johnnype's page

Favorite? Who knows. There's so much crunch that frankly it's become tiresome to even wade through it all.

This is a bit of a back-handed compliment but this post has made me realize that Pathfinder is really, REALLY almost exclusively about crunch. The fluff, although it exists, is a distant second consideration. And that's OK as it obviously appeals to many, many people for that exact reason. I don't begrudge anyone their fun but speaking only for myself, the system is groaning under its own weight.

Hmmm... I'm not crazy about the card design. It's very 1990's. I started a thread on RPG.net last year where I posted examples of what I consider gorgeous card design you can find it here (ignore the art, I'm talking about borders here):

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?662329-Where-we-post-pictures-of-our-fa vorite-game-cards

I think this game could use a bit more attention to the border design because it's boring me.

I'll buy it regardless because I've been waiting for something like this for a looong time.

Will the rulebook be made available for download?

Interesting. I've asked my nearest venture captain to sign me up as a solo player. We'll see if it works.

Am I right in thinking that the game will be released in much the same way FFG does their Living Card Games (LCG's)? That's to say there won't be any randomness to the cards? You buy a base box with all the cards in it and all followup expansions will be self contained in their own non-random boxes? If so you have all but a guaranteed sale here. Add solo play and I might just give up all other games ever (slight exaggeration). Let's hope it lives up to my ridiculous expectations!

It all looks great.

Any plans to to a rogue type psion? WotC did one for 3.5. You can find it here:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723b

I always loved it. Between the psion, the psychic Warrior, the chirurgeon and a psychic rogue you would have all the bases covered for a psionics only setting. Just saying.

Question, do you plan to adapt the gem dragons at any point? They were completely left off 3.5 if I recall and the 3.0 versions are woefully out of date.

Lastly, I've heard that WotC may not have rightful copyright of githyanki. Apparently George R.R. Martin came up with the name long before TSR ever included it in the Fiend Folio. I'd love to see WotC lose control over that race. It's much too cool and woefully underused.

I'm on the fence. For modern I have SpyCraft 2.0 and nWoD which work really well. If instead you offer me a stand alone D20Future/Pathfinder (i.e. Pathfinder rulebook NOT required) and I'm all over it.

I don't know that even a 400 page rulebook can adequately address all that a modern AND sci-fi set of rules require. As much as I love D20 Future it felt tacked on and incomplete.

Now $50 is not a lot of money so I could easily be convinced to buy in in the hopes that I might see something like D20Future/Pathfinder at a later date. Again, stand alone. None of this "D20 Modern required" BS that we saw with D20 Future.

Very well then. I guess it makes sense. Time to visit my FLGS. Looks like I'll be picking up piles of supplements this weekend.

The Pathfinder Campaign Setting is growing on me little by little. Initially I was underwhelmed by the two page spreads per region. I really didn't feel it was enough information to do anything with. My opinion has changed in large part because of the superb material included in the Chronicles, AP's and, to a lesser extent Companion supplements. Still, I'm holding back on buying any more in fear that the setting will see a second edition this or next year and incorporate much of this material.

I don't know that Paizo has decided what to do about the setting (continue as is, second edition, whatever) but I thought a nice compromise would be to publish a second volume that includes much of the previously published supplement material. Not a perfect solution by any means but no worse than a second edition IMO.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Alternatives? Or should I just bite the bullet and buy what's been published so far?

Do the new Pathfinder RPG rules "fix" higher level play? Does anyone remember the discussions here and elsewhere about the sweet spot of the 3.5 rules?

This one has 6 of 6 adventures set in a city (or within sight of the city walls).

Sold! I'm certain to pick up the set as well as the companion and the Princes of Darkness supplement.

Question about this last book: it's labeled Volume 1 which implies additional volumes. What can you tell us about it or the series and will any of it tie into the Council of Thieves AP?

My original intent when I started this thread was more to address the paucity of level 15 - 20 content.

This.

I think the real reason for the lack of high level adventures is that Paizo and company don't like writing them (16-20th level) for two reasons: 1)too difficult (those stat blocks are a killer) and 2) it's outside what some believe to be the "sweet spot" of the 3.5 rules.

As someone said upthread, I can do the low level stuff myself (and there is so much of it I don't think I'll ever be short of prepackaged scenarios). I want someone else to do the heavy lifting when it comes to high level adventures. It would be more useful and therefore more valuable to me. Low level adventures? Couldn't care less. In fact they suck part of the "awesome" away from AP's afaic.

Just my two cents.

I haven't read all the post thus far nor do I really plan to but I thought I'd throw out an idea for a book. How about a book of templates? Does the PfRPG still allow for templates? If so I think a big book of templates like Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary or Goodman Games' Book of Templates adds a tremendous amount of value and variety to the game. Many time more than a simple monster manual can.

Just a thought.

I hate to ask but how soon can we expect a reprint? I'm looking at this log and becoming a bit discouraged.

With the approaching edition change we were mindful to make the guides as edition neutral as possible.

Awesome. Excuse me for a moment as I add a few books to my want list...

Will the same be true of the Gazetteer and/or Campaign Setting?

As someone who is adopting 4th Ed, I'm curious as to how much of the material will be useful to me.

Great work on the iconics guys. I can't wait to see the rest of them although I would have preferred a bit more racial variety. I get that humans are versaitle and all but this is a great opportunity to add real flavor to your setting. Distinct flavor like you did with goblins. It seems like a wasted opportunity. It's a minor complaint however. The Iconics look far and away more interesting than any WotC has come up with.

I'm anxiously waiting for my first issue. I'm loving the Blog. Keep up the great work!

James,

I'm sorry to see the old magazines go but I really, REALLY like what you have planned with Pathfinder. Consider me a charter subscriber!

Got mine last night (Wednesday). San Francisco,CA.

Love the map by the way.

Probably not what you're looking for but Hyperconscious has a psionic lich template you could use. It's been a while since I last looked at tit but I believe the power level is about the same as the traditional lich. Obviously how to become one would be (or at least should be) very different.

Just a thought.

...any chance we could get desktop images of the covers of the magazine on the website? This goes for both Dragon as well as Dungeon magazine.

Thanks.

Should I have received it by now? If so can you resend it?

Thanks.

John

I put up a fuss about a non-psionic Mind Flayer a while back. After a bunch of posts someone by the name of Airwalkrr posted the following conversion:
================================================================
Behold, the mighty psionic Zyrxyg, in all his glory. I stayed as true as I possibly could to the original concept.

Zyrxog, male psionic mind flayer telepath 3: CR 11; Medium aberration (psionic); HD 8d8+16 plus 3d4+6; hp 76; Init +8; Spd 30 ft.; AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 13; Base Atk +7; Grp +7; Atk +11 melee (1d4, tentacle); Full Atk +11/+11/+11/+11 melee (1d4, 4 tentacles); SA extract, improved grab, mind blast (DC 22); SQ darkvision 60 ft., power resistance 28, telepathy 100 ft.; AL LE; SV Fort +7, Ref +9, Will +15; Str 10, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 19, Wis 19, Cha 21.
Skills and Feats: Bluff +16, Concentration +15, Hide +12, Knowledge (psionics) +15, Listen +12, Move Silently +17, Psicraft +15, Sense Motive +8, Spot +12, Use Psionic Device +9; Combat Manifestation, Craft Universal Item, Improved Initiative, Improved Toughness, Weapon Finesse.
Languages: Common, Drow, Dwarf, Elven, Undercommon.
Powers Known (power points 150): 1st—defensive precognition, detect psionics, energy ray, mind thrust (DC 16*), psionic charm (DC 16*), vigor; 2nd—body equilibrium, ego whip (DC 17*), id insinuation (DC 17*), psionic levitate, psionic suggestion (DC 17*), read thoughts (DC 17*); 3rd—body adjustment, dispel psionics, energy bolt (DC 17*), mental barrier; 4th—energy adaptation, intellect fortress, psionic dimension door, psionic dominate (DC 19*); 5th—mind probe (DC 20*), psionic plane shift; 6th—mind switch (DC 21*), psionic disintegrate (DC 20).
*Power can be augmented.
Possessions: boots of elvenkind, cloak of resistance +2, ring of counterspells (dispel magic), 2 tattoos of body purification, psionatrix of telepathy, necklace of fireballs type III.

I took a couple of liberties since there are some discrepansies that simply don't work with psionics. Below are design notes, including discrepansies.
- I kept Zyrxog's ability scores exactly the same. Since he is missing an ability boost due to fewer HD, his Charisma score is only a 21.
- It appears Zyrxog was a pretty typical mind flayer until he was given class levels. So rather than use the MM mind flayer as a starting point, I used the EPH as a starting point. This means, among other things, his skills are basically the same, except he has a few ranks in Use Psionic Device. I tried to maintain skill point:hit dice rations.
- I tried to select equivalent powers to compare with Zyrxog's spell list. Not all spells have an elligible psionic equivalent however. lightning bolt = energy bolt, false life = vigor, resist energy = energy adaption, scorching ray = energy ray, shield = mental barrier, detect magic = detect magic = detect psionics.
- Potions of cure serious wounds really aren't as good as body adjustment so I swapped them for tattoos of body purification.
- Since he can't benefit from a lesser rod of empower, he instead gets a psionatrix of telepathy. Very loose analogy but the closest one possible.
- You may wish to swap psionic disintegrate for mass cloud mind or temporal acceleration since those powers preserve the character a bit better. The party could be fighting an 11th-level sorcerer with disintegrate though so the challenge is equivalent.
- I suggest either playing him conservatively (the fools, I think I'll toy with them for a while) or cutting back his power point reserve to 80 (having already use some today) by the time the PCs get to him. If he is fully powered and you unload everything he has on them, he WILL TPK your party. I have no doubt about that.
Tactics: If given time he manifests vigor (augmented to 35 hp) and energy adaptation instead of false life and energy resistance. If given time he manifests defensive precognition (augmented to +4) instead of shield and displacement.

Have fun killing your parties.
--------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not much of psionics guru but I do prefer a mind flayer that actually does what he was designed to do. I guess I'm a purist that way.

Anyway, I know this is not much help with you half-drow but there you have it.

Thanks Vic, you rock. I'm moving but that won't be 'till July. I'd have you mail it to my office but then people would start looking at me funny.

Hello Paizo,

Just wondering if I should panic or give it a couple more days. Issue #132 also took it's sweet time getting to me. In fact it took so long I posted a request for a replacement and you guys were kind enough to send it to me. I got it in the mail a few days later ALONG WITH THE MISSING ISSUE. Obviously I blame the post office but trying to reason with them is as productive as talking to a wall.

HELP!

I have only one suggestion: make use of the Demonomicon articles. You have this wonderfull resource but most readers (including myself) have little idea of how to incorporate these ideas into an adventure, much less a campaign. I'd like to see some way to have the 10 or 12 Demonomicon articles (that will appear in Dragon magazine by the time AP3 is finished) made a part of a truly epic adventure.

Just a thought.

On Tuesday I received the replacement copy of issue #132 (thanks a bunch Paizo!)and the same day I get my original copy of the SAME issue!! This is a little weird...

I just picked up The Red Hand of Doom last night and look forward to reading it in hopes of actually playing it some day. With that in mind it occurred to me that James is also the brains behind the spectacular Demonimicon articles in Dragon magazine (which make a subscription well worth the money). My question is this: Given the recent tie in articles between Dragon and Dungeon magazines(Wormfood and Age of Worms respectively) would it be possible to provide us with adventures that tie in and make use of the Demonomicon articles? I'm thinking of a high level adventure(s)featuring travel to the demon's plane with an ultimate battle against either the demon himself or some sort of aspect. What do people think?

I don't want to sound like a broken record but I didn't get issue #132 either. Help!

I'm not in MI but California and I too have yet to receive issue #132. Should I start giving my mail man a dirty look?

Paul Kemp post regularly on the www.rasalvatore.com website messageboards, in the "Other Authors" list. Look on page 31 of his thread and about halfway down I took a guess at Cale's stats. Paul posted a bit later and made some suggestions for slight changes. The following is a guess as to the Cale's writeup:

Male Shade Rogue 6/Fighter 3/Cleric of Mask 10/Divine Agent 2. Depending on what writeup of the shade you are using that would make Cale a CR 25 PC more or less. Not bad. Now if we could get a write up on Waveshear...

Thanks, James.

John, your replacement issue is on it's way!

Thanks,
Cosmo

Hey Cosmo,

I've yet to receive it. Should I panic?

Thanks.

1) Area-of-effect evocations are the most common winners.

That's what I thought. I was thinking of fireball as perhaps the best example, but with a maximum of 10d6 damage it would take at least two (doing maximum damage)to kill one wormswarm. That may not sound like much but when you have a room with 6 of them (room #6 in The Spire of Long Shadows) and have only average die rolls then it will take over 20. What mage uses up that many slots for one spell? I assume it would be a combination of attacks from everyone in the party but like you said, it will take some time.

The Age of Worms continually surprises me with just how difficult and challenging it is. The elder black pudding in a Gathering of Winds also blew my mind.

At the very end of A Gathering of Winds (AoW #6) there is a reference to "Zosiel's silver diadem". Can someone remind me where this item shows up. I can't, for the life of me, remember. Thanks.

The Spire of Long Shadows (adventure #7 in the AoW) has a nasty new monster called a wormswarm. It has some rather impressive immunities including "weapon damage" among others. My experience with swarms of any kind is rather limited so I thought I'd ask the experts (you) for avice. How would you deal with this menace?

I'm a subscriber and as of last night have yet to receive issue # 339 of Dragon Magazine. Am I the only one? It's the issue with the planescape cover. It's been available at my local game store for some time now so I'm starting to worry. Who can I contact about this? Should I just go out and buy a copy just in case?

Thanks.

I'm a subscriber and as of last night have yet to receive issue # 339 of Dragon Magazine. Am I the only one. It's the issue with the planescape cover. It's been available at my local game store for some time now so I'm starting to worry. Who can I contact about this? Should I just go out and buy a copy just in case?

Thanks.

A question for James Jacobs and Erik Mona (as well as anyone else wanting to chime in):

On the EN messageboards I asked for suggestions of other sources of "Demonomicon type" information of the lower planes. I was given a good list of Planescape sources and I'm in the process of buying them one by one. What do you think are the best sources for additional RPG reading material?

Very nice preview. Your production values are the best in the business. Keep it up!

Race, class, levels and more if you feel so inclined.

Too much crunch. Too much 3rd edition material. I find the latter rather puzzling to be honest.

I'll buy it but I would have chosen different articles to print.

People like the Malhavock psionics books because they are written by Bruce Cordell, the same person who wrote the official WotC XPH and therefore the rules are 100% compatible. Keep in mind that you only need to purchase Hyperconscious. It's a compilation and update of all the material previously published by Malhavock. I should also mention that it's very cool as well.

As far as the Psychic's Handbook is concerned, it's also worth checking out. It's written by Steve Kenson (Mutants & Masterminds) and presents a different and alternate system to the one presented in the XPH. It's similar in some ways to D20 Star Wars force rules in that instead of points and powers it's all done with feats and skills. The system is much simpler if a little weaker in power. It presents a new core class, the psychic (I think) and some alternate material for using it in D20 modern games as well.The rules show up again, in their entirety, in Green Ronin's Advanced Gamemaster's Guide (sans D20 modern material) so you might consider picking that up instead and getting the other unrelated extra material as well.

In the end you could concievably use both systems in the same game if you like although you would need to keep the classes and rules systems separate. You could use it to flavor your campaign and say that the Psychic HB system is native to only a specific area of your setting and the WotC material is "normal" everywhere else. Both systems are good but very different.

What's up with the horns? They're flat. Looks...weird.

I'm not James but I think I'm right to say that none of the adventures that appear in Dungeon are designed for gestalt PC's. Your GM would have to make many adjustments, I think, to make such a game balanced. I'm not saying it's impossible, I just don't think the adventures will work as written for such a party. Regardless of whether you use psionics or not.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who would have liked to see real psionics used.

I understand where you're coming from James and I can't really blame you for your editorial decisions. That said, I do think the designers of the rules, and the writers of the 3 core rulebooks specifically, are to blame for the "problems" caused by psionics. It was a big, BIG mistake to exclude psionics from the core rules. Although the current set of rules found in the XPH work and work well there are certain incompatabilities (like the one you describe in your post above) that will always make psionics the red-headded step child of D&D. Tsk, tsk.

Very nice guys. One question: Is the artwork in the book new? I love the fact that it's full color. And you guys have some of the best artists around (Udon I'm looking at you).

The latest installment of the Age of Worms adventure features Zyrxog, a Mind Flayer sorcerer(7). Am I the only one who finds this rather lame? I know, I know, people hate psionics. Whatever. I would have apreceated at least a sidebar writeup with a psion as the chosen class.

The adventure is great and I have no real complaints otherwise. I just had to say something as the exclusion of psionics will always be a pet peeve of mine.

I agree with Polite Elliot, this latest issue was a dissapointment. The class act articles are garbage (to me). Fiction? Yuck! I'll add to the grievances by saying that the article on Waterdeep was little more than a listing of previous sources of info on the city. 2 pages on that?! What a waste.

I'm not going to stop buying the magazine but I must admit that it has been less than inspiring lately. It might be because so much good material is actually being published by way of supplements. Maybe Dragon is simply running out of material?

I don't know about the rest of you but I am not at all impressed with the way the Warforged look in any of the Eberron illustrations presented in either WotC material or in Dungeon magazine. I don't know what about them turn's me off (maybe it's their roundness and/or cartooniness...).

Anyway, yesterday I finally got a chance to look through the latest issue of Dungeon magazine (# 126) and on page 55 there is a wonderful illustration of a new monster called a Brass Man. The illustration is done by Kieran Yanner and it's awesome. He manages to capture exactly how I would render the race.

Thoughts?

I haven't actually seen that much written about them. I know they play a big role in the Eberron campaign setting as members of the Lords of Dust. They also preside over the Demon Wastes as that is where their HQ are located. You can find a bit more about them in the Eberron CS hardback. They also come in several different varieties. There is the standard Rakshasa as it appears in the Monster Manual. There is another variety called the Zakya which are written up in the Eberron rulebook. I think they are more martial in focus than the regular Rakshasa. And lastly two other varieties appear in the Monster Manual III, the Akchazar and the Naztharune. I see them as Necromancers and rogues/assassins respectively. I don't see why you couldn't use them as templates to make a monk. Rakshasa are as varied as humans imo.