goldomark's page

Barbatos being a great old one is certainly an amusing notion... but if the time comes for us to reveal what he is, and if I'm still the creative director... he won't be. I don't think that the flavor of Hell works with the flavor of Lovecraft at all, and don't wanna mix the two.

There's SO MUCH MORE he could be that is more interesting to me. But at the same time, now isn't the right time to nail down in print what he is.

A... a Qlippoth!?

Or a fey or agathion. Those can have tentacle esthetics.

And Zon-Kuthon...

Or he exfiltrated the Elder Mythos pantheon and seeked refuged in Hell because he was hunted by his peers for being lawful? A "fallen" demigod from the Elder Mythos would certainly be lawful (or good or both).

With his many eyes and barbed tentacles he looks like an Great Old One/Outer God. His whole mutated animal schtick is close to Shub-Niggurath's. And his linked to gateways like Yog-Sothoth. His seers aspect also rings of Elder Mythos.

I can see Barbatos as a refugee. Or one of many who are trying to infiltrate other pantheon. The fey Eldest Ng the Hooded could be another one of these agents. No one knowns what Ng looks like and he is mysterious with his gloves (that could hide tentacles!!).

Are there other entities like Barbatos and Ng who have mysterious origines and could be linked to the Elder Mythos?

With some of Aroden's actions on Arcadia being described in detailed in Tyrant's Graps, revealing he isn't that nice, his murder being revealed (sortish), the setting being called Age of Lost Omens, etc, I think we'll learn how Aroden died in the up coming years.

1e PF started with the Runelords and sort of ended with them. And they appeared all over the APs and modules of 1e. Now, maybe Aroden will be at the center of 2e Pf's APs and modules.

Are you asking for other ideas, or do you want to be walked thru creating a ritual?

Other potential ideas. Creation is easy. Long, but easy.

I want to give my players an incantation/ritual inspired by Lovecraft's tale The Cats of Ulthar. All I can think of is either summoning a cat swarm or a divination similar to commune with nature, but it works with one urban area (basically you ask cats about the city).

I want to introduce my players to incantations, and encourage them to create some, but low level incantations aren't very interesting for a heavy urban setting with lots of intrigue.

Lovecraft's tale and how the cats pop up in other stories inspired me to have a homebrew city where cats can't be killed. Now to add some magic to it.

samuraixsithlord wrote:

Does anyone know if they plan on listing stats for Sorshen, Zutha, and Xanderghul at their full power? Maybe in the continuing the campaign section in the last adventure path.

Answers:

** spoiler omitted **

Can you say how many mythic tiers you gave him?

There is a Paizo adventure with an idol, it is:

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks, but I was aware of it. I'm looking for more idol ideas and ideas around the idols (magical items, more abilities, more ideas for sacrifices, taboo around sacrifices, spells, rituals, etc). I want more textured idols.

They are a great way to solve Forgotten Realms Deity Syndrome and players get to actually fight and interact with (pseudo) gods. It is more satisfying than just fighting cultists, but never be able to deal with their boss.

I have an old living oak tree idol idea, but I can't find suitable sacrifice ideas for it. It is about the cycle of life and death. Some sort of living sacrifices sound right in some circumstances, but it isn't evil (or good or lawful or chaotic).

In fiction all I think of is the movie Conan the Destroyer. Dagoth sounds like an idol with a curse preventing it form getting the animate object ability. The horn will lift that curse and the sacrifice is needed for it to keep its looks. That horn sounds like the base for magic items for idols.

I love the idols described in Occult Adventures and Legendary Games' Ancient Idols.

Are there any other books with more idols, their stats and their fluff?

Thanks.

What class, or classes, is the basis for the Warlock? If any. Is it the Summoner? The weapon taking the place of the eidolon?

I just want to see (a lot) more details on the complex modification "Construct Armor" that lets you wear a golem as armor.

I just hope the mystery around Aroden's death doesn't join the lot of Planescape's Lady of Pain, Eberron's Day of Morning, Ravenloft's Dark Powers or the Gentleman Caller's big plan. Those settings are pretty much dead. Their lore is now static. Those secrets lost.

Granted, some of those mysteries never did have an "answer" in the same way Aroden's death has an "answer" to protect consistency in the setting. But if anything happens to the publication of the setting, that info will be lost.

It makes me sad.

At the same time, the revelation surrounding Aroden's death, if it ever happens, should be significant and mark an important transition for the setting. Like his death did.

So no pressure.

New ICv2 Internal Correspondence is out, but a pay wall prevents us from seeing RPG chart.

[url]http://icv2.com/articles/news/view/33833/icv2-releases-internal-corresponde nce-89[/url]

Why hasn't ICv2 released any rankings about RPG sells for a while?

Info is out. Seems the adventure starts in the FR and you are drawned into Barovia.

Heroes from the Forgotten Realms and other D&D worlds can easily be drawn into Strahd’s cursed land. Once there, they must contend with the horrors of Barovia.

The adventure sounds a lot like the original. http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3164-CURSE-OF-STRAHD-Here-s-The-Of ficial-Announcement!#.Vp0giSrhDIU

I'm sure it will take place in Faerun, or at least at the beginning. You'll end up having to travel to the Shadowfell which will take you to Ravenloft where you confront Strahd at the end. That's my prediction. I doubt it will go completely Ravenloft. I am thinking the first 25-33% of the adventure takes place on Faerun.

From what was gleen of a now deleted web page on WotC's site, it is a tarokka reading that sends the PC to Castle Ravenloft and/or Ravenloft the setting.

There are many questions and we should know more today. WotC is doing a big media blitz.

The AP is probably set in Ravenloft, but maybe they'll set in the Forgotten Realms because that is where WotC is making its adventures now. Or they just won't say where it is exactly.

This is the third adventure set in Ravenlost Castle, the fourth with Strahd. So far, WotC's AP offering has been reashing old stuff, not innovating. A campaign setting would have been more interesting.

Meh.

From what I understand, you can use the OGL with DmG. Like I couldn't convert or use PF Mythic rules in a product that I release on DmG because DmG publishes exclusive content.

To be honest, 5e is what made me jump into the Pathfinder boat.

I know 5e just got released last year, but after playing some adventures with it, I noticed it has even less variety regarding classes, and even the core ones are bland and boring.

I played Princes of Apocalypse with friends, one of them a ranger, and he felt down looking at how weak and boring the Animal Companion options were, and how he had to trade the fighting potential of the ranger in order to have one; same, our wizard was unhappy on how her character couldn't get the summons she could on Pathfinder.

I didn't wanted to get into Pathfinder, it seemed way too complex (and it can be...), but I ended up reading it, studying PF about a month, grabbed Kingmaker, and now we're having a blast, as we've never had in any other role playing game.

While I think 5e does a lot of things way better than PF regarding simplicity and cutting some slack for the GM (Well, after PF Unchained this is arguable, since the Revised Action Economy is a lot of fun), PF just seems to have everything a GM and player would want, from short adventures to lengthy campaigns, lots of free material thanks to the OGL, and of course, customization options.

This makes me wonder, will 5e ever make it to be close to what PF is now in terms of options? Because even the previews of the new class archetypes seem boring, and as I said before, some of the core classes like the ranger, wizard and druid got wrecked by the 5e rulings.

5e's material official and made by 3pp will never match PF or 3.X for that matter.

WotC wants to use the D&D brand to make video games, movies and cartoons. The PnP RPG is ancillary to this business model.

With APs like Hell's Revenge, Paizo is firmly in place as the leader in terms of creativity. Maybe in sells too, after a year or two not much PnP RPG content for D&D.

I find it ironic, given their position on PDFs of the core books, that their PDF support in other, non core areas is so far ahead of the market. The elemental player guide is basically a mini-splatbook. The production values are high, it was free and there's a print on demand option.

Are you familiar with Pathfinder's Compagnion line?

I don't have a problem with the Forgotten Realms [...]

For me it is about too much of a good thing. I like the FR, even love them. Lots of good memories having adventures there. Nowadays we mostly travel between planes, so the FR just pops up now and then and that is perfect.

Golarion is interesting because it is one world with many settings on it. Numeria isn't Cheliax which isn't Osirion...

The FR could have some of that potential (Chult isn't Thay which isn't Cormyr...), but now everything is set on the Sword Coast. The only AP that I would buy from WotC would be if it was set in Selune's Tears on the Roc of Bral*. Never gonna happen, sadly.

Since Perkins said he was writting storylines for the next seven years, we might in for a lot of Sword Coast for a long time.

*Everything is getting Realmified. Rise of Tiamat was a DragonLance adventure. Elemental Evil was a Greyhawk adventure. Rage of Drizzt sounds and looks like Planescape. So Bral would be set in the Realms. Not that would mind since I palced it there in the first place and it needs an update. I bet the next AP is undead themed and Vecna is the summoned baddy at the end.

The glassdoor comments, positie or negative, have similar critics: doesn't understand tech, bad marketing and risk adverse. All stuff the community has been aware of for a while.

What I'm afraid of with a D&D cartoon is that we get a group of adventurers composed of a halfing rogue, a dwarf fighter, a elf wizard and a human cleric, running around without much a script.

What I'm sure of, is that if they are making a cartoon, it will be set in the Forgotten Realms. It is their default setting for quite sometime according to Nathan Stewart.

Also, the creator of Adventure Time was brought in to help create the story.

Green Ronin made this adventure. The guy from Adventure Time is working on another project that is still secret. Probably a D&D cartoon since, you know, the guy works on cartoons.

Art doesn't mean good fluff. Playability is something else.

Of course, you do not need to use an AP. You just need to buy it for it to be a success.

Pretty much this exactly.

Heck, it's pretty common for Paizo employees and Wizards employees to hang out socially and even game together regularly. In fact, there are games made up of Paizo employees, Wizards employees, and/or folks from other big 3PP companies. The fact is, many of these people are friends that just happen to work for competing companies.

So, what you are telling us, is that designers at WotC got some Paizo designers and stole all their trade secrets!

Thanks, Drizzt!*

Rage of Meh.

Application instead of proper pdf/e-reader file to read? Meh. What the hell is with that obsession with turning to apps for things to read instead of just reading them? Not everyone want to crap his computer with tons of unwanted programs.

Data mining. With apps they can't get a lot of personal info on users and do market research.

Thanks for posting it. Fingers crossed he is doing some D&D stuff - ive always liked his game design comments.

He has defined his role. HE seems to indicate that he will make sure third parties who produce licensed products have their story/lore/fluff right.

And I also think he got a new job in Indiana. To face new challenges.

He has a goodbye thread on these boards somewhere.

Apparently he said so on his facebook page. And someone from ENworld saw it.

I wonder if he is one of those freelancers they hire to write APs or if they gave him a job there. Not even sure he works on D&D.

He would bring Paizo's knowhow about APs, that is for sure.

Given the "principal publisher" is adopting such a glacial release schedule, 5E has the potential to really bolster a quality 3PP's bottom line, I think.

Unless some OGL is released by WotC, 3PP will hesitate to make material. A C&D letter is not something anyone wants.

I wonder how harder it is to make compatible material without the an OGL?

So the title of this thread is rather misleading.

Sorry about that, there was some confusion as to what FG offered.

Some clarification, this ain't e-tools like DDI (e.g. character builder). This is a Virutal Table Top.

License e-products from Fantasy Ground. Folks at WotC haven't made an official announcement yet.

Not sure what is in them, but they aren't cheap. Right now, Paizo PDFs look far more attractive. Cheaper, and if you buy the book on their store, you get the PDF for free. You do not need to pay the same amount for the books.

Especially considering that Sasquatch Games had not produced a single RPG book before the PotA was announced (and long since turned into Wizards).

Except for Primeval Thule?

I wonder what is that Ultimate Scheme. Looks sci-fi.

Did it disappear? I can't see it.

What about incantations really excites your imagination? What makes them seem like something to make mythic?

Incantations are exciting because even non-magic users can perform them. Perform is the key word. You do not say "I cast fireball". You need to act them out a bit. They are roleplayed magic. They help weave the story.

Mythic incantations are the magical feats we read about. Magic from mythology and literature performed my non-magicians. Orpheus' requiem for his dead love, it moved the gods so much they let him get her back. If you pore your soul in to a painting of yourself, will it age instead of you, like it did for Dorian Grey*? Sheherazade enthralled the king with her stories and managed to stay alive, were her performence an incantation?

Also, what would you consider an "artifact spell"?

Spells so ancient and powerful that you need to travel to a legedary location to learn them and use them once. They are eldritch secrets mad man search to curse an entire city with a plague. What vampires want to lock the moon in front of the sun to create a perpetual eclipse. What druids seek to turning a forest into an army of wooden soldiers so it can defend itself.

*Ok, not exactly how it goes, but you know, freedom of creativity or bust!

Mythic Incantations.

Artifact Spells.

Yup. And since D&D doesn't release PDFs for its current edition, Paizo will also dominate the digital market.

But I'm pretty sure D&D will dominate the boardgame market based on RPGS!

goldomark wrote:

dariusu wrote:

It has been out 6 years and is the number one Pathfinder book. That is one of my points. The Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook is in the top 5 on Paizo's own website. It is quite often near the top on Paizo's own site.

Yup, that is because core books are what sells the most. To be expected since it is the first thing (and only one) you need to play.

Quote:

I don't know what the sales on Amazon is vs the sales on Paizo's own site. Anyone have that info?

Nope.

Quote:

Do you think it is a lot more than a site like Amazon?

Yes. I mentioned the advantages of using the Paizo store. I forgot to mention the cheaper PDFs they sell. As you pointed out, some of PF's books rank higher than the core book on the Paizo store's top 10 seller list. We can infer that more are sold from the Paizo store than amazon (where they never go above the corebook).

Quote:

PDFs are not quite necessary when you have an online DB of all the rules anyway.

We do not get fluff and art from the free online database. PDFs have a higher value. Besides, by your logic we do not need to buy any books either, since everything is free on the net (d20PFSRD).

Quote:

I personally

Personal anecdotes are not interesting data points. Sorry.

Quote:

My point is that 5th edition sales will settle at some level and that level might still be more than Pathfinder.

Maybe. Maybe not.

Quote:

Most of the sales seem to come from core books.

Strange business move, no?

I originally kind of responded to your post about the drop in 5th edition Player's Handbooks sales and how it is not surprising, "For March, the projected sales of the PHB are 216 books!". I think your exclamation mark is used to show the sadness of how low it is going to go. You used data from novelrank.

Take any book of a similar rank. It has a similar drop in sales for March. Here is the psychiatric manual that was in a similar position as the PHB when it came out...

My guess about the drop in sales in February and March is the post holiday period. People are paying their credit cards. The release of the core books in autumn was to boost sells with the holidays coming. It will be interesting to see if they go up later on.

As for the paizo store, my point is that the pathfinder books would have a higher ranking on amazon if the paizo store didn't exist since it divides online sales. Higher than D&D? No way to know. As I said, amazon numbers can only be used to estimate D&D sales.

It has been out 6 years and is the number one Pathfinder book. That is one of my points. The Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook is in the top 5 on Paizo's own website. It is quite often near the top on Paizo's own site.

Yup, that is because core books are what sells the most. To be expected since it is the first thing (and only one) you need to play.

I don't know what the sales on Amazon is vs the sales on Paizo's own site. Anyone have that info?

Nope.

Do you think it is a lot more than a site like Amazon?

Yes. I mentioned the advantages of using the Paizo store. I forgot to mention the cheaper PDFs they sell. As you pointed out, some of PF's books rank higher than the core book on the Paizo store's top 10 seller list. We can infer that more are sold from the Paizo store than amazon (where they never go above the corebook).

PDFs are not quite necessary when you have an online DB of all the rules anyway.

We do not get fluff and art from the free online database. PDFs have a higher value. Besides, by your logic we do not need to buy any books either, since everything is free on the net (d20PFSRD).

I personally

Personal anecdotes are not interesting data points. Sorry.

My point is that 5th edition sales will settle at some level and that level might still be more than Pathfinder.

Maybe. Maybe not.

Most of the sales seem to come from core books.

Strange business move, no?

goldomark wrote:

For March, the projected sales of the PHB are 216 books!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the March (current month) sales figures appear to be estimated sales to date, not projected sales for the entire month. In the last three hours, the March sales figure for the PHB has gone from 216 to 230. Either they are very rapidly revising their projections based on increased sales, or these are just to-date estimates (that they acknowledge are low-balled).

Maybe, maybe not.

The February projection was 1,430 on the 10th of February. They ended up to be 1,448.

According to Amazon, the Pathfinder Core Rulebook is the best selling Pathfinder book. It almost always is except for a short period when some new Pathfinder books come out. The Pathfinder Core Rulebook is currently #3863 in books and the 5e Player's Handbook is currently #103.

Almost all of the 5th edition books are higher than almost all of the Pathfinder books most of the time. The highest charting Pathfinder books look to be some of the older books in general also.

According to that website the Player's Handbook has hovered around #100 in rank all last month. It is still about that. Those sales estimates might be low by that website's own admission.

Compare that sites estimates of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook. It sold 127 on Amazon.com last month according to them and will sell 26 this month. It is the best selling Pathfinder book.

PF's core book is not fresh off the prints like D&D's. It is 6 years old. It should be lower. What really muddles the water is that Paizo has it's own online store. There is an added bonus to buying on the Paizo store, you get the PDF for free and immediately. Something amazon can't offer. Also, if you subscribe to a line of products on the Paizo store, you get a 30% discount on the books. It is obvious why the core book is so low on amazon's charts.

Using amazon to track D&D sells is useful to track D&D sells and trends, not compare it with Paizo's products. ICv2 is useful to compare sells of the two brands... in brick and mortar stores.

What was really surprising with PF becoming the number one seller in ICv2 was that in spite of all the advantages that come with buying from the Paizo store, PF still managed to become number one in brick and mortar stores.

Sales on amazon are already declining for the PHB according to this sales traker.

Aug: 5,402
Sep: 5,105
Oct: 4,986
Nov: 3,066
Dec: 3,502
Jan: 4,784
Feb: 1,448

For March, the projected sales of the PHB are 216 books! The projections for February were right on target.

Not surprising. After the initial boom of new core books released before Christmas, sales are bound to go down.

I'm not sure why they think a minimal release schedule is good for their bottomline.

Congratulation!

So, what does a developer do anyway?

No big surprised. Those ranks come froma time the PHB was #1 on Amazon. Now the PBH is around #120, the MM #350 and the DMG #470. The descent with only continue. PoA will mostly be a blimp on the radar of the next 6 months.

To answer the thread's title, I say at least one quarter could be dominated by D&D; the last quarter of 2014. All three core books almost came out in that quarter, plus it was close to Christmas. $$$

After that, I see D&D going down. From december 9th to april 7th, there are no D&D books coming out. How can you appear on a chart about sells when there are no new books to sell?

Sure, the PHB can be bought many times by the same gaming group, but not the other core books. Adventures are less popular, so sales can only go down.

Oh well, at least we'll all be able to buy D&D t-shirts and comics.

I really like the door theme. I do not think it is silly the way you've done it here. It opens up a lot of possibilities for powers. Very nice.

What is the item similar to mine that was in RPGSS?

I do speak French. I'm from Montréal, Québec.

Thanks for the edit. It is inspiring.

Motherly Love

Aura moderate conjuration; CL 8th
Slot none; Price 25,025 gp; Weight 2 lbs.
Description
This +2 shortbow (+2 Str bonus) has the hair of a dead woman braided into the string. Against any creature that wounds the wielder, the bow counts as having the bane special ability, which lasts for one hour. Additionally, while the wielder sleeps, the bow sings a quiet and soothing song, aiding their rest and recovery as if using the Heal skill to provide long-term care. The power of the bow comes with a catch, however, as it functions only so long as the wielder refers to it, and only it, as their mother. Failure to do so, or using such terms with regard to another, will cause the bow to lose its magical properties for 24 hours.
Construction
Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, speak with dead, summon monster I, hair from a deceased female humanoid that has had children; Cost 12,775 gp

========================

TL;DR Summary: The goal was to produce a strongly themed weapon that possesses useful abilities at a price, and remained a prominent accessory to the character wielding it, without overshadowing them.

In hindsight, while I enjoy the concept of 'power at a price', and items with roleplay implications, I appreciate that many players will not, and were likely put off by the rather heavy handed downside.

** spoiler omitted **...

I sort of liked it and found that thematically ir worked, but it is creepy. Normand Bates would love it.

I could put it in my game for a short while in a Ravenloft sort of game, but it isn't superstar material. Sorry.