Tuffon's page

There are no missions the game will make for you .. Those will have to come from what you and your friends want to accomplish.

There are PvE escalations you can take on and build up recipes and expendables and coin.- each escalation you face will be different types of opponents, bandits, goblins, ogres, duergar , elves, skeletons, wolves, humans, elementals etc..

One of you guys should make a company.. and have everyone join it. ( eventually you can attach that company to a settlement)

Get more than 6 players into that company( can use alts to fill the needed spaces), Each account has 3 character slots.. so 6 players in a company with 2 people isn’t that hard to do as it is 2 accounts.

t

As you and your friends play and do things in game, craft, kill mobs, etc.. your company gains influence.

The more people you add the higher your influence cap will be ( There are diminishing returns on that.. so after 30-40 characters consider making a second company.. just to have more influence to spend later)

Influence can be used to take over hexes with outpost and holdings. These generate bulk resources you can sell or stock up until the day comes you want to try to take over a settlement.( bulk resources are needed to keep your settlement running)

Influence is also the PvP currency right now.. you can use it to feud other companies , so you can fight them without reputation hits.

Crafting and gathering are also activities you can do.. since all gear is player made. You have to come up with a way to keep yourself in gear. Do enough PvE and escalations to acquire enough coin to buy the gear you need. Or have a few folks focus on crafting and gathering things you will use.

Think of characters as roles, you aren't limited to just one class, you spend xp on the skills you want and can mix and match to your hearts content.

The game is xp over time so one character can learn everything, it would just takes years of xp to have everything mastered on one character.. but in a few months you could be a decently paired cleric and fighter type character or something like that..

Each account only allows 1 character to learn xp at a time, even though you can make 3 on your account.

Currently it is PC only, a new company is hopefully taking over development at the end of July.. so who knows what plans they have for future play options and support. ( no official word who it is so we call them NewCorp right now)

I have two MMO's on my radar, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen and Camelot Unchained, one PVE focused game, one PVP focused game, both designed solely for their intended niche without trying to be everything-to-everyone lowest-common-denominator games. Hopefully they both see release (Camelot definitely will, Pantheon is more of a toss up, although its the game I want more).

(Man, I wish I could get back the $185 I gave to the PFO Kickstarter)

If you still have the account you can probably get it back by selling it ( see top thread in these forums for listing.. i estimate it would take 1-2 days to sell, the DT perk on a new account would garner enough interest in the account to get most if not all that back)

@ Brother Zeal
Can give you a basic run down of what I think led to where we are right now..

The game launched 1 January 2015 - .

Help notes were not in the game- no explanation of how keywords worked , nor any in game resource people could read to see how character progression worked.. how xp was accumulated .. what achievements meant.. what the /w and other / commands were etc ..
Those things could be found in out of game resources but no wher ein the game or at least easily ..

Basically the game went live with a ton of annoying items that ended up being hard is fun but confusing is not worth the time..

Some examples of early issues that probably impacted many of the kick starters/ trial buddy accounts from giving the game a good go..

1. For months there was a blue screen bug- if you used a charge ability it would drop you to a blue screen with your UI intact.. Only way out was to quit the game .. and then you couldn’t get back into the game. They couldn’t nail down the issue.. finally the work around was to run a server side script every hour.. then every 15 minutes .. but that was 2 months or more in the making - ( finally they changed the script to run on a account level for a single character when you loged in.. should have been the first solution imo)

2. First few months - you had no choice were on the map you started . so you and your buddy start the game to play to together.. but you end up in orassin crossing and he is in kindleburn.. have fun with that 45 min run to hook up with your buddy.. - fixed by starting all characters in thorn keep.

3. The sprints that were 3 weeks turned to 4 then to 6 then to 8 .. so when problems were introduced - it was 4-5 weeks before it was fixed and that only gets worse with a smaller staff

4. Stuck in rocks – that was an issue up until 2 months ago with the introduction of /stuck!!

5. For a while 3 weeks or so last march I don’t think we could take coins out of banks..

6. The Auction houses always seem to have some sort of bug associated with them- buy orders took 8-9 months to get in the game, and even now there are still issues with how that works

7. The game hates full screen mode.. not sure why but think that is still a thing ..

I could go on and on about things that came up those first 7-8 months.. The point is last January the game went live, but all the small issues added up to just an annoying experience , so many that tried the game just walked away.. GW spent March of last year through August working on PvP engines to the game as their main focus.. in hindsight they should of stuck to 3-4 week sprints, and fixed the player experience before putting that stuff in..

You guys that say PvP was what you didn’t like about PFO, .. not sure what to tell you, PvP is/was almost non existent - the EoX vs the SE stuff was easy to avoid .. banditry never materialized(folks actually miss it because it adds excitement to the activity) . The only T2 player hunting T1 guys in the starter area was pretty much relegated to a T1 character himself in less than 24 hours.. The greifing you guys talk about never happened..

What kept people from playing? It was the player experience of actually sitting and playing was not the focus of the development, everything was settlement level mechanics , and out of the 33 or so settlements probably 20 people were affected by the changes that took up most the dev time. ( I get those things need to be in the game.. but it should of not been the primary focus for so long).

Depending on how long you have been gone ..

this was the end of year announcement ( Dec 29 2015) and last official statement regarding the game.

"Hello Pathfinder Online Players!

The year 2015 has been an exciting but tumultuous time for us at Goblinworks. The team delivered 11 expansions to the game including holdings and outposts and the warfare associated with them; the ability to craft and build your own settlements; new monsters and escalations such as the elementals, duergar and dark elves; new spells, armor, weapons, feats and classes such as the Expert and Freeholder, and much more! But as many of you are aware, we never found all the funding we needed to finish building the game that we have been describing to you. This led us to laying off the majority of the Goblinworks staff at the end of August.

But there is good news to be relayed! Just today, I received a signed letter of intent from a company that wants to take on the Pathfinder Online legacy and see it through to completion. One of the principals of this company has been playing Pathfinder Online since day 1 and understands the vision for the game we are making. The company recently came up to Seattle to the Goblinworks offices and we had 2 productive and exciting days planning for the future and what this game can be.

Now this acquisition of the Pathfinder Online game is incumbent upon them finalizing the funding they are currently in negotiations for, but all signs are very positive on that front right now. This funding will give Pathfinder Online more money to invest in the game than has been spent in over 4 years of development. This will significantly accelerate the development and support of the game to a point unprecedented in Pathfinder Online history. If things continue to go well, they expect to take over the game entirely by March 1, 2016.

In the meantime, the legacy team has been working for the month of December on doing a bunch of polish and bug fixing in the game. The biggest new thing will be the long-awaited and desired vault sorting of personal, company, and settlements vaults. The vaults will use an interface very similar to that used in the Auction House right now. Also, auctions will last for a month instead of a week.

Another much needed feature will be a command for you to use if you become stuck somewhere in the game. By typing /stuck, you will enter a countdown timer for five minutes. During that time, you cannot move nor engage or be engaged in combat. If any of those things happen, the /stuck command expires. If you can manage to not move or be part of combat, after five minutes, you will be teleported to the nearest shrine and none of your items will take durability loss.

Mike has also enabled cloaks and packs in the game, so you will now be able to equip them and have them show up on your characters.

There are more fixes that will be revealed when EE11.1 goes live. The goal is to do testing when the team is back after New Years and if all goes well, launch it in January.

In closing, I thank you all for your support for Pathfinder Online and your friendship in the game. I thank you for an exciting 2015 and look forward to seeing the game expand to its full potential in 2016. Thank you once again!

-Lisa Stevens
Acting CEO
Goblinworks Inc."

Can move to 2 on the list.

Just sticking with my 3 and rolling with those.

Tuffon found these on a dead lich with arcana 10-
Exquisite ring – jewelry 20
Truesilver Chainmail – armor smith 17
Masters Antiplauge – alchemy 15

Traditional early access, alpha model sounds a bit different. Those free to play offerings attract a different type of player. Mainly they are interested in figuring out how to manipulate the game systems to get through this aspect of the game faster. What builds work what builds don’t. All the systems are already built and the traditional testers are testing what they want to be able to do in game.

PFO is a bit different in those regards because we aren’t testing the game systems as much as designing those systems. Which leads to folks raging that we are doing their job for them and we shouldn’t have to pay for it etc ..

My take on this is, that traditional model you like has produced 0 games I have enjoyed for more than a week in the last 5 + years. They spend millions on a game, embed some things in it that make the system unplayable and by the time it gets to me, there is no hope to change those systems to make them better.

So I am gladly spending money on helping design a game that I can play all the time. The developers are listening to our input and designing the systems based on that input. I Have been playing for 5 months now and enjoying it as opposed to buying a finished game. Playing that game for a week and moving on to the next title that I hope will be different or better … but hasn’t been in the last five years and probably wont be in the next five years.

What’s that definition of insanity... the one about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.. that is how i feel about the traditional model at this point and am happy to be trying something new.

Many if not most of the people hang out on the goblin works forums now.

There is a place for introductions, crowd forging , trades, and settlements etc .... anyway welcome, hopefully see you around in game here or over there.

/em hides from Asha , as he may have been one of the folks that blasted her ...

Pretty sure it confused the defenders of the tower we ran towards as well .. but not a tactic i will repeat.

Steelwing wrote:

Killing non combatants is a hugely viable tactic.

Sure. I didn't say it wasn't viable. I said it was aggressive, and that engaging in it makes previously neutral parties tend to dislike you.

And apparently, it ends up leading to broken agreements, the largest military power in the game attacking you, and the loss of all your towers. So maybe it's actually not viable. And maybe that's a good thing.

Really need to go back and read the things i wrote for timeline.

Phaeros is saying placing a holding and farming an escalation (which they did 2 times in the last few weeks) is grounds for taking towers away.

When we respond after a conversation about how we are going to respond with TEO they follow that up with taking all of our towers..

It is at this point where we are now told to live in the SE and kill anything that moves.

Not sure what a third party needs to see other than it is okay for them to come out of their territory and place holdings where they wish and farm what they wish, but the moment you try to do the same thing as they are doing they are going to take every tower they can from you to punish you for it.

Going to say this just as my opinion.. as I am not in a leadership role on any level and at this point I should probably just let it go and let the folks that are respond .. but your logic seems super flawed.
Here s is a brief history of the last 4 weeks …

About 4 weeks ago or so we had an agreement with the EBA to no longer do pvp with them.

They come out with a map claiming 20% of the map with a neat red line and say don’t come here without permission.. etc ..

For the following weeks we clear escalations not in the little red line area, even get a couple T2 ones to spawn .. EBA decides no one should have them but them and comes to the hexes 3 south of KB and 5 NE of KB and kills them outright ( and put their little holdings down so they can bank the stuff they are getting while they are there…)
So our response to those actions , if you aren’t going to kill your own T2 escalations we will kill them ourselves ( but were told do not get involved in pvp while there..)

……
Your response to someone farming your escalations( with your vastly superior numbers …) is to take a tower .. instead of running us off?

You guys do pretty much the same thing when come outside your area and kill off the other T2 escalations and bring your little holdings along with you to hold your loot till you kill it off..

@Tink

Would you be willing to make an agreement like "Golgotha doesn't kill gatherers in exchange for Brighthaven doesn't take all our towers"?

Is that what you tried before?

Because from my Northern perspective, it seems like the breakdown point for all these agreements is that Golgotha won't stop killing gatherers.

Would a functional war of towers be a fair exchange for a moratorium on killing outside of tower hex PVP windows?

Where did you get the idea that this is from killing gatherers? becuase we have not been able to go down there for pvp operations since the agreement like 3-4 weeks ago.

This started last week when Phaeros decided to take a tower from KB. as to their reasons for taking one of KB towers .. i have yet to hear one.

sigh double post

So last week some folks from Phaeros take a KB tower ( not sure why perhaps they can shed some on that ..).

Night after that (Thursday?)they defended it so it remained with them.

The following night (Friday) it was taken back.

Saturday am excursion led to battle Phaeros near Phaeros with instructions given to not attack other settlements down there as our beef was with Phaeros only. We were told EBA/TEO was not going to be involved as long as our fight was with Phaeros only.

Saturday Night, Golgotha takes 2 towers from Phareos.

Instead of coming to defend those towers Phareos organizes an attack to take 4 towers right after they lost 2. It was at this point folks from EBA started helping as they were part of the organized response team to take 4 towers as well as some folks up north taking one near marchmont(alderwag or something got invovled who asked them to do this i wonder ..) ..

Sunday you guys decide to take all towers from us…

Sunday afternoon open season is declared on anyone that is in the SE….

just my view of the last couple days ..

Thought the Mythic version of Weapon Finesse grants dex to damage when using that feat.
Is this thread requesting a non mythic feat of Improved Weapon Finesse be used to do the same thing as a mythic feat?

i get what the OP is saying... An example from this past week of folks asking for eve features... map of doom thread..

Can we have heat maps like eve so we can see tower wars and PvP deaths... folks like the idea and discuss.. The last post says that person doesn’t think its a good idea as it kills a scouts role..
People didn’t want to discuss a scout compared to a heat map and the thread dies..

Just an example from the past week, ..

Tork , I didn’t read it that way at all, you said it was droppable. At that point my brain says it is uncontrolled, and uncontrolled = pvp window. Was under the impression the uncontrolled state was = to the pvp window and when that control is dropped the pvp window was open( not that the pvp window is tied to the timer to be controlled again in the future..)

So I guess the only follow up is, is this window that the tower remains in its flux state going to be hours or minutes?( if the timer is minutes then my question remains.. the same)

TEO Pino wrote:

If a company controls a tower, can they 'release' it, and make it uncontrolled ( with all the fun that entails ) until it is claimed anew ?

Yupyup. They can indeed. There is a 'cooldown' on when a released tower becomes eligible for recapture.

What is to keep the company controlling the tower from releasing control of it, which makes the hex a rep free kill zone, then taking control of it again as soon as the cool down is finished?

Seems like the pvp rep free kill zone (which in my mind is the most disturbing part about these towers) can basically be kept up indefinitely as long as the company wants simply by cycling control of the tower as often as they want.

They better include major upkeep of coin or something if they give people free npc guards for all these areas..

I don’t like the idea of NPC guards at all (not for towers anyway).

Sounds like single companies will control the towers, and those guards would only be loyal to that company… so if I was an ally with a company ( or just a traveler..) how would those npc guards s know not to attack me?

Not sure if the system has anyway to set allies or not so how would friendly companies come to your aid if you required it?

Assign a knight/Leader to the tower, take out the leader and get control of the tower/keep.

This gives an assassin a valid target at the start of EE, it also makes bringing a bunch of alts into the area more of a hassle than a boon.

If the force holding the tower cant protect one guy they shouldn’t be able to keep the tower, also a nice starting point for those that wish to mainly manage settlements. The knight/ leader now has a place to start with some minor skills to be assigned ( perhaps even required skills to learn in order to manage actual settlement buildings).

Not sure why the number of players in an area should dictate the outcome, of an encounter, how does planting a flag somewhere give a player control of the area? Seems as though you should have to destroy the opposition or at the very least damage them in some way… taking out their leader would be a good place to start..

At least this way they are also able to build up the roles they want people to grow into as EE grows and eventually becomes OE..

All that being said, I still have reservations about the whole tower format but those thoughts really belong in another thread… but as it semi relates to my thoughts above …..If the argument is that PvP folks are going to enjoy this more than preying on people in the wilderness then forcing them to actually battle while taking the towers is essential.. in my mind anyway

@Tuffon

Last I heard XP gain is limited to one character at a time unless you have Destinies Twin which probably won't exist at the start of EE. So spamming alts everywhere won't really accomplish much.

It will if the number of bodies in the tower determine if you are in control of a tower... and if you are then the area is a reputation free for murder zone..

So pvp windows are opened when a settlement wants..., already I have been reading about groups saying they have enough folks to be on for an entire day. No limit to the number of characters a person can make means they can park as many bots into these towers as they want at all hours of the day.

Most groups interested in these towers probably will do just that(because they will have some good rewards for having it open and can take em back in force if they lose them, or just grab unoccupied ones..)

Not sure how settlement warfare will work in EE, wasn’t aware there would be any.. so why not just leave them open all the time, you might lose a tower but how can they lose the settlement..

Entire thing seems like a way to kill the rep system, and not even worry about a feud system..

You have to basically follow the anaconda snake path to get from one end of the map to the other to ensure you don’t enter a reputation free kill zone…

PvP has always been a bit of a concern for me(and a few others id imagine), I heard enough reassurances from folks here that the rep system and other things were being introduced to curtail toxic behaviors.. Now a month or so before EE you guys decide 30% of the map should be a free for all PvP reputation free murder fest? What gives…

RGC

Resource Gathering Center..
or acquisition center..

PoI ( for me anyway will always be Plane of Innovation.. miss that zone some times.)

I tried earlier this week to ask this question in a thread that was more in line to the question. Having waited a few days I figure I would now ask this question here because the reason I keep asking relates to having a system set up and ready to go once EE officially opens..

My systems needs a video card or perhaps 2, I don’t know what I should get at this time( because no requirements are going to be stated). What was stated at one point is there would be a pit fighting battle zone/ arena. Now I get such a zone would not actually be the game but it would allow me at least an educated guess as to what video card/ cards I should order.

I have been awaiting a reply from GW on the other thread, to a very simple question…
Is the pit fighter / battle arena still being planned? Is it still something that is going to happen prior to EE? Or has it been scrapped because everyone is working on Alpha and EE roll outs and if it does come about it will not be until after EE ?

My reason for continuing to ask this question is because without a sense of what I need to run this game(through requirements..) That zone would tell me a lot about what to expect once EE goes live. Knowing what to expect beforehand allows me time to get the hardware I feel I would need prior to EE, instead of logging into to EE and then finding it will take yet another week to actually play because I have to order hardware …

I can always just guess and order a card or 2 but I prefer to make educated decision when spending money to upgrade my system…..

I can understand your remark about going into the 3rd week of EE and asking questions about things like this, but we are not at that point yet…

My opinion is EE is still about 10 weeks if not more away. This was something I was looking forward to trying . All I want to know is that is this something that will be active over the summer or has it been scrapped.
GW doesn’t want to release system requirements, fine I was at least expecting this simulator to get a feel for how my system will run the game prior to getting to EE then finding out I need to upgrade it .

This should be a fairly straight forward question.. either yes we will put it out or no we don’t want to put resources because those resources are busy getting EE ready to roll and getting Alpha up and running.

So while I get that you may not be interested the response I still am…

I know folks are gearing up for Alpha, but am curious if the pit-fighter/ battle arena will be up during the alpha testing, or if its just not worth the trouble at this point in time..

Request for goblinworks.com and the land rush guild list…

Looking through all the approved guilds and having each with a weblink is great but can you change the links so they open in a new tab or page when clicked..

I know I can do it on my own but would be easier to compare all the guilds and options while looking at everything, ( while at the same time keeping your site open and usable.. )

Figured I’d add this to the list of non important request for you guys to consider…

It feels as though some folks are not happy with the system because they were hoping for a mechanic that would allow them to mend their reputation faster than normal time allows. It was already stated that rep gain has moved away from being actions in game and has shifted to something you gain overtime.

Think a few post ago, Bludd was wondering how people would react to him putting bounties on people and then their friends having to take rep hits to defend them…. The answer is ill take a rep hit for defending a friend, you can take a rep hit for attacking at will . We will gain rep at the same rate.

Why should they create a system for low rep players to gain rep faster?

Soap box a moment.. Bludd, you have your opinions on things, you also have stated you plan to play within the rules GW lays out… That being said, I know folks were asked to not use certain terms to describe other players. You instead decided it was a description of a play style and continue to use it because it is not attacking a person….

Given the only thing I can go on is behavior, why should I believe you guys when you say you plan on following GW rules in game, when you won’t even follow GW suggestions on these boards..

Will leave it at, I just wanted you to know it really bugs me and makes me wonder how you will actually react to GW decisions that happen in game..

So if I am in a group with someone that is feuding with another character. I dont think I would actually see that character as hostile. If a fight breaks out I guess I would see the hostile flag then but just looking at it from first contact I wouldn't think my group status lets all flags from all the other members transfer to me.

Just thinking of a situation where you could S&D a character involed in faction or feud hostile states. Not everyone in a group has to have the same fueds or factions. Which I think is why the S&D mechanism is going to sit on top of the feud and faction flags..

I understand the desire to want to respond to your friends getting attacked….

But just because you are friends with them doesn’t mean you should get a free pass for protecting them. Your friends using the SAD system are trying to interact with others without out rep hits, but they are not interacting with them in a mutual beneficial way, they are in essence robbing them. The S&D mechanic is allowing them to rob them in a way they may not loose rep for doing it.

They are your friends and you can do what you want to protect them but don’t ask for a free pass. The event they are attempting is meant to rob people and just because you are friends with them doesn’t mean you should be able to jump in on their side without taking a rep loss. You are basically standing up on the side of the conflict that says Yes I like it when people get robbed.. beyond the point that your friends are doing the robbing why should you not take a rep hit for this action?

I do agree anyone in the blind that initiates a SAD should have the status handed down to the rest of the group( but I also feel there should be a range on this because 30 people hidden 200’ away behind a hill should not gain the same benefits as the 12 or so folks all hanging around the blind).

Blinds to me indicate small areas, an area that lets 50 people into the event is not a blind , it is a fort.

Is it poasible to examine a player without S&D ? If I understand this correctly the robber gets a look at your stuff can pick any keywords and get an advantage attacking you...

If server load is the quandry. Give short duration and just treat them as summoned monsters.

With no player able to have more than one summoned creature.

TT control is not only about crowd control. It is more battle field control
Haste your allies Slow your enemies. Use wall spells (fire, force, ice, wind) to protect your group and force the bad guys to where you want them.

Once you can funnel them you can hit with ae spells or have your allies burn them down. Not sure if pfo will have wall of force and the others but control doesnt have to mean stun lock.

Honestly bards to this day still baffle me. TT bards get a fair amount of skills. Their offensive spells are enchantment and charm effects. The one thing they do super well is sing/preform and can provide almost any type of buff a situation needs.

Sorcerers get very limited spells but they also get some pretty good bloodline abilities. Destined draconic elemental abysal etc. Basically the bloodlines give boost to certain aspects.

Clerics do well as they actually wear decent armor. Mant low level spells are buff type but not many offensive options. The domains can help parties with certain abilities ie protection can influence ac.

Fot the most versatile option imo is still wizard. Armor stinks hp are usually lower but they can buff and attack and arent as limited as sorcerers in spells known.

TT Control/Buff wizard is quite a powerful ally. Best example is blaster wizard loves fire ball and at 5th level does 5d6 damage. The conltro/buff wizard uses haste and grants all his allies an extra attack for 5 rounds.

On the surface the 5d6 looks impressive, but compared to 4allies getting extra attacks for 5 rounds. The total dps contributed by the control/buff wizard dwarfs the blaster..

Edit spelling. Typing on my phone is hard to do.

For those who wanted/needed a quick breakdown of AoE ability TT clerics get in Pathfinder...

In TT Pathfinder Clerics get an AoE ability called Channel Positive energy (they also can choose negative energy..). Positive energy heals players and harms undead. (negative energy will harm players and heal undead..)edit* they don't do both at the same time, the character chooses if they are going to heal players with positive or harm undead with positive. during the pathfinder TT beta play test it actually did both at the same time but was changed to only doing the players choice when beta play test was concluded * edit done..

There is a feat in TT that allows a cleric to remove targets from the effects of the AoE called Selective Channel. This feat allows you to remove a number of players from the effect = to your charisma modifier.

I think it is a mistake to think all Clerics are going to be your typical MMO healer type, you are going to get some that focus on inflicting wounds and channeling negative energy..Just still have yet to hear how GW plans on implementing negative energy clerics.

edit* additional notes on channel energy- paladins get a healing ability called lay on hands, but i think at 4th level they can convert to uses of their lay on hands healing into the channel a cleric does.

for those interested in the power curve of the amount of healing this ability in TT heals 1d6 for every 2 levels. So 1 d6 at level 3. This scale also is the scale rogues use to determine sneak attack damage.

okay got some rest..

The more I think about how to exchange items from a SAD, the more I like the idea that caravans and characters have high difficulty items they can hide on their person.

This stand and deliver, or stop and Frisk, is not a Stop and instant body cavity search. I still get the sense that these encounters should last no more than a couple minutes, searching the entire contents of a wagon could take 10 minutes itself. Doing that for 4 wagons would mean 40 minutes.

I really like the idea that groups can hide items in wagons and on their person that are hard to find with searches. Players and Caravan masters can pick out what those items are and place them in the inventory slots they want, basically they are hiding the best stuff they have making it hard to discover in a quick search of things.

If you set these values beforehand either manually or by the default order of how were placed in inventories/wagons. Then in order to make a quick streamlined search of items you can use a wagon masters hiding skill (or characters Int,Wis or Dex score) versus a bandits search skill to determine what items are found.

Think of the SAD as having 2 skill trees, the first is the ability to demand a % of goods. The second tree is the ability to find high valued items quickly.

Think of the inventory as a numbered list with the high valued items on top of the list and the low valued items on the bottom of the list.

When the SAD is initiated, a random skill roll versus merchants/ characters hiding skill can be completed to form a list of items that the bandit found, those items can appear in the window and the character/merchant can barter with the bandit if the bandit found too much good stuff or if he missed the real stuff. edit**

The skill roll determines at what inventory value the bandit starts listing items, his % SAD skill will determine how large the list is (compared to the total % of...

Think my idea earlier today was thinking along the same lines of making only certain % of items show up on a SAD interface, edited some of the thread in this post, but a lot of what you guys are saying looks to be like what i posted this morning..

okay got some rest..

The more I think about how to exchange items from a SAD, the more I like the idea that caravans and characters have high difficulty items they can hide on their person.

This stand and deliver, or stop and Frisk, is not a Stop and instant body cavity search. I still get the sense that these encounters should last no more than a couple minutes, searching the entire contents of a wagon could take 10 minutes itself. Doing that for 4 wagons would mean 40 minutes.

I really like the idea that groups can hide items in wagons and on their person that are hard to find with searches. Players and Caravan masters can pick out what those items are and place them in the inventory slots they want, basically they are hiding the best stuff they have making it hard to discover in a quick search of things.

If you set these values beforehand either manually or by the default order of how were placed in inventories/wagons. Then in order to make a quick streamlined search of items you can use a wagon masters hiding skill (or characters Int,Wis or Dex score) versus a bandits search skill to determine what items are found.

Think of the SAD as having 2 skill trees, the first is the ability to demand a % of goods. The second tree is the ability to find high valued items quickly.

Think of the inventory as a numbered list with the high valued items on top of the list and the low valued items on the bottom of the list.

When the SAD is initiated, a random skill roll versus merchants/ characters hiding skill can be completed to form a list of items that the bandit found, those items can appear in the window and the character/merchant can at that time if the bandit found too much stuff or if he missed the real stuff you are transporting. If SAD is accepted, the bandit can take all that stuff, some of that stuff, or none of it.

The skill roll determines at what inventory value the bandit starts listing items, his % SAD skill will determine how large the list is (compared to the total % of the inventory/wagons).

I just like to think that if I had a super valuable item in my inventory, or in the wagon I would of taken the time to hide it as best I could Just using the standard death loot % list may be easy but I don’t like the complete random feel of what is found, id like to think that I had a choice in making my best stuff hard to find. A very skilled SAD searcher with a really good roll could find that stuff, but the bandit that is on his 2nd raid of their lives probably is not going to hit the jackpot when he goes through my stuff.

Haven’t given this one much thought, and its late .. but it is an idea..

Give the caravan master the ability to load stuff in a way that it aligns with % chance to be discovered prior to the caravan moving.

Think of it as hiding the T2 ore under the barley and Hops. Or under the layer of wooden planks. Or in the middle of stacks of T1 ore. The point is the caravan master can set up items in a designated order and give all the contents a percentage value 1-100. Usually higher value = better concealed.

Come up with a mechanic that will compare the skill of the SAD bandit with the skill of the caravan master ,

to determine the items the bandit finds during a couple min looking through the wagons. Give the bandits check against the caravan master to determine a starting spot 1-100.

Take that number as the start point in the caravan inventory. Add the percentage the bandit skill is able to request or was agreed upon to that starting point.

You now have a quick way to work out the items the SAD grants but bandits woudlnt like it if they always found barley and hops and no good ore.. but then again how long would it take to search 5 wagons for everything they contain.. if your are out in the open and robbing someone?

Anyway just a thought..
Players would have to delegate bags and slots as a % for when the skill is not used on caravans.. so may not work but was worth mentioning..

Will back away from the cliff..again.. but still contend coins as a tangible objects are a good thing../em heads off to sulk.

And to clear up my views ...I never want a % of coin a person has in the bank to be lootable on death(very big no to alt banks).

Yes understanding coin is not material is easy to understand, how that thought fits into the game is something I am having a hard time understanding.

Turning coin into items that could be damaged or taken or lost, seems to me like a good thing. Each time a standard unit that the player base chooses loses a decay point, that item just lost % of its value. This removes coin from the game, which is also a good thing..

Think we have differing visions of the SAD at this point. Been a while since I laid out my views on it. The quick version is

1. make SAD a skill and give it tiers, make it chaotic and make the player using it be chaotic.

2. let the bandit decide if he wants to bully the merchant/character or if he wants to extort them..

3. Bully is just a quick look through and asking for small item/ coin, Extort is inspection of your stuff and deciding what % of it he wants to take.

4. bully SAD accepted = criminal flag for short duration but not much loot, think like I looked through your pockets and im taking this.

4a. Extortion accepted = no hostile/criminal flag and the bandits becoming defacto guards for the merchant for 10 min or till the merchant is safe or time runs out. Items agreed upon initially are transferred after the 10 min ( I still believe you cant have hostilities between someone you just made an agreement with, use the bounty system if you want revenge later)

5. If the SAD either bully or extortion is rebuked, both parties get new attacker flags on one another, if the bandit decides to attack during that time, they become hostile and take rep hits. Same goes for the merchant if they decide to attack the bandit (because the bandit hasn’t actually taken anything from the merchant at this point)

6. As for what a bandit is able to request I think that max should be tied to the skill , personally 50% cargo/ inventory should be the max that anyone can request.( Threading rules apply) but I have no idea how they are going to make that happen besides just listing the items and letting the bandit and merchant hammer out what is fair.

In no way do I think worn items should actually appear on any interface, that just lets the bandits know how to attack the other characters and win more effectively..

I still think the skill level should determine the number of items the bandit is able to pick. I also favor items being the thing they have to take ( as opposed to coin) I feel bandits should take the same risk as the merchant takes transporting things back to their hideouts. But given the time it would take to make the deal and pick items and agree to the arraignment…. Im not sure how that is going to work and folks will probably move toward coin as the transaction currency just for the ease/quickness of it.... (unless coin had tangible value.. /em bites his tongue)

I dont think Marshals should be using a SAD mechanic at all, not sure where i lost you on that one, sorry.

I just think SAD should be chaotic, a Character needs to be chatoic to slot it.I brought up the Marshal thing as ah opposite of SAD, as a lawful example.

Meaning groups participating with characters using SAD need to take Chatoic hits. Conversely characters that would be in a Marshal Group when he uses his abilities would be taking lawful hits.( when/if Marshal becomes a reality)

It should be chaotic skill, probably along the lines of a paladin smite evil ability, paladins have to be lawful to slot it. I would imagine bandits would have to be chaotic to slot SAD ( assuming it is a skill)

When speaking of single characters it is easy, but as a group, SAD should still be chaotic, and if a lawful character is involved they should take a chaotic hit for using it. (not that the marshal thing is a reality yet, but I imagine characters would have to lawful to slot that and chaotic people in a marshal group would take lawful hits when using the marshal mechanic to fight criminals..)

Really thought I was done with this as I know its not going to happen …But the “it will confuse new players reason” is just getting under my skin.

It is odd to a new player to not lose his coins but loses everything else when he dies except for some items he can wear… should take about one death to figure out coins are valuable and need to be protected if they are carried on his person and looted.

As to how they choose to protect them that would be a meaningful choice… universal NPC bank, PC banks, item conversions. The knowledge it needs to be done will be something the new player understands, how they do it is a choice.. perhaps its something a new player relsihes and finds a better way to do it.

With magic coins that don’t disappear all a new player will learn is to turn these goods into coin ASAP .

How long till we read in chat, “found ore gathering node selling looting rights for 500 gp you transport .. send tell for info…”

Is this the correct version of the game new players are suppose to understand? Seems to me it breaks one of the prime goals of adventuring which was to go out in the world and bring stuff back.

I still dont get the new player wont understand coins If he has to carry them.New player comes in gets killed and loses the coins he has on him. The ones in the bank are still there. What part are they going to not undetstand ?

Seems to me they will be more confused why 25percent of his stuff is destryed. 75percent was looted except for some items that he had on. Yet all of his coins were safe. Carrying coinsis too much for a new player but all of that stuff should be crystal clear?

Guess it could mean that you are open game for anyone around you till your attacker flag wears off in 30 seconds,

after that 30 seconds if they continue to attack you they then become the aggressors..

sorry to get side tracked on this thread... but flagging came up and figured to understand this correctly before offering anymore thoughts on the issue..

Tuffon wrote:

If you are attacked only 1 time and in response you hit that person you gain an attacker flag(if the original attacker has still only hit you one time).

I don't think so. Anyone can hit someone who has the Attacker flag without getting flagged themselves.

The rest sounds right, I think.

Just curious why this would be the case, I always thought of it as the friendly fire rule. I set off a fireball and catch a few folks i didn't intend. They now can attack me and if they kill me with in 30 seconds they have no penalty....

if it is as you say why would 30 seconds matter at all?

I read it as, as long as i don't attack them again in that 30 seconds i don't get a hostile flag, they have 30 seconds to take me out or they get hostile flags ( if they hit me 2 times)..

I have just moved to East Carbon this week and I am looking to find some players in the area to roll dice with. If you are in the area and want to give it a go drop me a line.

There is a new report in the journal "Intelligence" that proposes that people have grown dumber since the Victorian age. They came to this conclusion by studying the time that it takes to react to stimuli, rather than by looking at IQ tests which has been the standard measure until this study. Thoughts?

In a couple of discussions about using the Scarred Lands with Pathfinder, one of the consistent issues that has come up is the lack of a hunter themed sorcerer bloodline to use with followers of Hrinruuk. So I just threw together a suggestion called the Hunt Child bloodline (Now renamed Child of the Hunt). Anyway, look it over and let me know what you think. I am pretty sure that there is lots of room for improvement.

Child of the Hunt Bloodline
Class Skill: Stealth, Survival
Bonus Spells: True Strike (3rd), Locate Object (5th), Haste (7th), Locate Creature (9th), Animal Growth (11th), Transformation (13th), Ethereal Jaunt (15th), Screen (17th), Shape Change (19th)
Bonus Feats: Agile Maneuvers, Blind Fight, Deadly Aim, Diehard, Endurance, Spell Penetration, Stealthy, Toughness
Bloodline Arcana: Whenever you cast a spell that allows a saving throw to avoid the spell effect against a target that is flat footed, you receive a +1 arcana bonus to the DC of that saving throw.
Bloodline Powers
Force Arrow (Sp): At 1st level, as a standard action, you unleash a bolt of pure force energy targeting any single foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. This bolt inflicts 1d6 points of damage +1 for every two sorcerer levels that you possess. This is a force effect. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.
Track (Ex): At 3rd level you add half your level to Survival skill checks made to follow or identify tracks.
Beast Kin (Su): At 9th level you gain a +1 bonus to natural armor, a +2 bonus to Stealth skill checks, and gains an animal companion as if you were a druid of your level -4. At 13th and 17th levels these bonuses increase by +1.
Beast Rider (Su): At 15th level you gain an empathic link with your animal companion. This link has a range of 1 mile and allows you to communicate with your companion and sense everything that they sense. While you are “riding” your companion it will not go further then one mile from you. You remain helpless while you are in communication although any damage will break the link.
Master of the Hunt (Su): At 20th level, you become the personification of the hunt. You gain DR 10/magic, you can see perfectly in all forms of darkness, continuous Freedom of Movement, and any target that you confirm a critical hit against is considered flat-footed against you for the next round.

Michael Bay has confirmed that he has inked a deal to direct Transformers 4 set for release sometime in 2014. Story

Traveling prostitutes claim thay make good money because Spokane prostitutes are ugly.

I don't know why but there is just something soothing about pop songs being performed by a bunch of monks.

I had a CN character in a Rise of the Runelords campaign I was running use Create Water to waterboard a goblin. What is the most creative use of a spell you have seen?

In the old Enemies and Allies book there was a group of adventurers called the Band of the Hand. They were a group of mercenaries who's only loyalty was to their paycheck and could be used as rivals of the PCs. I have been looking for a group to serve as a foil for the PCs in my own campaign, and since the Hand roughly mirrors the make up of my group I thought that they would be a great foil. I will warn you though, they are not a direct conversion, more of an adaptation to fit my needs.

The only way this could be better is as a T.V. miniseries.

This is some tough love here
Warning: Some minor profanity.

Disclaimer: I know that this can be a controversial topic. Please keep the discussion civil.

Okay, so I keep hearing people say that they don't like catfolk in D&D/Pathfinder because they are "too anime." However, the first time I encountered catfolk was the Rakasta in Mystara clear back in 1991 or 1992. At that point the only anime that I had encountered was "Battle of the Planets," "Starblazers," and "Robotech" and didn't even know there was a term "anime." So I have always considered catfolk to be part of D&D lore and have never questioned their inclusion. I am interested to know how the community at large feels about it, so please share your thoughts about the inclusion of catfolk. I am more interested in the thinking behind the positions so if you would, please explain why you feel the way that you do on the subject.

Arderians

Arderians live in the floating clouds of Arderial, high above the surface of the Moonlands. They are naturally gifted with an ability to fly, and love to spend their time floating among the clouds and soaring high in the stratosphere, where day gives way to eternal night. Their magic deals with the air and the weather, and although such magic may, at first glance, appear to be weaker than explosions and earthquakes, it is no less dangerous.

Personality: Among the Moonlands, the phrase "putting on airs" means acting like an Arderian. Arderians are known for being proud and vain, which is rather alarming when one considers that this means they are even more so than the rest of the Magi-Nation. In their opinion it is only just and right that they inhabit the region that soars above all others; they take it as proof if their inherent superiority, and they enjoy spending their idle time lazing on a cloud and gazing down at the other Magi far below. Arderians are typically soft-spoken and somewhat dreamy, as one might expect from a race that enjoys the utter freedom of magical flight. Yet despite the impression they give, Arderians are temperamental, and take slights as personally as the other races. Unfortunately for everyone, it takes some time for Arderians to work up a good fury when they are offended; as a result, they often exact their vengeance hours or days afterwards, which has given them a bit of a reputation for being as unpredictable as the weather.

Physical Description: Arderians tend towards the tall and thin; tall because their environment offers them no restrictions, and thin because the lighter they are, the easier soaring is for them. Arderian physique tends not to be as athletic as those of the ground-dwelling races, but rather softer and smoother as the gentle soaring does not but as much stress upon their muscles. There are exceptions, of course, and those Arderians who spend a lot of time on or near the ground tend to be more buff than their fellows. Arderians are light-skinned, even pale, and their eyes are usually light colors found in the summer sky. Their hair is most commonly blue, although shades from plum to blonde to gray are not unknown. Arderians prefer to wear their hair long and loose, as it looks best when blown in the breeze. And they make sure there are enough breezes at all times to show off their hair to best effect.

Attire: Arderian fashion follows the same trends as Arderian hairstyles: "long and free looks best on me." Most Arderian clothing is loose, with lots of long dangling sashes and billowing folds. At times when the expansive and decorative wardrobe would be indiscreet when blown about, tight underclothing is worn beneath to provide modesty with minimal interference with the windblown look. Arderians accessorize with light jewelry. They are especially fond of butterfly wings (treated for durability) as they provide maximum color and beauty for minimal weight.

Arderian Society: Arderian society is as free and unorganized as the winds and clouds themselves. Arderians are a rather intellectual society, spending countless hours debating philosophy, writing poetry, or idly - and rather wildly - speculating on the activities on the surface of the Moonlands far below them (this activity they term "groundwatching"). Children are allowed to soar about as they please; Arderian parents perhaps enjoy less parental concern than any other race in the universe; the heavens are slow to anger, and the children are incapable of falling as they soar gracefully from cloud to cloud. However, this freedom is not without a price. While blessed with freedom and security, many Arderian children lack the discipline of other races' offspring, and tend towards whimsy even when times are serious.

Names: Arderian names are very reminiscent of their region: open and airy. Vowels are round and full, and often found in pairs and diphthongs. Most consonants are soft.

Adventurers: Not all Arderians are condescending. Those who speak up about the value of the other regions often find themselves to be de facto outcasts, and descend to the surface of the Moonlands to find new friends. Other Arderians thrive on excitement, which is not something found in long supply whilst debating the finer points of existentialism on a gauzy cloud-top. Such Arderians similarly look for dangers to add some zest to their lives. Finally, Arderians have been known to visit the Moonlands surface just to find out more about the lesser beings that live there - though often this type of adventurer isn't overly popular to go exploring with.

Ardarian Racial Traits
+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Strength; Ardarians are lithe and contemplative, but they are not known for their strength.
Medium: Ardarians are medium sized creatures and have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
Low-Light Vision: Ardarians can see twice as far as humans in poor lighting conditions.
Normal Speed: Base speed for an ardarian is 30 feet.
Flight: Ardarians are capable of flying at a speed of 40 feet and have a maneuverability of Poor.
Perceptive: Ardarians gain a +2 racial bonus to Perception skill checks.
Languages: Ardarians begin play speaking Common and Ardarian. Ardarians with high Intelligence scores can choose bonus languages from the following list: Bograthian, Calder, D'Reshi, Kyberite, Naroomese, Paradan, or Weaver.

Mike Mearls said this at a product symposium at D&D Experience: "The stories and worlds of past editions of D&D are just as important to our development and ideas for D&D Next as the rules and other information is. I don't have any more information to share at this time, but we're definitely exploring and excited about what we have planned. " Perhaps we will get some Mystara love after all.

Okay, so I found out on Thursday that my players like music with their games, not going all the time in the background but theme music for battles or reoccurring villains and so forth. So I was hoping to get some suggestions of what I could use. I have already assigned the Imperial March to one villain and I am using O Fortuno for when the LE god of tyranny shows up. He is actually aiding the PCs to further his own ends. I know my players are big into anime and video games , but I am not, so maybe some of you know tunes from those sources which might work. Thanks in advance.

Has anyone run the Serpent Amphora? I am starting it tonight and I would love to hear from others who have and what their experiences were.

I would like to suggest that you guys add a list of adventures grouped by the appropriate level to the website. This would make things a lot easier for Gamemasters to find the adventure that is appropriate for the group that they are gaming with.

Hey everyone, This week I am starting my latest home campaign. This is by far the biggest campaign I have ever run; with a group of eight players in total. I will introduce you to the cast of characters next week once we get started, but I wanted to show off the shiny campaign resource that I have put together for my players to enable them to get familiar with the Scarred Lands. Campaign Wiki

Until next week, good luck and good gaming.

So starting next week, I will be running a campaign for seven players. I have never run a game for a group that big, and I have only played in one group that is that size. That group had twelve players and that seemed rather unwieldy. So what I want to know is how would you run a game for a group that big, and just how big is too big?

I really loved the Magi-Nation CCG, particularly the innovative and interesting monsters that populated the world. Of particular interest to me were the hyrens, which were the Moonland version of dragons. So I am taking this opportunity to do some conversion work on them. So here is the first one, the forest hyren from Naroom.

Forest Hyren CR 9
XP 46,000
NG Large Dragon
Init: +1; Senses: dragon senses, Perception +16
AC: 23, Touch: 11, Flat-Footed: 21 (+1 Dex, +13 natural, -1 size)
hp: 116 (11d12+44)
Fort: +11, Ref: +8, Will: +9
Immune: Sleep, Sonic, Paralysis
Speed: 40 ft, fly 150 ft (good)
Melee: bite +16 (1d8+9), 2 claws +16 (1d6+6), tail slap +11 (1d8+3)
Special Attacks: breath weapon (30 ft cone, DC 19, 8d6 sonic)
Spell-like abilities (CL 11th)
constant-Pass Without Trace
3/day-Cure Serious Wounds, Entangle
Spells Known (CL 11th)
2nd: Create Pit (DC 14), Gust of Wind (DC 14) (5/day)
1st: Charm Person(DC 13), Endure Elements, Magic Missile, Vanish (7/day)
0- Dancing Lights, Daze, Drench, Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Touch of Fatigue (at-will)
Str: 23, Dex: 12, Con: 19, Int: 14, Wis: 15, Cha: 14
Base Atk: +11, CMB: +18, CMD: 29
Feats: Acrobatic Step, Combat Reflexes, Diehard, Endurance, Nimble Moves, Stand Still
Skills: Bluff +16, Climb +20, Diplomacy +16, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (nature) +16, Perception +16, Spellcraft +16, Stealth +15
Languages: Common, Draconic
SQ: wild empathy
Environment: Temperate Forest
Organization: Solitary
Treasure: Triple

Forest hyrens are the guardians of the forest. They move through the primeval woodlands of the Moonlands with great stealth seeking any threats to the natural balance. They have a particular hatred for anything related to the Core, especially darkbreed hyrens because of their ability to control other hyrens.

So I am about halfway through the first episode and it is really catching on with me. The conspiracy aspect of the story is intriguing and the characters have depth and complexity that you rarely see on television. I think I have found my new X-Files.

I was discussing the old BESM d20 system with a friend and we got to wondering, would Paizo ever consider publishing a Pathfinder Anime game using the SRD and OGL for that system? I am sure there is a market for it and since the syetem is OGL there would be no liscence fees involved. And it would allow me to finally be able to use a Pathfinder system to run an Exalted campaign :) So what do you guys think?

The SRD can be found here.

A project like a bestiary takes a lot of time and with Bestiary 3 done it is likely that the fine folks at Paizo are setting their sights on Bestiary 4, if such a project is planned. So now is our chance to make our voices heard and let them know what we would like to see. I don't know if it will influence anything one way or another, but it might help get the juices flowing. Here is my list:

Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic Planetouched races
• Lawful and Chaotic dragons
• A draconic race
• A platypus
• low-level constructs
• A leonid centaur (aka a wemic)
• More devils

Okay, I have been playing the Sims 2 for a while now and I am considering upgrading my Sims experience, however I am not sure if I should move up to Sims 3 or Sims Medieval. So I am looking for advice, which one should I move up to?

Sweet! It looks like Jinx and Kamakura are joining the team.

Rap legend Heavy D is dead at age 44. The cause is yet to be determined. I can't believe that one of my favorite musicians is gone.

So I just got back from taking my kids to the dentist and I have to say this new guy must be the most awesome dentist ever. He specializes in treating children so he has toys and XBox and movies for the kids. For the dads he has video games! Not like Playstation and stuff, but old school cabinet games like Pac Man, Donkey Kong, 1942, and my personal favorite, Dig Dug! This is the first time I have ever thought going to the dentist rocks!

Just a little something I have been working on for my home game.

The Gods

Asmodeus
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Portfolio: Power, Domination, Tyranny
Domains: Evil, Fire, Law, Magic, Trickery
Favored Weapon: Mace
Although evil, Asmodeus is also honorable. He will honor the terms of any bargin he makes to the letter, although he will always look for loopholes that he can exploit. He is the most respected of the gods of evil and will even take council from and give aid to the gods of good if properly approached. However his aid is not to be sought or accepted lightly. Asmodeus is the absolute ruler of the Nine Hells, and his rule is strict and his punishments harsh.

Avandra
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: change, luck, trade, travel
Domains: Good, Liberation, Luck, Protection, Travel
Favored Weapon: Rapier
Avandra delights in freedom, adventure, and the frontier. She counts halflings, merchants, rogues, and adventurers of all kinds among her worshipers. In fact most people have whispered a prayer to the goddess of luck at one time or another. She is allies with Melora , Corellon , and Sehanine and a foe of Zehir, Asmodeus , and Torog . She is sometimes refered to as the Maiden of Fate and is worshiped alongside Ioun and The Raven Queen as the three goddesses of destiny.

Bahamut
Alignment: Lawful Good
Porfolio: Justice, Honor, Nobility, Protection
Domains: Law, Good, Nobility, Protection, Strength
Favored Weapon: Longsword
Often refered to as "the platinum dragon," Bahamut represents all that is good and right in the world. He is the patron of paladins and he is worshiped by metallic dragons as being the first of their kind. Bahamut was born when the primordials sundered the dragon god Io in two; which also makes him the twin of the goddess Tiamat. Tiamat and Bahamut have been enemies since their birth. Bahamut is closely allied with Moradin and Kord, and together they share the realm of Celstia. Nerathian kings were crowned in the name of Bahamut.

Bane
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Portfolio: War, Conquest
Domains: Destruction, Evil, Law, Strength, War
Favored Weapon: Morningstar
Bane is the brother of Kord. During the Dawn War his military success led to him being appointed the leader of all the divine armies. Once the war was over, his autority ended. However, he has ambitions for more and still looks forward to the day when he will crush the celestial realms under his heel and he assumes his rightful place as the ruler of everything. His chief ally is Asmodeus, who he aided in his bid to recieve divinity. His chief enemy is Kord, who has never forgiven him for murdering their other brother Turen.

Corellon
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Portfolio: Arcane magic, Spring, The arts, Beauty
Domains: Chaos, Good, Magic, Protection, War
Favored Weapon: Longsword
Corellon is the patron of the elves and the enemy of all drow. It was Corellon that led the fight against Lolth and drove her out of the celestial realm after she tried to userp his power. He is the husband of Sehanine and is also allied with Pelor and The Raven Queen as the four gods of the seasons. In addition to his animosity towards Lolth, Corellon is also enemies with Gruumsh.

Erathis
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Portfolio: Civilization, Inventions, Law
Domains: Artifice, Community, Law, Protection, Travel
Favored Weapon: Battleaxe
Erathis is the favored goddess of kings, pioneers, explorers, and judges. It is in her name that cities are founded, laws are passed, and buisness is conducted. It is Erathis that inspires civilization to move forward and spread it's light. She is close allies with Ioun and Moradin and is the wife of Pelor. She is enemies of Gruumsh and Tharizdun who seek to destry everything she protects. Erathis is also patron of non-evil minotaurs.

Gruumsh
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Portfolio: Turmoil, Destruction
Domains: Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Strength, War
Favored Weapon: Spear
Gruumsh is the creator of the orcish race and the sworn enemy of Corellon. It was one of their many battles that Gruumsh lost his left eye. Gruumsh strives for the day when his followers have conquered and destroyed all other races. He was once an ally of Lolth, but that has since turned to hatred.

Ioun
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Knowledge, Prophecy, Skill
Domains: Artifice, Good, Knowledge, Magic, Rune
Favored Weapon: Heavy Mace
Ioun is the goddess most often worshiped by wizards and scholors. Many wizard colleges are dedicated to her name. She is also the second most revered god among mettalic dragons, just after Bahamut. Her temples are repositories of knowledge, and often they look more like libraries then places of worship. Ioun is allies with Corellon, Erathis, and Pelor. She is the sworn enemy of Vecna who seeks to undo her work of sharing knowledge freely.

Kord
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Portfolio: Storms, Strength, Battle
Domains: Chaos, Glory, Good, Strength, Weather
Favored Weapon: Greatsword
Kord loves conflict. He does not care about actual warfare, but he is please to see others competing against each other. He is the patron of soldiers and athletes alike. He frowns on cowardice and this has led to many half orcs and goliaths worshiping him. He despises anyone who uses their strength to oppress others, which leads him to often oppose his brother Bane's plans. He is friends with most non-evil gods, although Ioun sees him as too loud and Erathis believes him to be too wild. It is rumored that he and Melora are lovers.

Lolth
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Portfolio: Spiders, Shadows, Lies
Domains: Chaos, Darkness, Evil, Madness, Trickery
Favored Weapon: Whip
Lolth is the patron goddess of the drow. Once she was the wife of Corellon but allowed ambition to get in her way. For her rebellion she was banished to the Abyss where she makes her home in a region known as the Demonweb Pit. For that she hates all the gods of good. She has no real allies among any of the gods and views all other beings except her followers with contempt.

Melora
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Portfolio: Seas, Wilderness
Domains: Animal, Earth, Madness, Plant, Water
Favored Weapon: Trident
Melora is the goddess of the wild seas and the peaceful glade. She represents both the raging tempest and the quite breeze. She is equally a wild beast and a peacful glade. She is both the best and the worst that the wilderness has to offer. Melora is allies with Avandra, Corellon, Sehanine and Pelor. She has a generally good relationship with Erathis, although the two goddesses have different outlooks. She is also rumored to be Kord's lover. She is enemies of both Tharizdun and Vecna who seek to destroy all the she hopes to protect.

Moradin
Alignment: Lawful Good
Portfolio: Creation, Artisans, Family
Domains: Artifice, Earth, Fire, Good, Law
Favored Weapon: Warhammer
Moradin is the patron of miners and smiths, and he is also the creator of the dwarves. He carved the mountains out of the primordial earth and shaped them to his own liking. He teaches that the highest good that you can do is to build something that will be of lasting impact in the world. This has led him to become good friends with Erathis, since civilization is the just one more thing that can be built. Moradin is an enemy of Torog who seeks to corrupt those who dwell beneath Moradin's holy mountains.

Pelor
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Sun, Summer, Agriculture, Time
Domains: Good, Healing, Plant, Strength, Sun
Favored Weapon: Mace (Heavy or light)
Wherever there is suffering, you will find followers of Pelor seeking to make things better. As the god of both agriculture and healing he is the diety most involved in mortal affairs. In his role as god of summer he is allied with Corellon, Sehanine, and The Raven Queen. He is also the husband of Erathis and together they rule the celestial city of Hestivar. He is a foe of all evil gods, and bears particular hatred for Tharizdun. Pelor himself was the one who cast Tharizdun into the void that serves as his prison, and he is the one most concerned with Tharizdun's eventual return.

The Raven Queen
Alignment: Neutral
Portfolio: Death, Fate, Winter
Domain: Darkness, Death, Knowledge, Repose, Water
Favored Weapon: Kukri
The Raven Queen is one of the newest of the gods. Her real name has been long forgotten and she is known only by her title. She is one of the four gods that hold power over the seasons and one of the three godesses of destiny. Because of abuses by her predecessor, when she was elevated she was only given power over death itself, not over the dead. The Raven Queen has no enemies among the gods, but she has a clear hatred of the demon prince Orcus, who seeks to overthrow her and take her portfolio.

Sehanine
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Trickery, Moon, Love, Autumn
Domains: Air, Charm, Healing, Good, Trickery
Favored Weapon: Shortbow
Sehanine is perhaps the most "human" of the gods. Only Pelor is more involved in mortal affairs, and even he is not interested in the minutia of mortal life. Marriages are sealed in her name, and lovers pray to her to hide their indiscretions from others. Sehanine is married to Corellon and is allies with Pelor and The Raven Queen as one of the gods of the seasons. She is also friends with Avandra and Melora. Sehanine encourages her followers to avoid zealotry and walk the middle line. She is enemies with Gruumsh, Lolth (who was Corellon's first wife), Asmodeus, and Zehir.

Tharizdun
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Portfolio: Annihilation, Madness
Domains: Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Madness, Void
Favored Weapon: Greataxe
Long ago, even before the Dawn War, Tharizdun discovered a shard of pure evil and decided to incubate it in a remote corner. The result was the Abyss, and the experiment drove Tharizdun to madness. In a rare show of solidarity, the rest of the gods opposed him with a unified front and eventually Pelor and Asmodeus imprisoned him in an endless and formless void. Tharizdun is commonly worshiped today in the guise of the Elder Elemental Eye, and has co-opted the aid of five Primordials to serve as his exarchs until he is able to find a way to escape from the Void. What would happen if those Primordials found out they actually serve a god is unknown and something most do not wish to contemplate.

Tiamat
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Portfolio: Wealth, Greed, Envy
Domains: Destruction, Evil, Law, Scalykind, Trickery
Favored Weapon: Flail
Tiamat is the twin sister of Bahamut. Both were created when the dragon god Io was split in two by one of the primordials. All evil dragons revere her as their mother and many mortals also hope to curry her favor in exchange for great wealth and power. Although she is viewed as a destructive force, Tiamat is actually a very sutble goddess. She is not above razing a city, a castle, or a nation but only as a pleasent distraction from her long term goals.

Torog
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Portfolio: Underdark, Imprisonment
Domains: Darkness, Destruction, Evil, Law, Madness
Favored Weapon: Spiked Chain

The patron of jailers and torturers, Torog is also known as the Twisted God or The King Who Crawls. During the Dawn War he was trapped in the Underdark and sealed there for all eternity. However, that has not left him powerless, and some mortals are afraid that if they speak his name he will reach up from the earth and drag him to his torture dens to "play" with for all eternity. Although many feel this is a superstious fear, others point to places like the city of Maelbrathyr as proof that the fears in fact have a basis in truth.

Vecna
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Portfolio: Undeath, Secrets
Domains: Death, Evil, Knowledge, Magic, Trickery
Favored Weapon: Dagger
Vecna is one of only two current gods that were once mortal. The other is The Raven Queen, but this does not give them a special bond. Vecna's role os the Lord of Undeath actually makes him the enemy of The Raven Queen. Vecna was a litch before becoming a god. As the god of secrets, Vecna tries to keep others from learning. This places him in direct conflict with Ioun, and a shadow war between followers of the two gods occurs almost everywhere.

Zehir
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Darkness, Poison, Serpents
Domains: Darkness, Destruction, Evil, Scalykind, Trickery
Favored Weapon: Spear
Zehir is the patron of serpents and assassins. He works in darkness and uses misdirection to achieve his ends; his cultists will even go so far as to accuse rivils of being cultists of Zehir to decieve others and get rid of competition. He is constantly scheming and even his own cultists do not know his full plan. At least one of his aims is to replace Vecna as god of secrets.

I have been working on some new and converted races for my home campaign that I am running for my kids. Since I have developed them using the upcoming Advanced Races Guide, I thought I would share them with you.

Eladrin Racial Traits
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Constitution; Eladrin are quick and have an unearthly grace but they are somewhat more fragile than other races.
Medium Size: Eladrin are Medium creature and have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
Normal Speed: Base speed for an Eladrin is 30 ft.
Low-Light Vision: Eladrin can see twice as far in poor lighting than a human.
Eladrin Immunities: Eladrin are immune to magic sleep effects and get a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment and illusion spells and effects.
Fortunate: Eladrin gain a +2 racial bonus to all saving throws.
Spell-like Abilities: Eladrin can use Blur as a spell-like ability once per day.
Languages: Eladrin begin play speaking Common and Elven. Eladrin with high Intelligence Scores can choose from the following: Aklo, Draconic, Giant, Gnome, Orc, Sylvan

Heroes of the Feywild is coming soon, and it was announced that among the new races in the book is the pixie! Pixies will have a reach of 1, unlike most Tiny creatures and will have a racial power that lets others fly called Pixie Dust. Tinkerbell anyone?

Story Marvel Phase 2 is reportedly including movies featuring the GotG and the Inhumans. I am hoping that the former will be about Vance Astro, Starhawk, Martinex, Nikki, and the rest of the 31st century team, not the new group. I don't know what to make of an Inhumans movie. Thoughts?

Okay, so I created a race awhile ago that was published in Wayfinder #2. Now with a new campaign starting and the ARG playtest coming out I decided to update and "upgrade" it. It was inspired by the shadar-kai and ended up sharing several traits with drow and fetchlings, something I did not realize until I was done writing it up.

Svartalfar

Svartalfar (literally but inacurately dark elf) are the decendents of humans who sought refuge in the Shadowfell following the collapse of their kingdom. These humans were tainted by shadow stuff as a result of their self impossed exile and were transformed into something not quite human any more. In the end they sold themselves body and soul to the Raven Queen in exchange for her protection from the many threats in the Shadowfell.
Now svartalfar have pale, almost white, skin and their hair is either bone white or jet black. They prefer to dress in dark colors and generally their cloths have a death or bone motiff to them. Some svartalfar mark themselves with piercings and all of them mark significant events in their life with tatoos. They are a strict meritocracy and most svartalfar adventurers are trying to make their mark.

Racial Traits
+2 to One Ability Score: Svartalfar characters get a +2 bonus to one ability score of their choice at creation to represent their varied nature.
Medium: Svartalfar are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Normal Speed: Base speed for a svartalfar is 30 feet.
Low-Light Vision: Svartalfar can see twice as far as a human in dim lighting conditions.
Child of the Shadows: Svartalfar have cold resistance 5 and electricity resistance 5. Perception and Stealth are always class skills for svartalfar characters.
Shadow Blending: Attacks against a svartalfar in dim light have a 50% miss chance instead of the normal 20% miss chance. This ability does not grant total concealment; it just increases the miss chance.
Spell-Like Abilities (Su): A svartalfar can use Darkness once per day as a spell like ability.
Svartalfar characters begin play speaking Common and Svartalfar. Characters with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Abyssal, Aklo, Elven, Goblin, Infernal, Orc, and Sylvan.

You can see several of the other races I have made at my campaign wiki, although many of them will be getting a new look soon.

Okay, so I have been reading some of the new 52 books and I have not a clue what they are trying to do with it. Some of the books feel like total reboots, Superboy, Supergirl, the two Justice League books, Grifter, and Suicide Squad to name a few. Others seem to be continuation of series like Batman and Robin, Batwoman, Detective Comics, and Red Lantern. Although I don't have a problem with that, only Red Lantern took the time to fill me, a new reader, in on what had gone on before. Although I am fairly well versed on the Batman plot despite not having read the title in awhile, Batwoman was a complete mystery and even Wikipedia did not provide much help. The best book that I have read in my opinion is Batgirl, because it is a blend of the old and the new, although I am still confused at how Babs is walking again. Does anyone else feel like the has been a lack of cohesion in the way the titles have been handled or is it just me?

Marvel's Next Big Thing seems to have the X-Men going toe to toe with the Avengers, and features the return of Cable. While I am a big fan of Cable, I wish they had left him dead. Although as a time traveler, this could be an incarnation of Cable from before he died.

Okay, so my doctor diagnosed me last week as being insulin resistant and has me on a low carb, diabetic diet. However, I am quickly finding that it is not easy to find foods that fit my doctor's wishes. Does anyone have any advice or recipes that can help me? Breakfast is particularly hard as I am growing sick of eggs every day.

Link

I feel brain cells die when I just flip through the show on my way to something else.

Story

Okay I could see it if he were doing it to make a statement about gender inequality or something like that, but simply because his mom told him to try walking in heels if he thought it were so easy? Why not just walk around the house in the heels?

Okay, long ago in my childhood, I loved the game Shadow Over Mystara. A fe months back I stubled across a site that had a complete walkthrough of the game, as well as a bunch of other cool stuf and I though, "how cool would it be to run a Pathfinder game based on the old console game." So flash forward a few monthes and here we are. I am working on the idea as a whole AP type game that will eventually take the characters from level 1 up the climax at level 15. Anyway, here are my notes on the first chapter. I have decided to write them out episodically so that they string together like a tv series.

Episode 1: When Goblins Attack!
Summary: Goblins have been attacking the trade route through the Broken Lands between Glantri and Darokin. The PCs are contracted to stop the goblin attacks and prevent them from threatening trade ever again.

Long Synopsis
Several merchants in Darokin have been losing caravans to Glantri because of goblin attacks. Rather than simply pay for more guards to protect the caravans they decide to take a more permenant approach. The goblins must be wiped out for the good of everyone. They set the PCs up with a phony caravan and send them on their way.

Of course the goblins fall for the trap hook, line, and sinker. The fight should be difficult, but not overly so. The raiding party is entirely standard goblins and the PCs should have a fairly easy time defeating them. If they are smart they will keep one or two alive to interrogate. With a CD 12 Intimidate check or a DC 17 Diplomacy check they will be able to get the location of the goblin camp from them fairly easily. Goblins are inheritly distrustful of people who are nice to them. They always want something. Otherwise a DC 12 Survival check will allow the PCs to pick up the goblins's trail fairly easily.

The PCs will eventually find the goblins's lair in the mountains. A random encounter or two maybe approriate here, such as a hippogriff or a griffin attack. Remember that the PCs are still first level, so nothing to dangerous. The goblins should be divided up into a couple of groups throughout the caves that they lair in. Sprinkle in a few goblin rangers, fighters, and a domesticated giant spider or two. Finally they will meet the leaders of the goblins, a goblin druid who is in the process of praying to a dragon's skull when the PCs find him, and the chief (use these stats) who has a group of goblin fighters with him.

This battle should be harder, but not enough that it actually threatens a TPK (save that for later :) ). The PCs will also find some human slaves, survivors of the last caravan, and be told that the goblins have been selling their victims to slavers. From there the PCs should either find a note instructing the goblins where to send the slaves or else one of the slaves overheard the goblins talking about the village of Trintan.

Okay, I know the ninja rules are not finalized yet, but this character from BESM Dungeon is just too much fun to wait on.

Apprentice Ninja Cedric
Male Human Ninja 3
NG medium humanoid
Int: +6, Senses: Perception +8
AC: 17, touch 12, flat footed 15
hp: 23 (3d8+6)
Fort: +3, Ref: +5, Will: +3
Speed: 30 ft
Melee: Mwk sai +4 (1d4), two mwk sai -1/-1 (1d4)
Ranged: Mwk shortbow +4 (1d6/x3)
Special Attacks:Poison Use, Sneak Attack (+2d6)
Str: 10, Dex: 15, Con: 14, Int: 13 Wis: 15 Cha: 15
Base Atk: +2, CMB: +2, CMD 14
Feats: Improved Initative, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finess
Skills: Acrobatics +8, Bluff +8, Climb +6, Disguise +8, Escape Artist +8, Knowledge (local) +7, Perception +8, Perform (sing) +8, Stealth +8
Languages: Common, Elven
SQ: Ki Pool (3 points), No Trace +1, Vanishing Trick
Combat Gear: Bloodroot (2 doses), Drow sleep poison (4 doses), Potion of Cure Light Wounds (2); Other Gear: +1 chainshirt, two mwk sai, mwk shortbow w/20 arrows, gear and coin worth 100 gp

Cedric is a student in the prestige Spider Clan ninja school. Although not the top student in his class, he is certainly no slouch either. His family have been proud members of the Spider Clan since records for the clan exist. However, Cedric has a problem.

The Spider Clan is all male and Cedric has begun to have romantic feelings for his classmate Mint Yamada. He is pretty sure that he is not gay, but the feelings exist all the same. Unknown to anyone, least of all Cedric, woman have secretly joined the Spider Clan from time to time by posing as men. These women have worked dilligently to hide their true gender from everyone. In fact, this has happened so often that Cedric is the only male student left in the Spider Clan. In order to prove himself and to figure out just what he is going to do, Cedric has volunteered to seek out the mysterious Ghost Tower and retreive a mystical dagger that once belonged to his grandfather from within.

Note: This is all meant to be in fun, and is not intended to be offensive to anyone.

I just read "Fear Itself" #1 and I have a question. What happened that turned Odin from the guy who sent Thor to Earth to learn humility and compassion to the prick who dragged Thor back to Asgard in chains for picking defending Earth over returning to Asgard?

I am looking for someone who is artistically inclined and is willing to do some artwork simply for the enjoyment of it and the possible recognition that it could bring. I am writing up a unicorn centaur race for my Blood of Heroes campaign setting found here and I am looking for artwork for the page. However, the art that I can find on-line is either too adult or too anime for my use. I could really use some help on this. Thanks a lot.

I am building my own campaign setting and I have ran across some NPCs from WoW that I would like to use in my world. However, not being familiar with WoW at all I am not sure how to convert levels from that game to Pathfinder. For example, how would a level 43 or 61 character in Wow convert to Pathfinder's 20 level system. I appreciate any help that you can give me. Thank's in advance.

Okay, after avoiding this for quite a while, I decided to give it a go. While I am not convinced that the intent was not to create an A-Team cartoon in disguise, I am kind of enjoying it. I really liked Major Bludd actually going toe to toe with Snake Eyes, and while not winning, at least holding his own for awhile in episode 3. I am not sure I like some of the reimaginings of the characters like Breaker, but we will see how things go. I still hold out hope that Duke and the gang can convince everyone that Cobra is evil and then go kick butt like the big happy family they should be.

I did some song dragon conversions for a friend and I thought I would share them with you.

Wyrmling Song Dragon CR 2
CG tiny dragon (electricity)
Init: +3, Senses: Dragon Senses; Perception +8
AC: 20, Touch: 16, Flat Footed 16 (+2 Dex, +2 size, +4 natural)
hp: 28 (3d12+3)
Fort: +4, Ref: +6, Will: +5
Immune: electricity, paralysis, poison, sleep
Speed: 40 ft, fly 100 ft (average)
Melee: bite +5 (1d4-1), 2 claws +4 (1d3-1)
Special Attacks: Breath Weapon (3d6 electrical, 15 ft cone, Reflex DC 12 for half, once every 1d4 rounds)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 3rd)
At Will-Darkness, Light, Tongues
Str: 9, Dex: 16, Con: 13, Int: 14, Wis: 15, Cha: 16
Base Atk: +3, CMB: +0, CMD: 13
Feats: Power Attack, Weapon Focus (Bite)
Skills: Bluff +9, Diplomacy +9, Fly +5, Heal +8, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Perform (Sing) +6, Perception +8, Spellcraft +8, Use Magic Device +9
Languages: Common, Draconic, Elven, Gnomish
SQ: Change Shape (Polymorph Self, human form only)
Climate: Any land
Organization: Wyrmling, very young, young, juvenile, and young adult: solitary or clutch (2–5); adult, mature adult, old, very old, ancient, wyrm, or great wyrm: solitary or family (1–2 and 2–5 offspring)
Treasure: Double

I have been converting some of the NPCs from the Shady Dragon Inn supplement to use in my campaign. I am sharing my work in case others want to use as well.

Warduke CR 7
Warduke is a muscular individual who dresses in fearsome looking armor and carries a shield emblazon with a symbol that looks like a demonic skull. He is never seen in public without his signature black winged helm that obscures his facial features.
Male Human Fighter 8
CE medium humanoid
Init: +4, Senses: Perception +1
AC: 25, Touch: 10, Flat Footed: 25 (+11 armor, +4 shield)
hp: 79 (8d10+32)
Fort: +9, Ref: +2, Will: +3, +5 vs. Fear
Speed: 30 ft
Melee: +2 flaming longsword +15 (1d8+5 plus 1d6 fire/19-20), mwk battleaxe +13 (1d8+3/x3), mwk dagger +12 (1d4+3/19-20)
Str: 17, Dex: 10, Con: 17, Int: 8, Wis: 12, Cha: 13
Base Atk: +8, CMB: +11, CMD: 21
Feats: Blind Fight, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Disruptive, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Stand Still, Vital Strike
Languages: Common
SQ: Weapon Training (Axes, Heavy Blades)
Combat Gear: Boots of Elvenkind, Cloak of Resistance +2, Ring of Feather Falling; Other Gear: +3 half plate, +2 heavy steel shield, +2 flaming longsword, mwk battleaxe, mwk dagger.

Warduke was once a force for good and right in the world. Then he was exposed to the Heartstone, which amplified the evil that hid at the core of his personality. His one time ally, Strongheart the Paladin, is now his greatest enemy. Warduke and his allies scheme to seize control of at least a small country to establish a base of operations for some greater plan.

Note: Warduke also has a Nightmare that he uses as a mount.

This represents Warduke at an early stage of his career as predented in "The Shady Dragon Inn."

A girl in New York City was sentenced to 12 months in jail for telling police she did not know who attacked and injured her at school while her rapist, a jail worker and serial rapist, get probation. Talk about a miscarriage of justice.

Which is more desirable, which is more horrifying? Explain.

So I just read that

In today's preview on WotC they announced that in the upcoming Heroes of the Shadow book that they will be including the vampire as a class. Part of me likes this idea since a vampire should be able to be of any race. Part of me does not like this because vampires should be villains in my mind, period. Also I feel that it limits the character since it make sit so that you cannot have vampire rogues, vampire clerics, or vampire fighters.

Is it bad that I have never heard of her?