Pathfinder

Axebird · Post by **Axebird** » Wed Aug 13, 2014 11:26 pm

They're not really competing with Hearthstone or MtG. The Pathfinder card game is a co-op deck building game, played against a preset adventure and not another player.

Voss · Post by **Voss** » Thu Aug 14, 2014 2:24 am

A deck building game only against the computer? Yeah, I guess they aren't really competing with anyone for that.*

For good reason.

*though Hearthstone obviously wants some of that ground with Naxxramus 'expansion,' though more in the interest of getting people to finagle more rare cards into PvP match ups.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Sat Aug 16, 2014 11:54 pm

http://i.imgur.com/wEQ2njm.jpg

Rawbeard · Post by **Rawbeard** » Sun Aug 17, 2014 1:15 am

Not sure what I expected.

magnuskn · Post by **magnuskn** » Sun Aug 17, 2014 11:00 am

Paizo's plans for next year.

- Cheliax AP
- Occult Adventures: Six new "psychic" classes.
- Inner Sea Races: Setting hardcover for Golarion about the different races which inhabit it.

I am beginning to get seriously concerned that they are overdoing it with the new classes now. It looks a hell of a lot like the tail end of 3.5. But of course when I point that out on the Paizo boards, some people seriously state that they think Paizo will never do a second edition.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sun Aug 17, 2014 1:30 pm

They'd want to put it off as late as possible though - milk the current one for as much money as they can, declare a moral victory over 4E by pointing out how much longer their game went before a reboot, and also have an even bigger pile of stuff they can sort through for inclusion in the next PF edition.

Because PF2E will likely be the big "now we are officially pushing off from 3E compatibility, as opposed to before where we were effectively doing it but claiming you could blend them". And they'll probably feel free to just pick base classes/races that they actually want - they could ditch the non-casters altogether (I think this is actually likely), and every caster will probably be the kind that gets 6th level spells (as per the Inquisitor, Bard, Alchemist, Summoner and your mum).

But despite all that, still based on "the stuff that came before it". So having a pile of stuff to go through, with some of it being used as body pillows by the fans, will give them some hints on what to put in the core book.

hogarth · Post by **hogarth** » Sun Aug 17, 2014 1:42 pm

magnuskn wrote:I am beginning to get seriously concerned that they are overdoing it with the new classes now. It looks a hell of a lot like the tail end of 3.5.

It has been clear that they've been doing the splatbook treadmill thing for a long time now; they've committed to producing two thick hardcover rulebooks each year whether they have anything to fill them with or not.

Amalie Gaston · Post by **Amalie Gaston** » Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:46 pm

hogarth wrote:It has been clear that they've been doing the splatbook treadmill thing for a long time now; they've committed to producing two thick hardcover rulebooks each year whether they have anything to fill them with or not.

What? Are you telling me Ultimate Equipment was a completely unnecessary rulebook and put out only to keep to a schedule? I'm simply shocked!

magnuskn · Post by **magnuskn** » Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:15 pm

It was actually one of the best books they have put out, IMO. It's a great reference book for important game related stuff.

Antariuk · Post by **Antariuk** » Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:17 pm

Amalie Gaston wrote:
hogarth wrote:It has been clear that they've been doing the splatbook treadmill thing for a long time now; they've committed to producing two thick hardcover rulebooks each year whether they have anything to fill them with or not.
What? Are you telling me Ultimate Equipment was a completely unnecessary rulebook and put out only to keep to a schedule? I'm simply shocked!

Compared to the Monster Codex, UE was a well of usefulness. At least there were some treasure tables you can roll on for shits and giggles.

Amalie Gaston · Post by **Amalie Gaston** » Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:45 pm

magnuskn wrote:It was actually one of the best books they have put out, IMO. It's a great reference book for important game related stuff.

Tables full of items from multiple sources collected in one place is useful. If only there was some way to do this without releasing a new book for $40...

Antariuk wrote:Compared to the Monster Codex, UE was a well of usefulness.

I appreciate that full a third of the "iconic monsters" they are giving detailed write-ups to were covered in the Advanced Race Guide, complete with feats, spells, magic items, and archetypes.

magnuskn · Post by **magnuskn** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 7:39 pm

Amalie Gaston wrote:
magnuskn wrote:It was actually one of the best books they have put out, IMO. It's a great reference book for important game related stuff.
Tables full of items from multiple sources collected in one place is useful. If only there was some way to do this without releasing a new book for $40...

Yeah, well. I am more comfortable with a book in my hands than with a tablet, so I was happy to shell out the money for the book.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Fri Sep 26, 2014 5:42 am

I might be able to get into a PF game soon. It's level 8, dwarves only. The MC okayed the Aleithian Dwarf but wants everyone to stick to PF for the most part. Dreamscarred Press on the pfsrd has been approved. I'd like to try a Psion. Any advice?

nockermensch · Post by **nockermensch** » Fri Sep 26, 2014 2:13 pm

radthemad4 wrote:I might be able to get into a PF game soon. It's level 8, dwarves only. The MC okayed the Aleithian Dwarf but wants everyone to stick to PF for the most part. Dreamscarred Press on the pfsrd has been approved. I'd like to try a Psion. Any advice?

Name your character Urist, have him need alcohol to go through the working day and an unhealthy love for magma ("is there any problem magma can't solve?").

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 12:03 am

Should casting Create Pit next to a door let you jump in and crawl out on the other side of the door?

Shiritai · Post by **Shiritai** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 4:42 am

I would think so; it would be the same as sliding a portable hole underneath the door.

And now I want to use Create Pit on a load-bearing column.

hogarth · Post by **hogarth** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 1:54 am

It is not immediately obvious to me that you can create an effect that's partially in a region you don't have line of effect to.

On a side note, I dislike Create Pit. It's annoying. It's one of a class of spells that slows down combat, and combat takes long enough in 3.5E/Pathfinder. Plus, you almost instantly run into unanswered questions, starting with "What happens when one creature falls into an area of the pit that's already occupied?"

Mask_De_H · Post by **Mask_De_H** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 3:13 am

They land on top of the other creature and that works however the fuck the falling rules work? At least, that's my assumption.

hogarth · Post by **hogarth** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 4:36 am

Mask_De_H wrote:They land on top of the other creature and that works however the fuck the falling rules work? At least, that's my assumption.

There aren't any rules for one creature falling onto another creature, as far as I know.

Mask_De_H · Post by **Mask_De_H** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 4:46 am

hogarth wrote:
Mask_De_H wrote:They land on top of the other creature and that works however the fuck the falling rules work? At least, that's my assumption.
There aren't any rules for one creature falling onto another creature, as far as I know.

Then it's a good question what happens when a creature falls on another creature. Aren't there rules for objects falling, as the Ingot of Damocles trick would assume?

rampaging-poet · Post by **rampaging-poet** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:17 am

There are. My friends found those rules and used them to go Mario on a skeleton in our current campaign.

Dogbert · Post by **Dogbert** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:18 am

Indeed, the only competence for PF's board/Deck building game are other Deck Building games like Resident Evil's.

Now, while NWN has been the best d&d videogame in the history of ever (at least for fans of user-generated content), let's remember the game's original creator was Bioware, not Obsidian (they just took the torch for part 2 after Bioware was bought by EA). NWN 2 had its share of issues (starting with the crippling of the Aurora engine, which was a deal breaker for many, myself included).

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:37 am

I'm doing a guest MC session in somebody else's Pathfinder game. Today's aspects are Cthulhu + Nazis + Tora Bora +Shambala from Uncharted 2. Here's what I've got so far.

"The Rudra Peaks are a land ruled over by sacred Azatas. Long ago, a god-king from the stars descended in a chariot of fire and claimed the mountains as his new home. He enslaved the locals and ranged outward, conquering an oppressive empire. However, the tide was turned when the prayers of the god-king's victims were answered and holy champions crossed over from the celestial spheres to fight the tyrant. Many of the god-king's soldiers were magically enslaved, and they rallied to aid the Azatas after being set free.

Unfortunately, killing their enemy proved to be a problem. The god-king regenerated from most injuries, and the repercussions of his death curse would probably melt the brains of thousands of innocent people. For lack of a better solution, the azatas forced him into eternal sleep and sealed off the remnants of his strange palaces under heavy guard. Then they turned their focus to helping the old empire's victims. Over the course of the next few centuries, the people of the mountains turned to outright worship of the Azatas, constructing monolithic temples and forming monasteries. The Azatas ensured good weather for agriculture, cared for the injured, and called down terrible storms to drive off enemies. The bad old days are forgotten, mostly.

Azatas can be a capricious lot, though they are certainly nicer masters than many of the monsters and mad wizards who have staked out domains around the world. Much of the people's time and energy is devoted to keeping them happy, slowing economic and scientific progress. The Rudra Peaks are also very isolated, since the militant “Storm Lord” azata faction sees the airships used in international trade as a threat to their established power base. Very few airships are allowed in their skies. Enough news and goods come in to stir discontent, and a vocal minority advocates for open borders. To make matters worst, the dreaming Emperor reaches out to other sleepers and promises to bring about a golden age when he is revived. He arms them with knowledge of where to find his old weapons and how to use them, for there are caches and hideouts the azatas never found.

The players control agents of the Association for the Propagation of International Trade. APIT is a megacorporation with a monopoly on airships and international journalism. They present themselves as Switzerland, but in practice are more like the USA propping up the Shah in Iran. They're also hampered by the fact that lots of their low-end membership are adventurers primarily interested in making lots of money fast. APIT wants to bring “Free Trade” to the Rudra Peaks. There are lots of rare and valuable minerals, as well as a gray market in designer drugs. Rumors even speak of ancient machines that still work, like fully functional prosthetic arms and pistols that shoot beams of fire. But APIT is mostly interested in the rare earths and drugs. And the PCs have been sent to the Rudra Peaks to make contact with a group that might facilitate that.

Agni is a god of fire and messengers, who has a history with the god that the Rudra Peaks are named for. His adherents are some of the most vocal advocates for loosening the restrictions on air travel around the mountains. Monasteries dedicated to Agni have staged peaceful protests in most of the local towns, and the newspaper they sponsor is always eager for more information from outside the Peaks. Now, these social pressures have resulted in a special conference, with representatives from multiple Azata factions and several neighboring states. A moderate Stormlord, Count Zepharu, personally escorted three COC airships carrying foreign diplomats in for the conference.

Several cells of the terrorist organization now calling themselves the Awakeners see the conference as their opportunity to make contact with the outside world. Surely, if they can show some of these senior diplomats the glory of the Emperor, they will realize He will be a better ruler of the mountains... and perhaps even the world.

Where things get complicated is the fact that the trade conference is actually plan B for APIT. Plan A is Professor Ajell, one of APIT's special agents. His cover identity is a professor of anthropology, but Ajell has worn many faces in the course of his spy work. The Azatas are unpredictable rulers, who have been holding back the economy and impeding trade. Giving militant rebels a leg up will replace the uncooperative regime with a warzone, which APIT-sponsored adventurers will find profitable employment in. Ideally, whichever faction comes out on top will be sufficiently indebted to their agents that senior APIT officials will be be able to wring out lots of concessions. APIT knows just enough about the Awakeners that they seem like a good catspaw.

To finance their operations, the Awakeners run a number of illicit businesses. Human trafficking, skymetal mining, a few sales of energy weapons, but biggest of all is the drugs. The crashed spaceships of the Dreaming Emperor have sophisticated pharmaceutical labs, and those that the Awakeners have turned into bases churn out huge quantities of an ichor that functions a lot like heroin. With added susceptibility to getting sucked into an evil dreamscape, of course. Fortunately, the Emperor is weak enough that the magical side effects of the drugs rarely kick in away from the Rudra peaks. Ajell plans to make contact with the Awakeners through one of these businesses, then work his way into one of their strongholds and broker a deal for APIT support.

After some initial overtures, Ajell hires a team of guides to take him into one of the Haunted Zones, where Azatas have quietly recruited tribes of Ghost-face Orcs to scare people out before they find any sealed caches of Dreaming Emperor stuff. He's very public about his plans to seek out the legendary Yeti that lurk in the most remote regions of the Rudra Peaks. Then he lures his team into an Awakener ambush, and the party is killed or captured. The extremists refuse to bargain with him until he “shares dreams” with their Emperor, which turns out pretty well for him. Ajell is educated, arrogant, and higher-level than most of the existing cultists. The Dreaming Emperor sorts humanoids into several Nazi-esque tiers of worthiness, and almost immediately decides this new guy is a “superior human” that ought to command the cell.

Now Ajell and the former cell leader are bickering over how to proceed, and Ajell has missed a report to his superiors. APIT wants to figure out what happened to their agent, and the PCs are called in as the most qualified people in the area. The PCs don't know that Ajell is an agent of APIT. They don't have the security clearance for that. The PCs have been paid to safeguard the conference, with a line-item in the contract stating they need to make sure that certain foreign nationals are doing all right. Their mission is to find out what happened to this travelling professor, and help him get back to town if necessary.

Precise details of where Ajell went can be found by talking to the families of the guides he hired (or though magic / skill checks). One family should be creepy, with multiple cultists offering to interpret PC dreams. One is friendly, and will warn the party that the place is “haunted”, and Yeh-Teh are actually really dangerous if you find them. But knowing where to go shouldn't be particularly difficult. Once in the right area, the PCs will be targeted by Ghost-face orcs trying to scare them off (non-violently), and then eventually ambushed by cultists in radiation-proof yeti suits. Unless the PCs roll really well and find tracks leading to Awakener bases early on. In any case, whether they find cultists or the dungeon entrance first, the other will follow shortly.

After fighting the initial group of cultists and finding one of the hidden tunnels leading to their local base, the PCs could go loud and clear out bad guys as they find them, or they could try infiltrating the cult. The yeti suits would be useful either way, since the dungeon is partially made out of spaceship wreckage and wading through pools with glowing blue cubes on the bottom is an unhealthy lifestyle choice.

When the PCs find Ajell, there should be some pretty obvious hints that he's crazy. The Dreaming Emperor has deemed him a “Superior man” and made changes to him through the dreamscape. But there is no such thing as free at-will telekinesis. If the party goes loud, he will shriek about them “ruining APIT's plans”, and attack with a gradually escalating combo of psychic and mutation themed powers. If they infiltrate, the lieutenant is still alive and will try to use these outsiders to turn the cell against Ajell.

By the time things wrap up, drop lots of hints about the Sleeping Emperor, but also cover a few other subjects. The starspawn who invaded this planet have a base on the moon, where all the inhabitants are currently in cryosleep waiting for news of their general's successful conquest of this puny planet. That's going to be the site of another adventure in a few levels, after the party gets some space-mead and a living insect-shuttle.

The PCs end the adventure in possession of a decent amount of wacky sci-fi gear. Possibly more importantly, they've got a decent idea what this region's Dark Secret is, and could use this to political advantage. Optionally, for extra dickery, a few Azatas decide the PCs Know Too Much, and need to be taken out before they tell APIT what they've learned. But in any case, try and figure out what they plan to do with the stuff and how the world around will react.

What should prep time be spent on?
- Find some squiggly tentacle swastikas or something. Symbols that really drive home that you're dealing with Osama von Hitlerthulhu after the party gets into the mystery dungeon.
- stat a few cultists, give them a suicide option where they eat a glowing pill and turn into a closet troll mutant.
- a basic dungeon map, loosely modeled on Tora Bora. Make a few cool set-pieces around nuclear containment pools, chemical labs, and giant undead cyborgs."