Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber. Organized Play Member. 1,885 posts (1,929 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 2 Organized Play characters. 1 alias.
Some of you may be remember me from campaigns such as The World's Largest Dungeon or that time I asked who would win in a fight between Milkman Dan and Reid Fleming. It's been a minute since I last posted here, but I've finished my exile in the forsaken tundra of Alaska and completed a 20-year career serving in the U.S. Coast Guard. I've traded snow and grizzly bears for dust and coyotes, and I'd like to get back to gaming now that I'm not living on the lifeless frontier of Cania.
I'm currently looking for a group in or around Tucson, Arizona, if you know anybody. Either way, I just wanted to say "hey," and "what did I miss?"
One experienced player/GM seeking group in or near Tucson, Arizona. I am in Sahuarita. I can host, but 4WD is recommended to reach me.
I'm a Grognard who's been playing RPGs for ~33 years. I'd prefer to get a Pathfinder game going, but I'm open to D&D 5E or Starfinder. I have a lot of experience as a GM and can run a game if needed. I ran a World's Largest Dungeon campaign for several years that I'd like to continue in some form if anyone is interested.
Kidding aside, once you get over the fact that this isn't meant to be a completely faithful recreation of the comics, it looks alright. Jaimie Foxx's Electro and what they show him doing look pretty awesome and, considering Rhino 2 was basically a mecha suit, I'm okay with the Rhino in the movie.
I just wish they weren't going with another battlesuit Goblin. I get that the hood and tunic look might be hard to pull off in a film, but something like this would be better than another exoskeleton.
"Every year, my wife and I devote the month of November to convincing our children that, while they sleep, their plastic dinosaur figures come to life." - Refe Tuma*
This unicorn is leaving Oregon for the snowy shores of Anchorage, Alaska, come May. I should be arriving sometime around the end of the month, and I'm looking for a group or, at least, a venue where other gamers meet up.
What would be super keen is if I can find five-ish players for a World's Largest Dungeon campaign that has already been going for four years. The journal is here for anyone who wants to get acquainted with the way I run the adventure (it's a lot to read so feel free to PM me if you've got questions.) New characters would be picking up where my last group left off at whatever level they finish (probably 10.)
Of course, I'd also dig getting to play so hook a magical beast up if you know of an empty seat at a gaming table.
Something came up in my campaign not too long ago that I felt was in the "goblin babies" category of moral quandaries, and I thought I'd share for discussion. Here's the basic scenario:
A group of adventurers gets roped into helping a small rebel force of drow free their people from a pack of powerful drider sorcerers who have overthrown their creators and enslaved their former masters. Assume the adventurers have never encountered drow or driders before and know next to nothing about them.
The drow quickly establish themselves to be cruel, sadistic jerkwads who don't even try to conceal the fact they view the party as expendable pawns. However the driders, despite initially sounding like a bunch of victimized and abused slaves who valiantly won their freedom, prove to be the bigger threat since they are equally evil and have a doomsday weapon that could wipe out the adventurers' home/pets/stuff.
Skip ahead to the endgame. The driders are making a last ditch effort to enact their master plan when a few of the adventurers comes across a quarry filled with sickly and weak drow slaves barely capable of swinging their pickaxes. The adventurers, at this point, have seen and learned the absolute worst about the drow and what they're capable of when left to their own devices. The one party member capable of speaking with these drow (they didn't speak Common) kills the slaves in a particularly horrific manner when he convinces them they're going to be set free and then directs them into a cave filled with poisonous gas while his fellow party members aren't looking. He reasons he must take preemptive measures to see the drow never regain their power or get their hands on the doomsday weapon and threaten his people. Later on, he tries to conceal his actions from the rest of the party and then attempts to lie about what he did when his allies find the quarry and dead slaves.
Some background on the character:
NG Mystic Theurge with a few levels of Cleric of Nethys, basically a guy who honestly wants to do what is Good and once lost the favor of his own deity for sacrilege in order to protect his friends. It should be noted the character's player has a history of making rash decisions that get himself or other people killed or hurt whenever he's left unsupervised.
Is what he did evil or was it actually a Good action to kill a bunch of mean jerks known for habitually enslaving and sacrificing other people to demons even though they were basically helpless at the time? What about the character's attempt to cover up the deaths? Was he just in over his head? What do you think his fellow party members should have done about it?
I don't know if this has been done yet, but I thought a compilation of lesser known, but good minis websites would be useful for people searching for hard-to-find minis. Everybody knows Reaper, but I've posted a link to Mega Minis a few times and it seems some people still don't know about their awesome selection of animal, commoner-type NPC and scenery miniatures.
If you know a good website for finding obscure or hard to find minis, post it. Here are a few I often browse.
Black Orc Games Their Simian Empire and Panthera Tribe lines have good ape and cat people.
Noble Knight Another game seller like Paizo, but I mention them because their Minis selection is huge and they often carry old Ral Parth and RAFM stuff for the true grognards.
This post is really more about warning people ahead of time.
Caught this on Netflix the other night. Between the title and the blurb about the story, I was really hoping to enjoy this. Unfortunately, it makes gamers look like a bunch of buffoons and kind of makes gaming publishers look like their companies are run by morons.
Think about the worst gamers you've ever met; the players who freak out and break things with cheap swords they bought out of a catalog when their PCs die and adversarial, drama queen GMs, unhealthy, smelly slobs and guys who drag their girlfriends along to the game and then spend the whole session making out at the table. Unicorn City seems to take place in a world where those are the only kinds of gamers that exist. The idea might have been funny if any of the characters had any redeeming character qualities, but they're all just cardboard cutouts of stereotypes thrown into a preposterous plot looted from a terrible ABC Family sitcom or a cartoon for 5-year-olds.
The jokes aren't funny and the characters act in ways no rational, intelligent adult would or should act. It's almost as if the movie was written by someone who's experience with geeks is limited to episodes of Big Bang Theory and administering swirlies in high school. It's just bad.
If you're looking for a good comedy about gamers, watch Astropia. The writers of that movie seemed to know something about subtlety and tonge-in-cheek comedy the people who made Unicorn City never figured out.
Greetings fellow gamers and welcome to my laboratory!
I finally got around to posting pictures of some of my homemade beasties and figured I'd share. Readers of my Campaign Journal will recognize some of these things since I try to post pics to go along with the story and alot of these were created specifically for the adventure. That's enough talk. Let's get to the monsters!
Zelekhut - One of my first homemade minis. I needed a zelekhut for the Call Zelekhut spell from Spell Comendium so I chopped up some Mage Knight and Heroclix pieces and built this monstrosity. I could have gone with more traditional wings, but I think the big dragonfly wings actually look large enough to get this guy off the ground.
Huge Gelatinous Cube - This one's kind of a joke. I only needed the cube for this photo so I simply froze one of the PC's minis into a block of ice just long enough that the inside was still hollow. The result was this nice, transparent brick of ice with a cleric and a treasure chest (mimic!) trapped inside.
Black Pudding - I must thank Paizo for putting those cardboard wedges on the corners of the books they send me because that's what is under all the melted wax I used to make this thing. Also, I <3 pipe cleaners. Pipe cleaners are responsible for the pudding's pseudopods, and I use them in alot of my monsters.
Tendriculos aka The Green Death - I like to experiment with different materials for my monsters and really wanted to give the tendriculos some texture so I killed a plush froggie and skinned it to give The Green Death a mossy coat. Sometimes, I like to plop him down on the table just to mess with my players.
Huge/Gargantuan Otyugh - The cardboard wedge returns! This otyugh's body is actually a wedge covered in more melted wax. I think wax is great for slimy monsters like otyughs and oozes because of the way it forms little rivulets and lumps, but it's a pain to work with because the end result is really fragile (also, it burns.)
Large Grick - I needed a large grick for an encounter and didn't want to use carrion crawlers as proxies so I made this guy. Once again, pipe cleaners played a huge part in the construction. The Sculpey is molded onto a pipe cleaner skeleton.
Apparatus of the Crab - How come nobody else has made a Crab-paratus mini yet? It seems like a natural for a minis line. Anyway, here's mine. Built from a wind-up robot and some stuff I bought at a hardware store, I was originally going to attach little walking skids to it so I could wind it up and let it walk. However, the skids ended up making it too heavy to crawl, and it looked really cumbersome.
Huge Achaierai - I recently needed a Huge achaierai mini and quickly came up with a plan to make it from some junk I had laying around. Do the googly eyes make it look silly? Probably, but have you ever seen an achaierai that didn't look silly?
Aboleth - The only aboleth mini from DDM is too small and the Reaper version is, like, $50 so I made my own, basing it on artwork from Bestiary 1. I'm not a great sculptor, but I think it turned out alright. To add to the ick factor, I covered it in a thin film of rubber cement so it's really shiny and sticky to the touch.
Elder Xorn - I really like the way this guy turned out. Pipe cleaners for limbs and a plastic easter egg for a body formed the skeleton that I covered in Sculpey. I only wish the jaws were hinged so I could shove minis down its throat.
For anyone who's interested, most of the bases on these figures are made from cheap aluminum sheets. Sometimes I only paint the aluminum, but I usually cut thin cardboard into puzzle-like tiles and then glue those onto the metal to make a more detailed base.
The Aboleth and Otyugh are actually standing in wax. I had to glue the minis to the bases first and then drip the wax around the minis to form the base.
3 people marked this as FAQ candidate.
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber
Can a mount and rider become immune to attacks of opportunity provoked by movement by utilizing the Escape Route feat? You be the judge!
I figured this was silly enough to discuss.
Escape Route (teamwork feat)
You have trained to watch your allies’ backs, covering them as they make tactical withdraws.
Prerequisite: none
Benefit: An ally who also has this feat provokes no attacks of opportunity for moving through squares adjacent to you or within your space.
Mounts in Combat
Horses, ponies, and riding dogs can serve readily as combat steeds...For simplicity, assume that you share your mount's space during combat.
So, a mount and rider are always within each other's space. If the mount has an INT 3 enabling both it and the rider to learn Escape Route, can both creatures pinball willy-nilly through the battlefield without provoking AoOs? They are, afterall, technically both moving into or through squares occupied by or adjacent to each other.
I liked the remake of Clash just as much as Harryhausen's original, and I'm not a Greek myth purist. I see these movies for the monsters. Bellerophon be damned, this one's got a chimera. I'm in.
So, this movie has apparently been out awhile but I only just learned of it and saw it on Netflix last night.
The Wild Hunt (the trailer has some strong language that may not be suitable for some environments) tells the story of Erik Magnusson who enters a world of live action role playing in an effort to reclaim his girlfriend from Murtagh, the leader of a cultish group of Celt-inspired LARPers. Complicating things is his relationship with his brother Bjorn who has abandoned the family in order to live out the life of a viking warrior among the warring clans of the game. What could easily have been a comic look into the personal lives of LARPers, turns out to be a psychological horror story as two worlds collide.
I think that sums things up nicely.
Anyway, I was wondering if anybody else has seen this and what their thoughts might be. Do you think it's Mazes and Monsters for a new generation, a sincere attempt to tell a serious story about geek culture or simply a brilliant coup by a screenwriter who saw an opportunity to write a horror movie using a setting nobody else has thought to use?
Whatever it is, I liked it, and I think it's a movie gamers should see.
Your PCs walk into a room that appears to be well-lit by a floating sphere. However, the sphere is actually the object of a Deeper Darkness spell and the "light" is actually a permanent Silent Image effect made to fool people into thinking the sphere is lighting the room.
Since the light is an illusion, what do the PCs see?
My guess is they see an otherwise empty room. The darkness is concealing the actual contents of the room but the illusion is causing the PCs to see light so their senses tell them they are in a lit room and nothing else. If they disbelieve the illusion, they see a dark room and might then be able to find the contents of the room with enough real light.
Kind of wondering how others of you would interpret this since this might happen in a game I'm running and I'm not entirely convinced I've got this right.
So, this neat thread over here got me thinking about all the other obscure, silly or frightening religions that actually exist in the real world and how they might fit into a fantasy campaign setting.
This is a thread for discussing how belief systems like Pastafarianism, UFO cults, and the Church of the SubGenius could work in a game. If you're looking for Jesus, Buddha or Satan, try that other thread. If you want to discuss how a Raëlian cult might fit into your homebrew world or what domains a Scientologist cleric would have, this is probably the place for it.
I'll kick this off with the religion that spurred me to create this thread: The Cargo Cult
Cargo cults have all but vanished from Earth but, for a time after WW2, many tribes in the South Pacific believed their ancestors would provide them with advanced technology if they mimicked the soldiers using their islands as drop zones and temporary military bases, even going so far as to mow down forests to build runways and control towers. Some even built to-scale models of planes out of straw.
A tribe of lizardfolk collecting a city's cast-off refuse as it floats downriver into their swamp could become a cargo cult. In a campaign where travel by air isn't completely unheard of, a clan of isolated barbarians might even pray to a wind spirit for items dropped by griffon-riders or passing airships.
If I were to use a cargo cult in a game, I'd probably go with something like this:
Deity - varies by cult, but typically ancestor worship or a wind/sea god
Favored Weapon - varies by cult (cargo cult members usually mimicked the actions of flight controllers and the marching routines of soldiers as part of their rituals so a cleric of a cargo cult might carry the weapon most often associated with the group his cult mimics or the weapon most commonly found among the cargo.)
Domains - Family (Community subdomain,) Ancestors (Repose subdomain) and Wind (Air subdomain) and/or Oceans (Water subdomain) depending on where the cult gets its cargo. Yes, that's only three or four domains, but I don't see a cargo cult generating a whole lot of worship juice.
Am I alone in this or does anyone else have ideas for this or another religion?
Milkman Dan is a mean jerk. He's been known to blow up cows, feed urinal cakes to children and run over their bicycles. He occasionally wears a kevlar exo-suit, which boosts his reflexes and massages his buttocks. He might also be immortal.
Reid Fleming is The World's Toughest Milkman. He isn't bald, he gets his hair cut that way and he's pretty sure he told you to shut up. Rye whiskey gives him the strength to lift his own truck and punch through walls.
Both men are formidable bullies with supernatural drunk-driving abilities, but only one can be crowned the Dairy King!
You can keep your tired, old, Vs. arguments. This is the fight that really matters. The Vs. match to end all Vs. matches! This is where we separate the mallards from the bonobos!
Howard the Duck is a duck! He's trapped in a world he never made! He smokes cigars and wears a little fedora!
Detective Chimp is a detective and a chimp! He likes to get drunk! He smokes cigarettes and wears a deerstalker!
That's all you need to know! Will it be Bedtime for Bobo or will Howard receive a butt-kicking he never asked for?! More importantly, why are you still reading this?! Go outside and get some sun! Spring is here! Go and out and meet a nice girl! Maybe build a squirrel feeder together!
I saw a few people mention the team in the New Avengers thread so I figured what the hell. I read this book. Why not make it a thread?
First off, I've got a problem with this series. Namely, Steve Rogers.
I've never not liked the guy, but I got into this book thinking it would be a team book and it really isn't. It's mostly Steve hogging the spotlight and being a clingy boyfriend, and I think that's a disservice to the character. Sharon Carter is a highly trained SHIELD agent, but she's been tied to the railroad tracks while Steve has become way too emotionally involved in her well-being to be trusted with his position.
Steve's showboating leads to my next problem with the book. He's got a great team, and Brubaker is wasting their potential. The best example I can think of is during the first arc when Steve puts on Nova's helmet after being told it could very well kill him due to his human physiology and inexperience with the Worldmind. This would have been a perfect moment to give Valkyrie the spotlight. She was was perfectly capable of continuing the fight, Marvel is trying to push the character, she's easily the toughest member of the team physically and I'd think Steve would have the wisdom to realize how screwed the team would be if his head imploded. Instead, Steve throws on the helmet and turns into a Super Saiyan.
Why do I keep buying this book if I'm sick of Steve Rogers? I'm hoping it will get better. I'm hoping this whole John Steele thing will lead to a story arc where Steve realizes he's overcompensating and that it's okay for him to lead from the rear of the column and let his team of highly trained and experienced heroes do the job they signed on for. Also, I'm a huge Moon Knight fan and I hear that, sometimes, he actually shows up and does something for one panel before Steve takes over and screws everything up by leaving his flank completely exposed so he can go fight hologram wizards.
Has anyody else noticed some of the drug effects listed between the Pathfinder Companion Adventurer's Armory and the GMG don't mesh?
Both books give different descriptions for the effects of pesh and flayleaf. There might be a couple other differences in the drug section, but I don't have my books with me and those are the only two I remember right now. So which version is correct? And what exactly does "immune to pain" mean in the Adv. Arm's description of Flayleaf?
It seems familiars are often shoved into backpacks and forgotten as soon as they're selected in nearly every game I've ever played or run. With the advent of summoners' eidolons and arcane bonds, it seems like witches and adepts will soon be the only people you'll ever see with a crooked-tailed cat or warty toad sticking out of their pocket. Well, I want to change all that. Familiars are cool and they deserve some respect.
Years ago, in the early days of 3.0, I tried my hand at creating a prestige class for wizards and sorcerers who wanted to focus on their relationship with their familiar. Well, I dug up the old Word Doc containing the rules for the class and updated it for Pathfinder. You're welcome.
By the way, Ardhika is the Sanskrit word for 'partner.' I was inspired by the Hindu vahana when I was trying to come up with a name for the class.
Ardhika (pronounced Ard-heekah, I think, if anybody out there actually speaks Sanskrit maybe you could better inform me)
Fluff:
Ardhika are spellcasters who form a powerful bond with their familiars. These magical creatures are more than just tools or an extra set of eyes for the ardhika, they're valued friends, confidants and, often, mentors and voices of reason when the ardhika is too angry or foolish to listen to anyone else. Over time these spellcasters and their familiars learn to work with such precision and harmony they nearly become one creature. Obviously, wizards, witches and adepts are the most common classes drawn to the path of the ardhika. However, any arcane caster with the Obtain Familiar feat from Complete Arcane and a healthy love of familiars could join the club.
Role:
Ardhika fill the usual niche of wizards but their familiar-bonded abilities give their familiars greater resiliency and capability as scouts, combatants and helpers. The ardhika himself will greatly benefit from the familiar's ability to aid him in and out of combat. The increased prominence of the familiar brought about by this class also gives the DM a useful tool for dropping hints or advancing the plot
Alignment:
Most ardhika's are animal lovers to begin with so most tend to be good at heart. However, there are those who have either been twisted by long years spent with only their familiars for company or, worse, ardhikas who have been manipulated by their familiars to perform dark deeds.
Hit Dice: d6
Requirements:
Animal Affinity
Knowledge Arcana: 4 ranks
Handle Animal: 5 ranks
Spellcraft: 4 ranks
Special Requirement: Must have had the same familiar for a period of no less than one year.
Familiar must possess Speak with Master ability
Weapons and Armor: An ardhika gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies.
Spells per day: When an ardhika gains a new level he gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a new level in a spell casting class he belonged to prior to becoming an ardhika. He does not gain any other abilities associated with that class save those mentioned below. If the character has more than one spell casting class he must decide to which class he will add a level of casting ability.
Familiar abilities: Ardhika levels count toward determining familiar special abilities. Therefore, a Level 6 wizard/level 2 ardhika is treated as a level 8 wizard for purposes of determining the familiar’s abilities.
Level 1.
Ardhika's Little Helper (Ex):
At first level, an ardhika’s rapport with his familiar is so strong he automatically gains an additional +1 on any skill check for which his familiar succeeds on an Aid Another roll for a total +3 bonus. DMs have final call on what skills a familiar can use to aid the character, but good examples are:
Craft – the familiar offers advice or serves as a gofer
Escape Artist – the familiar chews through ropes or nets
Knowledge – the familiar shares stories or information it’s picked up
Profession – as Craft
Sleight of Hand – the familiar distracts the character's target
Survival – the familiar uses its senses to locate food, water, etc.
Got Your Back (Ex):
A first level ardhika’s familiar grants the character the Skill Focus: Perception feat as long as it is within arm’s reach and can actually perceive its surroundings (stuffing your familiar into your backpack gets you squat.)
Level 2.
One Sole (Su):
A second level ardhika leaves the tracks of his familiar when traveling on foot (get it? One 'Sole' I kill me.) This occurs whether or not the wizard is wearing footwear. He may not cancel this effect though spells may be employed to mask the tracks. He also leaves the scent of his familiar for purposes of tracking. This effect may not be cancelled though implements may be used to cover up the scent.
Level 3
Shared Experience (Ex):
An ardhika’s familiar benefits from its close relationship to its partner by gaining an increase to brainpower. The familiar gains a +1 inherent bonus to INT at 3rd, 6th and 9th level and an additional feat for which it qualifies at 4th and 8th level. As always, DMs have final say on what feats a familiar may take.
Level 4.
One Body (Su):
At fourth level, an ardhika may transfer his own hit points to his injured familiar and vice versa via physical contact as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. Either the ardhika or the familiar may sacrifice enough hit points to reduce them to -1 hit point at which point they fall unconscious and stabilize. If the use of this ability is interrupted by an attack, spell, etc., the ardhika must make a Spellcraft check equal to 10+damage dealt+1 per 10hp transferred (i.e an ardhika struck for 20 points of damage must roll a 31 to transfer 10hp.) Unfortunately, this level of the ardhika’s bond with his familiar also makes both susceptible to diseases and poisons affecting the other. Whenever either the ardhika or the familiar is poisoned or diseased, the other must make a Will save at the same DC or suffer the same effects.
Level 5.
One Mind (Su):
At fifth level, the ardhika’s empathic link with his familiar becomes a telepathic link, allowing communication between the two over any distance so long as they are on the same plane. Furthermore, if the wizard succeeds at a spellcraft check (DC 20 plus 1 for every 10 miles between the pair,) he gains access to one of the familiar’s senses and may see, hear, smell, touch, or even speak through the familiar. The character gains access to one additional sense per every increment of 10 by which he beats the DC (i.e. a character within 10 miles of his familiar must succeed at a DC30 spellcraft check to gain two senses.) Furthermore, whenever the ardhika fails a Will save against a mind-affecting effect, he may make one reroll attempt one round after the first saving throw using his familiar’s Will save and vice versa.
Level 6.
Extension of Self (Su):
An ardhika of level 6 or higher gains the ability to cast spells through his familiar at a distance. This ability functions as the Deliver Touch Spells ability except the ardhika need not be in contact with the familiar at the time of casting. The range of this ability at 6th level is 60 feet and increases by 15 feet per ardhika level thereafter to a maximum of 120 feet at Level 10. Furthermore, any spell cast by the ardhika with a target of “You” also affects the familiar (for good or ill) so long as it is within this range. As with One Body, this ability comes at a cost. At this stage of the ardhika’s bond, any spell or effect targeting the familiar that requires a Fort save will also affect the ardhika unless he succeeds on a Will save at the same DC and vice versa.
Level 7.
Separate But One (Su):
A seventh level ardhika and his familiar may use their One Body ability over a distance equal to the ardhika’s Extension of Self range as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunities on the initiator (i.e. the ardhika provokes attacks if he uses this ability to transfer hit points but the familiar does not unless it also uses the ability to transfer hit points to the ardhika.)
Level 8.
Dweomer-bonded (Su):
The familiar of an eighth level ardhika gains the ability to cast a small number of spells chosen from the ardhika’s spell selection. The familiar gains the spells per day of a second level wizard and progresses to the ability of a fourth level wizard by the time the ardhika reaches class level 10. These spells are counted against the number of spells the ardhika can prepare per day and are cast at half the ardhika’s caster level. The familiar cannot cast spells that require a focus or have a gp cost. The familiar needs no material, somatic or verbal components to cast spells granted to it by the ardhika and the ardhika need not fill every slot in the familiar’s arsenal. Keep in mind, the familiar’s INT still affects the number of spells it can cast per day. The familiar need not be within range of the ardhika’s Extension of Self ability to cast these spells.
Level 9.
One Thought (Su):
By ninth level, an ardhika and his familiar have reached such an intimate level of closeness that no Spellcraft checks are required to use their One Mind ability and they receive a +10 bonus to Spellcraft checks to maintain concentration while performing One Body or Separate but One. Furthermore, neither the ardhika nor the familiar can be flanked or caught flat-footed so long as they both remain within an arm’s length of each other and neither is helpless. The combined strengths of their minds also increase the power of their spells. Any spell cast by either the ardhika or his familiar gains a +1 to caster level and DC as long as they remain within range of the ardhika’s Extension of Self ability.
Level 10.
One Soul (Su):
The culmination of the ardhika’s bond is the combining of his soul with the spirit of his familiar. Should the ardhika die, his soul will enter the body of his familiar allowing him to control its body. While in the familiar’s body, the ardhika loses any abilities associated with his familiar except for empathic link, one sole, and one mind. He gains the familiar’s abilities of improved evasion, speech with animals of its kind and spell resistance and may cast spells normally so long as his form can manipulate any necessary material components or he possesses the Eschew Materials feat. The ardhika uses the familiar’s physical ability scores, natural armor and movement type but keeps his own feats, skills, base saves and BAB. He does not gain access to any of the familiar’s feats or skills. If the ardhika’s familiar dies, the familiar’s spirit inhabits the ardhika’s body. The ardhika loses all of his familiar-related abilities except alertness, empathic link, got your back, one sole and one mind, but gains the ability to polymorph into the form of his familiar for a number of hours per day equal to 10+ his CHA modifier + the familiar’s CHA modifier. The ardhika also gains a +2 to Reflex and Fortitude saves while the familiar’s spirit occupies his body. Either creature can be resurrected or raised normally, thus restoring all previously held abilities, but a familiar cannot be reincarnated.
Handling the death of an ardhika's familiar:
Should the character’s familiar die before he reaches 10th level as an ardhika, he loses all of his ardhika abilities and has two options if he wishes to continue in this prestige class. He may spend another year bonding with a new familiar or he may have his original familiar raised. Animals normally cannot be raised by divine magic but the bond between an ardhika and his familiar is so strong, the creature can be restored to life provided the ardhika devotes an entire day to concentrating on his lost friend while the proper divine spell is cast. The price of raising an ardhika’s familiar equals the base price of the spell +10% to cover additional ritual costs. Keep in mind a familiar cannot be reincarnated.
I know there are a fans of The Descent on these boards so I wanted to pass along that, even though it went to straight to DVD in the U.S., The Descent: Part 2 is a pretty good movie.
The film picks up right from the end of the first movie and sees a rescue team entering the caves the find the missing women from the first movie. There is a slightly unbelievable setup to get the story in motion (the sole survivor of the first film is forced by the police to accompany the team not even a day into her recovery,) but, if you can get past that and accept that the sheriff is a complete douche, it shouldn't stop you from enjoying the ensuing carnage.
It's really nice to see the movie didn't go the same guns blazing route as other sequels like The Hills Have Eyes 2. The only firearm used in the film is possessed by the douchebag sheriff so the movie remains focused on the psychological terror of being trapped below the earth and stalked by the inbred, mutant crawlers. There are some good performances from the cast and a few new designs and prosthesis for the crawlers to give them an even more devolved appearance. Fans of gore will also appreciate the pretty cool head crushing scene early in the film and, possibly, the inclusion of the "sh!t pit." If you ever wondered what orcs and goblins did with all their poo, The Descent: Part 2 is about to educate you.
Without giving anything away, I will warn viewers that the final scene doesn't make a whole lot of sense but, apparently, it is a setup for The Descent: Part 3 so it will probably be explained in the final(?) film.
In case you hadn't heard, the city of Astoria, Ore., is celebrating 25 years of The Goonies over the next few days. I just got back from a screening of the film and the premiere of a documentary about its creation. Joe Pantoliano (Francis Fratelli) and Jeff Cohen (Chunk) were in attendance, and Corey Feldman, Sean Astin and Richard Donner are due to make appearances over the next few days. You can learn more about the celebration at gooniesanniversary.com.
Is it beginning to feel like zombies are a bit played out? Well, don't swear off seeing another uninspired shamblefest until you've seen Zombies of Mass Destruction.
This is probably the funniest zomedy I've ever seen. Most of the humor is political and the film pokes a lot of fun at the religious right and the culture of paranoia that thrived in the years immediately after the attacks of 9/11. They do take one or two stabs to the left as well but, (I may as well say it) if you voted for Bush, you're a huge fan of Dick Cheney or you're a member of The 700 Club, you might not like this movie.
For heroes, ZMD presents an Iranian girl suspected of being an Iraqi terrorist by her zealously patriotic neighbor and a gay man who brings his boyfriend home with plans of coming out to his mother. As with Zombieland, the zombies are really just props and there are very few scenes where the shufflers seem like much of a threat.
ZMD is one of the "Eight Films to Die For" series of horror movies that After Dark has put out for the last four years. I'm generally unimpressed with this series but, between ZMD and the excellent "The Final," this might be the year they win me over.
"Humans they were, of a sort, though I did not consider them so. They were short and stocky, with broad heads too large for their scrawny bodies. Their hair was snaky and stringy, their faces broad and square, with flat noses, hideously slanted eyes, a thin gash for a mouth and pointed ears. They wore the skin of beasts, as did I, but these hides were but crudely dressed. They bore small bows and flint-tipped arrows, flint knives and cudgels. And they conversed in a speech as hideous as themselves, a hissing, reptilian speech that filled me with dread and loathing."
-excerpt from The Children of the Night-
Child of the Night:
CR 1/2
XP: 200
CE Medium Humanoid (Reptilian)
Initiative: +6 Senses: Darkvision, Scent, Perception 5
Defense:
Armor Class: 13 touch 12, flat-footed 11 (+1 Natural, +2 Dex)
Hit Dice: 1d10 (6hp)
Fort +2 Ref +2 Will +0
Weaknesses: Light Sensitivity
Offense:
Speed: 30ft. Climb 15ft.
Melee: club +1 (1d6,) short bow +3 (1d6) or Bite +1 (1d6)
Space: 5ft. Reach: 5ft.
Statisitics
Str 10 Dex 14 Con 10 Int 8 Wis 12 Cha 8
Base Atk +1 CMB +1 CMD 13
Feats: Improved Initiative
Skills: Perception 5 Stealth 10 Racial Modifiers: +4 Stealth +4 Perception +8 Climb
Languages: Draconic
Ecology:
Environment: any subterranean or temperate mountains or forests
Organization: Hunting Party 4-16 Tribe 30-200
Treasure: NPC Gear (club, short bow and 20 arrows, other treasure)
At roughly the height of a dwarf, the children of the night resemble reptile/mammal hybrids but the truth isn’t quite so simple. The Children of the Night were created when prehistoric humans mixed their blood with that of the serpent people. The resulting beings were hunted down by pureblood humans and forced to flee into the earth. Many generations of inbreeding and subterranean life caused the Children to devolve into their current form.
The Children of the Night (called as such due to their nocturnal rituals and their proclivity toward darkness) make their homes in deep caves systems typically near forests where they erect forbidding cairns as ritual sites. The creatures, for they can no longer be considered men, worship foul deities, both terrestrial and alien, and are often responsible for kidnapping children and women to be used as sacrifices.
In battle, the Children typically swarm their opponents, relying on sheer numbers to overwhelm opponents. Any group of Children larger than 16-strong will have at least one spellcaster (typically an adept or sorcerer) as an overseer.
Children of the Night Characters
Children of the Night are defined by their class levels – they do not possess racial Hit Dice. Children of the Night sorcerers usually possess Aberrant, Abyssal or Arcane bloodlines. Child clerics typically have access to the domains of Chaos, Darkness, Evil, Madness and Magic. All Children of the Night have the following traits:
-2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence: Children of the Night are slightly more agile than the average human but their small build and devolved brains make them weak and rather stupid.
+1 Natural Armor Bonus (ex): A Child’s skin is covered in scales, which give their bodies small protection from attacks.
Bite: A Child of the Night can make a bite attack as a primary attack dealing 1d6 damage plus 1½ its Strength bonus.
Climb Speed (ex): A Child of the Night has a climb speed of 15ft, giving it a +8 racial bonus on climb checks along with all other benefits for having a climb speed.
Darkvision (ex): Children of the Night can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Scent (ex): Children of the Night receive the scent ability.
Light Sensitivity (ex): Children of the Night are dazzled in areas of bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.
Skilled: +4 racial bonus to Stealth and Perception checks.
Languages: Children of the Night begin play speaking Draconic. Children with high intelligence may choose any of the following bonus languages: Abyssal, Aklo, Common, Goblin, Orc.
I only just learned about this film today. Apparently, it's been nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Film of 2009. It opens in the U.S March 6, and it looks absolutely beautiful.
I don't know what happened. The cat died and then Denzel Washington turned into the Lone Wanderer. I think Mila Kunis was supposed to be Dogmeat.
Okay. I'm kidding. The Fallout games are rife with references to post-apocalypse-themed stories, movies and fiction so calling "The Book of Eli" Fallout the Movie is like calling Fallout, Mad Max the Video Game. Still, the movie looks and feels alot like it could be dropped directly into the Fallout world. They've even got a sort of Brotherhood of Steel.
Overall, I liked this movie. There were a few things here and there that seemed a little odd or hard to believe,
spoiler:
Eli's iPod, the pristine condition of most of the firearms, the availability of fuel, Eli's claim that it's taken him 30 years to walk across the U.S., etc.
but nothing that distracted me enough to detract from my enjoyment of the film.
I imagine some people will walk out of the movie decrying it for the Christianity-based story and Eli's seemingly divine luck and abilities (he's like a post-apocalyptic paladin!) being beyond belief while others might hail it as some kind of spiritually uplifting message about the perseverance of faith. I'm not either one of those types of people. I just walked out of it thinking it was a pretty good movie about one man's conviction in a world gone to rubbish.
I won't give it away, but Eli is hiding something besides that mysterious book so fans of surprise revelations should be pleased.
Finally, I have to give huge ups to the set decorator who hung the "A Boy and His Dog" poster on the wall of one of the rooms Eli sleeps in during the film.
I decided to explore my dungeon of homemade 3.5 monsters and set one of them loose on Pathfinder. Click the appearance description to see a mini I Frankensteined to represent the guy, and then tell me what you think.
Punxizu (Devil, Evil, Extraplanar, Lawful)
CR 12
XP: 19200
LE Large Outsider
Initiative: +2 Senses: darkvision 60ft., see in darkness, true seeing at will Perception 20
Defense:
Armor Class: 21 touch 11, flat-footed 19 (-1 Size, +10 Natural, +2 Dex)
Hit Dice: 10d10+70hp (140hp)
Fort +16 Ref +9 Will +12
Defensive Abilities: DR 10/Good Immune: Fire, Poison, Bleed Resist: Acid 10, Cold 10 SR 23
Offense:
Speed: 20ft.
Melee: Needle jab +14/+9 (1d3+5 plus poison) or 2 Slams +14 (1d6+3 each) or Gore +14 (1d8+3)
Space: 10ft. Reach: 5ft.
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+16
Spell-Like Abilities: (CL 10th)
At will – Arcane Mark, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Identify, True Seeing, Greater Teleport (self plus 50lbs of objects only)
3/day – Greater Prying Eyes, Greater Scrying, Legend Lore, Wall of Thorns
1/day – Summon (level 6, 2 Barbazu, 50%)
Environment: any (Hell)
Organization: Solitary
Treasure: Standard
Special Abilities:
Infernal Lore (Ex) A punxizu adds half its Hit Dice to any Knowledge check it makes and may make any Knowledge check untrained. Furthermore, a Punxizu may take 10 on any Knowledge check to answer a question pertaining to Hell. Twice per day, the devil may take 20 on any Knowledge check to answer a question pertaining to Hell.
Epidermal Shift (Ex) Punxizu are capable of rearranging the placement of their skin allowing them to tattoo hard-to-reach areas of their body. This grants the devil immunity to bleed damage as its skin moves to seal wounded areas of its body. This is a purely reflexive action and requires no effort from the devil.
Poison (Ex) The ink a punxizu uses for its tattoos is highly toxic and the creature may opt to use its tattoo needle as a weapon in order to poison an opponent. The needle counts as an evil weapon for purposes of overcoming damage reduction. A typical needle has Hardness 10 and 5 hit points. Injury; save Fort DC 21; frequency 1/rd for 6 rds; effect 1d3 Con and 1 Str; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution based.
Punxizus are the historians of Hell. The tattoos that decorate their bodies are a record of all that has transpired in the creature’s territory, and it is a grievous offense to remove or attempt to alter a punxizu’s tattoo once the creature has drawn the image. This affords the creatures some protection, as few devils will harm them for fear of ruining an image. However, this protection cannot last forever. A punxizu who illustrates its final inch of flesh is doomed. At that point, the creature is skinned alive so that its knowledge can be preserved in a book made from its own flesh. What remains of the devil is then fed to a captive or lawbreaker who then becomes the new punxizu for that territory.
Punxizus are typically attended to by guardian devils such as barbazu, imps and lemures, which do everything in their power to keep the punxizu from coming to harm. Failure to protect one of the historians could result in the guardians being put on the short list for becoming punxizus themselves.
Punxizus are forbidden to enter combat but may defend themselves if necessary. Their teleportation and wall of thorns abilities are often enough to protect them until help arrives, but there are harsh penalties for a creature that risks the loss of history it has recorded. Punxizu tattooing needles are often constructed from the bones, spines and claws of other outsiders and many mortal spellcasters would pay handsomely for a needle that has transcribed the annals of Hell. Some believe these tools could be used to create enchanted tattoos that grant their wearers infernal powers. Others say the poisonous ink of a punxizu’s needle never runs dry making the device an ideal weapon of assassination. Suffice it to say those who believe the former should pray the latter is incorrect.
Due to their duties and cultural significance in Hell, punxizu are very difficult to summon. A spellcaster wishing to summon a punxizu often needs to work out a deal with whatever devil is in charge of the creature's territory. A common bargain involves swapping the punxizu's time for the temporary loan of an apprentice to fill the devil's position.
I wanted to get in on the sudden rash of Star Trek deathmatch threads.
Sulu flys a spaceship and once chased Enterprise crewmembers around the ship shirtless and swinging a foil while high on some kind of alien virus or something.
Bruce Dickinson fronts Iron Maiden and once rescued 200 Brits from Lebanon by flying them out of the Israel/Hezbollah conflict. He also needs more cowbell.
I couldn't find this anywhere so here's a scenario:
A 1st level character, already at -1hp, gets attacked by some stirges. Said character normally has a 13 CON. Three stirges land on the unconscious character and damage the character for 12 CON reducing his 13 to a temporary score of 1. The CON loss causes 1hp loss per 2 CON lost so the character is now at -7hp. Does it matter?
The temporary CON score of 1 might indicate the character is dead because -7hp is well beyond -1hp and a character normally survives up until their -hp reaches their CON score. However, the CON score of 1 is temporary so you could give the character the benefit of his ordinary CON score and say it lives until it reaches -13hp.
I had this happen in a game I was running and, because I wasn't in a PC killing mood, I gave the character the benefit of his ordinary CON score thereby saving his life. Is there an offical ruling on this that I missed or is everybody houseruling? How are y'all handling this?
I didn't see anywhere else to put this, but I wanted to a give a heads up to any gamers near Portland, Ore., that the da Vinci Arts Middle School is putting on a play based on Paizo's Burnt Offerings adventure by James Jacobs Nov. 14, 20 and 21 at 7pm.
I was able to catch the opening night performance last night, and the kids did alright. It was a fun play with lots of sword fights, goblins and some decent special effects. What's even better is it seemed like most of the 200-some kids I saw in the audience seemed to know something about D&D or Pathfinder so it was great to see the hobby thriving among the younger crowd. Guardian Games from Portland sponsored the play and had a small table set up where they were selling dice and assorted books and game aids.
Admission is $5 so check it out if you're in the area.
I think it would pretty awesome for the kids if Mr. Jacobs himself made it down to Portland to see his work come to life.
Looking for something to make your NPC hirelings and assorted Nodwicks a little less accident prone? Tired of telling villagers their sons and fathers won't be coming home because they were eaten by some terrible monster while showing you the location of the secret raider camp? Maybe you just need a sturdy, horror-haunted derelict to wander your countryside muttering incomprehensible mutterings under his breath with an arrow sticking out his neck and a dagger through his back? Well, sister, have I got a prestige class for you!
I've always liked the Survivor prestige class from Savage Species. It's a great prestige class for "Nodwick"-style commoners and other hirelings because it gives them a little survivability and doesn't let them outshine the PCs. The only problem I ever had with it was the idea of a month of study being enough to qualify for the class. That's why, with a slight difference in concept and a couple new features, I've redesigned the prestige class for use with PFRPG. So, here ya go. Have fun with it or let me know what you like/don't like about it.
SURVIVOR
The world can be a dangerous, cruel and pitiless place, and nobody knows that better than the survivor. Survivors are those creatures lucky enough and rugged enough to make it through the unluckiest and roughest of situations. From the common man born into servitude to the goblin merchant who sees his village destroyed and his family killed by an overzealous paladin, survivors have one thing in common: Their lives suck. It could be luck, karma, sheer stubbornness or some deity smiling down on them (or gleefully laughing as they torture the poor fools) but, unlike the teeming masses of cannon fodder and dragon chow around them, survivors seem to have that special something that gets them through the day and guarantees they’ll live to be kicked in the teeth again tomorrow.
Survivors come from all walks of life and all cultures and races, but they are most often common folk who have been victimized in some terrible way and somehow endured their torment long enough to gain a reputation for being hard to kill. These tortured souls go on to acquire abilities that greatly improve their chances at overcoming adversity and woe be to the slave who acquires the abilities of a survivor while still in the clutches of her master for she will quickly find herself at the top of the list of slaves to be used for the most dangerous of tasks.
Hit Dice: d8
REQUIREMENTS
To qualify to become a survivor, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Base Save Bonus: Highest base save bonus must be lower than character level.
Special: Few people actually strive to become survivors. However, whether by choice or cruel fate, the candidate must survive a horrible tragedy that tortures them both physically and mentally. The DM should determine what qualifies as a suitable tragedy, but something as rudimentary as surviving the dominating gaze and subsequent attacks of a vampire should not qualify a character for admission to this prestige class. Being dominated by a vampire who then commands the victim to murder his own family and feast on their blood over a period of several weeks, however, might.
CLASS SKILLS
The survivor can spend her skill points to purchase any skills that any of her previous classes (or her base monster race) have made available as a class skill (though not exclusive skills,) or any skill that is eligible as a cross-class skill. The survivor prestige class does not add new skills to a character’s list of class skills.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2+Int modifier.
CLASS FEATURES
All of the following are class features of the survivor prestige class.
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: A survivor neither gains nor loses proficiency with any weapon, armor or shields by gaining levels in this class.
Uncanny Dodge: Starting at 1st level, a survivor can react to danger before her senses would normally allow her to do so. She retains her Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if she is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, she still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.
Evasion: At 2nd level and higher, a survivor can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If she makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the survivor is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless survivor does not gain the benefit of evasion.
Improved Uncanny Dodge: A survivor of 3rd level or higher can no longer be flanked. This defense denies a rogue the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking her. The exception to this defense is that a rogue at least four levels higher than the survivor can flank her (and thus sneak attack her.)
Improved Evasion: This ability, gained at 4th level, works like evasion, except that while the survivor still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, henceforth she takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless survivor does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.
Damage Reduction: At 5th level, a survivor gains the ability to shrug off 5 points of damage from each blow or attack. Subtract 5 from the damage she takes each time the survivor is dealt damage. Damage Reduction can reduce damage to 0 but not less than 0. This damage reduction stacks with any other damage reduction of the “x/-“ type (such as the damage reduction feature of the barbarian.
Mettle: At 5th level, a survivor can resist magical and unusual attacks with great fortitude and willpower. If he makes a successful Fortitude or Will save against an attack that would normally have a lesser effect on a normal save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Will half or Fortitude partial,) he instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping survivor does not gain the benefit of mettle.
SAMPLE SURVIVOR Jim “Food” Freeman: Male human; Commoner 1/ Survivor 3; Medium-sized humanoid; HD:1d6+3d8+12; Hit Points: 32; Init:+0; Spd:30ft.; AC:10; Flat-Footed:10; Touch:10; BAB:+0; CMB:+1; CMD:+1; Attack: +1 Club (1d6+1 damage); Face/Reach:5ft./5ft.; SQ: Uncanny Dodge, Evasion, Imp. Uncanny Dodge, Skilled; AL:CG; SV: Fort +5 Ref +5 Will +6 Str 12 Dex 10 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 12 Cha 10
Skills and Feats: Climb 7 Perception 7 Profession-Beggar 8 Swim 6 Toughness, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes
Jim “Food” Freeman served as the mind-controlled slave of a cannibal sorcerer after watching his family devoured by the man as a child. After 19 years of cruel torture as the subject of many of the sorcerer’s magical experiments, he was made to take part in a battle royal to the death against the slaves of several of his master’s rivals. Jim lost the match but not before braining and strangling three of the other combatants. Disgraced in front of his rivals, Jim’s master left the young man to bleed to death on the arena floor. However, fate intervened and Jim woke up in a pile of bodies the cannibals had collected for the evening meal. With his master’s spell broken, Jim slipped away while they napped. Though he still occasionally responds to the name his master gave him (the tribal word for “food”) out of habit, Jim has taken on the name Jim Freeman since he no longer remembers his birth-name. He now refuses to work for anyone and travels the world admonishing and harassing slave owners. He’s also become a strict vegetarian, but he won’t tell anyone why.
Howdy! If you've been reading my World's Largest Dungeon thread, you'll know I've been summoned to West Africa for a few weeks. I've got a little time so I figured I'd put up a journal about my exploits. Let me introduce you to the main character:
Velcro Zipper: It's me in 3D! In addition to being a magical beast, I am also a writer, photographer and all-around public relations specialist. I'm essentially a bard. I've been summoned to Africa to chronicle the adventures of the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Legare who are working with a handful of developing African nations to protect their waters from pirates, smugglers and illegal fishing operations.
I hope to be able to post some photos from my journey, but it will have to wait until I return to a land with more powerful internet magic. Until then, enjoy this first installment of Velcro Zipper in Africa!
***
My journey began in Dakar, Senegal, where the airport terminal was about the size of a post office. A little orange cat strolled around the interior of the building while serious-looking men armed with pistols kept a keen eye on anyone entering or leaving. A gaggle of peace corps volunteers flocked behind me ready to save the world as I produced my passport to one of the customs agents. After a few moments of confusion over my residence in country, I was able to get passed the guard and meet with my embassy contact who walked me past a throng of shouting men, eager for work as porters, guides or drivers, to a beaten up white van.
Our driver sped through the deteriorating and ill-smelling airport district nearly hitting several other cars and people while the radio blasted the news of the day in French. My contact got out of the van in front of what looked like a bombed-out busstop and left me to continue the ride alone. When the driver took a detour and drove slowly through an alley where people had set up a shantytown, I half-expected to be waylaid by beggars, thieves or kidnappers that never came. Eventually, we got to the pier where we drove past more armed guards and came to stop at the brow of the Legare.
I'd barely set down my bags when I was told some members of the crew were headed to a school for a community relations project so I picked up my camera gear, some bug dope and a bottle of sun repellant and hopped on the bus.
The school was a small collection of long, one-story buildings surrounded by an eight-foot wall in an area of Dakar that looked like a typical American ghetto. Broken desks lined the courtyard or rested in piles while a pair of men did their best to repair them using power drills and handsaws. Young children played soccer between a pair of the buildings while teenagers sat at the repaired desks in the courtyard chatting. The Coasties were here to repaint a pair of the classrooms that had fallen into disuse after being covered in graffiti. I mostly just wandered around the buildings shooting snapshots of kids playing and desks being rebuilt or Coasties scraping and painting walls. A few of the kids were really excited to have their pictures taken even though they’d never get copies of the prints. At one point, I was mobbed by group of the younger children who posed or tried to look tough in front of the lens until they were chased off by one of the schoolmarms. The painting operation ended sometime a little after noon when we heard Muslim prayers being sung from loudspeakers at a nearby mosque. Along the way back to the boat, we passed a gigantic 50-meter, statue of a Senegalese family being built by North Korean workers; a statue that is causing a lot of controversy in Dakar.
I found out my workday wasn’t over when we returned to the vessel.
A bunch of bigwigs were coming by for some fancy to-do later that night; the U.S. ambassador to Senegal would be among them. I switched over to autopilot, snapped the required photos and retired to the mess deck to upload my images from the day as soon as the last pressed-shirt stumbled off the brow. With the drive to the airport and the flight from the U.S., I’d been awake for about 36 hours after my first day of work in Senegal.
This was one of my favorite animated films as a kid. Now, we have word of this. I like that the story will be introduced to a new generation of kids, but I don't like the way this article seems to insinuate the remake might be done in the vein of *shudder* G-Force with cute, sassy, computer-animated rats cracking awful jokes and jumping around like ninjas. I really hope that isn't the direction this goes.
It's too bad Dom Deluise isn't around to reprise his role as Jeremy.
I'm sure alot of gamers are having to cut back on their spending during these tough economic times so I thought to myself, "Self, what can we do to help other gaming enthusiasts save money on their hobby?" "Well," I responded, "howabout a thread where people can submit tips on how to save money on their hobby?" "That's a terrible idea!" I thought to myself. "You're a terrible idea!" I rebutted, and then I punched myself in the mouth and started this thread. Feel free to submit your own ideas!
Here are a few tips to get this thread started:
Those clear plastic shells that come with Chessex dice sets have a million (actually only several) uses! For one, they make really good gelatinous cube minis. They're big enough to take up most of a 2x2 section of grid and there's enough room inside for it to glomp a standard sized miniature. With a little effort, you can even add small, dripping bubbles of glue to the sides for that sweating effect.
They also make really good flight or elevation bases. They're a little wide, but you can put a mini inside one while a flying creature sits on top as if attacking from the air!
Here's another tip for people who can't afford to buy lots of minis.
Looking for a mini of a Tojanida or can't afford to buy a mini for a monster you'll probably never use again (like a Tojanida?) Make your own (kind of.) Just go online and find a picture of the creature you're looking for. Then, save the image and print it out at the size you need for its base. Cut the picture from the paper, glue it to a piece of cardboard to give it some extra durability and, presto, you've got a cheap, easy-to-store mini! I keep mine in a cigar box!
Do you like crackers? Do you like having a place to store your plastic minis? Do you like collecting things that are made out of tin? If you said "yes" to at least two of those questions, then I've got a tip for you!
Many grocery stores sell 28oz. tins of crackers. These things typically go for about $7-$9 but they're cheaper than most of those clear plastic tubs, they're durable, they hold about the same amount of stuff and they're pretty easy to store and transport. Plus, you get crackers! If you don't like crackers, crush them up and feed them to birds. They'll thank you for it.
Howdy y'all. I don't know if anybody here has ever run AEG's World's Largest Dungeon from beginning to end, but that's what I intend to do with a group of, at least, five players using the Pathfinder rules. For those of you not familiar with the product, AEG put out WLD back during the days of D&D 3.0. The book is over 800 pages long, includes 16 full-color maps and contains some variation of every SRD monster from the Monster Manual. I found a copy at a half-price book store, and I'm ready to unleash it on my players. Here's the basic premise of my version of WLD:
The evil Lord Antagonis the Generic has seized control of the land. Over the course of six years, he has consolidated his power and grown ever more paranoid, spiteful and cruel. Antagonis' minions discovered the World's Largest Dungeon, and the dictator decided it would be the perfect place to throw his enemies. Afterall, none of the soldiers he's sent into the black gaping maw of the dungeon ever returned. Our party of adventurers is made up of people Antagonis has deemed a threat to his reign. Thrust into the dungeon with no equipment, the group must quickly come together as a team to survive their imprisonment.
Our cast of characters:
Lord Antagonis the Generic - The ultimate, all-purpose, BBEG complete with Dick Dastardly-style moustache. He started this whole mess.
Ranoth - A human cleric of Pharasma. From a family with a long tradition of hunting the undead, Ranoth was imprisoned in the dungeon for attempting to cure the village of Falcon's Hollow of a plague. Though Ranoth failed to save the village, Antagonis viewed his actions as indicative of the sort of person who might someday challenge his rule and tossed him into the dungeon.
Marcus - A displaced elven fighter raised by a human merchant, Marcus lost his foster father to the plague that struck Falcon's Hollow. His association with Ranoth's quest to cure the plague earned him the ire of Antagonis.
Mina - A human monk and former servant of Antagonis. When Mina's monastery had expended it's usefulness to the dictator, he ordered his warriors to burn the school to the ground and kill all of the remaining monks. Mina escaped the carnage, but was eventually captured and sentenced to the dungeon.
Poker - A gnome rogue and murderer with a penchant for collecting trophies from his victims. Poker was arrested and sent to the dungeon for his crimes.
Lockwalt - An elven evoker whose miscasting of a Stinking Cloud scroll ruined Antagonis' view of the sunset. That was all the reason the petty lord needed to raze the wizard's academy to the ground and have Lockwalt thrown into the dungeon while the academy headmaster lost his head.
Foxy Loxy - Ranoth's pet firefoot fennec, and the party mascot. Foxy snuck into the dungeon after Antagonis' soldiers left the group to their fate.
I'll post a record of the party's trials and tribulations as the weeks progress.
Be here next time to hear how our heroes were nearly wiped out within the first three minutes of their adventure!
I'm moving to Astoria, Ore., in May so I'd like to find D&D or Pathfinder players in the area. I know there's a comic store in town that sells the products so there must be some gamers, right?
I'm a player and a DM so I guess you could say I go both ways.
I've always told my players a party is always better with a bard. I like the concept and the role they fill in a group, and that's why Deadly Performance doesn't work for me. I don't want to imagine a good-aligned bard spending 20 levels becoming the greatest performer in the land just so he can get the ability to kill things with his art. It seems rather counter-productive to me. Who is going to want to listen to you sing once they find out your voice kills people? An evil bard might take 20 levels solely for this ability and a neutral bard might decide to use it sparingly in desperate situations, but I could only imagine a good bard doing this once perhaps swearing to never sing again once the deed is done.
I know the game is mostly about killing monsters and taking their loot. I also know that most of the people I've played with don't care too much about things like character motivation, plot development and role-playing in general and rarely take 20 levels of anything (let alone bard) so this will probably never come up. However, I want a 20th level ability for bards that seems bard-like. Here's something I thought up that might work:
Proselytize (not 100% on the name but it gets the point across) - At 20th level, a bard reaches the pinnacle of her training. By giving a spectacular and passionate performance requiring a minimum of ten minutes, the bard is able to sway the thinking of a creature convincing it to give up its old way of life and take up a new path. The bard makes a Perform check and uses the result as the DC of a Will save made by her audience. Any creature that fails this save immediately converts to a new alignment equal to that of the bard. This change in alignment lasts for a number of days equal to the bard's Charisma modifier. At the end of this time, the creature makes another Will save. Failing this save makes the alignment change permanent. Targets receive a +5 circumstance bonus to their saves if their beginning alignment is diametrically opposed to the alignment of the bard. For example, a Lawful Evil creature receives a +5 bonus against the song of a Chaotic Good bard. Such creatures receive the same bonus on their secondary save. Any creature making its first save against this ability is immune to the bard's Proselytize for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting, language dependent ability that affects 1 Hit Die of creatures per class level of the bard. Any threat or attack on the target creatures during the performance ruins the effect of this ability. The bard may combine this ability with her Fascination ability.
It might need a little tweaking or clarification, but I think this or something similar better captures the bard's role of diplomat/entertainer and it's an ability that makes sense for a bard of any alignment.
I don't know if this has been addressed, but do clerics in Pathfinder still have access to the domain spell lists from the 3.5 PHB? I've noticed there are a few domain spells that can only be cast by clerics with the appropriate domain. It seems wrong to me that a cleric devoted to a sun deity shouldn't be able to eventually cast Sunburst or that a cleric devoted to a god of travel shouldn't have Teleport.
I like the domain powers, but I think the domain spells should at least be added to the individual cleric's spell list based on their domains if they aren't getting the old +1 domain spell from 3.5.
