Sajan

Tarrintino's page

Organized Play Member. 253 posts (260 including aliases). 1 review. 1 list. 5 wishlists. 15 Organized Play characters. 1 alias.


Dark Archive

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As a Hellknight of The Order of the Godclaw, I approve of this book. I look forward to use the new materials in this book to smite down and punish those who would flaunt and break the laws of Gods and Men.

Scarab Sages

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Chris Lambertz wrote:
The APG characters are currently under construction. Once they're all spruced up by our Organized Play team, they'll be added to the package and an email will be sent out alerting people of the update :)

I'm assuming that Seltyiel (The Iconic Magus) is also receiving the "sprucing" treatment, as well.

Any idea how soon we'll see these Pregens for PFS in the future?

Scarab Sages

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LOVE THIS COVER!!!

Total homage to the classic "Green Arrow/Green Lantern" Issue 85 drug cover.

Scarab Sages

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I always thought a maze would be a great dungeon to dedicate for a God/Goddess of Madness. The ever changing patterns, paths that lead nowhere, etc. Populate the maze with aberations or really screwed up outsiders.

Scarab Sages

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Congratulations to the both of you!!!

Scarab Sages

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Always cool to see how the PFS is spreading itself out all around the world!!! Congrats on becoming Venture-Captains in your respective countries! I wish you both the best of luck in expanding PFS there!

Scarab Sages

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The party I'm running is one of the most weirdly alignment diversed I've run in quite some time. The breakdown of the party comes down to:

Captain (The Dread Pirate) Roberts (the 10th)
- CG Human (Taldan) Swashbuckler 3

First Mate Hawkins
- LN Half-Orc Ranger (Falconer) 3

Ship's Arcanist, Brey
- NE Human (Taldan) Wizard (Universalist) 3

Ships Doctor, N'Longa
- NE Human (Mwangi) Shaman (Bone) 3

As a side note, the First Mate is Lawful Neutral on a Pirate Ship. Although you might say this alignment wouldn't work, it's been interesting how the player has pulled it off. He has embraced "The Pirate Code" as his "Law", and consults it whenever he is asked what he should do.

We resumed the game last Sunday, and the player playing N'Longa approached me and said he wanted to void out the threats from the game primarily because his character couldn't have raised The Whale from the dead as a zombie or skeleton because of his level anyways. To end the entire situation, I've agreed and the party will continue on as if the incident never occurred.

However, the incident in question has made me start to review how I will be running Sandra Quinn over the course of the campaign, and what role she will be running on the ship.

Does anybody have an interesting stories regarding how they ran Sandra Quinn during their time GMing "Skull & Shackles"?

Tarrintino

Scarab Sages

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To explain why the player came to odds with Sandra, the party's Shaman (who models himself as a sort of Voodoo Zombie Priest) wanted to bring back to the ship the body of The Whale from the end of Part 1. However, due to the sheer amount of weight The Whale weighed, and the fact that the body was in the water, there was no easy way to transport the body back to the ship.

However, when Sandra gave the party's Wizard her her magical tricorne hat and it was explained that a follower of Besmara could change it into a ship, he turned and demanded she take the hat back, make it into a ship, and pull the body out of the water caves. Besides the fact that the ship it would form wouldn't fit in the caves, she said that she had given it away, and that if he wanted to make it into a ship, she would assist whomever wanted the hat to become a follower of Besmara.

Although they eventually did get the body back to the ship, the PC Shaman has made it clear both in game and out of game that he plans to kill her. The rest of the PC's and the crew like Sandra and appreciate her contributions tot he crew, but apparently this is not one of those things that is going to go away easy.

To keep things even, I'm seriously considering keeping Sandra as a NPC on the ship, leveling her up so that she's always no more than one level behind the PCs. The question is, how is she going to respond to these threats from the PC Shaman.

Tarrintino

Scarab Sages

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Well, you are game developers. You don't really NEED to be at the office to do that. Time to start dropping some dice and doing some playtesting at the airport and/or hotel.

Scarab Sages

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Wish I was there. Sucks being a responsible adult these days. :-(

Scarab Sages

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*turns to Obsidian*

You're making a Pathfinder version of "Neverwinter Nights"?

*throws wallet at Obsidian*

HERE! JUST TAKE MY MONEY!!!

Scarab Sages

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So, I have a cert to play a dhampir and have a concept to play a ranger with natural attack focus from the APG. Problem I can see is healing him is difficult as dhampir's require negative energy healing.

Since the Ranger's spell list includes Cure spells, could he use a wand of Cure Light Wounds charged with negative energy to heal himself without needing to roll for UMD?

If not, have any other players figured out a way around the negative energy healing for dhampirs in PFS?

Tarrintino

Scarab Sages

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So, before I go of onto the topic of my discussion, I’d like to provide a little background on myself. I’ve been a gamer now for the past 24 years of my life. Although I have played all sorts of games (tabletop RPGs, card, board, video, LARPs), I will say that I have pretty much always been playing Role-Playing Games with only a few rare times when work/school/life prevented me from doing so. I’ve sat on both sides of the GM screen, but I will state that I do usually end up being on the GM side of the screen more often than not.

In addition to playing games, I also listen to a variety of gaming podcasts. I do this to stay aware of what games are out there, get ideas on how to run/play games better, as well as to listen to the interviews with game designers from various companies. Recently, I listened to episodes of “Fear the Boot” (an excellent RPG Podcast that I would highly recommend to all gamers) where they featured a discussion over several episodes on “How to play your character like a BAUS”. In their episode, BAUS is an abbreviation of the term “Beautiful & Unique Snowflake”, and the discussion really hit me.

Those of you who are old enough to remember earlier editions of D&D (1st and 2nd editions primarily), will recall that the character classes for the game were VERY STATIC. If you had two fighters of the same level (even if they were of different races), the pretty much were the EXACT SAME CHARACTERS with very small differences in regards to attributes and minor racial abilities. At higher levels, these minor differences became even less apparent where your Elven Fighter was almost identical to your Dwarven Fighter.

This always grated to me, as just like people, there are no two persons who are exactly alike. Even twins typically show some differences between the two, and they will often even try to create separate identities that demonstrate they are different than there twin. So, when D&D 3e came out, I was extremely pleased to learn of the customization of characters via multiclassing, feats, skill points, and prestige classes. This was improved even more by Paizo with the release of the Pathfinder RPG where archetypes, character traits, and options within the base classes were introduced to allow for individual customization of characters.

No, we’ve talked about creating the stats of a character so that person detailed on the sheet is unique. However, I have two player pet peeves that always grate on me when I run or play at a table.

The first is a player that makes no attempt to create a unique persona for a character when sitting down to play. It gets to me when I ask, “Tell me about your character” and get told, “Dwarf Fighter.” Every human being on this planet has a life story (even if they don’t share it with everybody they meet). They all have interesting character traits and flaws. They have success stories and personal regrets. They have goals they want to achieve, and inner demons they have to face. When a player doesn’t have an idea of who the character is beyond their stats (even if they just rolled the character up), this really gets to me.

In this regards, I’d just like to encourage players and GMs to take a moment whenever making a character and ask themselves, “What brought my character to this point in their life where they chose to adventure?” When you think about it, adventuring is an incredibly dangerous profession. Yes, there is the lure of plunder, but the amount of danger characters go through to attain this wealth is nothing short of insane. Adding in the fact that some of the dangers they face don’t even stop when they die, this would be the last choice most sane people would take when deciding to take up a sword and go charging into the dragon’s cave.

Recently, when I picked up “The Dresden Files RPG” (which uses the FATE RPG system), I was really impressed with the Character Creation part of the rules. For those of you unfamiliar with the rules, you have to explain your character’s background in stages that has led them up to this point in their life. Each of these stages will help you generate a term that defines that stage in your character’s life. During the game, you or the GM can trigger these character terms for the character’s benefit or detriment. The character stages break down as:

* Background (Where did you come from?)
* Rising Conflict (What shaped you?)
* The Story (What was your first adventure?)
* Guest Star (Whose path have you crossed?)

Now, its understandable that new players coming to a game that know nothing of the setting will not be able to give details like “My elf comes from the forest of Kyonin where he grew up in a wartorn settlement that was constantly under threat by the Demon Lord Treerazer”. However, providing a basic story saying, “My elf grew up an orphan and had no one in his life except for an adopted mercenary father who taught me the way of the sword to provide a living” can actually tell tomes about your character. With that basic sentence, a player can begin to determine how the character looks (“His armor is dented and smudge with mud, but is in excellent function”), how he acts (“He is quite and in the corner, speaking only when needed. He prefers to watch those around him to best evaluate a given situation and act quickly and efficiently when needed.”), and perhaps even ideas as to where he’s been (“As a mercenary, he has done work for the Mendevian Crusade fighting at the Worldwound, guarding trade caravans traveling to Katapesh, as well as hunting down pirates for rewards in The Shackles.”)

I’m not saying you need to know EVERYTHING about your character when you “roll them up”. But take just a minute or so and ask yourself, “How did he/she get to where they are now in their life?” This will really help improve your overall role-playing skills and the enjoyment of those you game with.

My second pet peeve is players who fail to role-play their characters appropriately, and GM’s who let these players get away with it. I was playing a game once where my fellow adventures were investigating a missing tax collector who came to a village to collect their taxes. The village was having a festival at the time, so the party decided to join in the festivities. During the festivities, my Neutral Good Wizard saw the party’s Paladin fail at some festival competition (if I recall, it was the equivalent of using the hammer to hit the pad, ring the bell, and get a prize) and said an appropriately sarcastic remark about the Paladin’s prowess and strength. After hearing this, the player playing the Paladin turned to the GM and says, “I move over to the Wizard and punch him in the face.” This resulted in a 5 minute argument where the entire table argued with the player, and eventually had to explain to him that a character that was “a paragon of everything lawful, just, and good” would not be trying to start a bar room brawl over a sarcastic remark.

This is the sort of thing that absolutely burns me more than anything. When a Lawful Good Paladin is the most bloodthirsty member of the party, the rest of the group should see to it that this player is talked to and discuss what it means to play Lawful Good and the code a Paladin has to live up to. What I’ve found most often is that the bloodthirsty player chose the Paladin based on it’s class abilities, and completely overlooked the underlying character role a Paladin serves in a campaign.

As a player, you have the responsibility to play your character in a way that is appropriate to the setting and does not distract the group from the role-playing experience. If you want to play a Lawful Good character, then you should be the morale center of the group, encouraging them to follow the law at every turn and trying to help those in need whenever possible. If you want to be the bloodthirsty character ready to drop everything and pick a fight against the bad guy, playing a Lawful Good character is probably not the class for you (probably a Chaotic Good or Chaotic Neutral character would be more your speed).

If you’re a GM and you have a player that is doing this, and continues to do this after you have counseled him or her, you are just as bad as the player if you do not take any appropriate role-play reaction to the players.

If a paladin slaughters an orc village of women and children after fighting all the male warriors, then you need to have the character’s god withdraw all vested powers until they atone for their actions (and, no, just having a cleric cast an atonement spell should not be sufficient). Losing all the powers he worked so hard to gain and then having to work to restore himself in the eyes of his god without the benefit of these powers should drive the point home that he needs to shape up or start rolling up a new character that better suits the player.

If a chaotic neutral fighter has been going into the woods and making a point to kill one bear once a day just “to get XP to help me level up faster”, then have the local druids and rangers come to him and explain the delicate balance of nature that he is upsetting by trying to kill all the bears in the woods. If the fighter ignores these warnings (and, worse, perhaps kills the druids/rangers), have more powerful and larger groups of rangers/druids show up with various animal companions to help explain this fact more forcibly (and perhaps even make an example of the character).

In conclusion, I’m not writing this to harp on other players’ gaming styles. Rather, I’d like to encourage players to take a serious look at the way they create and play their characters, as well as encourage GM’s to be fair in their games and have the world react appropriately when a character steps out of line and does something that would result in a negative consequence. By doing this, you improve the overall gaming experience of everyone at the table and encourage a positive role-playing environment.

Liberty's Edge

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**an aging man in brown robes, smoking a pipe that belies his pesh habits, quickly scribbles a note to add Kyle Saltz to "the list" of individuals to meet "Andoran justice" before standing up to speak**

Hmm, this is most disheartening to hear of. I must agree, if there is proof to these claims, then it would be to the best interest of our cause to spread the banner of freedom across the face of Golarion to have our dear Major step down.

I do not fault the man, mind you. In my younger days . . . hundreds of years ago, I too was rather . . . **seems to drift off** . . . where was I? Oh, yes, infidelity.

That said, our leadership must be the flag we tie to our mast to proudly display to all the nations of the world and our enemies of freedom that these are the examples we strive to reach. Anything else makes ourselves seem both vulnerable to reproach and, more importantly, suffer from the same corruption that we fight against in our enemies.

Now, of course, we may desire new leadership and it may come to pass that we will receive this change of leadership within our ranks. However, I do not see anyone stepping up to offer suggestions or willing to put their names forward for leadership.

So, the question is, then, whom amongst us believes that they know of someone that can accomplish greater deeds and rise us to greater heights than our dear Major?

Scarab Sages

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I would personally love to see some rules that allow for a weapon to grow in power as the character gains levels. D&D 3.5e had the "Weapons of Legacy" book that covered this, but I think the rules could have been made better. I'd love to see your take on these sorts of mechanics for the Pathfinder RPG.

Scarab Sages

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I was a big fan of "Weapons of Legacy" back in the 3.5e era. If you can include mechanics that allow a character's magical weapon to grow as the character levels, that would be great. I've always thought it rather cheap that players acquire that +1 longsword at an early level, but discard it as soon as the next "bright and shinny" shows up. If a way existed for the item to increase in power as the character levels, that makes the character's bond with the weapon that much greater, and adds a deeper sense of RP and ownership within the game.

Scarab Sages

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In my personal opinion, it's too little too late. The game system they put together for 4th edition was overly simplistic and overpowering, built to make the power gamers drool at the opportunity to play the game.

Also, keep in mind that most publishers can't wait to get to release a new edition of a game (even if one isn't required at a time). Most people playing D&D really only needed the PHB, DMG, and MM. Any other book beyond the first three were completely optional and were purchased if they actually saw a use for it in their game. But, if a new edition is released, you're guaranteed that every single player in your hobby will have to purchase three new books in order to stay up to date with the current rules for the game. So, releasing new editions can be financially convenient for a games publisher just to squeeze a couple extra dollars out of their players.

At the end of the day, I've made my peace with WotC, but they will never see me buy another D&D product from them in the future. Pathfinder has a strong (if not likely, STRONGER) gamer following than D&D has. The truth can be seen in sales numbers in stores, number of games played at conventions, and in the sheer number of awards Paizo has received over WotC (who traditionally dominated in gaming awards). I'm fully behind the Pathfinder product now, and am completely happy with where they have taken the hobby.

Tarrintino

Scarab Sages

I'm asking for clarification on an ability.

At a recent convention, several players said I needed to load a Clear Spindle Ioun Stone into my Wayfinder as it would prevent mind affecting attacks such as "Confusion" from affecting my character.

I mentioned this last night with my gaming group, and they flat out told me that the players that said this were vastly confused in the matter, stating that the Resonate effect of a Clear Spindle Ioun Stone in a Wayfinder would only prevent Mind Control and possession attempts (ie. Dominate, etc.).

Can I get an official ruling from someone w/ Paizo on what the Resonate affect of a Clear Spindle Ioun Stone in a Wayfinder does and doesn't do for the person carrying said Wayfinder?

Tarrintino