glio's page

Also, if you can get a free PDF with purchase of any product at any time, it disincentivizes purchases at time of release, which leads to storing more inventory in a warehouse, which increases costs. I've subscribed to the Adventure Paths for years, even though I've only ever run three of them, because getting the free PDF is a high value for me. If I could just grab a free-PDF-with-physical-copy at any time, I would certainly drop my subscription and just buy books when I know I'm about to need them.

To be clear I'm not asking for free PDFs, but discounted ones. This model is already in place at other online retailers (for one, Amazon books + Kindle versions or audiobooks at a discount - and I say that realizing that the scales are significantly different in this case, just providing a real-world example of the model).

But otherwise - you both bring up good points for consideration, particularly on Vic's/Paizo's desire for predictable income. I don't know that I'm entirely convinced the model wouldn't work for both Paizo and the consumer, however I've said my peace as a consumer.

I'm sorry if this has been discussed, I don't hang out on these forums much and didn't see this particular discussion when searching...

Has there been discussion around doing PDF discounts if you buy a rulebook direct from Paizo.com? I understand the reasons for increasing the PDF prices for standalone purchases (helping third-party publishers), but often I like to pair a physical book with the PDF. Looking at the CRB alone, that's a $75 total for book + PDF.

I realize the subscription provides free PDFs but also requires you to purchase every P2 release whether you want it or not.

I want to support Paizo directly as much as I can and I feel like a PDF discount when purchasing a hardcopy would be a happy middle ground between the subscription and purchasing the book from somewhere else altogether.

Pg. 373 - Sandpoint Guard

Ride skill can't be +3 (I haven't been able to perfectly recreate this character in HeroLab. It can only be +2. Also, I'm not sure where the (2d10+6) is coming from for the HP. Here's what I came up with in HeroLab:

Sandpoint Guard CR 1/2
XP 200
Human (Varisian) warrior 2
NG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +0; Senses Perception +3
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Defense
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AC 14, touch 10, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor)
hp 21 (2d10+5) <------- HeroLab difference
Fort +5, Ref +0, Will -1
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee longsword +4 (1d8+1/19-20)
Ranged longbow +2 (1d8/×3)
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Statistics
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Str 13, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 8
Base Atk +2; CMB +3; CMD 13
Feats Alertness, Weapon Focus (longsword)
Skills Intimidate +4, Perception +3, Ride +2, Sense Motive +3
Languages Common, Varisian
Other Gear chain shirt, arrows (20), longbow, longsword

I would looove the Rise of the Runelords content in Realm Works. Really looking forward to this!

Don't hate me... To me this is the WORST book out so far.

I understand this is your opinion, but... really? The WORST book so far? That seems a tad hyperbolic, don't you think?

I got mine and find this book great if you are a new player, or you want to Min/Max your character so bad it is not funny.

You know what IS funny? This book was created precisely for *new players*.

I am seeing more and more of Pathfinder becoming a Min/Maxer system. I see it in PFS, I see it in regular play. This book offers nothing to a player of more than 5 year.

This book wasn't really supposed to offer anything to a seasoned player, except a way to help introduce new players to the world of tabletop RPGs. As for Min/Maxing... well, how (or why) exactly would you create a book of bad strategies? A new player doesn't have the experience and insight to understand the nuance of how to create a Wizard with a couple flaws. No one wants to play a completely gimped character, but that doesn't mean you have to go the complete opposite and min/max every little detail. This book is meant to give NEW PLAYERS some of that insight so they know where the heck to even start.

If your new to Pen and Pager RPG, then this book might be for you, that is if you want to make a character that is so bad arse they can kill a dragon at 5th level. If you want to play a good realiastic flawed character that is far more fun to RP... then avoid this book.

Once again, the Paizo team has said numerous times in this thread that this book was geared toward new players that were having trouble making sense of the game with the Core Rulebook alone. This shouldn't be coming as a surprise.

But do not take advice from a gamer of 30+ years, unless you want good advice

I'm having trouble understanding how someone that has been gaming for 30+ years could have a problem with the introduction of a book for new players. The only reason that makes sense that I can come up with is that you're worried this will bring new players into the tabletop RPG world. Perhaps you're worried about the barrier of entry being too low? Bitter that 'kids these days' have it so easy? I mean really, you couldn't make yourself sound any more like a grumpy ol' grouch than with this post. :P

-------------------------------

Paizo - this book is GREAT! I can't wait to show it to my group, as we're all newbies to the tabletop RPG world, and most of group has trouble opening the CRB and spending too much time in there without losing interest. We all enjoy playing the game and this will only serve to make it better!

Today was the first time I realized you that you can import HeroLab portfolios.

Um... AWESOME! This makes leveling the party's stats about 100x easier.

My group has. We were all tabletop RPG newbies and are now having lots of fun in the CRB. However, I am looking forward to the Strategy Guide as it sounds like it will have the kind of information we want.

Kyle, just wanted to let you know that I donated again because this software is so good it hurts.

This program just gets better every time I learn something new about it. Thank you all for answering my silly questions.

It's possible I'm overlooking this feature. I can see now that I can roll perception checks for individual players, but is there a way to roll a perception check for all players at once?

For example, if there is a goblin hiding behind a bush, I would roll perception for the entire party to determine which, if any, players saw the goblins. The same goes for saving throws and such.

Rise of the Runelords creatures are in the desktop version. Check your settings on the monster tab, you may be filtering them out.

You were right. The Rise of the Runelords "custom" monsters are listed as "NPCs" rather than Monsters.

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Is there a way to roll perception & similar checks for my party within the app that will take account of their stats?

Is this "Pathfinder Flipmat" line replacing all the GameMastery Map Packs and such? It seems like a lot of the really cool map packs from the Game Mastery line are out of print these days. It's really a shame because so many of them look awesome.

I noticed that the Android version has monster entries from the Rise of the Runelords, specifically the Goblin Warchanter, while the desktop version does not. I have the "Adventures and Modules" sources selected on the desktop version. Am I missing a setting or do they just have different sources set up right now?

Vic, Lisa, Paizo - thank you for this!

I'm 26 and until 2012 I had never played a tabletop RPG. My wife and I, after watching the D&D episode of the TV show Community (and just from being geeks), decided to purchase the Pathfinder Beginner Box because it seemed like it could be fun.

A few weeks later we gathered two other couples that had never played tabletop RPGs and gave it a shot. It was a ton of fun and we spent the next year playing (every few weeks or so) through the Beginner Box adventures, and some homebrew adventures.

When we finally finished the Beginner Box we took a long break of several months. Now we're diving in with the Core Rulebook, Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition, Bestiary 1, Gamemastery Guide, Inner Sea Guide and more. I'm loving the world you've created and the system of rules to play in.

But as you've said, it's a lot of information and it's spread all around. Our group, while very excited to enjoy Pathfinder, can't individually dedicate the time to really dig in to the rules and glean strategies and "good ideas" for how to play or what would even be a sensible choice.

The Strategy Guide was made for us (and apparently a lot of middle-schoolers :P) and I'm very excited to get a copy in my hands. Thank you for trying to push Pathfinder to a wider audience.

who have received emails from Amazon saying "this product has been delayed by several months" on the very same day that they receive an email saying "your order has shipped."

Very true, this has happened to me a couple times with various products.

I'm a former teacher. As part of my teacher education training, I've studied how people learn and remember things. For most people, having to learn ONE thing is easier than having to learn SEVERAL things, and having to learn SEVERAL things is harder than having to learn ONE thing.

But I don't want to get in an argument about this.

Not sure why it's even a question as to whether or not learning 1 thing is easier than learning 2 things at once. It's an obvious answer. Not everyone is a savant. :P

It says on page 9, the Spider's Lair page, next to "CREATURE:"

Also, I for one would love a "download the whole shebang" option.

Ahhh, okay that makes sense now. I would suggest making the other class options gray out once you chosen a class.

I'm not sure I follow. What are you selecting?

Here's what I did:

Selected Pathfinder

Selected American English

Clicked "A Whole Party"

Checkmarked all the Core Rulebook Classes

Selected both "Additional Options"

Clicked Download.
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When I open the PDF, the first page, the "fluff" page with all the skills, abilities, and feats - has "Barbarian" stuff pre-filled out on it. But there are not similar sheets for the other classes, nor is there a blank "fluff" sheet to use included in the package.

Your character sheets are my favorite of all the ones I've found.

As for the beta you just posted, it seems that if I do the "whole party" option, it only comes with the main character sheet for the barbarian. There is no blank one included in the download.

Yeeeeeeeeees. Yeeeeeeeeees. Yeeeeeeeeees. Yeeeeeeeeees. Yeeeeeeeeees. Yeeeeeeeeees. Yeeeeeeeeees.

Paizo, I love you. Let's have RPG babies.

And we're working on another PDF that helps you transition from the Beginner Box to the Core Rulebook.

I think I just peed a little.

He was just making a funny, Lord Nikon, don't read so far into it :P

The Beginner Box is great fun, glad I'm not the only one enjoying it out there.

Check the Beginner Box page on Paizo.com for the free Beginnier Box Bash adventures. They're short adventures. Or download the free GM kit and get the "Mines" adventure, also free.

*writes down idea*

What's everyone else have?

Thank you for the replies,

And in both of your examples, how do I factor in the bonuses they would get to those checks? Every player is going to have a bonus to stealth and perception.

Question first:

What are some examples of situations that you as the GM would make a roll for the player(s)?

I remember reading somewhere that the GM will make checks for players sometimes. Such as stealth, perception, etc. I also remember not being able to find anything that would expand on these type of situations and how they would work. Do you ask the player what bonuses they have for the check? Should I have copies of everyone's character sheets?

Fluff:

I really want to thank Paizo for this awesome Beginner's Box package. Our group started playing back in March, we're all 21-27 years old and none of us have ever played a tabletop RPG of any kind. In fact half of our players are wives, as we have 4 couples that we cycle in for games.

The Beginner's Box books are really well done visually. There's enough color and artwork to really get you in the right mindset and not overload your brain with text. I've now bought the Core/GM/Beastiary combo just to get myself ready for moving to the full game and, while I love reading them and very excited to play, I miss the flow and organization of the Beginner Box books. I know that's a tough nut to crack but there ya go. You guys are doing awesome work.

And I really love seeing the amount of input and feedback that the Paizo team delivers straight to these message boards. I really like that you are involved directly with the community beyond generic and sterile sounding public announcements.

Cheers!

How about teaming up with one of the hundreds of 'print to order' companies online. Give people an order form where they pick their spells, have the company print and ship, done!

I'd just get the character sheet for the full game and start transcribing the info from the BB sheet. Once you've filled in all that you have, see what is missing and go from there.

The only case you should be STRICTLY tracking time is during combat (1 round = 6 seconds, 10 rounds = minute).

Beyond that, you determine what is right based on the situation.

The GM guide specifies that the "glass vial of orange liquid" is a cure light wounds potion.

But you can also make up whatever. Up to you.

After almost a month of waiting, my first ever tabletop RPG experience is finally happening this Sunday with the Beginner's Box and a group of friends.

None of us have ever played Pathfinder before. I'm going to be DMing the game and I have prepared as much as I think I can without having ever played a single game.

I have music, I have artwork to display on a computer screen, and I have extra sets of die.

I want to do one final thing to prepare...

Right before I begin the game and read the first paragraph that sets up the arrival at the cave, I want to read a short introduction to Golarion. Something that's just like 2-4 paragraphs that sets up the world. Inhabitants, major gods, some of the cultures etc.

This is something I can come up with myself using the wiki if need be, but I figured I'd ask if something like this already existed somewhere. Thanks for any inputs!

Thank you, just the kind of information I was looking for!

There's a good chance I'm going to have 5 players to DM instead of the 4 recommended by the Beginner's Box. Will the scenario given in the box still work with 5 players? I don't want it to be too easy. If necessary, how would I go about increasing the difficulty appropriately?

Not to sound like a jerk, but if you really did READ the Hero's Handbook and the GM guide, all of your questions would be answered. The GM guide tells you pretty much word for word what to do for session.

I just got the beginner box and will be starting a group with my friends soon. Some people have played a couple of times but I'm totally new to it as is my wife. Maybe in the future we can join up?

Here's a little follow-up question then:

If we purchase the PDF version, do we get free access to download the latest printing of a book in the PDF format? I have already purchased the PDF of the core rulebook but when the 6th printing comes out, do I have to rely on the errata or will I be able to just redownload the 6th printing from my downloads?

The site does not say. I would call or email them to try to find out.

I have e-mailed them and the support agent said they were not able to determine what edition it is. I'm hoping someone recently purchased it from Amazon and could share the result.

Does anyone happen to know if the core rulebook that Amazon carries is the latest edition? I've got this fear that it's a previous edition and I'll have to use the PDF revisions. Thanks in advance!