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So all these attempts to "model" the human real world knife thrower are OBVIOUSLY and FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED. If we can't model real people off of Pathfinder Characters, stop trying to model Pathfinder characters off of real world people. If it's fundamentally flawed one direction, the simple extension of this is that it is flawed in both directions.
Our group's Bard is a rather creative type, singing appropriate songs during her Bardic Music. Since we're in Westcrown, a city full of Asmodeous worshipers, the Bard has composed a couple of Tribute songs to fit the occasion. Enjoy! --- Asmdeous Loves Me (to the tune of Jesus Loves Me) --- Asmodeous owns me, this I know.
Asmodeous owns me, since I've lied.
Asmodeous owns me, owns me still.
Asmodeous owns me, I will pay.
--- Asmodeous (to the tune of Notorious by Duran Duran) --- As-as-Asmodeous. Asmodeous. Ah. As-as-Asmodeous. He won't care about you.
[CHORUS]
That's why He's done it again. As-as-Asmodeous. Imps will keep the secrets (uh)
[CHORUS] That's why He's done it again. As-as-Asmodeous. [CHORUS] [CHORUS] That's why He's done it again. As. As.
------------- -JLA
Hello Cosmo and other customer service types. Unfortunately, due to some extenuating circumstances I'm going to have to cancel my subscriptions to your fine product. Would it be at all possible to (out of this order) cancel everything but the last episode of Curse of the Crimson Throne and the Hardcover campaign guide? After that, I'd like to cancel both of my subscriptions. Thanks for a lot of good times. Thanks,
So I got the bright idea to compare notes with other DMs on their Character Creation Guidelines for this, the newest of Paizo's Adventure Paths. Here's mine, you can critique them, post your own, whatever. -------------------------------------------------- Character Creation Guidelines for The Curse of the Crimson Throne Background: Your characters are all citizens of (or, at least, people who live within) the city-state Korvosa; a thriving metropolis of nineteen thousand souls. The city is more deeply detailed in Paizo's Guide to Korvosa supplement. Also, every character has been hurt or wronged by the same man; Gaedren Lamm, a despicable low-life who abducts orphans and uses them as a slave-labor thieves' network. More on this is detailed in the Curse of the Crimson Throne Player's Guide. The Basics: Remember the Rule of Vaskos – Don't be a f***. Neither you, nor your character, should be a f***; this also includes douchebag related behaviors and other team-killy or f***tardish things. Attributes: 36 point buy. We cool? Races and Classes: All non-Psionic +0 ECL races and non-Psionic classes from published WotC 3.5 sources. Pathfinder is not very Psionics friendly, and I really don't want to retool the entire world to suit your “I want to be a wizard, but without all the books; however, I also do not want to play a sorcerer” character. Just play a sorcerer and focus on Enchantment and other psychic-ish spells. The bit about Roles: As we learned in our last group, a poorly balanced group can be shatteringly effective in the right circumstances (as seen by the Striker, Striker, Striker, Leader team from Savage Tide; or the Striker, Striker, Striker, Defender team from our last Pathfinder game.) but can be easily defeated by something outside their typical focus. This leads me to the point I'd hoped to make; Remember, you can play whatever you want, just don't be surprised if a lopsided group isn't as effective and/or fun as it could be. Starting Hit Points: Max HP based on class + Constitution Score. Yes, you read that right. Hit Points at each additional level: Max HP based on class + Constitution Modifier. Starting Gold: Max GP based on class. Action Points: 5 at first level, +1 at every even level. APs are refreshed at each level; as such, unused AP are effectively wasted. One Action Point allows you to Reroll any d20 roll (keeping the better result) or gain another Standard Action. Two Action Points allow you to stabilize automatically at -9, regardless of the damage you may have taken. Each usage of APs may only be used once per turn. Destiny Points: 2. Ever. You may use Destiny Points to do things that are seemingly impossible. A Destiny Point allows you to add +30 to any d20 roll, take a full turn's worth of actions at any time, or fully heal yourself of all damage (both HP and Ability Score Damage). Since you only ever get two of these, there is no limit to how many you can spend per turn and you are encouraged to spend them if it looks like your character is going to permanently bite it. Chaos Dice: In order to generate funds for our group's trip to GenCon Indy 2008, we're using the Chaos Dice rule. Instead of rolling damage for an attack, you may put $1 into the GenCon “Dammit, We're Freaking Going to PF Chang's This Year!” Fund. If you do so, you may roll the Chaos Cube (a d64 from Backgammon). There is no limit to the amount of money you may put into this, but be warned that dropping $20 into the bucket to kill the Big Bad Evil Guy is seen as rather silly. Also, remember that the DM can do this, too. --------------------------------------------------- -JLA
dang whippersnappers with their pants down around their knees listening to that loud music while I try to nap! Kids graduating today weren't born when I was leaving college. *goes back to nap*Oh yeah? Kids graduating High School this year were born the year I graduatedMike your showing your age!! Kids graduating this year were born when I was just about to enter pre-school. Dang kids, stealing my wireless bandwidth and trying to hack my network to get at my mp3s! Get off my WiFi!
I'll say the same thing I always say when someone talks about a new edition... "So frakking what?" Here, more than any other place on the internet, I see lots of negativity towards 4thEd. If you don't like it, that's fine. Just put on your big boy pants and deal with it. Also, treating the game as an ever evolving, ever changing medium (akin to the Operating System analogy earlier) is a good thing in my mind. -TRRW
Filled out the mail forwarding forms, but I know how ridiculously unreliable the USPS can be some times when it comes to forwarding things. I figure if I see Pathfinder 5 before I see 4, I'll start to get worried. Thanks,
Has there been any shipping trouble with this particular issue? It says it shipped on the 11th. For the past 3 issues (and my Item Cards), they arrived about two days after the ship date. I wouldn't be too worried, except that I'm in the process of moving and want to know how long I should continue to check the mail at my old address (as periodicals subscriptions aren't forwarded). -JLA
These aren't meant to be anything resembling what I think the Official pronunciations are, but they're *my* official pronunciations. Varisian: vah-REE-see-an
Serenrae: sah-REN-ray
-JLA
Tiefling: TY-fling (Tie your shoes, then fling them.)
Also, I heard James Wyatt talking about the Lord of the Ninth the other day. As-mo-DAY-us? Really? Asmodeus: As-MO-dee-us. While we're at it.. Atreides: ah-TRAY-ih-deez -JLA
Jillian the Angry: Female Halfling Fighter 1/Rogue 1/Barbarian 1 (Jillian was kicked out of her community for the brutal assault of an ex-lover. She saw red, and when she came out of it, the burly half-orc she'd been courting lay bloodied and near death.) [Neutral] Meac'tuk: Male Human (Shoanti) Ranger 2/Fighter 1 ([Mee-ack-tuck) is a goblin hunting machine, and also quite insane. He fervently believes he was created by the primal forces of nature to exterminate anything related to Goblinkind.) [Chaotic Neutral] Krusk: Male Half-Orc Druid 3 (with a young-ish Firepelt animal companion) (Krusk is an unarmed fighter, his core belief that manufactured weapons are a sign of weakness. He truly strives to do good for goodness sake, but he seems to attract less than reputable associates.) [Neutral Good] Ulia Esselas, the Chord of Entropy: Female Elf Bard 3 (Masquerading as a hapless singer under the stage name Ganoodles Caboodles, Ulia is studying the Music of Creation so that she might one day undo it.) [Chaotic Neutral-ish] -JLA
Well, a DC 20 Diplomacy check is what it takes to get someone to go from Friendly (what I'd assume is the default attitude towards one of Farshore's assumed leaders) to Helpful (willing to side with that person over the other respected leader of the community, via voting). Political campaigning (both in D&D and in real life) is a pesky thing. One has to be careful not to misspeak or voters can be lost. -JLA
As addressed in another STAP related thread regarding Diplomacy; it's not that hard to make a character who (at the appropriate level for the Campaigning for Lavinia sidequest) has a +40 or more to Diplomacy. Right now, I'm cruising along at a +49. I've got a 45% chance of gaining 5d10 supporters per day. In addition, we've got a Changeling with an abysmal Charisma going around and pretending to be Avner. He's taking 10 on the Diplomacy check to campaign for Lord Meravanchi, basically getting 1d10 supporters for Lavinia each time. Within a week, we had everyone in Farshore except for the Manthalay himself voting for Lavinia. -JLA
Well, due to the crazy multiclassing, I've got rather respectable saves. My lowest HD is one d6, the rest are d8s or d10s. 16 Con. Plus, there's this big dwarf thing that stands between me and the bad guys. I've also pumped up Use Magic Device and have a wand of Benign Transposition to get me out of tight spots. Surviving STAP with a non-combat character is rough, but when you can talk circles around things quite easily (-10 for a rushed Diplomacy check to get the bad guys to not attack you for a round isn't that bad) it's not so bad. Competent usage of magic items and the like is also helpful. For the next few levels, it'll be Outcast Champion for the teamwork benefits, then Mythic Exemplar / Squire of Legend for more team-boosting goodness. "Yay! I'm helping!" seems to be my character's tagline. -JLA
Super Diplomats aren't *that* hard to make up... Half-Elf (Warlock 1 / Marshal 1 / Dragon Shaman 1 / Half-Elf Paragon 3 / Human Paragon 3) Feats: Skill Focus (Diplomacy)[Marshal] (+3), Negotiator [Half-Elf Paragon] (+2), Complementary Insight [Human Paragon] (+3), Courteous Magocracy [1st] (+2), Sociable Personality [3rd], Heroic Destiny [6th], Fearless Destiny [9th] Class features boosting Diplomacy: Beguiling Influence (+6), Motivate Charisma Minor Aura(+5), Persuasion (+1), Presence Aura (+1) Trait: Honest (+1 Diplomacy, -2 Bluff). Magic Items: Circlet of Persuasion (+3), Cloak of Charisma +4 (+2) Ranks: +12 Synergy: +6 Half-Elf: +2 -----
All of this at level 9. We dealt with that Dragonturtle thing last session. I rolled, got a 3. My DM got that big rat bastard smirk on his face until I informed him I got a 52; then I proceeded to use my reroll from Sociable Personality, got a 16 + 49 = 65. Out of spite, I used my daily Heroic Destiny +1d6, got a 5 for a total of 70. -JLA
Here's my take on Hero/Plot/Destiny points; some of it swiped from outside sources, some my own. Destiny Points: At character creation (and after appropriate acts of Dramatic Heroism), PCs gain one Destiny Point (also referred to as I Have Done A Silly Thing Tokens), which can be used for any of the following effects:
-JLA
Two problems with this. One, only a +8? What kind of ladies man is he? The Bard in my campaign (25 point buy, core only) has a +11 at level 1, by the time he's at the same level as whats-his-face, he'll have at least a +21. Secondly, CE girlfriends are very useful. You have to be open to non-traditional methodology for solving problems, such as torture or the ruining of social status. It would probably be different if I wasn't NE myself, but that's life. -JLA
...so, now when someone spills blood of his own family, he gets chased by a succubus instead of erinye? That is a bit odd... After checking every Monster Manual I could find with an entry for Erinyes (that's singular and plural, like sheep), I couldn't find a reference to that particular mythological imperative. I'm also pretty sure that devils wouldn't give two shakes if you spilled the blood of your own family; unless you had some sort of Faustian Pact with that as a clause. -JLA
I love almost every change I've seen so far. Consolidating our evil outsiders is a good streamlining process. From what I understand, they're changing some of the things in D&D not just for the sake of change, but in order to make things better. Just because you might think it's all just changing things for the sake of change doesn't make that so. There's probably a lot of market research showing that having so many different substrata of evil outsiders/elves/dwarves/whatever is a stumbling block for new entrants into the hobby. I'm not worried about 4e's effect on Paizo's previous APs, just like I'm not worried about 4e's effect on Return to the Keep on the Borderlands or Expedition to the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk. They're adventures from a different edition, what does it matter the current rule set? -JLA
Hard to read a magazine in the dark, too.
I can count on one hand the number of times my internet access has gone down in the past 10 years. Unless you're talking about the whole internet going down, in which case that's why they let you download the articles and save them to your computer. Also, if the whole internet goes down, I doubt there'll be people left to read the articles.
Again, you can save them to your computer for later perusal.
See above.
Click the "Forgot Password?" button.
They've already said this isn't the case. You buy it, you own it.
Never have had a problem with eye strain on computers, can't really comment on this one. Plus, the electronic format lends itself well to people like me who want handouts for their players. With a print copy, I have to find a copier, copy a page from the magazine, cut away all the text, etc. Just to have a copy of one illustration from the magazine. Or, I could right click on the image and click "print selection". Wow, difficult. Personally, though, I'm done derailing this thread. I apologize to the OP and the other posters in the thread for starting this tangent. -JLA
But they're stopping print publication, which pisses me off. Screw WotC. I have yet to meet a gamer that doesn't have internet access. Why is an electronic document so terrible? Magazines only have portability on their side. That's it. Nearly four times the content for about the same monthly cost as one print issue of Dragon? Yes, please. -JLA
After being shipwrecked on the Isle of Dread, we told Avner in no uncertain terms that if he so much as breathed wrong, we would murder him. The next day, we are setting up camp and the bastard steals some food and heads back to the beach where we washed ashore. The barbarian (whose brother [another PC] had been killed a day before by the T-Rex) raged, charged, and cut the idiotic nobleman down. What? It was a whole lot of fun for us. -JLA
This kind of heavy handed DMing is what made me quit playing 2nd Edition. If the players want to find a crafter of magical armor, why shouldn't they be able to? Achilles did it, Beowulf did it, Aragorn did it, why can't the PCs? -JLA
We put a permanent Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion inside the captain's quarters (the blue doorway has a sign about it that says 'City Watch Call Box'), and are presently affixing some sort of prow-piece that allows planar travel. Now all we need are those sails that let us fly and something to allow time travel, and the Sea Wyvern's transformation into the TARDIS will be complete. We have two Warmages and a Warlock in our party, so it's not like we're exactly hurting for Artillery. -JLA
Wu Jen is a fine class, but I was unaware that they had to specialize in an element. *reads through Complete Arcane* Ok, so Wu Jen do get an Elemental Mastery; but it only enhances the casting of their preferred element. It doesn't hinder anything about the other elements. Shugenja (Complete Divine), on the other hand, *do* have an elemental deficiency, which (in the case of an Earth Elemental Shugenja) would limit their effectiveness. Wu Jen don't rely on their elemental mastery element being there, as most of their spells just enhance their bodies through the usage of their element. An Earth Master Wu Jen wouldn't have any problems at sea, unless a specific spell said it wasn't useable while afloat. Unless you don't take *any* water spells, you should be fine. There is a moderate amount of things related to water in this Adventure Path, being centered on a nautical piratey theme. tl;dr - Wu Jen spellcasting isn't penalized for casting outside favored elements, so you're cool. -JLA
Just some things I'm changing in the published adventure. Also some notes on how to possibly RP the various characters. These changes are somewhat because my players are untrustworthy and will probably skim the magazine at the store. Also because some of the challenges are a bit too... ridiculously difficult for my party to handle (cv. Hydra). Feedback encouraged. ---------- Sea Wyvern's Crew
Passengers (15):
Stow Away (1): Rowyn Kellani (Human Rog3/Brd5) *characters with an asterisk denote PCs.
B. Hungry Floatsam: Replace Floatsam Ooze with Wyvern (and Half-Green Dragon Pal-Tyr3 Rider).
E. River Menace: Replace 7H Hydra with Elasmosaurus. ------ Part Four: Tamoachan Ruins 1. Replace Basilisk with 3 Cockatrices. 4. Ancient Tamoachan: Replace Wall of Fire trap with Slow trap (Will DC 15, 5 Round Duration). 7. Tloquatcha's Crypt: Replace Mummy Rot trap with Insanity Mist (DC 15, 1d4 Wis, 2d6 Wis). Replace Prayer Beads with; Skirmisher Boots, Heartseeking Amulet, Cloak of Resistance +2. ----- Misc. Notes. (Cora loves horses, I'm not sure, why. I'm going to assume she'll hang out with the horse tending guy and spark some discussion. Blatantly stolen from some other poster whose name I've forgotten.) Avner's Horse: "You see m'Lady, my Lord, he's a jealous and powerful man, willing to match any insult, don't ya know. Once, he was to be married, to a right beautiful young woman, like yer'self, of some of the finest blood in the city. But one night, a few day's before their wedding, Avner caught her having a daliance with a young adventurer-type. Well, me Lord Avner, he's right furious...and I'm not saying that he isn't right to be so...but what he did...
----- -JLA
Savage Tide. Awesomeness distilled. Age of Worms is cool, but suffers a lot of Lord of the Rings style "go to this, then go to that, then do this, all because I said so" storytelling. Shackled City, as someone else said, has a lot of potential, but requires a lot of work from the DM to make it really stand out.
5. Human Cleric 4/Sorcerer 2
We're just starting Sea Wyvern's Wake. What a fun bunch this has been. We just picked up the cleric like, nowish. Going through 6 levels with no healer has been rough, to say the least.
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