make the Top 32, then get feedback on your item and find out why. Read the commentary on the Top 32 items and see what made the fans and the judges pick them. If you think your idea was good, even if the item wasn't a success, then don't discard the idea just because the vehicle it used didn't work. Talent only flourishes with effort and dedication. Learn from your mistakes. Better still, learn from the mistakes of others, and keep coming back stronger until you win.
So for those that haven't been following, Kobold Press is holding its Monarch of the Monsters contest. The judges have chosen the Top 5 and now its up to the public to choose a winner. Voting ends Thursday, at noon I believe. All the entries are great, and four of them are by your fellow Paizonians. My entry, as well as those by Eric "Boxhead" Hindley, Mike "RPG Superstar" Welham, and Wendall Roy are all in the running against a lone entry using the 13th Age system. I think the polls could use a little more Pathfinder influence. So head over, check out the entries, and vote for your favorite. The winner gets a contract to write something for Kobold Press.
20/5/91 A.U. You arrived in Aremyhk, capital of Koryth and center of the Imperial Allicance, a few days ago. You bear with you a letter of introduction to Roald Croy, a junior Senator from the Caneus Empire. Originally, you were to work for Maksymilian Amyas, a Senator from Gavea (odd, since the Dominion is not a member of the Alliance). However, the Senator denied the request. Others were approached before Senator Croy accepted. Croy is a member of the "Crown Council" a group headed by Amyas that seeks a stronger Alliance in order to deal with great threats such as the Janus Horde and the Quickslavers.
Today is the day of your meeting with the Senator, and you have arrived at the great marble building of the Senate Hall early in the day. As you stand at the foot of the steps leading to the main atrium, a small noise and motion at your elbow attract your attention. Before you is a small woman in her elder years, bent even lower by her age. She holds a piece of parchment, folded and sealed with a shapeless blob of tallow, in a hand wrapped in cloth against the unseasonable chill of the morning.
"Beggin' your pardon, sir. My eldest son is on guard duty up there in the building and I need to send him a message. All those steps play havoc on these old bones. Could I persuade you to pass this on for me?" She picks up a small woven basket at her feat. From under the cloth that covers its top, escapes a tantalizing whiff of baked goods. "I also brought him his breakfast. If you'd be so kind as to deliver the basket and letter, you can help yourself to two of my spicy sausage rolls. Gregor won't miss them, and if he eats too many more he won't be able to squeeze into that armor of his."
So, this, in the "What do you want to see?" thread.
Silent Saturn wrote:
What I'd like to see is a "non-combat Bestiary". Thinking up puzzle encounters or diplomatic situations to put your players in is hard. harder than, say, cracking open the Bestiary, finding a CR-appropriate monster, and having it attack the PCs.
The NPC Codex was a good start, but what I'd really like is a Codex of environmental hazards, traps, freak natural disasters, couriers bearing bad news, chase scenes, intelligent magic weapons with complex agendas, magical diseases, skill-check challenges, haunts, cursed treasure, and whatever else you can think of-- all CR-rated and accompanied by a list of suggestions as to where and why a group of adventurers might encounter them.
I want to write this. Anyone else want to write this? We should write this. And publish it. Anyone want to publish this?
At least that's what I've learned from this article at the Gameological Society. Well, that and something about bad marketing decisions when you think your target market has nowhere to go.
I'm starting an adventure based in the world of Exodus, from the NeoExodus: A House Divided Campaign Setting. I currently have...three? I think? players in. I'm looking to round the party out to between four and six.
This will start with a scenario that takes 1st level, 20-point buy characters to 2nd level. The campaign will likely carry on beyond this initial adventure, but there will likely be some downtime between adventures so I can work on material.
I'd like interested players that already have at least some basic working knowledge of the NeoExodus setting and its races. I can fill in the blanks as needed, but would rather not run a crash course for each player while we work up characters. A few house rules will be in effect, as well as Paizo's Critical Hit Deck and Ultimate Plot Decks: Twist of Fate by LPJ Design.
Further info can be found in the discussion thread. Please keep any questions or comments to the recruitment thread until I've decided to bring you into the game. Thanks.
Okay, this will be the general info and discussion thread for any and all NeoExodus adventures I run. I'll be posting rules for characters and the house rules I normally use when I GM.
Characters: 1st level characters. 20-point buy. Any NE PC races allowed. Other Pathfinder races subject to approval. All base classes welcome. Prestige classes should be run by me first. I'll be running in a variety of environments, but this first one will be primarily urban/underground. Points in at least one social skill will probably be a plus.
Go ahead and post your character concepts here. You'll be working, cooperatively or via coercion, for the Imperial Alliance.
I'll be using my deck of Critical Hit cards for crits, and the NeoExodus: Twist of Fate Plot Cards. Each player will receive a card at the start of any given adventure to use as they see fit during the game, subject to my approval.
Let's say I'm playing a character planning on pumping points into Linguistics regularly for the first few levels, with a high Int to start. What would be the most useful languages to know at 1st level? Which ones should be grabbed for the next few levels?
Goodbye, Mr. Matheson. Thank you for all your wonderful stories. And if no one from Hollywood ever made the effort, I'd like to apologize for everything they did to "I Am Legend," every time."
Hello, players! Who gets to join the band of villainy raging against the light and justice of the land?
On a side note, I'll be using Paizo's Critical Hit deck to spice things up, as well as LPJ Design's Ultimate Plot Deck: Twist of Fate to help mix it up even further.
As the title says, are there any left and if so, when? Is there still time to get an event into the lottery, or should I just make a thread offering my game in open gaming?
Due to the amazing generosity of the gaming community, I'm able to attend Paizocon this year. My campaign is in its final 4 hours and I'm $10 beyond my target.
I'm reposting this here in case anyone attending the con wants to take advantage of the "Gamer" contribution level. Up to six people can rope me into GMing a game for them in off hours and get two pdfs of my work on top of that (check my user profile for a list of my published work). If anyone else is feeling exceedingly generous, that's fine too.
The group from Three Oaks heads west towards Dunshale and the cave where the Archive is hidden. On the way, they overtake a group of monks from the Wellhouse, transporting Heyward Ironhead. The dwarf is currently being carried on a litter. His legs twisted and broken from the unkindly ministrations of Varrus' allies. His arms must still have some strength to them, judging by the pair of crutches that rests on the litter beside him.
With the party's help, the journey to the cave is a bit easier. You arrive to find the entrance hidden by brush and a net strung across the opening of the cave. Master Heyward is helped up and takes to his crutches to enter.
You are met at the entrance by a pair of acolytes, who escort you to the room the nocturne had used as a common area. Here you are met by Gendo, who introduces you to the pair he says are part of a group that informed the monastery about the Archive. Before you are a gnome...and a dwarven cleric of Baal.
Red Team: A few days pass. In that time Magnus spends a lot of time playing cards with Terranus. He doesn't get much more information out of the strange, earthy man, who seems about as scattered as before. He does not that despite his apparent confusion, he's a quick learner at cards and begins winning more hands than he loses.
Then one afternoon a group is led into the large cave near the entrance. A group of monks in similar garb to the group here lead a crippled dwarf on crutches, closely followed by a group of apparent commoners. A broad-shouldered human with a smith's hammer on his belt and a bundle of firewood over his shoulder leads the quartet. A tall, skinny fellow with thinning hair is next, smelling faintly of herbs. Next to him stands an alluring looking woman with an owl perched upon her shoulder, its wide eyes reflecting the torchlight. Finally, a handsome fellow carrying a spear and net, the unmistakable odor of smoked fish about him.
I'm one of those viewers. Cut the cord last summer and really haven't missed the hundreds of channels I had to pay for but never watched. Cable companies have steadfastly refused to consider ala carte programming, but money talks, and if they keep losing it they'll have to reconsider the way they do business.
Anyone else stream movies and shows rather than pay for cable or satellite?
RPGNow is offering a bunch of free downloads for Tabletop Day. A lot of quick-start stuff and other goodies.
I'd advise getting it while it's free and downloading it later though, unless you've got the time to spare. There servers are a bit overworked at the moment.
I'm designing a weapon that inflicts ability damage on a critical hit and imparts a portion of that energy to its wielder (in a sort of Stormbringer-eque way). This would be a special enhancement bonus that will stack with itself (e.g. the wielder scores a crit and gains a +1 to Strength; on the following round, she hits again, and the bonus increases to a +2.)
What I'm stuck on is how to handle the duration of the bonus. There is effectively no limit to how high the bonus may stack. However, I'm limiting the duration of the bonus to 1 minute. Now, I have the choice of either
a) Having the duration "reset" each time another Str bonus is gained. So in the aforementioned example, the bonus would be +2 after the second attack, and the duration--9 rounds left--would be reset to 1 minute again. This way, no matter how high the bonus climbs, it will last no more than 1 minute from the last Str gain.
or
b) Have the duration stack but have the Str bonus diminish, so the wielder slowly loses Str over time. Going back to the example, the wielder would have that +2 bonus to Str for 1 minute. Then, when the first +1 expires, the enhancement bonus would drop to +1 and last for for another minute before expiring.
So I'd like to hear some opinions on which is the better way to handle this. Or, if you have another method that would work I'd like to see that as well.
Behind the grand, filigreed building sits a little prefabricated steel shack, about ten by twelve feet in size. A sign--black Sharpie pen on cardboard--is taped to the door and reads "Welcome, alternates! We have cookies and punch."
Inside are four beanbag chairs and a little card table holding a tray of cookies (Hydrox, no brand names) and a punchbowl.
Hey folks. I figured I'd give us a place to hang out while the Top 32 have their moment in the sun.
On a more serious note, I PMed Sean K. Reynolds and Vic Wertz about the email we received and our inability to submit an archetype despite the letter telling us to do so. Sean replied and said he'd look into it soon and let me know.
I suppose we could start by sharing the items that earned us our positions as alternates.
