Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Tim, what kind of articles is this wayfinder missing? anything you still need to see?
Pretty much light on everything right now. Seeing almost no bestiary entries, light on the fluff (gazetteer, organizations, people), no spells, no magic items.
It's wide open at this point. The only thing I think we are really set on are the larger sidetrek adventures.
The deadline being less than 30 days away, it makes me a wee-bit nervous to see so little in the way of submissions right now.
Tim
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Pretty much light on everything right now. Seeing almost no bestiary entries, light on the fluff (gazetteer, organizations, people), no spells, no magic items.
You should definitely have some spells. I sent 9 or so in the Desert Magic article.
Of course, I sent in 12 separate submissions, so it may have gotten lost in the press. :)
I've got one appropriately themed monster that I was considering for a side trek, but turned into a full blown creature write up, that I can polish up as well.
And I was totally working up a 'carrion rukh' beastie, which I was trying to avoid looking too much like a buzzard in WoW, and then I found out that there was already that exact creature in Legacy of Fire bestiaries, which left me flummoxed, since I thought I was being totally unoriginal anyway, and then found out I was being even less original than that... Curses! Foiled again!
Had to get some other stuff done first, but I've been scribbling dark things in my off time. It will hit the computer shortly, and then your in-box soon after, Tim.
Ok, I have an idea for a desert creature - but I wanted to check - can we use Mythic Adventures this issue - the beastie really needs to be a mythic source due to the power of some of its abilities.
I have some monster entries I am finishing up. I will put them in ASAP.
*sigh* I should start sending some submissions...
It is electronic-only edition, right? We have plenty of space, right?
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Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Ok, I have an idea for a desert creature - but I wanted to check - can we use Mythic Adventures this issue - the beastie really needs to be a mythic source due to the power of some of its abilities.
ABSOLUTELY you may use Mythic Rules!
WOW. Hell, yes, I want to see new MYTHIC stuff!
WOW. Hell, yes, I want to see new MYTHIC stuff!
Stupid transit times...
Got an organization and their archetype heading to proofreaders this weekend. :)
And nearly finished with a draft of mine. :)
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Bump.
Buncha ideas ready to polish.
750 words of feats on a tight setting-appropriate theme.
2 new monsters (each of which could technically be seen as 10 different monsters) and a versatile monster template (that is actually four template options in one).
3 new Archetypes (one of which makes extensive use of the monsters and monster template, and has four different directions it can go, the second of which is available to three different classes, and the third of which is available to a dozen or so classes and can be taken in stages, 'cause I like pushing design limitations like that).
This is going to be an all-Set issue :)
This is going to be an all-Set issue :)
sic!
750 words of feats on a tight setting-appropriate theme.
Where they Suli-related? Because I have some suli-related feats ideas waiting to be polished and sent...
Looking forward to possibly editing these!
And uh...Tim, maybe you could have a separate Set-themed product. Because 14+ is just ridiculously high. It'd be a shame to throw them away.
Looking forward to possibly editing these!
And uh...Tim, maybe you could have a separate Set-themed product. Because 14+ is just ridiculously high. It'd be a shame to throw them away.
Wayset? Setfinder?
Wayfinder #10.5, Set-edition?
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750 words of feats on a tight setting-appropriate theme.Where they Suli-related? Because I have some suli-related feats ideas waiting to be polished and sent...
Nope. I thought I might have done something with them, but a review says, 'nope.' I think my big idea for them (a Feat to allow Elemental Assault to be used in rounds, like Bardic inspiration or Barbarian rage) was already covered in the Advanced Race Guide. :)
My two are in :D
The more the merrier. Let's all help keep these good people from the Wayfinder team sleepless--speechless, even--for a couple of weeks, eh?
Ruyan.
750 words of feats on a tight setting-appropriate theme.Where they Suli-related? Because I have some suli-related feats ideas waiting to be polished and sent...Nope. I thought I might have done something with them, but a review says, 'nope.' I think my big idea for them (a Feat to allow Elemental Assault to be used in rounds, like Bardic inspiration or Barbarian rage) was already covered in the Advanced Race Guide. :)
I thought about such feat and found it already exist too... But I had a few other things in mind beyond it. I don't know if I develop enough of Suli materials for a submission, however.
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I thought about such feat and found it already exist too... But I had a few other things in mind beyond it. I don't know if I develop enough of Suli materials for a submission, however.
Some Suli (silly?) ideas;
Feats to grant a Suli a form of elemental movement (swim speed equal to ground speed for water, weak flight (or long gliding jumps?) for air, +10 ground move for fire and ignore difficult terrain and weak burrowing for earth), or to refine elemental assault so that he can cause an allies weapons to gain the appropriate elemental property, or focus his elemental assault into a ray of elemental power (go go flame jet!), or share his elemental energy resistances with an ally, could be one way to go.
Suli Favored Class bonuses specific to spellcasters with an elemental Domain, an elemental Mystery, an elemental wizard Specialization, or an elemental or genie sorcerer Bloodline, could be another way to go (+1 level to effects from Domain powers, Bloodline powers, Revelations, etc. / 2 times you take this), or just a Suli oracle or sorcerer Favored Class bonus of gaining +1 spell known so long as it is a spell with the air, earth, fire, water, cold, acid or electricity descriptor (and one level below the highest level you can cast). Another option would be to pick one element / energy type, and get +1 CL to effects from all spells of that element / energy type for every 4 times you choose this option (so a 20th level Suli fire specialist wizard who took this option all 20 levels, would cast fire spells at CL 25. At 4th level, he'd be casting burning hands as if he was 5th level, so, not so exciting, at the lower levels...).
A Suli that replaces elemental assault with Energy Strike (APG p 202) might be able to qualify for a unique Favored Class bonus, granting them +1 damage / 2 times they take this bonus with any energy damage they deal as a spell or class feature from the Favored Class that qualified them for that bonus. (Limited to their one specific Energy Strike energy type, acid, electricity, cold or fire.)
A feat might allow a Suli alchemist to spend a move action to convert a bomb into cold, electricity or acid damage before he throws it. (A 'specialized' Suli with Energy Strike instead of Elemental Assault would not be able to take this feat, although he, or an oread, sylph or undine might be able to buy a trait that lets them spend a move action to change a bomb to their specific attuned element, instead.)
A higher level version of Imbue with Elemental Might (APG p 203) might be 'Communal Imbue with Elemental Might,' and allow a Suli to share their elemental assault with up to 1 ally / level, splitting the 24 hour duration between them, and each of them be able to use it once in reduced duration.
A spell that allows the Suli to share his energy resistance with one or more allies would also fit in that vein. A Suli with that spell might make good coin serving with a caravan, protecting the most susceptible members from the desert heat (fire resistance 5 goes a long way to eliminating the effects of severe heat!). Alternately, instead of buffing one or more creatures, perhaps the Suli radiates an aura that gives energy resistance 5 to everyone within 10 ft. of him, or 20 ft. of him. A low level version might only confer one of his four energy resistances. A higher level version might confer all four of his energy resistances.
A 1st level spell (or feat?) might allow him to turn off his other three resistances, to focus on giving himself energy resistance 10 versus only one element for a time.
It's all really basic stuff, but that's what comes to mind right off.
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Board game rules written up ... need to plug in a couple hundred words of fluff to hit target (can't cut down to 750 without removing ALL Golarion tie ins and a small chunk of the rule write up).
Will be seeing about giving it a play test or two over the next few days (above and beyond the mental exercises of working it up).
If you liked The Great Hunt and Linnorm Bones from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings issue (#6), hopefully this one will make the cut and there will be more "regional" game goodness to unleash upon your players for flavor (and a nice side diversion from regular game play).
Turning my attention to the Sand Ships next.
Going to send in my monster this week. Hope it helps with the shortage, and evokes the imagination of evil GMs everywhere! :)
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Interested in a career in the exciting field of monster design? Here at the Wanda Trussler School of Ugly, there are a ton of Arabic / Persian / desert themed beasties out there crying out for a makeover!
Fulad-zerah – huge horned demon made invulnerable by the spells of his witch mother to all weapons but a specific sword, capable of flight, and possessing skin that appears as steel armor. (Parallels to Iuz and Iggwilv, and also Achilles and his mom, who may or may not be named Thetis?)
Hahayosh / Sarsaok – giant ox, so large it carried men on its back and they prepared Hush (an immortality drink) from it. Associated with the Biblical Behemoth.
Huma – legendary (possibly legless) bird that never touches the ground, but may alight on a person to signify that they are to be a king. It’s touch or its shadow can bless someone with good fortune.
Karkadann – rhinoceros whose horn has medicinal properties and sweats in the presence of poison.
Manticore – body of a red lion, a human head with three rows of shark-like teeth, a trumpet like voice. May be horned, winged or both. May have a tail like a dragon or scorpion, and may shoot poisonous spines that paralyze or kill. It eats everything, leaving behind no clothes, bones or possessions. A 'manticore ecology' could include some of these others as uncommon variants.
Shabrang – immortal jet black fire-resistant horse. Descendents of the original, Shabrang Behzad, might exist in small numbers.
Shahbaz – large hawk or small eagle preferred by royalty. Goshawk?
Zu – massive (lion headed?) birds that can breathe fire and water (mass hydraulic push?).
Dandan – giant fish capable of swallowing a ship whole, enemy of mermen.
Grines – a djinn that is born (and dies) whenever a mortal does, with the actions of each other influencing their ‘twin.’ Sounds very much like a Plane of Shadow 'twin,' but in the elemental planes instead.
Ifrit – enormous winged creature of fire, renowned for strength and cunning. Impervious to normal weapons, but not to magic. Tweak: Change the name, and it could be a 'genie brute' that serves the Efreeti (lacking magical SLAs but gaining greater strength, wings and DR 10/silver?).
Nasnas – half a person, believed to be an offspring between a demon called a Shiqq and a human being, or a magician can turn someone into one temporarily by applying kohl to one eye. Tweak: Instead of ‘half-body,’ half of body is stuck in another dimensional space, allowing unusual mobility (as if incorporeal, ignoring difficult terrain and passing through up to 5 ft. of solid matter) and a 50% chance of being missed by any attack and the ability to become invisible when motionless by ‘turning sideways.’
Qareen – an invisible jinn companion that lures a human towards wickedness.
Were-Hyena – hyenas pretending to be human. Hairy body, nasal voice and red and gleaming eyes can tell them from humans. Attack and eat humans by night, live among them by day. Some can mesmerize people with their eyes or scent. Very similar to jackalweres...
Sag – body and claws of a lioness, wings and head of a hawk, and a tail that is a trail of lotus blossoms that can destroy water in its area. Tweak: Killing one can cause a spring to bubble up at the site of its death, usually temporarily, but permanently for mythic versions of the creature.
Sameer – insect with adamantine shell and pincers, can be trained to cut stone blocks. Tweak: Diminutive, unless they are overfed and find a supply of metal to eat, at which point they can grow to become gargantuan menaces?
Have arabic sila already appeared somewhere in Pathfinder?
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Lots of good ideas here, plus some I've been bandying about off-thread.
I'm going to have to sit down with the ISWG, Dark Markets, and Legacy of Fire, to be sure what's already been done.
And maybe dig out the 2nd Edition Al-Qadim boxes, wich I have, but never played.
I know the sha'ir was updated to 3.5, in Paizo's Dragon Compendium, so I don't know if that's open to reinterpretation? Too soon?
If so, what class would best emulate it? The mechanics are far more like the per-encounter hexes of the witch, or the 3.5 warlock, than the old-school Vancian casting of the wizard and sorcerer. Were they popular, back in the day?
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The Daivrat PrC in Qadira: Desert Power Blue-Within-Blue-Eyes or whatever, kinda / sorta goes in a Sha'ir direction (tiny genie that can fetch a single spell per day), but, only barely nudges in that direction.
I'm not sure that the original mechanic is viable, in 3.X/PF, but I'm more than willing to be proven wrong, since I loved the heck out of that class (which, back in 2nd edition, I played two of to mid levels, proving more of a support class, throwing mage armor and stoneskin and mount spells for everyone's convenience, and then only basically having a single spell to cast in a fight, since his Gen never made it back with another spell before the fight was over in seven levels and nine levels, respectively...).
That being said, the Sha'ir is not OGL, so I'd also avoid it for that reason!
Indeed, despite Zakhara / Al-Qadim being one of my favorite AD&D settings, ever, I've avoided even looking at my books while thinking up ideas for this issue of Wayfinder. I'd love to come up with PF versions of Sha'ir, Hakima, Holy Slayers, Mamelukes, etc. but don't want to deal with OGL stuff. (Oh, the glory days, when I would figure out how to make diagrams of the progression of Mameluke tattoos by rank in Paint for the Mameluke orders I'd invented...)
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Yes, I don't think it would be advisable to recreate the mechanics of the class exactly the way they were originally presented, because I think the class was far too lopsided. Situationally swingy, they were weak on their own, but their power increased, the more allies they had (like a bard).
"Every one us can have every buff in the book, running 24/7, but if a fight breaks out, I'll be hiding under a rock."
The gen seems to be a teacher and conduit to a higher patron, similar to a witch's familiar, but the methods of 'Give me the right spell I need, for the problem I'm facing right now' seems to imply a spontaneous caster, rather than prepared.
With regard to IP issues, I'd have to look up the origin of the name; if you're referring to something made up specifically for D&D, you've got a problem, if your source is real-world myth, the OGL isn't a barrier, surely?
Hence, why Asmodeus is legal IP but Lolth isn't.
But if I were to change the mechanics, I'd probably want to change the name to avoid confusion.
I don't know if fixing it is too big a task to chew.
As an archetype, you're talking at least a half page, for mechanics alone.
Changing casting mechanics, then adding background flavor on top.
Whoosh, there goes my word count budget.
Distancing oneself from AD&D sha'ir mechanics should be enough. Maybe make it into some sort of bard/summoner hybrid?
Sounds interesting! Maybe have a look at White Wolf's WW4030: Lost Paths: Ahl-I-Batin and Taftani (Mage) for further inspiration?
Two monsters submitted.
Turning my attention to the Sand Ships next.
Hurry up, zylphryx! I restrained myself to not pursue this idea, now I've run out of time, and I definitely want so see your go at it!
Ruyan.
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The gen seems to be a teacher and conduit to a higher patron, similar to a witch's familiar, but the methods of 'Give me the right spell I need, for the problem I'm facing right now' seems to imply a spontaneous caster, rather than prepared.
One sideways tweak would be for the gen to only be 'sent for spells' at the beginning of the day, grabbing spells from the sor/wiz list, and then those are the spells you have for the rest of the day. Unlike either the sorcerer or the wizard, you'd potentially have access to the entire sor/wiz list, more like a cleric or druid, than a sor/wiz. (Balanced by a requirement to roll for each spell sought, and possibly having to settle for second choices in a few instances.)
Or it could be limited to spells known like a sorcerer, but every day, you can send the gen out to pick up X number of levels of spells (equal to your Cha mod) to add to your spells known for that day.
Or you might have spells like a witch, but be able to send the gen out to add any spells that have the air, earth, fire or water descriptors, tying the concept much more tightly to the elemental/genie theme. Anything that's not an elemental spell, you've got to learn the old fashioned way, but if it's air, earth, fire or water, you can learn it from any list (even cleric or druid, although it's arcane when you cast it).
And yeah, whichever way you go, it's going to eat up some wordcount compared to the average Archetype, just as the Al-Qadim writeup was *much* longer than the standard 'kit' like Hakima or Sorcerer or Moralist.
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Yes, the witch seems like the way to go, since the gen was never meant to fight on the sha'ir's behalf.
Reskinning a Summoner as an 'genie-bound elementalist' is already possible via the standard class rules, but they could always be tweaked to include more specifically elemental evolutions, at the expense of some of the more egregiously physical ones (and I'm sure there's more than a few GMs out there would breath a sigh of relief at that..."You want your pal to have four elemental resistances, instead of 'ten heads with six tentacles each'? Oh, Hell, yeah!... errr, I mean 'we'll see how that works'...").
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Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Yes, cannot stress enough that you should stay within the OGL on your articles. We try and police that as much as possible in our initial and subsequent reviews, but we really don't want a legal issue to crop up because we missed that the content is in violation. Something like that would close Wayfinder down for good, I think.
So....don't.
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Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Is there space for linked articles, or, more specifically, an Archetype article that is dependent on some Bestiary entries as well?
I really like linked articles, but more along the lines of a fiction piece supporting the mechanics or fluff piece, giving more background to it. Or a side trek adventure that includes a new artifact or monster type.
The issue is that if you have a class that is dependent on a bestiary entry, you are sort of forcing us to accept both or neither. If we are space-limited at that point, or one is strong and the other isn't so much, both are likely to not be used. So, sort of a gamble.
Also, (and this isn't just aimed at Set), keep in mind that we want to get as many contributors into the one issue as possible. That is actually a criteria: have we already accepted something from this person? Yes? OK. Reject pile, or standby pile.
So, you CAN submit as much as you want, but understand that not everything you submit is going to get in...we will need to filter and evaluate everyone's submissions. We are looking to be fair, and balance the submissions for maximum participation.
Now, that said, if the submissions are low, then we NEED to use what we have. Past issues have seen that...and several contributors have had multiple articles. It happens.
So, in the broad scheme of things, more submissions = better. My only request is that each submission should always be your best effort.
Hey Tim,
I'd like to see some of those new fangled Roles that the Player Companion line has been testing lately. What do you think? An article on feats., classes, options, traits, etc for how to make a character from the region?
Could even be a recurring article.
Quick question from a first time submitter- Do we get any confirmation on whether or not any of the submissions we sent in get used before the publication comes out or do we find out when the book is released? Thank you much!
Often when your article is selected, an editor may contact you regarding changes or with questions regarding the content. That's pretty much the tell that you've made it in.