Creative Director
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Is the Planet Stories line Dead? I've used these books to get a lot of inspiration for my homebrew settings over the yearsand I am hoping this is not the case. I also figured that if you didn't know, you could direct me to the person who would know.
I do know the answer. But it's not my answer to give.
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Creative Director
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Hey James, I have a few questions about the minor goddess Sivanah.
In the old PF Campaign Setting, she was associated with six races, each tied to one of her seven veils: human, halfling, elf, gnome, aranea, and naga.
In the Inner Sea World Guide, this list was changed to: human, halfling, elf, gnome, cyclops, and naga.
Why the change from aranea to cyclops?
Also, when Sivanah appears as a naga, does she appear to be a particular kind of naga (dark, guardian, lunar, etc.)? If so, what kind?
Aranea don't have a major role in our world, whereas cyclopes do. Furthermore, the fact that the aranea was the only race on that list that was "made up" and had no real pedigree in history was kind of vexing to me. So I changed it around.
She's a mysterious goddess anyway, right?
As for what kind of naga... depends. She can appear as all of them, but favors the chaotic ones.
What game alignment would you say Cosmo from customer service would be?Chaotic Mustached.
I thought robots were almost always neutral...huh.
Speaking of robots, is the novel City of the Fallen Sky a feeler for Numeria's reception?
Your answer determines how many copies I buy :)
So, since you can take a reasonable number of free actions per turn, what would you say to a Gunslinger with Rapid Reload, Lightning Reload and (which do stack it says), Two-Weapon Fighting, Quick Draw and two pepperbox guns? Could they reload every chamber of 1 gun only or would you allow two?
@Absolute:
In my experience, people who use the argument "The game is already broken" fall into three categories. A) They find one or two small loopholes and immediately declare the game broken. B) They do not like that options in the game are not balanced within a pin's weight of each other and declare the game broken. C) They are using the statement as a thin veil of protection against the fact that they know their creation is broken and are trying a last-ditch effort to justify it.
It is my personal opinion as a GM that those words mark someone who truly hasn't figured out RPG design yet, and that someone should probably be left alone to their own devices until they see how ridiculous their rule is by having a player blow them up in the face with it. And as a player, those words mean that the GM just invited me to do everything I can to topple their pretty little system. :)
Heh, I sorta did that "topple the system" once in a game. Basically long story short (but still kinda long lol) we were playing GURPS 3rd edition only because the GM couldn't get people to play 1st or 2nd edition anymore. He really hates new editions. 4th had just come out and the Psionics (nevermind the rest of the system) was greatly improved from 3rd and I loved Psionics in 3rd, just knew how to reign in the totally broken system. He didn't. When he insisted that 3rd edition was not broken, it was perfect, I proceeded to play a Psionicist able to slam a person into a wall at 100 times the speed of light. Now, resistance of an atmosphere and all that aside (which was not taken into account except with the flight skill, and only that you needed 1pt of a PK shield to be able to resist the damage), the math worked as far as the power level I had. I did end up later agreeing to tone it down to MY usual imposed limits when I ran (about 20-25 since after 20 the math starts doubling every level and that's where it gets crazy insane super fast), but since he had totally missed my point I kind of lost interest in the game soon after.
Which brings me to another question for our T-Rex. If not d20 style games, what other game systems do you like? My two favorites are White Wolf (new especially system wise) and GURPS 4th besides of course Pathfinder :)
Oh great Dinosaur with a seemingly excellent dental plan,
1) Why aren't homunculi more common - to the extent that they almost become a purchasable standard accessory at a higher level? What's not to love about having a 2050 GP loyal, flying spy/messenger/scout with darkvision who can telepathically communicate everything it sees/hears to you, and doesn't eat, sleep or breathe? Am I missing something here?
2) If a summoner and his eidolon "share a mental link that allows for communication across any distance", and a summoner's homunculus "knows what its master knows and can convey to him or her everything it sees and hears", can the eidolon and homunculus potentially talk to each other using the summoner's mind as a sort of common resource?
thanks!
Are you familiar with Pact Magic and the Binder class from 3.5 Tome of Magic? May there be anything similar in Pathfinder? And for the sake of speculation what do you think would be the source, Dark Tapestry etc.?...
Won't be much similar for Pathfinder at all; that whole concept and idea is Wizards of the Coast's intellectual property. If we did... we'd probably link binders to Azlant or perhaps ancient Osirion. Not to the Dark Tapestry.
Just to touch on this again and clarify what you mean. You are saying that vestiges themselves would tend to be from a particular ancient source? I'm a little bit confused by your use of 'binders', unless you meant pact magic in general.
I had a thread that seemed to dissaper off the mesageboards, what should I do?If it was removed because the web team thought it was somehow inappropriate, you should have received an email about it.
Much more likely—it just got eaten by the boards. That happens sometimes; but less often than it used to. In this case, alas... there's not much to do but retype it. It's a good idea anyway for ANY messageboard if you'e writing a giant post to do so in a word processing program and then paste the finished post in later...
NOW... having an entire THREAD vanish... that's more weird. In that case, I'd email customer service and ask for advice.
Thanks I think it was some glitch I found it in the end.
I thought robots were almost always neutral...huh.What game alignment would you say Cosmo from customer service would be?Chaotic Mustached.
He is no longer a construct. Now he is an imp. :)
What kind of action is it to tie a rope? Would there be a check to determine how secure it is? Do you miss Use Rope?
I'm a little bit confused... the work of Dale McCoy Jr is that original Pathfinder stuff or doesn't it count as pathfinder stuff?
Can I expect to see those creatures (like the mantian) in Pathfinder adventure paths? Or is the stuff of Dale McCoy Jr only based on pathfinder and all his stuff doesn't excist in the pathfinder world?
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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What kind of action is it to tie a rope? Would there be a check to determine how secure it is? Do you miss Use Rope?
IANJ, but this is a better question for the Rules subforum. The grapple rules cover tieing someone up. Read the Escape Artist skill to see how secure it is.
And I don't know if James misses Use Rope , but I would suspect he doesn't though.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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Aranea don't have a major role in our world, whereas cyclopes do. Furthermore, the fact that the aranea was the only race on that list that was "made up" and had no real pedigree in history was kind of vexing to me. So I changed it around.
She's a mysterious goddess anyway, right?
As for what kind of naga... depends. She can appear as all of them, but favors the chaotic ones.
Makes sense to me! Thanks!
I'm a little bit confused... the work of Dale McCoy Jr is that original Pathfinder stuff or doesn't it count as pathfinder stuff?
Can I expect to see those creatures (like the mantian) in Pathfinder adventure paths? Or is the stuff of Dale McCoy Jr only based on pathfinder and all his stuff doesn't excist in the pathfinder world?
You're probably thinking of the Book of River Nations. That is not official Paizo material, and is meant as a non-Paizo supplement of the rules for Kingmaker.
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Creative Director
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What game alignment would you say Cosmo from customer service would be?Chaotic Mustached.I thought robots were almost always neutral...huh.
Speaking of robots, is the novel City of the Fallen Sky a feeler for Numeria's reception?
Your answer determines how many copies I buy :)
Robots, yeah. But Cosmo's a Mandroid, and that changes a lot of things.
And we've been doing several Numeria feelers... City of the Fallen Sky is only one of them.
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So, since you can take a reasonable number of free actions per turn, what would you say to a Gunslinger with Rapid Reload, Lightning Reload and (which do stack it says), Two-Weapon Fighting, Quick Draw and two pepperbox guns? Could they reload every chamber of 1 gun only or would you allow two?
If someone wants to spend that many feats and abilities to reload fast, then yes. I'd probably let them reload all the chambers. But I'd withhold my GM's prerogative to go back on my decision!
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If not d20 style games, what other game systems do you like? My two favorites are White Wolf (new especially system wise) and GURPS 4th besides of course Pathfinder :)
I've played lots of other RPGs, but my favorite might actually be Chaosium's Basic Roleplaying system; the one they use for Call of Cthulhu. It constantly vies for attention as my #1 favorite RPG with Pathfinder these days (as it did back in the days before Pathfinder with D&D).
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1) Why aren't homunculi more common - to the extent that they almost become a purchasable standard accessory at a higher level? What's not to love about having a 2050 GP loyal, flying spy/messenger/scout with darkvision who can telepathically communicate everything it sees/hears to you, and doesn't eat, sleep or breathe? Am I missing something here?
2) If a summoner and his eidolon "share a mental link that allows for communication across any distance", and a summoner's homunculus "knows what its master knows and can convey to him or her everything it sees and hears", can the eidolon and homunculus potentially talk to each other using the summoner's mind as a sort of common resource?
1) Because they're super low CR, and that doesn't make for compelling stuff at higher level. And because for many spellcasters they get something like that for free with a familiar. And perhaps because homunculi aren't as popular among adventure designers as they perhaps deserve to be.
2) No. The summoner has to play a game of "telephone" to transfer messages from one to the other.
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Just to touch on this again and clarify what you mean. You are saying that vestiges themselves would tend to be from a particular ancient source? I'm a little bit confused by your use of 'binders', unless you meant pact magic in general.Are you familiar with Pact Magic and the Binder class from 3.5 Tome of Magic? May there be anything similar in Pathfinder? And for the sake of speculation what do you think would be the source, Dark Tapestry etc.?...
Won't be much similar for Pathfinder at all; that whole concept and idea is Wizards of the Coast's intellectual property. If we did... we'd probably link binders to Azlant or perhaps ancient Osirion. Not to the Dark Tapestry.
Binders and pact magic in my mind are yin and yang. Binders use pact magic, and non binders do not.
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What kind of action is it to tie a rope? Would there be a check to determine how secure it is? Do you miss Use Rope?
The rules for using rope to tie someone up are part of the grapple rules on page 200. The Escape Artist check to get out of being tied up is equal to the tier's CMB + 20. I don't miss Use Rope.
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I'm a little bit confused... the work of Dale McCoy Jr is that original Pathfinder stuff or doesn't it count as pathfinder stuff?
Can I expect to see those creatures (like the mantian) in Pathfinder adventure paths? Or is the stuff of Dale McCoy Jr only based on pathfinder and all his stuff doesn't excist in the pathfinder world?
You're probably thinking of the Book of River Nations. That is not official Paizo material, and is meant as a non-Paizo supplement of the rules for Kingmaker.
I'm a bit more confused... but if Cheapy's answer made sense then that's the right answer.
Do you like steampunk? Do you like D&D/Pathfinder with steampunk in it?
Hm, as far as I can tell, Dungeons of Golarion and City of the Fallen Sky are the two main feelers? It looks like there's a mini of a technic league officer in the works too...
Do you have a favorite recreational activity the people of the inner sea take part in? Say a board game, etc. If so, what is it? For the purposes of this question "pillaging and burning" is not a recreational activity.
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Hm, as far as I can tell, Dungeons of Golarion and City of the Fallen Sky are the two main feelers? It looks like there's a mini of a technic league officer in the works too...
Do you have a favorite recreational activity the people of the inner sea take part in? Say a board game, etc. If so, what is it? For the purposes of this question "pillaging and burning" is not a recreational activity.
Kingmaker #5, "War of the River Kings," had a feeler in it as well. And at least one unannounced future product has an even bigger feeler than what was in Dungeons of Golarion.
As for recreational activities... nope, no favorites!
What kind of armor is Nualia wearing? It's listed as a +1 breastplate in Burnt Offerings, but it's never looked like... well, like anything but nifty weirdness. Numerian power armor with the battery long since run dry?
(Also, pact magic isn't WotC's intellectual property. The reason Dario Nardi got away with "Secrets of Pact Magic" is that WotC's binder is based so heavily and obviously on the real-world Goetia and the Emerald Tablet that they can't call it their invention.)
Darn it, too late to edit. I meant to say that it was my impression that pact magic wasn't WotCIP.
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The rules for using rope to tie someone up are part of the grapple rules on page 200. The Escape Artist check to get out of being tied up is equal to the tier's CMB + 20. I don't miss Use Rope.
The whole time we've been playing pathfinder we made a faulty assumption here and thought it had gotten rolled into survival (makes sense if you think boyscouts and knot tying, lol).
I'm not sure we'd gain much by not using the error as a houserule. I think people could use another purpose for survival.
How do you feel about use rope as a function of survival? any reasons you can think of why its a bad houserule?
Do you like steampunk? Do you like D&D/Pathfinder with steampunk in it?Yes.
I do, if it's done right. Iron Kingdoms, for example.
What do you think of Crimson Skies? I first got into it from the Xbox game Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, but the RPG was dead and dying and I think the game was an attempt to get more interest before it died. I loved it for the WWII biplanes with Tesla-based rocket engines... so awesome. Course, I'm a sucker for anything that is based on Tesla's designs.
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Hey James.
The build your own race section in the upcoming Advanced Race Guide has me thinking. Is it possible that you guys come out with a Tool kit type book filled with guidelines of 'How to Build X'...like thinga like Classes, Achetypes, PrCs, etc?
Or could we see those type of things in some future products?
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Let me go out on a limb here - this guy on this other site is fairly young, as gamers go?
No idea how old he is. Last thing he said before he ended the conversation on his end was about how broken the game already is so his changes can't break it worse than it already is when you can just make an armful of wands and staves, just remove the item requirement.
No, figured with his ending all of his posts on the subject with "Obviously" he didn't need me to point out something so obvious.
Did you tell him that Fighters can't cast Fire Immunity?
It sound like an "unlimited resources" campaign and a "no encumbrance" campaign and a "I can use any number of staff, wands and the like without ever having to spend actions to put them away" campaign.
So, yes, it is already broken.I like spellcasters, but the basis of the Vancian system is that spells are a limited resource and you have to chose them. If someone can cast lower level spells at will he can memorize more spells, avoiding to take use slots for multiple copies of the same spell.
Extremly unbalanced.
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Hey James, I have a few questions about the minor goddess Sivanah.
In the old PF Campaign Setting, she was associated with six races, each tied to one of her seven veils: human, halfling, elf, gnome, aranea, and naga.
In the Inner Sea World Guide, this list was changed to: human, halfling, elf, gnome, cyclops, and naga.
Why the change from aranea to cyclops?
Also, when Sivanah appears as a naga, does she appear to be a particular kind of naga (dark, guardian, lunar, etc.)? If so, what kind?
Aranea don't have a major role in our world, whereas cyclopes do. Furthermore, the fact that the aranea was the only race on that list that was "made up" and had no real pedigree in history was kind of vexing to me. So I changed it around.
She's a mysterious goddess anyway, right?
As for what kind of naga... depends. She can appear as all of them, but favors the chaotic ones.
As usual this thread is a source of inspiration. I had totally overlooked Sivanah, but, as I am GMing a Kingmaker campaign, a cyclops goddess is interesting.
Thanks for the reminder, James and Benchak.
Heh, I sorta did that "topple the system" once in a game. Basically long story short (but still kinda long lol) we were playing GURPS 3rd edition only because the GM couldn't get people to play 1st or 2nd edition anymore. He really hates new editions. 4th had just come out and the Psionics (nevermind the rest of the system) was greatly improved from 3rd and I loved Psionics in 3rd, just knew how to reign in the totally broken system. He didn't. When he insisted that 3rd edition was not broken, it was perfect, I proceeded to play a Psionicist able to slam a person into a wall at 100 times the speed of light. Now, resistance of an atmosphere and all that aside (which was not taken into account except with the flight skill, and only that you needed 1pt of a PK shield to be able to resist the damage), the math worked as far as the power level I had. I did end up later agreeing to tone it down to MY usual imposed limits when I ran (about 20-25 since after 20 the math starts doubling every level and that's where it gets crazy insane super fast), but since he had totally missed my point I kind of...
Sigh, I would love the chance to play a GURP psionic character.
I really like them when well done (and no, I don't like their D&D incarnations so far, they don't mesh with the system [Darksun had a potential, but the mechanics weren't well though out]).I agree with James often expressed position that a power point system will not mesh well with Pathfinder.
At the same time a Vancian system will not mesh well with the general depiction of psionics.
I think that the best option, if someone want to bring psionic in game, would be to create a psionic sorcerer-like archetype with appropriate metamagic like abilities, associated with a few bloodlines with specific spell lists.
Probably it would be better as a 3rd party product, not as a Paizo product.
Ok, a few questions, unrelated...
1. What is "Vancian" I mean I get that it's the spells slots system of D&D fame, but what does that name come from? Never heard it before these past few days.
2. Can a multiclass rogue/witch (or other familiar class) take the rogue talent Familiar (Ultimate Combat funny enough) to get a boosted familiar (it's rogue level -4, so assuming you went 10 rogue / 10 witch, your familiar would be level 16)? I THINK it should, but I wonder because it doesn't say it stacks with other familiars, just that it's treated as a wizard familiar with a level of rogue-4.
3. Does the Glamered armor enchantment's looks get set by the caster upon creation or by the user upon activation?
I think that the best option, if someone want to bring psionic in game, would be to create a psionic sorcerer-like archetype with appropriate metamagic like abilities, associated with a few bloodlines with specific spell lists.
Probably it would be better as a 3rd party product, not as a Paizo product.
Actually there is a Psionics for Pathfinder, although it's mostly an update of 3.5 to Pathfinder as I understand it. It's by Dreamscarred Press. Here is Paizo's link to it http://paizo.com/products/btpy8i42?Psionics-Unleashed
Since it's OGL you can find most of it on the Pathfinder20SRD site to see if you like their write up before you buy it. But, from browsing the SRD site I pretty saw it was same as 3.5 just updated to Pathfinder's slightly better power progressions.
As for GURPS, yeah I've always thought they had the BEST Psionics system even in 3rd, but with 4th where it's just advantages that let you do the things you want to do with the psionic modifier it's even better since it opens up tons more options than them listing out "these are psionic powers"
Oh and speaking of which, yet another question for Mr. T-Rex... I wont' be getting Distant Worlds until next week, but I know from past write ups that the people of one of the planets are psychics? How is this handled in Distant Worlds? What can you tell us before we get our books? Heh.
Darn too late to edit my last post for another question.
Can the various other variant humans ala Aasimar, Changeling, Teifling, Dhampir etc. take Pass for Human from the APG? They didn't exist as PC races when the feat was created, but if using them as PC races, you think it should be allowed?
Also, how does the "Adopted" trait work? I think it lets you take like say I want to make a tiefling with the "Masterful Demeanor" trait that lets her get +3 to intimidate non-humans I can take Adopted to then let her have that human only trait, but a friend of mine thinks it would let say an elf adopted by humans get an extra feat as that's a human racial trait which I'm pretty sure is totally wrong but I wanted to verify.
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I know it is still some time away and you may still not be ready to reveal a lot of details but I was wondering Shatterd star seems to be a find the missing parts treasure hunt type of adventure will there be a rival group/orginisation trying to retrieve the parts as well or is it more just a case of visiting random dungeons?
Hey James.
The build your own race section in the upcoming Advanced Race Guide has me thinking. Is it possible that you guys come out with a Tool kit type book filled with guidelines of 'How to Build X'...like thinga like Classes, Achetypes, PrCs, etc?
Or could we see those type of things in some future products?
:D
Give it! Such a thing for classes once existed as 3.5 homebrew, and it worked, so this is doable.
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@ AbsolutGrndZer0
"Vancian" come from Jack Vance, a writer, especially from his Dying Earth books. He was one of Gary Gygax (and I suppose Dave Arneson) font of inspiration in creating D&D and in particular the memorization system. His mages prepare and memorize spells that are forget when cast, so the D&D system is referred as a Vancian system.
Even as I am a old time player I hadn't encountered the definition until recently, but, as I have read Vance books, it was pretty straightforward for me. If you can find his books read them, they are a great source on how you can describe a world.
I have GURPS 4th edition, brought initially for Traveller, and I have the psionic supplements, the problem is finding a GM.
Beside psionics I have always loved alternate universes stories, so the 4ed books were a easy sell. :P
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Has Paizo ever considered getting a second-party developer? Basically, a company that would be dedicated to creating content only for Golarion but would have to run all content past you at Paizo to maintain consistency and quality.
It would allow for quite a bit more APs and adventures to be made every year.
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Creative Director
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What kind of armor is Nualia wearing? It's listed as a +1 breastplate in Burnt Offerings, but it's never looked like... well, like anything but nifty weirdness. Numerian power armor with the battery long since run dry?
(Also, pact magic isn't WotC's intellectual property. The reason Dario Nardi got away with "Secrets of Pact Magic" is that WotC's binder is based so heavily and obviously on the real-world Goetia and the Emerald Tablet that they can't call it their invention.)
It's a breastplate, but the artist took a LOT of artistic freedom (that, and he had, if I remember correctly, about a week or less to do the piece before we needed to ship the book). A LOT of the art in Burnt Offerings was last-minute. So... yeah. An unusual breastplate based on, if I were forced to nail it down, an old and archaic Thassilonian style of armor.
And while several of the binder elements and vestiges ARE based on mythology... that doesn't mean that the concepts of how they work in D&D aren't WotC's intellectual property. I suspect that if Paizo had tried to do a "Secrets of Pact Magic" type book we would have had at least SOME sort of legal action against us, since we are very much on WotC's radar...
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Hey James.
The build your own race section in the upcoming Advanced Race Guide has me thinking. Is it possible that you guys come out with a Tool kit type book filled with guidelines of 'How to Build X'...like thinga like Classes, Achetypes, PrCs, etc?
Or could we see those type of things in some future products?
Unlikely.
None of our current game components are built using a point-based system like you see with the Advanced Race Guide race builder. Retrofitting all the racial traits into a system like that was really complex, but we managed to pull it off in part thanks to our awesome designers and in part thanks to great feedback from the playtest, but also in LARGE part due to the fact that compared to something like classes, building a race is child's play. A class, for example, has twenty "levels of options", whereas a race only has one effective "level of options." Rebuilding the last 3 or so years-worth of class options into something that works as a class builder would take an extraordinary amount of time.
But perhaps more importantly... the class-based system is a huge part of the brand and identity of Pathifnder. It's actually VERY important to me that you be able to say "that's a wizard" and, regardless of the feats or spells or archetypes that wizard took, it's still a wizard.
A completely point-based class builder is essentially throwing out a class-based system in favor of a point-based system like GURPS or Champions. And while I do like building characters for those games... I don't like point-based character building for fantasy games at all.
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What do you think of Crimson Skies? I first got into it from the Xbox game Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, but the RPG was dead and dying and I think the game was an attempt to get more interest before it died. I loved it for the WWII biplanes with Tesla-based rocket engines... so awesome. Course, I'm a sucker for anything that is based on Tesla's designs.
Crimson Skies is one of several video games I bought and never played. It wasn't much longer after I first bought my first modern console, so I kind of went a little berserk on the game buying. Anyway... it looked interesting, and my friend helped write the manual so I'd been anticipating its release... but then I never played it. Doh.
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How do you feel about use rope as a function of survival? any reasons you can think of why its a bad houserule?
That certainly works and makes sense...
... but Survival is a wisdom skill, and the physical act of using rope and tying knots is as much knowledge as it is manual dexterity. Which would in my mind argue for it to be attached to a Dex or Int based skill.
How do you feel about use rope as a function of survival? any reasons you can think of why its a bad houserule?That certainly works and makes sense...
... but Survival is a wisdom skill, and the physical act of using rope and tying knots is as much knowledge as it is manual dexterity. Which would in my mind argue for it to be attached to a Dex or Int based skill.
I have a solution. Variable governing attributes to skills, depending on what you are trying to do.
Some kind of "Use Rope" skill, you say? :)
I can totally see why they got rid of it, but I'm not sure why they decided to roll it into a combat maneuver. I mean, in combat tying? Sure, that makes sense. But for out of combat? I can't see the reasoning.
So perhaps Disable Device? That's the catch-all technical skill it would seem.
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Ok, a few questions, unrelated...
1. What is "Vancian" I mean I get that it's the spells slots system of D&D fame, but what does that name come from? Never heard it before these past few days.
2. Can a multiclass rogue/witch (or other familiar class) take the rogue talent Familiar (Ultimate Combat funny enough) to get a boosted familiar (it's rogue level -4, so assuming you went 10 rogue / 10 witch, your familiar would be level 16)? I THINK it should, but I wonder because it doesn't say it stacks with other familiars, just that it's treated as a wizard familiar with a level of rogue-4.
3. Does the Glamered armor enchantment's looks get set by the caster upon creation or by the user upon activation?
1) One of the biggest inspirations for Gygax when D&D was being created was the author Jack Vance. (For proof... rearrange the leters of the Greyhawk lich "Vecna.") The way that D&D spellcasters prepare and cast spells is very much inspired by how those spells work in Jack Vance's stories.
2) If you gain a familiar through different classes, and those rules explicitly don't say those levels stack (for prestige classes this is common, but it's not for base classes) you technically gain 2 less powerful familiars rather than 1 more powerful one. That said... allowing the two to roll into one is a cool house rule—chat with your GM!
3) The user gets to decide what the armor looks like and can change its appearance at will.
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Oh and speaking of which, yet another question for Mr. T-Rex... I wont' be getting Distant Worlds until next week, but I know from past write ups that the people of one of the planets are psychics? How is this handled in Distant Worlds? What can you tell us before we get our books? Heh.
It's not handled at all. We may mention a few of the creatures are psychic or have a predisposition for mind magic or something like that... but the rules crunch in the book is more interested in monsters and how being in space or on other planets works than it is in giving out new player character options.
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Can the various other variant humans ala Aasimar, Changeling, Teifling, Dhampir etc. take Pass for Human from the APG? They didn't exist as PC races when the feat was created, but if using them as PC races, you think it should be allowed?
Up to your GM. I'd generally say no, since those races are, in my opinion, FAR too exotic to really qualify for this via a feat... but that said, there's options for you in the upcoming Blood of Fiends and Blood of Angels that have similar effects, I believe...
Also, how does the "Adopted" trait work? I think it lets you take like say I want to make a tiefling with the "Masterful Demeanor" trait that lets her get +3 to intimidate non-humans I can take Adopted to then let her have that human only trait, but a friend of mine thinks it would let say an elf adopted by humans get an extra feat as that's a human race trait which I'm pretty sure is totally wrong but I wanted to verify.
The Adopted trait merely gives you an excuse to take a racial trait for a race you don't belong to. Normally, a tiefling could NOT take a human race trait, but if he takes "adopted" he can.
Your friend is confusing "race traits" (the things that you're talking about here) with "racial traits" (the benefits you gain for being a member of a specific race, such as the human's ability to get an extra feat, or a dwarf's darkvision).