Silverwulfe's page

What I find interesting in these discussions of Paladins is that apparently it takes rules and rules and rules to make one. What I want to know (that still hasn't been answered by the OP despite several attempts) is more about the situation and the other people involved. As a player sitting behind a Paladin, I need to know a whole heckuva lot about my Paladin's past. What events in his life brought him to the point where he is devoted enough to go Crusading for a deity that he has never seen. Most normal people don't do that. Usually it involves some kind of painful past, because really, the plated freaks rolling out of Paladin University are just thugs looking for power and glory. Lots of these get played and they use the RULES to enforce their place at the gaming table. All rules lawyers should be shot, stabbed, and forked in their peeled eyeballs. Not that I have any feelings about this or anything.

The original poster should be asking questions about the depths of his Paladin's soul. The rules (obviously) can go several different directions. When he sees the daemon, does he feel anger toward the other player for summoning it or is he filled with sadness that a trusted comrade could stoop to the point of bringing evil beings into the world? Instead of stopping at the limits of the law (which most do), how are you going around being proactive in the world? If you take on the aura of Paladin, others should be able to see your good deeds. Not just sometimes, all the time. Basically I think we live in a world that has no concept how to portray a real paladin, so they use rules to try to compensate (I'm thinking of Lord Farquaad and his compensations, though he was no paladin, but I'm sure he thought he was).

I am extremely grateful that I play at a table filled with very mature gamers where we can have our characters disagree with one another and at the end of the night we are still really good friends. Your paladin should have a reaction to this in one way or another. Your past, your explicitly written code of honor (please tell me you took the time to write one down) and the redemption of your goddess should all come to play in the words you use to discuss this after the situation. Feel your way into the discussion, don't use your metagaming to state it baldly. Put it into words filled with emotion. The other character and player will have a lot more respect for you as a paladin and as a player.

Something like: later at the fire that night, "So... Billy, I'm not sure what was going on this afternoon. I appreciate you calling for help for us and it worked all worked out, but when I was out helping a small village near Smithjonesville, I ran across a summoner that was trying to save the town from an orc horde. He had been using animals at first but then tried to increase his power and began seeking names of darker and darker beings. The town was able to fight back the horde and he was called a hero. He was proud of himself and his newfound power. Over time when he needed additional help, he figured that he had learned to control the demons and continued to summon them. The mayor's daughter Marika went over to take some repaired laundry to him one afternoon, only to be confronted by a an evil from the darkest depths. The summoner had not specifically excluded the girl as he had no way to know that she would be there and in an instant the town was filled with mourning. What you did today certainly helped us out, but please, please be careful. My niece never had the chance to see what lay beyond the crook in the road."

Or you can use the primary mode of operandi lately: "You wretch! How could you summon up a daemon?!?! I hate you, you're going to die... mostly because the rules say I have to either hate you or something, I don't really remember. Anyway, my character is a paladin so you can't do that!"

This is a great roleplaying game. Strive to be a great roleplayer. Do it for the children...

I don't have it in Vinyl, but I have access to a large format plotter at the University I work at. I was able to print it off at 42" x 66" (I believe that's what it worked out to be... I had to fit it to paper). It's huge! I love it. I also printed out the Map Folio and have them in clear plastic sleeves for transportation. They work out to be about 20" x 30" (which works great for the 22" x 30" clear plastic art archival sleeves).
Just use the single file PDF from the Map Folio and take it to someone that makes signs. They can handle the large size easily and should be your most competitive price. Canvas might be a bit dicey unless you know someone.
Grommets are very nice on top and bottom (top for nails, bottom so you can weight it... like tassels on tapestries).
Getting approval to hang it? Well, that's where your Charisma roll comes into play. Good luck!
As for a map of all of Golarion (or even a seperate map that showed an expanded set of the mini map that is vaguely referenced), I would buy that as well. I would have to move my dresser to hang it beside my Inner Sea poster, but that would be totally awesome!
If you've never seen them in person, they are an amazing resource for looking up locations which can be helpful when writing. Canvas would be my preference, but when I can print it for free on photo paper, I'll take that... lol
Even if we only got the PDF copy of an expanded version, I would buy it (personally, I'd pay way more than I paid for the map folio to own one). That's for the designers, not the bean counting blood sucking lawyers... heh heh

I would have to look up my references, which I'm sure deal with Pathfinder Society, but it's not like the island doesn't have buildings on it. There are lots of seige castles and staging areas where civilizations past and present have made attempts to conquer Absalom. Lots of relics have been brought to the land as well, which allows for interesting finds if you are brave enough to travel the ruins in that untamed wilderness. Most of my best information from Absalom came from going through the Field Guide, the starter quests and all things Society. I'm sure there are other sources, as I'm perpetually finding new things about all sections of Golarion. If you need some more specific references, I can hunt them down for you...

Dear Ask a Shoanti,

I am curious about the tattoos that are featured so prominently upon your bodies. I understand that it is a coming of age rite. I can also understand that you may be reluctant to share the mystical details, but I would ask what you can tell about them. Are they applied all at once or are they expanded all the time? What age is considered "mature" for receiving what appears to be very extensive artwork with incredible detail? Do you have any say in the style that is used or is it a divine manifestation guiding the shaman's hands? Does it hurt or are you given special substances to help with the pain?
I am sure I have more, but that will assuage the curiosity within me at the moment...
Regards,

Silverwulfe

The ISWG states that Shoanti youths receive their first tattoo at the age of "majority". Any guidelines on this? Are we talking early teenage years or late teens? The Varisian Tattoo feat lists no guideline for it either.
If this is discussed in other places, please link it for me... My Paizo-Fu is weak today...

Why not incorporate the two for this one? Make it be a direct counter to a specific poison, and gives a +5 to resist poison in general. Just a thought. Rules and flavor don't have to exclude each other.

I can understand that a Roc may not grow very large in the adventuring span of a human lifetime. Even for elves that steadily adventure with a mixed group would be too fast for the next growth stage.
What about for NPCs of previous adventurers that have settled down and only advanced little in the last couple of hundred years? Is there an advancement option for the Roc companion? Or are long lived species needlessly bound to rules for humans?

Glad I was able to jump right into this one. Wish there was a way we could commit to a monthly pledge instead of a one-time affair. I would love to do a $100 now and then be able to immediately opt in to a $20-$50/month commitment.

We usually trade turns on who puts the inititive on the board, the damage by the monsters, etc. This is never done by the Master... just the initial setup for placement.

If a player has additional help (animal companion, etc), they should be ready to declare both and roll all at the same time. If they don't have enough dice to handle it, let them borrow, but encourage they buy additional dice.

As was suggested above, we also do groups of monsters together. If we have a mixed group, say orcs and worgs attacking, the orcs go together and the worgs go together as determined by a single initiative roll. And unless something changes, we usually just go with a single initiative roll at the beginning of each combat instead of each turn, unless someone does something that could change this...

You don't have to roll dice until everything is dead. If you can tell this is going to be a decisive victory, move to box text and describe the final moments.

If you are short on time, use email to handle base treasure/loot unless you have something special that you want them to look through.

I also like to prepare player "handouts" (clues, mysterious items, etc). I'll give it to them as we are about to go on break or to one of the members a day or so before we meet again. This allows either the group to focus on a handout while they get drinks and go to the restroom or a single player has found something and can either discuss it with the others or feel he has some inside information.

It also depends a large degree on your group makeup. Ours is a bit unusual as we always have more female players than male players (because the girls don't want to be the GM). We tend to have more roleplaying moments and showcase the really important fights. Before this, I have to say I was more hack and slash oriented and didn't really know it. Know what's important to your group and put an extra 15-20 minutes on that side of the scale.

Decide ahead of time how you are going to handle people missing. Does someone play their character? Do you pull them from the group (even if they are the only healer)? As most of us are married, if one of the pair is missing, the other one handles it. We also use a lot of NPCs and if they have something to do with one of the characters (family member, friend, "special friend", etc) we have the player take over their character sheet during combat. The GM still gets to do their one-liners (don't give over all control, just the dice rolling) and make their decisions, but the players deal with the mechanical aspects.

Setup situations at the beginning of the session for a limited group of players. Whether it is in a town and one of your NPCs talks to a player, or you have relationships within the group (brother/sister, lovers) that will talk about what has gone on previously. Or talk about someone else in the group and what they are doing. Use dreams to involve a character that might be shy to engage the others. Basically, create box text to build a group dynamic and get them talking to each other as their characters. The game isn't all about rolling dice and killing fiends. Once they talk to each other, the combat will work more fluidly and you'll enjoy it a lot more.

Most of all keep it fun for you and watch to make sure your players are having fun. It can be done in large groups, but it takes more work on your part, more help from your players and more interaction and patience.

We also trade out between a couple of game masters and different sets of characters so that the GM doesn't burn out and blow a gasket trying to work up material. In each of our down times, we try to build bones and flesh out stuff so you don't have to do so much on a weekly basis. I would propose this early and see if someone else is interested in taking a stab at their own campaign. Some will fail, but you hope that you can trade off and both enjoy crafting the story and playing in someone else's story as well. Good for the creative soul...

I wear my sunglasses of night!

I get the apathy aspect, but apathy does not breed heroes. A true neutral hero that really balances both good and evil as well as chaos and law is hard to do. At least in my book. Most people are mostly neutral but tend toward one of the other axis lines.

Neutral can be interesting if you are min/maxing stats and looking at advantages. But when it comes to roleplaying, you have to really think your way into a neutral state of mind. For me it comes of thinking of old fashioned druids, reading too much Elric and watching too many students at the local university where I work.
If you don't own the True Neutral, you will hash it up pretty quick and your GM should bust you on it! Quickly, harshly and un-personally - just like the player you said you were would have done it. Rules are easy to go Neutral with. Keeping the balance in your conversation with your companions though, that takes some skill. Whether you just don't care what happens to everyone else, are bi-polar in your portrayal or have some higher motive that is calling you to something more lasting (druids again, I know... though the black sword has it's place here too). It can be fun to side with the law abiding paladin against the barbarian breaking the rules just as you follow the evil sorcerer into a dungeon to gain more power to help you fight more viciously against the evil green skinned menace and their lust of axecraft! But you have to be mentally quick on your feet or extremely dedicated of purpose to achieve your dream of neutrality.
Basically, I consider the bastion of Neutrality to be the realm of the witily gifted. As such, I judge harshly those that attempt to scale the towers without reserves of deep thought, mental agility and savage cunning. Of course there is the long view but you had better convince me in your short term discourse that there is a long view, or you are getting booted to the faster spinning part of the carousel!

All the more reason to have these on an iPad while at the gaming table. They can never see you flip from one to the next, even if you are in multiple books. You just want to have your adventure there or pre-build your own box text and use it for backup if they do something unexpected. Don't go flipping through core books on the tablet if you need to reference them... as good as it is to read and keep all in one spot, you want your own copies of the real books for the baiting traps of the rules lawyers! But for the adventures and campaigns, tablets are a godsend!

Can't believe I just read an entire thread on Excel (outdated no less, but understandable why you haven't changed)! Too much IT in the Nerd... but it is very cool to hear you guys talk about it and remember some of the OH-MY-GOD Excel sheets I used to have to do for the company I used to be at... mainly because no one else could figure out how to do it. Amazing how Excel adaptability can follow you all over a company regardless of what your role is. (Financial Statements from the guy that used to be in Marketing and moved to IT? Really?) Was I ever glad to give that task up when I moved to the local University!

Art is very important. Helps to showcase a setting / character and helps to bring the world to life. Does it make up for bad rules? Nope. But when it is done well and is consistent throughout it feels like you have glimpses into another world. Pathfinder has really done an excellent job in this regard. I have a mixture of hard and electronic copy and they are presented well in both cases.
Anytime I am looking at a new set of core rules, I'm looking at artwork when standing in the store. I'm not reading the rules (unless my wife is extra patient that day). Once a stylization has developed, when I'm looking at additional supplements, I really like to see and feel that it is part of the same visual world of the other work. Can it change from time to time? Sure, but if you suddenly change everything about your artwork it makes us wonder if something is wrong and I am less likely to buy it until I figure out why there was such a drastic style change.

I am one of those players that loves LOVES his animal companions. Most of the time I don't get to play one though as few enough of our campaigns follow decent D&D or Pathfinder progression. I will say that playing original D&D it was very difficult to keep a companion alive, though not quite so much as the druid himself. Later versions have helped with this a lot and the new rules seem to help out a lot. I'm never one to play a wizard, but I've eyeballed the Eidolon a lot lately.
What I find is that groups that are actually role-playing groups love the versatility and possibly comic relief that a companion or familiar brings. A hack and slash group is going to roll their eyes and call you a tree-hugger. Needless to say, I truly enjoy the roleplaying group a lot more. It is well worth it to have a familiar that can talk (even if you have to wait till level 7 to do it) so that you can have a different voicing for them. The voice I used from my gnome cleric in a long dusty forgotten game felt right at home in the pseudodragon of my mixed class elf. Just remember to plot out your funny bits ahead of time (or remember to keep it concise if the idea hits you) since most people don't like you taking up a lot of extra time arguing with yourself in different voices. Using a familiar to make fun of other characters can be very entertaining though and your character can throw up his hands and claim the "it wasn't me" defense. As long as you are remembering that you are trying to tell a good story with your character and familiar or companion, other people are usually pretty good about having them in the game. If you can make them laugh and you don't delay things, then they will start to interact with the beast on their own and you know that it was worth it.

I have really enjoyed the book, but I would really really like a PDF copy. Will this be available at any point? The main reason I ask here is becuase you guys do such an excellent job with PDFs including artwork and full color everything. The competition tends to drop a lot of artwork and it is often in black and white.

I realize this is easier when it is your own product, but after downloading the 700+ page Pathfinder Core Rulebook onto my iPad, I really like being able to carry the book around in a light weight package that I will read all the way through (not to mention my wife likes it that the lights are off if I read late into the night).

Even if I have to buy the hardcover book again to get the PDF, I would do it. Just sayin'... and here's hoping that you could broker a deal like this. There are a lot more games that I want like this and it is definitely the wave of the future with more tablet formats being bought all the time. I for one like being able to have room at the table for other things besides my stack of books. For build-out, I'm always going to like the book better (I think), but for pure reading and searchable text, PDF every time.

... recommends multiclassing (for instance, 20 Wizard/4 Arcane Trickster).

Ok, that's what I thought I had read somewhere, but couldn't find anything more specific. Just wanted a basic guideline. I know I could go with 3.5 Epic, but that changes some of the parameters a lot. We'll see when we get there (cause I'm not starting a high level campaign for them).

Qyrath

Is there a hard level cap of 20 in Pathfinder. I know in the core rules it lists up to 20, but can't find a definite yes or no in either the player or gamemaster guides. Perhaps it is in the Advanced Player's guide, but I won't have that until the first. Just trying to figure out what to tell a player that wants to be an arcane archer.
Thanks,

Qyrath

Goodreader working beautifully for me.

F.r.e.a.k.i.n. AWESOME!

I'm not sure why I avoided GoodReader for so long (probably some negative reviews in the early days. Side swipe, full loading of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook (560 Pages with heavy graphics)!
If I could send you a referral fee, I would do it... lol
Thanks a lot,

Qyrath

Has anyone had any luck with PDF readers on an iPad for the Pathfinder Rulebooks? Even if broken into chapters they often crash the program. If you know of one that doesn't do it, I'm open to buying it, I just don't want to beta test all of them if the groundwork has already been laid.

For future editions would it be possible to put the book number first and then the page numbers in multiple pdf book copies? At first this isn't bad, but to keep the links active you have to leave the names the same and all the books get jumbled up since it is sorting by page numbers at first.

Either that or you have to manually rename them all and lose the indexing. Just a thought.
Thanks.