nathan blackmer's page

MattR1986 wrote:

It's kind of off topic, but since when did offense and defense have a c in them? Is this an English thing I'm unaware of?

Since they were created as words within the English language. The same way that coloUr and armoUr both have a U in them. You colonial bastardisation of my mother tongue is however a rather off topic issue.

I will look to post a couple of example benchmark characters when I get in from work tonight.

I would remind you that pronouncing ask as aks started in England, friend.

I'm super late to the party on this one, but there's only two things I want;

1. The book split into smaller books that don't break. All the time. My ONLY real gripe with the damned thing is the binding can't support the weight of the book.

2. Crafting Magic Items needs to go as a codified system. I know, the hordes will hate that - but think about it - they don't even use it in PFS. It's pure power gaming munchkin nonsense.

I've also found an Exalted group, a Rifts group, AND a pathfinder crew. Nice being around things for a change!

I'm in Tacoma, comfortable on both sides of the DM screen, and looking for gamers.

Figured I'd post here as well as make a thread - seems like there is some movement here.

Just bought a house in Tacoma, new to the area after being in rthe military.

Looking for anything I guess, wether I'm rinning or playing. Happy to talk more with anyone who's interested!

Benly wrote:

I did say access to in-combat healing, not a dedicated healer. What you said essentially agrees with my post there. And don't try to out-grognard me, I've only been playing a couple fewer years than you. :)

LOL, OK, we seem to be in agreement then. There are too many "you have to have a dedicated healer!" arguments that I've been in, I suppose.

3-6 rounds depending on the severity and circumstances of the fight. Over 4 or 5 and it really starts to drag for my group.

BBEG fights tend to take longer due to there being more baddies, and more complicated circumstances, but still I wouldn't put them over 6 rounds normally.

As for the healing thing, I always tackled it in a different manner - I'm a huge fan of a Fae Foundling Paladin (Sacred Shield) / Oracle (Life Mystery). You can use Life Link, and the Sacred Sheild's smite replacement to effectively halve all nearby damage to the party then localize it to the paladin. With Fae Foundling, lay on hands, and quicken channel you can burst heal like it's nobody's business while cranking the hell out of your AC. I mean even if you go straight paladin with it it's prety effective, and does it in an interesting way.

You don't "have" to have a dedicated healer. You HAVE to have someone who can use a wand of cure light (which isn't hard at all, really) and you need someone who can cure damage in an emergency.

I've been playing it on normal difficulty, on Iron Man mode (game saves every turn, you can never go back) and I've been having a good time so far. I've only played four or five maps, and I've lost two troops so far - one to my own stupidity, and another to a sectoid laser pistol crit from a pretty decent range.

Loving the game, and I've been posting Let's Play videos of it on the tube.

Lol so in the NG+ I was having a pretty easy time of it until I faced Ornstein and Smough again and now I am feeling pretty challenged, they hit so hard they can kill me in basically two or three hits even before they combine. I am doing my typical dodging around enhanced with the dark wood grain ring that has served me so well in this game but I keep slipping up and getting smushed, lol.

Ahhh yes, welcome to NG+. You know what's scary? There are people who have done SL 1 fist weapon runs through NG+. Hurts, right?

Normally I kill Slim first. After that you can get Fatty stuck on a destroyed column - if you do it right you can loop him into a cycle of run at the column, poke him a few times, then dive away.

Here's how it works (as I understand it)

everyone who plays online and fights the UR Dragon is dealing damage to a shared overall health pool - you don't directly fight the critter as a group, but everyone is contributing.

This looks great - emailed Venture Captain Ryan Blomquist from Minnesota - I'm in Grand Forks North Dakota but I have a 5 man gaming group that would love to run the full 30 sessions - I hope I contacted the right fellow, if not please let me know!

This is exciting.

Hey no problem, man, one thing you'll find about the Des/Dks communities - we're all pretty helpful.

I’m finishing up my end game grinding for the most part and I am thinking of trying to take on Gwyn. Anyone have any good strategies in mind that might be worth trying?

My build is:

Vitality 40
Attunement 19
Endurance 40
Strength 40
Dexterity 33
Resistence 11
Intelligence 18
Faith 24

My fav weapon is a fully upgraded greatsword of Artorias and my flasks are +5. My pryo flame is ascended to +5 and I have the resources to upgrade any specific weapon or armor bit I might need.

For Gwynn? The big thing is that his moveset can be parried. Once you get used to his swings you can just L2/counter him until he's dead. Also, if you've been relying on Iron skin, I wouldn't - he throws loads of lightning damage.

The thing I love about this game is just how tightly combat controls. Heavy swords and axes feel heavy and swing wide, catching on the environment. Spears and light weapons jab quickly and are perfect for defensive fighting behind a shield or in tight corners. Even a point or two more in endurance makes heavier armor feel slightly lighter as you adjust to it. There's a definite sense of impact when an enemy is struck or strikes you. Unlike some games where it feels like waving a sword at something until it falls down. It's unforgiving, but it's a finely tuned machine of a game.

Agreed completely. I love the feel of the game as a whole, but specifically the combat system is AMAZING.

Something that might help with the Capra fight (I don't know what your build looks like) would be to snag the Zweihander thats behind the ruined buildings in Firelink altar. It hits really hard early game and breaks a LOT of poise - more importantly then even hitting hard, this will allow you to stun-lock a lot of different enemies.

Hey,

I played loads of CoH/CoV, and I can't reccomend Champions Online strongly enough. It even has functionality for switching your hero from the MMO to a tabletop if you're interested in the pnp version.

Man, the Capra demon is really kicking my butt. I've fought it 4 or 5 times and have barley even hurt it so far. Anyone have any tips?

The problem with the Capra Demon is that you don't get a chance to learn his moves at that point in the game, and he does loads of damage. If you need a better weapon (your chosen weapon should be around +5 at this point) Grab a bow and shoot the tail off the dragon from the right side of the area under the bridge it guards - it'll give you a really powerful early game weapon that you can use to help push you through the harder parts.

Anyway, it's worth talking about the layout of the room a bit before tackling the Capra;

You enter a fog gate. In front of you is a small courtyard, to your right are a series of columns that support a building. To the left, you've got stairs that leads up maybe 15 feet and hooks right.

The Capra starts in the back of the room next to the stairs, with a hound on the stairs and the other at the base of them. Typically, the hounds will rush , while the Capra launches one of it's attack routines - these basically boil down to three hit combo, or leaping strike.

If you don't kill the hounds, you're toast. If you're using a weapon with exceptional reach, go ahead and exploit it to kill the first hound. Remember that you can still BLOCK attacks - even the Capra's, though you'll take some excess damage through the shield.

Running up the stair WILL buy you a little time to breath and take out the second hound - which, after killing the first, is the smartest move.

Note - when you roll you have a moment of invincibility - if you are slow rolling, unequip some of your gear until you have a faster speed.

Once the hounds are dealt with, the easiest way to handle the Capra is to run up the stairs, and step to the right and onto the overhang atop one of the doors.
Let him chase you *ABOUT HALFWAY UP THE STAIRS*. Anymore and he'll do his leap attack, which will hit you even on the overhang of the door. Fall off, and he'll do a jump attack which will end with him falling and doing nothing for a moment. Use that moment to strike him a few times, then rinse and repeat until VICTORY!

Otherwise, you can totally stand and fight him as long as you watch him and roll/block effectively. I think I ran through that fight like 8 times before I beat it the first time.

Wow, that's wierd - I run these occasionally with my PC's and they LOVE them. Classic YMMV

Derwalt,

I haven't posted in a while - a lot of the reason behind that was the hostility on the boards. It doesn't matter that what you were playing was optimized - people shouldn't be taking pleasure in the fact that your character was deconstructed.
Paizo released a DEEPLY flawed, but REALLY awesome kit with the Synthesist. They said "hey, this is legal for pathfinder society" and people built for it (please note I'm not one of those people, I have no personal stake in it) becuase one of the classes key features was the ability to change physical scores. Why wouldn't you build for that, it was part of the classes main power.
When a classes main power is that it changes your stats and makes you good at melee, and a GM takes that ability away, you SHOULD get a stat re-roll. Unless it's a punitive change and INTENDED TO PUNISH YOU, it's the only thing to do that makes sense.
Paizo, what's up??? You guys have written a BOOK on how to GM well, and this is most definitely NOT that.

Another thought that crossed my mind was that if Next stays on its current course, it could easily serve as a Pathfinder Basic while Pathfinder would serve as an Advanced D&D Next. Having compatibility between the products will be nice...

Funny, I had the same thought. Paizo turned there back on the portion of the market asking for a slightly simpler system and (so far, I know, I know) D and D seems to be moving in that direction.

I guess here is how I feel about it;

I have no worries about Pathfinder surviving and thriving - However, if D and D 5th Ed stays like it looks now - with a lower curve on the numeric side of things - I'll probably jump ship for it when it comes out. Not saying that I won't keep playing Pathfinder from time-to-time, but what they've put out so far is compelling, and fits my playstyle better.

Of course, it's way too early to tell.

thejeff wrote:

I'm already trying to design a Monk 1/Wizard ++ in my head. Would 8 extra stat points make up for a level of wizard? Cleric might be better, since the wisdom helps both, OTOH wizards stay unarmored.

Not to me, it wouldn't be worth it. Skilfully played, full caster levels are worth more than anything else in the game, by a fairly large margin.

True that.

Kirth Gersen wrote:

I would like point-buy better if there were different numbers of points depending on your class. For example, a wizard might get a 12-point buy, a cleric 14 points, a fighter 16, a bard 18, and a monk 20.

It's not a bad house rule, but I'd hate to try to balance it as a core rule.

The obvious breakpoint is how to handle multiclasses.

I'm already trying to design a Monk 1/Wizard ++ in my head. Would 8 extra stat points make up for a level of wizard? Cleric might be better, since the wisdom helps both, OTOH wizards stay unarmored.

The answer is a level restriction for multiclassing. You can take 1 level of another class for X levels of the chosen class. Imperfect, but it works and helps out the classes that need help.

I would like point-buy better if there were different numbers of points depending on your class. For example, a wizard might get a 12-point buy, a cleric 14 points, a fighter 16, a bard 18, and a monk 20.

That is a house rule I've had for some time, btw.

BigNorseWolf wrote:

J-Spee Lovecraft wrote:

If a tengu alchemist switches to long nose form and uses a mutagen, does the +4 to a physical ability score stack with the +2 bonus to Strength from the feat?

Yes. The +2 from alter self is a size bonus, the alchemist mutagen is an alchemical bonus.

What i want to know is how a tengu alchemist manages to drink a potion without any lips...

Why would he not have lips? He's in "human" form when he's got his long nose going on, so even though he's normally beaked, I'd think at that point he has lips.

Also, what does having lips have to do with drinking a potion?

Nothing is the answer to that. But I'm sure someone will have an asinine rules argument against it!

I thought the Kite battle thing was cool as heck. Really evocative and fun.

One thing I've noticed is that I see more people arguing about D&D rules on the internet compared to 20 years ago. So obviously D&D rules are getting worse and people are getting more argumentative.

Har har!

And yeah Kthulhu - it'll be nice to have you state-side again we were all talking about how we missed you last night!

...I'm not sure if I should be insulted or complimented by that...

It's an SNL quote! Of course you should be complimented!

(when I read your response I was sitting at my tesk muttering "that's what your mother said last night" In my worst bad connery impression)

Does the system have issues, or do you have issues with the system? ;)

I'll take BOTH for 700, YOU MOUNTEBANK!

Aretas wrote:

Gandal wrote:

What about resuming your copies of AD&D 2nd ed books?

I like 3rd edition. You can do a lot more with the character. It gives mechanics to most of the "stuff" in 2nd edition.

Indeed. A lot of people talk about how modern systems are too codified, and how it doesn't allow for imagination and going outside the rules to make stuff up.

I say they are allowing themselves to be constrained.

I've heard it said that every new feat means characters can't ask the DM to do something, because they don't have the feat.

Example wrote:

Player: "Hey, can I lunge forward to strike someone out of my reach, but take an AC penalty?"

DM: "No, you don't have the Lunge feat."

I say this is not a fault of having the feat, but a fault of the players and DM letting the rules constrain them.

You want players to be able to ask to do things on the fly?

Let them.

Abolish the feat progression in your game. Let ALL feats be available to all characters. And when a player says 'hey can I do this' say 'yeah, here are the rules for it'.

People talk about 'rulings instead of rules', but rulings are just rules you haven't made up prior. The benefit of having feats instead of making it up off the top of your head is that you don't have to waste time figuring out a fair way of letting the player do what he asked. You've already got the tool, and you don't have to worry about remembering how you did it last time. It's consistent and, if written well, balanced.

If a rule constrains you, consider not using it. If you have a rule that works, use it.

Hey ToZ - I agree with everything you said - but when your anser is to fundamentally change the game system to something else (which again I really agree with) then the system might have some issues.

I think the bigger point is that mechanics swung from being too abstract in the older days of RPG's to being too defined now. I mean it's all a moot point anyway - if pathfinder isn't cutting it for you go find a system that agrees with you better. If Pathfinder was all I played I'd go nuts. I love Pathfinder, but it's SO mechanical and that's a frustration I can understand... but that's what makes the combat so appealing.

Basically pathfinder is (to me, mechanically speaking) a big combat engine. It's awesome for dungeons and combat, and kind of meh for storytelling. I know, I know - Storytelling has nothing to do with a games specific mechanics and everything to do with how you run and blah blah blah BUT - most of the role-playing encounters you run up against in the course of published material is really a skill check with added modifiers based on RP'ing.

Like ToZ - I like to monkey with the system to see what works and doesn't work for me. As an experiment I ran an adventure recently where I took charisma as a score and all the social skills (sense motive, diplomacy, bluff, etc) out of the game entirely. It was a really different game for the players and I, and it was kind of interesting to watch them adjust (they all started at the end of 3.5/beginning of Pathfinder, I started way back).

Just my 2 cents.

Treppa - Well now I HAVE to....

I was miffed they killed Cassie too, and bascially disbanded the YA,

Thing is, I don't think Patriot (or the others) would fit so much in AA. At least it seems Kate will be in the Hawkeye series.

Agreed - I really hope they find a way to keep going with the YA - one of the best marvel titles in a long time.

Since it wasn't yet written when this thread was originally posted... consider this the obligatory plug for Death's Heretic, a novel all about an atheist in Golarion. :)

Well I might just have to check it out then!

Deadman - I didn't mean to offend - the point he was making is actually in support of polytheism. Basically western culture likes to deride polytheistic religions as primitive in comparison to the predominant monotheistic religions, which is hogwash.

I don't think Dawkins is a "giant dick", I do think he's an activist. I whole-heartedly agree that people in general are over-sensitive about religion, and that it enjoys a special place in american culture where you can't even really question it, and that that probably shouldn't be the case.

I really enjoyed his defense against being called a fundamentalist. I can see where people would have problems with him as he handles a culturally sensitive subject rather roughly, but I think it's a good thing that the discussion is happening.

Thread Necromancer wrote:

This thread has long since been judged by Pharasma.

It apparently warranted reincarnation. :P

Which it probably didn't believe in.... lol.

A couple good examples of solid science education dressed up for the popular audience:

Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos,

and

Brian Cox's Wonders of the Solar System and Wonders of the Universe.

Let's not forget Cosmos!

Charlie Bell wrote:

Maybe you don't know a lot of Christians? I personally know plenty of Christians in the Army who risk their lives for our freedoms, including 1st Amendment religious freedoms. You probably see what you want to see.

bugleyman wrote:

It almost seems like you're implying that every Christian in the military is there to champion religious freedom. Even those guys who urinated on the corpses of their (Muslim) enemies (which I assure you, I did not "want to see.") Or maybe the folks who burned those Qurans? I bet that was a tolerance BBQ.

But I must be misunderstanding you.

There's quite a leap from CB saying "I personally know plenty of Christians in the Army who risk their lives for our freedoms" to your illogical inference that he implied 'every Christian in the military is there to champion religious freedom'.

CB: "I personally know plenty of Christians in the Army who risk their lives for our freedoms".

--in no way logically equals or implies--

BM: 'every Christian in the military is there to champion religious freedom'.

I know of no evidence suggesting the Marines committed their crimes out of any religious observance or because of religion; and I know of no report that indicated the religious background of those Marines.

All reports indicate the Qur'ans that were burned were through administrative negligence and nothing more.

The Qu'rans were burned because they were being used to send classified information - and it was the right thing to do from a security standpoint.

LilithsThrall wrote:

I'd like to point out that there's a great deal of other religious systems which are also ignored. One is not simply an atheist or a theist. For example, where would the god of pantheists fall in that dichotomy?

DnD has always failed miserably to represent religion, reducing it into some sort of parochial grade school make-believe of the lives of heathens.

We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.

-Richard Dawkins

Good quote - I liked the one about the misconception that a monotheistic religion is better then a polytheistic religion, and that by extension an atheistic system would be the next step.

Also I saw somewhere upstream that someone mentioned that Atheism was a form of faith (in that you have no proof of the nonexistence of god) which is patently false... the burden of proof always falls on the soulders of the party making a positive assertion and all that.

Keep going back to that atheism is a form of faith nonsense in my head - I wish people would understand how offensive, subversive, and dismissive that statement actually is. It's just as bad as "homosexuality is a choice" or "he is so well spoken" when talking about a black man. Just because Atheists are a ill-represented minority doesn't mean we shouldn't be respected like everyone else.

Hey Tom,

My condolences on not winning the competition. Let me know the next thing you'll be featured in and I'll be more then happy to pick it up. Your work is too good not to support you, and if you ever get the shot to make that mod please let the community know - I'd buy it in a heartbeat!

Woo! Congrats! I WILL be buying this!

CONGRATS BADGAH!

Tom - I missed the chance to vote, but if I could have it would have been for you or Mike.

That being said, I feel like you've shown EXCELLENT design work in all rounds of the competition. If you don't win, I feel strongly that Paizo will be giving you work either way - frankly you deserve it.

I can't imagine that you and mike won't both be freelancing. It's been an interesting run this year - I think it was pretty clear up until the last round that you were a better designer than Mike (no offense, just stating my honest opinion) but the submission of adventures cast a little doubt onto that for me.

Personally I would have voted for you - because I feel that you earned it with your stellar design work throughout the competition. And I don't understand how a parallel design issue would have had any impact on the work you've done - it's just as impressive either way.

I missed the chance to vote, but I would like to leave some feedback.

Mike - I was really torn between you and Tom Phillips. His work displays a level of polish and finish that yours lacks, but your work is more over the top creative. I'm not saying either is better, but Tom, I think, is a sure thing. He's going to be writing for somebody somewhere no matter what - and frankly Paizo would be foolish NOT to hire him.

I loved your monster, and your module proposal. I think, ultimately, for me at least... you would benefit the most from winning this competition, and vice versa, I think Pathfinder would benefit from you winning the most.

Congratulations on a good run and a stellar final entry, I sincerely hope that either you or Tom wins, and that whatever happens you BOTH get to write for Paizo.

nathan blackmer wrote:

my favorite "I may have made the espresso machine a tad TOO intelligent. This morning it turned on me and tried to strangle me to death with it's cords... that, or I may need more then three hours of sleep a week."

Kinda reminds me of back when Pym was making everything out of adamantium and then sticking Ultron AI's in it. Didn't the Avengers battle an adamantium dishwasher once?

For someone who's supposed to be so smart, Pym is deeply DEEPLY stupid.

You bet he is - deeply, deeply stupid.

Oh that clever PMG.

Oh and morning Aeglos, Freehold, Lynor.. Everyone!

What did they do to the top of the clubhouse?!!?!

5) Both players decide to be decent about it, as does the GM, and everyone goes home happy.

Shouldn't that be... the... ONLY... option?

Hooray for option 5!

I know this has been said a few times but I think it bears repeating - both players can decide not to be jerks and just get along with each other. That really is the crux of the issue - and like that metallica song, nothing else matters.

Cooperation with others, meeting new friends, sharing adventures... these are the reasons Organized Play exists. Who cares about the rest?

People love to take up the paladin discussion battle-flag and rage about, throwing heavy-handed opinions and interpretations. Why? At the end of the day, if you can't sit at a table and PLAY THE GAME with someone, the game's not the problem - you are.

I know that comes off pretty harsh, and I'm sorry for that, but it's definitely how I feel about the issue - not that anyone should really care about little old me.

Hey Freehold;

How's the Game of Thrones? I have the first 7 or so of them I just haven't gotten around to reading them yet. I should check out avengers academy.

I was hoping for good news, and I got it.

My job agreed to transfer me back East!

That's exciting!

So, been reading a LOT of comics lately (trying to clear my backlog) - just read the last 16 issues of X-force, first 7 of Wolverine and the X-men, last 10 of Avengers, re-read We3, and read the first 12 Young Avengers (picked up a HC of it).

and....

I'm digging it. I really thought I wouldn't like Wolverine and the X-men - but I really HAVE enjoyed the headmaster wolverine schtick. Some really good writing on that title - some of the beast dialogue has had me laughing pretty hard. my favorite "I may have made the espresso machine a tad TOO intelligent. This morning it turned on me and tried to strangle me to death with it's cords... that, or I may need more then three hours of sleep a week."

X-force has been a lot of fun, with Genesis (apocalypse jr.) and the whole Dark Angel Saga. I'm getting really revved up for upcoming X-men vs Avengers crossover, and I think I'll get all of it (I have every issue of House of M, Civil war, and World War Hulk, and Siege.) as I kind of regret not picking up Secret Invasion. I wasn't too interested in it, but not having it leaves a large hole in my comic line.

On the book side of things, just finished reading Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself trilogy - good stuff. Started reading the hunger games on the wife's reccomendation - not bad at all, even if it *does* reek of Battle Royale - which is fine by me.

This has been a (not so brief) update on what I'm reading. You folks?

Edit - if you haven't read We3 you really, realy should. Fantastic.