Shinsplint the Wanderer's page

...Dragon Mountain...

that is probably my favorite rpg product ever. i still have the poster framed in my library. "WOW!"

i see no reason for a wait period. making civil marriage a five year contract at the end of which you have the option to renew would probably save a lot of pain and suffering, however.

i'm a little late, but i would happily pay $8 for updated cards. $2 for a couple or $8 for all? seems like a no-brainer. i'll just skip my lattes that week. :)

yep, any sort of boxed set like that i'd buy instantly. tsr trained me to salivate like pavlov's dog at the mere mention of "boxed set". doubt it will happen though, from what i've been told, boxed sets aren't cost effective.

hardcovers. no question.
paperbacks just feel overpriced to me. if i am paying $20+ for something, i want something nice. i think i'd rather just have a pdf than a softcover.
as for printing on the inside cover, i prefer maps or some sort of quick reference for adventures; either artwork or blank for other types.

although i always love more campaign material and lore (i loved elminster's forgotten realms), i can never have too many spells, archetypes, feats, and items, both magical and mundane. i feel these things (especially spells and magic items) do a great deal to enhance the flavor of a setting, even if i never actually use them. one gamer's bloat is another gamer's gravy.

That's probably because you're looking at it backwards.

It's a Natural 20 crit against you, confirmed with another Natural 20, which confirms with another Natural 20, resulting in an Uber-Crit.

Though there is another variant where you kill YOURSELF if you roll 3 Natural 1s in a row.

oh, got ya. i misunderstood.

does anyone out there actually use this triple 20 rule? if so, why? this rule just has me flabbergasted. why on earth would this cause death? i picture a fighter just wailing on an enemy, having the best fight of his/her life, and suddenly dropping dead from a massive brain aneurysm... this seems right up there with "a meteorite hits you for no reason and you die" type gming.
personally, i prefer a deadlier game, but not deadly because of rules like that one. poor tactics = dead. back-talked the ancient red dragon = dead. didn't check for traps = dead. raise dead type magic = very rare. getting really lucky on your rolls = congratulations.

i have to disagree with all the people who say railroading is bad. this really depends on the group, some groups love sandbox style play where anything goes. my group likes a very structured story / plot and to have it very clear what to do next. i think the fact that we are all adults with very busy lives and little time to play is a big factor in this. sandbox type games need a lot of time to prepare (or you have to be very good at improvising), where as structured stories are (usually) a lot easier to prepare. anyway, i guess i'm say don't discount railroading just cause some don't like it, cause there are definitely some out there who do like it. talk to your players.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to be condescending. I love books. In fact I've spent most of my adult life working in book stores.

no worries. like i said, i didn't think it was intended in that manner. i was just curious if i was the only person out there who didn't like the term.

i would purchase a hardcopy of a collection of pathfinder web fiction in a heartbeat. i don't like reading books in electronic format. i work all day on computers, and when i get home, i like to literally unplug and curl up with a nice (paper) book.
sidenote: anyone else out there get annoyed at the term "dead-tree version"? it just strikes me as very... condescending (no offense to anyone, i doubt it was intended in that manner).

Arnold Schwarzenegger having a successful acting career is one of the great mysteries of our time.

he's one of those actors that you either love or hate. personally, i love him, not because he is a great actor, but because he is not. i honestly think the original conan the barbarian is one of the greatest movies ever made. everything just comes together in that movie, the actors, the sets, the score (love love love the soundtrack!)... i understand how it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but i think it (and most arnold movies) are enjoyable.

Note that Paizo issued a super-deluxe boxed version of the Rise of the Runelords hardcover too, so WotC isn't the only one getting in on the fun!

i saw that. it looks pretty awesome, to say the least. paizo accidentally sent me the hardcover rise of the runelords instead of the rotrl map pack and told me keep it when i asked if i should return it (and then sent me the map pack; i love you paizo!), so i'm not sure i want to drop $200 on a book i already have (not to mention that my wife would kill me).

Paizo does offer enough stuff that you can do this yourself.

For example, pick up Rise of the Runelords, plus some flip mats and a box or two of minis. You're good to go for at least a year.

yeah, i hear what you're saying, but there is just something great about having everything in one set. i absolutely love the fact that they put out the pawn sets for the adventure paths now. i do wish the map sets for them were all the actual grid maps you'd need for the adventures, though. i would happily pay whatever they wanted to charge to get them all and sized properly for minis.

In terms of the Class Challenge books, though, you might want to try the one on one adventures by Expeditious Retreat Press. They're designed with one player of a particular class in mind and have been converted over to Pathfinder.

thanks, i will check those out.

I like the idea of the boxed adventure but I imagine they can be relatively cost prohibitive. I think if they did put one out, the ideal scope of the product would be to highlight a relatively small region, provide the maps for the base town, poster maps for a few key encounter areas in miniature scale, a character creation guide, the adventure booklet(s) and the pawns for key NPCs and unique monsters - going on the assumption the DM already has the bestiary pawns, etc. for the base monsters. The adventure should serve to raise the PCs a few levels at most and for an active gaming group (play every week or two) probably last about 4-6 months. To some extent, the existing adventure paths and their related accessories already provide this but having a quick single box to grab is nice.

I like the one-on-one adventures as well. They probably should include notes on how to scale them up to a standard party or handling the sole PC having some lackeys/minions/hirelings with them. An idea on this front - what about a single book setup with chapters each of which is a one-on-one adventure for a different target character class, the design of which is to bring a party together at the end since the adventures are interrelated.

i'm trying to figure out why a boxed set would be so expensive. let's say an adventure the length of one part of an adventure path ~ $20 (although ideally it would have a small player guide as well). an adventure of that size would need fewer pawns, but still production cost would probably be about the same as an ap pawn set so ~ $15. 1 - 3 double sided poster maps (no real need for the heavy cardstock maps) ~ $10. the box itself ~ $5 should more than cover it. $50 bucks seems reasonable, comparable to other products they put out. i think it would just be a question of it they could move enough units. oh well, i'm sure there is something i'm missing from the equation.

From what I remember there is very little chance of boxed sets as to make actual profit off of them is prohibitively expensive. IIRC, one of the causes of the fall of TSR was all of the box sets they produced. I believe, to make a profit, the cost per box would be more like $100+. This is based on the memory of various interviews and panels I have watched/read.

sadness.

i was talking with my wife the other day about products we'd like to see from paizo. the two we'd most like to see are boxed adventure sets. something akin to the beginner's box with all the maps pawns and booklets you need for a full adventure. one of my favorite old adventures was dragon mountain (which i believe actually had something similar to pawns in it) and we'd love to see something like that. i'd easily pay $40-$60 for one, depending on length.
the other thing we'd like to see is one on one challenges. remember the old fighter's challenge, thieve's challenge etc? we'd love to see something like that, an adventure for a dm and a single player. it is often just the two of us and it's hard to scale regular adventures down for a single player.
thoughts?

role play. if i wanted to roll play i'd play a video game. i try not to make incompetent characters, but when picking feats, skills and equipment i will always pick flavor over function every time. my characters have very defined personalities and outlooks, and i try to stick as close to that character as possible when playing. the story is the lifeblood of the game. everything else is dressing.
if you're all about roll playing that's fine, but i doubt i'd have as much fun at a table full of min/max'ers who only want to see how many orcs they can mow down before resting/healing.

It's easy enough to get 98% of the out of print materials if you do a little E-bay stalking. Amazon works as well but it's harder to find a deal on OOP there.

the only problem with ebay/amazon is that it is a crapshoot as to the condition of the books. i've been a collector of d&d for many years (now adding pathfinder to my collection) and i can tell you from experience the definitions of "new" and "mint" are very flexible among countless dishonest sellers.

personally, i'd love to see some boxed adventures, something like the old ruins of undermountain or dragon mountain, complete with all the pawns and maps you'd need, and, of course, the adventure.
i'd also just like to add that the pawns are great! i like the 4e "pog" monster tokens, but the pawns are much better! i don't have the funds for that many minis (and i hate random way they are sold), and the pawns make an excellent substitute.

Catch-Off Guard seems like a feat to take just in case your GM is in the it is a -6 camp.

I think it is Intended to allow you to not take the Imp. Weapon Penalty, BUT it was badly worded. But it seems pretty nice even if you suffer the -6 penalty. Especially if you can't get Point-Blank Master.

yeah, that would be the feat to take, in that case, but then you've used two feats for something that you'd only use occasionally. i think i'll talk to the gm and if she doesn't go the -2 route, i'll probably pick something a little more useful.

I think it should be -2. I also think it's a complete waste of a feat. Even if Point Blank Master didn't exist.

the character i have is a rogue that's all about ranged combat (his day job is an archery instructor). point blank master requires weapon specialization which has a prerequisite of 4 levels of fighter. :(

I think it's at -6 and that Stabbing Shot is a waste of a feat created specifically just so people could mimic Orlando Bloom's Legolas.

I can think of very, very few circumstances in which pushing the enemy back 5' would be helpful and allow your bow attacks without Provoking, but taking a 5' step yourself wouldn't.

i, as well, suspect it is probably -6, which would make it kind of a b-grade feat. i like the flavor of it (even if it is a blatant lotr ripoff), it gives an archer a little more flash. i was thinking if it is only -2, it would be a great way for my archer to deal with those pesky fighters that have the step up/step up and strike feats. hurt them and put some distance between you, what is not to like? if its -6, well, odds of hitting an armored opponent are a lot lower. i wonder if weapon finesse would work with this...

has there been any official ruling on what the penalty is for the arrow stab from the stabbing shot feat? i've only seen a couple discussions about it, one seemed to think it was a -6 penalty (the -2 from the feat itself plus the -4 for using an improvised weapon). the other school of thought is that the spirit of the feat intends it to only be a -2, assuming that the feat trains you to use the arrow as a dagger-like weapon for this purpose.

anyway, stabbing shot: Benefit: When adjacent to an opponent and making a full-attack action with a longbow or shortbow (including composite bows), you may choose to make a melee attack against that opponent with a drawn arrow rather than firing it. If the attack hits—whether or not it does damage—your target is pushed back 5 feet away from you. You can then fire arrows from your bow normally, at the original target, or at another target within range. This melee attack replaces the extra attack from Rapid Shot, and all of your attack rolls for the round (the melee attack and the ranged attacks) take a –2 penalty. If your initial attack leaves you with no enemies threatening you, you can make the subsequent ranged attack or attacks without provoking attacks of opportunity.

ultimately, everything is between gm and the players. my guess would be that most gaming tables have many house rules (i still find the idea of non-good rangers to be strange, and no one confirms crits at my table). the point of all the discussions are, i think, more a philosophical debate rather than a straight up "this is right, you are wrong" argument. i enjoy reading the paladin debates because i have a strong interest in philosophy, debate, and the nature of good and evil. the definition of good and evil has changed so much in our society over just the past three decades that it can't really be defined in any other way than a subjective one. i say keep the debate open. you score points when you change someone's mind.

Umbral Reaver wrote:

Guys, you do realise you're arguing with shallowsoul, right?

Some people just can't handle it.

*applauds*

personally, i like my undead evil. there is just something that seems really lame about an "i'm not evil, i'm just misunderstood" walking corpse. the undead are something to fear in my campaigns, even lesser ones can be disturbing if used well. just my opinion.

and never heard of Al Qadim and Birthright.

oh man, are you missing out , both are great settings (i still have a bunch of mint al qadim boxed sets). i'm pretty sure al qadim was a subset of forgotten realms, kind of like maztica.

*sigh*
why am i seeing odd parallels between the star trek love/hate and 4e d&d love/hate?
personally, i liked the reboot. ya, it had some pretty terrible plot holes, but there are very few star trek episodes/movies that don't. it was fun. it was shiny. the characters were pretty well done (ya, subjective opinion). the franchise was dying a rather well deserved death (subjective again, but do you really think the last couple of movies and shows were up to snuff? ds9 was the last good star trek imo, and even that turned into a bit of a soap opera), and the reboot pretty much breathed life back into it. as for it not really being sci fi, can you honestly say that any of the star treks had even a little hard sci fi in them? come on, it was all just fantasy wearing the trappings of a sci fi show.
my advice? get some popcorn, kick back, and enjoy it for what it is, cause if you think star trek is deep, you're just fooling yourself. its always just been just interesting characters, weird aliens and special effects. sometimes even a morale thrown in.
now the star wars prequels...don't get me f***ing started...you want to see nerd rage...(rant deleted)

OK this is your opportunity to throw in ideas as to what makes for a strong female lead in fiction.

1. A willingness to leave the men to die and go off and build her own civilization?

pretty much what jrk and deathquaker said. qualifying a female as "strong" simply in relation to her male counterparts generally reflects more on the writer's ill-conceived view of gender roles, rather than strength of the actual character. the character becomes a joke or a stereotype.

NEW VEGAS (which effortlessly out-classed Bethesda's FALLOUT 3

i'd be more inclined to agree with this statement if nv could run at higher levels for more than 20 minutes without crashing (disclaimer: i've only played the xbox version).

Jason Sonia wrote:

I was leaning toward this (at least for this campaign):

Neutral acts would include - Your standard piracy. Robbing, pillaging, stealing, and even killing defenders in open combat, but without slaughter needlessly. Once weapons are dropped and surrender is offered, additional acts of violence would be evil acts. Press-ganging other pirates, or even other sailors, would be acceptable.

Evil acts would include - press-ganging innocents (women, children), slavery or human trafficking, rape and sexual assault, ritual sacrifice, 'chumming innocents' (cutting prisoners and tossing them overboard to attract sharks), killing simply to prove superiority, and so on.

I don't really have a problem with the first mate beating prisoners into submission or otherwise forcing the new crew to comply, but I do think starving men simply to break them is probably evil.

I can't speak for anyone else, but that sounds like a pretty solid standard to me.

Small quibble, change the definition of innocents from women and children to children and non-combatants. Male or female should not make a difference.

thank you all for your answers!

the rogue in the group i dm for purchased a ring of invisibility during our last session and this brought up a few questions that i wasn't sure the answer to. since the ring of invisibility can be activated as many times per day as she wants, does this mean that she can sneak attack every other round, activating the ring one round, dealing sneak attack damage the next?
also, the description of the ring says that it is per the spell. does this only last a set number of rounds, or does it last until the rogue attacks? it seems that if it lasts a set number or rounds, it would depend on the level of the creator of the ring...which, it would seem, would make the price fluctuate.
anyway, if anyone could clarify this for me, i would greatly appreciate it. thanks!