carborundum's page

Hi folks,
Back dm-ing PF1 after a long break and boy have I forgotten a lot.

I'd like an npc to have a cockatrice in their pocket à la bag of tricks and throw this at the party to distract them. I thought there was a spell that did this but all I can think of is shrink item. I want it to be an item and not have my bad guy be, say, a summoner.

Am I missing something obvious?

Cheers!

With a heavy heart, and very heavy shelves (150+ adventures, 30-odd hardbacks and another 200+ campaign settings and modules) I am resigned to the fact that I will never play a tenth of what I have. I love being a charter subscriber, but no-one in my group can invest in another system in the foreseeable future. The virus has devastated our own incomes, so I'm afraid I must cancel my AP subscription.
I'll buy pdfs when I can, postage to Europe is not getting any cheaper either.

Thank you for all the wonderful products, from Shackled City onwards!

Hi folks,

I'm trailing behind at the minute, sorry. Would you mind splitting this up and just doing 142 first? If you can retry the other three in about three or four weeks I should have the funds for them then.

Sorry for the trouble, folks!

Fingers crossed :-)

I just downloaded the bestiary and went straight to my favourite beasties. I see the demons and devils have Abyssal/ Infernal pact and can have allies, but it's a ritual with "Casting: 1 day"

Does this mean no more SLA allies plopping in?

It's maybe more a DM call than a rule question, but I'm interested in how you folks would call it...

If a caster is concentrating on detect magic and has been for at least three rounds, would they see any change instantly or would that need to propogate for another three rounds?

Specific case: In my Way of the Wicked game:
A familiar was keeping lookout with detect magic on the necromancer's shoulder. The cathedral in front of them was surrounded by magic (forbiddance, hallow, consecrate) and so were the movanic devas guarding it (aid, holy aura). One of the devas then used antimagic field.

Would the familiar (or any caster of detect magic) see a 'hole' immediately, or sense a change first and need to focus for three rounds?

So I've an 11th level evil party, including a vampire and a dread ghoul (Way of the Wicked). I'm thinking of putting them up against a shining child, but need a spot of clarification.

Burning Touch says "A shining child corrupts the positive energy within a living creature into an unnatural burning light." Would undead be immune to this?

Hi folks,

This one didn't go through a while back but since August 31 there has been money reserved on my credit card for it. The reservation seems to have been renewed a few times but the prder hasn't gone through. I mailed on the 9th to check but haven't heard anything back yet.

The current order should be:

Pathfinder Adventure Path #121: The Lost Outpost (Ruins of Azlant 1 of 6)
Pathfinder Adventure Path #120: Vault of the Onyx Citadel (Ironfang Invasion 6 of 6)
Pathfinder Adventure Path #119: Prisoners of the Blight (Ironfang Invasion 5 of 6) (PFRPG)

Could you check it out, please?

Thanks!

Hey folks,

I'm afraid I need to cancel my RPG (hardcover) subscription.
Can you arrange it, please?

Thanks!

Thank you Diego (and everyone else who wrestled with the problem in the last few weeks) for fixing things so I could get my subscription!

It was first my fault, then my banks - but you guys got it sorted, explained it to me and I believe Diego even sprinted to the warehouse to get it shipped before my bank did something stupid again.

I'm very grateful and once again blown away by the excellence. Thank you!

Hi folks,

Due to the usual cashflow problems, I've two pending orders - 3979729 and 4015394. I re-authorized the payment yesterday and a part of 4015394 went through (Horror Adventures - yay!).I'm sure the rest of that order will be along when the system puts it in the queue.

My question is - will 3979729 automatically get reprocessed too? There's no Pending/ Reserved charge on my credit card at the minute.

Thanks in advance!

Hi folks,

I'm afraid I'm going to have to stop my Player Companion subscription. I'll be keeping the other ones going as long as possible :-)

Thanks for your help,

Carb.

Hey folks,

I'm running Way of the Wicked and the party is now 8th level. They've been invited to a birthday party by a Baron. My group want it to be "quite the event" - which modules do you recommend I plunder?

(We once ran Age of Worms so the banquet from The Prince of Redhand has been used already :-) )

Thanks in advance :)

Hi folks,

My payment was declined the first time (insufficient funds) and I just went to reauthorise payment. Instead of an order for $114 I could only authorise for $25.78 - maybe for 1 of the packages?

Will the other package, and order for $88.31, automatically be authorised too? Please do this while I still have funds :-)

Thanks in advance, sorry for the hassle (again)

Hi there,

I had to reauthorise payment for this one as my card was a bit maxed earlier. The order has been split into two parts and is $137 in total. The site would only let me reauthorise one of the two parts, for approx $51 - which is weird.

What can I do to get the rest of the order moving - or was that amount already reserved?

Thanks in advance

Jeff

Seems like there's a cookie monster movie coming. Nice little bookmarklet to let him TAKE OVER THE INTERNETS OMNOMNOMNOMNOM!

(Visit site, drag bookmarklet to toolbar, come back to Paizo, click bookmarklet)

Hi folks,

I'm trying to resubscribe to the Player Companion (start with Champions of Balance) and the Campaign Setting (start with Inner Sea Gods) but I'm stuck in a loop between "Proceed to Checkout" and "Place Your Order". I keep coming back to the shopping cart with the two subscriptions in it.

Could you please resubscribe me to the above, and have the Champions of Balance wait for my next shipment too please?

I'd also like to cancel the Modules please.

Thanks a million!

Just spotted this at Wired - the test video for the ExapndOS is ridiculously amazing! And it's all recycled paper too :-)

LINK

It's almost NaNoWriMo time again, and I'm so excited I can't choose what to write! :-)

I've narrowed my scope down to a Young Adult contemporary thriller/horror and that's as far as I've got. In my dreams it's a Charles Stross/ Cory Doctorow/ Neal Stephenson crossover. In reality it'll end up like Stephen King meets Dr. Seuss but anyway :-)

Can the Paizo overbrain churn out some ideas for me to riff off?

Oh - and don't forget to sign up for NaNoWriMo yourselves :-D

Hi folks,
Unfortunately I will have to cut back on spending again, and I'd like you to cancel my Campaign Setting subscription. If possible, I'd like that to include removing Towns of the Inner Sea from my order 2811789.

Hopefully I can start it back up fit Xmas :-)

Thanks for your help,

Jeff.

EDIT*** (Might help someone else with similar problem)

Emptied my cart, logged out of the site, logged back in, everything worked. No more panic - thanks :-)

*************************************

Hi folks,

I've been trying to order a Core Rulebook Messenger Bag (for immediate shipment, rather than with my subscription) but the Place Your Order button won't work. The payment method (usual card) and postage (standard postal delivery) are all selected and ... nothing. the button is sort of grey.

Can you help please, before they're sold out!

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

Hi folks,

I have a pending subscription packed with Mythic goodness (and WAR art :-D). I just bought the Rappan Athuk hardback + pdf bundle and asked for it to ship with the next subscription, figuring I have enough to read already!

The lure of the new is very strong, however, so if it's possible I'd love for you to send Rappan Athuk along with the pending order. If it's too late, then please wait until the next subscription.

Relevant info:
Pending order #2663364
Rappan Athuk order #2727121 and #2727143 (bundle)

Thanks for your help,

Jeff

Hi folks, would you mind cancelling my player companion subscription? I'm renewing my modules subscription but can't afford both!
Thanks for your help :-)

The funds have been saved up - please process the order for my Runelords Deluxe uberbook at your earliest convenience! (And before some bill or other nibbles the funds away!)

Thanks very much, and Happy New Year!

Jeff

My daughter is almost two an dloves jumping up and down. I think she'd love being copied by an avatar and have a great time playing stuff like that Double Fine game where you jump around bursting balloons.

Does anyone have any experence of this? And do you know if I can buy a second-hand one, or are they all registered and non-transferable or whatever?

Thanks folks :-)

Ken at popehat.com has a thing about ponies. I thought that might amuse a number of our regulars here.

Popehat is (technically) a legal blog but is also a great read, with plenty of erudite rants alongside the amusing/ surprising legal war stories. When companies spam or send unsolicited offers, they frequently get rebuffed in interesting (rathr than rude) ways.

For example, his referencing of the LUUUPV - Level of Unjustified Uncontrollable Unacceptable Pony Violence.

Enjoy, and add it to your RSS feed of choice.

Hi folks,

I'd like to stop my Player Companion and comic subscriptions for now. I'm sure this will be temporary but I need to pare down my spending a little, and I can stand to lose those the easiest.

I'd also like to postpone my UBER-Runelords 'til the end of December. Once the Christmas 'bonus' lands I'll be able to buy that bad boy. I'm not sure of the best way to work this second request. Please let me know what works best for you guys - delay until I say go?

Thanks in advance

Jeff

Folks, I'm going for the big bad boy. Please cancel my mere bad boy - the Runelords hardback.
I put it in a sidecart, hopefully my regular subscription will fit in the same cattle truck :-)

Thanks!

LOL - great little article on the Alexandrian

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is a novel written using the English language. It was written by J.K. Rowling, who has also written several other novels.

As far as the novel goes, it has a nice cover featuring a picture of Harry Potter on a broom. It wraps-around fully and even goes onto the inside flaps...

CLICK FOR THE REST

I'm struggling to get ready for the next two months and don't want to cancel any of the subscription stuff or the ROTRL hardback. This token gesture is a start, and the first thing I though of.
Can you also tell me if it's possible to delay a few items by a month or so? (That may be necessary but not yet.)

If you can, please cancel Order 2105942 Pathfinder Module: Dawn of the Scarlet Sun (PFRPG) Print Edition

Thanks in advance

Just heard that and it hit some sort of nerve. Brrrrrr!

EDIT: From George Takei's Facebook >LINK<

Would you consider changing the blog page to just having one entry, followed by a link to older posts? When browsing the blog with my phone it becomes incandescent as it loads a whole bunch of images. I like to see the pic for the new blog entry but can only see it if I load a months worth of pics. Clicking on an ineresting thread on the right takes an inordinate amount of time since the phone wants to finish rendering the blog page first.
All minor problems, I just wonder if there's anything you can do to help?

Thanks in advance!

Fascinating stuff, I'm looking forward to the next installment!

And would you believe I hadn't seen the letter pi in the golem until now?!

Well, my group has decided to ... storm Taboo Island. They went right up to the front door and met the (projected) wastrilith. They'd already chased it off once (Khala had to teleport it away after it was level-drained and stunned).

It stunned a few with a Blasphemy and sicced a water elemental on them before spamming dispels to try and find the three greater invisible pinpricks who were hurting it.

The wizard, polymorphed with claws of the werebear active, stunned it back and dimensional anchor'd it, and it took a lot of full attacks before slipping underwater. Khala dispelled the dim. anchor and the wastrilith dove, followed by the invisible, freedom of movement-ed uber-buffed wizard.

Above ground, two arrow demons crashed into the wall of force blocking the steps, and the (now all greater invisible) party moved in to kick their asses. The wizard let rip with a claw/ claw/ bite to the wastrilith and Khala ended up taking matters into his own hands. He swapped places with the wastrilith just before the final, fatal bite and his gaze terrified the poor arcanist who promptly used celerity to dimension door to the rest of the party.

Three skinwalker fighters and a skinwalker acolyte arrived to support the beleagured arrow demons and that's where we had to stop.

So - what do you guys think?
Will Khala surface and fight, or keep himself and his powers secret for now?
Will he have, say, the Hezrou teleport in to support the skinwalkers?
Something new and funky?

All ideas welcome - I want to beat the players off for their brazen full-on assault. They've only ever retreated once in 14 levels, and Khala seems like a good candidate for number two :-)

I am loving this story! Thank you, James - I like having something to look forward to :-D

Beta video on youtube - it's like the old Dungeon Master game that I bought an Atari ST for back in the old days :-)

LINK

I've been thinking about this and reading all the old threads, so I thought it was time to chuck it out there.

How about changing the bow to do lines of lightning? I'm thinking you shoot an arrow and it becomes a 4d6 line lightning as it reaches the target, then continues as a 60 foot line. Reflex DC... oh, 18?

I'd make this a standard action power of the bow to avoid too much spamming of energy damage. Still a bit of a mooksweeper and a nice weapon for the 2nd archer. (The first is never letting the outsider bane bow go!)

What do you think?

Is the price correct? It seems the same as the mint version, you see.

So I stole Mr Pett's idea of the Necklace of Lovelies and dropped it into my Savage Tide game, strung around the neck of the disguised Jujalimus in the fake Noltus Innersol attack.

The Dragon Shaman breathed acid on the beast and it activated the necklace. Cue tiny screams and a red furry neck. The pixies, now awake, begin to scream and beg. "Please don't hit it again! Pleeaassee!"

The Lawful Good party fighter proceeds to spend four rounds pummeling the beast into the dirt, earning the deaths of four more pixies and ignoring their increasingly shrill screams and then tears.

The player says if he gave in to blackmail he could never fight evil.

I think he's due at least a few nightmares. What about you guys?

My credit card is out of date and I have activated a new one. I updated my details here but was not asked for the secret code/ verification number thing. Will this happen when you go to process my next subscription?
(It's different from the previous card you see.)

In my game, I replaced the Kopru with illithid, to great effect. Especially once they were mounted on Destrachan and accompanied by Dweomercats :-)

Anyhow - I'm prepping CoBI, where the players have fought off Xerkamat's first attack, deep in the jungles of Taboo Island. It's just dawned on me that Khala is very, very, very Kopru-like. How would you change him if you wanted to make him a two-headed Illithid-aspect?

And, artists, what would he look like?

Hi folks,

Would you mind delaying this order to the end of the month please? I'll have the funds ready for the 31st but if you'd prefer a new request to process the order I'll be happy to do that instead.

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the hassle

mumblemumble...stupid...leaky...roof...mumble...mumble

Iĺl be running this next weekend and wondered if anyone had converted the statblocks to PFRPG. I suddenly have less (almost none) prep time than expected.

Would someone please talk me through the following situation and explain the rules and options?

What happened at the end of our last game is now causing unrest. We played a little too far and ended up leaving it at a point that we would have been better dealing with there and then. The (13th level) party removed the caked in blood on an alter, revealing a symbol of death. The symbol activated and killed the (greater invisible, flying) spellthief above it.

Cue calls of "What a cliffhanger!" and "Got to go, the wife will kill me!"

So now the players have 2 weeks to think of loopholes to change the outcome, and that's rather tricky. Five guys + the internet is not the same as 5 guys imagination in the heat of the moment.

The trickiest suggestion is that of the wizard, who suggests that as a Diviner with the Forewarned ability, he could act in the surprise round. He has an arcane version of the status spell and knows the instant the spellthief dies. This "acting in the surprise round" could either be before the trap - whereby he could do all sorts of stuff or straight after - whereby he would try tricky stuff via Limited Wish.

I'm fine with him acting immediately after the trap and helping out - I'm a little unsure of the order of actions if the trap becomes a thing acting in a surprise round and needs an initiative count.

So, if someone could talk me through traps, surprise, initiative and Forewarned - I'd be very grateful.

I really want the beginner box - for completeness' sake - but with a new baby I can't really justify it. I won't be teaching any new players in the forseeable future either - no time :-)
Plus, I can afford either the box or the postage, basically!

The novels don't really fit in an envelope either, so I'd like to stop them too. For now. That way I can keep getting the other stuff.

Regretfully, I would like to hereby cancel my rpg and novels subscriptions. I'll restart as soon as possible, I hate missing out on stuff :-)

My group is busy in Golismorga, having offed the Devourer and some freaky aboleth servitor/constructs with T2 melty powers. They're torn between the head (guarded by two vemeraks with ethereal phasing instead of earthquake) and the Ziggurat, and I think they're going for the head first. N'glothnoru was VERY persuasive, the silver-tongued pragmatic devil.

I've been prepping the Ziggurat just in case and have hit a speedbump. Is the inside big enough? I remember the first boss fight, way back in Sasserine, where Rowan Kellani's office was way too small for a fun combat.

The outside is 140 feet wide, and inside half that. Adding a bit more depth between levels I could easily make all those 5' squares 10' squares. More room, more bad guys, more actions for me :-)
What do you folks think?

Caveat: No Kopru, but Mind Flayers. No Behemoths but advanced Gugs.

I'm thinking of having patches of black tentacles in Ulioth's chamber, which ignore him. This will replace the terrain effects of his flooding the chamber, and if someone is grappled by them he can try to extract their brain with his dual actions. Mwahahahaha!!!

But anyway - is bigger better, or should I keep it cramped?

When you're statting up monsters or NPCs do you have a custom document style that you use? Do you use the Paizo statblock? Something much more superficial?

An example - here's the version I'm currently using for "pimped" monsters. I can usually find everything pretty quickly on it but I'm not happy yet. What about you folks?

I got a tattoo-of-my-choice as a birthday present from my girlfriend and have a sketching appointment next week with the artist. Problem is - I have NO IDEA what to get.

It'll be my right shoulder, that's for sure. But... what?
A d20 on a Games Workshop black sun, surrounded by Paizo goblins?
An anchor, a mermaid and the name of my just-born daughter?

The guy doesn't do stuff out of books, and refuses cliché work... which means I need to show up with some decent ideas and sketches, so we can work them out and decide on a final design.

You guys got any ideas?

On my PC I alternate between Chrome and Firefox, and the boards work. On my (Android) HTC Desire the basic browser displays the forum-collapse triangles but my browser-of-choice, Dolphin HD, does not.
Do you have any idea what setting I would need to tweak to get the triangles in that browser?

I toyed with posting it in the Tech forum, but ended up choosing this one. Hope I got it right :-)

On Wednesday we became parents! We didn't know what it would be and it turned out to be a daughter - totally gorgeous, complete with the full complement of appendages, plenty of hair and even eyebrows!

Say hi to Isobel! Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Best thing is - Wednesday night is games night, so she's obviously going to be a gamer! ;-)