Xaos316's page

This reads far more like 1E/2E Psionics than the 3E version. The old psychic attack and defense modes are now spells, they use a lot of the older terminology like Wild Talents and Disciplines. I know I'm getting all the old school feels from this!

--Brain Vrock

Then you must be blind as a bat, quite frankly. If you look at the hardback releases it's pretty obvious they draw heavily from "Old School" products rather than 3.X. For example, the kingdom building mechanics found in Ultimate Campaign... Birthright, quite obvious. What they call Archetypes we used to call Character Kits. They do exactly the same thing, replace class features with different features. It is one of the reasons Pathfinder appeals to me, I notice the mixing of old school with new mechanics and somehow it all seems to work well.

That having been said, I'm not complaining about this new take on psionics. It is a departure from what Dreamscarred Press released, yet it has an old school enough feel that I am comfortable with what has been done. I look forward to seeing the hardback when its done, the playtest material is superb.

Yes, buying a competing brand, product or similar and shelving it is a solid and logical method to eliminate competition. If a market with lessened or entirely without competition is a better market probably depends - if you own the monopoly, it is great. If you don´t - not so much.

Being a monopoly doesn't always work out. WWE has gone south since buying out ECW and WCW... There's also anti-trust laws that the government can hit the monopoly holder with. Just look at Bill Gates, he had to keep apple in business to avoid those. Hasbro buying WotC isn't good for us. They didn't actually do it for the D&D brand, that was just a bonus. They were after the card games WotC produced, which still continue to rake in huge profits. Hasbro's mistake was firing the writers and putting board game designers on D&D. 4e was just a glorified board game, it wasn't D&D. However, Hasbro can't do much about the "Competition" as it stands, because WotC released the OGL, which was the equivalent of them shooting themselves in the foot with a shotgun. This was done before Hasbro came into the picture. If they do "Shelve" D&D it's not likely to come back, since it wasn't what they were after when they purchased WotC to start with.

I've only recently seen the playtest for DnD next. I know I'm way late, but still ,my verdict on this is :this won't save DnD.

Also read up on where the DnD brand stands within the Hasbro company and it looks like they value it somewhere inbetween the dirt under their fingernails and the dust on the floor.

So hypothetically,if Hasbro decides they won't bother anymore and get out of PnP RPG's completely, would Paizo even be interested?

Have you seen the new Module: Murder in Baldur's Gate? It is 3.5 compatible, and hence Pathfinder compatible as well. You're correct, Next won't save the DnD line, however if they continue producing 3.5 compatible product they might keep it alive. They're doing good with the new Forgotten Realms products so far. I'm pretty sure they've realized they need to appease the 3.5 players to keep making money based on how bad 4e went. I ran Next, but my group is still content with Pathfinder.

I just wish Pathfinder had official Psionics support. Ultimate Psionics I would definitely purchase.

I want this just based on the cover art!

The Galorion Horror Picture Show amuses me

All I see is whining from Power Gamers that are looking for a Tank to run around in. Druids have never been Tanks in any edition. Frankly put, anyone, and I mean ANYONE, who plays a spellcasting class and is not relying on their spell casting skills to the fullest, is not playing a Druid correctly. Sure you can wild shape into a dino but have you tried the combo with casting SUMMON NATURES ALLY? So many people FORGET about this ability it might as well not be there. ONE Dino might not seem like a threat but summon a few more and numbers start talking. If your not casting Summon Natures Ally as a Druid, your not getting the full benefit of the class. I have seen players run very powerful druids at high levels, but they had to carefully consider their spells and how to best use them. Even if an Archetype takes away your spontaneous casting for Summon Natures Ally there's no reason NOT to have a few memorized per day. The druid may seem week when by itself, but once the druid has summoned a few helpers they can overwhelm opponents. There is more to a spellcasting class than Feats and Morphing into something. Consider your spells as well, as they play a vital role in the Druid class. If your not casting your spells you might as well just play a gimped warrior with bad weapons and armor.

One final thought edited in: Teamwork. Use it. Don't rely on just yourself to survive. You should have a group of other players working with you with their characters. If you want to talk feats, discuss it with them. As a group you may want to use the teamwork feats. Those feats can do a lot of damage if you use them efficiently.

As a D.M. that switched from 4e back to Pathfinder because my group likes the system better, there are only two things I don't like about Pathfinder. Lack of random treasure tables and the G.M. screen. I had hoped to find a random treasure table inside the G.M. screen similar to what 3.5 had been using, along with more relevant information. Instead I got a breakdown of skills that players use infrequently. I feel the G.M. screen was money wasted that would have been better spent on the Gamemastery Guide. The Guild had some nice random item tables, but alas, no random treasure tables.

Hey guys - I am starting a PF Dark Sun campaign in the next month or so, and am looking for some, not so overwhelming partial transparency rules. I have found a lot of good material(www.athas.com and found a 3.5 conversion to pathfinder rules, and character classes for all the Dark Sun classes. The 3.5 conversion to pathfinder rules said to use transparency rules, but in Dark Sun I would prefer not too), but nothing on integrating psionics and magic for PF, except with transparency rules. So far I have decided that spellcraft, UMD and knowledge(arcana) can be used as psicraft, UPD and knowledge(psionics)(respectively) at a -5.

I think I would like anti-psionic and anti-magic be different. Also, does anyone remember how arcane/divine worked(together or seperate) in dark sun?? It has been over a decade since I played it, and don't remember if there was any difference with them.

Outside of that I am kind of lost, and will probably get overwhelmed before I get something concrete. I do not have any 3.5 psionic material, so please don't direct me to that book if possible. Some nice house rules or something would be great. I am not having much luck on google and figured someone here would have something, or might be able to point me in the right direction.

I have had a lot of success converting Dark Sun into Pathfinder.

First off, I too am doing a dark sun campaign with the Pathfinder rules, it works fairly well. I have much of the free material from Athas.org converted for Pathfinder already.

Secondly, I am allowing my players to use "Psionics Unleashed" a pathfinder compatible product released by Dreamscarred press to handle all the Psionic Materials (You should be able to get it easily.) This book basically is a new version of the Expanded Psionics Handbook for 3.5 and is very well written and easy to use. The product covers all your psionic needs. As for the Defiler, Preserver and Templar I basically added them as Archetypes. Defiler is just a wizard archetype. You add in Arcane Defilement as a class feature. I kept the old Defiler Aura from second edition Dark Sun. That was all I did to round out the defiler. Preserver I am still working on. I finished the Templar yesterday. Templar is a cleric Archetype. Replace Aura, favored weapons and Domains with Assumed Domains (Domains granted by the Sorcerer-Kings), Sigil, and A Choice of Two Martial Weapons for proficiency. Add in that a Templar gains Turn or Rebuke Undead at level 4 and your done.

After throwing the idea out there, I've decided to run a Dark Sun PbP campaign using Pathfinder rules.

It will be a sandbox style game. I would like to see a lot of character dialogue, and would prefer the PC's to have their own goals to assist in driving the story. I'm not an effective optimizer, so I would appreciate if the PC's weren't over the top.

All the base races from the core Dark Sun material will be allowed (and only those).
Mul (conversion to be posted)
Thri-Kreen (conversion to be posted)
Half-Giant (conversion to be posted)
Human
Elf
Half-elf
Halfling
Dwarf

I will be using Dreamscarred Press' Psionics rules

Ability scores will be 4d6 drop lowest, roll 7 times take top 6. Before racial modifiers, your total modifiers should be between +6 and +12. Any higher or lower, and you will need to reroll.

All classes will be allowed except Alchemist, Paladin/Antipaladin. Divine classes will follow either the elements or the sorcerer-kings.

I'm strict, so things like encumbrance and food/water will be tracked.

I will leave the recruitment open for 2 weeks, and decide based on character submissions.

EDIT: The game will begin in the Urik region, so please include how/why you are in Urik.

Not sure if you realize this but Athas.org has a bunch of 3.0 3.5 dark sun pdfs you could use for pathfinder. I am using them for my campaign and it gives you alot more race options.