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So wait...
You're telling me...
I can be either a chick wielding a flamethrower...
Or a T-Rex...
...My god... the greatest game has just been announce. There can be nothing good after this!
what do you think the ratio is of people who buy roleplaying game books to read compared to people who buy roleplaying game books and really play the game
what are your favorite top five campaign settings besides glorian
I just wanted to thank you and everyone involved for the Runelords Hardcover. It's so much more than I was anticipating, and I was hella excited. All the stumbling points I had in conveying the background plot of Burnt Offerings and some of the less-than-fleshed-out parts of Skinsaw Murders (particularly the Sanitorium) have been paved earlier. Burnt Offerings remains the first adventure I ever run, so it'll hold a special place on my shelf and I'm hoping to run it through to the end in five or ten years time and really do it justice. Kudos on such a complete and bloody-well-gorgeous product!
Did Paizo ever get to run through the path in a home game?
1)So what made you guys decide to put artifacts and intelligent magic items in Ultimate Equipment since original it wasn't going to have them?
2)Why no polymorph spells to change into Fey, Outsiders, Oozes, Contructs and whatever other creature types we haven'e gotten yet?
3)Didn't Paizo Con have a seminar about building/creating a monster? if so how did it go? what did you guys do/come up with?
4)Would you guys ever do a hardcover book about the planes of existance or will this always be campaign specific so softcover books only?
5)Why is it unlikely to get a fey touched race? It is not like the fey type is more adventages then the outsider(native) type.
Partially because I don't think sending living animals through the mail is cool in the first place. I like animals too much to put them through that.
Well, unless you are an herbivore, you're assisting to provide the market to facilitate them going through a lot worse than a bumpy ride in a dark box.
/soapbox (sorry it's my "signature issue")
But on the question front, I am starting a HPL-influenced campaign, with beginning based on the events from "The Rats in the Walls". I have read Wake of the Watcher and it's optional rule for sanity, but do you think for a longer term use (over the course of a campaign) I might be better off going with a system of say 5x Wis score and assigning a d# sanity loss for specific encounters? More akin to CoC I guess.
Thanks!
How would you stat Batman in Pathfinder? (if you bothered)HA!
He'd be a human rogue. He'd be 20th level. He'd be Chaotic Good. He'd have PC gear. He'd have the highest legal point buy. And then I'd put the advanced template on him.
I would make him pure blooded Azlant also, for the +2 to all attributes.
Creative Director
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Dear Mr. Jacobs,
I know not if you are a video gamer at all but I feel I should ask. Have you heard of this game http://www.primalcarnage.com/website/ ? Because it allows you to play as a giant t-rex and this seems relevant to your interests.
Your thoughts?
I'm very intrigued! Hope they're doing a Mac version!
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So i'm reading through the new runelords hardcover, and I love pretty much all of the new art ** spoiler omitted ** when you converted the latter from 3.5 why did you go with Witch?
In the original, that character was a class called a Thaumaturge. This isn't the 3.5 prestige class (that's the thaumaturgist), but a full 20-level base class detailed in Green Ronin's "Book of Fiends."
Not only does Pathfinder have enough base classes already, Rise of the Runelords is not the place for us to introduce a 20th base class, or even an alternative class. We've always extensively playtested base and alternative classes before, and that wasn't something we had time to do with Runelords. And while I was comfortable converting a few out-of-print prestige classes later in the book... I wasn't so much at converting a base class.
So that character needed to be one of the established classes, and she needed a class that:
a) Conveyed a creepy demon worshiping element, and...
b) Granted her a familiar.
Witch, as it worked out, fit those two categories the best.
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what do you think the ratio is of people who buy roleplaying game books to read compared to people who buy roleplaying game books and really play the game
I would guess that the vast majority of RPG books are read and never used in a game. Based on my own experience, I'd guess about 5–10% of the books bought are actually used in a game, but then again, I buy a LOT of RPG books. Whether or not folks are gamers who don't have current groups (due to lack of time, lack of resources, or simply because they live somewhere where gaming's not popular) or simply because their current group isn't adventuring in a place that the RPG book they just bot is relevant, I suspect a LOT of gamers simply read RPG books for the entertainment and idea-generating value they provide.
Which is why I feel that it's so important that an RPG book be fun and engaging and easy to read... and that includes fun and engaging and easy to navigate while you're reading.
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what are your favorite top five campaign settings besides glorian
In descending order of favorites:
1) Baria (my homebrew world on which large parts of Golarion is based)
2) Greyhawk
3) The original Dark Sun setting
4) Pre 4th-edition Forgotten Realms
5) Planescape
And if you're only asking about published worlds, take Baria out of the #1 spot, shift the other four up by 1, and add:
Bonus Setting) The Known World/Mystara
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I just wanted to thank you and everyone involved for the Runelords Hardcover. It's so much more than I was anticipating, and I was hella excited. All the stumbling points I had in conveying the background plot of Burnt Offerings and some of the less-than-fleshed-out parts of Skinsaw Murders (particularly the Sanitorium) have been paved earlier. Burnt Offerings remains the first adventure I ever run, so it'll hold a special place on my shelf and I'm hoping to run it through to the end in five or ten years time and really do it justice. Kudos on such a complete and bloody-well-gorgeous product!
Did Paizo ever get to run through the path in a home game?
Thanks for the kind words!
I've not run the campaign myself, but I know Lisa ran the whole thing for her home group, and that feedback was REALLY helpful in my revisions (which is why Lisa got that Additional Development credit!).
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Partially because I don't think sending living animals through the mail is cool in the first place. I like animals too much to put them through that.
Well, unless you are an herbivore, you're assisting to provide the market to facilitate them going through a lot worse than a bumpy ride in a dark box.
/soapbox (sorry it's my "signature issue")
But on the question front, I am starting a HPL-influenced campaign, with beginning based on the events from "The Rats in the Walls". I have read Wake of the Watcher and it's optional rule for sanity, but do you think for a longer term use (over the course of a campaign) I might be better off going with a system of say 5x Wis score and assigning a d# sanity loss for specific encounters? More akin to CoC I guess.
Thanks!
I'm an omnivore, but I do try to eat food when I can that's not animals who've been raised in gross, horrific conditions like you mention. That said, I certainly don't go out of my way to avoid doing so. In any event, there's a pretty huge difference in my mind between being the active primary source of an animals torment and being one of millions who are passively involved at the end of such torment. Might be considered hypocritical, but it is what it is.
I've tried using Sanity-like systems in D&D and fantasy/sci-fi game before, and it really doesn't work. The sanity/madness rules in the Game Mastery Guide are my preferred method of incorporating these elements into Pathfinder—those are rules I designed specifically for my home games after several disappointing flirtations using a sanity system like Call of Cthulhu in a non-BRP game. In Call of Cthulhu, Sanity works GREAT. In Pathfinder/D&D type games... it's kinda just clutter in my opinion.
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Creative Director
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1)So what made you guys decide to put artifacts and intelligent magic items in Ultimate Equipment since original it wasn't going to have them?
2)Why no polymorph spells to change into Fey, Outsiders, Oozes, Contructs and whatever other creature types we haven'e gotten yet?
3)Didn't Paizo Con have a seminar about building/creating a monster? if so how did it go? what did you guys do/come up with?
4)Would you guys ever do a hardcover book about the planes of existance or will this always be campaign specific so softcover books only?
5)Why is it unlikely to get a fey touched race? It is not like the fey type is more adventages then the outsider(native) type.
1) The fact that we ended up having about 40 or so more blank pages than we'd planned for. It was either "add artifacts/cursed items/intelligent items/other stuff" to the book or have a bunch of blank pages. I think we made the right choice.
2) Because they haven't been written yet.
3) We did. The theme was an ice-dwelling burrowing monster. We ended up with three pretty cool drawings. We'll see what the future holds for them.
4) We've done 2 campaign hardcover books so far. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE to do more, especially ones that aren't reprints/revisions (like the 2 we've done so far), but fitting such a book onto the schedule is a tricky stunt. A hardcover book about the Great Beyond would be really neat... but for now, we don't have a place to make that happen.
5) Because thematically we don't go that way with the fey. Gnomes, to a certain extent, fill that role already, and we've got several fey templates in print as well.
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what do you think the ratio is of people who buy roleplaying game books to read compared to people who buy roleplaying game books and really play the gameI would guess that the vast majority of RPG books are read and never used in a game. Based on my own experience, I'd guess about 5–10% of the books bought are actually used in a game, but then again, I buy a LOT of RPG books. Whether or not folks are gamers who don't have current groups (due to lack of time, lack of resources, or simply because they live somewhere where gaming's not popular) or simply because their current group isn't adventuring in a place that the RPG book they just bot is relevant, I suspect a LOT of gamers simply read RPG books for the entertainment and idea-generating value they provide.
Which is why I feel that it's so important that an RPG book be fun and engaging and easy to read... and that includes fun and engaging and easy to navigate while you're reading.
I think the corundum is the definition of "used". Using 5 spells and 3 pages of rules from a book (let's say Frostburn) count as using the book or it count as reading it? Or it count as using .. (check page count) 4/244 (1,7%) of the book?
A lot of the books I buy see that level of usage but that don't mean they aren't consulted to see if there are useful rules for teh campaign I am doing, inspiration for some character build, useful feats and so on.So far I have never seen a player taking the Athletic feat, that mean that those 3 rows in the CRB are "wasted"? No, it is an option we have and someday it could be used.
Same thing for my 300+ Dragon magazine and 100+ Dungeon. I will never use all of their content "as it is" but it is there for ideas, pregenerated characters maps and so on.
So in my vision at least 50% of the books are used in game, at least partially. Even the books about games that I will never play are useful sourcebooks for other games.
Wish I had the time to play all the material I buy :-)
I played Rise of the Runelords for the first time at Paizocon, starting with Burnt Offerings.
I can't recall ever feeling as much emotion in any other campaigns I've played in as I did at wanting to kill all the goblins for killing a dog.
Bravo
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In reference to cheapy's post I had a player who was reduced to frothing rage from that scene when I started running rune lords as well. I can't think of any other module or adventure path which sets the scene so perfectly as Rune Lords does with the initial goblin attack and song. So thank-you, for making that experience possible.
If you were to stat up the Nameless One, Morte and/or Ravel Puzzlewell from Planescape: Torment for Pathfinder, how would you do it?
James, I have an idea for a description style I want to use for a campaign setting, and I wonder how you think of this style.
What I want to do is explain the cultures that exist, and then give the basic facts on the conflicts these cultures are involved in, and on the organizations each culture has formed. I do not intend, however, to provide an alignment to these organization, or pass judgment on those involved in the conflicts. Instead, the facts provided on the conflicts will explain what each group thinks, and leave a determination of who is right or wrong up to the GM.
For example, let us say we have a country. I will call this country Egypt. I will provide the following facts:
Egypt was once a powerful ancient empire, but it fell two thousand years ago. Now it's power is beginning to return thanks to skilled leadership and favorable political and economic events. Egyptian leadership claims that, now that they are a regional power again, the country should occupy the struggling North and East African nations surrounding it so as to better the lives of those people, for the good of all of the northern part of Africa. Some within Egypt agrees with this, some do not. Some of the occupied Africans welcome the Egyptians, some do not, and some actively resist. Some take the Egyptian goals at face value, others call it a cover for an imperialist agenda.
These facts do not say who is right, nor do they say who is good, evil, or neutral. The idea behind this is to allow the good guy and the bad guy to be whoever the GM wants to fit the story she wants to tell. If she wants the Egyptian military to be brave people selflessly struggling for a better Africa in support of a virtuous government, that is what they are. If she wants the Egyptian military to be well intentioned but naive kids sent into an unjust war with false justifications by a corrupt government, this is the truth of the situation. If she wants the Egyptian military to be murderous pillaging rapists ravaging occupied territory, they will be that. The same applies to all of the players in this particular conflict, and all the other conflicts in the world.
On the one hand, this system is very flexible, since it allows the GM and players to make their own value judgments about the conflicts of the world, and then decide based on what who should be good and who should be bad. I am concerned, however, that with the focus on a neutral narrative I may end up with a flavorless world, since I'd be deliberately avoiding making any actual judgments on my creations.
If you were to stat up the Nameless One, Morte and/or Ravel Puzzlewell from Planescape: Torment for Pathfinder, how would you do it?I believe Paizo already did this in a Dragon Magazine back in the day, so I'd just go back to that issue, whatever one it was, and start there.
!!!!!!!!!!!
Uh... how would someone find this?
Google. Third entry is for Ravel Puzzlewell and tells me it's the Dragon #264.
search: Dragon Magazine Nameless One, Morte and/or Ravel Puzzlewell
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Why is Asmodeus not covered in the Dragon Empires Gazetteer as one of the inner sea gods also worshiped in the east? Hell seems like as planet encompassing as the afterlife, monsters (particularly odd as Lamashtu is his opposite number), love, society or luck/travel/adventuring, and Asmodeus is as ancient as all of them AT LEAST (Abadar is thought to have been part of the posse that sealed Rovagug, Asmodeus is KNOWN to be).
Is there a separate hell for Tian (I think this was the case in oWoD, but it sounds just as silly now) or is he just seen as an archdevil, not a god, over there?
Same question goes for Rovagug actually.
2:
Why does General Susumu, god of horses with a winged horse as his holy symbol, not have the animal domain?
Because Asmodeus is very much a "western" deity. Asian mythology has a very different take on Hell and the underworld that doesn't involve a handsome horned man with a goatee getting you to sign your soul away on a contract.
That goes for all the deities you didn't see "ported" over to Tian Xia.
And General Susumu doesn't have the animal domain because he's not really about animals as much as he is about the other things.
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Because Asmodeus is very much a "western" deity. Asian mythology has a very different take on Hell and the underworld that doesn't involve a handsome horned man with a goatee getting you to sign your soul away on a contract.
That goes for all the deities you didn't see "ported" over to Tian Xia.
But... but there absolutely IS a handsome horned man with a goatee getting you to sign your soul away on a contract. That's Mephistopheles' specialty! It's not a matter of what the Tian peoples believe. (It was pointed out in Distant Worlds that the people of Apostae the Messenger, completely locked away from the Outer Sphere, are weird for having religions that rely entirely on unknowing faith.)
Does this mean Asmodeus is literally not a factor, or is it just that his operatives have been concentrating on Avistan? Do people of Tian Xia simply not conjure or make deals with devils?
Because as described in Princes of Darkness, Asmodeus isn't the kind of evil god who only has a presence on one continent of one world. You guys have given us every reason to believe that he, like Pharasma (or like Pharasma has been presented), is a truly universal deity who has influence across the length, breadth, and depth of the Material Plane and all its infinite galaxies.
It's just... it seems weird to me, after that, to have any culture on Golarion where Asmodeus isn't known in some form.
Would the Yama King equivalent(s) be some lawful-evil deities ruling a section of Hell that actually operated for the good of their petitioners, punishing in order to redeem and letting the souls go to higher planes or reincarnate once they'd repented? (Also, I'm pretty sure the twenty gods of Tian Xia don't even include a Yama King equivalent other than Pharasma herself, and they don't talk about her operating any Hell -- just judging people and sending them on, as per her previous portrayal.)
...I'm really sorry if I'm being annoying, but this seriously weirds me out to no end. n.n;
Yeah... putting small cute animals in peril or (gasp!) killing them is a tried and true trick that you can use to get someone really angry at a villain. Glad to hear it still works as intended, though! :-)
I always find it interesting that people can experience a show/story/game in which generally innocent men women and children are mistreated or killed and some how nothing seems to bring more rage than a single animal coming to harm.
no insults intended to anyone who posted here im not judging you, but I personally always find such responses to be fundamentally flawed and misdirected.
why do you think peoples priorities are focused in such a way?
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This may have been asked before but haveing just finished reading the Runelords hardcover I'm wondering if there are details anywhere on how the other 6 Runelords survived earthfall and where they are.
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It's just... it seems weird to me, after that, to have any culture on Golarion where Asmodeus isn't known in some form.
Would the Yama King equivalent(s) be some lawful-evil deities ruling a section of Hell that actually operated for the good of their petitioners, punishing in order to redeem and letting the souls go to higher planes or reincarnate once they'd repented? (Also, I'm pretty sure the twenty gods of Tian Xia don't even include a Yama King equivalent other than Pharasma herself, and they don't talk about her operating any Hell -- just judging people and sending them on, as per her previous portrayal.)
...I'm really sorry if I'm being annoying, but this seriously weirds me out to no end....
There's a big difference between "being known in some form" and "being on the list of core 20 deities." Asmodeus probably does have some worshipers in Tian Xia, just as thre are probably some worshipers of the Yama King in Avistan.
The list of 20 deities in the Dragon Empires Gazetteer are the core 20 deities for Tian Xia... just as we did a core 20 for the Inner Sea region. And as with the inner sea region... there are more deities than that in Tian Xia.
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Yeah... putting small cute animals in peril or (gasp!) killing them is a tried and true trick that you can use to get someone really angry at a villain. Glad to hear it still works as intended, though! :-)I always find it interesting that people can experience a show/story/game in which generally innocent men women and children are mistreated or killed and some how nothing seems to bring more rage than a single animal coming to harm.
no insults intended to anyone who posted here im not judging you, but I personally always find such responses to be fundamentally flawed and misdirected.
why do you think peoples priorities are focused in such a way?
Because it's human nature.
(Part of which is that most humans are jerks... but that's my latent misanthropy talking!)
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This may have been asked before but haveing just finished reading the Runelords hardcover I'm wondering if there are details anywhere on how the other 6 Runelords survived earthfall and where they are.
** spoiler omitted **
We've not really revealed all the details for the other 6 runelords' fates yet. We've dropped hints in MANY books. But the time is not yet right to pull that curtain back entirely and reveal all about the other six.
The curtain will be jostled often during Shattered Star, though!
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After finishing a certain series, my summoner received an Axebeak that he could use as a mount.
This led me to a chain of thought and I realised that I could not recreate such a mount as an Eidolon (I'm an Evolutionist) because the mount evolution is forbidden to bipeds.
While I understand perhaps that the designers were looking to stop the aesthtic ugliness of someone pigyback riding on a humanoid style eidolon, would you consider that perhaps a second look should be taken on this?
If you want an axebeak mount, play a druid.
They're better and more fun and less annoying than summoners anyway, so you'll be a better person for it in the end.
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Okay this question was inspired by another thread..... so who cares.
any way now on to the question. Mr. Jacobs, is there a feat or feat planned for a druid to use adaily use of wildshape to merge with its animal companion???
or something
No plans for that, no.
Judging by the repercussions of the synthesist archetype, that's a type of power that I think we should probably never go into doing again as a player option.
Because it's human nature.
(Part of which is that most humans are jerks... but that's my latent misanthropy talking!)
Considering the amounts of dogs that's been saved from drowning by people jumping into an icy river in February I'd say humans are kind nice if you don't push them. (Now, why dog-owners keep walking there when everyone knows it's flipping suicidal to do so at that time of year is another matter.)
Thanks Mr. Jacobs for answering my previous question on the amulet of mighty fists. I had a couple more that I wondered if I might trouble you with:
1.) Does alcohol count as a poison for effects that make you immune to poison? (I.e. if you are immune to poison are you immune to being drunk?) What about the other drugs?
2.) For a ninja with the Forgotten Trick ninja trick:
Forgotten Trick (Ex): A ninja with this ability can recall one trick taught to her by her ancient masters. When she uses this ability, she selects one ninja trick (not a master trick or rogue talent) that she does not know and can use that ninja trick for a number of rounds equal to her level. She must pay any ki costs associated with the trick as normal. Using this ability expends 2 ki point from her ki pool, plus the ki cost of the trick she chooses.
It appears that the action used is that used in the duplicated trick (i.e. Vanishing Trick is a swift action, so copying it with forgotten trick would also be a swift action)
What kind of action is it to duplicate the following ninja trick?
Combat Trick: A ninja who selects this trick gains a bonus combat feat.
Which has no listed action? Is it a free action, subsumed into the action necessary to use the feat (such as a standard action for vital strike?)
3.) With the shield master feat, would it be possible to two-weapon-fight with two heavy shields without either the two weapon fighting penalty or the penalty for using a one-handed weapon offhand?
Cheers,
prototype00
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Thanks Mr. Jacobs for answering my previous question on the amulet of mighty fists. I had a couple more that I wondered if I might trouble you with:
1.) Does alcohol count as a poison for effects that make you immune to poison? (I.e. if you are immune to poison are you immune to being drunk?) What about the other drugs?
2.) For a ninja with the Forgotten Trick ninja trick:
Forgotten Trick (Ex): A ninja with this ability can recall one trick taught to her by her ancient masters. When she uses this ability, she selects one ninja trick (not a master trick or rogue talent) that she does not know and can use that ninja trick for a number of rounds equal to her level. She must pay any ki costs associated with the trick as normal. Using this ability expends 2 ki point from her ki pool, plus the ki cost of the trick she chooses.It appears that the action used is that used in the duplicated trick (i.e. Vanishing Trick is a swift action, so copying it with forgotten trick would also be a swift action)
What kind of action is it to duplicate the following ninja trick?
Combat Trick: A ninja who selects this trick gains a bonus combat feat.Which has no listed action? Is it a free action, subsumed into the action necessary to use the feat (such as a standard action for vital strike?)
3.) With the shield master feat, would it be possible to two-weapon-fight with two heavy shields without either the two weapon fighting penalty or the penalty for using a one-handed weapon offhand?
Cheers,
prototype00
1) The rules are unclear... but it makes sense. I'd say yes.
2) If something has no listed action, it's pretty much always a standard action to activate the action. So if you wanted to get a Combat Trick, you'd have to standard action it... which means for something like Vital Strike, it'd be on the 2nd round that you'd be able to do it, not the first.
3) Correct. You could do that, but you'd look kind of funny doing it.
After finishing a certain series, my summoner received an Axebeak that he could use as a mount.
This led me to a chain of thought and I realised that I could not recreate such a mount as an Eidolon (I'm an Evolutionist) because the mount evolution is forbidden to bipeds.
While I understand perhaps that the designers were looking to stop the aesthtic ugliness of someone pigyback riding on a humanoid style eidolon, would you consider that perhaps a second look should be taken on this?
If you want an axebeak mount, play a druid.
They're better and more fun and less annoying than summoners anyway, so you'll be a better person for it in the end.
Also Cavalier:)
What happened to your feathers, James? How did you get such a scaly hide?
3) Correct. You could do that, but you'd look kind of funny doing it.
Hasayfu Hung Kuen - Double Tiger-Head Steel Shields Sample I don't think he looks very silly....
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3) Correct. You could do that, but you'd look kind of funny doing it.Hasayfu Hung Kuen - Double Tiger-Head Steel Shields Sample I don't think he looks very silly....
Agreed.
Although this is the first time I've seen a fighting style like this.
And those shields DO look more like klars than typical Pathfinder shields...
3) Correct. You could do that, but you'd look kind of funny doing it.Hasayfu Hung Kuen - Double Tiger-Head Steel Shields Sample I don't think he looks very silly....Agreed.
Although this is the first time I've seen a fighting style like this.
And those shields DO look more like klars than typical Pathfinder shields...
Dude, this get asked and posted almost every other months, then again, you have other/better things to remember.
Dude, this get asked and posted almost every other months, then again, you have other/better things to remember.3) Correct. You could do that, but you'd look kind of funny doing it.Hasayfu Hung Kuen - Double Tiger-Head Steel Shields Sample I don't think he looks very silly....Agreed.
Although this is the first time I've seen a fighting style like this.
And those shields DO look more like klars than typical Pathfinder shields...
I know, I'm one of the people who keeps posting the video. Every few months, someone asks about dual-wield shields, and then someone claims there is no basis in reality for dual-shields, so we then link that video.