Euhm.... Knowledge(Local) let's you indentify humanoid Aliens? I remember a part in Iron Gods where the Ranger(who was from the Mwangi, go figure how he got up all the way to Numeria, we never did) spotted the skeleton of a 4 arm race and got his roll to identify it as a Kashata and got to knew all of it's weak point, the fact it was an alien from space and so on and so forth. And the rest of the party just looks at one another wondering how the f!#+ does one identify ALIENS with the same skill that told us the mayor of the town worked with thugs.Going off that, Knowledge(local) lets you be teleported to a different plane of existence where no humanoid has ever been....but you still get to know hidden organizations, rulers, and locations on a DC 20 check.
*shrug* it's magic.
Except it's not. It's a non-magical simple skill that everyone can do, even in an anti-magic field.
Which is what makes it a perfect candidate for this thread.
Well, yes, I know that. But HOW does it work?
it's magic :)
A player once claimed that he (a wizard) was able to keep his invisibly and shield spells going we he was unconscious and bleeding. That the crazy part is that he claimed that the the thugs who had beaten him into near death would have to make DC40 perception checks to find him. Despite the fact they had, you know been beating him to death. The rules (at least as he argued) supported that.What's even crazier is people who think a caster actively maintains a spell that doesn't have a duration of concentration.
Hint: they don't. Your caster friend could die and his spells would continue to do their thing until they ran out of juice.
Ugh. That error got sprung on me at PaizoCon—by a Paizo employee, no less! Our group was pretty screwed anyways, but losing the spiritual weapon settled the matter. Just goes to show that nobody's immune to mistakes.
Euhm.... Knowledge(Local) let's you indentify humanoid Aliens? I remember a part in Iron Gods where the Ranger(who was from the Mwangi, go figure how he got up all the way to Numeria, we never did) spotted the skeleton of a 4 arm race and got his roll to identify it as a Kashata and got to knew all of it's weak point, the fact it was an alien from space and so on and so forth. And the rest of the party just looks at one another wondering how the f!#+ does one identify ALIENS with the same skill that told us the mayor of the town worked with thugs.Going off that, Knowledge(local) lets you be teleported to a different plane of existence where no humanoid has ever been....but you still get to know hidden organizations, rulers, and locations on a DC 20 check.
*shrug* it's magic.
Except it's not. It's a non-magical simple skill that everyone can do, even in an anti-magic field.
Which is what makes it a perfect candidate for this thread.
Well, yes, I know that. But HOW does it work?
it's magic :)
I have no idea what you're trying to say, but it obviously isn't.
I have no idea what you're trying to say, but it obviously isn't........Except it's not. It's a non-magical simple skill that everyone can do, even in an anti-magic field.
Which is what makes it a perfect candidate for this thread.
Well, yes, I know that. But HOW does it work?
it's magic :)
Sorry, let me elaborate.
You are 110% correct. It's not magical. It's not remotely magical in any sense of the word, with respect to Pathfinder (and 3.5 I guess).
However, when someone asks "How can someone have complete local knowledge on a place that no one in your existence has ever been to, that the gods never knew existed, just because they have a mundane ability (i.e. ranks in knowledge(local) and rolled well?".
I'd tongue-in-cheekily reply "It's magic". Same response that I give when planar physics are different then the Prime Material Plane and a player is confused why. It's more polite then saying "Because that's the way it is", I guess.
I realize this is a rules forum, so I should have said:
Skills are in no way magical. That's just how they work, and hence belong in this thread. However, if I was asked why they worked this way I would comically state "it's magic", with the understanding that said individual - and myself - know and understand that's it's not magical, and would still work in any and all locations where magic does not work.
Better? :D
I have no idea what you're trying to say, but it obviously isn't........Except it's not. It's a non-magical simple skill that everyone can do, even in an anti-magic field.
Which is what makes it a perfect candidate for this thread.
Well, yes, I know that. But HOW does it work?
it's magic :)
Sorry, let me elaborate.
You are 110% correct. It's not magical. It's not remotely magical in any sense of the word, with respect to Pathfinder (and 3.5 I guess).
However, when someone asks "How can someone have complete local knowledge on a place that no one in your existence has ever been to, that the gods never knew existed, just because they have a mundane ability (i.e. ranks in knowledge(local) and rolled well?".
I'd tongue-in-cheekily reply "It's magic". Same response that I give when planar physics are different then the Prime Material Plane and a player is confused why. It's more polite then saying "Because that's the way it is", I guess.
I realize this is a rules forum, so I should have said:
Skills are in no way magical. That's just how they work, and hence belong in this thread. However, if I was asked why they worked this way I would comically state "it's magic", with the understanding that said individual - and myself - know and understand that's it's not magical, and would still work in any and all locations where magic does not work.
Better? :D
The same way I know a variety of different countries major festivals and cultural highlights that I have never been to in my life. Actually even more so for the Ranger, since they actually put ranks into that.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Oh, another thing is the potion size debacle since someone just posted a thread about it.
Picture if you will, a pixie drinking a potion made for a giant.
Sometimes I think about the fact that the hit die for a wizard in 3.5 was 1d4
So that a lvl 1 wizard with average constitution has 4 hp.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Sometimes I think about the fact that the hit die for a wizard in 3.5 was 1d4
So that a lvl 1 wizard with average constitution has 4 hp.
It brings up fond memories of the great "Who would win: Level 1 Commoner or house cat" debates.
Spoiler: The house cat usually wins.
Sometimes I think about the fact that the hit die for a wizard in 3.5 was 1d4
So that a lvl 1 wizard with average constitution has 4 hp.
It brings up fond memories of the great "Who would win: Level 1 Commoner or house cat" debates.
Spoiler: The house cat usually wins.
My friend (the one with the beautiful beard) and i were having this exact same conversation, but with the wizard in place of the commoner.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
My friend (the one with the beautiful beard) and i were having this exact same conversation, but with the wizard in place of the commoner.Sometimes I think about the fact that the hit die for a wizard in 3.5 was 1d4
So that a lvl 1 wizard with average constitution has 4 hp.
It brings up fond memories of the great "Who would win: Level 1 Commoner or house cat" debates.
Spoiler: The house cat usually wins.
The wizard has a better chance in that case, since he might take it out with his level 1 spells.
If he is down to cantrips though (which isn't too hard with a level 1 wizard), it would be a lot closer. And if there were two cats....
Once back in 2e my dwarven Fighter threatened to walk off one of the world's tallest cliffs without any magical protection since in game terms the fall couldn't possibly kill him. He also had enough HP to survive a quick dip in lava, so perhaps there's a "Firedrake Club" somewhere for high level dwarves and barbarians who like to dive off of very tall cliffs into pools of molten lava. It is apparently really invigorating!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Sometimes I think about the fact that the hit die for a wizard in 3.5 was 1d4
So that a lvl 1 wizard with average constitution has 4 hp.
It brings up fond memories of the great "Who would win: Level 1 Commoner or house cat" debates.
Spoiler: The house cat usually wins.
Ahhh the good old days, when the worlds of Krynn, Faerun and Athas were overrun with wizard killing house cats. Every higher level wizard in those settings must've been plagued by PTSD flashbacks of house cat attacks lol
On a side note, I kind of want to play backwards through all the DnD editions starting with 3.5 and ending with ODnD (or even Chainmail) with maybe a run through the Basic editions as well. Do people even play them?
Once back in 2e my dwarven Fighter threatened to walk off one of the world's tallest cliffs without any magical protection since in game terms the fall couldn't possibly kill him. He also had enough HP to survive a quick dip in lava, so perhaps there's a "Firedrake Club" somewhere for high level dwarves and barbarians who like to dive off of very tall cliffs into pools of molten lava. It is apparently really invigorating!
In a Spelljammer game we had a character fall from orbit and survive. Back in the day falling damage had a fairly low max and was measured in D6's.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ahhh the good old days, when the worlds of Krynn, Faerun and Athas were overrun with wizard-killing house cats.
Why else do you think wizards were happy to have an otherwise useless house cat for a familiar? Fight fire with fire!
Ahhh the good old days, when the worlds of Krynn, Faerun and Athas were overrun with wizard-killing house cats.Why else do you think wizards were happy to have an otherwise useless house cat for a familiar? Fight fire with fire!
And not with fire fighting dogs? No dalmatians?
On a side note, I kind of want to play backwards through all the DnD editions starting with 3.5 and ending with ODnD (or even Chainmail) with maybe a run through the Basic editions as well. Do people even play them?
Yes, lots of people play them. In fact, they have had quite a bit of resurgence the last 10 years thanks to the internet, PDFs, and Print on Demand.
Check out RetroRoleplaying's Retro-Clones list for a list of new games (many of them free) that emulate older editions of D&D.
There is a reason WoTC eventually released PDFs of the older editions of D&D on DriveThru RPG and why people got really mad when they initially took them away.
There are also tons of great blogs out there producing new material based on or inspired by older editions of games for different genres.
Pretty much all of the useful gaming material I have found and used over the last 10 years I've gotten for free or for a few dollars off someone's blogs.
Lastly, I would look around and read lots of RPG blogs because that is where most of the really useful GM advice is.
|
Ahhh the good old days, when the worlds of Krynn, Faerun and Athas were overrun with wizard-killing house cats.Why else do you think wizards were happy to have an otherwise useless house cat for a familiar? Fight fire with fire!
To be fair, everything on Athas wants to kill you.
Even Especially the cacti.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
All right let me elaborate on what I said. Wasn't trolling or baiting I promise.
So for a long time our group thought shields did force damage, and apparently force damage can affect ghosts. Thinking about it now the conclusion was that that's really dumb because a) shields do bludgeoning damage, and b) ghosts can't be affected by non magical sources.
You live and learn, and hopefully don't make the same mistake too many times.
One teeny-weeny oddity I learned today: hide armor comes with gauntlets. I may have to rethink how druids look.
All right let me elaborate on what I said. Wasn't trolling or baiting I promise.
So for a long time our group thought shields did force damage, and apparently force damage can affect ghosts. Thinking about it now the conclusion was that that's really dumb because a) shields do bludgeoning damage, and b) ghosts can't be affected by non magical sources.
Maybe someone had picked up a ring of shielding really early on?
*shrugs*
You can kill a ghost with a mundane shield though. Find their remains, dig them up using the shield, put their bones to rest.
So you weren't wrong about being able to kill them with a mundane shield, just about being able to HIT them.
Characters can live their entire lives without stopping once for a restroom break, and face no penalties. Starvation, thirst, lack of sleep, those can all do you in, but failure to eliminate never will. Fortunate, because almost no published dungeons have a privy or water closet on their floorplans.
Yeah, I know, no one wants to RP that aspect of their character's life and my group assumes that the players just "check in" with their characters when they are doing something important and those characters take care of mundane business during the times when they are unattended. But it did come into play for us once: We needed to kill a wizard and decided the times he wouldn't have his two bodyguards nearby and his staff of teleportation in hand when he was on the commode, taking a bath, or having sex. He isn't required to do any of these on a specific schedule, so we had to engineer it so he needed a bath.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
it's easy to shunt stuff like that under "roll for breathing" (which is the term our group uses for things that are too mundane to worry about game mechanically)
It is very easy to assume that people just take a leak when they need it without anybody roleplaying it.
(ironically, "going outside to take a leak" is one of my common plot hooks in my non rpg fiction)
| 9 people marked this as a favorite. |
In cases where the DM mentions elimination breaks it puts the party on immediate alert of a "caught with pants down" ambush.
DM: "So you are a few yards into the woods, answering the call of nature, and out of sight of the rest of the party"
Player" Wait, no! I bring them all with me. We always go in a group and watch each other."
DM: "Really? Hasn't been mentioned before."
Player: "Guys, get over here. I am doing off camera stuff and the camera is not cutting away. And the background music sounds like it is speeding up!"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
In cases where the DM mentions elimination breaks it puts the party on immediate alert of a "caught with pants down" ambush.
DM: "So you are a few yards into the woods, answering the call of nature, and out of sight of the rest of the party"
Player" Wait, no! I bring them all with me. We always go in a group and watch each other."
DM: "Really? Hasn't been mentioned before."
Player: "Guys, get over here. I am doing off camera stuff and the camera is not cutting away. And the background music sounds like it is speeding up!"
I think this deserves a place on the weird adventurers thread.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Bloodroot is an injury poison that deals 1 Con and 1 Wis damage per turn for 4 turns. It is an injury poison, and the fortitude DC to resist its effects each turn is 12. It costs 100gp per dose.
Opium automatically deals 1D4 Con and 1D4 Wis damage without a save, as well as fatiguing the target, also with no save. The DC20 Fort save is to avoid getting addicted (Which causes more Con damage.) It can also be inahled, ingested, or delivered through injury. It costs 25gp per dose. (To be fair, it also provides 1D8 temporary hit points and a +2 to Fortitude saves.)
So let's talk about the moon!
Earth's moon is 238,900 miles away from where you are now. That's 1,261,392,000 feet! It seems reasonably safe to assume that Golarion's moon is about the same distance away. (NOTE: Istoria, my setting, has two moons, so this might get screwed up, but only slightly.)
You need an even more expanded size chart for something the size of the moon.
The DC20 Fort save is to avoid getting addicted... (To be fair, it also provides 1D8 temporary hit points and a +2 to Fortitude saves.)Wait, so taking Opium makes you more resistant to getting addicted Opium?
Depending on how the Con Damage ends up it might even out.
But usually? Yes.
Well, yes, I know that. But HOW does it work?
it's magic :)
I think that it works because one city is similar to any other city. For example, plop me into the streets of Moscow and even though I've never been there, I think I could still apply the knowledge of how my home city looks to this one. I can pick up where the places to eat are, where the financial might be, where the "bad" part might be, where the wealthy live, and the location of the nearest shopping center.
Buying a mule is the most cost-effective transport option in the equipment list but there are no stats for a mule. (Yeah, I know, one of the devs just said "just use pony with the advanced template" but it's still kinda odd).
Regarding bathroom breaks, when my 3e drunken monk was confronted by a small fire elemental he lifted up his robe and said, "Sacred Dragon Strike!" I think the DM let me use the damage for holy water.
Knowledge (Local) is definitely kind of a weird skill. I think that the Lore skill does a better job of representing what a character would know about a place like his or her hometown. As a DM I'd probably even allow somebody to identify creatures common in that town and know some basic stuff about them. Obviously that would require some judgement calls, but I think that's how Lore goes.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Knowledge (Local) is definitely kind of a weird skill. I think that the Lore skill does a better job of representing what a character would know about a place like his or her hometown. As a DM I'd probably even allow somebody to identify creatures common in that town and know some basic stuff about them. Obviously that would require some judgement calls, but I think that's how Lore goes.
I think it's just a simple misnomer. Maybe it should have been knowledge (urban) or knowledge (civilization).
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Knowledge (Local) is definitely kind of a weird skill. I think that the Lore skill does a better job of representing what a character would know about a place like his or her hometown. As a DM I'd probably even allow somebody to identify creatures common in that town and know some basic stuff about them. Obviously that would require some judgement calls, but I think that's how Lore goes.I think it's just a simple misnomer. Maybe it should have been knowledge (urban) or knowledge (civilization).
It should be Knowledge (streetwise) and be the iconic underworld information gathering skill, sort of the opposite of Knowledge (nobility).
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
But it did come into play for us once: We needed to kill a wizard and decided the times he wouldn't have his two bodyguards nearby and his staff of teleportation in hand when he was on the commode, taking a bath, or having sex. He isn't required to do any of these on a specific schedule, so we had to engineer it so he needed a bath.
Arcane spellcasters don't take baths. That's why they have prestidigitation! (If I lived in a world with as much stuff as wants to kill me as in the Pathfinder world, I sure as heck wouldn't want to be in a situation where I had to take off most of my magic gear. Plus - my bard just casts it every few minutes to make sure that he's pristine.)
Euhm.... Knowledge(Local) let's you indentify humanoid Aliens? I remember a part in Iron Gods where the Ranger(who was from the Mwangi, go figure how he got up all the way to Numeria, we never did) spotted the skeleton of a 4 arm race and got his roll to identify it as a Kashata and got to knew all of it's weak point, the fact it was an alien from space and so on and so forth. And the rest of the party just looks at one another wondering how the f+@@ does one identify ALIENS with the same skill that told us the mayor of the town worked with thugs.
I wouldn't have given much about where they did come from aside from "Doesn't look like anything in this world" but you could tell a lot about their build, strengths, and weaknesses from a skeleton probably.
But it did come into play for us once: We needed to kill a wizard and decided the times he wouldn't have his two bodyguards nearby and his staff of teleportation in hand when he was on the commode, taking a bath, or having sex. He isn't required to do any of these on a specific schedule, so we had to engineer it so he needed a bath.Arcane spellcasters don't take baths. That's why they have prestidigitation! (If I lived in a world with as much stuff as wants to kill me as in the Pathfinder world, I sure as heck wouldn't want to be in a situation where I had to take off most of my magic gear. Plus - my bard just casts it every few minutes to make sure that he's pristine.)
Well, that leaves two options, and he has detect poison, so I doubt laxatives will work.
I doubt detect poison works on spicy food though (well, it probably goes off like crazy, but that is half the point). Does anyone have a great chipotle recipe?
So teleport does not allow for interplanar travel, butTeleport
School conjuration (teleportation); Level sorcerer/wizard 5This spell instantly transports you to a designated destination, which may be as distant as 100 miles per caster level. Interplanar travel is not possible.
Teleportation is instantaneous travel through the Astral Plane. Anything that blocks astral travel also blocks teleportation.So teleportation is interplanar travel, yet does not allow for interplanar travel.
Why is this stupid? Technically dimension door is interplanar travel, as all forms of teleportation magic pass through the astral plane, should it be able to cross planes?
It should at the very minimum allow for instantaneous travel through the astral plane.
It'd be pretty useless, since you wouldn't have any choice of destination. You'd appear "somewhere" in a plane infinite in size.
Travel rules in pathfinder do not seem to allow for traveling for longer periods of time at a slower speed.
For example, say you're a human barbarian traveling with a party that all goes 30ft, so you have to go below your speed to keep pace with the party.
Rules as Written state that you can walk for 8 hours before you have to do a forced march. Nothing is stated here about speed of movement. So theoretically, even if you're going at a 5ft walk speed, you'd still have to do a forced march after 8 hours.
I ended up houseruling that the faster person who kept pace with the rest of the party has a little extra movement left over after the day's march. In the case of the barbarian I mentioned, (4*8) - (3*8) = she had 8 miles of movement (2 hours at her 40ft walking speed) left after a day's march with the party.
EDIT: I knew i f+!!ed up the math somehow. give me a moment to fix it.
EDIT: ok I think it's fixed now.
No one in Laketown could possibly have a high enough knowledge(arcana) to identify a great wyrm red dragon.
Also real life conversion rates for copper to silver and silver to gold are 80-90 to 1, making WoW more accurate in that area.