fireinthedust's page

Exactly what the title says: I'd like to play a tiger-riding warrior. Sure, there's He-man, but also various games like WoW and ESO have options for feline mounts.

My thinking: I'm thinking of playing a Cavalier, but it seems like it'll be approx 21 games before I can get a cat mount that's size Large using the Beast Rider archetype. Looked at Ranger, and even at Summoner, and I don't see options for a giant tiger mount until well into the game; summoner gets size Large only at 8th level. I'm not sure if Paladins could gain a big cat until level 7 either. I do not want to play a gnome summoner or halfling/goblin dog-rider, thanks. I'm open to a paladin, a barbarian, fighter, cavalier, sure, just wondering what's possible in PFS *or* if this is more of a home game concept.

Suggestions appreciated, I know you kind people are very clever with mechanics, and that time is limited for all of us. Thanks!

Hi all,

So I was talking to Erik Mona on his facebook page, along with a few other people, and I *may* have hinted that Ostog is the best part of that page, (though it is nice to know Erik does fun things like have a job and read comics, and I guess he's technically "unslain" by default). For those of you new to this, Ostog is a character in his late teens that Erik Mona (some shlub who keeps harassing the Paizo staff claiming he's, I dunno, some kind of big deal editor or something) has been playing, without armor, through various Gary Gygax modules helmed by none other than James Jacobs. Something like 30 sessions and hasn't dropped below 0hp while wearing no armor... and he's a barbarian! (Erik has a build up somewhere; something to keep himself busy, i suppose, between sessions of playing Ostog)

AAAaaanyways, Erik's response of "oy, whose fanpage is this?" got me thinking. It's stuck with me, but I've looked high and low and wow: Ostog doesn't have a fanpage... or he didn't... UNTIL NOW!!!!

Yes, friends, you can now "like" Ostog the Unslain on facebook! Right Here! in fact.

To celebrate this milestone of character fandom, I propose we come up with some captions, comments, memes and whatnot.

Here's the rules:

1) Ostog hates armor; it literally explodes off his body when he puts it on
2) Ostog has nothing but distain for James Jacobs (who has failed repeatedly to slay him) and likely anyone else who writes modules.
3) Ostog is far more popular than Erik Mona
4) Ostog is unslain
5) Ostog is very attractive to tavern wenches
6) Ostog has many things in common with Chuck Norris, but gaming related. (ie: Ostog doesn't save vs. Death; death saves vs. Ostog. Ostog doesn't have a great sword... he has a fantastic sword! and so forth)

If you know how to make demotivational posters or memes, i'll put them up on the Ostog Fan Page wall. (I don't, btw, and would love pointers on good sites for that sort of thing)

Even if you can't think of anything, like the page! Let's make this a thing!

I'm running a game on ENworld, and I'm gauging interest in people to play the Evil nemesis of various PCs in the game.

We're in Golarion, but the Cthulhu Mythos decided to eat it, and the only people powerful enough to save the day are the PCs. In theory.

I'd like to get an evil group going because the Necromancer joined the dark side, and he's going to go off on his own in a minute (after this combat: he either teleports away, or his clone wakes up with the bad guys). He's a nice guy, but it'd lonely being the bad guy. Thus you folks.

You'd be the various surviving bad guys from the 20 levels the heroes played through up until now. I'm open to suggestions.

Discussion, btw, should be over on ENworld, so here's the link to the thread there. I'll check here, but I'm easily distracted.

THE BAD GUY THREAD

A really nifty concept, the Dvati race on page 14 (Dragon issue #271) has the race be a set of twins: one character with two bodies.

Now, this is a great idea, but I'm curious how it works in play. I hope someone here can answer with some helpful suggestions, as this is the place for Paizo stuff.

1) How does one divide up their actions? While Spellcasting can only be done by one twin, the entry does not mention melee or ranged weapon combat. Do both twins need to attack the same target? If one attacks (standard action) does that leave the other with only a move action? Or do both of them get an attack and a move action?

The idea that both get to attack in the same round isn't bad if other characters have pets or cohorts, but if not do they get two attacks or just one with a bonus?

2) how much space do they take up? Can they occupy the same square as their twin?

My suggestion:

They move and act as a team, with a special attack action for the player, just one action, but the added bonus of doing double damage if both attacks hit. However, if only one hits, they only do half damage. In fact, whenever they do something separate (ie: two different things in one round) they get a penalty or simply are only half as effective: damage is half as much, etc. Sort of like rolling a critical hit, where you find out if your success was full (with a damage bonus) or not (ie: half damage, before subtractions).

They can take up different squares, but they can also take up the same square in combat without penalty.

This is just off my head, not play-tested, but it sounds like a mechanically fun option that could work.

Has anyone here played a Dvati, or seen one played?

Just popping through. While I havn't playtested the Paladin yet, I really like what I'm seeing in the build.

The magic item abilities for their sword is a great option, like the Kensai, and stops them from being a dead-end class after level 5. Ditto the additional abilities.

I'm certain that I put in for the pre-order for the 4th edition boxed set... like, back in January or somesuch. Now I'm seeing it's in my shopping cart. Does that mean I don't get the set sent to me?

I specifically remember going through the ordering process all the way to the end.

did I miss something? I don't want to go over it again and risk a double-order, until I know.

Okay, brainstorm last night, don't know if it's been touched: I like the school powers idea, but what if we made them more generic?

Take the Warlock's eldritch blast: it doesn't do much damage, but they can do it every round. Well, what if we had a comparable special ability for the wizard/evoker? In addition to their spells they can send forth a blast of some sort that gets more powerful as they rise in level. Even after their spells are spent for the day, they can fall back on this less-powerful ability.

each school has an ability. You can use it only as long as you've got spells in your repertoire, and it's only as powerful as the highest-level spell you've got available.

The powers as I see them:

Evoker: arcane blast, a ranged touch attack against one target. every few levels it counts as a new type of damage (good, fire, cold, lawful, adamantine, silver, etc.), for the purposes of DR; only as many things as you've got levels of spells level (so 3rd level spell would be 3 damage types it counts as), and a set order they come in (fire, cold, silver, adamantine...) so you can't just pick and choose each round. Damage is 1d6 per spell level you've got access to right now (so if you've got a 3rd level spell left, you can do 3d6 damage to one target each round).

Necromancer: animate/create undead at will. They can't have more HD than their limit, but as they get more powerful they can create more interesting undead. Max HD made is double the level of the highest spell you've got handy (so if you've got a 3rd level spell, you can animate up to 6HD of undead this way in a round).

Abjuration: a protective field at will (ie: they maintain the field as a standard aciton each round) either blocks a new type of attack every few levels (fire, cold, missiles, force effects, acid), or negates one die of damage per spell level available (so if you've got a 3rd level spell, you negate 3 dice of damage that round from either any attack or all attacks against you). The field could grow at higher levels, protecting others. maybe.

Summoning: Same deal as the necromancer, but you'd summon HD of creatures each round. You'd have to use a standard action to do this, and if you didn't the critters would go away. 2HD per level of spell remaining (3rd level =6HD).

Divination: Mage sight, but one new thing you can look for per spell level available: evil, good, law, chaos, magic, poison, undead, etc.

Illusion: Create an illusion mimicking one sense per spell level remaining. Sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, but also what it detects as magically (heavy magic, good, evil, undead, etc.). They'd counter divinations.

Transmutation: I don't know yet. Possibly wildshape into specific forms (wolf, bird, dragon) per spell level left, or else polymorph stuff around you.

Translocation (another option): you can move faster, or gain a new movement type (spider climb, fly at low speeds, minor teleportation, etc.)

Healing (theoretical option): Caster can heal damage 1d6 per spell level remaining, and/or condition modifiers (fatigue, dazed, etc.) and/or ability drain. Gives the option of the kindly caster of the arcane.

What this does: simplifies the abilities of spellcasters for on-the-fly playing. It also allows a signiture spell for the character, while they can still study the more varied spells that are out there normally. they'd likely use more interesting spells rather than eat up all their slots on evocations. This could also count as something they can do *aside from* specialization: everyone picks a special ability, or designs one based on the above. Then, as school specialization in the PHB (pathfinder handbook) is handled normally with banned schools, it would be on top of the special ability; so if forbidden schools include evocation and necromancy, you could say the PCs can't pick those special abilities.

Craft is problematical, just like multiple knowledge skills. If I want to make swords or armor, or repair the cart, or the castle before a seige, I have to have loads of skill points all over the place. No one takes craft for that reason in my games, preferring to just buy an NPC.
Also, craft is a non-combat action, so why waste space on a combat character's sheet?

Linguistics is a skill: every rank means a new language.

Why not have Craft be like Linguistics: every rank is a new type of object you can make. Armor, weapons, seige engines, alchemical compounds, seamstress/tailor, ship building. All these things use scientific principles in the real world, so if I'm good at building other stuff I'll have less basic stuff to learn when I turn my hand to it.

Some people are just good with their hands, like others are polyglots. Dwarves and Gnomes can just fix stuff, elves make all sorts of goodies. A wizard could make a golem, a staff, a ring, a flying carpet, but doesn't have to be a master at all these things to do it. I can make cookies, with skills related to that; why shouldn't making soap or mixing paint be aided (aside from synergy bonuses) by my skills there? mixing is mixing.

So here's my pitch:

Expand what skills cover to general areas. The reason I say this is related to Supers games I've been doing. Rather than having separate skills for knowledge: physics and knowledge: chemistry for science types (like Iron Man); and Knowledge: arcana and spellcraft (say), or Dungeoneering, the planes, religion, etc., I decided to have the heroes base their skills of Power Sources.

A knowledge skill is used primarily for exposition: the DM tells the PCs what their characters need to know for that encounter and/or adventure. So having obscure areas of knowledge that have no real game effect and take up points, is not fun: skill ranks are used up, and no reliable exposition happens.

Ergo: let general areas of knowledge be based around power sources or important areas. So Knowledge: Metaphysics covers Arcana, the planes, undead, aberrations, etc. There would be different DCs for what the PCs are familiar with ("as a wizard, this knowledge is slightly more obscure for you than for our Cleric"), and there could be specialization feats for arcane info, creature types, religion, etc. Otherwise, everyone could have a "knowledge" skill, or a broader type.

Knowledge: metaphysics (the planes, arcana, religion, dungeoneering, what a staff of the magic does, the effects of power word: blind)
Knowledge: History or martial (nobles, heraldry, local, recent wars, geography, etc.)
Knowledge: Bestiary (dragons, beholders, undead, what type of wood to use to slay an elven vampire, etc.)

I have the 4e preview books, which are kinda fun.

I think I get the way the rules are going to work, and I have to admit, I like the PCs; and most of the fluff is cool (with some tweaking already planned). Roles vs. classes is a design archetype vs. method, and I like that.

HOWEVER I'm not sure if the monsters are going to be as good as 3.5. Specifically whether monsters are going to get class levels, or have a way for experienced gamers to go beyond the presented rules (advancing, templates, etc.).

The discussion of dragons mentions them as pre-made in the 4e MM. No feat selection, or guidelines for stripping them down like in the 3.5MM. Is it going to be the same as old school DnD, or will I be able to get ye pathfinder module with a cabal of fire giant wizards?

any mention on how monsters are going to work mechanically?

What system is the pathfinder CS (coming out August 2008, around the time of 4th edition DnD) going to come out in? Or is it going to have fewer stat blocks and more setting information, so more of it can be used with either system?

I was doing a search on the site, and stumbled across this article from 2003.

http://paizo.com/dungeon/news/v5748eaic9js7

my question: what happened to the adventure? Are the pics still available for me to see? My curiosity sparked by this strange twist of fate, I ask the staff for answers please.

I want to know what folks think about the deities in the Pathfinder setting.

any predictions about how the mag will treat them?

personally, I like the idea of not having racial deities, and not having specific alignments for them. The ones in Burnt Offerings were interesting, especially that they didn't fit any of the traditional stereotypes for deity roles (ie: undead slayer, magic user, warrior, sneaky type; LG dude, evil patron guy, elves, dwarves, etc.). Granted, I'd like a good-guy religion so I can fit in celestials, or something like that, but it is a nice change from standard format figures. More of a range for followers (like one for slaves who's patron of strength, and followers include giants, slaves, blacksmiths, whoever, but isn't Ye Giant patron; or ye goblin patron).

sort of a Mythos dynamic going on: you've got the human-type ones, or the "elder" whatevers. Then you've got these monstrous things out there like Lamashtu, who can be villains.

I'm so hooked on PATHFINDER it's not even funny.

That said, I swapped my subscription the moment I heard Dragon and Dungeon were ending; I was under the impression a Player's Guide would be shipped along with it, some sort of swanky-bound summthin to help introduce the setting. I'm fairly certain I should also count as a charter subscriber on the messageboards, but that's secondary.(as I came over right away when Pathfinder started)

I got issue #1 (aka: crack is whack) in the mail, but no Player's Guide (for my homies to enjoy while goblins riddle their PCs with holes).

What's the story with the Player's Guide, and how can I get my hands on it?

This soundtrack is excellent. I love the themesong. The syncopation of the opening, the mood o the music, it's all really top-rate stuff.

I'm a first-time subscriber from Toronto (downtown Queen street West, baby! ...yeah!); I subscribed in November 06, and it's late January; I've hear it takes 8 weeks to get on the mailing list (so november, then december, then january) BUT I've only gotten one dungeon issue so far, and it was for february 07! So... basically I'm REALLLY REALLY CONFUSED!!!!

is this normal as a delay? Does it count as a Canadian/Ontario delay thing?

How long should I wait before I claim "missing issue"? I'm totally cool about delays (you guys do a great job, btw, with the mag), I just want to know how to detect issue-issues.

Here's my thing: I want to send in submissions, but the current format of the release form means I have to print a page out for every idea I pitch (basically); then I ave to fill it out by hand, scan it in, figure out how the computer let's me attach, then send it *along with* the submission. OK, I'm griping, but I had *an* idea (you tell me if it's a good one):

a release form-thing that's fill-in-the-blanks. I get it off the site, something like adobe, and somehow I can delete the titles for each submission, write in the current one, and then send it through. I could whip off a bunch every day (yes, you have trouble engouh sifting through the ones you've got, but I send love with each and every one ;) )

Yes, I have the feeling that this is harder to do than think up; that you'd need a signature for each one, thus the release form; but if there was a way to change the name on the scanned copy, then I wouldn't have to find a scanner every time I get an idea.

Actually, even if it isn't possible: is there an easier way to send out submissions?

I'm wondering what kinds of names do and don't get attention when you're looking through piles of submissions. I can guess, but do and editors have preferences? Do you like cheese in your titles, the straight goods, artistry rivaling the articles themselves, what?