underhill's page

I am interested in this product, and I think it may fit my needs, but I have some questions I would like answered:

I was under the (possibly mistaken) impression that the Ultimate Spell Decks get updated to include spells from new Paizo releases. If so, then why are these spells offered separately?

If the other Spell Decks DON"T get updated, how well does this set integrate with the others? If I want to print off all the level 2 Bard spells, do have to go hunt them down from here and the bard spell list? Or are the PDFs formatted in a convenient fashion?

Finally, how are the individual cards formatted? I have done some image searches online, and I have not been able to find a picture of the actual cards. I know that you don't want to give the impression that this PDF download somehow contains actual printed cards, but an image of the actual spell formatting would help out a lot. One example spell with supper heavy "SAMPLE" water-marking would be better than just the cover image.

At the very least, would I be able to hole-punch the top right corner of each card without obscuring important information (like the spell name)?

Economics doesn't really apply to the world of Golarion if you apply the Rules As Written. Just look a the equipment list!
All of the prices have fixed values. That doesn't happen in a real economy. It makes sense for a game, but it doesn't really happen. In real life prices fluctuate in response to supply and demand.

If you have a kingdom that uses Scrolls of Fireball by the ton, the price isn't going to stay at 375gp. If the supply of Scrolls of Fireball can't be changed, then the price is going to go up. The price could possibly hit the point where it wouldn't be feasible to use them on the battlefield.
If the supply of Scrolls of Fireball can be increased, it becomes much less clear about how the price will be affected, but you can be sure that more of them will be bought.

With that said, there is an economics term I would like to introduce to the debate.

"Barriers To Entry"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barriers_to_entry

Basically, there are certain things you have to do if you want to get into a business. Sometimes these things are cheap, sometimes they are very expensive.

If you want to be a farmer, all you need are some seeds and some land to plant them in. This is easy to do (especially if you live in a feudal society where the local lord will let you farm his land in exchange for 70% of the harvest).

If you want to be a doctor, a lawyer or a king, you're going to have to put in a little more work before you can update your business cards.

Doctors and lawyers have to go through years of school, and then pass a series of tests. Becoming a king generally involves either founding a kingdom (no small task) or creating a vacancy in another kingdom at the exact point in time that everyone in the kingdom (that is, everyone whose opinion matters) thinks that you should be the new king (also, not an easy thing to do).

"What does this have to do with magical warfare?"
Simply put, Barriers to Entry don't exist in Pathfinder for PCs.

If you want to make a Wizard? *Poof!* Your PC is Joe the wizard.
If you want to make a Fighter? *Poof!* Joe the PC is now a fighter.
Decided that you really want to play a Barbarian? *Poof!* Meet Joe the Barbarian.

This makes sense, as it makes it so you can play the character you want.
(Also, a slight nod *is* made to Barriers to Entry, as reflected by each class having a different starting wealth range)

What does this have to do with this thread?
NPC's would have to pass the Barriers to Entry if they would like to become Wizards, Clerics, or any class other than Commoner, and the kingdom would have to pay all or part of the cost associated with making that happen if they wanted the NPC to serve in their army.
PC's wouldn't have to pay those entry fees.

So what would magical warfare end up looking like in a world governed by the Pathfinder rules?

The armies *would* tend towards the small squad arrangements that people keep mentioning in this thread. They would consist of a small group of PC's with complementary skill-sets sent on specific missions.

You and your adventuring party are already the final stage of evolution for warfare on Golarion! Sending PCs on quests is always going to be cheaper than sending expensive NPC's to get the task done.

Sorcerer: 1. A magician; a person capable of invoking the supernatural. 2. An arcane class that gets loot and XP by casting the same few spells over and over; contrast wizard. Sorcerer players are consumed with buying splatbooks in hopes of finding an obscure spell that will combine those two functions, such as flesh to negotiable currency.

Flesh to Negotiable Currency is now officially my favorite spell.

Planning:The 15 to 45 minutes a party spends arguing about the best (and increasingly improbable) course of action to take once they Kick in the Door. The planning usually revolves around a tenuous (or outright incorrect) grasp of the behavior of explosive forces, flammability of wooden furniture, and/or basic tenets of psychology. The Planning phase ends once the party actually Kick in the Door and proceed to pursue a course of action completely different from all iterations of the strategy previously discussed.

I don't know what his alignment is, but I get the feeling that Jimmy Carter is going to show up as a NPC...

Writing desk!

In the KM game I'm running I expanded on the idea of

I think you might be surprised how easy it is to put together a few of your own adventures after you start running an Adventure Path.

Yeah, it is pretty easy to just use the monster stat-blocks out of the book, but after a half dozen sessions or so you will have a pretty good idea of what aspects of the over all story line your players really enjoy. And then you can start putting together your own encounters.

Do they like uncovering the secret plots against the king? Give them more of it! Just expand on the original plot line a little. Who was manipulating the NPC they already brought to justice? What other members of the conspiracy escaped capture, and are now secretly waiting for their chance at revenge? Now all you need is a level appropriate encounter. What will the secret enemy of the crown unleash to realize their goal? Orcs are let into the castle during the harvest feast! A dark shadowy monster stalks the castle halls at night! Zombie Trolls are found in the castle cellars!

I am currently running a Kingmaker campaign that has been going on for over a year, but is only about halfway through the second book. Why has it been going on so long? Because I have been coming up with more encounters and plot twists that include the aspects of the story that my players most enjoy.

Any book and any race.

No restictions as long as it is interesting.

A deity is hard to hang on your wall and then again im only lvl 7.

Same thing with humans. Being good and all it might be frowned upon if i nail their heads to the wall.

A dragon might be a bit over the top, and has been used a bit too much imo.

I was thinking in the lines of a magical beast with some interesting story, but i could really use some input

Have you considered the Questing Beast?

I'm not sure how you would work it in mechanically, but a way for Holmes to cast "True Strike" might be an alternative to adding lots of combat abilities. Especially if you are working with the called shot rules. It might work better for a Holmes build that includes him studying magic the same way he studies science in the books.