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Remember that deities are complicated things, and the depiction of a god in one culture or one individual's personal version of that god may be different from their "real" self. I say go for it, it makes total sense for a soldier to pray to Gorum. Historically Greek soldiers would pray to Ares, even though he was a hated and spiteful deity who in D&D terms would probably be CE.
So, while my subscription has been suspended, I've still been charged for the new Bestiary. It hasn't entirely gone through, it's been in "intraday debit" for 5 days or something, but it's real enough that my bank has charged me an overdraft fee. Is there any way that that can be removed? The bank said that if it's removed the fee will be removed too.
Hey, I feel like I've done this a lot recently, and it makes me sad, but I need to cancel or suspend my subscription for like a month. Buying so many presents right now, I just can't afford my personal subscription this month. I've got a new job, though, so I will be back next month. If it's possible to suspend it, that would be great, but if it needs to be cancelled, I can do that too...
Greetings, all! I'm working on a very slow, long-term homebrew project for my home campaign setting. I've developed some alternate race stats for the setting. The setting is based on the ancient Mediterranean and is decidedly low-magic. I'll be using E6 for this setting, and I'm working on switching some classes around and adding some of my own. I've only included those races that have changed, so no humans here. I have not used Paizo's new race-building system, I used VoodooMike's system here along with some renamed alternate traits from the APG. I'd like to know if the community thinks they're balanced and see if you guys can catch anything I missed. Here they are: Dwarves:
+2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, –2 Charisma: Dwarves are both tough and wise, but also a bit gruff.
Medium: Dwarves are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size. Slow and Steady: Dwarves have a base speed of 20 feet, but their speed is never modified by armor or encumbrance. Darkvision: Dwarves can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Greed: Dwarves receive a +2 racial bonus on Appraise skill checks. Hardy: Dwarves receive a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison, spells, and spell-like abilities. Stability: Dwarves receive a +4 racial bonus to their Combat Maneuver Defense when resisting a bull rush or trip attempt while standing on the ground. Stonecunning: Dwarves receive a +2 bonus on Perception checks to potentially notice unusual stonework, such as traps and hidden doors located in stone walls or floors. They receive a check to notice such features whenever they pass within 10 feet of them, whether or not they are actively looking. Suspicion: Dwarves receive a +2 bonus on Sense Motive skill checks. Elves:
+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, –2 Constitution: Elves are nimble, both in body and mind, but their form is frail.
Medium: Elves are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size. Normal Speed: Elves have a base speed of 30 feet. Low-Light Vision: Elves can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light. See Chapter 7. Elven Immunities: Elves are immune to magic sleep effects and get a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells and effects. Extremopile: Elves receive a +4 racial bonus on Constitution checks and Fortitude saves to avoid fatigue, exhaustion, or ill effects from running, forced marches, starvation, thirst, or hot or cold environments. Keen Senses: Elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception skill checks. Lithe: Elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Acrobatics skill checks. Halflings:
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, –2 Strength: Halflings are nimble and strong-willed, but their small stature makes them weaker than other races.
Small: Halflings are Small creatures and gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty to their Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks. Slow Speed: Halflings have a base speed of 20 feet. Fearless: Halflings receive a +2 racial bonus on all saving throws against fear. This bonus stacks with the bonus granted by halfling luck. Halfling Luck: Halflings receive a +1 racial bonus on all saving throws. Hill and Wagon Folk: Halflings receive a +2 racial bonus on Handle Animal and Climb skill checks, and receive a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks to avoid getting lost. Keen Senses: Halflings receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception skill checks. Half-Elves:
+2 to One Ability Score: Half-elf characters get a +2 bonus to one ability score of their choice at creation to represent their varied nature.
Medium: Half-elves are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size. Normal Speed: Half-elves have a base speed of 30 feet. Low-Light Vision: Half-elves can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light. See Chapter 7. Elf Blood: Half-elves count as both elves and humans for any effect related to race. Elven Immunities: Half-elves are immune to magic sleep effects and get a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells and effects. Extremopile: Half-elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Constitution checks and Fortitude saves to avoid fatigue, exhaustion, or ill effects from running, forced marches, starvation, thirst, or hot or cold environments. Keen Senses: Half-elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception skill checks. Skilled: Half-Elves gain an additional skill rank at first level and one additional rank whenever they gain a level. Half-Orcs:
+2 to One Ability Score: Half-orc characters get a +2 bonus to one ability score of their choice at creation to represent their varied nature.
Medium: Half-orcs are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size. Normal Speed: Half-orcs have a base speed of 30 feet. Darkvision: Half-orcs can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Intimidating: Half-orcs receive a +2 racial bonus on Intimidate skill checks due to their fearsome nature. Orc Blood: Half-orcs count as both humans and orcs for any effect related to race. Orc Ferocity: Once per day, when a half-orc is brought below 0 hit points but not killed, he can fight on for one more round as if disabled. At the end of his next turn, unless brought to above 0 hit points, he immediately falls unconscious and begins dying. Skilled: Half-Orcs gain an additional skill rank at first level and one additional rank whenever they gain a level. Orcs:
+2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence: Orcs are strong and possess a type of animal cunning, but are otherwise rather stupid.
Medium: Orcs are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size. Normal Speed: Orcs have a base speed of 30 feet. Darkvision: Orcs can see in the dark up to 120 feet. Goblinoid Resilience: Orcs receive a +2 bonus on saving throws against poison and disease. Intimidating: Orcs receive a +2 racial bonus on Intimidate skill checks due to their fearsome nature. Light Sensitivity: Orcs are dazzled in areas of bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell. Orc Ferocity: Once per day, when an orc is brought below 0 hit points but not killed, she can fight on for one more round as if disabled. At the end of her next turn, unless brought to above 0 hit points, she immediately falls unconscious and begins dying. Resourceful: Orcs receive a +2 racial bonus on Survival checks. Goblins: +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom: Goblins are strong for their size and quick in both mind and body, but are skittish and rash.
Small: Goblins are Small creatures and gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty to their Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks. Fast: Goblins are fast for their size and have a base speed of 30 feet. Darkvision: Goblins can see in the dark up to 120 feet. Animal Affinity: Goblins receive a +2 racial bonus on Handle Animal checks. Goblinoid Resilience: Goblins receive a +2 bonus on saving throws against poison and disease. Light Sensitivity: Goblins are dazzled in areas of bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell. Scent: Goblins have incredibly keen noses and receive the scent special quality. Sneaky: Goblins receive a +2 racial bonus on Stealth checks.
Hey everybody, I'm looking for a Noble type class, something that is a buffing character, maybe with some many skills and some healing, but has no magical ability. I'm trying to start a low-magic E6 campaign, and I need a class to represent priests and non-combat nobility. I'm also trying to find the "ritual" system in Unearthed Arcana that is mentioned in the E6 FAQ here. I found the incantations in UA, but not a system to cast higher level spells as "rituals". Any tips?
Man, are all New Yorker stories such downers?Happy endings are passe. Did you only read the first page? It took me a bit to notice the very, very small page markers underneath. I actually quite enjoyed it; certainly not the most uplifting short story I've read, but still interesting.
Fighters, or Clerics. Fighters primarily because I like a bit of "reality" in my characters, whatever that means. I'm a low-magic kind of guy. Clerics get some great deity stuff to work with in terms of role-playing, so they're usually my second choice, despite their role as a caster. I often play down their spellcasting, for better or worse. I almost never play a non-human, I often feel hampered by stereotypes and like to use the more "blank slate" humans to explore a culture in game.
One idea I've been tossing around is to change the way masterwork items work, particularly weapons and armor. Instead of there being a generic "masterwork" category, weapons and armor come as mwk +1 to mwk +5. The cost is the cost of the weapon, + the normal cost of enchantment. The old +300 gp for masterwork items is instead applied only to enchanted items. I also open up a few of the abilities to masterwork weapons and armor, the ones that aren't particularly flashy. Masterwork items can't have a total bonus above +5, and can later be enchanted with a magic bonus up to +5, for a total of +10. This allows for characters to be equipped with well-made, but mundane, equipment. The one or two magic items they possess then seem a lot more special, but their equipment isn't too diminished in power.
Hm, interesting. I'm not sure if I want to add that many domains; they are very front-heavy in their abilities if we remove the spells they grant. But perhaps an improved lay on hands instead of a lesser one? Let's say it's granted at 2nd level and usable the same number of times per day (1/2 level + Wisdom), but it heals/deals 1d8/2 levels + Charisma instead of the normal 1d6/2 levels. At 4th level, 2 uses can be burned for a channel energy effect. The class will gain mercies/cruelties at the same rate as paladins, every 3 levels. Any ideas for additional spice?
No paladins, no druids, rangers use the skirmishing rules from the APG. And the mercies is a great idea! I'll put that to use, I think it adds just enough of a boost to be useful, but it's pretty well balanced. Evil priests could get the Cruelties associated with the Anti-Paladin in the APG to work with their negative channel energy. The reason I was thinking about eliminating armor proficiency is that I tend to envision my setting's priests running around in robes or holy garments rather than armor. It works thematically better in my head. Light armor proficiency might not be too bad; a priest might hide a leather jerkin under there. EDIT: or perhaps give priests lay on hands instead of channel energy?
The idea was to eliminate spellcasting. It's a low-magic world, and magic only occurs in those blessed by the gods (Oracles) or those who make pacts with spirits (Witches, or possibly Sorcerers). I was thinking of keeping bardic music as it is, but simply renaming it "Inspiration" and having the normal Perform skill be Oratory instead of a musical one. I think it can represent a priest speaking blessings and curses very well, and I like the idea of priests being primarily Charisma based, firing up their flock. My current idea is to take the bard class as is, remove spellcasting altogether, give them access to one domain from their deity at 1st level (no bonus spells, obviously), give them channel energy at all even levels, and access to a second domain at a later level. I'm considering removing armor proficiency from them as well (for thematic reasons), but haven't thought of something to balance it out.
It's really supposed to be a bard variant, I'm allowing only Oracles and Witches in the setting, but I wanted a class that could represent priests without particularly powerful magic abilities. My hope is that it is about as powerful as a regular bard, and fulfills the role of party support and party "face."
So, I'm working out a low(er) magic priest class, and I've come up with an idea. I'm thinking of using the Bard class, removing spells, adding in Cleric domains (without spells) and a diminished form of channel energy. I'm wondering if you all think that's a fair trade. I thought about giving the class the full channel energy, but it seemed as though it may be a bit powerful in the early levels with domain abilities, channel energy and bardic music (which I'm renaming to just "Inspire").
I read the newspaper and BBC's online publications. There is no such thing as television news. It's all just pretty colors, graphics, "experts", impossible hair, and inane banter. The opinion shows are even worse. While I fall definitely into the Olbermann camp politically, he was ineffectual, weak, and spent most of his time whining. If it were up to me, all three news networks would shrivel and die. Their main function is to parrot misinformation to a willing public. /rant
Let me add my voice to counters being a great idea. If you do end up making counters, making a few neutral sets (with blank spaces with numbers and colors) would be a good idea, in order to represent PCs or miscellaneous creatures. It would also be nice to buy a pack with multiples of common "grunt" monsters, such as goblins, orcs, kobolds, gnolls and the like. And some NPC sets would be good too. And probably the iconics. Hell, just start a giant line. I would definitely consider investing in them.
The difference is that none of those things are designed specifically to kill people. That is the one, and only purpose a handgun has. You may go target shooting with it, but that piece of equipment was designed to do only one thing: taking the life of another human being in the most efficient way possible. And they are very, very good at what they do. I understand the draw of guns, our society has been telling us they're really cool for the last 200 years, and we eat it up. Hell, I think they're really cool. But it doesn't change the fact that when you're carrying a piece, it says to the world "I am prepared to take off the head of that man over there if I feel like I need to." And that makes me uncomfortable.
I'm not a big fan of 4th Edition, but I commend Wizards on embracing DnD's great past and on producing a well-crafted, affordable starter set for their game. This isn't just an entry level product for DnD, this is an entry level product for all tabletop RPGs. I hope it can introduce more new players to the hobby. Kudos, Wizards.
I'm going to echo the feelings of seemingly everyone else here and say that I see no conflict between Christianity and playing Pathfinder or other tabletop RPGs. Pathfinder is a fantasy, an interactive story that is meant to be entertaining and enriching. While I can understand a possible disagreement over content, an RPG system like Pathfinder allows you and your group to control that content. If you find something disagreeable, you can avoid it. I also think that the classic D&D or Pathfinder archetypes can fit very well with a Christian group, as the assumption is that your characters will be vanquishing evil, not supporting it. Your characters may be flawed, and complex, but that only adds to their goodness, in my mind; that these imperfect mortals are still capable of doing tremendous good. I'm also very skeptical of your therapist's motives. I dislike the idea of a therapist using their privileged position to teach religious dogma, no matter what their creed. I believe that a medical trust should not be influenced by the faith of either the patient or their provider. Above all else, I think you should decide for yourself whether or not Pathfinder conflicts with your faith. It is YOUR faith, after all. Have you found any major conflicts with your spiritual life? Has it helped or harmed your mental health care? Has it had no effect? Is it a positive social experience? A negative one? These are all some questions I believe you should ask yourself before making this decision. I hope that you can continue to enjoy RPGs as well as get the treatment and spiritual fulfillment you want: I don't believe any of those things are mutually exclusive.
Do you have a link to that PF Race Builder's Guide? I can't find it with the search. EDIT: Found it! It's right here.
When an unconstitutional piece of legislation makes it into the constitution via majority rule, someone with some sort of legal power has to step up and do something. Which is exactly what the Judicial Branch of the government was designed to do. Judges exist to decide issues just like this. Our system of government was designed in order to protect the rights of the few against the will of the many, and I am proud that it often works as intended. Sometimes it falters, but its a work in progress.
Yeah, there is no need for Asian equipment or classes to use different stats. I would use the DnD "falchion" to represent a katana, as both represent a two-handed curved sword. If you subscribe to the inane belief that katanas are in some way superior to European swords, then use the Elven curveblade stats.
The spell-less ranger is called the Skirmisher, and replaces spellcasting with a series of "tricks" that are a series of abilities you can only use a specific number of times per day. I think there's a little over a page of tricks, too, so there's a lot to choose from. I'm making it the default ranger in my campaign setting. I always thought spellcasting rangers were dumb.
So, I just downloaded my subscriber PDF, and leapt straight for the Bestiary, and let me say, you guys really made some GREAT monsters. I love the pterosaurs in particular. I read the description for Quetzalcoatlus and was pleasantly surprised at how modern your interpretation was! I've got a question for James Jacobs, whom I assume was party to their statistics and flavor text; do you follow Tet Zoo? Darren Naish, the author of that blog, had a few great entries on Azhdarchids (the clade of pterosaurs that includes the really huge guys like Quetzalcoatlus) and he recently wrote a really interesting paper on their possible lifestyle. The Quetzalcoatlus entry in Smuggler's Shiv seemed a lot like how he's described them, which is AWESOME. I hope I'm not spoiling too much for those who haven't gotten a peek yet, but I needed to share my glee.
If you really want to represent semi-accurate sexual dimorphism in a d20 system, I'd give males a +1 or +2 to Strength and females a +1 or +2 to Constitution. Females are more resilient to diseases, live longer, and are designed to give birth, which is an incredibly taxing process. Males on the other hand are bigger and stronger. I would not give either sex any mental attribute mods; not only is there little evidence for very large differences between the sexes, but you open up quite the can of Rovagugs with those. As is, though, I think not having any noticeable statistical difference is preferable, as it allows you to play whatever character you want regardless of sex.
I don't know where you live, but where I live, the best high schools are actually public. It's a bit of an anomaly, especially considering how little funding they receive, but still. Our roads get fixed promptly and efficiently, and I'll take the DMV over dealing with my health insurance company any day of any week. The telephone companies I've dealt with, and plumbers, car salesmen, most retail stores... terrible. Our library on the other hand has an incredible selection of books, an incredibly well kept and beautiful environment, and a knowledgeable, excited staff. My tax dollars at work.
Corporations do not exist to take your money. They exist to make money for their shareholders. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you don't own any stock. You should consider buying some to start planning for retirement, because government mismanagement will pretty much guarantee that the vast Ponzi scheme that is Social Security will be dried up by the time you and I retire. Ok, I'll bite. A corporation exists to take your money, squirrel some of it away, then redistribute what's left to the people who support it. Still sounds fishy to me. And I actually have stock in BP, of all things, bought considerably earlier than the current disaster.
That person didn't just "manage" to earn more money. Most likely, that person was born in a privileged household, received a privileged education, and grew up in a privileged environment, all of which gave them the means to be in the right place at the right time. We tax those people more because all too often the poorest are not even given the option to succeed. The rich don't earn everything they do due to simple merit, and the poor aren't poor because they lack merit. The sins of the father should not reflect on his sons. The reason we love "rags to riches" stories so much is because they're so bloody uncommon. A person almost never rises from the economic bracket they were born in. I know my family has been "middle class" for over 200 years, and we definitely don't have any future CEOs here. And while I think the prebate payment is a nice touch, a progressive tax with built in deductions is still much more fair, and taxes people based on what they can afford to give for the betterment of society.
BS, I'm sorry, taxation is not a duty, its an exchange, you have to get something in return for the taxation, otherwise it's no different than a king taking your money just because. It is your DUTY to pay for what our government provides, including roads, police forces, firefighters, street signs, schools, safety inspectors, the FDA, parks, and everything our government does expressly for you, the citizen, which includes every single thing the government does. So in your terms, yes, by paying taxes, you are paying for government in an economic exchange and getting a giant bargain on everything government does.
Firstly, taxation is not punishment, it is your DUTY as a citizen. Secondly, the scenario you present, whether or not it may have been possible at one time, is currently impossible. Our progressive tax system works such that all of your income in the first tax bracket is taxed at that rate, all your income in the second bracket is taxed at that rate, and so on. Therefore, every time you get a raise, even if it puts you into the next "bracket," you still get more post-tax income.
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