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Mornin'. I was wondering if you could give me a little behind-the-curtain insight into why staves are priced the way they are. I've wondered this for a long time, but thought it was too arrogant to flat-out ask.
Specifically, most items have a formula that determines their price, and you more-or-less divide in half to get cost. Staves, however, have a formula that determines cost and you multiply by 2 to get price. I know this method has been around since 3.X days, so I was wondering if there was any reason behind it being different, or if was a "legacy typo" or something that just sort of stuck? I understand if you can't answer this since it's a legacy formula you may not have had a hand in, but thank you all the same!
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So uh for Silverdisk Hall event in Iron Gods... Well, I'm having problem with coming up mechanics for gambling games, especially since I don't know how to represent the rigged odds :'D
We did some gambling game stuff in the first Second Darkness, so you can check there if you want.
OR you can simply run it as a series of opposed checks. If the PCs gamble, then have them do Profession (gambler) or Sense Motive checks opposed by the house's Profession (gambler) or Sense Motive checks, with the winner of the check being the winner of the bet for that round. Feel free to sub in Bluff for one if someone's cheating.
To simulate the odds being rigged for the house, let the house roll its checks twice and pick the better one.
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Mornin'. I was wondering if you could give me a little behind-the-curtain insight into why staves are priced the way they are. I've wondered this for a long time, but thought it was too arrogant to flat-out ask.
Specifically, most items have a formula that determines their price, and you more-or-less divide in half to get cost. Staves, however, have a formula that determines cost and you multiply by 2 to get price. I know this method has been around since 3.X days, so I was wondering if there was any reason behind it being different, or if was a "legacy typo" or something that just sort of stuck? I understand if you can't answer this since it's a legacy formula you may not have had a hand in, but thank you all the same!
Staff pricing is among the most complicated in the game, because on one hand they're charged items that can run out of energy and be useless, but they can also be recharged, so they can be used often. They also grant access to spells beyond what you might be able to cast, and expand your spellcasting options, both of which are huge boosts for spellcasting characters. The fact that they more or less have to have multiple spells available (otherwise they're just fat wands) means that they get even more expensive.
It's not a legacy typo. It's just that staves are really really useful, and since we quantify and throttle magic items in the game via their gp value... they cost a lot.
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Just found out you're running some Iron Gods tonight as part of the stream! Exciting! Is this a one-shot? Or is this something that will be ongoing?It's a one-shot.
That's what I figured. Always good to see that AP get some love! Thanks for giving us space robots shooting laser beams at technowizards, James! :D
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Is it the first book, or are you guys further in than that?
We haven't started it yet. It's a one-shot, 2 hour game that will start in-situ with brand new characters made for the session that will not have anything before and after. The game is not one that we've been playing, nor is it one that we will continue playing after. It exists only for the 2 hours the stream is going.
So what movies have you seen in the last couple of weeks?
are outsiders that have weapons, Babau bearded devil etc. born/created with those weapons or do they have to find the weapons?
How did you like Assassin's Creed? It seems such a weird premise for a video game... that I can't imagine it working for a film...
I've beaten the first two and plan on starting the 3rd soon and really tempted to check this thing out.
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Question I got after reading the new Healer's Handbook: The new bardic masterpiece, Symphony of Sylandurla's Ascent, is described as an "elaborate arrangement for traditional elven instruments," and the Perform skills used to play it are Percussion and Wind. It's easy for me to imagine traditional wind instruments for elves, it seems like whenever elves are depicted playing music it's either on harps or flutes. But what kinds of percussion instruments are traditional to the elves? I've always imagined percussion instruments like drums as the purview of less dainty types like dwarves, orcs and tribal human societies. Traditional ELVEN percussion instruments sound cool and interesting!
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Can a druid follow the Green Faith and a nature-oriented deity at the same time, like Gozreh or Erastil? Or is the Green Faith pretty much "If you follow this philosophy as a druid, you leave all gods at the door?"
Nah, not really. Not without being legitimately into the Green Faith. You can certainly acknowledge that there are nature deities, but they're not your thing. But neither are they things you crusade against as being heathens.
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How did you like Assassin's Creed? It seems such a weird premise for a video game... that I can't imagine it working for a film...
I've beaten the first two and plan on starting the 3rd soon and really tempted to check this thing out.
It was unexpectedly boring. Not good. I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of it and remember thinking that I wasn't that worried about missing anything.
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Question I got after reading the new Healer's Handbook: The new bardic masterpiece, Symphony of Sylandurla's Ascent, is described as an "elaborate arrangement for traditional elven instruments," and the Perform skills used to play it are Percussion and Wind. It's easy for me to imagine traditional wind instruments for elves, it seems like whenever elves are depicted playing music it's either on harps or flutes. But what kinds of percussion instruments are traditional to the elves? I've always imagined percussion instruments like drums as the purview of less dainty types like dwarves, orcs and tribal human societies. Traditional ELVEN percussion instruments sound cool and interesting!
None come to mind.
Have you tried playing a Demon Hunter yet? I know you're big on your huntress, but you might consider just playing the origin series... especially if you ever did the Black Temple raid in Burning Crusade.
Generally adventure maps are one square for five feet. For big places, they're often one square for ten feet. For titanic places or giant built ruins and so on people often use one square for twenty feet. I don't think I've ever seen a map where one square is fifteen feet (and they're certainly rarer than either 1:10 or 1:20).
Is that just because we like to think in round numbers? Or is there some arcane game-designer reason for avoiding mapping at a one square for fifteen feet scale?
If an evil 'mirror universe' doppelganger showed up and tried to impersonate you, what would you do/say to convince your friends, loved ones, and co-workers which is the real you and which is the fake?
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If an evil 'mirror universe' doppelganger showed up and tried to impersonate you, what would you do/say to convince your friends, loved ones, and co-workers which is the real you and which is the fake?Or would you two play a game together?
Or would the mirror universe version of you be the good one?
1)So what did you think of those movies you saw?
2)Have you ever played any of the Dragon Quest video games?
3)Are there any NES games you wish they did sequels to and/or would bring back now?
4)What is your favorite Don Bluth animated film?
5)Do you have a favorite Dreamworks animated film?
6)Have you seen Kubo and the Two Strings? If so what did you think?
7)Have you played any of these NES/SNES/Sega Genesis games: Battle of Olympus, Chrono Trigger, Crystalis, Earthbound, Arc Raiser 1 or 2, Secret of Mana, Blaster Master, Valis 1 or 3, El Viento, Dragon Spirit, and/or Alisia Dragoon?
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Have you tried playing a Demon Hunter yet? I know you're big on your huntress, but you might consider just playing the origin series... especially if you ever did the Black Temple raid in Burning Crusade.
I have not tried a demon hunter yet, and in fact haven't played WoW for months. Just cancelled my subscription, which will remain active till March I think... I just can't seem to find a group of folks in a guild who are active and fun to hang out with, which makes my interest in the game plummet.
Assuming it doesn't already exist and I'm just oblivious, has Paizo ever considered developing their own (in-house or contracting out) character sheet application? Given the popularity of Hero Labs here on the forums, it would seem like that would be worth the time and effort since it would be a marketable product and it would allow for a greater spread of Pathfinder popularity through increased ease of access to those not currently familiar with all of the intricacies of the system.
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does this still hold up now a days people are saying theres some nerf to the ability via an faq wich would heavily impact peoples saves especially in areas were they get cha to a save instead of one of the normal stats and have little choise in the matter but still want to play a paladin/anti paladin.Divine grace grants an untyped bonus to all saving throws equal to the paladin's Charisma modifier—in this case, the ability specifically calls this bonus a bonus, and by leaving it untyped, the bonus from divine grace stacks with everything. It does not replace existing modifiers to saving throws gained from stats.
A paladin/oracle with that combination would indeed replace his Dex modifier with his Cha modifier for Reflex saves, and then when he gains divine grace, adds a bonus equal to his Cha modifier to all his saves.
It's not technically adding the ability score modifier twice, in any case.
Ask your GM.
I generally don't really have much interest in taking part in online arguments about rules; it's a zero-sum no-win situation for me to become involved in arguments where both sides usually seem to have their answers and it's less about getting confirmation as it is about making everyone comply with their preference
I stand by my original post; that's still how I run things in my game and how I handle them in printed products.
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Generally adventure maps are one square for five feet. For big places, they're often one square for ten feet. For titanic places or giant built ruins and so on people often use one square for twenty feet. I don't think I've ever seen a map where one square is fifteen feet (and they're certainly rarer than either 1:10 or 1:20).
Is that just because we like to think in round numbers? Or is there some arcane game-designer reason for avoiding mapping at a one square for fifteen feet scale?
The game itself is built on the assumption that the bulk of the action takes place in five-foot-squares; that's the space for all the core races and the underlying assumption for combat. As such, we try to ALWAYS do maps with five-foot squares. Sometimes, due to the size of the region and the constraints of a page of text's size, we have to up that to 10 feet or more per square. As a general rule, we'll use the smallest one we can that makes sense for the map. Usually, by the time we're forced to above 10 feet per square, it's because an area is REALLY big, and in such cases, even going to 15 feet per square won't work, but if it makes sense, we'll do it, and I'm sure we have now and then. And a quick check of the last Giantslayer adventure confirms it.
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If an evil 'mirror universe' doppelganger showed up and tried to impersonate you, what would you do/say to convince your friends, loved ones, and co-workers which is the real you and which is the fake?
He'd act as closely as possible to the way I normally act, obviously, since that's the point of being a doppelganger.
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If an evil 'mirror universe' doppelganger showed up and tried to impersonate you, what would you do/say to convince your friends, loved ones, and co-workers which is the real you and which is the fake?Or would you two play a game together?
No. I find other people to be far more interesting than myself.
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1)So what did you think of those movies you saw?
2)Have you ever played any of the Dragon Quest video games?
3)Are there any NES games you wish they did sequels to and/or would bring back now?
4)What is your favorite Don Bluth animated film?
5)Do you have a favorite Dreamworks animated film?
6)Have you seen Kubo and the Two Strings? If so what did you think?
7)Have you played any of these NES/SNES/Sega Genesis games: Battle of Olympus, Chrono Trigger, Crystalis, Earthbound, Arc Raiser 1 or 2, Secret of Mana, Blaster Master, Valis 1 or 3, El Viento, Dragon Spirit, and/or Alisia Dragoon?
1) Rogue One: This is now my favorite Star Wars movie, no contest.
In a Valley of Violence: Amusing, but my least favorite Ti West movie, no contest.Assassin's Creed: Boring and lame.
Spectral: Entertaining to watch but kind of empty of character and in the end a bit unsatisfying.
The Finest Hours: Enjoyable, if a bit overly cloying and obnoxiously feelings clogged.
Bob Ross: Super relaxing and inspiring! Great to watch when you're feeling sick and just want to relax.
2) No.
3) No.
4) I had to look Don Bluth up online to figure out who he was. I guess "The Secret of NIMH."
5) No.
6) No. I still don't watch a lot of animated films.
7) No. I've never owned a Nintendo, with the exception of a Wii that I bought and used for about 3 hours to play some of Castlevania II after downloading it, and then never used the console again. I have pretty much zero nostalgia for Nintendo games, and as a general rule am not all that interested in their games, despite several attempts to get into them. They're just not for me.
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Assuming it doesn't already exist and I'm just oblivious, has Paizo ever considered developing their own (in-house or contracting out) character sheet application? Given the popularity of Hero Labs here on the forums, it would seem like that would be worth the time and effort since it would be a marketable product and it would allow for a greater spread of Pathfinder popularity through increased ease of access to those not currently familiar with all of the intricacies of the system.
We haven't. I can't really say why not—that arena isn't my department, after all.
Assuming it doesn't already exist and I'm just oblivious, has Paizo ever considered developing their own (in-house or contracting out) character sheet application? Given the popularity of Hero Labs here on the forums, it would seem like that would be worth the time and effort since it would be a marketable product and it would allow for a greater spread of Pathfinder popularity through increased ease of access to those not currently familiar with all of the intricacies of the system.We haven't. I can't really say why not—that arena isn't my department, after all.
I'm currently working on such an app (right now it's just for fun and for personal use to make book-keeping more fluid and less tedious). If in the future I decide to market such an app, who would I need to talk to in order to make sure I don't step on any copyright toes?
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I'm currently working on such an app (right now it's just for fun and for personal use to make book-keeping more fluid and less tedious). If in the future I decide to market such an app, who would I need to talk to in order to make sure I don't step on any copyright toes?Assuming it doesn't already exist and I'm just oblivious, has Paizo ever considered developing their own (in-house or contracting out) character sheet application? Given the popularity of Hero Labs here on the forums, it would seem like that would be worth the time and effort since it would be a marketable product and it would allow for a greater spread of Pathfinder popularity through increased ease of access to those not currently familiar with all of the intricacies of the system.We haven't. I can't really say why not—that arena isn't my department, after all.
Mike Kenway is our licensing guy. You'd want to talk to him. His contact info (as for all of us) can be found here on the website.
Mike Kenway is our licensing guy. You'd want to talk to him. His contact info (as for all of us) can be found here on the website.I'm currently working on such an app (right now it's just for fun and for personal use to make book-keeping more fluid and less tedious). If in the future I decide to market such an app, who would I need to talk to in order to make sure I don't step on any copyright toes?Assuming it doesn't already exist and I'm just oblivious, has Paizo ever considered developing their own (in-house or contracting out) character sheet application? Given the popularity of Hero Labs here on the forums, it would seem like that would be worth the time and effort since it would be a marketable product and it would allow for a greater spread of Pathfinder popularity through increased ease of access to those not currently familiar with all of the intricacies of the system.We haven't. I can't really say why not—that arena isn't my department, after all.
Much appreciated!
The game itself is built on the assumption that the bulk of the action takes place in five-foot-squares; that's the space for all the core races and the underlying assumption for combat. As such, we try to ALWAYS do maps with five-foot squares. Sometimes, due to the size of the region and the constraints of a page of text's size, we have to up that to 10 feet or more per square. As a general rule, we'll use the smallest one we can that makes sense for the map. Usually, by the time we're forced to above 10 feet per square, it's because an area is REALLY big, and in such cases, even going to 15 feet per square won't work, but if it makes sense, we'll do it, and I'm sure we have now and then. And a quick check of the last Giantslayer adventure confirms it.Generally adventure maps are one square for five feet. For big places, they're often one square for ten feet. For titanic places or giant built ruins and so on people often use one square for twenty feet. I don't think I've ever seen a map where one square is fifteen feet (and they're certainly rarer than either 1:10 or 1:20).
Is that just because we like to think in round numbers? Or is there some arcane game-designer reason for avoiding mapping at a one square for fifteen feet scale?
Thanks. I should have thought to check giantslayer.
If an evil 'mirror universe' doppelganger showed up and tried to impersonate you, what would you do/say to convince your friends, loved ones, and co-workers which is the real you and which is the fake?
Is that what exactly a evil 'mirror universe' doppelganger ask?
James, has a spell, feat or magic item ever given you an idea for a whole adventure?Yes.
This sounds fascinating. What is the creative process behind extrapolating out to an adventure from a spell or feat or whatever?
I love hearing about the creative process.
What are your thoughts/feelings/opinions/etc on the idea that Torag endorses/supports/encourages/approves of the genocide/eradication of Orcs and other races who are typically considered enemies of the Dwarves?
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James, has a spell, feat or magic item ever given you an idea for a whole adventure?Yes.This sounds fascinating. What is the creative process behind extrapolating out to an adventure from a spell or feat or whatever?
I love hearing about the creative process.
The spell that came to mind was "simulacrum." The adventure in mind was "Headless," back in Dungeon Magazine #89. Chris Perkins came to me one day and asked me to write an adventure called "Headless" because he came up with the title and liked it and wanted to do something with it, but WHAT I did with it was up to me. The result was the first demon lord statted up for 3rd edition D&D (which apparently caused some friction and upset in WotC's R&D department because they hadn't yet decided how they wanted to handle demon lord stats). The idea for simulacrum's role came from me wondering why a powerful wizard didn't just populate her entire lair with simulacrums; they're loyal, they don't need to be fed, and they won't uprise against you. Plus from a game standpoint, since simulacrums are less powerful than the originals, it let me throw some really rather high-powered monsters against the PCs without breaking the game. Also, what wizard wouldn't make several simulacrums of herself so she could send four out in the style of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?
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What are your thoughts/feelings/opinions/etc on the idea that Torag endorses/supports/encourages/approves of the genocide/eradication of Orcs and other races who are typically considered enemies of the Dwarves?
I think that fits with the dwarven hatred ability quite well. I think that orcs, as presented in Pathfinder, are intended to be a bad guy race and have been for over 10,000 years. If they suddenly have a shift and become less about trying to murder all the time, it'd be a shock but at that point I suspect Torag would shift his position from "kill them all" to "negotiate peace but keep wary." But at the current time, that's not an option, and he's about protection and protecting his worshipers, and if that means wiping out the tide of evil orcs that have been trying for thousands of years to destroy those people, so be it.
Now of course this stance does cause some of the other good gods, particularly neutral and chaotic good gods, discomfort, and they do use the words genocide to talk about it, but I doubt Torag would. From his stance and the stance of the dwarven people, not killing out orcs will eventually result in their own race's genocide, so there's not really a choice.
It's certainly a complex issue, and it's one that gives a lawful good deity an interesting gray area to play with in a way that does NOT undermine the whole core concept of that deity. That's a tricky thing to pull off, and we've failed at it before, but I think we got it right with Torag.
Disregarding the easy answers like good Husband, Father, etc. How would you like to be remembered?
Question I got after reading the new Healer's Handbook: The new bardic masterpiece, Symphony of Sylandurla's Ascent, is described as an "elaborate arrangement for traditional elven instruments," and the Perform skills used to play it are Percussion and Wind. It's easy for me to imagine traditional wind instruments for elves, it seems like whenever elves are depicted playing music it's either on harps or flutes. But what kinds of percussion instruments are traditional to the elves? I've always imagined percussion instruments like drums as the purview of less dainty types like dwarves, orcs and tribal human societies. Traditional ELVEN percussion instruments sound cool and interesting!None come to mind.
What about a hammer dulcimer? Also, considering the first place I ever saw one played, do you ever go to ren-fests in your free time, or would that remind you too much of work?
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What are your thoughts/feelings/opinions/etc on the idea that Torag endorses/supports/encourages/approves of the genocide/eradication of Orcs and other races who are typically considered enemies of the Dwarves?I think that fits with the dwarven hatred ability quite well. I think that orcs, as presented in Pathfinder, are intended to be a bad guy race and have been for over 10,000 years. If they suddenly have a shift and become less about trying to murder all the time, it'd be a shock but at that point I suspect Torag would shift his position from "kill them all" to "negotiate peace but keep wary." But at the current time, that's not an option, and he's about protection and protecting his worshipers, and if that means wiping out the tide of evil orcs that have been trying for thousands of years to destroy those people, so be it.
Now of course this stance does cause some of the other good gods, particularly neutral and chaotic good gods, discomfort, and they do use the words genocide to talk about it, but I doubt Torag would. From his stance and the stance of the dwarven people, not killing out orcs will eventually result in their own race's genocide, so there's not really a choice.
It's certainly a complex issue, and it's one that gives a lawful good deity an interesting gray area to play with in a way that does NOT undermine the whole core concept of that deity. That's a tricky thing to pull off, and we've failed at it before, but I think we got it right with Torag.
Does any of the evil deities have a similar (well, opposite) gray area? Nocticula comes to mind.
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Disregarding the easy answers like good Husband, Father, etc. How would you like to be remembered?
Good husband and father are unlikely to be options at this point. Not really sure, frankly, how I'd like to be remembered... I guess as someone who brought at least a little bit of entertainment into the world?