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Chuck Mangione, jazz musician, died on Tuesday at the age of 84. As those of you who saw the movie Doctor Strange have heard, the guy charted a Top-Ten hit with a flugelhorn. That was no mean feat. And while I regard his songs as too long, I found a few that I liked enough to seek out edited-down versions of them. (Or in one case, I edited it down myself.)
I don't keep current with movies, so I was completely unaware until today about this coming out tomorrow. I watched... ...this trailer from 5 months ago... ...and this trailer from 1 month ago... ...and I stopped there, not wanting to spoil it for myself. But I've learned enough. It's now official that Mr Han inhabits the same universe. There are plausibility problems with that, but hey, the Karate Kid saga never shied away from THOSE before. And it's entirely possible that I won't like this new "Li" character. I'm thinking of how much I disliked Adonis Creed, which is why I never saw Creed III, but I had to see the first 2 Creed movies to see Rocky Balboa. Likewise, even if I hate Li, I'd like to see more of Daniel LaRusso. In the last 20 years I watched only 4 movies in the theater, preferring instead to take DVDs out of the library, which is my plan for this movie too. Still, I'm interested. Not even 3 months ago I posted this message about the ending of Cobra Kai. Even if I don't see the Karate Kid: Legends movie until next year, I just feel pleased to think that the next chapter in the story is coming so soon.
Yes, it's been 10 years since I created the thread... Happy 80th birthday, Herb Alpert ...to pay tribute to my favorite musician alive. In that thread, I wrote a 1300-word biography of him. Since then, I expanded that biography to 15,000 words, adding a bibliography and footnotes and dividing it into chapters. Every now and then I update it or add material. Obviously, I don't expect anyone on these boards to read a post that long. So I'll just say this: when I call Alpert "my favorite musician alive", what I have in mind is his "Tijuana Brass" records from the 1960s. By the time he finished making those, he got sick of that kind of music and changed to other styles, some of which were popular and some of which I like. But they weren't the Tijuana Brass. This year, at the age of 89, Alpert - still making records and going on concert tours, amazingly - began a tour titled “Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass & Other Delights” in which he plays mostly Tijuana Brass songs in a manner reminiscent of his old style. Yes, even now, as he turns 90, he's still going strong, doing what he loves to do. Here's wishing his health and happiness for the next 10 years.
Musical giant Quincy Jones has died at 91. You could read about it here or here. But for those of you who don't want to read such long articles (because I'll admit that I don't have the time to read them in their entirety myself right now) I'll just say a few words. Quincy Jones played a wide variety of roles in a wide variety of musical genres. Perhaps he's best known for producing Michael Jackson's most successful albums, although he also worked a lot in film and television. But my favorite Quincy Jones work is his album Big Band Bossa Nova. Some of you may know the first track in that album - "Soul Bossa Nova" - as the theme to the Austin Powers movies. (I also kind of liked his song "Call Me Mister Tibbs".)
I've seen this in several popular internet forums and perhaps some of you have seen it too. On multiple occasions I've Googled a question and, when browsing the websites that discuss the question, I find that the best source of answers is a page from one popular internet forum or another. The page begins with somebody asking the same question I did, and then goes on to provide good answers from many users... but it also shows that a lot of people answered "Just Google it." And I'm ranting because some people say that in ways that are... um... not nice. When I see this, I check the dates and see that no one posted in that discussion in years and years, so I don't see much point in posting there myself. But I just want to shout at some of these people: "Hey, leave the original poster alone! The way I see it, he did me - and almost certainly other web-surfers as well - a great service! Now we have a page chock full of good answers! People CAN Google the question... and consequently find this very page!" I mean... does no one see the irony in this? You know, I frequent a certain other website with forums. (It's not the same as any of the other internet forums I was alluding to above.) On multiple occasions, I saw that someone on those forums asked a question that intrigued me, so I Googled the question, composed an answer based on my findings, and posted the result. I would often begin such a post by saying "I'm no expert on the subject, but I can run a Google search as well as the next guy". I hope I didn't sound condescending when I said that. I should really THANK those people whose questions motivated me to learn about those matters. Maybe I should post a message on that website to that effect. I'd like to conclude by saying: I salute those brave users who dare to ask questions despite the risk of ridicule.
Peter Schickele, musical parodist behind ‘P.D.Q. Bach,’ dies at 88. I feel compelled to share a few personal notes. I remember, during my childhood and teens in the 1980s, listening to my father's PDQ Bach records. Also, my father took my brother and me to some PDQ Bach concerts. In the 2010s, long after I had thrown away my record collection, when my father was moving away, my brother and I were going through some of his belongings to decide what to keep and what to throw away. This included some of his old records. I didn't even have a turntable at the time, so I didn't feel inclined to take many records, but somehow, I felt compelled to keep a few of them, including The Intimate PDQ Bach. Later, I got a turntable, and - 3 years ago - feeling surprised that The Intimate PDQ Bach wasn't up on YouTube, I recorded it and uploaded it myself: Link As with many of my efforts on the internet, my work later proved redundant, as someone else posted the record there as well: Link But my involvement - however limited and superfluous - led to one thing. On this page... ...someone posted a comment just hours ago informing me of Schickele's death.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom - Trailer Aquaman is probably my favorite DC movie of all time, and this trailer looks VERY promising!
Jerry Moss, the "M" of A&M Records, died of natural causes on August 16, 2023, in his home in Bel Air, California, at the age of 88. Here are a few articles with more details: Jerry Moss, Who Formed A&M Records With Herb Alpert, Dies Jerry Moss, Co-Founder of A&M Records, Dies at 88 Jerry Moss, co-founder of A&M Records and Rock Hall of Fame member, dies at 88 Jerry Moss, A&M Records Co-Founder & Rock Hall of Famer, Dies at 88 Jerry Moss Dies: A&M Records Co-Founder Was 88 Jerry Moss, co-founder of A&M Records and Rock Hall of Fame member, dies at 88 It was 8 years ago that I posted on this website about my favorite musician alive, Herb Alpert, in celebration of his 80th birthday. That post included a 1500-word blurb about his amazing career. Here's a link to that post. Since then, I've expanded that biography to about 13,000 words. I STILL regard him as my favorite musician alive. And I'm sure - based on the extensive research I did for my book - that he wouldn't have been nearly as successful without the help of the other co-founder of A&M, Jerry Moss.
I remember lurking on these messageboards for years before working up the nerve to post my first message in 2009. These boards had an awesome community and there was so much I wanted to say and learn about RPGs. I got thoroughly hooked on these messageboards like a junkie. And I'm not Paizo's biggest fan. So many fans here raved about so many Paizo products while I felt that only a few of those products were all that great. But I loved the messageboards so much, I felt the pressure to show my support, so I spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on Paizo merchandise (and other products through Paizo's store). Then in 2010, I thought I was going to lose my job. That belief made me decide to put aside RPGs and pursue cheaper hobbies. I had to suspend my Paizo wish list. My belief that I would soon be unemployed also sent me into something of a depression, discouraging me not only from buying RPG material, but also playing RPGs and posting on these boards. But later in 2010, the president of the company found a different position for me; I didn't lose my job after all! The first thing I did to celebrate was buy stuff from Paizo's store. So from 2009 to 2013 I was a prolific poster; I wrote over 2000 posts during those 4 years, despite that period of depression in 2010. After that, though, I gradually lost interest in Pathfinder, in RPGs in general, and in these messageboards. In 2019, I noted that I hadn't posted even 400 messages in the previous 4 years. I still read role-playing books, but I played less and less. I mention 2019 because that was the year I truly did lose my job and the depression returned. At the time, I figured that my days of posting on paizo.com were numbered. So I wrote a farewell in a thread I called A goodbye of a sort. Since then, another four years have passed (or nearly that long). During those 4 years, I got another job, lost that job too, and got yet another job. And my interest in playing RPGs has sunk even lower. I once - briefly - played in a Golarion campaign, but that was about it. But I still read RPG materials, including some by Paizo, now and then. And during those 4 years, I wrote 70 or so posts. I check these boards less and less often, but I visit occasionally. It's like that Zeno paradox: a rate can keep getting relatively lower, indefinitely, without ever reaching zero. Maybe my goodbye was premature.
Recently, I did a little statistical study of ability score generation according to the official, default, 3.0/3.5 rules. I'd like to invite you all to read about it - or the results, at least - in the following thread:
Ennio Morricone, the Oscar-winning film composer, died today at the age of 91. Of course, he's best remembered for the theme to The Good the Bad and the Ugly, the second sequel to A Fistful of Dollars. But here's something I like better: the Spotnicks' cover of his theme to the FIRST sequel, For a Few Dollars More.
I recently saw a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode that impressed me so much, I feel compelled to talk about it. And I always found this site to be a good place to discuss anything geeky, so here I am. I should back up a bit. Back in the 1980s and -90s I would watch Star Trek intermittently. I had no particular interest in Worf and certainly not in the whole Mogh / Duras / Gowron subplot. I stopped watching altogether in 1999 and I never saw anything of the last nine (or ten) episodes of Deep Space Nine which wrapped up the whole Dominion war. In the past year or two I felt a revived interest in Star Trek so I took to watching The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine but still not in their entirety. Too many of those episodes were boring, irrelevant, or just plain dumb. But I watched the episodes more significant to the continuity. And when I did, I found Worf to be a much more interesting and sympathetic character. By extension, I took interest in other Klingon characters, such as Gowron. I don't expect all of you to remember the show in such detail after so many years so here's a (simplified) summary. Worf lost his honorable status in the Klingon Empire and so - in a Season 5 episode from 1990 - he took an interest in supporting someone who opposed the current administration. This was Gowron. Worf helped Gowron to beat the forces of Duras - Worf's enemy - and to take over the Klingon Empire as Chancellor. And yet Gowron never seemed to be a particularly good or sympathetic character. He seemed more interested in increasing his own power and glory than in supporting the Empire. He was only one of the good guys in a the-enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend kind of way. In 1993, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine premiered. The fourth season introduced Worf into the show; Sisko recruited him to help him with troubles with the Empire as it made war against Cardassia. In Gowron's defense, I must admit that he wasn't entirely to blame; he was being manipulated by REALLY bad bad guys, namely the Dominion. A daring mission by Deep Space Nine crew members - including Worf - helped to expose that plot and partly reconcile the friction between the Federation and the Empire, but Gowron still wasn't a remotely sympathetic character. Then, in Season 5, the Federation and the Dominion went to all-out hot war against each other. The last 9 or 10 episodes of the last season (season 7) dealt heavily with that war. (I say "9 or 10" because the last episode was a double-length episode, shown as 2 episodes in syndication.) I started watching that grand epic last week. And one of the subplots in it had Gowron mishandle the war against the Dominion rather than risk his own glory and power. Reluctantly, Worf decided that Gowron's insanity had to stop. So he challenged Gowron, killed him, and installed Martok - a truly great and honorable warrior - as Chancellor in his place! Okay, maybe the whole Gowron subplot was simplistic and therefore implausible; the same is true of a lot of Star Trek. And that ending I described wasn't particularly cleverly written or anything. But what I found amazing was that Worf killed Gowron over EIGHT YEARS after Gowron beat the Duras forces and consolidated his position! EIGHT YEARS!!! I probably watched less TV than most, so this won't mean much, but I can't think of any other TV show that let a subplot go on for so long and come to an even halfway satisfactory conclusion. Finally, Gowron got what was coming to him! You know, one thing that made Star Trek impressive - despite its glaring problems - was that so many actors kept coming back to reprise their roles that weren't regular characters. It made the galaxy seem small, but on the plus side, it also made so many subplots - such as Gowron's - possible. (I suppose Star Trek must have paid those actors well to keep them coming back.) Anyway, I expect to finish watching the Dominion war later this week. I look forward to finding out if Kai Winn will suffer an equally fitting fate. Now THERE'S a villain I just love to hate! **** I wrote all that text above days ago, intending to post it here, but I didn't get around to it. Since then I finished the Dominion war and found it rather disappointing. The business of Bashir and O'Brien entering Sloan's mind like it was a VR interface was so dumb, I couldn't help but wince. And obviously the cure - which the show made to look ridiculously simple - was going to be used as a bargaining chip for the peace treaty, so I see it as a cheap plot device. And I mentioned I was hoping for a fitting end for Kai Winn, so the last episode disappointed me in that too. She did the whole "noble self-sacrifice" routine to re-imprison the Pah-wraiths... but she was the one who had freed them in the first place! Simply getting killed was a fitting fate for Gowron, but Kai Winn deserved so much worse! For instance, the Pah-wraiths could have taken control of Kai Winn (and remember that it had been established early on that when Pah-wraiths possess someone that person is fully conscious of everything that's happening to her). When Sisko came on the scene he could have helped the Prophets to trap the Pah-wraiths in the fire caves by trapping Kai Winn there, leaving her to burn for the rest of eternity. Now THERE'S a fitting fate for a Bajoran who gave so much hell to so many other people! But... okay, at least the show finished the Dominion war, so it ended on a bang, unlike TNG which ended on a whimper.
This might not be my very last post on Paizo.com, but I think the end is near. Reminiscing about my history with Paizo:
I remember lurking on these messageboards for years before working up the nerve to post my first message in 2009. These boards had an awesome community and there was so much I wanted to say and learn about RPGs. I got thoroughly hooked on these messageboards like a junkie.
And I'm not Paizo's biggest fan. So many fans here raved about so many Paizo products while I felt that only a few of them were all that great. But I loved the messageboards so much, I felt the pressure to show my support, so I spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on Paizo merchandise (and other products through Paizo's store). Then in 2010, I thought I was going to lose my job; my position was going to move to another state where I wasn't willing to move because of my family. That news made me decide to put aside RPGs and pursue cheaper hobbies. I had to suspend my Paizo wish list. My belief that I would soon be unemployed also sent me into something of a depression, discouraging me not only from buying RPG material, but also playing RPGs and posting on these boards. There was a time that year when I didn't post for 35 days, which remained my record until this very year. But later in 2010, the president of the company found a different position for me; I didn't lose my job after all! The first thing I did to celebrate was buy stuff from Paizo's store. So from 2009 to 2013 I was a prolific poster; I wrote over 2000 posts in less than 4 years, despite that period of depression in 2010. But - by way of comparison - in the last four years, I didn't even post 400 messages. As Paizo had more and more inter-product references, I felt it was drifting away from the game I wanted to play. My son used to champion PFRPG, while I felt that D&D 3.0 was superior (even as I used Paizo products with it). Consequently, we played both. But in the last year, both of us lost interest in RPGs. We still read many RPG products on my shelf, including many by Paizo, but neither of us wants to play. My son flipped through the PFRPG 2nd Edition playtest manual and didn't like it. This year, I truly did lose my job. I'm now unemployed and I have little reason for optimism that I will get another job any time soon. I should be thankful for what I do have. Better to lose my job now than in 2010. My family won't starve or lose the house or anything. But I decided that I need to cut down on buying those luxury items like gaming products. You'd think with no job I would have more time, but no. I decided that I need to spend a lot of time job-hunting, and a lot MORE time training myself in skills relating to my ever-changing profession, as my skills are hopelessly out of date. I realized that I should spend less time doing the fun stuff, so I no longer browse these messageboards daily. Well, I still read fantasy novels. And I recently was able to make a point regarding one such novel, so yesterday I posted in the "What books are you currently reading?" thread. But as I did, I realized that it was my first post in 41 days - a new record. I see that as a sign that my paizo.com-browsing days are numbered. It's a pity. On my way to a certain job-hunting organization - just a hop, skip and jump from my house - I found a new gaming store. I talked to the guy who runs the store, a passionate gamer who runs a D&D 5th Edition campaign in that store with his friends during certain hours when it's closed. (And I should mention that the place has many Pathfinder books and other Paizo gaming products on display for sale.) A few years ago, I would have regarded such a discovery as a godsend. Now, I'm doing nothing about it. What a waste, and what a shame, but I just don't have the passion I used to, and I can't make the commitment to a regular game. I expect it will be years before the RPG bug bites me again. I spoilerized my depressed rambling above to make sure you would read my main point: You're a great community, and I was thrilled to be a part of it. I wish success and fun for all of you. And thank you, Paizo. The last decade has been quite a trip for me.
My son wrote up some classes for PFRPG (1st edition). He would like to ask: Could you critique? (Are they balanced? Is it worth it to multiclass rather than take one of these classes? Are there abilities that need to be fixed/ removed/ added?) Mystic Artist
Spells: Mystic Artists cast arcane spells, based on their Wisdom (what level they can cast, the DC, bonus spells). There is no arcane spell failure chance for wearing light armor or a light shield. They do not need any materials, focuses, or items to cast their spells. Spells/ Day (Spell Level X: no. per day at 1st level, 2nd level, 3rd level; ... means that the number before the ... is the highest amount)
Spell List:
Mystic Code: At every odd level, a mystic artist learns a special formula of mystic symbols he can create mentally by will to gain a desired effect. Each has a name, a minimum level in parentheses, and the effect.
Glimmer Weapons: At 3rd level, you gain the ability to summon glimmering “weapons” out of thin air. You may add bonuses derived from feats to these (ex. Improved Critical [Glimmer Weapons] doubles the critical range without increasing the cost; see below). They last for a total of 1 minute per level per day, but these minutes don’t have to be consecutive. For every weapon you create, you get to spend a number of points equal to your Wisdom modifier to increase the effect of the weapon. The costs for improving various aspects of glimmer weapons are below (round up for any fractions at the end):
Mystic Item: At 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, you gain the permanent service of any kind of magical item, even an intelligent one, for no cost. This item can cost up to 500 gp X your level. To use this item, you must make a Use Magic Device check and succeed at a roll of 10+ ½ the item’s CL+ 1 per 1000 gp cost. At 1st level, a mystic artist gets 3d6 X 10 gp (average 105 gp). Terun, Iconic Mystic Artist
Woodlander
Level/ Special
Spells: Woodlanders cast spontaneous arcane spells, with their spellcasting ability being Charisma. They don’t need a focus for their spells Spell List:
Wild Empathy: A woodlander can improve the attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check made to improve the attitude of a person (see Core Rulebook Chapter 4). The woodlander rolls 1d20 and adds her woodlander level and her Charisma modifier to determine the wild empathy result. Most animals start with an attitude of indifferent. To use wild empathy, the woodlander and the animal must be within 30 feet of one another under normal conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.
Nature’s Ally: At 1st level, and every 6 levels thereafter, a woodlander magically attracts any creature of her choosing with at most a number of hit dice equal to her woodlander level. This creature must be a type of creature which a woodlander can use wild empathy on. A woodlander may have up to 4 allies at a time, and may dismiss any of them at any time, though she can’t get a new one until she achieves the next level that grants this ability. This ally is with the woodlander of its own volition, so maintaining a relationship with it is crucial, or it will leave. The ally and the woodlander can telepathically communicate with each other as long as they are within 100 feet of each other. Whenever the woodlander gets another level of woodlander, the ally can gain an extra hit die of whatever type it is, as well as everything that number of hit dice effects. Augment: Whenever this is listed, the woodlander gains the ability to focus the power of raw nature in a new way. This allows her to augment her allies’ abilities, and potentially her own. Each augment has a name, an effect, the targets, and the duration. Once an augment with a “permanent” duration is used, it can’t be used on the same target again. Once an augment with a “1 minute per day” duration is used, it cannot be used again that day, regardless of targets; the rounds don’t have to be consecutive. Activating an augment is a swift action. She may choose one augment from the following list each time:
Nature’s Warden: When you cast an abjuration spell, you may choose to have it also affect all friendly creatures you can use wild empathy on within a 100 foot radius spread of up to the level listed for no additional casting time or spell slot. At 1st level, a woodlander gets 3d6X10 gp (average: 105 gp). Karah, Iconic Woodlander
Super
Set: Each super’s powers are organized into sets and levels. Within each level of set there are three different subsets from which a super may choose one. Each set grants an ability the first time a super gets it. Whenever a “Set X Power X” is listed, the super gets to choose one power under his chosen subset of that set’s level. Sets 1 and 2 have “Improved Set”, which allows the super to either improve in the subset he already has or gain a new one as a regular subset. In addition, when an “Improved Set X Power X” is listed, the effects of one power under the improved set is improved. The effects of an improved set are listed in []. Set 1 has a “Greater Set”, which allows a super to either improve an existing Set 1 subset or gain a new one as a regular subset. In addition, when a “Greater Set 1 Power X” is listed, the effects of one power under the improved set is improved. The effects of a greater set are listed in {}. All saving throws for powers are 10+ ½ the super’s level+ his Cha modifier, and his caster level is his super level. Set 1 Subsets (Mutation, Physiological Enhancement, Super Ability):
Set 2 Subsets (Arcanist, Battlehead, Blessed):
Set 3 Subsets (Energy, Psychic, Space-time):
At 1st level, a super gets 3d6X10 gp (average: 105 gp) Commander Crong, Iconic Super
Lycantist
Spells: Beginning at 4th level, lycantists can cast prepared divine spells, with their CLs being their lycantist level minus 3. All of their spells require a small stone and animal hair to cast (as foci). Their spellcasting ability is Wisdom. Spell List: 1st- Cure Light Wounds, Dancing Lights, Faerie Fire, Flare, Light, Read Magic, Remove Fear
*New spell detailed here:
Lycanthrope Power: At 1st level, a lycantist may imitate one of the following five lycanthrope powers: +2 natural armor, DR 5/ silver, any one natural attack, +2 Strength, or +2 Constitution. For natural attacks, choose any animal which the lycantist could turn into if he were a lycanthrope. This choice must be made at 1st level, and may not be changed. A lycantist gets another power at 3rd level, 11th level, and 17th level. Lycanthropic Link: This ability functions as a ranger’s favored enemy ability, except it is only usable on lycanthropes, and the bonus to the skills, attack, and damage is 1 plus 1 for every 5 levels the lycantist has of lycantist. Moon Manipulation: When the moon is out (late afternoon to early morning, relatively clear skies), a lycantist of 2nd level or higher can change how much moonlight shows on her surroundings. This works similarly to a mystic artist’s light power mystic code, except it only works during the above conditions, it works as far as the lycantist would be able to see given most favorable lighting, and it is usable 1/day at 2nd level, plus one additional time 9th and 14th level. Channel Lunar Energy: At 4th level, a lycantist gains the ability to channel the energy of the moon as a standard action in one of two ways: rocky wrath, which deals damage to non- lycanthropes and heals lycanthropes, or man in the moon, which heals non- lycanthropes and deals damage to lycanthropes. Once this choice is made, it cannot be reversed. At 4th level, this ability deals/ heals 1d6 points of damage, plus 1d6 for every 3 levels above that. Usable 3+ your Wisdom modifier times per day, this ability works in a 20 foot radius spread, centered on you. A Will saving throw equal to 10+ the moon’s phase number (see below) + your Wisdom modifier can negate the effect, though one may voluntarily not take this save.
Remove/ Induce Lycanthropy: Once per day for every 6 levels of lycantist, a lycantist may remove (if man in the moon, see above) or afflict (if rocky wrath, see above) lycanthropy upon any one creature of his choice in his lunar energy circle. Should remove lycanthropy be used on a non- lycanthrope, the subject is immune from contracting lycanthropy. Should induce lycanthropy be used on a lycanthrope, he turns into his animal or hybrid form, depending on what the lycantist decides. A Will saving throw equal to the saving throw for Channel Lunar Energy (see above) may be taken to negate all effects of remove/ induce lycanthropy; this save is not the same one as for channel lunar energy. Read the Moon: Once per night, when preparing his spells at night, a lycantist of 8th level or higher may gaze up into the moon and read the future using astrology. The CL for all of these is equal to the lycantist’s lycantist level.
At 1st level, a lycantist gets 3d6X10 gp (average: 105 gp) Morstra, Iconic Lycantist
Terrorstrike
Jump Scare: At 1st level, a terrorstrike can perform a jump scare, which inspires fear in its target. A single jump scare can only have one target. To perform a jump scare, a terrorstrike must first be seen where the target has not seen him, and then make a successful Intimidate check against him. Doing so makes him shaken for 1 minute per level of terrorstrike. At higher levels, this has an increased effect.
Spell- like Abilities: All of these are usable 1/day, with a CL equal to the terrorstrike’s level. All DCs are equal to 10+ the spell level+ his Charisma modifier.
Smell Fear: Starting at 2nd level, a terrorstrike can smell fear up to 120 feet away in any direction. A terrorstrike can pinpoint the exact location of anyone within the range that is panicked.
Scared Stupid: At 3rd level, when a terrorstrike causes another creature to be shaken, cowering, stunned, frightened, or panicked, he can cause them to lose their sense of reasoning and deal them 1d4 points of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma bonus, though a successful Will saving throw (10+ ½ his terrorstrike level+ his Charisma bonus) halves the effect. This is usable 1/day at 3rd level, plus one additional time for every 4 terrorstrike levels he gains after. Strike of Fear: At 4th level, when a terrorstrike successfully hits a foe, he may cause them to become 1 step more frightened (none, shaken, cowering, stunned, frightened, panicked). This ability is usable 1/day at 4th level, plus one additional time for every 4 terrorstrike levels he gains after. Sow Terror: When a terrorstrike of at least 5th level wins a Stealth check by at least 5, he may sow terror as a standard action, and create some small noise or shadow to make it appear to a single target that no one is there, but their subconscious toys with the idea that there is something lurking in the darkness. This causes the target to become one step more frightened (see above) until the terrorstrike stops concentrating plus 1d3 rounds. Mark Fear: When a terrorstrike of at least 9th level attacks any target who is shaken, cowering, stunned, frightened, or panicked, he gains a +2 to all attack rolls against that target. At 13th level this improves to +4, and at 17th it improves to +6. Heart Attack: At 20th level, when a terrorstrike would cause any creature to become one or more steps frightened than panicked, that creature must succeed at a Fort saving throw (10+ ½ the terrorstrike’s level+ his Charisma modifier) or die. Once this ability is used, it can’t be used on the same creature again for the next 24 hours. At 1st level, a terrorstrike gets 4d6X10 gp (average: 140 gp) Talathel, Iconic Terrorstrike
Yesterday, my 12-year-old son GMed for the first time, and he did a great job of it! That's the TL;DR version of the story. The full version I wanted to write is loaded with side-points, but that's the main thing I wanted to convey. Some of you may remember my boasting of my son's role-playing exploits. After my other players quit, I started my son - 4 years old at the time - playing BECMI. I mentioned it in this thread. As usual when I play an RPG one-on-one, I let the player create and play a couple of PCs, while I played a couple of "GMPCs" to make a full party. The story continued with... My 6-year-old played Pathfinder ...and... In that last thread, I mentioned that I didn't believe my father had much love for the game, and that the real reason he played was that he wanted to spend quality time with his grandson. Sometimes, my son would dream of GMing, and would start reading a module or start designing his own adventure. But he would soon lose interest. In this thread... ...I related that I decided to switch back to D&D 3.0, and started a 3.0 campaign, set in Varisia, again with my father and my son as players. I mentioned the following: The grass is often greener on the other side, and I often feel conscious of the relative merits of 3.5 and PF, but all in all, I still feel I like 3.0 the best. My son made it clear he prefers Pathfinder, and he once made arguments about why we should switch back to it by pointing out some of its merits at some length. I responded "I know that PF has some advantages, but I'm sticking with 3.0." He wasn't terribly happy with me for a while after that, but we continued playing all the same. Thinking back on that conversation now, I think I also said something like "Yes, PFRPG has its advantages, and if you ever run a Pathfinder campaign, I'll be happy to play in it." Another aspect of that campaign I mentioned at the time was my father's part in it. With my son and me, my father experienced (hah!) levels 1 through 10. Considering his limited enthusiasm for the game, I would have considered it a great achievement if my father had played a third as much as he had. Since I last posted in that thread, we finished Chadranther's Bane, and I prepared the beginning of another adventure... which may never get played. My father is moving away, so it's just me and my son again. Furthermore, my son - 12 years old by now - was getting bored with the Varisian campaign. And he still felt no interest in reading modules. So he started writing up his own first-level PFRPG adventure, set in Cheliax, and ran his first session yesterday. And what a job he did of it! He wrote up sophisticated descriptions which surprised me. And he kept the action moving, and he had to improvise when I didn't cooperate with being railroaded. He performed admirably throughout. It was quite an experience for me in other ways too. I'm not accustomed to playing without GMing. Oh, I've played in PBPs. I've played computer RPGs. Sometimes - particularly with my children when they were very young - we would free-form role play, with a GM telling stories while the player made choices for one of the characters... but with no rulebooks, stat blocks, maps, or dice. But as for actual, face-to-face, table-top RPGs with a real system, I didn't play without GMing in over 30 years, until yesterday! Just sitting on the wrong side of the GM screen seemed a novelty! This campaign marks another first as well. Until now, I've never played nor created a monk character. (As a GM, I sometimes statted out a monster with a level or four [or eight] of monk, but always as an adversary for the party to fight, and never a "pure" monk without monster HDs. I once grabbed stats for a monk from the NPC Codex, but the PCs never encountered that character.) Monks just didn't appeal to me. But lately, after seeing the Karate Kid movies, I've been dreaming of playing a PC who's part Daniel LaRusso, part Tanis Half-Elven. Now I'm doing it! (I got lucky and rolled very high ability scores. Now if I could only get high attack rolls! I didn't made a decent attack roll - and consequently never scored a hit - throughout the whole first session! Well, at least I TOOK a lot of hits, thus protecting other party-members from getting wounded themselves.) And as far as I can tell, my son has every intention of continuing the adventure next week. The saga continues...
I have a question about ranged touch attacks, because I wonder what can be done when the target WANTS to be hit. I ask because I'm planning to play a first-level sorcerer with the Celestial bloodline, which provides a power called Heavenly Fire, letting her unleash a ray as a ranged touch attack. It does damage to evil creatures, but it heals good creatures. I may want to stand back - away from combat - and fire my ray at other party-members, who might be engaged in melee. I assume that I would need to make a ranged touch attack for that as well. My question is whether that party-member can do something to make it easier to get hit, like dropping his Dex modifier to -5 for that one attack, or something. That line of thinking led me to wonder about other, similar situations. For instance, suppose a cleric wants to fire a wand of Cure Light Wounds at a distant party-member. I assume that would require a ranged touch attack as well. I searched this site for information on the topic, and didn't find anything. Has it been discussed?
Here's a link to the CNN article. I'll confess that the only Cleary books I read were the "Klickitat Street" books - that is to say the ones with Henry Huggins, his dog Ribsy, his friend Beezus, and of course, Beezus' unforgettable little sister, Ramona. However, those books hold an honored place in my reading experience - both in my childhood and in my adulthood. A lot of my friends and relatives enjoyed those books, and I knew a couple of kids who liked the "Mouse and the Motorcycle" books as well. Here's how I propose to celebrate Cleary's centennial: Drop Everything And Read! And whatever you read, don't think about the theme. Just read and enjoy it.
Okay, I just made a Grade-A fool of myself. Maybe I could blame Paizo and DriveThruRPG for spoiling me with nice things? No, I guess I can't. I wanted to buy a book in digital form, so I bought the e-book in Nook format from Barnes and Noble's site. It was my first time doing so. I don't have a Nook device, but I figured that I would download it in some format, and with some web searching, I could find some way to convert it to PDF. Or if I couldn't do that, I could download some program onto my PC that would let me view the file. Oops. Wrong and wrong. It looks like Barnes and Noble keeps the book on their own greedy server. I get nothing for my money except the right to view their copy, I guess. And as for getting a program to view the thing, apparently there no longer is one available for Windows 7. I would need 8, and I have no intention of upgrading. I sent a message to Barnes and Noble, asking for help, but I doubt I'll get any reply, let alone a helpful one. I should have done my homework first, curse me! So my first question is: Does anyone know a way I can view the thing without shelling out money for a Nook? I doubt it, so I'll move onto my second question. Once I resign myself to having thrown away $3.99, I'll wonder: to which site should I turn next? The book doesn't seem to be available for Amazon Kindle (which, I suspect, would give me the same problems as Nook format anyway,) but I think I see it in two other places: lulu.com and iTunes. It looks like Lulu lets you download in one of two formats: Epub or - Hallelujah! - PDF!!! Can anyone confirm for me that this works? Do you know anyone who buys books this way? If not, what about iTunes? When buying e-books from Apple, does it give you an actual file for your money? Can you read the book on a PC with Windows 7? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
Yes, Herb Alpert turns 80 today, a fact that gives me the perfect excuse to pay tribute to this man so remarkable in so many ways. (First, I'll say a brief word about myself, so you can just skip this paragraph. I've been a fan of this guy's music since before I was old enough to pronounce his name. I listened to a dozen or so of his albums hundreds of times. After about 20 years, I got tired of them and stopped listening, but I still mentioned him now and then. Last year, I got hooked again. I mentioned it at the time. Since then, I listened to those 13 albums dozens of times each, and bought another.) So what can I say about Herb Alpert? First of all, no, he isn't Mexican, nor Hispanic. (In fact, his band, the Tijuana Brass, had no Mexicans at all.) He came from a Jewish family in California. He picked up the trumpet at age 8. After attending college, serving in the U.S. Army, and dabbling with acting, he decided to pursue a career in music. After working in the industry for a few years, co-writing some songs (such as Sam Cooke's Wonderful World) Alpert decided to do his own thing. But... what SORT of thing? He didn't know, at first. Alpert and his friend Jerry Moss created their own record company, A&M Records, and Alpert started working on a song, called "Twinkle Star," written by another friend, Sol Lake, but his direction still seemed uncertain... ...until he happened to attend a bullfight in Tijuana, Mexico, where a mariachi band introduced each new event with a rousing fanfare that made the crowd go wild. Alpert then knew he wanted to make Mexican-style music (or rather, what he PERCEIVED as Mexican style at the time. 20 years later, another trip to Mexico would teach him more about authentic Central American musical styles, but I'll get to that later in this history.) So he changed "Twinkle Star" and called the result The Lonely Bull which became a Top 10 hit in 1962. And the legend began. Alpert then went on to create a whole record in the same "Mexican" style, using the band name "Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass". (Actually, "the Tijuana Brass" didn't exist yet. Alpert hired backup musicians on an irregular basis only, at this point. Alpert himself played all the trumpet parts, overdubbing whenever necessary.) Some of his songs were original, written by his friends. Others were covers of popular songs of the time, or of older tunes. After that album, he made another Tijuana Brass record in 1963. Starting with his third album in 1964, Alpert achieved a more polished, professional sound. The fourth record, Whipped Cream & Other Delights (1965) was a smash hit, selling over 6 million copies in the U.S. Even today, I sometimes find references to the cover picture. A growing demand for live concerts compelled Alpert to hire musicians to form the REAL Tijuana Brass (or TJB, for short). The concerts were great successes, attracting audiences of people with a surprising variety of age. And at the same time, Alpert made more #1 albums, like !!Going Places!! (1965) Even today, many people know Spanish Flea and can't think of the show "The Dating Game" without remembering the song. In 1966, the next album, What Now My Love, also hit #1. After the release of another album, S. R. O. the Guinness Book of World Records recognized that Alpert set a new record by placing five albums simultaneously in the Top 20 on the Billboard Pop Album chart, an accomplishment that has never been repeated. Alpert sold 13.7 million albums in 1966, making him the top-selling artist of the year. In 1967, his next record, ...Sounds Like... also hit #1, and although the ninth album "only" reached #4, Alpert made it back to #1 with The Beat of the Brass in 1968. In 1969, though, Alpert grew tired of the style. He released a couple of lifeless, unsuccessful albums and disbanded the TJB. In fact, Alpert needed a break from performing altogether for a while. His schedule of recording and touring proved too busy for him, and caused him stress. What's more, his lip physically failed him, and he couldn't play the trumpet without stuttering the notes. Needing a new creative outlet, Alpert took up abstract expressionist painting. He painted almost every day for the next 20 years, a fact that may seem insignificant at this point. But keep reading. To be sure, Alpert was still running a successful record company, signing with many musicians and making them famous. For instance, it was Alpert who gave the Carpenters their first break in music. He also first brought the song Close To You to their attention, which catapulted them into fame. Over the years during which Alpert and Moss owned A&M Records, its recording roster would come to include Burt Bacharach, Cat Stevens, Peter Frampton, Cheech and Chong, Bryan Adams, the Police, Styx, Supertramp, Janet Jackson, and many others. But what about Alpert's own music? For years and years after returning to the trumpet, he made albums in different styles, without achieving the popularity of his Tijuana Brass years. (In the mid-1970s, Alpert even recorded a couple of albums under the name "Herb Alpert and the T.J.B.", and even formed a new band of that name with some of the same performers in the original TJB to tour behind those albums, but didn't meet with the same level of success.) The height of this has-been's career as a musician was obviously past, right? Wrong! In 1979, he tried a more laidback sound, mixing modern pop with jazz, funk, and dance, resulting in his biggest success: Rise. He went on to make an entire album in that style, which sold over 3 million copies. You'd think he would continue imitating that style to capitalize on its success, but he was rich enough to afford the luxury of doing what he WANTED to do. His next album was only somewhat like "Rise", and he continued to experiment with different styles. In 1982, he wanted to commemorate the 20th anniversary of "The Lonely Bull", so he traveled to Mexico, where he learned some surprising things about Latin-American music. (I told you I'd get to it!) The result was the album Fandango. One single from that album, Route 101, hit the top 40. He went on to make many more records, such as 1984's Bullish. That album bore the name "Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass". Again, he re-formed the Tijuana Brass with some of the same performers, which went on a concert tour to support that album. In 1988, Alpert and his wife Lani Hall started the Herb Alpert Foundation, which would go on to give away more than $100 million promoting education in the arts. In 1989, Alpert and Moss sold A&M Records to PolyGram for $500 million, which Alpert and Moss split 50-50. I'd say he was doing passably well, wouldn't you? As a musician, however, he continued making records. Meanwhile, Alpert was surprised to get numerous offers to buy his paintings. In 1989, he held the first exhibition of his work. In 1990, he got started in the art of sculpting. Around the turn of the century, he decided to take a break from recording and performing music, and concentrate instead on the visual arts. He's had many gallery shows. His sculptures go for 2 to 3 hundred thousand dollars. His music still sold, however. In 2005, he sold the rights to his most popular albums to a company called "Shout! Factory" which continues to sell those CDs to this day. He also assembled some old Tijuana Brass recordings dating from 1962 to 1974, finishing and editing them, and also remixing and improving a few of his previously released songs. Shout! Factory compiled them into an album called Lost Treasures which I would recommend to any Tijuana Brass fan. In 2009, Alpert, with his wife Lani, went back to making new records and going on concert tours. And he still supports education. For instance, in April of 2010, the Harlem School of the Arts shut down for three weeks due to financial difficulty. 3000 miles away, Alpert read about it in the newspaper, and just like that, he wrote out a check for half a million dollars to keep the school open. In 2012, the Herb Alpert Foundation granted over $5 million to the school. And he still hasn't put down the trumpet. Herb Alpert's latest album came out in September of 2014 and hit the Billboard chart on release. His concert tour is still going on. What can I say about his music? I can seldom explain why I like a certain song, musician, band, or type of music. Well, I left links to plenty of songs for you to sample, so you can judge for yourself. All I can think to say is one word:
I should explain that I'm very ignorant about the web. I sometimes get "You've never heard of such-and-such-dot-com?!? Where have you been hiding?" So don't overlook an obvious answer. My question is like this. If someone wanted to upload a video to the web, to share with the public, the first obvious choice of site would be YouTube. To upload pictures, my first thought might be Shutterfly or Photobucket (although there may be other, more popular sites for that purpose, for all I know). But what if I have just sound files, with no video, in .wma format, that I want to make accessible to the web-browsing public, and I don't want to spend any money to do it? First of all, I wonder if I should first convert my wma's into some other format, such as mp3. I mean, I don't even know if Apple users or mobile-device users can play wma's. I'm reluctant to download a program unnecessarily (after my last PC got hit with a zillion viruses) but is that what someone generally does in this situation? And if so, what program would you suggest, and where can I safely download it for free? (For that matter, if I DO download a program, should I download one that will let me record in another format in the first place? Back in the 1990s, my PC came with a decent program that let you edit a sound file, and perform normal Windows commands, e.g. New, Open, Edit, etc. The Sound Recorder program I see now can do nothing but Start Recording and Stop Recording!) And then there's my main question of what site to use. I've never uploaded anything to YouTube before, so I don't know what that's like. Is there an option to upload a .wma file (or at least an .mp3 file, or something) and just include a picture in place of a video? Obviously, I see lots of "videos" with only one picture, and I don't know how people go about doing that. Or should I use a different site meant just for sounds? I searched with Google, and found lots of sites, but I don't know which ones are safe or trustworthy. Or should I create an .html page with a link to the .wma (or .mp3, or whatever) and find a good free web hosting service? And if so, what site(s) would you recommend? Or is there a better answer than any of these?
Hmm... I see references to the barrier wall, Varisia, Isger, the Darklands, Osirion, Lake Encarthan, Vudra, the Mwangi Expanse... Huh. I see no mention of the kingdom of Geb. That was the first place I thought of when I heard about this book. That's odd. Well, at least there's Eox.
Some of you may remember the story of how my 6-year-old played Pathfinder. Well, he hasn't stopped yet. Sometimes, when my father came for a visit, my son had him read a few parts of the Core Rulebook, and got him interested. So when we decided to start a new campaign, we invited my father to join us. He started playing a halfling bard, and when that character died in the final battle of the first adventure, he decided he'd be happier with a human fighter, whom he's played ever since. I wanted to run a couple of old D&D modules in this campaign, but in an effort to make this look as Paizo-ish as possible, I got a PFRPG GM's screen. I already had a couple of Bestiary Boxes for monsters, but the Beginner Box gave only a few choices for PC figures. My father repeatedly complained about that. He kept saying "When will you get more pawns, already?" So when his halfling character died, I got an NPC Codex Box in time to give him a big selection for his fighter character. When I told him that, he looked awkward, and muttered "Oh, you didn't have to get that", and without even LOOKING in the NPC Codex Box, just chose the Valeros pawn from the Beginner Box. Go figger. But he's been having fun and doing well in this campaign, for the most part. He participates, and he role-plays in character at some of the times when I least expect it. My "default" campaign world is Golarion, but this time around, I surprised my son by announcing that this campaign would be set in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, for a reason I kept secret at first. Long ago, I had learned the hard way to start beginning players not with an ambitious, long-term campaign, but with a simple dungeon crawl. So I ran "King's Festival". Then I ran "The Sunless Citadel" just to level the characters up before I got to the big one. Well, I don't mean to pooh-pooh "The Sunless Citadel". It IS my all-time favorite introductory module, so I felt like I was really accomplishing something by writing up a PFRPG conversion. I don't run D&D modules in PFRPG "on the fly". And for something as special as "Sunless", I didn't want to take a lot of shortcuts. I statted up all the NPCs, staying as true to the original stat blocks, and to PFRPG, as I could. For other adventures, I might have just grabbed some handy stat blocks from the NPC Codex, or something, but I just couldn't bear to treat "Sunless" so dismissively. I even statted up Erky Timbers! (Well, I did copy the gear from the NPC Codex to get Sharwyn's treasure.) But when the party finished "Sunless", I felt it was ready for the adventure I REALLY wanted to run. I had been waiting for five years for this moment. I had chosen the setting because of this module. Now I could finally run "Night's Dark Terror". And I could run it the way I wanted to. Upon seeing the... Night's Dark Terror: ...my father said "Well, that's it. We're dead." When the party breezed through the encounter, the experience showed my Dad what it means to gain levels.
...Hounds of the Iron Ring attack them on the boat... See, that's the nifty thing about starting at first level. One of my earlier players started his first campaign at 5th level, and didn't realize what he had until he had to start his next D&D Campaign at level 1. Now my father understood how the challenges of a Pathfinder adventure could be deadly to ordinary mortals. Now he could truly appreciate that his PC and his party weren't just run-of-the-mill people, but HEROES! Anyway, we've been sticking with the campaign for a long time now. We're now on 5th level, and we just entered... Night's Dark Terror: It might not sound like much to you serious roleplayers who have gone through several APs, but to me, this has been a long, successful campaign. ...Golthar's Tower.
It's no biggie, but on the home page, the "Paizo Blog" and "Web Fiction" links (in the tabs) don't work today.
I just discovered the PRD's version of the appendix of Ultimate Equipment, and it looks to me like the gem tables aren't clearly labeled. When looking at the treasure generator tables, they list things like "two grade 1 gemstones, grade 2 gemstone" and the like. But the random gem tables are only labeled "Least Semi-Precious Gem (Craft DC 10)", "Lesser Semi-Precious Gem (Craft DC 12)", etc, with no explanation of what the grades are. Table 7-50 in the book makes it clear that "Grade 1" means "Least Semi-Precious Stones (Craft DC 10)", "Grade 2" means "Lesser Semi-Precious Stones (Craft DC 12)", and so on. If I didn't have the book, I might have guessed that's the case. But some people might not figure that out. Is this a mistake? Or am I missing something?
When I'm looking at a user's profile and hit the "Favorites" tab, the posts aren't sorted properly. Am I wrong in thinking that they were sorted before? (If this is a bug, I guess this isn't likely to be a high priority, but I do wonder if I could get some confirmation about this.)
Hi. I was wondering about a good source (perhaps by a 3rd-party publisher) for an alternate magic-type class, that meets certain criteria. First of all, I want it to be easy for a player to learn, and easy to figure out how to use it effectively. I don't want to have to juggle dozens of combinations of options to figure out an effective one. Back in 2009, I looked through the Advanced Player's Guide playtest, and found it to be too... well, advanced. My second criterion might not seem to make much sense, because it will sound like I'm asking for an alternate RACE, rather than class. You see, back in the days of D&D 3.X, I was excited by the idea of Level Adjustment. For the price of four class levels, for instance, you could play a pixie, able to fly, and stay invisible while attacking. The "Savage Species" book really excited me, as I imagined slowly gaining the powers of, say, an astral deva, a hound archon, or a djinni. I've recently come to accept that trading hit dice for powers is a thing of the past, and I feel that the extra powers I would want from Savage Species are too powerful, and therefore unbalancing, with the hit dice. Going back to the pixie example, maybe greater invisibility - usable for an indefinite number of times per day and an indefinite period - is too powerful to make a balanced PC, and the same goes for the indefinite number of times a pixie can use the Special Arrows ability. (Sorry, zerzix. I don't mean any offense. I know you worked very hard on that conversion. But those conversions do look rather overpowered, now that we don't give up hit dice for those powers. And even WITH giving up hit dice, if the professionals at Paizo feel that such creatures are too powerful, who am I to argue?) But it also seems to me that getting nifty, potent powers is too much for just the "race" element to handle. The alternate race books I've seen don't seem like fun. I'll admit to one huge exception: the Aellar and Kestrels from "Races of Wind and Wing" seem quite exciting. (The Advanced Race Guide is on my wishlist, by the way, but its high price makes other items rise above it on that list.) But it seems to me that most of a PC's great powers come not from RACE, but from CLASS as they level up. Therefore, if, mechanically, a class could give powers that, in the game world, actually stem from race, that would be neat. In a way, I'm describing the Sorcerer class, as different bloodlines can give you extraordinary, spell-like, and supernatural powers as you level up. But what if a class could take that idea even further? After all, most of a sorcerer's useful powers come from his spells. What if a class got rid of spells altogether, and gave you ONLY powers? Then you could use lots of very powerful powers without having to cast any spells. So, for instance, instead of learning the Sleep spell and the Greater Invisibility spell, you gained those as supernatural powers at certain levels because you're some fey creature. Instead of praying to a deity for the power of Holy Smite and the Cure Light Wounds spell, you get them as spell-like abilities because you're some kind of celestial being. (A "fallen angel", perhaps, who slowly regains his powers on the path to redemption?) Instead of casting the Gaseous Form spell, you get it as an ability, and at some level, you'll get, say, the Whirlwind power, because you're some form of Genie. If the Bestiary monsters are too difficult to balance as PCs, then maybe some variation of those monsters, with somewhat different powers, could be designed (for instance, by limiting the number of times per day those powers may be used, or by limiting those powers in other ways). I'm not saying that I want those particular powers, by the way. I'm just using them as examples. If my second criterion is too outrageous, then maybe I'll settle for something else. Back when I was first getting into 3.0, I was really excited to see a 3.0 conversion of Al-Qadim, particularly the Sha'ir and Hakima classes. I'm not sure why those classes impressed me so much when so many other alternative spellcasters didn't. Maybe it's because I was familiar with the work of fiction on which they were based. (Maybe Archetypes will suffice, once I figure out what the heck archetypes are.) Or maybe those two classes impressed me because they did away with old restrictions by replacing them with new ones. (For instance, a Sha'ir can cast an indefinite number of spells per day, but the catch is that it takes a long time for a Sha'ir's gen familiar to retrieve a spell, which it must do before the Sha'ir can cast it.) I see lots of alternative magic-using classes for Pathfinder RPG (particularly by Super Genius Games). Would any of those fit the bill? Does my question even make any sense?
I go to the page
I looked in the rules FAQ and searched the boards for this question, and didn't find it. Suppose a paladin wants to use his Lay On Hands ability to deal damage to an undead creature. Suppose he makes a melee attack roll and misses. Does this consume one use of Lay on Hands for the day? Or can he "hold the charge" and try again like with a spell?
I've looked at a lot of Paizo modules, AP volumes, and PS scenarios over the years, and I'm afraid I've found only a few of them to be all that awesome. I'm curious to know what 3PP PFRPG-compatible adventures people might recommend. (Mind you, if someone feels that a certain Paizo adventure is really exceptionally good, and meets some of my criteria, I'll consider that too.) Here are some of my criteria. For one thing, I usually prefer shorter adventures, less than 32 pages. For an exceptionally great module, I might go longer, even as much as 100 pages, but I'm not in the market of a big super-adventure or AP right now. One big selling point for me is an intriguing back story or hook. In the days of AD&D, I was a big fan of "Dungeon" magazine, for that reason. Also, my players and I can't stick with a single dungeon complex any bigger than 32 pages, and even 32 pages is pushing it. With bigger adventures, I prefer that they have SEVERAL small dungeon complexes, and enough of a plot in between them to give the players a reason to explore them. For that reason, I loved "The Speaker in Dreams", and I'm currently running the "Coins" trilogy (from the "Kingdoms of Kalamar" line) to give some examples. (And the first "Coins" module, "The Root of All Evil", also begins with a good example of an intriguing hook.) Wilderness exploration is OK, but I detest naval adventures. I could live with a ship voyage with an encounter or two, but anything more than that I'd probably skip or replace. Also, I don't want anything too difficult for players. Some adventures give puzzles and problems for the players to solve, or might force the PCs into some awkward situation, like having to infiltrate an enemy base and bluff their way through it. My players and I don't like that. I prefer low-level adventures. The lower the better. I would never run anything higher than 12th level, and I'd prefer 6th or below. Also, there's one kind of adventure I'd like even if it IS just a big dungeon, and even if it doesn't have such an intriguing back story or hook. If someone knows of some 1st-level dungeon crawl good for introducing players who are new to RPGs, I'd be interested. I'm afraid that "Crypt of the Everflame" wasn't my cup of tea. It was too contrived (even more so than usual for a dungeon crawl), too linear, and too difficult for new players without modification. I'm afraid that "Master of the Fallen Fortress" didn't do it for me either. Master of the Fallen Fortress: To be sure, I could change this stuff for beginning players, but somehow, I just didn't find the fortress and its denizens interesting. If I don't find anything better than that, I'm sticking with my favorite module of that kind, "The Sunless Citadel". (Come to think of it, I'd still prefer such a module to be 32 pages or less, so maybe it's not such an exception after all.)
Requiring a 1st-level party to make a DC 25 Climb check was a bit of a turnoff, as was the collapsing floors. If a module is for an unusual campaign setting, I'd consider that a major drawback (although I might be more open to such a product in the future). Does anyone have a suggestion?
I recently noticed that arrow traps got tougher in PFRPG. In D&D 3.0 and 3.5, a CR 1 arrow trap attacked with a bonus of +10 and did 1d6 damage. In PFRPG, a CR 1 arrow trap attacks at +15 and does 1d8+1 damage. Does anyone know why Paizo made this change? I'm looking now at a 3.0 module with a CR 1/2 arrow trap, which attacks at +5 and does 1d6 damage. Another arrow trap has a CR of 1/3, an attack bonus of +2, and does 1d6. If I were to run this in PFRPG, I feel safe in assuming that those traps should do 1d8+1 damage, but what about attack bonus? Should I just add 5?
...and I don't mean the Beginner Box, nor some simplified form of the game. I mean the real, complete Pathfinder RPG. He made some great progress in it, and I feel compelled to boast of his exploits. Some of you may remember my stories in the past about my son playing Basic / Expert D&D at the age of 4. He rose to many challenges in that D&D game, and overcame them. He continued that campaign for a long time. Among other things, he played "Palace of the Silver Princess" to its completion. So when he asked to play Pathfinder for the first time, I dared to get ambitious. Not only would this campaign be a first for him, but a first for me in several respects... at least, in a REAL campaign. You see, sometimes, I might just create some characters and run them through a bunch of adventures on my own, in order to learn the system. In order to teach myself D&D 3.0, I ran a solo campaign. In order to teach myself D&D 3.5, I ran a solo campaign... and in fact, I never played a real campaign in D&D 3.5, as no one else wanted to play 3.5 with me, so I stuck with 3.0 for my real campaigns. Only in my solo campaigns did I use a published campaign setting. For my real campaigns, I would typically create the setting myself, or just handwave the setting. When I played Basic D&D with my son, I mentioned that the characters lived in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, but I never did anything with that. But I had always wanted to set a real campaign in an established setting, and make real use of the setting. Now, I've finally done it. I showed my 6-year-old the Pathfinder Campaign Setting book (the 3.5 version), opened the map of the Inner Sea "Reigon" (sorry, Paizo!) and said "Your characters live in the kingdom of Nex." My son was fascinated! He started asking questions about Nex and the surrounding areas. (In fact, it was uncanny that he asked about the very places that would become important later in the campaign. It was like he could tell the future, or read my mind.) Also, my real campaigns had all been hodgepodges of small adventures with little or no connection to each other. I've never run a single adventure or series of adventures bigger than a 64-page module. I've never even tried, except in solo campaigns. For instance, I taught myself 3.5 by running a bunch of characters through "The Red Hand of Doom". I got most of the way through it, but quit when my party got TPKed by that... Red Hand of Doom:
...large red dragon in part 4. I tell you, that dragon was WAY more difficult and dangerous than its CR would imply! But now, for the first time, I decided to start running a complete series of adventures for a real campaign, because I had always wanted to run the "Coin" trilogy of modules ("Root of All Evil", "Forging Darkness", and "Coin's End" by Kenzer and Company, written for the Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting.) One of the reasons I wanted to run that trilogy is that it had such an intriguing hook. Root of All Evil:
Towards the beginning of the first adventure, while the characters are still at first level, the party witnesses the BBEG of the trilogy become dangerous, even playing a part in the incident (sort of). And it worked! My son was impressed with the need to stop the baddie. Maybe that was part of the reason he stuck with the campaign for so long. When I run a campaign one-on-one, I usually have the player control two or three characters, while I play two or three "DMPCs", thus forming a full-sized party, and that's the way I did it this time. To be sure, such a young child has some things to learn. During one battle, after my characters engaged in melee, my son announced that his cleric character would hang back and do nothing. I tend to give my son advice, in consideration of his age, so I said "Why? Even if the cleric doesn't dare battle the monster directly, she could still step up to my characters, in such as way that the monster can't reach her, and then she'll be ready to cast Cure Light Wounds on my characters." "No, she won't do it." "Why?" And my son smiled, showing that he was wise in the way all children consider themselves wise, and said "I have my reasons." Consequently, one of my characters was killed in the battle. Even though it was my character, not my son's, and even though the party won the battle in the end, my son became upset. He saw that I wasn't pulling my punches, and after that, his characters acted much more sensibly. He continued the series for a long time after that, and there haven't been any more character deaths, as of yet. But my son taught ME a few things as well, showing that he could make use of the "sandboxy" nature of a campaign setting. At one point, he said "Why should I travel all the way to Quantium just to find out where <a certain NPC> is? We know that he's in the Mwangi Expanse. Why not just go to the Mwangi Expanse?" I argued "The Mwangi Expanse is a big place." I showed him on the map, and asked "How will you know where to look?" He replied "We'll ask around." I thought about that for a while. Why not? It could work. I could throw in some encounters that could lead him in the right direction. And if that doesn't work, he could THEN go to Quantium to get the information. So I prepared for this change of course. Then my son changed his mind and decided to go Quantium after all, but if he hadn't, the whole campaign might still have worked. Of course, even when he follows the railroad, I'm not running the trilogy verbatim. For instance, I ripped out the whole... Root of All Evil: I replaced it with a few treks across Nex, complete with wandering monster encounters, and threw in some other stuff, such as "Euphoria Horrors" (from Dungeon magazine issue #34).
...sea voyage. And it was a success! I was surprised to find that my son finished "The Root of All Evil", and I had to start work on converting the second volume, "Forging Darkness". The trilogy was written for 3.0, and of course, it was written for the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting, so I have to convert it both for PFRPG and for Golarion. Also, I think that a lot of the encounters are too tough and deadly, so again, I have to replace them. For instance, I decided that the... Forging Darkness: ...encounter was too difficult, so I replaced it with "Centaur of Attention" (from Dungeon magazine issue #60), which he completed. With our characters reaching 4th level (at the medium level progression), the campaign still kept going strong.
...octopus... There's no point to this story. As I said, I just felt compelled to tell it. Now I'm just trying to decide how to rewrite the... Forging Darkness: Well, I'll figure something out. ...hellcat encounter. In PFRPG, a Lesser Planar Binding spell can no longer work on such a powerful creature... and anyway, a hellcat is no longer a devil in PFRPG. Maybe I should replace the hellcat with a flock of imps? Of course, imps don't usually attack openly like that. Maybe I should forget the whole "invisibility" thing, and just use a couple of barbazus instead.
My current Pathfinder campaign should be heading to the Mwangi Expanse sooner or later, and for various reasons, I want to include Tasloi encounters there. I got the D&D 3.5 conversion for Tasloi from this page of WotC's website, and scribbled a PFRPG conversion. I would like to post it here and ask people to help by proofreading it. Would there be a legal problem with posting that?
So I'm looking at the first Bestiary, Appendix 2, titled "Monster Advancement", pages 294 - 296. For those of you who don't have the book handy, the information is on the following page of the PRD: Monster Advancement (although for some reason, the "Reducing Hit Dice" sidebar from page 296 isn't there). I'm wondering: by what criteria do you decide whether to apply the "young" template to a monster, or whether to reduce its racial hit dice (assuming that the base monster has more than one hit die)? Is it simply that it's easier to use the template? And if that's the case, then does reducing the hit dice give better results? Or are there entirely different reasons why you would want to reduce hit dice rather than use the Young template? Obviously, all the same questions apply to adding hit dice vs. using the Giant Creature template.
I wonder if anyone knows whether Jay Stratton, of Pantheon Press, has ever tried Pathfinder RPG. In my effort to find out, I looked at some Pantheon Press products, which do in fact include some Pathfinder-compatible "Nobis" products and conversions, but I'm not aware that Jay Stratton had anything to do with any of these. What brings me to ask this question? He wrote an editorial recently.
Is it just me, or does anyone else think this article screams "SELL ME PATHFINDER RPG!!!"
"Has Begin"? It may be high time to appease the Deity of typographical errors. You know, at "The Altar to the Old Golds" Sorry, I couldn't resist. Seriously, though, now that I'm "between" RPG campaigns, it's good to know that Paizo keeps putting out adventures that I'd like to order someday just to READ. There are several on my personal wish list.
I tried posting about this idea in the "Card & Board Games" subforum. Now I'm going to try again, in a subforum that might get more attention. I was toying with the idea of playing Chess with some other user over these forums, using Golarion-related images as pieces. I would post links to an image of the board, like this... ...and the other player could post his/her move, with a message like "Knight from B1 to C3," and I would make my move, and change the board image accordingly. In case there's any confusion about which image is what piece, I could provide a... Would anyone be interested in playing such a game? (Also, I'm open to suggestions for other icons for the pieces.)
I don't even know whether this should go under "Card & Board Games," "Gamer Connection," "Forum Games," or what. Anyway, I was toying with the idea of playing Chess with some other user over these forums, using Golarion-related images as pieces. I would post links to an image of the board, like this... ...and the other player could post his/her move, with a message like "Knight from B1 to C3," and I would make my move, and change the board image accordingly. In case there's any confusion about which image is what piece, I could provide a key. My first question is: Does anyone have suggestions for images to use for pieces? Some of those images have nothing to do with Golarion, and I'm sure someone could come up with better ideas. My second question is: Would anyone actually be interested in PLAYING such a game? (What can I say? I'm no longer in a position to play PBPs, and I always fantasized being the "tactical map keeper." This comes close, at least.)
I read a book in the late 1970s (or maybe early 1980s?) whose title I don't remember, and I wonder if anyone can help me to identify it. It was a children's book, with no internal art. The plot was like this: A young girl finds an old diary that her aunt had kept when SHE had been a young girl. The aunt, at the time she had written the diary, was superstitious, paranoid, and high-strung. She believed that her ring was cursed, and that it could do evil magic. Whenever something bad happened, the aunt believed that the ring was responsible. The aunt was afraid to go out at night, for fear of what the ring might do. (I'm sure I'm getting the details wrong, but it was something like that.) The niece, now reading the diary, believes in the curse, and happens to get hold of the ring. She talks to her aunt, who has no memory of the ring, nor of what she had written in the diary. When the niece brings up the subject of the curse, the aunt has no idea what the niece is talking about. Clearly, the aunt no longer believes in magic. The niece, over the course of the book, happens to meet some old man who has a pet bird. For some reason (perhaps because she's determined to know the truth about the curse?) the niece commands the ring to kill the bird at midnight. She immediately regrets this, and freaks out all night. Finally, unable to stand the suspense any longer, she visits the old man... and finds that the bird is fine. The whole curse was just a product of the aunt's imagination. Any ideas?
I just applied the "young" template to the troglodyte. (Those of you well versed in modules may guess why, but I won't name the module, so as to avoid spoilers.) Anyway, I wonder if I did it right. Can anyone spot any mistakes in it? And I wonder if I should reduce the speed to 20 feet, since the young troglodytes are of Small size. I don't think there's any rule that I should, but it seems right. Any thoughts? Thank you for your help. Young Troglodyte CR 1/2
Defense
Offense
Statistics
Stench (Ex) A troglodyte secretes an oily chemical that nearly every other creature finds offensive. All living creatures (except those with the stench special ability) within 30 feet must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 11) or be sickened for 10 rounds. Creatures that successfully save cannot be affected by the same troglodyte’s stench for 24 hours. A delay poison or neutralize poison spell removes the effect from the sickened creature. Creatures with immunity to poison are unaffected, and creatures resistant to poison receive their normal bonus on their saving throws.
I just dug up my copy of Crypt of the Everflame just to take a closer look at the stats for the iconics in it (the first-level PFRPG versions of Valeros, Ezren, Merisiel, and Kyra.) I wonder if anyone could shed some light on any of my questions about them: 1) Kyra's Dex is 8, so her initiative modifier should be -1. Why, then, is it 0? Does she get a +1 from somewhere? 2) Merisiel has a BAB of 0, a Strength modifier of +1, and a Dex modifier of +3. So her CMD should be 14. Why, then, is it 15? Again, am I missing a +1 somewhere? 3) With a Strength score of 12, Merisiel should carry up to 43 pounds as a light load. In the Crypt of the Everflame version, she's carrying 46 pounds of equipment. Shouldn't that reduce her speed to 20'? And yet she's listed as having a speed of 30 feet. 4) Have there ever been official listings of the iconics' height and weight? 5) How about age? (I've seen years of birth for Ezren, Seelah, and Seltyiel - 4665, 4687, and 4679, respectively - but what about the rest of them?) 6) What languages does Ezren speak?
I meant to add, but forgot to mention, that I was once about to buy The Complete Northwest Smith, because I heard that the hero uses a ray-gun instead of a sword. But then I heard that the stories involve fighting ancient, evil, Cthulhuesque horrors, rather than high-tech challenges, so I didn't buy the book. Hopefully, that will help clarify what I'm looking for, and what I'm not.
(Continued from another thread) ..Back in the days when I read and used Dungeon magazine, I regarded Willie Walsh as the most recognizable contributor name, second only to that of Chris Perkins. I'll never forget Huddle Farm, and my friend and I had great fun with Fraggart's Contraption... ...and much later, when my players and I switched from 2E to 3.0, I was hesitant to do so. There were so many 2E adventures I wanted to run, and I wasn't confident that I could convert AD&D material to 3E to my satisfaction. In point of fact, I could, and I did so many, many times thereafter. But at that point, I wasn't sure if it would be worth the effort, even if I could do so. So for my first conversion I had to choose an adventure that was worth it. One that was special. One that I really, really wanted to run. I chose Clarshh's Sepulchre. And boy, did it work! I first started fleshing out the geography of my campaign world with the map from that adventure, and that world gradually grew over the next 3 years. That adventure had... Clarshh's Sepulchre:
...a trapped statue that was actually a GOOD thing, meant to SAVE the PCs from a deadly trap. And my player thought that nothing good ever came of statues in D&D! That adventure... Clarshh's Sepulchre and The Speaker in Dreams:
...gave the PCs a connection to an Arcane, giving the party a dealer so they could trade their useless magic items for ones they wanted. And that was very useful to me as a DM too. When I wanted to send the party to Brindonford in order to start the Speaker in Dreams adventure, I used the excuse that Sereen (great name for an Arcane, isn't it?) was going there, and the party was motivated in the adventure to rescue Sereen from the wererats. And the... Clarshh's Sepulchre: ...had long-lasting results that I still can't believe.
...shadow encounter... Any other Willie Walsh fans out there?
Is it just me, or has anyone else found problems browsing the messageboards on paizo.com lately (for the past 18 hours or thereabouts)? Sometimes, the site is painfully slow, and at other times it's fine. Sometimes, I can't seem to load a page, and after minutes of waiting I have to go back and try again (to have it respond right away.) Sometimes, a page loads the important stuff (i.e. the text), but hangs while trying to load the icons (and on one occasion, even the fonts.) Whenever I clicked on the "new posts" link for the thread "Pathfinder Adventure Path series question" the server would think for a while and then send me back to the page I had been on. (I eventually got around this by clicking on the thread title instead.) I think someone needs to hit the server, like Han hitting the Falcon's control panel in The Empire Strikes Back.
I'm trying to understand the Fast Healing ability. It's supposed to be "just like natural healing." But natural healing requires a full night's rest (8 hours of sleep or more.) Does this mean that creatures must sleep for their fast healing to work? Or in the case of monsters that don't sleep, do they need to rest, at least? Will they heal while taking move-equivalent actions? Or will they heal even while attacking?
I don't watch horror movies, but I'm told that the characters in them are inhumanly stupid. Upon seeing 17 dead bodies directly outside a house, they proceed to enter the house. This is to make the audience shout "NO! DON'T GO IN THERE!" This must be what they feel like. I feel this childish impulse to shout at the Thing in the Shadows "NO! DON'T TIP THE BAD GUYS OFF!" Also, I would ridicule the "Life is bad, therefore undead must be good" logic. Obviously, that would do nothing to convince anyone, but still... Actually, it's GOOD that the strip got this reaction out of me. It's been weeks since I felt much interest in the series.
I'm trying to understand how PBPs work, and the netiquette involved. I see that when a PBP calls for, say, 5 people, then the first 5 people who respond get to join, and the next few are put on a "reserve list." What exactly does that mean? Suppose a long time goes by and one player doesn't show any signs of creating a character. Could the GM say "John Tardy, post within 2 days or I'm replacing you with the first reserve player," or something like that? Suppose the game has been going on for months and months, and a certain player drops out. Does the GM expect the people on the "reserve list" to be following the PBP for all those months? Would the GM be expected to say "Jane Reserve, if you respond within a week, you get to fill the empty slot?"
I recently read the Pathfinder Gazetteer, or about 95% of it, anyway. Very interesting. It makes me wonder if there's some kind of list somewhere of modules, AP chapters, PF Society Scenarios, etc. by location? I'm not talking about the obvious "hot spots," like Varisia, Andoran, Kortos, etc. Those lists would be huge, I'm sure. But if no such list exists, I wonder if someone could tell me of adventures set in - or Pathfinder Chronicles / Companion books (besides the Campaign Setting book, of course) that elaborate on - some of the more distant, but interesting locales? Such as... Irresen? Galt? Geb? Druma (which is technically not remote, but still interesting)? Thank you in advance for whatever help you can give me.
Now that we know the state of V's marriage... ...and for that matter, the love life of every Order member, I wonder what ever happened to Hilgya. Ever since OOTS #84, I've been expecting her to come back for revenge on Durkon. Maybe accompanied by Durkon Jr.
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