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I am surprised that a massive pathfinder geek like you doesn't know what a ceru is.
its a poisonous blue elephant with spiked ears and tail, its the size of a housecat and it grants good luck or bad luck, so not only is it mechanically very strong, its f%@$ing adorable.
http://www.archivesofnethys.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Ceru
Its not extremely strong, but its still pretty good. forcing someone to reroll a crit is a rather good thing.
Also from what I recall, Ceru in mythology were dream-eaters that Drowzee was based on from Pokemon!
Or am I thinking of something else?
Anything?
Where did the name 'Ashiel' come from?
What is your favorite class to play?
Also from what I recall, Ceru in mythology were dream-eaters that Drowzee was based on from Pokemon!
Or am I thinking of something else?
Baku. Older depictions gave them elephantine traits but more recently they tend to look like tapirs.
Oh, hey, hey! Have you had a chance to check out Path of War yet?!
I just found the Stalker on the SRD... And the Soul Hunter.... And Steel Serpent discipline.
I'm now fascinated by a (Life Leech/Sadist) Soul Thief Vitalist/(Soul Hunter) Stalker (Steel Serpent & Veiled Moon disciplines) gestalt... Just for S&Gs.
For added cool, Reaper 3rd party race (John Brazer Enterprizes). Just 'cause.
Where did the name 'Ashiel' come from?
During a period of meditation and reflection, I asked the universe (or "God") what my name was. That was the answer I got, and it's always felt like my name since.
What is your favorite class to play?
I generally find myself really enjoying psions and vitalists. I find I can do a lot of really fun things with the two of them.
Anything?
Yep. Though anything that would be censored on the boards should probably be PM'd instead. :P
Which is your least favorite DSP class?
Out of their psionics line, probably the Marksman. I think I would have just preferred a psionic ranger rather than a "shooter" class since that would have worked well and would allow for more concepts.
From the incarnum-esque release, I think the Vizier could use a little more work. What bit I got a chance to glance at during the prerelease playtest stuff looked like it was on the right track, but the final version needs more dakka. It's a 1/2 BAB class that has mostly defensive abilities and nothing that really stands out offensively. It feels too unbalanced.
From Path of War...I can't say yet. I'm not even sure which is my favorite (originally I said Stalker because it seemed like a rogue that works) but I'm kind of flopping back and forth between the three. Plus Aratrok has been playing a really cool new Path of War-line class, what's name escapes me, but it's got a cool dark-knight vibe to it and it seems really fun.
Oh, hey, hey! Have you had a chance to check out Path of War yet?!
Not as much as I want to. I'd really like to dig into it deep though. Aratrok knows more about it than I do but I'm hoping to get to use it more during my campaign in the near future.
Plus Aratrok has been playing a really cool new Path of War-line class, what's name escapes me, but it's got a cool dark-knight vibe to it and it seems really fun.
Harbinger?
Plus Aratrok has been playing a really cool new Path of War-line class, what's name escapes me, but it's got a cool dark-knight vibe to it and it seems really fun.Harbinger?
That's the one!
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What'd you find lacking with how the Reign of Winter witches were presented, combat-wise?
I'd need to go dig up the notes from Reign of Winter (we were playing this about a year ago or so) and besides some oddities in some statblocks (I recall at least one witch who had spells prepped as the wrong level in their statblocks, such as a 5th level spell in a 4th level slot), but also just generally that they have really unbalanced spell selections.
By unbalanced I mean that their toolset lacks the stuff that's important for surviving as a squishy d6 caster. For example, they have mage armor but no shield, mirror image, blur, displacement, etc. They don't even get resist energy. Generally speaking, a number of encounters that were supposed to be epic encounters just generally fell flat purely due to the mechanical limitations of the witch class itself.
After one fight in particular, at the end of book 1, our GM noted that he was effectively going to scrub every instance of "witch" in the books and replace it with "wizard", and honestly the result was more fun.
Generally speaking, the witch's spell list is just kind of a mess, and save for a few good hexes they're just a reskinned wizard with a bad spell list. :(
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Ashiel, why did you eat all of my oreos?
Oh, I have a question for you, where should I put the primal magic areas that isn't a desert? The tundras wouldn't work, the hillsides might, but then theres the fact that dragons live in the hills sometimes.
I presume you mean the primal magics found in the variant rules for Pathfinder. In which case I'd probably note that should you wish to include pockets of wild magic, make them just that, pockets. No specific geographical condition should result in a primal magic location, though you might consider taking into account the effects of primal magic on the surrounding environment (such as wilted trees killed by influxes of negative energy, or volcanic glass in areas that aren't volcanic, etc).
I would personally imagine a place where magic twists and swirls chaotically, creating random nonsense, it would probably be a location that would have obvious visible, audible, and even olfactory cues that something was "wrong" with that place.
Personally I'm not super keen on the wild-magic state of primal magic areas with "D%, shit happens" gameplay. Generally speaking if I'm going for a similar sort of "tainted by raw magic" vibe, I'd be more inclined to create a themed environment specific for the event that occurred there.
I have a question from Professor Oak.A more serious answer than my previous one (but more philosophical so I apologize :P). I'm physically male and that's pretty much how people I know in my day to day life know me (though if I had the option, things might be different).
That aside, someone once asked why I don't mind/correct people using different gendered pronouns when referring to me during discussions on the forums. The reason is because it doesn't matter. Someone's physical body doesn't change the value of their thoughts. It doesn't matter if any poster here is male, female, or otherwise, because we're all just minds. As a result it doesn't bother me in the slightest which pronoun is used. In most cases people will choose the one that feels most comfortable to them or based on however their minds perceive me in their mind's eye.
As for my avatar, I like Seoni. She's cool and I always liked that pic of her. :)
*sigh*
With this post, one of the "great" secrets of the forums has ended (though people who know you would have cottoned on by now).
Now if only we can figure out what makes TriOmegaZero decide to post under his username or under his alias TOZ.
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I have a question from Professor Oak.A more serious answer than my previous one (but more philosophical so I apologize :P). I'm physically male and that's pretty much how people I know in my day to day life know me (though if I had the option, things might be different).
That aside, someone once asked why I don't mind/correct people using different gendered pronouns when referring to me during discussions on the forums. The reason is because it doesn't matter. Someone's physical body doesn't change the value of their thoughts. It doesn't matter if any poster here is male, female, or otherwise, because we're all just minds. As a result it doesn't bother me in the slightest which pronoun is used. In most cases people will choose the one that feels most comfortable to them or based on however their minds perceive me in their mind's eye.
As for my avatar, I like Seoni. She's cool and I always liked that pic of her. :)
*sigh*
With this post, one of the "great" secrets of the forums has ended (though people who know you would have cottoned on by now).
Now if only we can figure out what makes TriOmegaZero decide to post under his username or under his alias TOZ.
It's not the first time I said as much on the forums (no really, I think this question came up in the Ashiel->Paizo thread too, or that time when Ciretose was trying to invalidate my input on things based on gender). I'd dare say it probably won't be the last time either. Especially since this thread is buried in no-man's land. :P
On a side note, I've always noticed TOZ's responses tend to be more tongue-in-cheek as opposed to TriOmegaZero's. Maybe it's just me. :)
You still haven't paid me for the oreos or the milk yet. You fiend!
I will have to steal your kittens for this!
But I was out of cheese & mac and had nothing else to eat and I was so hungry! Q~Q
How about I cook spaghetti for you? Or a ramen noodle stirfry (yes, I am a cheap bastich)!
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On a side note, I've always noticed TOZ's responses tend to be more tongue-in-cheek as opposed to TriOmegaZero's. Maybe it's just me. :)
Oh, it's just you.
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It's not the first time I said as much on the forums (no really, I think this question came up in the Ashiel->Paizo thread too, or that time when Ciretose was trying to invalidate my input on things based on gender). I'd dare say it probably won't be the last time either. Especially since this thread is buried in no-man's land. :P
Ah, yes... The old ciretose-Ashiel conflict. It was literally the first discussion I've seen in a thread... And I was chosen to judge/mediate it (talk about being thrown at the deep end of the pool, huh?).
It was really freaking weird, actually... Even though I disagreed with him most of the time (at least when it came to game mechanics and rules interpretation), ciretose was mostly an okay guy... But for some reason, whenever he saw Ashiel, he went f+$$ing ballistic!
This led to some seriously messed up behavior from his part... I imagine that's why he was banned.
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On a side note, I've always noticed TOZ's responses tend to be more tongue-in-cheek as opposed to TriOmegaZero's. Maybe it's just me. :)Oh, it's just you.
Avatar of my essence! @_@
(talk about being thrown at the deep end of the pool, huh?)
Yeah, sorry about that. ^//^"
But look how well you learned to swim! :PI imagine that's why he was banned.
He was banned? :o
I thought he just got bored. (o_o)
(talk about being thrown at the deep end of the pool, huh?)Yeah, sorry about that. ^//^"
But look how well you learned to swim! :P
Heh... Don't worry. It was entertaining... Well, except for the part about partially charged wands.... Gods, that was tiresome... *sighs*
He was banned? :o
I thought he just got bored. (o_o)
Well... I think he was banned. I've seen it mentioned a few times, but maybe everyone was just guessing. I don't really know.... I wouldn't be surprised either way.
He was.
Do you happen to know why?
Yes.
I walked right into that answer. :P
Would you mind sharing that information to sate my curiosity? Despite being the closest thing to an arch-nemesis I've ever had, I have wondered where he got off to a few times. :o
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Toz revealed the reason here.
Thanks. :D
But since this is the ask Ashiel thread,
who would win in a fight between TOZ and TriOmegaZero?
I'm not immune to Charm, so TOZ. :P
On a completely unrelated note, do you have a strong opinion about familiars in pathfinder?
I like familiars. Mark Hoover once asked for some advice when trying to see if familiars could be made to be a main-shtick of a wizard. I posted some stuff that wizards can do to be a familiarmancer, but he was afraid of upstaging the martials with his familiar after I posted some examples. >_>
Familiars in general are tons of fun though. Psicrystals too. They can be characters in their own rights. I once had an NPC wizard who was married to his familiar. :)
But since this is the ask Ashiel thread,
who would win in a fight between TOZ and TriOmegaZero?
Would the answer change if TOZ were given mythic ranks?On a completely unrelated note, do you have a strong opinion about familiars in pathfinder?
Huh... I thought he'd just gotten bored and had actually been wondering where he went for awhile.
On a separate note, that thread was humbling and basically a list of all my favorite posters.
Ashiel, what are your top 5 feats or feat chains, in the game?
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But since this is the ask Ashiel thread,
who would win in a fight between TOZ and TriOmegaZero?
Would the answer change if TOZ were given mythic ranks?On a completely unrelated note, do you have a strong opinion about familiars in pathfinder?
Huh... I thought he'd just gotten bored and had actually been wondering where he went for awhile.
On a separate note, that thread was humbling and basically a list of all my favorite posters.
Ditto.
Ashiel, what are your top 5 feats or feat chains, in the game?
That's hard to answer off the top of my head. Mostly because I generally dislike feat chains. I would say most (but perhaps not all) feat chains in Pathfinder look like this.
Unroll Toilet Paper
Prepare Toilet Paper (requires Unroll Toilet Paper)
Use Toilet Paper (requires Unroll Toilet Paper and Prepare Toilet Paper)
Wipe Your Ass (requires Unroll Toilet Paper, Prepare Toilet Paper, and Use Toilet Paper)
Flush Toilet Paper (requires Unroll Toiled Paper, Prepare Toilet Paper, Use Toilet Paper, and Wipe Your Ass)
*Feel bad because you had to invest 5 feats into successfully wiping your ass. Meanwhile the sorcerer has prestidigitation for that fabulous minty-clean freshness.*
I'll think about it though. :P
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Ashiel, what are your top 5 feats or feat chains, in the game?That's hard to answer off the top of my head. Mostly because I generally dislike feat chains. I would say most (but perhaps not all) feat chains in Pathfinder look like this.
Unroll Toilet Paper
Prepare Toilet Paper (requires Unroll Toilet Paper)
Use Toilet Paper (requires Unroll Toilet Paper and Prepare Toilet Paper)
Wipe Your Ass (requires Unroll Toilet Paper, Prepare Toilet Paper, and Use Toilet Paper)
Flush Toilet Paper (requires Unroll Toiled Paper, Prepare Toilet Paper, Use Toilet Paper, and Wipe Your Ass)
*Feel bad because you had to invest 5 feats into successfully wiping your ass. Meanwhile the sorcerer has prestidigitation for that fabulous minty-clean freshness.*I'll think about it though. :P
That made me laugh!
It gets even better when you have someway of taking Wipe Your Ass without meeting the pre-reqs and Flush Toiler Paper only calls out Wipe Your Ass as a pre-req, assuming you have all of the others. So now you can wipe your ass and flush it, but nothing to wipe with or to flush in the first place :P
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What is the worst combat style for a ranger?
Besides archery and the g$*$+&n crossbow mastery feat.
I think the worst one (other than crossbow because it's horrendous) is actually the 2-hander style. You don't need a lot of feats to be go at going 2-handed as a weapon choice (or any, save maybe Power Attack) and most of the feats that it opens up aren't good or are very trapp-y (cleave, shield of swings, improved sunder). If you're a 2 handed ranger you're better off using your combat style to pick up an additional spec like archery.
My favorite styles are probably archery and weapon & shield (shield mastery at 6th and bashing finish at 10th!).
Is there ANY WAY one can build a half-way decent Thrown Weapon character outside of the Blink Back Belt?
What kind of campaign would you accept a Goblin True Primitive Wild Savage Barbarian with Craft Weapons, Craft Armor, Craft Cooking, Profession Hunter, and Profession Butcher? Who happens to take his kills, strips the bones of the meat, tans the hides into leather, cooks up the meat into jerky rations or tasty stews, and crafts bone javelins to use feats like Splintering Weapon and Disposable Weapon.
Also, above character. Evil, or neutral?
How about a Goblin Wizard or Arcanist? Well read, erudite, vicious little fire-starter.
I look forward to your reply. *Evil finger steeple*
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Is there ANY WAY one can build a half-way decent Thrown Weapon character outside of the Blink Back Belt?
Depends on how open your GM is to item creation. The big obstacle to having a character that throws weapons is that you can't afford to enhance ammunition such as shuriken and there is no viable method of throwing a single weapon multiple times per round (unlike in Baldur's Gate where "returning" means "throw at will").
However, if you adapted the quiver of plenty that I posted on the boards way back when to shuriken, then you could have a sustainable means of having enhanced shuriken (possibly of various exotic materials) to throw.
Alternatively, you could create a magic item (such as gloves) that when worn bestowed an enhancement bonus (or special abilities) upon a weapon when thrown (similar to how a launcher bestows upon their ammunition).
Unfortunately I don't even think the blink back belt is that good for solving the troubles of the thrower-themed character because you can only hold up to 4 light weapons on it, which isn't even enough to make a complete full-attack with at high levels on a martial character.
What kind of campaign would you accept a Goblin True Primitive Wild Savage Barbarian with Craft Weapons, Craft Armor, Craft Cooking, Profession Hunter, and Profession Butcher? Who happens to take his kills, strips the bones of the meat, tans the hides into leather, cooks up the meat into jerky rations or tasty stews, and crafts bone javelins to use feats like Splintering Weapon and Disposable Weapon.
Most any kind of campaign. We'd just work out the details a bit beforehand.
Also, above character. Evil, or neutral?
Why not good? :D
*is an optimist*How about a Goblin Wizard or Arcanist? Well read, erudite, vicious little fire-starter.
Goblin wizards are fun. :P
Though now I want to make a goblin psionicist that's all about his magic rocks. :P
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Is there ANY WAY one can build a half-way decent Thrown Weapon character outside of the Blink Back Belt?Depends on how open your GM is to item creation. The big obstacle to having a character that throws weapons is that you can't afford to enhance ammunition such as shuriken and there is no viable method of throwing a single weapon multiple times per round (unlike in Baldur's Gate where "returning" means "throw at will").
However, if you adapted the quiver of plenty that I posted on the boards way back when to shuriken, then you could have a sustainable means of having enhanced shuriken (possibly of various exotic materials) to throw.
Alternatively, you could create a magic item (such as gloves) that when worn bestowed an enhancement bonus (or special abilities) upon a weapon when thrown (similar to how a launcher bestows upon their ammunition).
Unfortunately I don't even think the blink back belt is that good for solving the troubles of the thrower-themed character because you can only hold up to 4 light weapons on it, which isn't even enough to make a complete full-attack with at high levels on a martial character.
Cao Phan made an amazing thread that results in a bad ass character that throws rocks as his primary weapon. Read here.
There are a few variations on the build because some of the rules are in a grey area, but over-all it's the same through out.
Ravingdork turned the build into a character in the form of Bumi Mei Fong. I did something similar, but as an NPC (with heroic stats and NPC gear) with Daezzn 'Hurler' Kaifer
Also, the blink back belt technically only requires 1 weapon to use, as the weapon is returned to the belt immediately after the attack is resolved, allowing it to be used again. One could do something like have 4 daggers, each with different properties for bypassing DR and only using the most appropriate dagger.
Oooh, very nice Tels. :D
STUFF!
Good eh? I kinda figured the eating of sentient flesh, using their bones for weapons, and tanning their skins for leather would count as evil and balance it out to neutral.... Can I play at your table? xD
I just found Quillbreaker Defense, and remembered Fortified armor training..... And Field Repair too.
Been a character I've been wanting to build for a long time. By no means OP, powerful, or possibly even on par. But, it sounds fun as all get out.
Also... Goblin Scion with obsession over shiny magic rocks?! WE NEED A PLUSHIE OF THAT! NAO!
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STUFF!Good eh? I kinda figured the eating of sentient flesh, using their bones for weapons, and tanning their skins for leather would count as evil and balance it out to neutral.... Can I play at your table? xD
Well alignment in D&D 3.x/PF is simple, strait-forward, and is actually a good tool for gauging morality (including in reality, IMHO). Evil is defined as hurting, oppressing, or killing others. Cannibalism and/or using body parts post-death is not evil because you are not hurting, oppressing, or killing anyone (murdering someone to eat them is evil because of the murder, not the eating).
You would just be extremely efficient and gross to most humanoids. This is a point that's really important. Often people seem to get good/evil gummed up with socially acceptable/gross. Even though it's not evil, it doesn't mean it's accepted socially. Likewise, just because something is good or evil doesn't mean it won't either (Romans regularly committed atrocious acts of evil purely for entertainment purposes and it was very acceptable, socially, at the time).
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There are a handful of specific abilities written by specific writers that say stuff like that. It's kinda weird and doesn't fit with the rest of the game, and you can find mentions that go the other way:
Adlets are cunning hunters of the arctic wilds. Tall, sinewy, nimble, and very quick, they see themselves as the true heritors of untamed arctic lands, and are offended by any other humanoid species that attempts to settle in such regions. Although not normally evil, adlets are very aggressive and warlike. They also have no social taboo against cannibalism, and their practice of eating their dead rather than burying them only further builds misconceptions about their morality.
It's a safe bet to go with what the core rulebook says about alignment, and it pretty clearly indicates that cannibalism by itself is not an evil act.
Now if you're eating someone's corpse in front of their loved ones to torment them, or you murdered someone so you could eat them, you're doing something evil. But it's not because of the cannibalism.
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actually, pathfinder classifies the act of eating a sentient humanoid as evil.
Also, have you seen the sarissa from the giant slayers handbook?
The book is awesome.
No, certain parts of Golarion classify cannibalism as evil. Pathfinder rules system does not.
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well, then my GM was somewhat wrong.
As my seven INT half orc ranger who was rightfully hungry after trekking through the woods for a few hours found a fey, he couldn't understand what the fey was saying, so he attempted to eat her face after intimidating her for casting spells on the party.
Grol has really high strength, medium dexterity and con, meh wisdom and untouched charisma and dumped intelligence.
Hes good with keeping people alive and serving as some form of protection, but he lacks most other skills.
I felt that it would be most in character for him to eat the nearest moving thing that was alive, that wasn't what he considered a friend.
well, then my GM was somewhat wrong.
As my seven INT half orc ranger who was rightfully hungry after trekking through the woods for a few hours found a fey, he couldn't understand what the fey was saying, so he attempted to eat her face after intimidating her for casting spells on the party.Grol has really high strength, medium dexterity and con, meh wisdom and untouched charisma and dumped intelligence.
Hes good with keeping people alive and serving as some form of protection, but he lacks most other skills.I felt that it would be most in character for him to eat the nearest moving thing that was alive, that wasn't what he considered a friend.
No, that would tend to be evil. Because it involves killing someone who wasn't already attacking you in order to eat them. That's the definition of not valuing other life, aka textbook evil.
That's exactly:
(murdering someone to eat them is evil because of the murder, not the eating)
Now if <snip> you murdered someone so you could eat them, you're doing something evil. But it's not because of the cannibalism.
ANYway, ending my end of the alignment debate. Sorry for the derail.
EDITed: for clarity
EDIT 2:
snickersamba: I wanted to say that I'm not trying to pick on you - the reason it comes off as "evil" is "he was hungry, and tried to eat someone's face!"
Specifically:
I felt that it would be most in character for him to eat the nearest moving thing that was alive, that wasn't what he considered a friend.
And even though they'd later attacked, it kind of sounded like they were talking when the guy did so.
he couldn't understand what the fey was saying, so he attempted to eat her face after intimidating her for casting spells on the party.
Either way, it's quite possible that the GM was simply wrong - that happens, and it's an easy conclusion to come to.
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Kabriri, Demon Lord of Ghouls (and cannibalism) and Wendigos are both things, though.
Intent and circumstances seem to be critical.
E.g., there's is a difference between a lizardfolk eating the honored dead and a goblin seeking to roast himself up some babies.
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Kabriri, Demon Lord of Ghouls (and cannibalism) and Wendigos are both things, though.
Intent and circumstances seem to be critical.
E.g., there's is a difference between a lizardfolk eating the honored dead and a goblin seeking to roast himself up some babies.
There's also a demon lord of lust, and one of secrets, and one of wind, but none of those are evil either.
Just because a demon lord holds sway over an ideal, doesn't mean the idea is evil.
Goblins roasting babies is evil because the babies have to be killed first. However, if the babies were dead due to some other reason (like still birth), it's not evil. Lord knows those goblins probably butchered a birthing center to do it though :P
Snicker, I would probably classify what you did as evil, because it seems your first instinct was to eat the person, instead of diffuse the threat. You say the fey was casting spells and being annoying, but were they harming anyone? Were they posing an actual threat at the time?
I mean, fey often take the form of pranksters, admittedly, some of their pranks can be more deadly than others...
Still, if a pixie were to cast silent image and make a scary face jump out of the trees just to shock you... I don't think eating her alive is the correct response there.
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Generally speaking, I find the hurt/oppress/kill definition of evil to be just so darn efficient. You can quickly and efficiently parse the differences between evil and gross, which also allows you to unhook it from religious and cultural morality (a big requirement in actually coming to a conclusion).
It cuts through all of the cultural BS and gets down to the basics. For example, slavery, forced sex with children, and forced gladiatorial combats were considered moral enough by certain cultures but in D&D they're pretty strictly on the evil side of the alignment see-saw.
Evil done by Chelaxians doesn't suddenly become good within the borders of Cheliax, merely socially acceptable (and for many, many people, there is no meaningful difference between learned morality and morality).
The inverse also works as well. In many cases someone might do something that seems suspect but you can determine if they actually did a good thing by looking at if they were acting altruistically, protecting life, etc.
So when a Paladin strikes down a villain to protect someone else, the Paladin isn't actively doing evil. If the Paladin strikes down a villain to take their stuff, the Paladin is going to need to find a priest to atone him.
Though speaking of atonement, what's hilarious is that a Paladin can be atoned by an evil priest. No joke. A chaotic evil cleric can absolve a Paladin of their sins. Even funnier, a Paladin with UMD and staff if atonement can atone themselves. Paladins can also be atoned by druids.
Actually, I would personally rule forced gladiator combat as neutral, depending on whos fighting who.
forcing two known criminals to kill eachother for entertainment is a good thing, forcing two small children to kill eachother for no reason is not
Ah yes... justification. If you can justify it, then it must be good right?