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James,
Knowing that chickens are far-distant cousins of the T-Rex (seriously!), and that they are totally ignorant of the laws of gravity:
A -Would it be possible to raise these chickens upside-down on our ceilings?
B - Implying that T-Rex would have shown a similar aptitude (live and breed on caves' ceilings) in past times, would that had affected the space & time continuum?
C - Would Newton even had invented the laws of gravity if a T-Rex would have fallen on his head (instead of an apple)?

You can tell that it's not the first time this guy writes something up ;-)

Monte, Bravo. Bra-vo. That was really entertaining, most enjoyable to read and follow what would happen to your duo of adventurers.

I agree with other posters, you should definitely write more stories like this. You do have sir a really good talent for that!

Thanks for giving us that free pleasure.

Just want to understand what is really going on. Back in February 2010, Eric Mona answered this in the "Fear of a Geek Planet" (http://mxyzplk.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/pathfinder-iphone-apps/), about the upcoming iPhone app:

Erik Mona | February 28, 2010 at 7:16 pm | Reply

The three apps are in final testing now. Then they go to the Apple store, and my understanding is that it takes some time (maybe about a month) before they are available. So we’re still looking at at least a few months before they become available.

And then we got this answer recently in these messageboards:

F. Wesley Schneider (Managing Editor), Tue, Oct 26, 2010, 10:57 PM

Since we're not really in the making software business having an app made means there are other parties involved with their own schedules and agendas. Rest assured that when there is something to be announced that it will be announced. Until we make an announcement, though... well, I suspect you can see where this is going.

So back in February, we were 5 minutes to midnight about to get these 3 apps on Apple's app store, now we are in total limbo. Clearly something BAD happened in between, or call it bad PR.

I just need to be informed. To be reassured. Or I want my blanket. Or get a darn good Sense Motive roll on this.

+1 — was wondering too, it's been a while since we had any feedback at all. Wassssup?

How clever! You ought to write a book in the likes of "D20's Inner Psychology: Momentum and Murphy's Laws Thwarted".

Unless the dice Spirits themselves decide to write a book in the likes of "RPG Rollers' inner Psyche: Make Believe and Superstitions Overruled"? — Then what? ;-)

... you apply stats to your friends and relatives — or to yourself.
"This friend of mine sure have 14 Dex! But probably 6 Charisma..." etc.

What's to you?

Sometimes I even think of rolling initiative before eating my morning cereal.

Hello fellow PF'ers
At our last Pathfinder session, we came into this little issue:
I am playing a dwarf character, and as it is with dwarves, he has some bonuses against giants (Pathfinder Core Rulebook, p.21: Defensive Training: Dwarves get a +4 dodge bonus to AC against monsters of the giant subtype).
What happened then was that we encountered an undead - in a place full of them – but this one was the undead of a giant (think "Left4Dead", what they call "a Tank"), so our discussion was:

• Is it still considered a giant? Our GM say that he had applied the "undead" template to this giant, therefore it looses the giant type, so no bonuses for the dwarf.
  
• but Pathfinder says "... monsters of the giant subtype"; would it be that in this case, the undead be labeled of this giant subtype?

We ended up this discussion with the dwarf getting the bonuses anyway, but we still had doubts left to our mind after that. What would you say?

PS: also: we were wondering if a Giant Spider would also fall in this "giant subtype" category?

Congrats to Ryan! He has been talking about his project for so long on 3.5 Private Sanctuary & Know Direction podcasts, so now is the time to rejoice! I already purchased my PDF copy, and I will eagerly devour its pages in the next minutes. (This is a metaphor, I am no manuscript-eating maniac) :-)

Thomax, I had purchased your PFR iPhone app and I like it, it's a really handy way to have all that Pathfinder reference available anytime and wherever I need it.

Only one question: is there a way on the iPhone to make a search query through all that reference? If not, are you thinking of implementing a search mechanism? That would be "top" and awesome. Just imagine someone asking for that X rule and you give the answer the next split second :-)

This is a typical example of the dichotomy between the player — i.e. the flesh and blood person who play the game, and its avatar in game world.

Pathfinder and other role-playing games always have actions decided upon a roll of the dice. Even if one person say "My character does that!" first, it would not necessarily translate in the "game world" as such. This is where we tend to forget that in these circumstances, we got to role play according to the dice rolls, and not the opposite.

Problem is, this is not always true, not always linear. Sometimes, we got to make decision and behave more akin to our true self than that of the character we represent. So because of these back and forth switches between us and them (characters), we are confusing what happens for real in the game world and what would happen if we were there for real.

Let's not forget that Pathfinder (and D&D, and all other related games) isn't the reality, it is a mechanical and tactical representation of it. And as such, we got to play by its rules sometimes.
So in the fighter example, while the player would have reacted right away, the dices had decided otherwise – the character (fighter) might have instead looked somewhere else, or hesitated just long enough to have stand still a few seconds while the other characters reacted quicker.

So as a short answer — I am comfortable accepting the quirkiness of initiative based on dice results, not on players decisions.

Singing while the rest of the party is attempting stealth? That isn't annoyance, that is asking to have your throat cut while you sleep.

I was kidding there of course, my super-high Wisdom score will prevent me from doing something that foolish. But believe me, he will sing and talk whenever he will have the chance!

On the other hand, just as some people have pointed out, he will also question the "wisdom" of doing this or that, of going this route or taking this approach. And that could mean delays... and heated arguments, I guess :-)

Is it a serious and grim game? If not and you really want to play something memorable, play a flamer. Yes, it's an offensive stereotype, but it could still be funny.

You said he worships the god of glory.
He may also be into cave feng shui. You might want to give him his own pet chihuahua or weiner dog.
And, of course, he'd have the requisite orange mohawk.
The other players just might be laughing too hard to pelt you to death with dice. And he could still be vicious with a battle ax.

One of his regularly heard quotes could be, "hey man, you wanta go _spelunking_?"

LOL — too funny!!! :-D

Nah, no chihuahua or orange hair, I already have an "attitude" to make the game funny: he will sing dwarven songs whenever he feels bored or there is silence in the group (hello Move Silently!), and talks A LOT — it already started to annoy some of our group members during our first game!

As for the God domain's - War and Glory - I decided that he would approach battles as a kind of ceremony with his god, whenever he will take one enemy down, he would do some kind of prayer to dedicate the soul of his victim to his God (gods are my GM's own home brew, but what I have is close enough to Frarum), as an offering if you will. And when the battle's over – he sticks out his pipe and savours the moment while smoking. And maybe sing some more. ;-)

You can also add a bit of the stereotypical dwarf flavor by paralleling your character's insights to the two things dwarfs tend to know most about ... stone and spirits.

"The sturdiest pick can be dulled by using it without regard to the stone."

"Even the mightiest stone pillars are toppled when their based is chipped away."

"An enemy force without a leader is akin to a mine shaft without supporting beams ... it is quick to fall and shall end in disaster."

"Fighting multiple foes is best handled like playing a game of mugs ... pace yourself and down them one at a time."

"Strong spirits can make fools of men ... but fortunately here we be dwarfs."

etc. etc. etc.

Really nice Zylphryx — another good input to refine my dwarven experience! I like making him philosophical about what will happen or what happened, and turned them into dwarf-related quotes or views. I really dig that.

My funny twist about playing this cleric is, I want him to be a tad perverted or tainted — while people expect a god-loving dude to be all clean and respectful, I want this dwarf to indulge in alcohol (strong beers of course) and have a liking for the opposite sex, something I am sure my fellow players will not expect from me! I got to see with my GM if that would pose a problem in the God/Cleric powers relationship...

Thanks all for your input and feedback, it is insane how isolated, I could not come up with anything at all, but you guys have sparked soooo many great ideas for my role play! You guys and gals are golden! (30 g.p. for each of you. Tell your GM it's from me) :-)

from a roleplaying perspective?

His high wisdom makes him perceptive, patient, cautious (but not overly so). He's not necessarilly bright, but he would be able to offer solid advice, though after great considereation.

Low charisma makes it hard for him to be a teacher. combined with the idea that other dwarves are also stubborn probably means he's not the preachy type, so he's probably a lead by example kind of guy. self sufficient and inspiring others to be the same through force of example.

He can be dour and grim (it's the favoured sterotype for the dwarf)

as for you conundrum, he will obviously pride in battle, but moreso he will appreciate a well planned battle rather than impulsive brawls. will favour tactical retreats, ambushes, and strategy. He should try to drag other players into strategy meetings, and make critical assessments of other player characters. And he's likely to be pretty blunt about it.

Batts

BRILLIANT!!! Sir, you gave me exactly the point of view I was trying to grasp with this character — now I have a really clear mental image of how to play my guy. Bunch of thanks!

Wisdom is supposed to represent not only your ability to perceive things but also inner strength (such as willpower) and confidence. I see noproblem with wisdom being associated with combat, hey all three wisdom classes go toe to toe with the enemy, one without wearing any armor at all!

I really like that you point out willpower and confidence. I did not see it that way. Simple but good pointers. Thanks!

I have been spending a lot of my few brain cells to figure out how to approach this, if anyone has some good pointers...
I have generated a first level dwarven cleric (with a fighter attitude) who reveres a god with War and Glory as its chosen domains, but has a high wisdom score (19). While the archetypical dwarf is more of a grumpy or rough around the edges character, who would most probably go head first into any brawl or battle, high wisdom in my opinion would probably suggest the opposite. Anyone have good ideas on how to solve this roleplaying conundrum?