thiha's page

I sent an email titled the same as the above subject to Customer Service on Sept 7th, Friday night (Friday in the predawn hours at your local time I guess).

It was to request you to restore the download link of "Slumbering Tsar Saga" PDF that I repurchased under Paizo Order # 1997249. It seems the link is still disabled.

Could your please check the email and restore the link if there is no problem?

Thank you very much!

Best regards,
Masaki aka Thiha

If I order subscriptions NOW,
Is there any possible way that I can (re-)start from:
- Carrion Crown 5: Ashes at Dawn,
- Ultimage Magic,
- Dungeons of Golarion,
as for Adventure Path, RPG, and Campaing Setting?
It seems they are still the most current issues (though at the very last days).

Thanks!

Yay, I've just ordered mine, too!

Dear Paizo

Hit by the gigantic earthquake in eastern Japan, and now I'm under evacuation.

Please cancell all of my subscriptions.
May all the people under the peril be saved soon.

Sincerelly,

Thiha

See the thing is, the fantasy samurai has gotten up and ran way from Japan, Japan and fantasy samurai are no longer even related.
Jedi were influenced by samurai.
DnD samurai in all iterations of it for the last 20 years have had TWF options.

So what samurai did or didnt do in Japan is entirely besides the point. TWF samurai is just as much as sacred cow (and predates) the ranger TWF sacred cow.
...

Thanks for your reply. I've played Classic (BECMI), v3.5 (not including OA) and 4e D&Ds in my life, but never played a D&D Samurai. So I don't hesitate to see a incarnation of the previous D&D's TWF Samurai in Pathfinder RPG as you mentioned, taking part in the Oriental Adventures's legacy.

And while I really admire your enthusiasm, knowledge, and love on samurai or Japan that can be seen on your posts...

...
When American envisionment of fantasy samurai were taking shape, Japan had long ago gotten bored with samurai and were focused on giant robots and power rangers.

HAVE YOU EVER READ a vast number of samurai novels and mangas in Japanese published in these decades??

I don't mind how you take your D&D or Pathfinder Samurai at all, BUT I DO mind how you represent Japan in the reality. Please do not define us, Japan, and her history in the reality like this by your presumption and Orientalism. This is not the first time. PLEASE DON'T.

slayer_of_gellcor wrote:

I'm going to be honest: I really did care about historical Samurai before these discussions started on the messageboards. I no longer care. T/he constant bickering and competition over who knows more about Samurai.

...

...

I personally cant remember a fantasy samurai that DIDNT TWF.

And "unfortunately" enough, I as a person who was born, brought up and still lives in Japan, can't remember a fantasy samurai that DID TWF except Musashi in fictions, or his incarnations, as the rare genius swordman in a warring world.

In that sense, I'd be happy to see some options (like feats, archetypes, any alternate class or whatsoever) of TWF for player characters as truly rare damn cool heroes or paragons, but still hope NOT to see some bloated bunches of TWF samurai lurking around the world as the standard, or as the norm of Pathfinder RPG's Samurai.

Probably, the reason I still care such discussions over Samurai in the historical sense is because I'm a Japanese living in Japan and probably embrace certain images and memories of samurai different from the vast majority of the people here. So, maybe, I should just remain as a silent foreign observer here, trying to find more preferrable games elsewhere, like Sengoku (by A.J. Bryant & M.T. Arsenault, revised 2002) or Blood and Honor (by J. Wick, 2010) that can offer gaming fluffs and crunches that quite fit my images/memories of samurai, if I want to play in or run some medieval Japanesque campaigns.

Or, maybe I just ignorant about pop-culture and American version samurai heroes.

Be that as it may, I agree that there's been too much of bickering and competition to keep enjoy caring about Samurai class casually or gamewisely. Anyway, it's a game basically belonging to people from the US and its Samurai to her Orientalism (my salutes to Prof. E. Said), though I still love people here at Paizo and Pathfinder.

: )

[Edit] Heck, I still enjoy the discussion here, keep it going, mate.

+2
d(^_-)b

I saw some mentions in this topic that "samurai were a caste class who served the nobles" and the like.

But, what that "noble(s)" mean??

I understand if you're talking about the pre-Shogunate era samurai in Heian period, when samurai clans had just emerged in the Japanese history and actually served the nobles (kuge and the emperor) as their guards and soldiers...But, samurai in the samurai's ages (i.e. Shogunate eras) served their lords, i.e. the shogun or their feudal lords, or upper rank samurai houses in the fiefdoms, or the chieftains of their clans in the first place, and not the nobles (though they did nominally), IIRC.

Or did those mentions refer to just people from the higher social classes vaguely?

??

Sorry, a bit off the topic of Ninja and katana. :P

Remember katanas were designed in a world where the major armor types were made of bamboo.

It's quite interesting. I've never heard/read of that. I thought most of the armors from samurai's ages in Japan were made of metal, wood, leather and cloth. Could you please tell me more about that bamboo armors?

Helaman wrote:

Yep but heres the rub... the early Japanese hadnt mastered Katana smithing. They had crappy quality straight blades... so you can have Weapon Proficiency Katana or you can have shield.

Samurais first swords were tachi, two handed. Then Uchigatana which came in two lengths (the first daisho) then katana and wakizashi.

None of these were "straight" blades... as time went on, the blades got straighter, actually. It has something to do with the quenching process.

While your reference to the set of swords for samurai is pretty correct, I guess Helaman's mention was referring to the pre-samurai ages (i.e. sometime in the Heian Era or earlier), when the swords were actually straight in Japan. IIRC.

Just my 2 cents.

wakizashi was for seppku, apparently

IIRC, usually, nope. In a formal situation, a short katana is specially prepared as part of the ceremony to perform "self determination."

If a samurai should use his wakizashi to do his "self determination," then I guess it's something like in a desperate situation after losing a battle and on the way of his fleeing, without any hope of having formal preparation.

Helaman wrote:

Hayden wrote:

I don't agree with the OP.

TWF wasn't the samurai historic style. Only a few great fighters went for it, such as musashi miyamoto. The kenjutsu main style was 2-handed.

Exactly... it was a specialist style. Musashi just got better press is all.

Musahi did not get better press. He killed alot of people. Starting when he was 13 to his death. 64 duels if you lost you died. He fought in 2 wars. He was the one that started Ichiden ( One Way Two Swords ). Up untill him no one used the Dashio as a hole. After him there where a few that tryed to mimic his style. The amount of samurai that used two swords is somthing like 10,000 to 1. So I have never realy agreed that samurai should get twf. Miyamoto Masashi style of Icheden uses the katana or wakazash to block then using the other to attack with. You never use both for attacking in the style he created.

P.S. I might be a few off in the number of duels. I don't feal like looking it up.

Thirded. They were primarily and iconically warriors proficient with two-handed weapons (including longbows and polearms), not TWF.

Yep but heres the rub... the early Japanese hadnt mastered Katana smithing. They had crappy quality straight blades... so you can have Weapon Proficiency Katana or you can have shield.

We all keep arguing about the iconic samurai - I'll submit that yes, go back far enough and he was a mounted archer, cool. But lets not dreg back beyond all that.

By the time the practice of Katana making was flourishing and Japanese distinctive styles of swordsmanship were starting to evolve, the shield was dead to the Samurai.

Thanks for your reply. I agree and second your opinion. I mentioned the early Japanese, to say that samurai didn't use shields NOT because they were so far away from anyone who did.

[Edit] And I'd add "and two-handed weapon soldier" to your "he was a mounted archer."
[Edit2] So, my take on samurai Cavalier variant concept is: a Cavalier with honor codes and loyalty to his order/clan, proficient with two-hand wielding weapons (longblades, longbows, polearms etc.) and armors (no shields).

By the way, if samurai were primarily two-handed weapon soliders, then what the use of their wakizashi was for?

It's for a backup in case his two-handed sword was broken, and for indoor use in respect of spatial convenience. And the blade was shorter, easier to behead his enemy's body as the proof of his valor, though not necessarily with wakizashi. And in the Edo Era, wearing daisho, or tachi [edit: correction, should be "uchigatana", not tachi, sorry] (two-handed katana) and wakizashi represented one's being samurai, and they were given permission to wear wakizashi even within the shogun's palace, IIRC.

Just FYR.

The samurai didnt use shields on earth, primarily because they were so far away from anyone who did.

I'm afraid it's not. As some portion of Japanese ruling groups are descended from immigrants from the continent where soldiers used shields, the soldiers of ancient Japan used shields, as you can see in historical records and in the costume of Gagaku, the ancient ceremonial court music and dance of millenarian tradition.

But when it turns to the medieval ages ruled under the samurai lords and the shogunate, soldiers (i.e. samurai) focused and specialized their skills into two-handed weapons including swords, bows and polearms, so the use of wielding shields become fewer and eventually died out (btw there were some records that their arrows and swords could puncture and slash shields at that time).

So, IIRC, samurai didn't use shields as they think them unfunctional and cumbersome for using two-handed weapons.

And instead, armors developed more, and samurai began to use shields not as those wielded by hands/arms, but as barriers fixed on the earth against enemy's arrows and charges. And in the advent of guns in the battle fields, they were replaced by bamboo barriers which were more efficient against bullets and easy to carry and craft.

If you'd like to know the concise information on history of shields in Japan, I'd recommend you to check Shields in Wikipedia (though unfortunately) in Japanese.

Halfling Samurai unite!

I don't no why, but this phrase reminds me of dinosaur-riding Talenta halflings in Eberron. =|

There's an old traditional festival (since Kamakura era [edit: or since Heian era, if based on its legend]) of samurai riders still remaining in the nearby prefecture of where I live:

Samurai Gunners, and Samurai riders with banners in their back.

seekerofshadowlight wrote:

The issue is..it is an Archetype, people are thinking it is a base class based off them calling it an alt class of a caviler and how it is presented as a full write up. Which is the wall you seem to be hitting.

But change wise and word count wise it is just an archetype for the caviler class. Once you just see it as simply the name for a flavorful archetype for another class, most of that goes away.

Think of it as a caviler, which is what it is.

This. Cavalier --> nobleman who hit things with his sword/lance/whatever and has abilities related to his honor, morale, command ability and stuff. For what we have seen 'til now, has a mount.

Samurai ---> Cavalier Archetype.

Thanks for your replies. Maybe the term "samurai" in English has already come to be generically architypical among fantasy gaming activities these days? I don't know. But I'm willing to see how this substitute class will be refined through playtesting into the final version. I have my faith in people here at Paizo ;-)

[Edit] oops, I wrote this post reading reviews and partial translations of APG and the UC playtest in Japanese, but have just found that there's no such a term "substitute class" in the APG nor in the playtest pdf file. (...blushed) ...Alternate Classes...Archetypes, I see, gonna read through APG and the playtest file precisely and will come back.

Kaiyanwang wrote:

I love this modeled on Samurai and I think that it fits. In some game of mine Samurai will be a Samurai.

In other games, Samurai will be a Knight of [Insert Order], or a member of the Imperial Guard.

This. Are all rogues thieves after all?

While I love that kind of gaming concepts, too, somewhat I do hope the class's name changed from Samurai to more generic one, in line with a ranger, a cleric, a rogue etc., if used so "fluffy."

If a class's name is just fluff, even in the course of its design process, then the concepts of that name should also be fluffy, too, to avoid making some people bound to the name's specific notions, IMHO.

As for a monk, a ranger, or a barbarian, you can "grasp" the concepts or notions of these classes' names, as they are somewhat traditional words and notions in English, and are generic enough to convey vairous cultural concepts. You need not to image a monk as a Shaolin wushu warrior monk, as you can also find various kinds of other monk architypes in other religious heritages elsewhere even in the real world, occidental or oriental.

But, I think, one can't say the same thing for a loan word such as samurai, 'cause that name's notions are still too culturally and historically bound in its context.

Actually, I guess, not small amount of people from the Japanese ancestory, would feel disdained if the term Samurai is used without some extent of respect to its heritage. In that sense, it's not like ninja, which has been told and fictionalized largely in mystical and fantasied contexts even in Japan.

(Sigh...writing in a non-native language is a tough thing.)

You guys seem to forget not everyone who uses this is gonna play a samurai. Leaving the shield in is fine as it hurts nothing, effects nothing and allows someone to build a heavy shield character that happens to use the samurai without being a "samurai"

I understand your opinion that a class need not to be limited inside the boundary of its naming concept, especially, if that class is gereic enough like, the Fighter, the Cleric, or the Thief and so on, whose concept is able to accept wide variety.

Nevertheless, then what the point to bring a particular substitute class to an existing one here? For instance, I guess you would be able to put a Fighter to almost any kind of hitorical or fictional contexts. But would you do the same, say, for a Gunslinger? You don't mind a Gunslinger having some proficieny of shields insead of having other features that fit much better to the Gunslinger concept, as she's a fighter, and as not everybody uses her as a gunslinger?

If any existing or established concepts surrounding a given substitute class are not considered and examined well, why bother make such specific one?

Just my 2 cents. No offense meant :)

Oops.
Sorry for the above post!
I posted on a wrong thread. I should've posted it on the first impression thread for the entire Ultimate Combat playtest, not here. My Apologies!

---

P.S.
Could anyone from Paizo or who's in charge of this board kindly remove my above post and this, please?

thiha

Some first impressions from Pathfinder fans in Japan...
.
(In the below, [ ] are my notes on translation. Pardon me if there're any typos or weird expressions. EN is not my native tongue.)

Just wanted to share impressions from this side of the planet with you ;-)

[Edit] BTW, none of the original comments include any ill will. If such expressions exist in the below against the original board and my will, all the blames should be on me. In such case, I hope this post be deleted.

tranlated by thiha
=====================================================================
>Tomo san wrote:
The Gunslinger seems strong but costs money, which sounds cool. But somehow a bit overpowered at high levels, IMO.
Nonetheless, it says that they can use martial weapons normally...does it mean they are light fighters in normal sense?

And the Ninja, cool. Seems they use ninjutsu [ninja arts] wth ki power.

And the Samurai is... can it be differentiated a bit more from the Cavalier?
I feel a bit suspicious about giving him a special mount. Then what's the Cavalier for?
Also, I don't hate his power, but I do dislike his using shields.
People there love Ronin, but is it because they love samurai, and yet don't see bushido [way of warriors]?

Anyhow, it's still in playtest status, and I wish if I could explain what and how samurai should be, to the "original house" [i.e. Paizo.com, US] there......but it's beyond my skills.

Jan. 26th, 2011 - 8:38

---------------
Anonymous san wrote:
>Samurai
>explain to the "original house"

To represent some aspects of bushido, some features to make the Samurai being selfless-altruistic one would be nice, I guess.
Well, on the other hand, taking a look back on samurai depicted in domestic games [i.e. designed and published in Japan], samurai's image is more of a swordsman than a fighter, like having a deadly secret (technique of) sword.

I wish if I could see Samurai differentiated from other classes in that way.
But in either way, looking forward to seeing Ultimate Combat! (^^

Jan. 26th, 2011 - 11:03

---------------
DDMFAN san wrote:
All of the illustrations for the Gunslinger, Ninja, and Samurai are COOL!
It would be nice if we could get such cool classes even in D&D4th, too ^^

Jan 26th, 2011 - 12:46

---------------
Yuzuru san wrote:
Are they muzzle loading guns?
Free action reload ... ain't possible.

But cool nonethelss.

Sir, sir,
Would you mind run some PF campaign for us...
Why not?
Why not?

Jan. 26th, 2011 - 13:14

---------------
Ryo san wrote:
Oho, the Gunslinger =)
And the Samurai, the Ninja, sounds nice!
but it somehow turns out to be similar to Arianrod [one of the most popular generic fantasy tabletop RPGs in Japan] ^^;

I agree to the opinion that a shield wielding samurai looks weird.
As was expected, Samurai shouldn't wield a shield, IMO.
At least, Master Mifune Toshiro's samurai did't wield one ;-)

Whatsoever, hardly wait to see the product.

Jan. 26, 2011 - 13:46

---------------
Rem Rey san wrote:
>samurai
As Samurai is a substitute class for the Cavalier, more or less, no wonder that their abilities not so differ from each other.

Thinking of constables, hunters, Häyhä, etc., it's a pity that the Gunslinger is not a substitute class for the Ranger but the Fighter. Any substitutes for the Ranger's combat styles would handle the concepts better than a bonus feat per 4 levels.....

Jan. 26th, 2011 - 18:43

---------------
Tomo san wrote:
>As Samurai is a substitute class for the Cavalier...

I overlooked it. Now it's no wonder to be similar. My lame.

... well, no Knowledge for class skills?
I would call for Knowledge (nobility) and Knowledge (architecture) at least.
I wonder if samurai is thought to be a barbarian in the US...
Give us no shields. Give us Knowledge for his class skills.

Any full 20-levels-scale classes designed anew would inevitably lap over existing classes' positions, so it seems they would basically be treated as substitute classes, unless they are innovative ones. It's a bit surprise, though, that even the Gunslinger is a substitute class.

btw, a "substitute class" means that it can't be multiclassed with the original one, right?

January 27th, 2011 - 8:30

---------------
Ryo san wrote:
I've downloaded and flipped through. If it's M size, a pistol's damage is 1d8, and a musket's 1d12 ... for crits, it's x4 and Dex bonus would be added to it.
Wow, so powerful.

Jan. 28th, 2011 - 16:00

---------------
Ishikawa san wrote:
Whoa! Loads of comments =)

>Tomo san

Sure, a shield for samurai just ain't feel right...do people there think ashigaru[infantry sumrai]'s barrier screens to be tower shields?

> Anonymous san

Hmm, some americans might not see some "selfless altruism" and the like, maybe. Some still saying that the Alamo, determined and annihilated, still represents the American spirit, bluh, bluh ...

>DDMFAN san

I don't care, as I don't play 4... (omitted

>Yuzuru san
FYR, without any feat, a pistol can be reloaded wiht a standard action.
Hmm.

If I were designing it, I would make it a bit more powerful and instead make the reloading time longer.

>Would you mind run some PF campaign for us...

Hey, I can't be a player then. lol

>Ryo san
>Arianrod-esque.
Exactly.
Though not that flourishing. =)

>Rem Ray san
The Gunslinger's image is a musketeer, probably. So, she must fire a shot and then unsheathe her sword and charge. That's it, her job, I guess =)

>Tomo san
Aha, exactly. Some Knowledge skills would fit nicely.
Should I post it to the Paizo's forum, including the matter with shields?

>Ryo san
>Re: Damage
Ouch. Forgot.

Well, still it's not that powerful yet, somewhat.
If it had some "ignore armor bonuses" like back in AD&D, it would be awesome, but it's still 1d12 + Dex mod. while two-handed....it depends on how rapidly they can shoot in practice. Oh, and if there's any way to add "keen," that would be great. They are easy to break down. A musket would break on roll 1-2, Hot!, lol.

Jan. 29th, 2011 - 1:33

Interestingly, the people I play with don't use these translations; they say "Hideous Laughter" rather than "daibakusho," which is the Japanese translation.

In this respect, there's a big possible reason why choose transliterations rather than traslations. It's simple: foreign words sound exotic and magical.

I still remember the fantastic atmosphere I felt from the meaningless (cos I didn't understand a word in English in my childhood) spell names like ZAP (lightning bolt), HOT (fireball), FOF (force field), WAL(wall) etc used in Steve Jackson's Sorcery! gamebook quartet. But it was really hard for me at that time to learn those "meaningless" spell names. (The quartet were my initiation to fantasy tabletop games. And I still love them.)

And there's another (lesser) reason to use transliterations. It's easier to identify original words, and is helpful when you introduce untranslated supplements into your game.

- romantic titles get turned into katakana and lose their feeling compared to the original.

Sho ga nai, as they say...

That reminds me of my first impression (kind a furious rage inside my geekness) towards the Japanese title of the "Lord of the Rings" movie. It was "Roodo obu za Ringu" in katakana incomplete transliteration. It sounds quite nonsense and unintellectual to many of the old-time fans of the established translation by Teiji Seta, of which title was "Yubiwa Monogatari" in kanji ...but, maybe, there had been some copyright issue on using the title of the established translation.

Anyhow, I guess the Japanese language generally doesn't have much hesitation to hybridly use existing (traditional/native) vocabulary and brand-new loanwords. Cos, she's been doing so over 1,200 years, using kanji, katakana, and hiragana, ...plus the alphabet today ;-)

Mmm, yappari shou ga nai kamo ne.

BTW, the de facto organizer of the PRD_J wiki porject said recently on his blog in Japanese that he's so happy to see this thread and he's wishing that Paizo's staffs will see this and start thinking to publish official Japanese version Pathfinder RPG someday...the whole bunch of Japanese translation text in PRD_J is waiting there for Paizo to pick up for free.

-----

And I'm from Japan and loves Pathfinder, too!

Hi, Anburaid:

I have another question.

Do you intend to let an Ardwright to create two identical dweomers in effect from the one split by the Plural Dweomer, i.e. each of the two after the "split" has the same power as the original one?

Thiha

"Note: Due to the special nature of this product, it is NOT part of the Pathfinder Modules Subscription."

Oh, I overlooked that part. Then I'll order it specifically later.

Hi, there.

I live abroad and won't be able to visit any store or event where this Free RPG Day module will be available. But I'd like to get the Print Edition.

Will this automatically be part of the Pathfinder Module subscription, or should I order it specifically?

Thanks.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Page 272
In the Vargouille stat block, in the AC line, change the AC
to “15, touch 12, f lat-footed 14 (+1 Dex, +3 natural, +1 size).”
In the Skills line, change the skills to “Fly +13, Intimidate
+5, Perception +7, Stealth +8.”
-----------------------------------------------------------

The latter part of this errata for the Bestiary is a little bit odd.
The "change" in the Skills line mentioned here is identical to the first printing.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Page 265
In the Tiger, Dire stat block, in the Feats line, delete “Iron
Will.” In the Skills line, change the Stealth skill bonus to
“+15 (+23 in tall grass).”
-----------------------------------------------------------

It seems this part of the errata hasn't been reflected in the Bestiary PDF yet.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Page 16
In the Ant, Giant stat block, in the Poison special ability,
change the DC to “14.”
-----------------------------------------------------------

I guess this part from the recent Errata hasn't been applied to the PDF. Seems not reported yet, so I post here.

Wow that's cool (and hot)!

I would use it as "Artificer" for Eberron, and as "Ardwright" for Golarion, as the name "Artificer" is so strongly tagged with Eberronian feel, at least for me.

(And I'd replace the source of the power s/he taps into, his "life energy," with an assortment of magical, though mainly elemental, energies, if for Ebberon.)

Fantastic conversion and naming.
And thanks for replying!

Toyrobots and I worked on this for about a month. We started converting the artificer for use in our RL game sometime this summer, and as we kept modifying this, and houseruling that, we decided at one point to try our hands at dramatic overhaul. By the time we were done, this version of the artificer was so different we decided to give it a new name. Hope you guys like it.

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dck7bhk_7fps6csfp

Hi, Anburaid! I love your take on the Artificer class conversion, and will definitely try it when I have any chance to play PFRPG in Eberron or some other MagiTech feel setting.

BTW, there's a question just out of curiosity. What does the "Ard-" of the Ardwright mean? I've searched several online and deadtree dictionaries but cannot figure out what it means. Is it from "ard-" of the word "ardent"?

Thiha
@JP

The only difference between restarting your canceled subscription and starting a new one through the website is that restarting will retain a "charter subscriber" messageboard tag.

Thanks for your helpful responses.

Doesn't the difference between restarting the canceled ones and starting anew through my account function affect the timing of AP subscribers' 15% discount applicability?

Thiha

I've cancelled your subscriptions. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you again.

A question:

If I should manage to solve my problem in a month or so, can I just resume my canceled subscriptions by reporting to you at this board or via email if the next issue of the Adventure Path has not disappeared yet from the top page?

Thiha

-Edit-
P.S. Cos once answered me, IIRC, that if it's within 30 days from stopping the subscriptions (i.e. no skipping products), it's possible to resume them.

Hi, Cos

Nice to get your post!

---

But another issue has emerged. My family have just brought in an "verdict" that they will not welcome any more physical books of mine in the future due to the overloaded stock of my books spreading throughout the bookshelves and the floors at home.

After all, I'd have to give that some serious thought and compromise my hobby to some extent for the time being.

...sigh

This time around truly, please cancel all of my subscriptions.
I'll try to keep up with upcoming Paizo products through PDF purchases.

Thanks again for your helpful services.

sincerely,
Thiha

Please cancel all of my subscriptions (due to my private finacial issue).

Thanks a lot for your excellent services.

I cancel this cancellation (again, ha ha, sorry for bothering).

Please keep them alive for more while.

Thiha

Please cancel all of my subscriptions (due to my private finacial issue).

Thanks a lot for your excellent services.

Thiha

Wow, we posted at almost the same moment on the same topic from the other sides of the earth ;-) (I'm from Japan)

What Zurai described about the fraction problem sounds quite reasonable, and I guess, if from that view point, as Zurai said earlier,

The text definitely needs clarified, because right now it would be much better reading "1 square/5 levels".

..."1 square/5 levels" is more handlable in a practical play situation. But, maybe the current description is still acceptable, since the practicality in handling the rules can be maintained through your DM's wits.

I'm a bit sick of "Updates" theses days, as I also play 4e. :P

The problem is that you can't actually affect any area less than 25 square feet in game.

I thought the same as Zurai, and that made me post this question.

But,

Luckily, since a normal character can't cast this spell until caster level 5, it comes out to 25 square feet, or one battle map square.

Actually, in game, you can effect whatever area sizes you want. We've got "fine" sized creatures that fit hundreds to the square. We've got walls that are two feet wide.

Aha! I guess what Mauril said must be the reason why the area description is as such.

Zurai and Mauril, thanks for your helpful comments!

Just out of curiosity. I searched the messageboards but couldn't find any relevant topic.

The Core Rulebook states that the Area of the glyph of warding spell shall be "5 sq. ft./level" (see page 290).

But, shouldn't it be "25 sq. ft./level" or "a 5-foot-sided square/level" or "a 5 ft. x 5 ft. square/level" if it means you can get one square per your level on the battlegrid map?

[Amendment]

Oops, I take back what I stated in the above.

Please keep them alive for a little more while. I'll try to hold on.

Dear Cosmo:

I'd like to ask a question:

How long can I suspend the subscriptions (if possible)?

Thanks!

- Thiha

[Amendment]

Oops, I take back what I stated in the above.

Please keep them alive for a little more while. I'll try to hold on.

I'd like to cancel all of my ongoing subscriptions after the shipment of the last volume of the Council of Thieves Adventure Path, which has already been shipped and should be on the way to my shipping address.

I'm going to switch to non-subscription purcahses hereafter.

Thank you very much for your excellent gaming products and kind services all the time.

I'm planning to run a PFS session via Skype (voice chat) with Fantasy Grounds II (virtual tabletop tool) in Japanese (a major language in Asia, as you know).

At the moment, I have 2 local willing participants and I'm now looking for another couple of willing players.

As for playing schedule, the date has not been fixed yet, but the time slot will be:

21:00-25:00 midnight on Saturday or Sunday,
or
22:00-24:00 x 2 successive nights on weekdays (other than Friday), Japan Standard Time (UTC +9hours).

The scenario will be #29 "The Devil We Know Part I: Shipyard Rats."

We'll play the game in Japanese, though using the official materials in English (together with fan-made playing aids in Japanese, if you want), and will report the Chronicles in English (as it's the single official language for PFS).

Japanese-language learners will be welcomed.

If you're interested in, please contact me by PM or by posting here.

A very interesting thread.

Thanks for the thread starter and all who posted their opinions on names in fantasy.

This thread reminds me of great authors of classic fantasy novels, like Tolkien or Le Guin etc. utilizing/creating names and languages that are both realistic and fantastic.

Profound knowledge and sincere efforts to delve into the real world cultures, histories, folk tales etc. are (IMHO) definitely a must to create a fantasy masterpiece, regardless of genre.

(I'm not a native English speaker, sorry if my post is messy. ;P )

Sara:

I've just received your response to my email.
Thanks a lot!

Paizo is the Best RPG company on earth for me!

Thiha (aka. Masaki)

Hi,

I've asked three times about this since day before yesterday through email, but haven't got any reponse to it. So please let me inquire on it here.

While it seems the "Seekers of Secrets" has already been published, this title is not indicated on my subscriptions page in my Paizo account. It shows that "Book of the Damned vol.1 - Princes of Darkness" was shipped most recently and "Cities of Golarion" will be the next.

Has "Seekers of Secrets" been skipped from my Pathfinder Chronicles Ongoing Subscription by some reason?

Thank you in advance for your excellent services.

Thiha (aka. Masaki)

I hope Tengu from the PF bestiary will take some cool roles in a future Adventure Path set in Golarion's Tian-Xia lands. They have rich backgrounds worth delving into.

I've just Wikied about Tengu in English and Japanese. Kind a nice short article to read for fun, knowledge (local), adventure hook or inspiration:

Tengu (Eng.)

(edit)
I've just found that the Japanese Wiki URL cannot be BBCoded.

(...)
So the name was changed back, but they are still "Kenku".

If you said "Tengu" to most Japanese, they will think of a man wearing priestly robes with an old, wrinkled face and an extremely long nose ... not a crow-man.

FWIW,

Rez

Hi, greetings from Japan.

Here in Japan, the crow-man type Tengu are called karasu tengu, which means "crow" tengu in Japanese, when specifically referred to in distinction from the normal (for us living in Japan) long-nosed, red-human-faced taller ones.

These karasu tengu are sometimes called ko-tengu (small/lesser tengu) and considered to be lesser minions of the "normal" tengu. In that regard, the "normal" tengu are also called dai-tengu (greater tengu).

You may find paired statues or ornament masks in some shrines here, as they are believed to be divine beings in Japanese folktales, though some of them are regarded as fiendish, while some are celestial.

In either way, they are fantasy creatures originated from mixture of ancient Chinese and Indian mythologies/legends intermingled with Japanese folkbeliefs (e.g. karasu tengu is said to have some connection with Garuda from the Indian myths).

I guess, the name "kenku" could have been a shortened rendition (by the AD&D creaters) of the Japanese name karasu tengu (tengu is composed of ten "sky/celectial" and ku "dog/beast").

I hope Tengu from the PF bestiary will take some cool roles in a future Adventure Path set in Golarion's Tian-Xia lands. They have rich backgrounds worth delving into.