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Hello, when my order recently arrived I discovered that the post office had mangled it. It had a plastic envelope stating that it was their fault. Given that you do a lot of shipping, do you know how to file a claim with USPS to replace the order? Or any other recourse? Thanks in advance.
So, this order has been lost in the UPS/USPS somewhere. The customer service people over at the UPS told me to talk to you guys about it. They said you could file a claim on the lost package. So I suppose the real question is where do we go from here? I'm the rare internet user who hasn't had stuff lost in the mail, so I'm not sure what the next step is.
I've had a quixotic desire to run a modern game for ages now, and I have been homebrewing my own personal campaign with elements of both Delta Green and Dark Matter (from the old Alternity game). As you might imagine, this game will be dark, full of intrigue, and loaded with ambiguous motives. A real problem is giving this campaign a set of rules. Modern games don't really have a "default" to run with, and so I can't just default to Pathfinder. Further, I don't have a lot of experience with the settings I'm considering, so balance may be a problem. Especially when I need to add aliens and explosions into the mix. The options I've considered are below: D20 Modern: Well, it's close to the default at least. But bluh, so generic. I'm playing the smart guy, and just like every other class I get extra feats, none of which are deeply interesting. The only thing I like about d20 modern is the wealth system, which is abstract enough to apply to the insanely complicated real life finances. I'm no accountant, and I don't want to need to know the difference in interest rates between a high yield mutual fund and a standard 401k. I have a hunch that whatever else I do, I'll graft the d20 wealth system onto the actual winning system like some hideous Frankenstein Monster. BRP: The system used by Call of Cthulhu, and therefore Delta Green. It's advantage is its simplicity, as you just check to see if you rolled under your skill. The downside: it may be too simple. I've got the same chance of hitting with my gun, no matter if I'm shooting a train or a rat. Plus, the non-combat skills may accidentally create plotline bottlenecks. Like if the next clue requires a physics roll, but no-one can pass the skill check. This is generally managed in other systems, and I'm not sure I can graft those on to fix it. Alternity: I spent a lot of the nineties playing this particular sci-fi proto-d20 system, and I have a great fondness for it. It operates much like d20, except that modifiers are addressed in the form of extra dice. So a +1 is a +1d4. Also, it has three tiers of success for every action. 4 tiers if it is the kind of core clue that must be revealed. Plus, the gun combat is pretty deadly, as it should be. The downsides: it is unbalanced. Dex and Int are the only abilities that matter, and every little thing is based off of skills, most of which are Dex and Int based. Oh, did I mention that skill points are only determined by Int? I'm not sure that I've got the design skills to fix the balance flaws in the system. As a secondary consideration, the game is long out of print, and didn't make a big splash, so I'm not sure I'd be able to find even pdfs for my players to use. (I haven't checked, my hard copies are still alive after all). Gumshoe: The cinematic mystery system. Most of the game's mechanical energy is expended on the finding and understanding of clues. The "action scenes" have an almost non-existent "roll 1d6" method of adjudication. I love (love love) how the investigation works, but I don't think I'd want to be so bare bones on the action, especially in modern day where the PCs can get very high powered weapons very easily. I also don't think I can graft the investigation rules onto one of the other systems here. They tend to be based in very different requirements. I dunno. What would you, the wonderful folks of the boards, do in this situation? Is there another system I haven't considered?
Hello. I just got my copy of Racing to Ruin in the mail, but 16 of the pages in the middle are printed upside down and backwards, and also with the color test strip on some of the pages. Is there anything I could do to get a normal copy?
At the moment I am trying to bang out a quick sidequest for Shadow in the Sky. The PCs could use a little more XP, and I need a little more in-game time because the barbarian caught leprosy and hasn't been hanging around the casino as such. Of course, the next planned event is the raid. My idea was this: A mad priest of Groetus (as if there was any other kind), plagued with visions since the arrival of the blot has found a way to tap the void through the meteor summoning magic. He plans on bringing to Golarion a creature of the void, and has actually succeeded. Now he needs to feed it sacrifices. There is more detail here, in that he hires some people to kidnap victims, and some other to cover it with murders in the style of the Rotgut Ripper, and the real Ripper gets involved, and accidentally gives clues. The problem I have here is finding a suitable creature of the void for the PCs to fight at the end. (I like Shadow in the Sky, but I feel the need for some nonhuman bad guys). At the moment I have penciled in a vasthaunt from MMIII, but it seems a little off. So, what sort of voidy monsters would you include here? Preferably between CR 2 and 4.
This weekend I was able to meet with my group (with whom I had planned an internet campaign) and we kicked off CotCT in grand fashion. Of course, we also wanted to give a good playtest for the alpha rules in the meantime. So, first I will first give a quick overview of the characters, give a bit of narrative focusing on the rules changes, and then give a final report at the end, including a few suggestions that we think might work. Spoiled to keep your screen from bleeding. Spoiler: My PCs included a CG human rogue, a LN human cleric, a LN human Crusader (Book of 9 Swords), a LE elf Transmuter (planning on taking ultimate magus), and a CN gnome Beguiler (also planning on Ultimate Magus, the elf player was pretty annoyed). Some will be annoyed with my allowing non-pathfinder classes in the playtest, I do this for three reasons. 1, I want to see how the new rules affect the old classes, 2, I don’t really want to devalue all these other books that we have bought, and 3, Bo9S characters and beguilers are just plain fun. The Bo9S characters may be getting the banhammer in the future due to their power, but I’ve played them before too, and they are very fun. The only real alternative for a beatstick is to take fighter, see discussion at the end. The more likely alternative is another cleric or a psychic warrior, or some other class that has a lower BAB, but is just as good if not better at kicking ass.
For the purposes of this playtest, none of the NPCs or monsters have been altered under the rules. Next session everyone will have levels and feats in the Pathfinder style. The PCs stormed the fishery with theme music playing and very little resistance. This I believe was an intentional design, as it’s good to give a PC a cakewalk for their first encounter. However, the extra hit points (we used the racial bonus) did come in handy. Giggles hurt the wizard enough that without the extra hp he would have been out, ditto the rogue. The cleric later healed them with a turn attempt, but I personally feel that more staying power at first level is a good thing. The henchmonkeys above disposed of; the PCs started looking to get down. The shark sure made them nervous. Interestingly, gnomes are no longer restricted to burrowing animals to talk to, so they made a deal and distracted the shark with Hookshanks’ body. Once the party had made their way to the underpier the shark promptly forgot the deal, but no one fell in the water after that. The fight with ol’ Gaedren Lamm was complicated by poor PC tactics. The wizard enlarged the crusader outside the door, on the underpier itself. It fell through and cut the spellcasters out of the fight, neither one wanted to jump the hole with strengths of 8 and no ranks. The command spell ended a hostage situation, but most interestingly, the crusader got in a fight with Gobblegut in the meantime. The gator got max damage, which would have knocked him out without the bonus hp. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 3 saves due to the extra hp. This also got to be our first experience with grappling in Pathfinder. Disclaimer: I was one of the few DMs who could actually remember the grapple rules from memory. Running Age of Worms for a year will do that to you. Interestingly, the first victim of the flattened size rules was a PC, not a monster, but whatever. In short, the rules are much more simple, although it felt odd not doing opposed rolls. I really really like making grappled people have the grappled condition. I’m not sure about the flattened size modifiers. On the one hand it makes high level grappling less degenerate, but on the other hand, it costs certain monsters their biggest trump card. Whatever the case at high levels, here there is no real issue. The grapple only lasted one round, and an enlarged crusader is a force to be reckoned with. The Transmuter had taken this as his first opportunity to choose Divination as a banned school, and is finding that it is a pain in the ass. Without Zellara’s Harrow Deck the PCs would never be able to identify stuff, as the Beguiler forgot to take appraise. Of course, he can take it next level, the new skill system encourages it. Still, it’s good to know that you don’t get a real advantage keeping yourself out of divination, even though it’s probably combat optimal. The next actual combat occurred at All the World’s Meat. Unfortunately I have little data for you as everyone in the building was subdued by 2 color sprays and a sleep. Poor warriors and their negative will saves. However, the Raktavarna is even cooler under the new identify. Using the Harrow Deck over and over eventually revealed a 19, high enough that continued failures to identify mean a caster level of 24 on the thing. I was amused, and my PCs are keeping the knife. Knifesies games provided more opportunities to play with CMB. One PC won initiative, and tossed the knife across the room. They then used the grapple rules to try to heave one another around. The crusader won handily again, so we don’t have too much to play with. Perhaps the static DC removes some of the drama that the opposed roll creates. At this point, maxing grapple may be even stronger than it was in normal 3.5. Still too early to see, and hard to test without building a dedicated grappler. The rogue lost initiative and ended up trying to disarm her opponent. He we find that the static DC speeds things up immensely, and we like the duct tape fix on how to make disarming a 2 handed weapon harder without making 2 handed weapons just plain better than (say) rapiers. All in all, a success. We stopped just short of the shingles chase, so there will be more skill commentary next time. I will also start converting NPCs. Except Trinia I guess. So: in short we like most of the new changes. The extra hp keep folks ticking when the DM rolls a fatal 20 at first level, which is absolutely a good thing in our campaign. Your mileage may vary. The CMB seems a little awkward for grappling, but I am one of the rare few who had a good grasp of the earlier grapple rules. The CMB is great for disarming. Cover looks like far too much work for a few minuses on the attack roll. I just eyeballed and gave the normal -4 or -2 to keep from slowing down too much. There are just a few notable problems with the classes. It seems that one of the goals for a few class rewrites was to create incentives for those who choose to stick with a base class, rather than a prestige class. This is fine, but there may be more work to do. Sorcerers still lack a good reason to stay. The flavor is delicious, but the powers and feats gained are pretty minor. Indeed, for most bloodlines the PC can take the three best feats, and then bail on the class without any real problem. The fighter was actually weakened by combat feats. The true advantage of a fighter is that they get a pile of feats, most of which are combat feats now. The problem is, you can only use 1 combat feat at a time. So you can’t spring attack, power attack, overhand chop, and dodge at the same time. Thus a fighter gets to use exactly as much as a rogue does. Sad. What if the fighter gets to use more combat feats in a round as a class feature? It would encourage more levels of fighter, which is always a good thing. Plus, there could be a few more combat feats that only work when combined with other combat feats in a round, creating a special “only fighters can do this” thing. I dunno, just a thought. So far, the changes have been favorable. Next time out we will hit the Shingles, so there will certainly be a bit more skill commentary. At the moment we haven’t had much sign of the changes. Although one PC really digs the +3 thing.
So, this weekend I start running the Curse of the Crimson Throne. Technically, my question falls under the category of "Things that would be answered if I waited another three months," but I'm not really that patient. Besides, why wait to alpha playtest when the alpha period is almost over? When I began my preparations to run CotCT I got hooked on the Hellknights almost immediately. I can understand why they don't really feature in Seven Days, after all, even a hardcore enforcer can't fight the plague with a sword. But today I read my Escape from Old Korvosa and find that the Lictor has pulled them out of the city entirely. Do they ever come back? Chekov once said "if you put a gun on the stage in the first act, it will be fired by the third." If my PCs will never have a real opportunity to get crunched by badasses in platemail, then I shouldn't hype them in the first adventure. I did have a few cool scenes thought up, with three Hellknights facing a mob of fifty and winning, but if they don't show again, this would be a bad play. So what's the verdict? Just drop the hellknights as much as I can? Or use them?
So... My fiancee and I are working on our wedding registry, and we need a place to put our gaming needs on the internet. (We are registering at the FLGS, but not everyone is in town). I couldn't find a registry or wishlist here. Did I miss it, or do you guys not have the capacity?
So, or my RotR campaign one of my PCs decided to play a cleric of the God of Honor. I had not yet detailed this God, so I got down to it and realized I wanted a prestige class with a Code of Honor, not unlike that of the Knight. Then I got to thinking that such a thing shouldn't be limited to characters high-level enough to get in to the prestige class. What if it were a feat that was a prereq for the PrC? A drawback and a (larger) benefit in the same vein as the exalted vows. Here's my first attempt: Code of Honor
The feat grants an immunity to fear, and a +2 on all charisma based skill checks. What do you think? Good enough rewards? Not good enough? Needs extra bits to represent fair play in combat? I crave feedback. Thanks for your help!
Hi there. I am going to be moving here in a few weeks so I went to update my addresses and... there is no update button for Dragon. It says that the ship date is on the same day I move in. It usually takes a few weeks for a mag to get to me, so I'm wondering if there is any way I can get my address changed just for this one last Dragon.
Last night I held the third session of a new campaign, set in a homebrew world that has yet to fully ferment. Our heroes consist of Jonathan Priest, skillful warrior in the service of the Goddess of Love, Harlequin Davidson, a shock-rocker trying to become the most famous musician ever, and Twitch, a Wild Mage (2nd edition style) who was kicked out of his arcane college for accidentally turning the headmaster's familiar into a pink cat. These intrepid heroes met in a small out of the way village where a simple job sent them hurtling back in time. Now they march through the war torn northern provinces of the country, striving to reach Twitch's former academy and plunder its secrets before it will be destroyed by the orcish horde besieging it. Dramatic and serious adventurers these are not. The PCs begin their journey toward the capital and encounter a few nasties out in the rain, but make it safely to a sometimes dangerous old tower that would be a good place to camp. Inside found no beasties, but a soaked and wounded 8 year old girl, fast asleep. They woke the little girl, fed her, clothed her (Harley was much put out by the soiling of a nice cape of his for his stage shows) and wormed a tale out of her. Brutes came to her house in the middle of the night and took away her family. Her mom found a way to distract them and she ran away. One of the brutes chased her but she lost him, and unfortunately herself. The party took the little girl to a village a half-day up the road. The villagers are happy to see her, but they encourage the PCs to find and eliminate the problem, and rescue the girl's mother as well. All of the soldiering types are away fighting in the war, and there is no one left to handle problems like this. After consulting a whiskey drinking ex-miner, the group learned of a mine that opened up to a strange cavern infested with spiders, where an underground lake holds some thing hideous. The party headed off to the mine, and after a quick encounter with the huge flock of bats that live there, they were in the spider caves. The first few were dog sized, and no match for Jonathan, but a misfired cantrip from Twitch caused a plant growth spell to greatly enlarge the harmless lichens on the wall. An omen for how the rest of the expedition would go. After snuffing a large spider that hung on the ceiling in ambush, they ran across a cave where one of the entrances had a tent tied up as a crude door. A small spider was crawling on it and there were a few others. As Jonathan slashed the spider to ribbons, the tent went with it, revealing the bedroom of an ogre. This is where things got real tricky. The ogre quickly felled Jonathan, but spent the next two rounds dazed (by Twitch), giving Harley time to heal Jonathan and stab the ogre a few times. Twitch then fired off Nhal's Reckless Dweomer, a spell that intentionally creates a wild surge in the hopes of getting something that approximates an intended spell. In this case, the Ogre was hasted instead. Fortunately, he missed one of his attacks against Harley, leaving the rocker standing. On Twitch's next turn, he said, "what's the worst that could happen" and dropped another surge, creating an uncontrolled rust monster. The rust monster mentally flipped a coin and ate the Ogre's masterwork greatsword. Jonathan threw his greatsword at twitch with intent to injure, but missed and (randomly) pulled out a sap. The ogre tried to stomp on the still prone Jonathan, took an attack of opportunity to the groin, criticaled on his own attack, and both bruisers were unconscious. The rust monster started to pursue the various weapons tossed to the other side of the room, and Harley took off with them. Twitch jumped onto Rusty like a rodeo bull. By the time Harley got back, Twitch was engaged in a continuing grapple tug o' war with Rusty. Harley calmly gathered Jonathan's greatclub and paddled the rust monster like a fraternity pledge. After a few hours of rest and the party’s store of healing they moved on. They passed a smelly cave mostly bricked off with a boulder, and a huge room full of fungus. Finaly they found another ogre, this one much more disgusting than the last batting a woman over a huge pool of water. Jonathan went first, and nearly killed the beast outright with a charging sneak attacking smite evil. The ogre survived to cut the woman’s line. Twitch jumped to save her, rolled a 3 on his jump check, and found himself clinging by his fingers to the edge. Harley successfully made the jump just before they rope snapped. The ogre dropped Jonathan, and Harley readied for the charge. The two came together in a ferocious rush, and both fell bleeding to the ground. Twitch, the only conscious party member flubbed his climb check and hurtled into the water. Immediately he could feel something very large in the pool with him. He burned a hero point and shot out of the water like a reverse cannonball, only a second before something truly immense devoured him. He duped a healing potion down Harley’s throat and the two of them placed Jonathan and the woman on a big ogre shield and began to drag them the long way back to town. Distracted by something in the fungus Twitch went to investigate and was felled by brown mold. Harley spent the rest of the night dragging everyone back to town on the shield. Sad for Harley, but at least everyone lived.
At the beginning of the Spire of Long Shadows Manzorizan offers to trade a bunch of mid to high end magic for the Rod of Seven Parts piece. Well, there's a (off) chance that my PCs might make it there tonight, so I'm struggling with a write up on his offer. See, it's not a big deal to come up with a cool weapon or armor with a backstory, particularly with all the extra items in splatbooks, but spellcasters are a bit problematic. For example: the druid (who plays primary tank as a dire lion most of the time) gets this: Flesh of the Cherethwood
Many centuries ago the Cherethwood was preserved by a small army of fey, kept at peace by Cherlathoragos, an ancient Copper Dragon, who had been profoundly touched by the wood she laired in. It is said that her scales were shaped as leaves, and she would become dormant every winter. This proved to be her downfall, as finally, one winter, her beautiful wood was recognized and attacked by Tyrus, Destroyer of Nations. Tyrus the Red sought to conquer a powerful enemy while she slept. His destruction woke the protector of the woods, and they both perished in the conflict. Chonlathoragos’ followers had the hides of each Dragon made into powerful armors. This hide was eventually gifted to Talmericar the Swift, a halfling woodsman who delayed a powerful host of demons long enough for the forces of the Cherethwood to rally their scattered troops. Talmericar fell in battle with The Conclave of Krieg, a council of liches. Tenser recovered this armor by slaying Malerac, a psychotic druidic lich who specialized in undead animals. Then the Cleric will get a Periapt of Wisdom +6 (Tadaaaaa!), and the Warmage would get... ummmm... A Scarab of Protection. Hmmmmm... I just have trouble with legendary items that aren't armor and weapons apparently. "This Periapt was worn by a Cleric who was very wise, but then we discovered that it was just the magic item." Not so good. So what would you do? What kinds of items would you gift your party with?
Zyrzog found his encounter with the party not to his liking. The warweaver made everyone gaseous after the encounter with the drow and they skipped straight to the illithid. Big Z soon found himself in dire straights from an entirely flying party, one of whom polymorphed into a treant and the druid who was a dire lion, and both morphed beaters were protected by spell immunity to his mind blast. I am not fond of genius baddies fighting to the death when the situation is clearly against them, so he plane shifted away. The real question is what keeps Big Z from coming back to his lair and going all bukkake with his mind blast on a completely drained, unprotected, all spellcaster party? Aside from a DM's desire to not cause a TPK and end the campaign. |
