>>Ask *Mark Seifter* All Your Questions Here!<<


Off-Topic Discussions

1,851 to 1,900 of 6,833 << first < prev | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | next > last >>
Designer

1 person marked this as a favorite.
BigP4nda wrote:

How often do you use Pathfinder inside jokes and puns in your everyday life? Do you ever get weird looks when you do so? Or do you strictly keep it to gaming friends?

In case you are unclear of my meaning:

Mark Seifter wrote:
The DC ones may get a circumstance bonus, though, by my knowledge of that universe through the cartoons as a kid.
^ stuff like that.

I tend to make plenty of allusions and puns anywhere, but I tend to pick a topic that someone or everyone present will "get."

Designer

The NPC wrote:

Mr. Mark Seifter,

In your estimation would taking the APG summoner and switching out the spell list for the unchained spell list and leaving pounce as a 3 point evolution be an acceptable course of action? Would you allow it at your table?

Anything's an acceptable course of action if that's what you want to do. With Unchained, it's all about tweaking to perfect things for you and your group!

Heck, I played a summoner in Linda's Council of Thieves game, and it worked out fine (for one thing, we ban summon eidolon, though; if the eidolon goes down, it's down, not just back again and again for the rest of the day), though part of that came down to RP things that limited my use of the eidolon for many levels (thought it was an imaginary friend that no one else could see, so why would my imaginary friend fight things?).


Mark Seifter wrote:


Flash and Arrow have their moments, but they also have the CW drama, sometimes too much. Agents of Shield S1 was so boring and utterly unengaging that I couldn't keep watching it. I can't even remember it that well, which is rare for me. I watched to the point where they brought back the super from episode 1 and something boring happened; I think there was a hiatus, and I didn't return. I have heard that it gets better, but I couldn't motivate myself to get to that point. The DC ones may get a circumstance bonus, though, by my knowledge of that universe through the cartoons as a kid.

I feel you on the drama. Arrow's been kind of annoying me lately.

Loving the Flash though. It's incredibly upbeat, and I've always had a soft spot for Flash anyway, so it's just fun to watch.

Agents of Shield is great if you watch like the first episode, and then the last 4-6 episodes. Maybe read a synopsis of the others, but skip watching them. There's some gems scattered here and there, but for the most part the first 2/3 of season 1 is...meh, because they were in a holding pattern until Winter Soldier came out.

Season 2 is pretty good though. Without spoiling too much, the characters of both Ward (Blandy No Personality) and Skye (grating and annoying at best) get HUGE leaps in quality as characters, and the overall quality of the show jumps as well.


Mark Seifter wrote:


Flash and Arrow have their moments, but they also have the CW drama, sometimes too much. Agents of Shield S1 was so boring and utterly unengaging that I couldn't keep watching it. I can't even remember it that well, which is rare for me. I watched to the point where they brought back the super from episode 1 and something boring happened; I think there was a hiatus, and I didn't return. I have heard that it gets better, but I couldn't motivate myself to get to that point. The DC ones may get a circumstance bonus, though, by my knowledge of that universe through the cartoons as a kid.

Flash is mildly enjoyable. It has an edge that speed as a super ability creates a lot of design space for stunts and abilities. The only problem I have with the show are those absurd moments when it is obvious Flash would/could do something using speed and does not, like letting a bad guy run away when he could knock the guy out in a microsecond, literally. I also think the characters have much more interesting stories. The main cop does a great job of acting, imo.

Arrow, despite my loving rangers and almost always playing arrow shooting archetypes, is unbearable. I have not been able to watch a complete episode once. My issue is the guy who plays Green Arrow is insufferable, but I don't know how much of it is acting or writing. I am just amazed that the show has lasted as long as it does. I also find it extremely corny that he has a gang of arrow-shooting sidekicks. Whatever.

Funny that I felt exactly the same way about AoS. I watched about three or four episodes and lost interest. The characters on the show are not interesting, imo. That one scientist's foreign accent is so strong I couldn't understand half of what was being said. Again, I am surprised AoS has lasted past a single season.


Agent of Shield is a slow show perhaps but it is one of my favorite shows on currently - every single character has had real arcs and characters that started of seemingly bland or boring have become anything but - I think it is worth a revisit if you are a fan of the greater Marvel cinematic universe - the show is clearly leading up to both the next Avengers movie and the movies to come later

an actual film spoiler...:
the current season is introducing the Inhumans to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

And the show has had links to the truly amazingly good Agent Carter miniseries (which hopefully will get a second season at least) and even some ties into the Netflix Daredevil series (more subtle but they are there - I haven't see that series yet however but am looking forward to it).

I haven't watched the DC based series yet - if I ever get time I may try watching Arrow and Flash but I don't have the history with the DC universe of characters that I do with Marvel.


I am trying to come up with a spell that moves an enchantment from one item to another. To that end, I have come up with a couple of variations, but I am not sure what spell level they would be most balanced at.

***********************Version 1
Transfer enchantment
school transmutation
components; verbal, somatic, M(the weapon or armor with the original enchantment)
range touch
target weapon or armor (type must correspond to material component)
cast time; 10 minutes
save, yes(see text) spell resistance no

This spell moves a weapon or armor enchantment from one weapon or suit of armor to another. If the enchantment being moved included abilities that require specific weapon or armor types, that part of the enchantment is lost if the new weapon or armor could not normally posses that enchantment. The new enchantments overwrite and replace any enchantments currently on the weapon, or armor suite. If the targeted weapon or armor suite is either intelligent or cursed, it may make a will save against this affect, if the save is successful, the spell fails but the material component is still consumed.

Version 2************************************
Transfer enchantment
school transmutation
components; verbal, somatic, M(the weapon or armor with the original enchantment)
range touch
target weapon or armor (type must correspond to material component)
cast time; 10 minutes
save, no; spell resistance, no

This spell moves a weapon or armor enchantment from one weapon or suit of armor to another. If the enchantment being moved included abilities that require specific weapon or armor types, that part of the enchantment is lost if the new weapon or armor could not normally posses that enchantment. The new enchantments overwrite and replace any enchantments currently on the weapon, or armor suite. If the targeted weapon or armor suite is either intelligent or cursed, then you must make a caster level check against a dc of 10 + the items caster level or the spell fails, and the material component is wasted.


a few thoughts:

- the overwriting is potentially troublesome - why force that to be the case?

- why no costly material components? (or is the overwriting intended to avoid gains from using this?0

- shouldn't the caster level check apply to BOTH sides - i.e. what happens with the original item that was enchanted? (is is no longer enchanted? if so this is pretty potent). What if you wanted to transfer a curse from one item to another - does that remove the curse on the first item?


Rycaut wrote:

a few thoughts:

- the overwriting is potentially troublesome - why force that to be the case?

- why no costly material components? (or is the overwriting intended to avoid gains from using this?0

- shouldn't the caster level check apply to BOTH sides - i.e. what happens with the original item that was enchanted? (is is no longer enchanted? if so this is pretty potent). What if you wanted to transfer a curse from one item to another - does that remove the curse on the first item?

well since the original item was a material component in both versions I thought that was a costly material component, since you were consuming a master work weapon or suite of armor. as written I thought it was fairly evident that the curse if any would move to the new item as the old one was destroyed. The overwriting was to provide an opportunity cost, for example, you are using a +2 greatsword and find a + 3 flaming rapier in a dungeon that no one wants, you use the spell to move the +3 flaming enchant to your greatsword but lose the original +2 enchantment bonus, depriving you of something to sell.

What would the benefit of transferring a curse from one item to another be?


For one, transferring curses can make an unexpected trap item.

I wouldn't expect anyone to ever overwrite a magic item they have on hand - this spell encourages folks to carry masterwork copies of their main gear in case they find a better enchantment than what they already have.

Not that that's a problem necessarily... I would, however, encourage you to require the caster to have Craft Magic Arms/Armor, or this spell will provide a means to bypass one significant opportunity cost (feat expense) already built into the game.

With that modification, the spell effectively sells the item and crafts the new item with the gold you would have gained (nearly) instantaneously without the need for spellcraft checks. This is still great for dungeon crawling, as the major block there has always been time.

The risk (wasting the item) is significant, which means nobody will ever use the spell on (very) expensive items unless they can guarantee success. I'd actually attempt to dial back the risk to make it more palatable -- so more people might actually accept the risk and get burned -- maybe you get targeted by a random spellblight if you fail, or you get cursed, or something.

---

Meh, Mr Seifter will probably have better ideas.

And to ease my discomfort in discussing something in this thread without asking a question... I'll ask a question:

Are you satisfied/dissatisfied with the current reaction of the customer base with regard to the recent release of Pathfinder Unchained? It must be pretty interesting to see the reaction from the other side of the curtain, if you will. (Possibly difficult to answer from a Public Affairs view-point -- sorry)

I can't help but think some people really got their hopes up and are venting their disappointment, but from what I've heard it sounds like a pretty decent product.

Designer

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Adept_Woodwright wrote:

Are you satisfied/dissatisfied with the current reaction of the customer base with regard to the recent release of Pathfinder Unchained? It must be pretty interesting to see the reaction from the other side of the curtain, if you will. (Possibly difficult to answer from a Public Affairs view-point -- sorry)

I can't help but think some people really got their hopes up and are venting their disappointment, but from what I've heard it sounds like a pretty decent product.

Honestly, this has been a really positive reaction so far, I think.


Adept_Woodwright wrote:
For one, transferring curses can make an unexpected trap item.

Could you give an example of what you mean? I would have assumed that transfering a curse from one cursed sword to a mace or vice versa would have very little affect, since either way, you end up with one cursed weapon, or a cursed armor, is there something I am missing? its not like you could transfer a curse from a ring to a sword or some other such exploit.

Adept_Woodwright wrote:


I wouldn't expect anyone to ever overwrite a magic item they have on hand - this spell encourages folks to carry masterwork copies of their main gear in case they find a better enchantment than what they already have.

for the most part, I agree, but not all that many people masterwork spares, at least in the groups I play with, and a lot of people have fairly limited wait limits, so carrying spare weapons is mostly only feasible to str based characters, unless the magic mart let everyone get a handy haversack or something.

Adept_Woodwright wrote:


Not that that's a problem necessarily... I would, however, encourage you to require the caster to have Craft Magic Arms/Armor, or this spell will provide a means to bypass one significant opportunity cost (feat expense) already built into the game.

I think this is less of an issue, unless you are typically finding weapons with the combination of enchants that perfectly matches your preferences but on the wrong weapon type (sadistic gm) then I don't think this issue is valid, since most of the time, the enchantments you find on a magic weapon are by no means the most desirable for that cost.

Adept_Woodwright wrote:


With that modification, the spell effectively sells the item and crafts the new item with the gold you would have gained (nearly) instantaneously without the need for spellcraft checks. This is still great for dungeon crawling, as the major block there has always been time.

To some extent this is true, but while crafting a magic weapon has always been half price to buying them, this is still more expensive because at the very least, you are spending 300 more of a masterwork weapon, or 150 more for a masterwork armor, and if special materials were involved the amount that using the spell costs you is even higher, though in this regard, I should probably add a caveat of requiring 2000 gold gems as an additional material component if the targeted item is made of cold iron.

Adept_Woodwright wrote:


The risk (wasting the item) is significant, which means nobody will ever use the spell on (very) expensive items unless they can guarantee success. I'd actually attempt to dial back the risk to make it more palatable -- so more people might actually accept the risk and get burned -- maybe you get targeted by a random spellblight if you fail, or you get cursed, or something.

I assume you are talking about version 1 for the high risk? since a will save is much more likely to cause a failure than the caster level check, but in any case in both versions of the spell, the will save or caster level check only applies if you try to overwrite a cursed or intelligent item, so the risk can be avoided merely by not trying to overwrite cursed or intelligent items.


Mark Seifter wrote:
Adept_Woodwright wrote:

Are you satisfied/dissatisfied with the current reaction of the customer base with regard to the recent release of Pathfinder Unchained? It must be pretty interesting to see the reaction from the other side of the curtain, if you will. (Possibly difficult to answer from a Public Affairs view-point -- sorry)

I can't help but think some people really got their hopes up and are venting their disappointment, but from what I've heard it sounds like a pretty decent product.

Honestly, this has been a really positive reaction so far, I think.

And then there's Negative Nancy me over here :P


imagine that you aren't in a dungeon but are in a city

you sneak into the mayor/lord/king's hall and cast your spell to turn his famously powerful family heirloom into a cursed weapon - one that will curse him when he wields it at the ceremony the following day....

(or you or a "friendly" NPC offers to enhance an adventurer's weapon - instead of enhancing it, you transfer a curse from one weapon to it)

As I read it it wasn't clear to me that the component was consumed in the casting of the spell - i.e. that you weren't left with a magical sword/armor w/o a given enchantment but that you were consuming that weapon entirely - consuming a weapon or armor entirely is actually a pretty powerful bit of magic by itself (whole feat chains/dispell chains around destroying magic items).

My point re cursed items is actually both ways - either enchanting a weapon as a means to remove a curse from an item permanently OR transferring a curse from one item to another (perhaps one that isn't just "random +1 sword" but is well known) are both pretty potent.

that said as a GM I like the idea of creative uses - though probably I wouldn't destroy both items in the process but might include a material component to represent the costs of the spell beyond having both items on hand

Question for Mark - I haven't read unchained yet does the hinted at alternative magic item system in there suggest anything relevant to this discussion?


granted you can destroy a magic item with it, but so can a level one barbarian, and in most cases he will do it faster. Really curious about this one because you are not the only person who has brought this specific issue up, but why is it so special to destroy an item with magic when hitting it with a hammer does the same thing?

since you are not the only one who suggested that having the original item listed as a material component made it unclear that the original item was destroyed, do you have any suggestions for wording that would be more clear?

as for your example, it seems a little overly contrived to me, but I don't have very permissive gm's in a lot of cases, so maybe you can help me solve some hitches with that plan.
so, you first aquire a weapon with a curse bad enough to matter, sneak into a well guarded location where a powerful magic item is kept, spend ten minutes casting a spell, manage to discard the newly cursed item since it was effectively in your possesion for you to target it with this spell this should require at the very least, remove curse, then you sneak out, and hope nobody notices that the powerful magic item has a significantly different aura.

Why is this better than just casting bestow curse on the king while he is sleeping? why is this better than just taking whatever cursed item in question, and giving it to the king with either the beguiling gift spell, or just as a present?

As to using the spell to remove a curse, why is that so potent, unless the specific mundane item mattered, hypothetically, you have a + 1 dagger with a curse, and a + 1 dagger with no curse, you use this spell, which destroys the non cursed item to give the cursed dagger a +1 enchantment with no curse, whats the difference from just casting remove curse and dropping the item?

In any case, thank you for your feedback, I am grateful for everyone taking the time to respond.

Designer

Tels wrote:
Mark Seifter wrote:
Adept_Woodwright wrote:

Are you satisfied/dissatisfied with the current reaction of the customer base with regard to the recent release of Pathfinder Unchained? It must be pretty interesting to see the reaction from the other side of the curtain, if you will. (Possibly difficult to answer from a Public Affairs view-point -- sorry)

I can't help but think some people really got their hopes up and are venting their disappointment, but from what I've heard it sounds like a pretty decent product.

Honestly, this has been a really positive reaction so far, I think.
And then there's Negative Nancy me over here :P

There will be some negative responses to everything. Even books or TV shows that I enjoy have some people who dislike them, and I dislike some very popular things too. Doesn't mean you're being a Negative Nancy at all, it's your legitimate opinion, and it doesn't affect my view that the reaction was quite positive. I even looked over some other corners of the internet that are usually pretty negative, and they weren't even being that negative. I'm only seeing a few negative responses too. Some of them (like the monk and the people who want even more out of VMC) I think will be more positive when people start working these things out, building them, and playing them (while some people want even more from VMC than is in the book, which they're welcome to adjust for their game, the amount you already get is super good already for 5 feats and there are some very strong combinations). The summoner is just a necessary thing given that it's changing to be weaker in some areas.


Avadriel wrote:
Could you give an example of what you mean? I would have assumed that transfering a curse from one cursed sword to a mace or vice versa would have very little affect, since either way, you end up with one cursed item, is there something I am missing? its not like you could transfer a curse from a ring to a sword or some other such exploit.

Admittedly it wont come up often, but sometimes there might be significant lore attached to say, the cursed dagger of doom, which means everyone second guesses picking up a dagger out of habit. On the other hand, anybody might be tempted to pick up the unsuspecting mace with a hidden aura (which now carries the dagger's curse). It's not the strongest example, but it might come up eventually as a new thing opened up by that spell. (Rycaut's example is good too!)

---

Avadriel wrote:
not all that many people masterwork spares, at least in the groups I play with

This could be subject to change if people are saving the cost of their +5 weapon by carrying a spare -- it does depend on the availability of weight saving mechanics like bags of holding, carts/donkeys, or handy haversacks. I usually suspect those are available, though I admit things would be different if those aren't base assumptions.

---

Avadriel wrote:
I think this is less of an issue, unless you are typically finding weapons with the combination of enchants that perfectly matches your preferences but on the wrong weapon type (sadistic gm)

I thought the spell presupposed a bit of sadistic GMing (giving good enchantments on an item you cant use effectively) - did I misinterpret? Why would you use this spell if not to put better enchantments on an item you want to use?

---

Avadriel wrote:
To some extent this is true, but while crafting a magic weapon has always been half price to buying them, this is still more expensive because at the very least, you are spending 300 more of a masterwork weapon, or 150 more for a masterwork armor, and if special materials were involved the amount that using the spell costs you is even higher, though in this regard, I should probably add a caveat of requiring 2000 gold gems as an additional material component if the targeted item is made of cold iron.

The only sure price difference is half of the masterwork cost (youd usually recoup half of it by selling the original item). That cost is (in my opinion) very low for the schedule reduction you achieve.

Regardless, the comparison is close, showing that the proposed houserule isn't too far out of the realm of the possible.

And yeah, the cold iron thing would give players a way to generate cash (not that any GM would let that happen, so that in itself isn't a problem with the houserule)

---

Avadriel wrote:
I assume you are talking about version 1 for the high risk? since a will save is much more likely to cause a failure than the caster level check, but in any case in both versions of the spell, the will save or caster level check only applies if you try to overwrite a cursed or intelligent item, so the risk can be avoided merely by not trying to overwrite cursed or intelligent items.

For both options actually, though one is easier to buff high enough to make failure moot. As it stands, the thought only applies to intelligent/cursed items... That said, I find risks in magic to be interesting, so I'd likely make the penalty apply to every attempt.

Designer

Avadriel wrote:

granted you can destroy a magic item with it, but so can a level one barbarian, and in most cases he will do it faster. Really curious about this one because you are not the only person who has brought this specific issue up, but why is it so special to destroy an item with magic when hitting it with a hammer does the same thing?

since you are not the only one who suggested that having the original item listed as a material component made it unclear that the original item was destroyed, do you have any suggestions for wording that would be more clear?

as for your example, it seems a little overly contrived to me, but I don't have very permissive gm's in a lot of cases, so maybe you can help me solve some hitches with that plan.
so, you first aquire a weapon with a curse bad enough to matter, sneak into a well guarded location where a powerful magic item is kept, spend ten minutes casting a spell, manage to discard the newly cursed item since it was effectively in your possesion for you to target it with this spell this should require at the very least, remove curse, then you sneak out, and hope nobody notices that the powerful magic item has a significantly different aura.

Why is this better than just casting bestow curse on the king while he is sleeping? why is this better than just taking whatever cursed item in question, and giving it to the king with either the beguiling gift spell, or just as a present?

As to using the spell to remove a curse, why is that so potent, unless the specific mundane item mattered, hypothetically, you have a + 1 dagger with a curse, and a + 1 dagger with no curse, you use this spell, which destroys the non cursed item to give the cursed dagger a +1 enchantment with no curse, whats the difference from just casting remove curse and dropping the item?

In any case, thank you for your feedback, I am grateful for everyone taking the time to respond.

I'm guessing that it's different in his opinion due to the fact that make whole can fix what the hammer did, but using it as a material component means it's gone forever.


Adept_Woodwright wrote:
Avadriel wrote:
I think this is less of an issue, unless you are typically finding weapons with the combination of enchants that perfectly matches your preferences but on the wrong weapon type (sadistic gm)

I thought the spell presupposed a bit of sadistic GMing (giving good enchantments on an item you cant use effectively) - did I misinterpret? Why would you use this spell if not to put better enchantments on an item you want to use?

Mostly the purpose of this spell, was for use in a system where crafting is the only way to get an actual item you want especially if you are using a less common weapon type. The GMs I deal with tend to use randomly generated treasure for everything, so if I use a elven branched spear, or a hooked lance, or a tetsubo, I will never be able to buy or find anything above a masterwork weapon since only the common weapons appear on the random generation lists. So if I play a martial with an unusual choice of weapons, I cannot get a magic weapon ever usually, since none of the caster's in my parties ever take craft magic arms and armor, they go for craft wands, or craft wonderous items, or brew potions instead, since those benefit them more. The only time I don't have to worry about this issue is if I play a Magus, or potentially a bloodrager.

EDIT: I used to be able to work around this by qualifying for craft magic arms and armor with spell like abilities, but that is not a valid approach anymore.


Mark Seifter wrote:


Honestly, this has been a really positive reaction so far, I think.

Is there a metric for the neigh inevitable cries of "NED OF THE WORLD! WORST THING EVER!?", like background radiation for geek umbrage?


also I wasn't assuming that you could "count" as having possession of both items when casting the spell - i.e. you are targeting an item but don't have to be wielding either item. You could keep the cursed item in an extra dimensional space, bring it out but not wield it (depends a bit on how you and your GM handle curses - but I've always handled them for weapons or armor as requiring you to wield or wear the weapon or armor). And yes, my point was that sundering an item doesn't actually fully destroy it but using it as a material component is pretty completely destroyed typically - which by itself for a cursed item might be pretty powerful - depending on the curse.

And my main thought was indeed using the spell to change the enchantments on a well known item - perhaps it is easier to get to the king's weapons (which may be on display somewhere or while guarded aren't as heavily guarded as the king's own person) - and while using the example of a king is extreme it is to make the point that in many games characters may have items for which they are well known (PC's or NPC's) a spell that lets someone modify existing items could be used creatively to cause some havoc in both flashy and non-obvious ways (imagine transferring the vicious instead of merciful to a paladin's weapon)

But that also raises an interesting and more complex point - something which many games overlook is that technically many weapon enhancements require a command word to activate them - would this transfer spell change that command word? Would the person who wields the weapon next realize that something has changed? Would secondary effects of the weapon change (whether the weapon glows for example - which many games never quite specify).

As a GM I would actually favor letting the player get creative - I like the idea of the spell, especially if it isn't destructive to either side - and if it could be used to do subtle changes as well as more obvious ones (i.e. if swapping is just one option, adding an effect would be another possibility - though perhaps only with an appropriate cost and the Craft Arms and Armor feat and perhaps with skill you could do things like swap effects but retain the past commands.

Silver Crusade

Avadriel wrote:
I am trying to come up with a spell that moves an enchantment from one item to another.

snip

It's not a spell, but rather a magic item. Would this work for you?


Christopher Utley wrote:
Avadriel wrote:
I am trying to come up with a spell that moves an enchantment from one item to another.

snip

It's not a spell, but rather a magic item. Would this work for you?

If I could actually get one, it would be basically perfect. Sadly, unless its published in an official paizo product I have zero chance of getting it, where as if I get this spell balanced and approved by my gm, I could pay the party wizard to research it.


there is the Core feat - Master Craftsman which would allow a non-spellcaster to take Craft Arms and Armor and use their skill ranks as caster level (and use the chosen craft or profession skill to make the items) - so it is a bit limited, you won't be as flexible as spell caster using spell craft to make items - but it is a route for a non-caster to make items (and potentially party members would help reduce DC's by casting required spells as part of your crafting)


The master craftsman route also has the issue of requiring two feats, one of which does nothing but let you take the second. it also gives you a crippled version of the craft feat, since if you took master craftsman for craft weapon, you can't use it to make magical armor. And even the craft skill uses different skills for some weapon types, so someone who took it for craft weapon can't make magical bows.

RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32

Can I get your opinion on the finer points of fuse grenade timing?


So is there anything you miss about Boston, that could potentially fit in a checked bag. Also you said you got baked goods for a FAQ what did you guys get?

Designer

David Neilson wrote:
So is there anything you miss about Boston, that could potentially fit in a checked bag. Also you said you got baked goods for a FAQ what did you guys get?

Hmm...The things I loved about Boston are probably bigger things than a checked bag, but I will ask Linda on that one.

As for FAQ food, we've gotten a few of them since I came here. After Boar Style, we got some pig-related food (and a vegetarian dish for me) from a local pizza place from one fan. Then, for both soundstriker and then again more recently another FAQ, a group of fans teaming up got us this white box that contained a bunch of snickedoodles, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, blondies, and some other member of the blondie/brownie family if I recall correctly.


Interesting. So anyone send odd things like dead flowers for stuff they do not like?


I would totally send you guys some coal if I ever disliked a FAQ xD
All joking aside, What's your favorite aspect of the PF Unchained book coming out?

Designer

4 people marked this as a favorite.

Despite not being in the RPG line and thus not FAQable, freebooter has taken control from the scorpion whip! But mithral, light and stealthy, manages to grab the FAQ, leaving Light and Darkness to wait at least until we stop doing Unchained blogs before it slinks back out of the darkness. Will scorpion whip
Mithral FAQ is live!

FAQ wrote:

Mithral armor: What exactly does it mean when it says mithral armor is counted as one category lighter for “other limitations?”

This means that mithral armor allows its wearer to use it when her own class features or special abilities demand her to wear lighter armor; in other words, the character wearing the armor is less limited. For example, a bard can cast spells in mithral breastplate without arcane spell failure, a barbarian can use her fast movement in mithral fullplate, a ranger can use his combat style in mithral fullplate, brawlers, swashbucklers, and gunslingers can keep their nimble bonus in mithral breastplate, rogues keep evasion in mithral breastplate, a brawler can flurry in mithral breastplate, characters without Endurance can sleep in mithral breastplate without becoming fatigued, and so on. It does not change the armor’s actual category, which means that you can still store a creature one size category larger in a hosteling mithral fullplate, and you can’t enhance a mithral breastplate with special abilities that require it to be light armor, like brawling (though you could enhance it with special abilities that require it to be medium armor), and so on.

Will scorpion whip take the FAQ next week, or will it be taking 10 on Knowledge checks, or something else? Find out next week on FAQ Friday!


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Yay! I've been wondering if that is how mithral was intended to work, glad to hear it :D

Just a request: if you do a FAQ about taking 10, please make it cover taking 10 in general and not just knowledge checks. To this day I constantly get into arguments with people who think you can't take 10 on a climb or disable device check because they say "Failing would cause something bad to happen, so you can't take 10". D:

Designer

3 people marked this as a favorite.

What's this, FAQ Friday fans? I sense a disturbance in the FAQ! What could it be? Click the link and find out!


Double for our trouble?! Way to go Mark! Is Slashing Grace even in the top 5 of interest for the PDT? How about the bloodrager/dd interaction? Just curious if it will be anytime near the agenda, or if there's a lot of stuff in line befoe those two.

Designer

1 person marked this as a favorite.
thegreenteagamer wrote:
Double for our trouble?! Way to go Mark! Is Slashing Grace even in the top 5 of interest for the PDT? How about the bloodrager/dd interaction? Just curious if it will be anytime near the agenda, or if there's a lot of stuff in line befoe those two.

Don't just thank me; Owen and I worked together to get that to happen.

@Those FAQs: I have to scroll down a while to find those, but I can see them. That said, Slashing Grace at least is a race between FAQ and the ACG errata.


Scott Wilhelm wrote:
Mark Seifter wrote:
Scott Wilhelm wrote:

About the Scizore:

If you have a +1 Scizore, do you get a +1 to the Shield bonus to your AC in addition to the +1 to attack and damage?

Can you use Shield Bash Feats with a Scizore, like Shield Slam, for instance?

Scizore wrote:
Benefit: The scizore grants a +1 shield bonus to AC, but if you attack with the blade, you lose the AC bonus that round and take a –1 penalty on attack rolls with the scizore. While wearing a scizore, you cannot use that hand for anything else. A scizore provides a +10 bonus to your CMD against being disarmed of your scizore. Donning a scizore is a full-round action.
Scizore is not a shield, it just has the "shield" type on the AC bonus it grants, like the Two-Weapon Defense feat. Enhancing the scizore does not increase that bonus, not do shield feats affect it.
So hypothetically, if you rewrote the rules simply by redefining the Scizore as a shield, putting the Scizore on the list of shields, would those attacks with the Scizore then be shield bashes, benefitting from shield bashing feats and eligible for shield enchantments? When you make a melee attack with a shield, is that a shield bash?

I've been searching for a working, game-terms definition of "shield bash." The descriptions of light and heavy, spiked and unspiked shields on the weapons lists all point to characterizing all melee attacks with shields being shield bashes, and the listing on the weapons table for any given type of shield is its shield bash damage. But the opinion of a designer would be a comfort.

So, if, hypothetically, the Scizore were on the Shields list, would attacks with the Scizore count shield bash attacks, and would the Scizore be eligible for all those benefits, feats, enchantments, etc, one might heap upon a shield?


I have an question about two variant rules systems. First, am I correct in thinking that "Armor as DR" makes things a little more lethal? It seems like characters will get hit more often and take small amounts of damage here and there.

Secondly, am I correct in thinking that characters can take fewer hits at higher levels with the "Wounds and Vigor" system? Also, it seems that lower level characters can take more hits.


Which of your two lottery event tables are you most excited to run for PaizoCon? Are you and Linda going to get a chance to play anything, or are you two constantly scheduled to run things?

Designer

Albatoonoe wrote:

I have an question about two variant rules systems. First, am I correct in thinking that "Armor as DR" makes things a little more lethal? It seems like characters will get hit more often and take small amounts of damage here and there.

Secondly, am I correct in thinking that characters can take fewer hits at higher levels with the "Wounds and Vigor" system? Also, it seems that lower level characters can take more hits.

Yeah, although perhaps less lethal at low levels; armor as DR also makes adamantine a god option (which should probably cost way more) and is super-bad for TWF and the like, since only one big hit will do much. Feats like Clustered Shot certainly need to be banned when using that variant, since they affect the meta too much.

For wounds and vigor, it for sure gives fewer overall hit points, and it does so pretty quickly if you have a high Con. For example, at 20 Con, you equal out at level 3.

Designer

David Neilson wrote:
Which of your two lottery event tables are you most excited to run for PaizoCon? Are you and Linda going to get a chance to play anything, or are you two constantly scheduled to run things?

First World Problems and Anagnorisis are pretty different, and I like them both enough that I think it's going to come down to whether I get a particularly awesome group in one of them.

Unlike Gencon, schedules are not packed to the extreme at Paizocon, so we each have two big games, three seminars, and then likely they'll add a couple of delve tables, but overall should be plenty of time to schmooze and wander around. We don't generally enter the lottery, but if there are open seats at some point, I suppose we might be able to play. Due to being hired after having my Paizocon ticket last year, I did manage to play the Special.


Mark Seifter wrote:
Albatoonoe wrote:

I have an question about two variant rules systems. First, am I correct in thinking that "Armor as DR" makes things a little more lethal? It seems like characters will get hit more often and take small amounts of damage here and there.

Secondly, am I correct in thinking that characters can take fewer hits at higher levels with the "Wounds and Vigor" system? Also, it seems that lower level characters can take more hits.

Yeah, although perhaps less lethal at low levels; armor as DR also makes adamantine a god option (which should probably cost way more) and is super-bad for TWF and the like, since only one big hit will do much. Feats like Clustered Shot certainly need to be banned when using that variant, since they affect the meta too much.

For wounds and vigor, it for sure gives fewer overall hit points, and it does so pretty quickly if you have a high Con. For example, at 20 Con, you equal out at level 3.

Well, that is some good insight there. I'm gonna try and use both (along with a bunch of other optional rules) and see how things pan out. It seems like the arc of the game will start out easier and get much harder, which intrigues me.

So, one further question. What kind of price change would you recommend on adamantine in this case?

Designer

Albatoonoe wrote:
Mark Seifter wrote:
Albatoonoe wrote:

I have an question about two variant rules systems. First, am I correct in thinking that "Armor as DR" makes things a little more lethal? It seems like characters will get hit more often and take small amounts of damage here and there.

Secondly, am I correct in thinking that characters can take fewer hits at higher levels with the "Wounds and Vigor" system? Also, it seems that lower level characters can take more hits.

Yeah, although perhaps less lethal at low levels; armor as DR also makes adamantine a god option (which should probably cost way more) and is super-bad for TWF and the like, since only one big hit will do much. Feats like Clustered Shot certainly need to be banned when using that variant, since they affect the meta too much.

For wounds and vigor, it for sure gives fewer overall hit points, and it does so pretty quickly if you have a high Con. For example, at 20 Con, you equal out at level 3.

Well, that is some good insight there. I'm gonna try and use both (along with a bunch of other optional rules) and see how things pan out. It seems like the arc of the game will start out easier and get much harder, which intrigues me.

So, one further question. What kind of price change would you recommend on adamantine in this case?

Hmm, I'm not sure. It seems like a god item in that rule system; almost any price you might request is worth paying, since it winds up giving you over +10 damage most of the time. I guess also monsters that don't have DR/magic are really screwed, since they lose all their DR to all magic weapons (aka all weapons after a few levels). One way to balance it might be to not allow bypass of armor DR by certain weapons, and keep adamantine at the same cost?

Dark Archive

What level cohort would you say a standard ogre counts as?

Designer

Justin Sluder wrote:
What level cohort would you say a standard ogre counts as?

Given that a stone giant is supposedly a crazily high level 18 (whaaaat?) and the ettin is 15, it's hard to predict what the official formula would say. I think 7 is "safe" and 6 is possibly OK (depends on how much of an attempt to optimize out being naturally large, and enlarge further to Huge, etc), but based on those I'm sure it would officially be more.


I would like to make a character (most likely Druid) with a Forest Drake companion. Are there options within RAW that I am overlooking to make this possible?

I also know of the Cohorts and Companions book coming out, will this shed some light on my character idea?

Designer

BigP4nda wrote:

I would like to make a character (most likely Druid) with a Forest Drake companion. Are there options within RAW that I am overlooking to make this possible?

I also know of the Cohorts and Companions book coming out, will this shed some light on my character idea?

It should give more guidance about that sort of thing, yes. Won't give any specifics (and honestly, Designers usually have little idea what's in an upcoming Player Companion; I just happen to know about this one because I finished developing Occult Adventures early and served as a pinch-hitter editor for Cohorts and Companions).


I am assuming the Cohorts and Companions will expand the list of available familiars, monstrous mounts, and animal companions. Is this accurate?

Designer

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Huh, I just noticed that the product page mentions "Multiple new ways to gain and use cohorts, including using magical beasts to serve as animal companions, conscripting teams of low-level recruits, and using magic items as cohorts." and "Tables arranged by theme listing dozens of new monster cohorts of many different creature types, along with their effective cohort levels."

Thus, let me go ahead and confirm both of those for ya!


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Mark,

Sarah and I will be going to our first PaizoCon this year. Anything we should keep in mind about event registration / the lottery / good times to get out and see some of Seattle (as this will be our first time there)?


One option though it takes a while to get a drake would be a Cavalier of the Order of the Beast (from the advanced players guide not from the Orcs books). At level 8 he gets to use beast form on his mount and at higher levels he gets to use form of the dragon. Would take a while to get a Drake but might be a different approach to a Druid.


I have a question about Shield Spikes

Shield Spikes wrote:
These spikes turn a shield into a martial piercing weapon and increase the damage dealt by a shield bash as if the shield were designed for a creature one size category larger than you

So, some people on the forums are interpreting this literally, saying that since spikes count as a size increase, you can't put the Bashing Enchantment on it and expect it to stack.

So that is the RAW, I guess, but it seems completely counter-intuitive that adding spikes causes any kind of size increase. The nature of Shield Spikes' damage increase seems to be completely different from any kind of size increase, real or virtual, and I have trouble believing that the writers really meant their description of Shield Spikes to be a stacking limitation on the Bashing Enchantment.

What do you think?

1,851 to 1,900 of 6,833 << first < prev | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Gamer Life / Off-Topic Discussions / >>Ask *Mark Seifter* All Your Questions Here!<< All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.