rooboy's page

Please cancel all of my subscriptions.

Thanks

Okay, that's similar to what I expected - everything is in my side-cart now.

Hi, I need to add more than 30 items to my cart (I'd like to use the winter coupon to catch up on the PDFs I missed while I had my subscriptions off). Is there some established way I can do that?

Okay, thanks, that's kind of what I assumed would happen, but wasn't sure if I needed to order the other stuff separately.

I am thinking about reactivating my Pathfinder subscriptions, and when looking at the choices, it indicates three currently available products to start my Pathfinder Campaign Setting subscription with - can I not just start with all of them? It seems slightly weird because I've never seen an option for more than one currently available product before.

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The First World, Realm of the Fey (PFRPG)
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Qadira, Jewel of the East (PFRPG)
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Strange Aeons Poster Map Folio

My PC died this weekend and I'm going to have to replace it. In the meantime, I will have to cancel all my Pathfinder subscriptions.

Thanks,

As a DBA, we use it when speaking to each other like, all the time.

Usually I hear "Sequel", but I've heard a few people use SQL (usually Linux people, but that's hardly a representative sample).

However, I have noticed that people who prefer it one way, they really prefer it their way, and they will argue at length about it.

Hello, I picked this order up at Gen Con on Thursday, please cancel this order.

Hi, I picked up my subscription at GenCon today, but the following order wasn't part of what I picked up (I didn't pick either item up from Order 3197466 because I didn't think about it - that booth was crazy :) )

Pathfinder Cards: Tides of Battle

From order I also never received (from Order 3198022):

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Promo Card: Mogmurch

It doesn't take that long to make the suitcase of explosive runes. Only a few weeks if you want to keep spell slots available just in case.

It doesn't really matter if it's weeks, days, or months - I think his point was that it happens in downtime, which means you can rule on it before it happens.

FWIW, I agree, typically I prefer distinct adventures to have some downtime in between. It lets players connect better with the rest of the world (one of the reasons Ultimate Campaign is one of my fave sourcebooks).

Shouldn't my RPG: Advanced Class Guide have been on this order? Did it get missed? Is this more fallout from when I cancelled then resubscribed last month?

It's not really a spur of the moment thing, though. It takes significant time to prepare; it's not like everybody just has a big pile of Explosive Runes sitting around in their attic. If you really don't want a PC to do this, the time to stop it is when they first try to start stockpiling the runes.

That is actually a great point. The thrust of my point was that you should let the character build OUT of the option, rather than leaving him with something you depowered. In this instance, it's just changing a spell, but lots of other times it's a feat or an archetype or something else, rather than force him to continue with the option that you just gimped, let him rebuild his sheet into something new (Within reason, I guess? I can't see someone needing to rebuild the entire thing for one third level spell, but if they have reasons, whatever.)

TL; DR - In Pathfinder, Cthulhu is a demigod, not a deity, which means he has stats and can be "killed" ("defeated"? not sure how to construct that sentence since he's immortal). If you don't like that, house rule him and make him a deity. Otherwise, house rule the Explosive Runes.

He already is a deity.

Technically Inner Sea Gods does NOT list him as a God (the page is 191) - it lists him as a Great Old One (the same as Bestiary IV). The only Lovecraftian horrors listed as Outer gods are: Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Shub-Niggurath, and Yog-Sothoth.

This makes the source consistent with Bestiary IV:

The Great Old Ones themselves often serve and worship even greater powers, such as Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Shub-Niggurath, and Yog-Sothoth. Those creatures are the Outer Gods, and whereas the Great Old Ones can be thought of as akin to demigods, the Outer Gods are themselves true deities.

So he is _not_ a deity in Pathfinder but a demigod (which is why he has stats, in Pathfinder terms, true deities are never statted up, only demigods, and I believe every example of one of those demi-divine beings is effectively unkillable without GM fiat, meaning, in service to some grand campaign story goal). In Cthulhu's case he cannot die because the Great Old One subtype means he's immortal (and mythic, etc, etc)..

Though, like I pointed out earlier, if the dissonance in the entire combo is that it can be used against Cthulhu, it's easier to simply follow the suggestion of the Hastur entry in the same Bestiary IV.

Hastur is the most mysterious of the Great Old Ones. In fact, the entity known as Hastur might actually be an Outer God. The physical manifestation of this entity is known as the King in Yellow, and though most consider this creature—a vaguely human-shaped figure draped in a yellow cloak—to be synonymous with Hastur himself, many scholars believe that the King in Yellow is nothing more than an avatar used by the true Hastur to move among the denizens of the physical world.

You could just apply the same logic to Cthulhu, making the enormous thing that sleeps in R'yleh his avatar and promote Cthulhu himself to Outer God (lore-wise, this makes no sense to me, but people seem attached to Cthulhu in a way that they aren't attached to, for example, Bokrug).

Personally, I think it's easier to house-rule the Explosive Runes - that is the root of the entire problem. He could do this same thing to, for example, mythic dragons or super high level liches. Explosive Runes allow for too much damage for their level. Personally, I think the easiest way to fix the exploit is to simply remove the dispel option completely. In general that slightly weakens spellcasters (they can't dispel it on tomes they pick up), but spellcasters are big boys and I'm sure they'll survive. Alternatively you could go with two other easy to implement methods that I can think of. Either make the second casting of Explosive Runes make the first one inert (like Alchemists and their Mutagens), and require someone to craft a magic trap to have a permanent version OR make the damage non-additive. The first one is probably enough for most games to stop it from becoming too broken, but if someone is really determined, they could still do it.

Again, though, if a player does it, it's only fair to allow him the moment (he did think of it after all), then house rule it between sessions and let him change his character so he doesn't rely on it any more.

It is, I don't have a ticket to that one, I was afraid that was going to be his answer :~(

Oh well, I'll still have fun at several of the others. :)

*Desperate attempt to prevent this from more discussion about spellcaster cheeze*

So, what do you think the most exciting Paizo panel will be at Gen Con next week?

Ooh, and is Gen Con when we find out the next AP after Giant Slayer?

For the wizard? If built correctly, yes, assuming no natural ones happen. How about for the summoned demon? If we give it Greater Heroism to get it's Will save up to +25, it still needs a natural 15 to pass every single round it's exposed or it's staggered for 1d6 rounds. If the plan hinges on getting the summoned demon close enough to do a Greater Dispel Magic, being immediately staggered could mean the difference between hitting that distance at the right time and missing it.

You would be right, but isn't he the only person in the Time Stop? The wizard would be affected each round of the aura, but I don't see why the demon would be unless it also was in the Time Stoppage. For example, I would not rule that if you set someone on fire and then stopped time, that person took damage each of those rounds - his time is still flowing normally, it's just yours that is sped up. I understood the purpose to be teleport in, encounter starts, Demon commanded to ready, time stopped, wizard spreads the runes around and teleports away, time stop ends, boom.

Which sucks for the demon I suppose, but I doubt the murderhobo wizard cares.

I would think the aura would effect each of your rounds during the Time Stop. But, again, the save is mostly trivial.

Aww, I missed it! I've wanted to get in one or the other of the new FFG systems for a long time. If you wanted, Old Guy GM, the system is designed in such a way that you could technically run both Age of Rebellion and Edge of the Empire characters at the same time (though the storytelling hoops would probably be a little daunting) - I didn't read through the thread to see if all of your players were interested in Edge or if it was more mixed.

Many people are treating this combo as if it's some degenerate thing that Anzyr came up with just to attack Cthulhu. The only thing that really has anything to do with Cthulhu is the staying 300' away part, the rest of it mostly relies on permanent/might as well be permanent spells that are freely part of a wizard's kit. The entire point he has been trying to make is that this just illustrates the balance problems inherent in the system.

And this tactic is not "new". I have heard variations on the explosive runes nuke going back to third edition. House-rule it, and move on. Most players would be fine with that, as long as you do it after the game (otherwise you're the one derailing the game) and let them rebuild their way out of it. And, frankly, it's not the only degenerate thing about high level casters. A wizard doesn't even need the rebuild, since he can just pick up some different spells and work on some other super combo.

If your problem is that he's killing Cthulhu because he's Cthulhu, then just house rule that Cthulhu is an Elder God and that the entry is one of his avatars (Hastur's entry specifically mentions this possibility, it takes little imagination to apply the same logic to Cthulhu). Boom, problem solved. It's not like Lovecraft was generally that specific anyway.

EDIT: I apologize, Anzyr, if you actually were the person who came up with this tactic more than a decade ago, I could only find threads about it going back to 2005

Hi James! Hope you are taking your immune boosters before Gen Con (I know I am).

That said... the explosive runes hack is lame and that spell needs errata as badly as telekinesis.

I've often seen you say that, in hindsight, the one thing you wished Paizo had done differently is to deviate more from the 3rd edition rules. I understand why you didn't, but is this an instance where you would have made some changes?

Threeshades wrote:

That's right! So are Droogami and Daji!

Daji? Is that the name of Harsk's badger?

Ezren and Seoni have been seen with an owl and lizard, respectively, and not a stitch of clothing on either of them. Scandal! Pathfinder promotes the sexual exploitation of animals! Clearly the only solution is to rename animals 'bataazu' or 'tanari' or something!

Also, Halfling foot fetishists. Must take a stand to stamp out this wrongness.

Daji is Feiyra's familiar (i.e. he's the fox with the witch).

TL;DR nothing to do with the actual discussion, just answering the question of why Kess immediately makes someone think "Brawler".

I'm not sure why bare midriff tells me she is a boxer more than if she were covered up. Maybe for the same reason I would imagine a male boxer more bare chested (like Crowe) despite armor. However I'm not certain why there some female boxers have a bare midriff and some do not so I could imagine that answer being still to sexualize them there, but I'm not certain about that.

It's probably because that's a slightly armored up version of how boxers (and MMA fighters) who are female actually dress (I especially like the callout on the helmet, which looks like a leather version of amateur boxer headgear and the boots, which are like fur versions of the super high socks you see boxers wear in some movies). Notably, women wear the same clothes men do, with the exception of adding a sports bra style top.

Even if you hadn't really paid attention to it, it has surely subliminally seeped in, it appears in the movie Million Dollar Baby, in every Olympics (including a good chunk of ads for both), and loads of other places.

Oh, I did have one more question (thanks for all the answers!). My 16 year old son will also be there, we were thinking of registering together, but (I would assume obviously) he uses my books, will he be okay if the only books he has is MY pdf copies?

Also, you must own the actual Paizo source for any options you use. Owning the HeroLab package doesn't count, which means HeroLab users are basically paying double when playing PFS.

Since Herolab doesn't usually explain anything, I already have to buy the books, so I was already getting charged twice. I'm presuming my watermarked pdfs will be good enough, and, honestly, I doubt I'll use much more than maybe one Companion besides Core, ACG, and the Ultimates so I will (hopefully) be okay. Mostly I like HeroLab because it double checks my maths (at nearly 40, that is kind of important ;) ).

At the end of each scenario and before the start of the next, yes.

Perfect!

Also, I typically use Hero Labs to track my heroes. There's a section on there marked as PFS. Do you know if I use that are there any "gotchas" that I should be aware of being valid in the program, but illegal in PFS play? Again, for the most part I think I'll probably start fairly vanilla (maybe, at most, choosing a class from the APG).

Okay, I think I've got the point I was confused on. So I keep all the chronicles in the packet with my character sheet, to show that I've legally earned everything that I have. I was thinking there was some kind of online registration thing for the character where I would have to register the sheet and the session, then print out a new one with some kind of authentication number or something (this was all very complicated in my head :) ).

Importantly, this means that if I played three different scenarios, I would advance in the middle of each one before going to the next (by "advance" I mean earn the rewards on my chronicle.

And look for a session of the Confirmation - is that like the introductory scenario (because that is DEFINITELY what I'm looking for).

So I'm going to Gen Con for the first time ever this year, and I'm considering registering for a PFS game to play while there. This would also be a first for me, so I'm trying to figure out the whole maze of PFS rules and such, before I even start looking at the events and stuff.

Here's what I know, but what else am I missing?

1) Create a character using the PFS guide (for which a new one is coming out, but in the meantime if I stick somewhat vanilla, I should probably be fine)
2) Register for PFS #6-01: Trial by Machine (I am presuming the 6 refers to season 6, and this is the introductory level 1-5 session)
3) Take a shower, show up on time, follow Wheaton's Law, etc, etc
4) Get some sort of signed sheet at the end of the adventure (I'm not quite positive on the point of these sheets, but they have something to do with advancing my PFS character)
5) Reset my character back to his starting position (losing whatever I acquired) and either take him to another version of that session or register for a different starting session (like PFS #5-12: Destiny of the Sands - Part 1: A Bitter Bargain)
6) After the convention, file my sheet, gain whatever perks, levels, etc

Is there anything that I'm missing?

Nyarlathotep. Cause by choosing him, I get to cheat and have LOTS of different types of outer gods rather than just one.

You knew it was coming. :) Which aspect of Nyarlathotep is your favorite?

Geting to the very end and realizign you can't finish the game, either because of a bug that corrupted your saves (as happened to me in Arcanum) or because the end too hard/unplayable because of earlier choices you made in the game that unknowingly to you prevented you from being able to finish (as seen in King's Quest V or Dead Space).

I'm pretty sure I know about the bug in Arcanum (it happened to a friend of mine too, which is a shame, because that was a neat game), but what choice did you make in Dead Space that prevented finishing the game, and, on a related note, what did you think of Dead Space overall?

I have another question - I'm assuming I know at least half the answer to this.
I've side-carted all of the class decks for the ACG of Skull and Shackles. I am presuming those will not be included in my pickup, but will they roll into the next month or ship out whenever my order "normally" would have?

James, I'm going to Gen Con for the first time this year. What should I plan on doing that isn't an event I find in the guide?

I introduced this to my 16 year old and his friend, they love the game (such that they actually pull it out to continue lots of times when I'd really rather sleep).

The following were the things that I did consciously to try and up the interest for them. And I should add, before I start, that we play lots and lots of different kinds of games, so the complexity was not a deal for us at all, so I can't imagine it would be any different for you, but mine also already had interest in playing games, if you're trying to overcome that, I would suggest starting with something a little simpler.

1) Have them read the character descriptions to decide who they want to play. My son's friend developed a much stronger attachment to Amiri after reading her blurb from the card (and, later, from the NPC Codex).

2) Consciously include them in planning. In my experience, co-op games frequently devolve into one player attempting to tell everyone else what to do. It was easier for me to throw suggestions out and let them come up with the answers.

3) Describe, describe, describe. Originally I was afraid of spoiling much of anything, eventually I realized that the more I told them, the more they liked it. The game itself is devoid of a lot of description. It kicks it up a bit if you explain the monsters a bit, describe the NPCs and their roles (like who Ameiko is, etc). And I would kind of describe what just happened when we finished off a chapter or two (as well as I could, I've never actually played Runelords, though I have a rough idea of most of the things that happen).

Good luck!

The RPG AP was essentially the AP where you could be evil without much alteration, but it wasn't required.

Since RotR basically left most everything out from a RP perspective, I imagine it will come down to how you explain it to your kids. For my part, I have to explain most everything in RotR to my sixteen year old and his friend (my play group) because even the flavor text is just vague enough that you can't really get anything from it. I would imagine S&S will be materially the same.

Haladir wrote:

...we know how to drive in winter weather...

Not sure how much water that carries with me, since all the people I know who have actually been in snow-related accidents or fender benders out here in Seattle are those who claim to know how to drive in winter weather and spent many years living in places where they got lots of experience doing so. Snow in Seattle is a really weird combination...

It's not just Seattle, I've lived in Nevada, Washington (the state), Oregon, California (Lake Tahoe! Woot!), Missouri, Montana and now Texas. Everywhere people who claim they "know how to drive in snow" tend to get in more accidents than people who don't say anything about it. Half the time, I only hear the "know how to drive in snow" line in defense of an accident they caused.

Actually I was talking about this:
Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of the Elements

I think you're talking about this:
Pathfinder Module: Plunder & Peril

But it doesn't matter, because I just realized (after reading your earlier message) that you fixed the problem with the ordering page, so I can just order it myself now!

Thanks for all your help!

*Pokes around with order with a 10-Foot Pole*

It looks like the order had some bugs. They have been brushed off, and I was able to submit the order through from our side. You should get an email confirming the order information.

If we can help with anything else, please let us know.

Thanks!
Sharaya

Okay, everything is okay, except it's missing my Player Companion subscription, I think? I got my order shipping confirmation, and when I checked the order, it was missing the Player Companion title for the month.

So I cancelled my subscription last month, thinking that I would not be able to afford them, and then a week ago my boss called me into his office to tell me he was giving me a raise (yay me!).

So now I'm trying to place an order for the subscriptions again, but I can't get it to complete. When I get to the finalize step, even though I have a green checkmark. If I click on place order, it just takes me back to the cart screen.

As an aside, can I sidecart the Emerald Spire Superdungeon as well?

Spider Man (Peter Parker, though I've actually enjoyed Octavius in Parker's body in a Knightfall kind of way)
Nightwing
Nightcrawler
Oracle
Wonder Woman
Magik
Daredevil
Emma Frost
Iron Man
Storm

Oddly enough in all that time I have never played a gnome. I don't know why but gnomes do not appeal to me in any way.

Ironically (as I noted above, I almost always play humans, usually ethnic Varisians or Ulfen, occasionally planetouched), Pathfinder gnomes are the only gnomes that have ever appealed to me. I think it's the callback to the old red-capped gnome illustrated stories from my childhood. Plus I have to admit that I like the opportunity to have like Fire Engine Red Hair and Blue Skin or whatever Star Trek combination I want.

Nope. Humans are still the overwhelming majority among PCs.

Helped, in my opinion, by the fact that humans are actually a quite powerful mechanical choice, especially once favored class bonuses are factored in.

Meh, call me crazy but I think players should be able to play what they want.

So. Much. This.

Me? I pretty much only play humans. Occasionally I'll play a planetouched (usually I prefer the elemental ones, but I have a soft spot for Aasimar and Tieflings also), but, if you think about it, those are basically just humans with funny bloodlines. I'm a huge history buff, so I can spin out human character concepts for ages (and I happen to enjoy humans mechanical advantages over pretty much every other races), but I let players pick whatever they want. I'd rather they play a character that they love the idea of, then one they feel they were forced into.

I just want to start by saying, in the end, it's your game, and if you're all happy, then whatever? I'm not even sure what the point of posting this was?

However, how long are you expecting him to speak with an accent? They tend to disappear relatively fast. I work with a man who was born in China, and he sounds pretty much like any other Texan after living here for the last ten years. I'm from California (obviously now living in Texas) and it took less than a year before people never referenced my accent again.

EDIT: Ahh, nevermind, I see your question at the end of your post, my bad, I had forgotten it because most of the replies didn't mention it at all.

I would let my players pick whatever, for the most part. But I usually ask for a fluff idea first and then we work through the mechanics of expressing it. So my players have gotten clever at coming up with fluff for the mechanics they want to play and presenting those first, then guiding me to the mechanical choices they actually want. Which is what I prefer anyway, so whatever? I'm probably in the group that would have just let him play the Zen Archer as "not an Eastern monk", but some weird-o archer who becomes "one with the arrow" because his father taught him that way or something similar.

As for the accent, I probably wouldn't force him to do that, but I have requested that "background players" come up with something that will make them act (i.e. hatred of another race/class/etc, desire for a particular kind of treasure, just something that their character will always respond to) in order to force them to move to the forefront occasionally. I don't mind background players (if that's how they have fun), but I've had players in the past who appreciated working on their role playing in small doses, and it's easy enough to add/remove the element as necessary if they want to do more/less.

Greylurker wrote:

black marvel heroes is easy Luke Cage, Patriot, Falcon, Black Panther, Storm. Black Panther has even been a member of the Fantastic Four

but the only latino I can come up with off the top of my head is Arachne

What, no love for Rhodey? ;) Seriously, though, Marvel has had a number of Black heroes over the years. Captain Marvel/Photon was one of my favorite '80s Avengers, and Brother Voodoo was recently promoted to "Dr. Voodoo" and replaced Dr. Strange as Sorcerer Supreme.

Luke Cage was briefly a member of the FF as well. They hired him (back in his "Hero for Hire" days) to replace Ben Grimm during a brief spell when Ben was human.

As for Latino heroes, that's a bit tougher. I can think of El Aguila, Sunspot (New Mutants), White Tiger (both Hector Ayala and his niece), and, um, yeah. Freehold DM has a point there.

Firebird also, she was a member of the Avengers. And Reptil (from Avenger Academy) is also hispanic.

I have to admit, the lack of Moondragon, Phyla-Vell, and Cosmo is the biggest downer for me about this movie. And absolutely agreed on how those awesome female characters should have been in.

Hopefully if there's a sequel...

I would expect more characters to be added in a sequel. I also wish they had added Moondragon in this one to balance the team out, but come on, they gave us Groot and Rocket. I _never_ imagined that day would come. As recently as last year I would still laugh when someone would mention this project, convinced it would never get off the ground.

Farscape - Gone before its time.

And to be replaced by one of the most god-awful series I have the displeasure of watching.

I started reading Guardians when the current comic came out, which would have been after they started making the movie. Did the current line up get together before this, or were they put together because that was who was going to be in the movie?

What replaced Farscape?

I believe this lineup is more or less similar to the lineup that has been around since they've been brought back in Annihilation. Some members (like Nova and Moondragon) are missing, in the same way that some iconic Avengers (like the Wasp and Black Panther) are missing, but they are certainly a version of the lineup that has been around the entirety of the modern era.

There is, however, an older version of the team that had been unused for a long time. Wiki Page on original team.

I'm wondering if it's book ends.

i.e. Quill gets arrested they break out fight Nebula, etc etc. They win, get arrested again with no one knowing they saved the galaxy and then we get the "They call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy" bit. Kind of "We get no respect." thing.

I do wonder if the prison is SWORD or if it is intergalactic.

I presumed it was book ends as well.

Also, I'm pretty sure from all the Nova Corps uniforms that it's the Nova prison (so intergalactic).

Good for her, but, um, which movie was Shadowcat in? First Class? I don't remember her at all.

Actually Kitty Pryde was in all three of the first movies, but she was played by a different actress each time. Ellen Page played her in the third movie (as already noted). She will also be reprising the role in the next one as the Kitty from the future.

Though she's probably more famous as Ariadne, the architect in Inception. Or the actress in Beyond: Two Souls (and somewhat infamously, the actress they appear to have copied to model Ellie in the Last of Us).

I was thinking of submitting a ninja to use as a character raised by Red Mantis but determined unsuitable because of his lack of E-vil (thinking LN as his actual alignment). Would that concept be acceptable? I ask because if not I also have an idea for a Mwangi Oracle that I could submit as well.

I do sometimes come up with rhymes or the like when playing a bard, but I don't really worry about doing that in combat when I use my magic or abilities.

If I DID want to do so, I'd head onto the internets and do some research and learn some old-tyme songs that were appropriate to the character.

I should have clarified it's for a Play By Post, so really I'm just coming up with lyrics. Thanks for the advice!

James, I actually find myself in a role playing quandry I've never had before. I'm playing a Varisian Bard. Like a dummy, I chose Perform (Sing), so now I find myself in the position that I would really like to include snatches of songs that I'm singing, but obviously I'm not really in a position (real world work, yo) that I can just come up with dozens of them at the drop of a hat. How would you handle that?