Kobold Quarterly 23

Ouch! Just read the En world review. The Gauntlet Witch got hammered for being too derivative of Witchblade. Which, to be fair was always going to be a danger with such a concept. Still, there's a difference between a living morphing super powered Witchblade and the gauntlet witch's sentient overblown armor/gauntlet.

Did anybody like the gauntlet witch? I'm up for more "too derivative" if that's how folks feel... :)

I thought it was a very well written article, displaying a lot of thought and imagination. Also I was quite pleased that it was an in-depth treatment rather than a wimpy little paragraph like the archetypes in the official rule books always are.

Regarding the Witchblade comparison... Well, yes, it seems obvious that Witchblade was the inspiration. But y'know what - that's perfectly fine! The entire FRPG industry exists because some guys in Wisconsin were inspired by the works of Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock, and J. R. R. Tolkien. (Remember, the spells-per-day magic system is even referred to as "Vancian," after Jack Vance.)

I suppose it would have been nice to add a note that said something like "With thanks to Top Cow comics, whose stories inspired this article." But I hardly think such a note is *required*.

Because the editors were feeling nostalgic for 3.5, and because the author submitted it as a 3.5 article.

Surprisingly, there are still gamers who poke at Pathfinder suspiciously with a stick. I know, I know, but trust me on this, LOTS of gamers are still playing 3.5 D&D.

Yep. He's talking about me. Although I don't do much stick poking. :)

I happily played 1E for over a quarter of a century. Then the recession made all but one of my players leave the state to find employment, and for the first time ever I actually had to try recruiting players. I figured most prospective players would be more familiar with the then-current 3.5 edition than the old 1st edition, so I bought a bunch of 3.5 books and updated my long-running homebrew world.

Only a few months later, 4E was announced.

I like everything I've seen of Pathfinder, but I just don't have the money to go on a more than one massive book-buying-binge per decade. So, for a few more years at least, I'm sticking with 3.5.

However, because Paizo wisely decided to make PF backward-compatible, I have purchased a decent number of PF suppliments to use in my 3.5 game. Thanks Paizo, you guys are great!

Charles, you ever need a 3.5 game hit me up. :)

Charles, you ever need a 3.5 game hit me up. :)

Cool! Do you live anywhere near Flagler County in Florida?

Sadly, no. I would move down there, but my wife and I are allergic to hurricanes. :)

Why is there no subscription service for this???

It'd certainly be more suited to it than the PF Companion series and PF campaing setting series, and have a wider audience.

There is a subscription available on KoboldQuarterly.com. It just isn't available here.

Murastrix Irthosgix, that's a great question. Unfortunately, it's not possible to offer a KQ subscription here in a way that makes financial sense for everyone.

So, the subscriptions are available at the Kobold Store instead.

@Charles Carrier: Wow! A glowing review of the Gauntlet Witch and the KQ issue in general!

As for this:

I suppose it would have been nice to add a note that said something like "With thanks to Top Cow comics, whose stories inspired this article." But I hardly think such a note is *required*.

The inspiration for the Gauntlet Witch wasn't primarily Witchblade. I am conscious of the comic, and have never seen the TV show. I researched the comic, TV show and NSFW manga after being informed the editors were concerned about it being too derivative of the comic/TV series on the first submission. Basically I think the witch and gauntlet is slightly similar, but quite different to the heroine and Witchblade. If you want to see some very good examples of a living/morphing weapon check these two threads out:

Electus base class

Living weapon summoner archetype

Being a very visually oriented person and a scavenger of ideas I'd say the inspiration came from the following: a picture of the Windthrower race from Creature Catalog III in an old Dragon magazine; attempting to maka a real gauntlet/sleeve at home and an old homebrewed class I made for 1e called the Sword-Arm, basically a prestige sword fighter wearing a massive gauntlet that could punch. (Then I came across a mention of "Loring Panzerhand" in a supplement for 3/3.5 called Heroes, Villains and Monsters by Alderac entertainment group! Stole my idea before me!). Plus, I gotta admit, a little bit of the visuals of Witchblade. ;)

WooooT! I think people maybe do like the witchblade, because Kobold Quarterly #23 was the

#1 Most-Downloaded Item at Paizo last week!!!

Well, the #1 item that isn't published by Paizo, but I'd still say that is fairly awesome. The #2 item? The Midgard Campaign Setting.

I'm a happy guy this weekend.

As you should be!

Yeah I saw KQ#23 was the "top download from other publishers" and Midgard CS was number 2 in the paizo news email! Good time to be a kobold...nice work kobolds!

Great review Charles Carrier!

I was thrilled by this comment:
“Slithering in Moonlight” by Marc Radle is a guide to using Lamia Commoners as player characters. In addition, he also explores lamias in a way that recalls the excellent “Ecology Of…” articles from back in the print-edition days of Dragon Magazine.

That made my morning!

As for this part: "I thought the story fragment used to introduce [the Slithering in Moonlight] article was particularly effective ...

Really glad you liked that! I really enjoyed writing it. In fact, I concocted an entire backstory in my head in order to come up with it. If I can carve out some time (easier said than done these days unfortunately :) I'd love to stat out Svesh’Les, the lamia moon oracle and post it over at KoboldQuarterly.com ...

I've got a minor rules question regarding the Sunder article... how does the new Sundering system (which I love, BTW), interact with the 'broken' condition? Does it replace it altogether in some way? I'm partially wondering because one of my players asked with regards to the Gunslinger's starting weapon, but I know there are one or two other things that specifically reference the Broken condition (the Disposable Weapon and Fortified Armor Training feats in UC, for instance).

There's probably a simple interaction I'm missing or a passage in the article, but if there is I'm overlooking it.

I've got a minor rules question regarding the Sunder article... how does the new Sundering system (which I love, BTW), interact with the 'broken' condition? Does it replace it altogether in some way? I'm partially wondering because one of my players asked with regards to the Gunslinger's starting weapon, but I know there are one or two other things that specifically reference the Broken condition (the Disposable Weapon and Fortified Armor Training feats in UC, for instance).

There's probably a simple interaction I'm missing or a passage in the article, but if there is I'm overlooking it.

Thanks everyone for the positive reviews of the Simplifying Sunder article. The folks at KQ are great for letting me drop it into their amazing issue.

As for the Broken condition, it effectively goes away once you decided to use the new rules, broken is very similar to Cracked, but I felt different enough that they needed separate names.

For the two feats mentioned I would change them to read:

Disposable Weapon
You ignore the limitations of your equipment, striking harder despite the damage it does to your weapon.
Prerequisites: Base attack bonus +1, proficient with weapon.
Benefit: Whenever you use a melee or thrown weapon with the fragile weapon special quality to score a critical threat against an opponent, you can give your weapon the cracked condition to automatically confirm the critical hit.

Fortified Armor Training (Combat)
You have learned to let your armor bear the brunt of the worst attacks.
Prerequisite: Proficient with armor or shield.
Benefit: If an opponent scores a critical hit against you, you can turn the critical hit into a normal hit. If you do, either your armor or your shield gains the cracked condition (your choice).

The third installment of Lamia Adventurers is up over at Kobold Quarterly.com

This installment talks about the Serpent Blade, a dual-blade focused pretige class entered mainly by male lamia PCs

Check it out HERE :)

Have all the print issues already been sent out for those of us who have print + pdf subscriptions through KQ.com? If so, how long ago and should they have all arrived already? I'm still waiting on mine, so just checking.

Yes, the print issues were sent out in October and you should definitely have yours if you are a print subscriber.

Get in touch with Shelly if yours has gone missing.

I'll wait until next week for it to arrive. Thanks for the reply.

Finally got to buy this. I've only been able to read the Dispater article so far, which is really cool. I really wanted to read the lamia article right away after that, but...at work.

Not a complaint at all, but folks probably should be aware that there's nudity up in this piece before browsing at work. :)

(and I think this is the first time I've seen a book that had Mark Smylie's art and exposed breasts at the same time while NOT being combined!)

True, lamias have always been depicted as bare-breasted, and this article follows in that tradition. Fair warning.

And yeah, the Dispater article is extremely cool, but then it is by Wes Schneider, the Paizo Editor-in-Chief, so cool is what he *does*.

Finally got to buy this. I've only been able to read the Dispater article so far, which is really cool. I really wanted to read the lamia article right away after that, but...at work.

Not a complaint at all, but folks probably should be aware that there's nudity up in this piece before browsing at work. :)

(and I think this is the first time I've seen a book that had Mark Smylie's art and exposed breasts at the same time while NOT being combined!)

If you feel like putting on your Reviewer's Hat, I'd love to hear what you thought once you've had a chance to read the article :)

I'm not sure when I'll be able to check it out between work(I might actually have to wait until my physical copy comes in maybe next week), but I'll definitely be checking it out and saying something about it as soon as I do! I've been waiting for support for that fantasy race bodytype tailored for PC races since like forever. :D

My FLGS still doesn't have it in yet. I am one sad fish-girl.

Top ranked spot in the Downloads from other Companies for this week...
Two weeks running... ;)

InnsmouthLooker, if the FLGS doesn't have it by now, they aren't carrying KQ. Which is a shame, but you can pick it up here at Paizo.

And yeah, top spot two weeks running ain't bad. :)

They carry it. I bought a few copies off the shelves and then added it to my pull box. If they don't have it in another week, I'll probably cancel it for my pull box and start getting it on here.

They carry it. I bought a few copies off the shelves and then added it to my pull box. If they don't have it in another week, I'll probably cancel it for my pull box and start getting it on here.

You could always consider subscribing so each issue arrives right in your mailbox! :)

The neat thing about subscribing is you get the PDF at least a week earlier than the print versions go out. So you are aware of all the Kobold Press goodness long before most others.

Hurray, a review from Stargazer's World is up, and it also mentions the adventure design contest!

The articles are top notch, well written, entertaining, and shall fuel your imagination no matter which game you fancy. Give Kobold Quarterly a chance!

Nice review!

Last ever issue :(

KQ is dead blog post

Best Kobold Press change their web address then! ;-)

Yeah, it's a sad day - I've had the extreme honor of appearing quite a few times in Kobold Quarterly's pages and, like MANY people, I'm really going to miss the magazine :(

Of course, that does make this final issue something of a collector's item now, so everyone should pick up a copy for your collection!

And, on the bright side, Kobold Press itself is still going strong and there's LOTS of very cool stuff in the pipeline!

On the bright side, I have a complete collection of the magazine now!

Yeah Kobold Press and, especially, the Midgard Campaign are awesome. I wish now that I had picked up the print mags, I have all the PDFs, but oh well

Very sad day, indeed, but I'm glad the magazine has gone out on a high note. I've enjoyed being on the editing team, and I will miss working on the issues. It has been a blast. I recommend to those who've just found the magazine to check out the back issues. There's been some very cool stuff within the mag's pages over the years.

Yep - second from the top download from other publishers this week. In the top two for the last three weeks. And Kobold Press releases appear 4 times in the top ten - 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th. So sad to see KQ go, but Kobold Press surges on!

:(

I was stunned when I got the email, though not necessarily surprised, as I've read over and over how hard it is to run a magazine.

So I'm totally going for KQ credit so I can join another patronage project or two :)

Just an off the wall side note..but would anyone be crazy enough to buy out/take over the mag, to keep it going? I hate to see it go.

It's a tough business, Blackerose. It would take someone with some bucks!

Blackerose, IIRC, the general joking yet sadly true rule for publishing is this:

Q: How do you make a million dollars in the magazine business?

A: Start with two million.

Yep - second from the top download from other publishers this week. In the top two for the last three weeks. And Kobold Press releases appear 4 times in the top ten - 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th. So sad to see KQ go, but Kobold Press surges on!

Well said!

I really wanted to read the lamia article right away after that ...

Dopey anecdote alert ...

There was an awesome full moon last evening - clear night sky, perfectly round full moon that seemed extra big and bright.

I couldn't stop gazing at it. Ever since I wrote this Slithering in Moonlight Lamia article, whenever I see a really cool full moon, I can't help but get transfixed by it, imagining that somewhere there is a group of lamia females engaged in the mysteries of the Revelry ...

Yeah, I'm kind of a geek :)

The first in a series of articles presenting variant racial Gauntlet Witches is up over on the KQ blog:

Full Sleeve Midgard

The human tattooed gauntlet witch today - gearforged, huginn, minotaurs and kobolds next week...

Part II of the variant racial Gauntlet Witch series is live on the KQ blog! This week, gearforged and huginn:

Full Sleeve Midgard, Part II

Part III of Full Sleeve Midgard  (Midgard variant racial options for the gauntlet witch) is live on the KQ blog! This week, the kobold trapgrip gauntlet witch and the minotaur storm-arm:

Full Sleeve Midgard, Part III

Part IV of Full Sleeve Midgard  (Midgard variant racial options for the gauntlet witch is live on the KQ blog! This week, the Dragonkin scaleclaw witch and the ferocious Gnoll half-kote witch:

Full Sleeve Midgard, Part IV

Part V of Full Sleeve Midgard  (Midgard variant racial options for the gauntlet witch) is live on the KQ blog! This week, the Elven Filigreed gauntlet witch and the formidable Dwarf hammerfist witch:

Full Sleeve Midgard, Part V

The racial variants are very cool, cheers.

True, lamias have always been depicted as bare-breasted, and this article follows in that tradition. Fair warning.

For what it's worth, I'm glad that neither the artist nor the editors felt the need for cencorship in that area. Trying to cover up monsters that are traditionally bare-breasted has resulted in some truly hilarious/sad illustrations over the years - I still remember banging my head against a wall when I saw a picture of a gynosphinx in a sports bra.