(edited, corrected)
With regard to the last creature on page 215 (the Zhen Worm) I'm curious as to how worms with no mouths (and thus no teeth) which burrow, and whose mucus which they constantly ooze is 'mildly acidic' but 'not enough to damage flesh instantly' actually manage to hunt anything? Given that they 'sense the approach of prey' and 'sense quarry' the implication certainly seems to be to me that they are predators. Are they particularly fast and zip out of the ground to hurl themselves around and constrict targets? If not how do they incapacitate their meals?
Hmm. Coming back to the Vudran Gharial:
P. 215
Fauna, Vudran Gharial wrote: ...On its own, an individual gharial's jaws are typically incapable of subduing a large animal before it can escape, but the pack structure overcomes this weakness... I have a feeling this could be better phrased, the use of the word 'structure' in particular seeming out of place to me in this sentence as it otherwise currently stands.
Hopefully that's it for the Fauna for now...
On another thread:
James Jacobs wrote: The current spread on psioncis is actually going to go away. Until we know exactly how they work in Pathfinder's new rules, they're not going to be mentioned in Golarion products. Then, when we DO do a psionics book, we'll be able to handle how they work in Golarion with something significant like its own book... It might be an idea then to have a sidebar somewhere - perhaps in the introduction? - clarifying for those readers who are psionics fans 'where the psionics went'.
P. 216
Brinestump Clover mentions a Craft [alchemy] check to use such clover to enhance healing potions. It might be an idea to review that this still does what you want it to do, with the conversion to PFRPG rules.
Does a failed check spoil the potion by the way?
Flora, Flayleaf wrote: ...It has the side effect of weakening the will power of creatures under its influence... 'will power' should be one word, 'willpower'?
Flora, Ironbloom Mushrooms wrote: ...Short and stunted, these small mushrooms are a favorite among dwarves and are rarely found outside of dwarven enclaves... 'and are rarely found' might read better if something like 'but are rarely found'?
Ironbloom Mushrooms wrote: ...Because they are filling and weigh next to nothing, they make great traveling rations..." Are these functionally different in terms of price, weight, and possible availability to regular rations then?
[UK Grammar Crimes Humour] Uhh, and did a sentence really just start with 'Because' there? ;) [/UK Grammar Crimes Humour]
(As an aside is 'ironbloom mushrooms' a tip of the hat to old edition 'iron rations'?)
Flora, Nettleweed wrote: ...that cause horrible itching when they come in contact with flesh... As a very minor quibble, 'come in contact' might read better as 'come into contact' (and give slight variation from the use of 'in contact' in the next paragraph...)
From a PFRPG conversion point of view 'Concentration check' and 'Concentration checks' are mentioned further on in the Nettleweed entry. Unless at the start of a sentence, 'concentration' should begin with a lower case letter in the context of concentration checks under PFRPG rules. It might also be an idea to review that the mentioned checks (and the possible Heal checks to deal with the irritation) are where you want them to be for PFRPG rules?
If you have space in the conversion, it could be useful to give some indication of which creatures are naturally immune to the irritation.
P. 217
The Pesh entry both indicates that addicts to the substance which can be made from the sap exist and gives the effect of this substance on those that take it - but unlike with the Tears of Razmir drug (sidebar, Page 210) no indication is made of how freedom from pesh addiction can be achieved. (And with regard to the process of breaking pesh addiction, can magic assist? Does this apply to the Tears of Razmir too?)
Flora, Thileu Bark wrote: ...They claim it causes a hallucinogenic reaction, but their equally bored Korvosan cousins found that doing so causes only incredible pain, theorizing that enough pain is sure to create hallucinations, and instead they use the spice on their food... The latter part of this sentence, commencing at 'theorizing' seems muddled to me.
Also on the subject of 'Thileu Bark' although the entry is mostly about the bark, isn't the actual plant the 'Thileu Tree' and since this is the Flora entry in the Campaign Setting, shouldn't 'Thileu Tree' be the heading for this plant?
Flora, Wolfberry Bush wrote: ...It has the same statistics as an assassin vine (MM 20), although it cannot move and it never grows larger than Huge... Outdated monster manual reference.
Flora, Flayleaf Spiders (sidebar) wrote: ...Treat a colony of flayleaf spiders as a spider swarm (MM 239).
Their venom deals Constitution damage...
Outdated monster manual reference.
Hmm. With regard to the forthcoming classes in the APHB, both Nettleweed (page 216) and the Zhen Worm (page 215) make reference to alchemists, although the Nettleweed reference is very much by the way of being a throw away remark.
The Zhen Worm entry, however, indicates that there is a useful food preservative substance which alchemists can manufacture from Zhen Worm mucus.
P. 217
Flora, Thileu Bark wrote: ...Mixed with water, the powder can be made into a paste that burns the skin. Although it deals no real damage, the sensation can be excruciatingly painful... Does this have in-game applications, for maybe causing concentration checks if somehow smeared on a character?
PFRPG Conversion checklist
P. 218
Altitude Affinity:
Elemental is a subtype in PFRPG, so under the Normal: part of the feat, elemental should be included with air and incorporeal, rather than with aberrations, constructs, dragons, oozes, outsiders, plants and undead.
Crossbow Mastery:
The Special: section makes reference to a Ranger being able to select Crossbow Mastery in place of Manyshot for his improved combat style at 6th level. Rangers in PFRPG pick combat style feats from a pool of feats, instead of having specific ones at particular levels (although 6th level is one at which the feat pool is expanded). If you do put Crossbow Mastery in the Ranger combat style pool for archery, keep in mind that a PFRPG Ranger might not have even taken Point Blank Shot, Rapid Reload, or Rapid Shot as part of their combat style, and since the combat style ignores prerequisites for feats, you could be giving the Ranger a BIG short-cut here to the Crossbow Mastery feat. (I hope that sort of makes sense.)
NB
This feat is referenced by the Double Crossbow in the Equipment entry of the Campaign Setting, that weapon having a special case interaction with this feat.
Green Faith Acoloyte:
This feat gives +1 caster level to spells which utilize, heal, or enhance normal or magical plants. I have the impression that PFRPG has been trying to dial back on those '+1 caster level' bonuses handed out by domains and feats, so this aspect of the feat might need revision.
Harmonic Spell:
This feat was designed to work with the 3.5 bardic music mechanics. Bardic music has changed in PFRPG. At the very least I would recommend someone at Paizo looks this feat over very carefully, given that if it is left as it is it can be used to extend 1 round's worth of bardic music to last for 5 rounds instead, which makes it a 'must have' in my opinion for a low-level bard.
P. 219
One Finger:
There is no longer a ki strike class ability in PFRPG.
Spirit of the River:
Benefit: wrote: ...That skill is always a class skill for you. Due to the adjustments of the skills system, this could be rewritten to remove the 'always', although given the disappearance of cross-class skills, this aspect of the benefit of the feat maybe needs increasing to give a small bonus to skill-checks with the chosen skill too, as part of its 3.5 usefulness is now redundant.
Veiled Vileness:
As has been discussed elsewhere, this really could do with the addition of a special restriction that it can only be taken at first level, to obviate 'spontaneously beautiful' half-orcs at other levels.
Vermin Companion:
A number of these monsters are either not in the bestiary (such as the giant bee) or have been renamed (such as the giant fire beetle now being just the fire beetle). Given the possible CR adjustments of some of the creatures too, it seems to me that this list might best be deleted and rewritten from scratch by someone consulting a copy of the Bestiary.
Wand Dancer:
With regard to the prequisites, Tumble is now part of Acrobatics, so this should be changed.
As a general note the changes which have taken place in the skills section of the rules between 3.5 and PFRPG mean that perhaps any or all of these feats which have skill ranks prerequisites could do with checking over again, at least on the prerequisites side.
PFRPG Conversion Checklist
Further to my previous post in this [conversion] context on the subject of General Feats:
P. 218
Altitude Affinity:
This feat makes reference to 'the death zone above 26,000 feet', which is not a zone which appears to be represented in the rules regarding Altitude on Page 430 of the PFRPG Core Rulebook.
Bloatmage Initiate:
This feat gives a '+1 caster level' bonus to one school. As I has observed with regard to the Green Faith Acoloyte in my previous post, my impression is that PFRPG seems to have done its best to limit caster level bonuses from domains and feats.
Charles your dedication in this thread continues to win my admiration and I think that James should give you an editorial credit in the new book..
James Jacobs:
What happened to the entry for the Inner Sea itself, by the way? By that I mean the actual body of water between the continents of Avisatan and Garund. I would have thought that between privateers, legitimate national navies, isolated islands which could have almost anything on them, and any aquatic denizens (merfolk? gillmen? aboleths? krakens?) it would have merited at least a couple of pages for an entry.
I can see that the restrictions of page count on the 3.5 Campaign Setting may have squeezed it out, but an entry to describe the activities and various national influences (maybe even to reference the ships sailing on it) on it might be worth thinking about for the revised version of the Campaign Setting.
Charles Evans 25 wrote: James Jacobs:
What happened to the entry for the Inner Sea itself, by the way? By that I mean the actual body of water between the continents of Avisatan and Garund. I would have thought that between privateers, legitimate national navies, isolated islands which could have almost anything on them, and any aquatic denizens (merfolk? gillmen? aboleths? krakens?) it would have merited at least a couple of pages for an entry.
I can see that the restrictions of page count on the 3.5 Campaign Setting may have squeezed it out, but an entry to describe the activities and various national influences (maybe even to reference the ships sailing on it) on it might be worth thinking about for the revised version of the Campaign Setting.
We don't have entries for ANY of the oceans, partially because underwater adventuring and those regions are so inhospitable to the core player races makes them niche regions at best. As a result... the concept of having special entries for the oceans just never occurred to anyone.Having the information about oceans appear as needed in all other regions is the best solution at this time. I'll see if I can't get some more centralized information about them in the revised book, though.
Thanks. Given that the Inner Sea offers opportunities for some national governments officially at peace with detested neighbours to secretly issue letters of marque and take covert shots at one another, plus possible disputed ownership of strategically placed small islands*, there's quite a lot of politics and subterfuge going on on just the surface, I imagine, without going into the question of what's going on on the seabed. (Does Lamashtu have aquatic worshippers? Dagon seems an obvious candidate to have stuff going on down there too. And from a trade-goods point of view, in a fantasy setting any seabed ore bodies can be mined by relatively low-tech means by water-breathers, even if refining needs to be done up on the surface.)
Edit:
*If it's big enough to put a small fort and garrison on close to a major shipping route, that's about all that matters.
It doesn't need to be large enough to farm, or even really show up on the main fold-out Inner Sea Regional map.
P. 220
Languages, Common (Taldane) wrote: ...One of the oldest languages still in use in the Inner Sea region, Taldane is also the most widely spoken. From the Linnorm Kings in the distant north to the necromancers of Geb far to the south, Taldane is known and used to facilitate conversation with disparate people... P. 92
Lands of the the Linnorm Kings wrote: ...Languages: Skald... P. 76
Geb wrote: ...Languages: Osiriani, Kelish... Despite the claim made in the languages section about how widely spoken and popular Common (Taldane) is, it isn't actually mentioned by either of the entries for the countries which are specifically used as examples to try to show how extensive it is.
Common is not on the list of languages for a number of other northern Avistan nations, including The Hold of Belkzen Belkzen, Irrisen, Numeria, Realm of the Mammoth Lords, and The Worldwound. Is the reason for this that these cultures and societies are sufficiently isolationist such that there is little use or interest in using Common in them?
On the other hand, whilst except in a zone down the west coast with (I presume) Chelish influence Common seems to be absent from most Garundi nations in the Campaign Setting, for some reason it does appear to be present in Nex according to that nation's entry. Why is common spoken in Nex, whilst other nations on the Garundi continent much closer to the Inner Sea and Taldor do not usually employ it?
The Brevoy entry (page 66) lists the languages spoken there as being Common, Hallit, Skald, Varisian, and Draconic. I am curious as to just why Skald and Varisian are spoken in Brevoy, given that the nation is cut off by Numeria from the bloc of nations which otherwise use those particular languages in northwest Avistan?
The Nirmathas entry (page 112) lists the languages spoken there as being Common, Varisian, and Hallit. Given that Nirmathas was until relatively recently a part of Molthune (languages Common and Varisian) and that it is isolated by Lake Encarthan to the east and by Lastwall and Ustalav to the north from the rest of the Hallit speaking bloc, I am curious as to just why Hallit is spoken in Nirmathas?
As a reminder, Shoanti and Shadowtongue are languages spoken in nations in Avistan which (due to their limited geographic range?) did not make the lists of languages on pages 220-221. If Paizo are looking to extend language coverage, it might be an idea to mention these in a revised Campaign Setting Languages entry.
As a reminder, there appear to be some uses of 'Osirian' as an adjective, and some examples of 'Osiriani' as an adjective in the Osirion entry on pages 116-119. It might be useful to have consistency of adjective, possibly assuming that the 'Osiriani' form is the correct form based on the language being Osiriani?
Hmm. There was a handy sidebar on page 7 of the season 0 Pathfinder Society guide, but it seems to have vanished from the season 1 guide.
Pathfinder Society Organised play guide, Season 0 wrote: Where are you From?
People from Andoran are known as Andorens, use Andoren
items, and speak Common.
People from Cheliax are known as Chelaxians, use Chelish
items, and speak Common.
People from Osirion are known as Osirians, use Osirian items,
and speak Osiriani.
People from Qadira are known as Qadirans, use Qadiran
items, and speak Kelish.
People from Taldor are known as Taldans, use Taldan items,
and speak Common.
I note that this makes clear the Osirian/Osiriani thing, which is useful. I have a suspicion that space will be too tight to put anything like this in the print version of the revised setting, but is there any chance that it could go in with those pronunciations, please, in the as-of-yet hypothetical web enhancement?
NB
If Paizo do decide to provide at least a basic web enhancement before the revision of the Campaign Setting goes to print, it seems to me it would make sense to include a mention of it in the revised Campaign Setting. Something along the lines of a sidebar saying 'blah blah blah, rampaging Tarrasque, blah, blah, blah, havero, blah, and by the way see the Pathfinder Chronicles area of our website for free downloads which support our setting for additional minutia such as pronunciation guides and adjectives...'
On the topic of languages, back on page 1 of this thread I posted this:
Charles Evans 25 wrote: P. 33Tian wrote: Minkan, the language of the powerful Minkai Empire, borrows only some of its words and half its alphabet from Tien, and therefore sounds unrelated to Tien and the other continental languages. No mention is made of Tian humans speaking Minkan; is this because the inhabitants of the Minkai Empire include very few humans of Tian descent?
I can find no reference to Minkan in the languages section; Nor am certain that Tien has an alphabet, as such, for Minkan to borrow from...
Languages wrote: Tien: Tian generally speak Tien, the official language of fallen Imperial Lung Wa and its many sccessor states. This tonal language contains many thousands of homonyms and its written form utilizes nearly 24,000 pictographs. ... Apologies for the slightly pompous nature of that post and the typos (including misquoting Tien from the languages section by using 'sccessor' instead of 'successor') but Minkan does appear to be missing from pages 220-221. It might (especially if Jade Regent go to Tian Xia at some point bringing the different, distinct, languages spoken on that continent into play) be an idea to give Minkan a brief mention in the languages section.
P. 221 Languages, Orc wrote: ...Despite the long animosity between their races, the native language of the orcs uses the alphabet of Dwarven for its written form - a development many suspect originated from dwarves trying to understand the language of their enemies... The orcs decided to adopt the dwarven alphabet because the dwarves were trying to understand orc??? Ummm... :D
'originated from dwarves' should be 'originated from orcs'?
P. 222 Lost Kingdoms, Ancient Osirion wrote: ...it would take Osirion many centuries to recover from the age of barbarisim that followed... 'barbarisim' should be 'barbarism'?
P. 223
So what is there about the stretch of land in the southwest of what is modern day Rahadoum that the Jistka Imperium apparently didn't want it? I am unable to find any explanation for this in the lost Kingdoms or Rahadoum entries. At least the gap between Edasseril and Bakrakhan in Thassilon can be explained by the elven forces then occupying Celwynvian.
P. 134
The Sodden Lands wrote: ...Languages: Polyglot, Common (Taldane)... 'Common (Taldane)' should be simply 'Common'?
P. 222
Lost Kingdoms, Ghol-Ghan wrote: ...The waterlogged temple of Xanthuun in the Sodden Lands contains the treasures of Ghol-Gan's last patriarch... Was the temple of Xanthuun, which is mentioned in the Ghol-Gan entry as being the place where the last patriarch of had his treasure stashed, actually in Ghol-Ghan?
If so, it raises questions about the maps, since the area indicated on Page 223 to have been occupied by Ghol-Gan has practically NO overlap with the area indicated as being the location of the Sodden Lands on the 'region map' - or at least not unless the Sodden Lands can be assumed to encompass most of the islands from southwest Rahadoum to Mediogalti Island?
(Possibly, the temple of Xanthuun might originally have been in Ghol-Gan, but since have been moved by magic to a different location now in the Sodden Lands; however this seems a somewhat unsatisfactory explanation unless perhaps the astronomers of Lirgen can be assumed to have done it for some reason - but in which case why did they leave the treasure within?)
Charles Evans 25 wrote: P. 223
So what is there about the stretch of land in the southwest of what is modern day Rahadoum that the Jistka Imperium apparently didn't want it? I am unable to find any explanation for this in the lost Kingdoms or Rahadoum entries. At least the gap between Edasseril and Bakrakhan in Thassilon can be explained by the elven forces then occupying Celwynvian.
Jistka doesn't have to match Rahadoum's borders. Their empire covers what it covers likely because that's what they had the resources to control.
James Jacobs wrote: Charles Evans 25 wrote: P. 223
So what is there about the stretch of land in the southwest of what is modern day Rahadoum that the Jistka Imperium apparently didn't want it? I am unable to find any explanation for this in the lost Kingdoms or Rahadoum entries. At least the gap between Edasseril and Bakrakhan in Thassilon can be explained by the elven forces then occupying Celwynvian.
Jistka doesn't have to match Rahadoum's borders. Their empire covers what it covers likely because that's what they had the resources to control. Empires (or regular nations) tend to keep getting bigger, however, simply to get more resources, until or unless someone stops them (or occasionally until a 'something' stops them in the case of a substantial physical obstacle such as an ocean or really unpleasant desert). In the real world European colonists spread right out over Australia, in the US the west was eventually opened up and occupied, etc, etc.
It seems a little odd that Jistka would simply stop at the line of the river where modern day Azir is, (I'm not sure if this is the Jodin or Winding Way, and it may have had a different name back then anyway) unless there was someone on the other side of that river getting in the way of further expansion and the river became a logical frontier.
Edit:
It could have been something as simple as independently minded local tribes whom it was less bother to leave be than fight given the problems Jistka had with the Tekritanin League and then later Ancient Osirion to the east.
P. 222
Lost Kingdoms, Azlant wrote: ...until its prideful leaders came to believe themselves superior to the aboleths who had raised them out of barbarism. In preemptive retaliation for their disloyalty, the aboleths looked to the stars, uniting in a great ritual that brought a great stone tumbling from space... If the leaders of Azlant were already getting prideful, then it seems to me it's not so much a case of preemptive retaliation for disloyalty (as it's already ongoing) as punishment to put them back in their places... Unless there was something much worse that the aboleths thought that the Azlanti might be planning? If not, and the pride is what was bothering the aboleths, maybe 'In preemptive retaliation for their disloyalty' could be something like 'As punishment for their hubris' instead?
As a very minor style quibble, at the end of the section I quote there's repetition of 'great' with 'great ritual' and 'great stone'.
P. 223
It seems to me that the map presents certain problems, given that whilst the extent of Ancient Osirion indicated might be accurate for the time when the Jistka Imperium and the Tekritanin League existed, clearly at a later point in time the boundaries of Ancient Osirion were much greater, engulfing both those other ancient realms.
I realise with space at a premium using a series of maps to indicate how boundaries changed with time is almost certainly out of the question, but would it be possible to maybe use a key and different colours on the boundaries to perhaps indicate the extent of different empires at different time periods?
And should the Tekritanin League be marked as 'Tekritanin League' on the map instead of as just 'Tekritan'?
Charles Evans 25 wrote: P. 222
Lost Kingdoms, Ghol-Ghan wrote: ...The waterlogged temple of Xanthuun in the Sodden Lands contains the treasures of Ghol-Gan's last patriarch... Was the temple of Xanthuun, which is mentioned in the Ghol-Gan entry as being the place where the last patriarch of had his treasure stashed, actually in Ghol-Ghan?
If so, it raises questions about the maps, since the area indicated on Page 223 to have been occupied by Ghol-Gan has practically NO overlap with the area indicated as being the location of the Sodden Lands on the 'region map' - or at least not unless the Sodden Lands can be assumed to encompass most of the islands from southwest Rahadoum to Mediogalti Island?
(Possibly, the temple of Xanthuun might originally have been in Ghol-Gan, but since have been moved by magic to a different location now in the Sodden Lands; however this seems a somewhat unsatisfactory explanation unless perhaps the astronomers of Lirgen can be assumed to have done it for some reason - but in which case why did they leave the treasure within?)
Update:
Upon looking further at the map on page 223, apparently two different areas are labeled Ghol-Gan, the one out in the modern day Arcadian Ocean which encompasses Mediogalti, and the other on the Garundi mainland, which does have some obvious overlap with the modern day Sodden Lands.
The fact that two different areas are separately indicated to be Ghol-Gan on the map is to some extent confusing though. Was one of them named 'Ghol-Gan' in error, were they an 'East Ghol-Gan' and a 'West Ghol-Gan', or were they actually both part of the same kingdom?
Edit:
Apologies for having missed the other Ghol-Gan before making the quoted previous post on this subject, but I wasn't expecting there to be two of them, and was having trouble seeing how the first one (which was the only one I had noticed at that point) could overlap with the Sodden Lands.
Hey Charles, I bet you already saw it, but I thought I'd point out to you the promotion going on at the wiki right now. Since you're scouring the CS for details, you might as well try to get a few chances to win free stuff from Paizo.
P. 220
Languages, Common (Taldane) wrote: ...Written Taldane uses an alphabet of 26 letters, 17 of which come directly from Jistka, which in turn adopted them from Ancient Azlanti... As far as I can determine the dead language of Azlant (also mentioned on page 220) is 'Azlanti', not 'Ancient Azlanti'.
(Since 'Ancient' begins with a capital letter in the Common (Taldane) entry, I assume that the intention is to indicate a language called 'Ancient Azlanti', and not to indicate a language called 'Azlanti' which also happens to be 'ancient'.)
Languages, Varisian wrote: ...Varisian is rife with subtle double meanings, innuendo, and very slight gradations of meaning... Very minor style quibble:
Aside from the fact that to a layman this may as well be saying the same thing three times over, there's the build up of 'subtle double meanings' proceeding to 'innuendo', and finally, just when it looks as if something awesome is about to come to finish the sentence it fizzles out with 'very slight gradations' - the problem being that 'very slight'. :D
Languages, Auran wrote: ...Auran is a breathy, gentle-sounding language that sounds best without the use of vocal cords... I have difficulty making any sense of this. As far as I can determine telepathic communication does not involve language, and if telepathic communication is ruled out, how else does a 'breathy, gentle-sounding' language operate which apparently sounds best without the use of vocal cords? Does it involve speakers making swooshing noises against their teeth, and if so how do organisms lacking teeth (such as air elementals) manage?
P. 221
Languages, Giant wrote: ...Original Giant (perhaps the tongue of the ancient cyclopes is lost to time... There appears to be a '(' here missing a counterpart ')'.
I'd just like to add that I like the way that Infernal has been concepted, as a language which deliberately punishes the ignorant or sloppy. I suspect devils find it quite useful for diddling people with contracts. :)
And I had to check what 'code switching' is (with regard to Gnome) but fair enough, that's educational... ;)
Wiki Monster wrote: Hey Charles, I bet you already saw it, but I thought I'd point out to you the promotion going on at the wiki right now. Since you're scouring the CS for details, you might as well try to get a few chances to win free stuff from Paizo. I've seen it. However with the blue touch paper finally burning on the revision of the Campaign Setting right now, if I'm posting about the Campaign Setting at all, I feel very guilty if I'm not posting about it on this thread.
Maybe once this thread is finally complete...
:-?
P. 224
Harrower wrote: ...is based off six ancient Varisian philosophies, which the Varisians correspond to six of the towers of Desna's palace (the seventh tower represents the unknown future - a subject of endless fascination to a harrower)... The Great Beyond indicates that Desna has a small flying castle in Elysium (page 36), not a palace. However, I suppose that the Varisians could be talking metaphorically (or even outright mythically) when they refer to Desna having a palace.
There is a reference to the towers of Desna's Palace in the information regarding Sandpoint Cathedral in the Rise of the Runelords path, too.
With regard to the harrower class generally, from the point of view of revising it, you now have seen it in play for a year or so, and should have some idea of how it plays. I will say that looking of the mathematics of it, it seems a useful prestige class for a 'blaster' to pick up given that four of the six towers for a harrow casting enhancing aspects of the spell likely to prove useful (CL against SR, save DC, damage, and CL for the spell right across the board). You may like to look at how the harrower (as currently written) stacks up against the current Evocation school powers. I have a nasty suspicion that at present a specialist evoker would be best switching into the harrower prestige class as soon as possible. The reward is minimal in the short term, but an evoker doesn't lose much by switching and it should pay off in the long run...
With regard to the chart on page 225, I am confused as to why NE is listed as both an Opposite and Partial Match for NG, and why NG is listed as both an Opposite and Partial Match for NE? Was that a mistake?
P. 222
Yamasa wrote: ...with many of its people retreating to the interior or falling into foul practices in the rain-drenched ruins of their former glory... Comment:
Would this read better with 'amidst the rain-drenched ruins' instead of 'in the rain-drenched ruins'?
P. 225
Harrower, Blessing of the Harrow wrote: ...The suits grant morale bonuses as follows. Strength: +1 on attack rolls; Dexterity: +1 to AC; Constitution: +1 on weapon damage rolls; Intelligence: +1 on all skills; Wisdom: +1 on all saving throws; Charisma: +1 on caster level checks. All of these bonuses are insight bonuses... The section I quote opens by saying all the bonuses are morale bonuses, and closes by saying that they are insight bonuses. So which is it - morale or insight?
A post by Set from the *product discussion thread for the revision* (one misquoted spelling error he made corrected, and formatting tweaked for consistency of error highlighting):
Set wrote: Just noticed that this was likely to see a reprint, updating it to Pathfinder and stuff.
While I'm sure y'all have a spellchecker, I've noticed a few that snuck through in the last couple of days, and, unlike what I normally do and forget them before I even get to the next page, I wrote them down;
p 172 - Entry for Baalzebul, 'throuh the buzzing of flies'
p 214 - Entry for Aurochs, 'form the relatively small herds' (the 'the' doesn't flow with the rest of the sentence)
p 115 - Entry for Castle Urion - 'Iomadae' should be Iomedae
p 231 - Mantis Form - not a typo, just something unclear, is the quickened fear usable only in Mantis Form? The sentence feels out of place, as if it was part of another entry that got dropped into this entry.
Ironically, I quoted the Castle Urion part of the Numeria entry in a post on the subject of Numeria earlier on in this thread, but corrected the spelling of Iomedae, without commenting on it...
Not sure how I missed the Baalzebul 'throuh' one. That one seems so obvious.
P. 226
Low Templar wrote: ...They represent those who took the Crusader's Oath to shatter the powers of the Worldwound and eradicate its taint from the world..." In what sense does the Worldwound have powers which can be 'shattered'? If the intention is to use the word 'powers' in the archaic sense of armies and great leaders, unfortunately this (plural) does not agree with 'eradicate its taint' from the world (singular). An apparent desire to be poetic here seems to have produced a muddled sentence.
Low Templar wrote: ...but when faced with the raw destruction of a demon host, sometimes the decision to support of the lesser of two evils is the only real choice that can be made... 'to support of' should be 'to accept the support of'?
Low Templar, Favored Enemy wrote: ...This ability is identical to the ranger class ability of the same name, applies only to chaotic outsiders or a specific humanoid subtype, and stacks with... Could this be rephrased please? I'm unclear if the PC picks one out of chaotic outsiders and a specific humanoid subtype to get the bonus against or if the favored enemy bonus applies against both chaotic outsiders and a specific humanoid subtype.
Flag of Convenience (Ex):
This makes reference to Knowledge (nobility & royalty) which is now just Knowledge (nobility).
P. 227
Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (Ex):
This makes reference to Hide which is now a part of Stealth.
Live to Fight Another Day (Ex):
This makes reference to Hide which is now a part of Stealth.
P. 230
Red Mantis, Class Features, Spells wrote: ...When she gets 0 spells of a given level, he gains only bonus spells... 'he' should be 'she'?
Also, PFRPG has eliminated 0 spells per day casting progressions thus far, as far as I know.
Red Mantis, Class Features, Red Shroud wrote: ...and grants a +1 dodge bonus to AC and fast healing equal to his Constitution bonus... 'his' should be 'her'?
Red mantis, Red Mantis Assassin Spells Known (sidebar) wrote: ...Provided the Red Mantis assassin has sufficient Intelligence to have a bonus spell of this level... 'Intelligence' should be 'Charisma'? (This sentence may go away though anyway, if the 0 spells per day is eliminated.)
For what it's worth I'm curious as to why a decision was apparently taken to capitalise 'Red' and 'Mantis' but not 'assassin'? This appears to be consistent throughout the entry, so I assume it is deliberate...
Charles Evans 25 wrote: For what it's worth I'm curious as to why a decision was apparently taken to capitalise 'Red' and 'Mantis' but not 'assassin'? This appears to be consistent throughout the entry, so I assume it is deliberate... Because "Red Mantis" is a name of a group, while "assassin" is a job.
James Jacobs wrote: Charles Evans 25 wrote: For what it's worth I'm curious as to why a decision was apparently taken to capitalise 'Red' and 'Mantis' but not 'assassin'? This appears to be consistent throughout the entry, so I assume it is deliberate... Because "Red Mantis" is a name of a group, while "assassin" is a job. Ah-ha! Excellent point. :)
I've been looking at the Shackles Pirate, and it feels to me like it should have been more a big bad fighter type than trying to be a rogue.
I'm aware that elsewhere it has been said it's being completely axed from the revised Campaign Setting, but if it does come back at some future point, I might go for something along the lines of fighter BAB and HD, Good Fort and Reflex saves, decent (4 or 6) skill points, no or minimal sneak damage and make a play of mystical connections to fog/mist/rain. Maybe a create mist ability usable limited times per day, and limited range blind sense which improves in mist or rain conditions? A guy who can fire a crossbow in your approximate direction from fifty feet away, through driving rain, even though he can't see you, because he just *knows* that you're there.
Possibly tie some or all the 'mystical' stuff to proximity to the Eye of Abendego.
Anyway, those are the thoughts I've had thus far on the Shackles Pirate.
Psionics:
I am aware that it has been said elsewhere that psionics will likely go. The half-elf entry on pages 12-13 makes quite a bit of psionics, giving the interaction between half-elves and psionics at least half a paragraph, and including a sidebar on crystals.
I'm not sure if the half-elf entry will require rewriting, or if it could be left as it is and the crystals sidebar replaced with an explanation on what Paizo's position is with regard to psionics.
(For what this post is worth)
P. 234
The Nature of Psionics wrote: ...Many use meditative exercises, physical discipline, or the contemplation of perfect forms (crystals are a popular focus for such efforts) to properly frame and orient their perspective and psyche... Posting with my geological hard-hat on here, 'perfect' crystals do not occur, or at least not naturally. They have flaws. They have irregularites. They have impurities. Even without any geological background anyone who spends any time staring at a naturally formed crystal is going to start to notice things about it that are less than uniform.
Hmm. I suppose perfect crystals (since it's a magical world) for contemplation purposes might be manufactured in a laboratory, however.
Psionics in the World wrote: ...the crystal-eating inesctoid folugubs... 'inesctoid' should be 'insectoid'? (Then again, given that they're weird things from Castrovel, maybe 'inesctoid' is exactly what you meant to say... :D)
P. 235
Psionics in the World wrote: ...Concentrated study and focus enabled some penitents to awaken the powers of the mind in radical ways... Given the definition of 'penitent' it seems to be that what is being conveyed here is that studying the Stone Egg and learning psionics thereby was a punishment for wrong-doing.
Should 'penitent' have been a different word?
Psionics in the World wrote: ...In Vudra they are as much a part of lilfe... 'lilfe' should be 'life'?
Psionics in the World wrote: ...There is another realm to the Inner Sea region wherein psionics are common - yet ironically while this realm is far closer than Castrovel or Vudra, it is a realm of which even less is known - the Darklands. Is 'to the Inner Sea region' actually necessary here?
As a general comment with regard to the psionics entry, there are several places where confusion is created because the word psionics is used to describe both the mental art and the practitioner of that art. This is akin to creating a position where saying 'sciences study sciences', is the form instead of 'scientists study sciences'. Haven't there been specialised terms around before now in RPGs to describe those who practice psionics, and if so wouldn't it make sense to use one of those here (unless they're all trademarked or something like that???)?
Hurrah! Psionics entry down, and the end is coming into sight... :)
P. 235
Hmmph. Something I missed.
Psionics in the World wrote: ...Likewise, it would seem that the mysterious ichthyic masters have largely abandoned their psionic skills as well, in favor of glyph-based magic, although verifying these assumptions is difficult at best due to their isolated nature... 'isolated' should be something like 'solitary' or 'reclusive'?
Okay, onwards!
P. 236
Technology wrote: ...new magics, mechanical practices, arcane theories, and alchemical procedures become increasingly more common and more accessible to clever minds with each passing day... 'increasingly more'??? It seems to me that this sentence might read better without the 'more' in front of 'common' and the 'more' in front of 'accessible'.
Technology wrote: ...The first Spark of Tomorrow is already lit, and a time approaches when the confluences of trade and learning, need and chance, might bring about the technologies of the next Age... This reads to me like gobbledegook. I have no idea what the 'Spark of Tomorrow' is. I've tried googling it with little success, so if it is an americanism it's a little known one. I can only assume (given the capital letters) that it is in fact an item (artifact?), possibly associated with some deity such as Brigh? Or is it a Golarion equivalent of a doomsday clock, whereby the closeness to the next catastrophe that finishes an age is measured/tracked?
I certainly don't recall coming across it in any Paizo source before now.
Clockworks wrote: ...even those without command over arcane magics can contribute to the creation of clockworks, allowing this burgeoning technology to advance at an increasing rate... Quibble:
'burgeoning', 'advance', and 'increasing' all within seven words seems to me to be a little excessive.
*Alkenstar Watch*
Alkenstar is mentioned in the technology entry, in the clockworks section, on page 236. This one may be useful for trying to guesstimate how long Alkenstar has been serious about developing technology:
Clockworks wrote: ...Rumors circulating among the arcane and mundane developers of clockwork mechanisms whisper of engineers in the magic-dead city-state of Alkenstar who experiment with steam as a potential energy source, but most arcanists laugh off the notion as yet another bizarre development from that "backward" place... The firearms entry on page 237 later on touches on Alkenstar, but details how black powder arrived at the court of Nex in Garund first, and how Avistani were the first to experiment with using it for weapons before abandoning the experiments as too unreliable and tricky to use.
No reference is made to how or when the people of Alkenstar resumed use of black powder weapons, although great details are gone into about barrel diameter and nicknames for bullets of varying diameters.
Worldbreaker and the Silverback King of Usaro are mentioned, though without dates.
And that brings to my attention an earlier possible error I missed:
P. 201
Timeline wrote: ...571 Vudrani traders introduce gunpowder to the Inner Sea region... Since the material has not been used to make weapons in 571 AR, let alone guns, is it accurate to refer to it as 'gunpowder' at that point on the timeline?
I'm fairly certain that this has already been commented on and responded to elsewhere, but as a reminder the image of the holy symbol of Sarenrae on page 167 extends up to obscure the initial part of the word 'Religion' at the top of the page.
The Guide to Absalom (page 12) didn't really indicate anything special about the Kortos Mounts other than the fact that they are infested with centaurs, minotaurs, harpies, and dragons.
The Campaign Setting on the other hand on Page 240 says:
Trade, The North Tack wrote: ...The Isle of Kortos itself exports rare metals and gems from the central mountains that loom tall and jagged above city's skyline and imports large quantities of foodstuffs and weapons to feed and power its massive defensive military... Did the Guide to Absalom (due to page count?) omit referring to those metals and gems?
Also, on a more practical note, 'above city's skyline' should be 'above the city's skyline'?
Cheliax:
More information about Cheliax has come up in products since the release of the Campaign Setting which could be incorporated into a revised Cheliax entry.
Somewhere close to the top of the list of things for inclusion might be that the core of the laws of Cheliax are based on Asmodeus' holy text, (as according to both the Cheliax Companion and information in the Council of Thieves adventure path) which I feel gives some indication of just how interlinked (at least superficially) state and church are.
On a separate note, I am curious as to what the dynamic between the crown of Cheliax and Hell is? The entry on Asmodeus in Pathfinder #29 makes it quite clear that Asmodeus is a misogynist, yet the ruler of Cheliax who invited the legions of hell into Cheliax in the first place was a woman, and another with her name now rules. Does it give the church of Asmodeus a sense of superiority with regard to the crown and its agents when they operate in Cheliax, or are the clergy prepared to perhaps (however grudgingly) afford female Thrune rulers perhaps 'honorary man' status if they are sufficiently ruthless?
Charles Evans 25 wrote:
Technology wrote: ...The first Spark of Tomorrow is already lit, and a time approaches when the confluences of trade and learning, need and chance, might bring about the technologies of the next Age... This reads to me like gobbledegook. I have no idea what the 'Spark of Tomorrow' is. I've tried googling it with little success, so if it is an americanism it's a little known one. I can only assume (given the capital letters) that it is in fact an item (artifact?), possibly associated with some deity such as Brigh? Or is it a Golarion equivalent of a doomsday clock, whereby the closeness to the next catastrophe that finishes an age is measured/tracked?
I certainly don't recall coming across it in any Paizo source before now.
This is clearly a reference to Optimus Prime's presence in Golarion. Please continue your impressive work.
Charles Evans 25 wrote: On a separate note, I am curious as to what the dynamic between the crown of Cheliax and Hell is? The entry on Asmodeus in Pathfinder #29 makes it quite clear that Asmodeus is a misogynist, yet the ruler of Cheliax who invited the legions of hell into Cheliax in the first place was a woman, and another with her name now rules. Does it give the church of Asmodeus a sense of superiority with regard to the crown and its agents when they operate in Cheliax, or are the clergy prepared to perhaps (however grudgingly) afford female Thrune rulers perhaps 'honorary man' status if they are sufficiently ruthless?
There is a lot of friction between the House of Thrune and the Church of Asmodeus.
The Church, of course, worship a mysoginistic devil.
Thrune, on the other hand, is led by a woman who's familiy believes that devils are nothing more than tools.
It's a complex relationship, and one that is easy to misrepresent by saying "All of Cheliax worships devils." A proper Thrune member would bristle at the suggestion that he or she worships devils. And while they allow the church of Asmodeus to operate as the nation's official religion, Thrune sees this as yet another tool on their belt to keep the populace in line through fear and threat. They don't worship devils, but they openly admit that devils and Hell have a good plan for running an organization, be that organization a nation or an afterlife. That Thrune based the nation's new laws on the teachings of the Asmodean church isn't something that a Thrune agent would cite as proof of their worship as much as it would be them admitting that the Asmodean texts work well as a baseline... but that they've improved that baseline with their own additions.
The Church, on the other hand, likely sees the House of Thrune as an annoying but necessary evil; they let the church operate openly and with a lot of power, after all. But when it comes down to it, Thrune is the power in charge and they have to follow the Queen's orders when they come down from on high.
As for Asmodeus... I'm sure all of this, including letting Cheliax be ruled by a woman, is part of his incredibly complex plans...
James Jacobs wrote: There is a lot of friction between the House of Thrune and the Church of Asmodeus.
The Church, of course, worship a mysoginistic devil.
Thrune, on the other hand, is led by a woman who's familiy believes that devils are nothing more than tools.
It's a complex relationship, and one that is easy to misrepresent by saying "All of Cheliax worships devils." A proper Thrune member would bristle at the suggestion that he or she worships devils. And while they allow the church of Asmodeus to operate as the nation's official religion, Thrune sees this as yet another tool on their belt to keep the populace in line through fear and threat. They don't worship devils, but they openly admit that devils and Hell have a good plan for running an organization, be that organization a nation or an afterlife. That Thrune based the nation's new laws on the teachings of the Asmodean church isn't something that a Thrune agent would cite as proof of their worship as much as it would be them admitting that the Asmodean texts work well as a baseline... but that they've improved that baseline with their own additions.
The Church, on the other hand, likely sees the House of Thrune as an annoying but necessary evil; they let the church operate openly and with a lot of power, after all. But when it comes down to it, Thrune is the power in charge and they have to follow the Queen's orders when they come down from on high.
As for Asmodeus... I'm sure all of this, including letting Cheliax be ruled by a woman, is part of his incredibly complex plans
...
(edited, tidied up)
I'm not sure if Thrune knew about exactly what was going on with the academy in 'Hell's Pawns', but Dave Gross did give the impression in his fiction that there was definitely friction between House Thrune and the Churhc of Asmodeus at times.
Given the rigid hierarchy of his church and infernal realm, how much is Asmodeus personally responsible for anything his clerics and devils get up to, and how much does he allow them to operate independently and use their own initiative? I imagine that there would be at least some situations where he might find it useful not to look too closely at what underlings are doing, on the basis that it gives him plausible deniability as to his own involvement in whatever 'overly-zealous' minions may have been doing to please him if a scheme misfires in a potentially embarrassing fashion?
P. 240
Trade, The North Tack wrote: ...Taldor relies heavily on the rest of the Inner Sea for the finer accoutrement of everyday life... 'accoutrement' should be 'accoutrements'?
Ack, wrong time of day to go back and edit in an addition to the previous post.
P. 240
Trade wrote: ...Golarion's most powerful trading nations launch thousands of merchant fleets every week into the salty, wind-tossed waters... The part about 'thousands of merchant fleets' being launched every week seems to me to present problems. How long does it take a shipyard to build a ship? How much timber or other raw materials does it require? How many man hours does it take? How many ships are in a fleet? What's the average working lifespan of a ship? What about crew for all these thousands upon thousands of ships? Just how is there any space in the sea with all these thousands and thousands of ships trying to get in and out of a handful of major trading ports?
Even assuming that the 'launch' is not intended to literally mean construct and set afloat, but just to indicate that those sort of numbers set out on voyages every week, some of the later concerns I outline about crewing these vast numbers of ships (thousands of fleets after all, and there will be at least half a dozen ships in each fleet I figure) and the implicit congestion around major ports seem distinctly problematic to me. :-?
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