cpt_machine's page

I got WLD and didnt enjoy it at all, too much wandering through mazes and empty rooms to find something intresting to do and the quality of the product (in my opnion) is below parr.

While a 'sandbox' is great in theory, a level based system like pathfinder isnt friendly to the idea unless the bad guys level with the PCs.

I would advise against using APs, they are a very linear form of gaming (not there is anythign wrong with that, my group are loving RotRL at the moment) but for such an open world game just stick with your own stuff, maybe cherry pick certain elements from different adventure, like set pieces or plot ideas. However overall I think the money would be wasted on you if your group dont like to follow the breadcrumbs that have been laid before them.

Simply changing the wording from free action to swift action fixes the issue and makes it work as intended.

I remeber this topic of conversation coming up around the table when I was trying to find a presitge class for my fighter and couldnt find one I liked, I realised that the fighter given its massive amount of aviable feats is basically its own custom built presitge class.

ahh so great minds do think alike :)

Just a quick note to say I am playing through the old pathfinder adventure paths with the new rules and having a blast. I'm really loving the rules and the world our games not occupy.

I got to thinking you have producted a whole pile of monsters for your adventure paths but these monsters are very useful for making home brew adventures set in simliar areas and with the new pathfinder finally out I was thinking, maybe collect the monsters from the pathfinder magazine and update them to match the new rules.

It could be a pdf or even print version and it would be nice to collect all this information in one place, for those who love the world but dont want to by the magazine.

Just a though...

I tried it RAW, the casters in the party got frustrated. Added a feat that let them reroll a failed attempt. Neither caster was thrilled but are willing to give it another try. I was tempted to remove the x2 to spell level, but figured the added feat still keeps it difficult but allows a determined caster to learn to do it more safely just never completely safely. I might add in a feat to counter the one that allows melee to follow the caster during his free 5 foot step, a bit of an arms race I know, but I want them to be able to do something if they are willing to devote themselves to it. Think of all the meta magic feats they are passing up to do this, I think it's somewhat balanced.

Why was he getting frustrated? yes the DC is a little higher but it does mean your not going to auto pass anymore, if you want him to auto pass just ignore the rule but be prepared to have spellcasters running rampant and your melee will be very frustrated.

If you spellcasters are in melee, ask yourself why? a good spell caster will do everything in his power to avoid that and the rest of the group should help to. This issue is far more than mechanics, its how the game is played. I used to group with a lad who though charging in with his wizard was a good idea, he didnt last...

As for concentation, yes its almost like having max skill, no you dont get the +3 but you do get you related stat (which is usually +3/+4 depending on your stats) and you dont have to stack Constution which concentration used dto go off of to get any other bonus.

I personally feel this is very fair, its really does urk me to see people houseruling the crap out of a brand new game because people are unflexible to new ideas.

I like it, very well done.

Why do you have to explain it, its magic!

Last knight, I'll respond the question because I think I think equal to the one you asked:

There can be magical items that are simply evil because they are made with evil spells. If you really follow the way you are leading, there aren't evil spells, just evil uses for spells. A magic item, if you think deeply, can't really be "evil". But it has a tainted aura, it was created with evil spells and (supposedly) with evil rites and such things.

In my way of thinking, a creature without inteligence can't be evil. But it's a creature. This extends only to creatures. it's not an exercise of applying this way of thinking to extremes. If it was, you couldn't even have evil rocks, evil doors and such things. This sounds really dumb, evil doors or rocks, but there could be. They're probably magical too. But I believe that the rock being evil (hehe) just means that it has an evil aura, no that the rock wants to kill babies...

For me, mindless creatures won't ever be evil. Creating an undead may be UNNACEPTABLE because this taints the sacred death and this kind of thing, but isn't to be something EVIL. A cleric could raise a dead ox to help the farmers with the harvest. They would look strange, and wouldn't trust it, but then, the ox isn't evil per se. It's a construct. A thing.

A magical evil item isn't a thing? It is. But it's evil because it was created with an evil spell.

There are many evil spells that don't use negative energy, and they should still be evil. There are some that destroy and kill but shouldn't be more evil than a fireball!

And in my opinion, a spell shouldn't be evil just because it uses negative energy.

My two cents.

You sir need to play my Ravenloft game, where evil is evil, for the sake of being evil and spells and items can be evil.

Come swim in the evil, it tastes like broken dreams and made of negative energy.

Did I mention the evil?

Because Negative Energy is made of Dead Puppies.

Just about to start a new pathfinder game using the older adventure paths (that were written for 3.5), not sure if this has been asked yet but what xp speed should I be using to make sure that the PCs are actually at the required level at the required time?

Uh, actually, I hated the old Power Attack, and I even used it in a game.

Someone did some pretty crazy math, and found there was a sweet spot to using Power Attack if you knew your own attack bonus and what your opponent's AC was. It's not hard to find that AC number for a monster over a few rounds, and once you do, you could set your Power Attack value to _just_ the right amount to maximize hitting and damage. And yeah, using that made a gigantic difference.

Trouble was, you basically had to carry around a little spreadsheet of crib notes with you, and I hated the fact that my 'doesn't care to bathe, or to think too hard' barbarian really had to do a lot of math in his head if he was going to be effective.

The new Power Attack preserves the spirit of what the feat is supposed to do, and makes choosing to use it rather simpler. I'm in favor.

hear, hear!

I'm going to be cheap and say both.

I was tired of 3.5 and found I was playing it less and less so the rules brought me back, if was while I working with beta I picked up pathfinder and loved the new setting, had I not encountered it I would have most likly just played Scarred Lands again.

I find they come as a very nice package.

I'm gonna wait and see. It works pretty well for 2-handers, and gives one more minor benefit to sticking with your melee class for 20 levels.

That and the extra 20 hp.

I'll be running the new pathfinder next week and I'll be running it from the book, I like the new powerattack, its not pointless anymore as it was only really used after stacking modifers or fighting high level monsters with low AC, alot of the high end stuff has really high AC so Power Attack was never used, it was just seen as a gate-way feat to bigger and better feats.

Under Piazos stewardship, dragon printed an article on 'paladins' of other alignments, just take that article (if you can find it) and just adapt the rules. Basically it boiled down to a slightly different spell list and smite good, not evil.

When I run Ravenloft the party is always human, and I enjoying having them encounter sithcus elven ranger with hatred for humans, it always stings.

I would like to see an adventure path or a set of modules set in a mega-dungeon setting. A full throtle dungeon delve from level 1 to 15.

I second this, something big and epic like temple of elemental evil, in a box set if possible. Something that gets as big an nasty as Castle Maure you did in Dungeon a few years back, I loved that.

1) The removal of Concentration, and the continued existence of Spellcraft.

Not sure if you have bothered to look, concentration is in there but its no longer skill dependent which frees up skill points for casters, how is that a bad thing? Also spellcraft covers so much more than just identifying spells flying at your face.

Pathfinder rocks harder than Metalocalypse, Ted Nuggent, and Manowar holding a benefit concert for PETA and the NRA.

Nothing "SIR" rocks harder than DethKlok, and you should be ashamed to even consider it.

However I really like the balanced classes and races but my biggest improvement was the skill system, a real game killer for my 3.5 game and one of the first things I house ruled to fix.

Given the quality of magic weapons wavered around at end game, 7 attacks at 2d10 damage isnt overpowered. You dont know pain as a GM until a 20th level fighter kills an green wyrm in 2 rounds (by himself) monks wish they could do that.

Why are people so quick to house rule this, my advice is give the books to the players and see what they pick, for most groups your going to see a big take up in the "underpowered race", people need to learn to try the rules before they give them stick, the games not been out long enough for this discussion to carry any merit.

I have very fond memories of playing in FR so I dont like the beating it gets here, for the most part in D&D 2nd and for some of 3rd, FR was the only play to adventure in, sure we could home brew or visit Sigil, Oerth, Ravenloft etc but FR was so cool we never bothered.

However when I wanted to start GMing of course I wanted to do it in FR and was taken aback by the number of material out there and given how t he world was constanly evolving it required a large collection of up to date material to keep i canon, material that was largely out of print :(

As for Glorian, I love the patchwork nature of the world, its supports every fantasy sterotype quite easily while being very intelligent with it. I think the thing that sold me the setting was Geb, which from the outwards appearance was just a country ruled by undead. However looking deeper reveals a very intresting nation ruled by an uncaring tyrant. Normally you would expect that country to be shunded, but Geb has made efforts to be need by its neighbours. Firstly its a very large breadbasket for the region, mindless undead working in fields, not needing the very food they grow, creates a massive surplus of cheap food. Second given the countries proficiency in magic there services are easy to sell and I bet a few nobles have paid large sums to overcome death itself.

So just a small slice of the pie that is Glorian

PS. Sorry for my poor spelling.

Rich2346 wrote:

The bonus is you get your books when it appears other places dont seem to be able to.

Tell me about it. I seriously doubt by now that enough books made it into retail here. I heard that some folks in Germany already have theirs, and all the distributors seem to be out of stock already, so it could be that I get a copy with the next print run, even though I ordered one at my FLGS in June or July. Well, in the meantime I can see if Ulisses really manages to have the translation done by September.

Stefan

Sad but true... I've been trying to get my friends to get their orders in, I dont think they realise the shortage. There are still come copies out there but leg work is requireed.

Fair enough, sounds like you though it through and despite the cost its the best choice for you, well played sir.

To all the UK gamers - Paizo has some Core Rulebooks left after GenCon, this might be your chance to grab it !

sadly the P&P for ordering from Piazo to the UK is quite frankly silly so most dont consider it, this is made worse but the fact we can get deliveries from Chaosium, Noble Knights and Amazon(US) for a fraction of the cost that rubs salt in the wound.

Is there a Paizo UK office by the way? I would love to take out a subscription but once again the P&P makes it impractical.

I don't think that only Esdevium underoredered, but almost everybody did, From Distributors down to Local Stores.

Nope, everybody, including Paizo underestimated the run on that book. I hope that this enthusiasm keeps up and that gamers world wide will order a hell of a big number of copies. Anything to keep Paizo going. ( and maybe in November I get my copy.

Crying.., throwing fits... WHY, WHY, WHY cant it be November already???

Had to correct you but the reports I'm hearing is that the stores have done a fantastic job of drumming up intrest but when they ordered enough copies for everyone intrested plus a few more for the shelves the suppliers are letting them down.

But you are right it does sound like there are simply not enough copies to go around, I understand the desire for Paizo to keep the numbers down, first there is cost and second they are testing the market, under-printing to a business makes sense, however making gamers waiting until November for a reprint is just plain mean, after all if the books sold out you need to get on the phone and make sure more are printed ASAP and keep the book in print.

Ah, so this is happening elsewhere. I picked up my copy from my FLGS just as the owner was unpacking all the copies (our timing is awesome). He was incredibly pissed off as he'd ordered 30 (and triple checked with them days before shipping, as he'd had a load of interest), but Esdevium only sent 8. Since he had 3 definite preorders and 3 of us standing there chomping at the bit to get copies he had only 2 left to put on the shelves. This was Patriot Games in Sheffield, so hardly Manchester or London, but hardly middle-of-nowhere either.

Patriot Games in sheffield nice! I think I was there. To be honest I had a brief stint with Esdevium when I ran a small game shop and I found they had a habit of under estimating the demands of a certain popular product so they ration (rather badly I might add) the good and places like travelling man and leisure games get first dibs due to thier relative customer base.

cpt_machine wrote:

Is this ever going to see print or a pdf only?

There were print copies at GenCon. I believe it was just a limited run for the con and pre-orders, but I recall hearing that it will have a full print run in the fall, releasing in October or November.

Hope it does, looks like it will sell well off the back of the pathfinder name, also I cant stand pdfs, i know alot of people like them but i cant read off a screen, maybe when a good portable pdf reader comes out I will change my mind, until then.

surely there is the demand to keep this in print?

Is this ever going to see print or a pdf only?

I agree that consensus might be hard but I'd like to at least give it a shot. I've DM'd Castles & Crusades and played D&D since the early 80's so I thimk I have a decent grasp of both the history of D&D and an understanding of lite rules systems.

Check out what I have so far and feel free to comment either here or on the messageboard I started for discussing this PF-Lite as I'm referring to it.

I would seek permission from Paizo before publishing such a document, this goes to all those above who have had the same idea, if your going to use the Pathfinder name you really need to ask the owners of that name, even if your just sticking it on your own website for people to download and uploading it to Lulu.com is a massive no-no.

If you want to make your own rules and classes thats cool, you just to need to make sure you include the open gaming licence legal stuff at the back.

You all are missing the point, after years of poor diets and exercise Piazo wants us fighting fit, lifting the book for every rule clarification is like 10 push ups, you get fit while gaming... genious.

cpt_machine wrote:

joela wrote:

vagrant-poet wrote:

...and its so rarely going to feature in the AP....

Adventure Path? An AP based on psionics? Now that would interest me.

That would be very intresting, however I heard that paizo were going to do Psionics in the future, did I hear wrong?

I was at the Paizo Chat last night.. and I asked James because they have scheduled in 2010..

1.) GameMastery Book
2.) Bestiary 2
3.) Advanced Players Handbook

..all of those three 3 rule books in 2010... would we see Psionics from Paizo in 2011?

He said not very likely. Mind you, as he often reminds me, that is always subject to change.

But I walked away from that with the understanding that there was likely to be no psionics in 2010 or 2011.

Seems like there is a niche there to be filled with anybody with the ambition and desire to fill it.

Well at least he's honest and your right no point rushing out a product when with the open gaming licence someone else can do it justice.

Doodpants wrote:

Both amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com list August 19 as the release date. I'm guessing that there's something about how distribution works that causes these online retailers to get these books later than everyone else. Or perhaps Paizo has intentionally delayed the release date for these online stores so as not to pull sales away from game stores?

No, this hasn't got anything to do with Paizo delaying anything. It's apparently customary for Amazon to release new books on the following Wednesday after the actual release. Vic Wertz said something to that effect elsewhere.

I could be proved wrong but I've been informed that Amazon.co.uk simply havent gotten any of the 2000 units they ordered. This is one of the many reasons I never use them, Amazon have never been upfront with me about anything. While its nice to have cheaper books it really does harm the FLGS, this time the FLGS has come through and I have my pathfinder while (as it appears) Amazon have still yet to dispatch them.

vagrant-poet wrote:

...and its so rarely going to feature in the AP....

Adventure Path? An AP based on psionics? Now that would interest me.

That would be very intresting, however I heard that paizo were going to do Psionics in the future, did I hear wrong?

I do think it was a bad choice to allow specialists to cast spells from opposed schools off of scrolls and wands.

Maybe but it casting from scrolls or wands is highly ineffective compared to casting from memory, however if its an opposed school it does cost twice as much effort, while you can ask for 2 charges per casting on a wand you cant do the same for scrolls (increased cast time maybe?)

Also it means that the wizard is forced to find these items in treasure or pay for their manufacture.

Actually people are. A few had said during the Beta that the paladin being able to gain such bonuses with two weapons was overkill. But rather than change that, they made smite last even longer.

How many players on this forum "whined" when 4th Edition was announced, long before any rule changes were publically announced? Not all changes requiring playtesting to see their effects. If I house-ruled that fighters gain a +20 bonus to their damage rolls every level, I could easily just say "play test it" to anyone willing to argue as well. While the smite isn't as extreme as my example, you get the picture, it is possible to see problems with rules before playing, so don't act like it isn't.

Thanks for taking part in the Beta, thanks to people like you we have a nice rounded game, sadly your observation that Smite was overpowered was sadly drowned out by the hundreds of people who compared the ability to mass-feats(fighters) or rage(barbarians) and found the rule lacking. Now we have an ability that allows paladins to go toe to toe with the big bads of the Pathfinder/D&D world. Something they couldnt do as well as others until now.

Sadly your +20 damage fighter/playtest example misses the point, we ACTUALLY did the play test, what we hold in our hands is the product of input from some of the best games writers in the business backed up by thousands of suggestions and reports from players around the world. Does that mean that your paladin was overpowered in your game, maybe? But the reason why playtest have to be more than one group is to see how different GM and players approch the same rules set.

Granted there is a certain amount of being able to predict how a rule will react with the rest of the game (thats how Beta was written) but again your example shows the errors of extremes. We saw some classes get massive improvements and now they have been toned down to bring them in line with other classes, the paladin in beta was hardly changed from 3.5 and suffered because of it, the extra damage is welcome at my table and it seems piazos writing staff agree.

To conclude, if you dont like it, house rule it. That keeps the more creative people happy. The rules arent going to change anymore any time soon.

With all due respect, I have a Paladin and Barbarian (both 12th level) in my party now. It's true that the Paladin rocks when facing his preferred opponents, but only than. Also, in terms of raw damage against multiple opponents, Barbarian fares much better (criticals plus higher strength score).

Key points one has to remember when building Barbarian:
- ability bonuses are of morale type now, feel free to use magic items
- use your great mobility to your advantage - Power Attack, Cleave, Vital Strike are your friends
- Strength Surge, Fearless Rage and Clear Mind are there to make sure you don't get eliminated

Given these, it's no wonder that our Barbarian is like a small tornado, dishing between 40 and 120 points per single attack (depends on whether he gets to do a critical). Yes, Paladin can overtake him in a prolonged face-to-face showdown against BBEG, but while dealing with crowds or non-outsider targets, it's the Barbarian who steals the spotlight.

Regards,
Ruemere

Thanks for this report, it shows the issues that paizos website suffers from at the moment, no one is playing the game enough yet to really comment on the changes. Its nice to see the people (above) actual use the rules instead of crying about changes.

At least this is isnt the Cleric forum post, those guys can whine. What is funny to me is the amount of people who a) havernt got the new rulebook yet feel they know enough to comment & b) havernt played the new ruleset yet.

I only have the first on but it was chock full of monsters that never made the cut to 3rd edition from second, they do have a very second edition feel to them too and are very creative.

Went once years and years ago, sadly it will be a fair few years before I can go again unless the location changes.

I will be there for sure, I love big cons but with GenCon being as far south in the UK as humanly possible I am unable to attend that. Should be a good year to butt up with the UK Games Expo.

I'll be putting up a review when I get my hands on it next week, until then I did already do a review of the beta.

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