boldstar's page

Although you would have to move the setting just a bit, Feast of Ravensmoor is awesome. Creepy as heck and fits the level.

Tacticslion wrote:

That said, I also suspect that the PF people can do Cosmic Horror, if only because they're pretty good at that sort of thing in general.

No, they are not. I can't think of a standout horror adventure from Paizo that was actually good.

Tacticslion wrote:

I mean, if you want Call of Cthulu was really about, it was about racism and the fact that sea food and scientific learning are terrifying.

Ah, now we have officially entered into Clown Overtime.

How about Feast of Ravensmoor? How about No Response? How about Doom Comes to Dustspawn? All three very different types of horror, but definitely horror. Ravensmoor has a "Wicker Man" vibe. No Reponse is very Machen-ish. Doom is Cosmic Horror comes to a small town. All well done.

I am raising this thread from the dead to see if anyone has new ideas of under CRd monsters after seeing the Beastiary 5.

In addition to the fine suggestions above, the second part of RotRL and the first two parts of Carrion Crown can be used with a little work to strip out the campaign trappings.

Eight years old and my older brother who was on leave from the Navy introduced my best friend, his little brother, and me to 1st ed. My dwarven cleric/fighter, who i named my avatar after, lasted one fight against two were rats (my friend's wizard was bitten but survived). The second. Fight was against a few orcs. Wewere rocking, when an ogre came. Out of the woods andpunched B0ldstar twice. Killed him instantly. Not a noble beginning, but it was awesome. My brother was REALLY good at painting a battlefied picture in ourheads and the roar of the ogre was loud enough to make my mom come into the room to see if someone was hurt. Good times.

Anyone else get a strong "First World" vibe from this Beastiary. A lot of Fey, Magical Creatures, and plants. I know there is a lot more to the book than this, but I just got this great, sylvan feel. BTW, I love this Beastiary.

This sounds awesome.

Instead of elements, you could also do 6 preliminary tests based on each of the stats.

There are rules in OA. That deal with psychic combat. Maybe use them to create a unique and individualized test.

If doing this with a group, make the first four tests communal, but make the fifth test individualized.

I agree that the test should be customized, but the overall theme could be consistent. Think one test for each element (fire, water, earth, and air) with a final test of spirit. Maybe the final test is that the character must be able to explain what he will be the God of, why it is important, why he/she is the best choice. If the character is convincing enough (admittedly GM fiat) then a test against an equal CR creature that best expresses the opposite of what the character wants to become God over.

This is awesome! I would love a bundle.

Spectral hand plus inprisonment.

Yes. My favorite 3rd party doing my new favorite sub genre.

How about a Psychic Theuge lich. A mystic theurge except a combination of divine and psychic magic lich.

Quick question... If I use An Occult Adventures class that qualifies for a non OA prestige class, can I use that prestige class?

Nice ideas. It would be interesting to base a campaign around a BBEG who wasn't powerful individually, but was charismatic and connected. Someone like a merchant guild leader who is running a dangerous cult. Someone who you couldn't just kill... Because the entire city either loves him or is indebted to him. Maybe the goal would be to first, find out he is a bad guy. Second, destabilize his legitimate and illegal operations (without destroying the general economy of the city), and then try to stop his minions before they wake something that will eat the entire city.
It could use Ultimate Intrigue and Occult Adventures. Lots of creepiness underlying urban political theatre.
What do you all think?

bump.

As the title says... I know the Occult Beastiary and the Beastiary 5 will a give us lots of new critters, but what creatures from earlier sources would you use?
I, for one, think that Kytons could make a really interesting set of adversaries.

Hrothdane wrote:

Don't like, don't take.

How, exactly, does this excuse poor design again? I seem to have missed the part where not being forced to take an option means that it's alright for literally worthless abilities to be printed instead of something that would make the class at least worth something.

It is cool and mechanically feasible. Seems like good game design to me. Of course, I mainly GM. Still, saying a feat you don't like is poor game design is a bit much. Different feats serve different purposes in the game.

boldstar wrote:

You do realize how ironic you are being when you state that the developers refuse to engage with fans on a forum put up by Paizo and paid for by Paizo? The developers are on these forums constantly. They very often engage with fans about criticisms.

No. Wrong.

Mark Seifter engages with fans constantly. So does James Jacobs (but he's not a designer).

The others? Jason Buhlman, Stephen-Radney McFarland, and the two new guys who haven't even bothered to introduce themselves, much less engage with the community besides one dismissive put-down from one of them, do not. Jason hasn't posted anything beyond generic "We are opening this playtest" and "We are closing this playtest" remarks in almost a year. He didn't even participate in the most recent playtest, and neither did SRM from what I could tell, and both were BARELY active in the ACG playtest.

I guess I should amend what I said to state that compared to any other company I have seen, the amount of feedback is astounding. I also feel that the level of negativity on the forums over the past two years has been much higher than normal. I have seen some people try to have reasonable discussions regarding criticisms of PF, but I have also seen a lot of complaints without anything constructive being said. If I ran a company and a (relatively) few of my customers were upset, but the vast majority are happy (based on the continued success of sales) I would probably refuse to engage the negativity at all. The fact that Paizo does engage with this population at all is, frankly, amazing to me.

I'm not sure anymore. I like building characters, I like actually playing. But I'm souring on Paizo. The breakwater moment was the ACG, a product so far from being ready for publication, it's not even funny. That they then took f@$!ing forever to finish the book is literally a crime. As in, if Paizo were headquartered in my country, I would have sued them for a refund for the book and probably won. When they finally finished the book, they went way overboard with the nerfhammer and destroyed every new martial concept coming out from the book.

Then there's the way that the Paizo writers continue to suck at game design, refuse to learn anything, and refuse to engage with the fans because we say mean things about them on the internet.

EDIT: Having read another post about language templates, I have to put my finger on it: The Paizo writers are sloppy. There's no word that better describes what they do wrong.

You do realize how ironic you are being when you state that the developers refuse to engage with fans on a forum put up by Paizo and paid for by Paizo? The developers are on these forums constantly. They very often engage with fans about criticisms. I think you mean that you don't agree with their design choices, and, well, you have that right. I don't like every decision Paizo has made in regards to Pathfinder, but I have always found the developers to be sincere in their explanations about what they did and why they did them.

I hate auto correct

I love RAI. I love that the rules as written can be interpreted for my game the way I and my players them to exist. I love hat not every rule s so set n stone and that my nterpretation of the role matters.

I don't think anyone mentioned the Rot Grub or even worse, the rot grub SWARM. Shudders and asks for warm milk.

Dot

I like it a lot. I do wonder if the bump to AC is too much though. Maybe 11instead of 13.

I have gone to a 5e-pathfinder hybrid. I use the 5e rules for the players and for basic monsters. I use pathfinder stats for major encounters to give it a more epic feel. So far, it has been fun. Adventure Paths have become more challenging.

Legendary Games.

A filigree swarm.

I had to read that twice before I realized it wasn't an erotic body part! Stick to common words people. Fancy words don't equal superstar.

yep. Had a Bevis chuckle when I saw it.

I just saw an item with an Anime effect I love. And I don't especially like Anime. Well done.

Dot

I think I'm alone here but if your item isn't formatted properly (no bold, italics, pieces missing such as cost or slot) I don't even read it. To me that says you didn't read the rules and submit what was asked which does not make for a good designer. Next I look to make sure that the item uses terms that actually exist in the game, after that I look for cohesive theme and symmetry. At that point I pretty much always have a winner.

I don't disagree with you, and I think following the rules is important, but I guess I personally am looking for the inspiration that makes the rules feel awesome.

boldstar wrote:

I am going "rule of cool" first. I am interested in what the idea is and whether it wow's me. Then readability. Formatting is a tie breaker. Price doesn't concern me so much cause that is something that can be learned.

As "rule of cool" is frequently used as a cheap excuse to either break rules, or break balance, it gets little truck with me.

For me, rule of cool is used as a tie-breaker between two otherwise well-built items.

I understand what you are saying, but I really think you didn't understand me. When I say "rule of cool", I am not talking about power level at all. I am looking for submissions that made me feel like I did when I was 8 years old and my brother described an ogre charging my character for the first time. I am not looking at the submissions as finished products. I am looking at them to see who can make me say "Wow". An editor can help a new designer to follow the rules. An editor cannot help a designer have an amazing imagination.

I am going "rule of cool" first. I am interested in what the idea is and whether it wow's me. Then readability. Formatting is a tie breaker. Price doesn't concern me so much cause that is something that can be learned.

Heh, read the title as "blushing rouge". Got REALLY confused

String, not Syring

Six Syring Samurai

Good luck all.

Submitted for the first time. Good luck to all.

I think the easiest solution is to allow fighters and monks to move and full attack.

I first read this as "optimize a hubcap." Oh well...

Old "Grimtooth" trap. A room with 16 foot deep plush carpet.

And Ovulsion is correct. It was updated in the DSM4tr

Just checked your link, and I believe you missed the rest of the diagnosis from the DSM4
Included it as I don't know how to link.

[The following is from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM IV]
(I) Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:
(A) marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction
(B) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
(C) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interest or achievements with other people, (e.g.. by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)
(D) lack of social or emotional reciprocity
(II) Restricted repetitive & stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:
(A) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
(B) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
(C) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
(D) persistent preoccupation with parts of objects

(III) The disturbance causes clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

(IV) There is no clinically significant general delay in language (E.G. single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years)

(V) There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction) and curiosity about the environment in childhood.

(VI) Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia."

boldstar wrote:

You might see one or two of these issues in an average convention goer, but all three are less likely than you might think.
Yes, different people who have been diagnosed with ASD may show these symptoms more or less, but all three are present.

Thats narrower than other definitions I've seen. Linky

(II) Restricted repetitive & stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:

(A) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
(B) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
(C) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
(D) persistent preoccupation with parts of objects

Yes, but now that Aspergers I has been swallowed up by Autism in the DSM5, that broader ASD definition applies.

Sorry Wolf if I came on strong. I am just really passionate that appropriate treatment is received as soon as possible, and get nervous when people talk about how Aspergers or other ASDs isn't really any different than a gamer geek... It felt like you were belittling a disorder that can be really debilitating.
Again, sorry. I think I over reacted

Treat, not tear...

And psychiatry has little to do with ASD. Only the French actually use psychoanalysis to tear ASD. the gold standard is based in behaviorism.