cibet2's page

In my mind, D&D is a Medieval-flavored fantasy game.

Agree 100%. Plate mail and swords type stuff. NO guns, that's what magic is for.

A good example is the "Lumber Consortium" from Darkmoon Vale.

The "Lumber Consortium" issue doesn't bother me so much, but I see your point. I think this is just using more modern semantics for the readers benefit. As a DM I do it all the time: "This shop is like a Home Depot." Now all the players know exactly what I mean.

The second item I'd like to critique is the art. Most of it is GREAT and I really appreciate the consistent look and feel across the board. I do not, however, personally care for the Final Fantasy-sized swords that many of the people carry! Again, I suppose the need to separate yourselves from all that came before is paramount, but here is one reader who'd favor a toned...

Agree nearly 200%. I have never understood this "Giant Sword-Pointy Armor" thing that has become almost the norm in fantasy RPG art. I am a bit of an old-schooler so I never saw the Final Fantasy inspiration until you mentioned it (never played any of those games). I believe the art work should be more realistic. Weapons, armor, magic items, should look like things people make, use, and carry around. Who would carry those giant swords around all day? Who would make a sword like that, why use all the extra metal for those goofy flanges? Ho do you store or even don those massive pointy armors?

We have all this great discussion about staying away from the Anglo-Male iconic characters, then finally start doing so by introducing a more varied cast of characters, only to pollute it with unrealistic art work to depict them. It's like were saying "only in a fantasy world would we see this mix of people working together so lets make everyone look FANTASTIC, big swords for everyone!"

Personally what I want to see in the artwork is lifelike people with gritty realistic visages and equipment. Think "Alien/Aliens" versus "Star Trek". I don't mean in story or writing just set pieces. The sets in Alien looked used, worn, and dirty. In Star Trek everything looks hospital clean, like no one ever touches it.

The FANTASTIC artwork I am seeing now does not look like those people ever do any adventuring. It looks like they stand around and pose all day, even when they are actually adventuring they just pose next to equally FANTASTIC monsters, who are posing. I want to see armor cut, swords knicked, wounds bandaged, shields dented, all in realistic proportions. I want to see warriors winded and bent over and bloody after a battle. I want to see wizards spent with fingers taped and blistered. I want to see rouges with permanent wrist scars from time spent in shackles.

This is not about showing violence or blood at all. Think about your vacation pictures from when you went somewhere exotic or in the outdoors. See the mud on your shoes? The dirt on your clothes? It looks like you DID something. Now think about the pictures in a catalog for outdoor equipment. Do those people look like they DID anything? Who sets a tent up like that? See what I mean? I want to see the adventurers own photo albums, not the L.L. Bean catalog of adventuring gear.

Trent Slabaugh wrote:

You might want to check out the Pathfinder Wiki

You beat me to it! But yes, the wiki is world specific, and while it links back here for users to purchase products or get more info, it's not a store at all.

Thanks for the Wiki info, I've seen it before. It's not really what I am looking for. I was hoping for an Official Pathfinder portal from Paizo that was about the game/setting itself, not about making store purchases with some forums to discuss the products (as the Paizo site is today).

I was hoping for a site that has official content from the publishers in the theme of the setting. Basically like a Dragon magazine portal but specifically for Pathfinder/Golarion. A few years from now, once Golarion is an entrenched RPG setting, it would be nice to be able to go to a portal that is official for updates on things like the current time line and events, where the novels fit into the setting(if any are published), maps on where the adventure paths take place...you know all the typical geeky setting stuff.

Does Paizo plan to create a new website that is more of a "Pathfinder/Golarion" portal and less of a "storefront"? I would like to eventually see a Pathfinder site that is for and about the game and setting and not one combined with the actual Paizo storefront.

Maybe this was already discussed but I was wondering if the name "Pathfinder" was inspired by the Jeff Long book "The Descent". I couldn't help but notice "Pathfinder" (with the capital "P) was used to describe one of the characters in the first chapter. I also read on the forums that "The Descent" was one of James Jacobs recommended books.

I appreciate the discussion and pride of having a diverse set of iconics with regard to gender and race. But I would suggest designers and DMs keep this in mind when coming up with NPCs or BBEG's in adventures: If you expect the players (the vast majority of which are male) to engage in a high intensity melee with an NPC or BBEG use males in lieu of a females. Read on for my explanation...

In the past BBEG's tended to be almost exclusively male. Today we are seeing more and more female BBEG's. I have noticed a trend in the groups I have played/DMed with that when a bunch of male players are faced with a female BBEG the group in general tends to pull their punches when it comes to actual fighting. As men, we are universally trained not to physically confront women (obviously a good thing) but in the RPG world this inherent traning takes away from what would normally be an epic and bloody melee.

Tactically speaking there is no reason for this since according to the rules (any of your choice), a male "fighter/melee" type of BBEG is identical to a female "fighter/melee" type of BBEG. However, the social stigma of "hitting girls" for lack of a better term, tempers the behavior of the male group of players at least subtly and sometimes drastically. There is much less perceived honor in a male besting a female in a physical confrontation then a male besting another male. To the point where some male players are actually uncomfortable engaging in melee with a female adversary. For many men this just FEELS wrong and they are at the very least hesitant to do so.

So if you expect an epic battle at the end of an adventure or encounter and you want your male dominated (or exclusive) group of players to feel comfortable controlling their PCs in a bloody physical contest, try to limit the number number of female "bad guys".

I think this would speed up game play because it would allow DMs to design skill challenges that certain "Titles" could defeat or do faster just by having enough ranks. Some examples:

Skill Challenge: Find Some Piece Of Planes Info
Success: Knowledge (Planes) DC 10 or Expert Level for automatic success
Duration: 1d4 hours for Novice or lower, 1d10 minutes for Expert or higher
Explanation: An "Expert" (11-15 ranks) in Knowledge(Planes) would automatically be able to find this piece of information in < 10 minutes, while others spend considerably more time and may not find it at all.

Skill Challenge: Jump over obstacle, grab a rope, swing to other side
Jump Check DC 10 or Expert Level for automatic success
Balance Check DC 10 or Expert Level for automatic success
Rope Use Check DC 10 or Master Level for automatic success
Duration: 3 rounds
Explanation: An Expert Jumper and Balancer would breeze through the first two pieces of this challenge but would still need to roll the final piece. A Master Rope User would have no problem with the swing at the end but might still need to make the Jump and Balance Checks.

Skill Challenge: Detect an Ooze hiding in the ceiling 20ft above
DM makes this check in secret for the players(s)
Success: Knowledge (Dungeoneering) Novice: No chance, Expert: DC10 + HD of Ooze, Master+: Automatic
Duration: 1 free action
Explanation: An Expert Dungeoneer may notice something about the room (like a smell or presence of a slime) that would give away the presence of the Ooze. A Master Dungeoneer would definitely notice something.

I would like to see skill ranks have meaning in addition to die roll bonuses. This would reward players that choose to add ranks to skills and could speed game play as well.

For example:

Skill Ranks/Skill Title
0/None
1-5/Novice
6-10/Advanced
11-15/Expert
16-20/Master
21+/Epic

Some very simple Skill Title bonuses:

Stealth Title Bonuses:
Novice:
None

Advanced:
-2 penalty for moving at greater than half speed (instead of -5).

Expert:
No penalty for moving at greater then half speed.
Can (if he so chooses) automatically take a 10 with no penalty on opposed Perception checks from non-expert (10 or less ranks) sources.

Master:
Can (if he so chooses) automatically take a 20 with no penalty on opposed Perception checks from non-expert (10 or less ranks) sources.
Can (if he so chooses) automatically take a 10 with no penalty on opposed Perception checks from non-master (15 or less ranks) sources.

Epic:
Can (if he so chooses) automatically take a 20 with no penalty on opposed Perception checks from non-master (15 or less ranks) sources.
Can (if he so chooses) automatically take a 10 with no penalty on opposed Perception checks from non-epic (20 or less ranks) sources.

Knowledge (Dungeoneering) Title Bonuses:
Novice:
None

Advanced:
Can attempt to detect the presence of an Ooze within 30ft (DC10 + HD of Ooze)

Expert:
Can attempt to detect the presence of an Ooze within 60ft (DC10 + HD of Ooze)
Can attempt to detect the presence of an Aberration within 30ft (DC10 + HD of Aberration)

Master:
Can automatically detect the presence of an Ooze within 30ft
Can attempt to detect the presence of an Aberration within 60ft (DC10 + HD of Aberration)
Can automatically bypass damage reduction of an Ooze during combat with HD <= Character Level

Epic:
Can automatically detect the presence of an Ooze within 60ft
Can automatically detect the presence of an Aberration within 30ft
Can automatically bypass damage reduction of an Aberration during combat with HD <= Character Level