At this time I wish to cancel my subscription to Pathfinder Adventure Paths and not receive the next installment due in August. Thanks. Doug Franks
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The only thing I "hate" is optimization at the expense of interesting characterization. I got my army of demons and oozes and flesh golems (oh my!). Bring on the dancing elves with the electro-scimitars. I am ready for a party.
Nothing rhymes with 'orange', 'silver' or 'purple'. What about "nurple"?
Thanks and thanks for the link.
This has probably been answered. Do Ninja and Samuria levels count as Rogue and Cavalier levels respectfully for the purposes of picking alternative favored class bonuses? In other words, can a Human ninja choose the human rogue favored class bonus?
There is no justice or rather there is no Extra Judgment. Where is the Inquisitor love? I mean Extra Summons and Extra Evolutions but no Extra Judgment? I do not know why this feat has failed to make an appearance.
All yer hatred should'n a be fer dwarves, lad. Yer hatred should be fer the lame, one-dimensional stereotypes that people seem to dwell upon. I love playing dwarves and trying to come up with interesting ideas to add as much dimension to them as possible. One of my favorite characters was a dwarf monk who was trying to shed as much dwarven concepts from him in order to find out the true meaning of being a dwarf and eventually bring himself closer to dwarven perfection. He was kind of a dwarven-buddhist. He was a blast to play. But, I also have played very traditional dwarves that exposed strong sense of tradition and family were loyalty and bravery are very important. I like to think of dwarves as a feudal Japan-like culture with a strong amount of Norseman thrown into the mix. The two are not as different than one might think. It is almost like saying Scottish is the opposite of Chinese. From a cooking perspective, this might be true, but from a sense of honor and family, they similar.
My group just finished up Stolen Lands last night. It actually took two sessions to complete the Stag Lord encounter. I will avoid a spoiler and say that the group did not go at it in the best way they could have. The group was 4th level and consisted of a conjurer, a cavalier, a summoner and a druid. This is basically a 4-pc group that consists of at least 7 combatants at any given time. They scoured every hex they could, worked through every quest they could and squeezed out enough xp's that they were 4th level. It was not an easy fight. Do not worry about the amount of xp's that are available. There are plenty to be had and if your group is 4th level, the fight is still challenging if ran correctly.
Having looked over the playtest materials, my initial thought was not favorable. It is presented as an optional, alternate magic system. From my perspective, if I were to use the system, it would be to replace the current system. Mixing the two I would find potentially cumbersome. The flexibility is nice, but I do feel there is a slight advantage for spontaneous casters. I would like to see some similar idea developed into a core class (Incantor or something?). There could be some nice things developed along these lines and it would keep from having to have a massive amount of charts on what this or that costs for every spellcasting class (which is a very big list). On the idea of the amount of information needed to cover all caster classes, does this seem to need a LOT of space to cover in the rules? Will this take up a large percentage of the book? I would be concerned if too much verbal real estate used for an optional system would potentially lower the overall product value to a larger market. One of the things that drew me to Pathfinder was the streamlining of some of the cumbersome rules in 3.5. I personally like rules that are simple without sacrificing playability. It is a tough balance and Pathfinder has done a great job trying to maintain it and keep the flavor of 3.5. I guess I am a purest on some levels and I am probably reacting to change like I have every time there has been a new edition. So far, I have only been right about the evils of a new edition of the most popular role-playing game once.
We have been using HeroLab for a few months now and really love it. I have always had notes and NPC/Monster Sheets that I had used as a GM. Now I have 85% of what I need as HeroLab Portfolios. I love having the PC information in front of me. Makes keeping track of skills, feats and abilities much easier. I can ask the players to "roll a d20" without having to give away why I may be asking. My only beef is a small one. We are currently playing Kingmaker. There are a few critters/bad guys that cannot be easily reproduced. Anything that comes from the Advance Bestiary or Tome of Horrors is not available. These I have had to attempt to cobble together using the editor feature. I have had some success for the most part, given my very limited programming skills. The biggest issue for me is the time it takes, which I have very little of.
For six hours every week, my group gathers for an evening’s entertainment. This entertainment could come in a variety of forms, but we choose to spend this time together, away from our families or other pursuits. During that time, players are entertained by each other through their interactions with each other and NPCs, engaging in battles of various difficulty and other challenges. The GM is entertained by the antics of the players and the both clever and stupid things they may do. It is the job of the GM to orchestrate the entertainment and to see that all participants including him or herself have a good time. The rules are the skeleton of the entertainment and the random element (dice or whatever) are the musculature that moves the fleshy adventure bits along. Sometimes, the players need to get a swift kick in the fleshy bits to keep thing tense and exciting and other times they need to knock someone’s fleshy bits into the dirt. It is keeping whose fleshy bits are going where that is the challenge to the GM. I like my players to feel challenged but I also want them to be satisfied by the entertainment. I also want to be entertained at the same time. Wholesale slaughter of a PC is not something I find entertaining, but if a player jumps blindly into a pool of angry crocodiles, I AM going to laugh a little bit. I will try to help the guy out of the jaws of death, but sometimes a lesson needs to be taught. Again, it is a balancing act between deciding when to allow the actions and the die rolling to speak for themselves and when to step in and give a helping hand. I also feel that the good of the story should be considered at all times. If the good of the story is going to suffer because of a stupid action, I try to stop it in a hopefully seamless way. If I think a less-than stupid action could be disruptive but obviously doable, I might try to stop it somehow, again seamlessly if possible. But, if an idea is clever and goes outside the normal conventions, this I try to reward with success, total or partial. In the end, given the competition for the player’s attention and time and the desire to entertain (which is what drives me as a GM), I will do what I need to do (within the game and within reason) to keep the players coming back for more. I have found that one cannot be selfish if one is going to be a successful GM and still get to kick the PC’s in the fleshy bits once in a while.
I am not finding the link to download the playtest PDF. Am I missing it?
When I switched my group over to PFRPG, I said we would start with only the Pathfinder material to familiarize ourselves with the changes. That was with PFRPG Beta. Now, my group has forgotten about 3.5 stuff. We have not found any need to even think about going backward, compatible or not. The wealth of material available and the overall quality has provided more than enough for even my groups most jaded player. There are a few spells and feats that were missed initally, but given the amount of garbage that had to be sifted through is not missed at all. There are so many overpowered spells, unballanced PrCs and feat combinations that it became unwieldy. I really enjoyed getting back to basics and starting new. Plus, what is not to love about new base classes and archetypes? (Ok, I know there are plenty of arguements with the last comment, but I am enjoying the challenges of finding what works and what is questionable.)
If an NPC book is done, I would like to see the generic NPCs with options added. Kind of like archethype listings for them. So you could have your "Pirate Captain" basic and then your archetypes to modify like your "Squid-headed Pirate Captain" or your "Trying-to-be-sexy female Pirate Captain from a really bad movie". There could be thematical differences like Theives Guild Masters to reflect Bandit Lords and Mafia Dons or Spyring Masters and Merchant Guild Leaders. I personally love a good Bestiary, but when an NPC is needed on the fly, variety and quick modifcations are always great to have. I also love to adventure hooks included, either as specfic entries or suggested prose within descriptions.
Wait, aren't there creatures with immunity to both fire and cold (demons?)? So, wouldn't that mean they are both immune and vulenrable? I know, immunity would overwrite the vulnerability, but that seems a little to black and white. I would think, since vulnerablity is a defined weakness, unless it is stated under a creature's weaknesses, it is not vulnerable to the opposite enrgy type. At least, that's how I am going to interpret it. Sometimes, the critters need all the help they can get (poor demons).
So I download Reader 9 and the PDF I prevoiusly downloaded work fine. It is something to do with the older version of Acrobat. I will use the newer version of Reader in the future. Thanks.
Yeah, what he said. Forgot to change my alias.
Looking at this further, the font NexusSerifOT seems to be the font that is changing into dots. Steel Magnolias is defaulting to a simple sans serif font.
I am having the same problem that Aberzombie is reporting:
The problem is stemming from the font Steel Magnolia according to Acrobat. It is saying that it is not extracting the embedded font: Cannot extract the embedded font QXJLDF+SteelMagnolias. Some characters may not display or print correctly. By "some fonts" they mean 90% of them. I replied in Aberzombies post: I am having the same problem with my PDF file. It is saying that it cannot embed the Steel Magnolias font. I am a graphic artist by trade. Is there a problem with the font that it cannot imbed because of licensing issues? I have encounter other fonts that will not convert from a publishing program (like Quark or InDesign) to a PDF because of this. If it is the same font you use all of the time, probably not the issue. Not sure if this is the issue or if it was something with the Distiller settings when the PDF was made.
OK....Well, I downloaded a new version of winzip, and still nothing. The smaller fonts appear as nothing more than little black dots. I'm not sure what the hell is wrong. I am having the same problem with my PDF file. It is saying that it cannot imbed the Steel Magnolia font. I am a graphic artist by trade. Is there a problem with the font that it cannot imbed because of licensing issues? I have encounter other fonts that will not convert from a publishing program (like Quark or InDesign) to a PDF because of this. If it is the same font you use all of the time, probably not the issue.
Glancing over the Witch class, which class I kinda like. I began familiarizing myself with the abilities, the familiar ability in particular. I may have overlooked this, but what about improving this ability with feats like Improved Familiar. Could it be possible to have a side bar (a new feat is probably unnecessary) to show how different improved familiars would work for a witch. My initial thought on how I will handle this without official rule clarification is to have the original familiar “transform” into the new and improved familiar, retaining all of the spells possessed and continuing to provide the same bonus spells as the original familiar. Also, could we seen some other feats to help improve a witch's familiar. Things to help create undead monkeys or flying monkey - once monkey is added to the familiar list.
I was justing looking over the list of familiars and thought, "Hey, there's no monkey." Haven't you always wanted a monkey? Please, add monkey to the list.
Woops, almost didn't keep this going! What have I started? I only hope it will end someday.
It is not.So could this also be a hint to the style of the four new classes?Correct.Jade Regent?This is indeed an easter egg. It's also a relatively even MORE subtle bit of foreshadowing to an AP that is still well over a year away from starting. What four new classes?
I would love to see a map set of close ups of various regions like we have for Varisia done at poster size. I love the detail maps and seeing the more intricate area maps are great campaign inspiration. I realize that the cartography cost money, but I think many of the loyal fans (this number has to growing) would find this to be, as Lisa said, “da bomb”. I have to imagine others have suggested this.
Yeah! This is great. I am seeing some of the best changes out of any of the previews so far. The cleric was potentially too powerful and the Channel Energy needed to be reigned in. This is great. I am very pleased with the return of Domain spells with the retention of domain abilities. There are too many times at a gaming table that a cleric is the end-all, be-all of the group. Rogues are people too (and I guess so are Bards). The overall effort of the PFRPG should be to improve the playablity of the game while maintaining the overall feel of the World's Most Popular Roleplaying Game. I can put up with a little Whine if it means less cheese.
I guess I am not understanding what the attraction to "Epic" level play is. The game has set a top level, and this does seem a little forced or unrealistic that a ceiling in advancement should exist. Yes, I understand using the term "realistic" is not the best choice in a discussion about fantasy. The fact remains, the level cap exists as part of the game. If you consider the amount of real world play time that can be consumed, going from level 1 to 20 can take a while. Also, in my experience, I have found some truly epic (lower case) moments can occur at any level of play. When you look around at the NPC's that have been showing up in Golarian, they are of varying levels, but most have not topped out at the extremes that one found in that forgotten place. I say, play PFRPG and enjoy PFRPG for at least a year before the there needs to be Epic (upper case) rules. I do agree, however, the focus on levels 16 through 20 might be nice in a module or three...
I am personally of the opinion that the focus is where it should be. I love the campaign setting. Keep the tried-and-true authors producing Pathfinder Chronicles and all of the great campaign fluff with some crunchy bits thrown in once and a while. While I currently am devoted to running APs because of work and family commitments limiting my time (and having a creative job that drains a great deal of my creative focus), I still would rather focus on the low to mid-levels because they provide me with the most interesting story ideas and my players with the greatest challenges. And, as a GM, I enjoy having a challenging combat that ultimately gives my players a sense of accomplishment. Aaron Allison once wrote about what he called the "Diehard Factor". Beat your PCs to within an inch of their lives and have them come out bloody and wobbling. In the end, they feel like they have accomplished something. You cannot do this all of the time, because it looses impact, but all of the greatest combat moments for the truly important fights should push your PC to the edge without them every seeing if there was a safety net.
They're open content. We just didn't have room to put everything in the book. There are certainly salamanders on the Plane of Fire, but we chose to talk about other stuff instead. Thanks for the clarification. I have been a fan of the Salamanders since first edition and hoped they were still around in Pathfinder.
I have just began my reading of TGB and have finished the Inner Planes. One thing I found missing in the plane of fire was the salamander. These are open material, correct? Why didn't they make the cut on the plane of fire? I might be missing something.
Good to see you as well. It has been a long time. I have been meaning to post a note to you and say hey. Life always seems to keep me busy, however. Anyway, I am being summoned by my youngest child. As I said, life keeps me busy. I'll post to you later.
Chris Mortika Wrote: A whole bunch of stuff. Hey Chris, Sounds like you have an inside track on what is what. What is your background anyway? I mean besides from having co-authored the Superman Sourcebook, have been a freelance editor for TSR and having played that ridiculous Beast Mister in Steve's DC Heroes campaign back in the day.
Name of PC: Thodin
Rio's Gift - Half-elf working girl from Pixie's Kittens - Half-elf Sorcerer (Dragon Bloodline) 2 Jack of the Rowen, slayer of all things big - Gnome Ranger 2 Munjee - Vudrani Priest or Irori and champion of non-violence - Human Cleric 1/Diviner 1 Boa Mu Bia - Tian monk and follower of Irori - Human Monk 2 Thodin - Ulfen Paladin of Erastil - Human Paladin (Beta Plus) 1 / Fighter 1 The group was very carefully checking out the "zombie holes" when Korvus rushed the party from the side tunnels, screaming in goblin, "Korvus will kill you all". After two rounds of one-on-one combat with Thodin, Korvus was partially correct. The remainder of the PC's manuevered into combat, but on the third round, Korvus had an amazing round of nearly maximum damage from all three attacks, leaving Thodin on his way to the Happy Hunting Ground. More to follow...?
I am affraid if I name it, it will be made real. I have to say that the feat that shall not be named is one of my personal favorites. I have seen it show up more often than Michael Cane, but I really want to try to stick to the pure PFRPG idea to get a feel for what I will carry over from the old non-OGL books to future campaigns using the PFRPG.
I am beginning a ROTR campaign and I am limiting my players to only PFRPG Beta material and other Pathfinder materials for character generation. One of my players is contemplating running a Mystic Theurge. I do not want to go into the whole debate about wether the PrC's are worth taking given the overall abilities of the base classes. That has been well covered on the board. My question is about a feat from a non-OGL splatbook that I will not allow, because it is not Pathfinder (this is an experiment to see what kind of characters develop without the use of the multitudes of Feats from splatbooks). The feat to remain nameless allowed a bonus to caster level up to a maximum of +4 - you know the one. My question is this, is there any thing of a similar nature in any of the Pathfinder materials that I have not found?
I would agree. How many Metalica songs mention beholders or beholder related mythos? For my money, I would love to see more material or an AP tie in with either the Blackfire Adepts or the Coils of Ydersius to tie in with the .
Too dark? There is a constant stream of darkness that saturates not just the Pathfinder APs but STAP is filled with some true depravity. Anybody remember the write up on Kedward Bone? He is kind of tame compared to the underling thing... Spoiler:
Vanthus's obsession with his sister. I think the shared love of horror, and Lovecraft that is shared by the writers of the APs and apparently many of the other staff members does seem to be coming on a little strong at times. However, there is also an obvious appreciation for Moorcock and his stories are very dark. I remember reading the Elric books for the first time and thinking "Holy $#!T, this is way cooler than LOTR." It changed the way I read and roleplayed. I personally need to have moments of "goodie-goodie" fantasy. These moments help to keep me feeling clean. I do not want to have to scrub my mind clean after having done my best to portray the bad guys in an adventure after every session. It is easy enough to have some moments of comic relief here and there and that usually takes care of the darker moments. Pathfinder APs have well-developed, three-dimesional bad guys. They APs don't have a bunch of generic black hats that are "evil" just because they say so. In order to create the correct atmosphere, it takes good descriptive text. The 4th AP might have a chance to be a higher kind of fantasy, but the pulp fantasy world that is Golarion is not the PG worlds of that Realms place or the even the DL world, which was both dark and shiny at the same time. Many people would argue that a "real world feel" has no place in fantasy. Golarion does a nice job of mirroring the grim realties of the real world and elevating to a level where there is actual living, breathing evil with intelligence, motives, and purpose. I personally do not believe in ultimate evil in reality, but in a system that defines the ethical and moral generalizations of entities it makes sense that evil be more defined. However, good should be more defined as well. Good, however, by its nature would usually be less pushy about things (LG zealots aside). Being "good" is, I feel, much harder than being "evil". There seems to be far more discipline and control necessary. Plus, "evil" seems to throw all the really fun parties. Spoiler: Any spelling errors and gramatical errors in this post were casued by malignant imps... and a lack of sleep.
I have commented previously on the idea of the racial prefferred-class bonus. The group I GM is very humancentric. The bonus feat that humans receive is a big incentive as is the +1 Skill Point per level. I am not a big fan of the +1HP or +1 Skill Point per level for a favored class. I do think it can cause for a limited focus for the players. I feel that the PCs should have the chance to stand out from the norm if the player wants. If a player develops a interesting backstory/character concept that enhances the players enjoyment of the game, I do not think there should be a penalty because the idea does not mesh up with the sterotypical race/class combo(s). I have seen some truely interesting ideas develop into memorable characters that all of the players have enjoyed as part of our games. I like the idea of racial feats being available to customize the characters. How about each race receives a bonus feat at first level. Then racial feats can be designed to create the atypical racial/class combo giving the player the option of following an atypical path or customize something different. I love to see Dwarf Monks, Halfling Paladins or Elf Barbarians all being playable options without penalizing the players for doing something outside of the norm. PC should always be exceptional. That is what makes them the protagonists of the story. Think of popular characters from fiction that stand out as memorable. Many are memorable because they are not atypical. Is the changing of favored class rules that great of a hinderance to backward compatablity. Optional rules of Paragon Racial levels or Racial Class Substitution levels are available for use but may not have as big an impact. Prestige classes are becoming less desirable for my players as they are seeing greater rewards from stay with base classes and multi-class characters are becoming less common as well. I am finding the popular things that my players want to continue to use from non-OGL materials are feats. As long as I allow the players to use the feats, they remain content. As far as the "power creep", I find as GM, I have the ultimate control in the adventures/encounters I design. I find I can design to my group and keep things challenging and interesting. As far as published adventures or adventure paths, I always need to do some adjusting to taylor them to my groups interests and abilities. Finally (and I have said this before, also), at the end of the gaming session the most important thing is that my players had fun and want to come back for more.
The 8th level power of rune domain gives the ability to place the runes on doors, chests, etc. It says the rune triggers when the item is opened. Does the rune only last for 1 round per level as it does when placed on an open adjacent square or does it last until triggered?
So far in my group's playtesting, the additonal +2 has not been a problem. My player's have a tendency to stick with humans for the extra Feat. Now, they are looking at the other races as equally playable. I really do not see this extra +2 as being unbalancing when compared to 3.5 material already published. As a DM, I try to maintain the mindset of my players are sitting at the gaming table to be entertained. Given the wealth of entertainment choices they could pursue, it is my job to provide them with an more entertaining option. The PC's are the protaganists. They walk in the footsteps of fantasy literature's icons. The players should feel that their character is special. Another of my job's as a GM is to provide a challenging campaign. I use published material (all Paizo) due to a busy real-world schedule. My time is limited. If I need to adjust slightly the AP I am running, it usually is a very minor tweek and takes little time to do it. So far, in my running of STAP, the conversion to PRPG has been minor. If anything, I find STAP to be very challenging for my group and that is with six PC's. The deathtoll with 4 PC's would be horrendous. I vote to keep the +2/+2/-2. It is relatively insignificant IMHO (it's not that humble :] ).
I do not think it is stated that the Lay on Hands healing is only usable in single doses for healing. In fact, if a paladin can spend multiple uses for various effects, it seems to make sense to allow a paladin to spend multiple uses for greater healing. This would be closer to the 3.5 version of "a little or all of it" lay on hands healing.
I too would like to see PrC's addressed. The addition of the Web Enhancement really allows for additional web enhancements in the future. The core PrC's from the SRD are in need of some adjustments. Some represent some fairly common combinations (Mystic Theurge leaps immediately to mind). Is it too much to ask for a web enhancement on PrC's? Maybe tomorrow? Might be pushing it, but it's worth asking.
Look at all of those Domains! I usually only get to seriously read for an hour each night and then it is children's books to my kids, I had only glanced at the domains in PRPG. Thanks for pointng that out. The PrC's are designed with straight transfer to PRPG? The Pathfinder Chronicler has listed as a prerequisite Dechipher Skill ranks and Speak Language. The Mantis Assassin's skill prerequsites look to need a slight adjustment and the Shackles Pirate has a non-exsistant skill listed as a prerequisite. In the case of the PrC's, the conversions look to be simple enough to do. I would like to see some discussion on how a "offical" conversion on the new PrC's would work. Again, this is to use as a possible guide to converting other PrC's for my own use. Are there any examples of "non-official" PrC conversions out there? I would be very interested to see what others are doing with the non-SRD PrC's.
No, I understand that non-SRD PrC's are unavailable for conversion. I am refering to the new PrC's from the Pathfinder Campaign Setting (ie. Mantis Assassin, Harrower, etc.). My additonal question is regarding the additinal domains added in the Pathfinder Campaign Setting. Will they be converted to PRPG rules with Domain Powers?
Reposted from another thread to see if I get a response. Has this been covered? With the addition of several Prestige Classes (as well as ones already published in other products) and the "new" domains in the Pathfinder Campaign Setting, what will be done with these for conversion to the Pathfinder RPG? Will all of the domains be included in the final version of PRPG? Will we see updates/conversions for these prestige classes? It would be nice to see what the process might be to use as a model for those who wish to convert non-SRD prestige classes to PRPG.
Has this been covered? With the addition of several Prestige Classes (as well as one already published in other products) and the "new" domains, what will be done with these for conversion to the Pathfinder RPG? Will all of the domains be included in the final version of PRPG? Will we see updates/conversions for the prestige classes?
I am quitting and going back to the only true game, Mage, and hours of the philosophical debates about the nature of good and evil, reality and subjectivity and the things that are at the core of all. That and trying to figure out what the bleeping rules are. Well, that was what I would have said if I had not a)got a real job, b) got married and c) developed a real life. Now, I really do not have the time to be angst-ridden and "deep". I say we just go and play Toon. ebada, ebada, that's all folks...
Someone has probably already noticed this, but is the change to the feat Diligent that it now provides a +2 bonus to Appraise and Linguist? It used to give a +2 to Appraise and Decipher Script and is not listed amongst the altered feats.
One of the most important things to remember, IMHO (it really is not that H) is this is the Alpha Test and as things are tested and feedback is delivered, the Beta will be formed. The Beta will be closer to what will eventually develope into the final product. So far, my playtesting of STAP has worked well. The players are really enjoying the changes and feel that they have been brought up to par with some of the "newer" core classes. Also, the Paizo adventures are writen for a braod audience and can be rather lethal to the non-munchkin or cheeseless players. 4 out of 6 fo my players are conceptual role players. They develop a PC idea a follow through with it to the end (bloody or otherwise). Of the other two, one is a mini-maxer and the other is a cheese-lovin' munchkin of the first caliber. I know this and deal with accordingly. The changes to PRPG is appealing to all of the players. They feel that they are on equal footing with the two power gamers. Also, they have a greater chance of surviving the evils that Paizo wrought.
Creative Manager/Graphic Designer for midwest newspaper, husband and father of 3 girls. The religous right always claimed D&D was evil and corrupted the mind of young people. I noticed in this thread, a number of people actual did sell their souls...and became lawyers :).
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