I fought the RAW and the RAW won
EN World columnist Ari Marmell ("Mouseferatu here on the forums") has written a new column, I fought the RAW and the RAW won.
Other News
EN World columnist Ari Marmell ("Mouseferatu here on the forums") has written a new column, I fought the RAW and the RAW won.
I don’t really houserule anymore.
There was a time, a while back—a long while back—when I houseruled my games so far up the wazoo that it was practically a delve in and of itself. (Which now gives me images of a party of adventurers investigating the twists and turns of a giant colon and series of intestines, which is utterly disgusting and must therefore appear in one of my future campaigns so that I may spread my misery.)
This, mind you, was back in my 2E days. I didn’t have the “full three-ring binder” of houserules that you see mentioned so often online, but I had a lot. I did not, for instance, require any of the spellcasters to choose their spells ahead of time; they could just pick and choose (like sorcerers wound up doing in <ACRONYM title="D&D 3rd Edition">3E</ACRONYM>) from whatever spells they knew. For clerics, this meant all of them; for wizards, it meant whatever they had in their spellbooks. Read more....
Pathfinder NewsThere was a time, a while back—a long while back—when I houseruled my games so far up the wazoo that it was practically a delve in and of itself. (Which now gives me images of a party of adventurers investigating the twists and turns of a giant colon and series of intestines, which is utterly disgusting and must therefore appear in one of my future campaigns so that I may spread my misery.)
This, mind you, was back in my 2E days. I didn’t have the “full three-ring binder” of houserules that you see mentioned so often online, but I had a lot. I did not, for instance, require any of the spellcasters to choose their spells ahead of time; they could just pick and choose (like sorcerers wound up doing in <ACRONYM title="D&D 3rd Edition">3E</ACRONYM>) from whatever spells they knew. For clerics, this meant all of them; for wizards, it meant whatever they had in their spellbooks. Read more....
- Krazy Kragnar's Super Genius Games releases Loot 4 Less 7: Krazy Kragnar's Used Chariots. Because the fans demanded it, Krazy Kragnar's includes simple vehicle rules, and magic carriages, chariots, houdahs and wagons all under 2,500 gp each.
- Incantations in Theory and Practice Brings incantations—the alternate system of ritual magic from 3.5E—to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. This exciting twist on magic brings great power to the fingertips of any player, even non-spellcasters, but power like this never comes without a price. As a sneak preview, here's one of those incantations:
Corpse Dancer
You plunge your hands into the open abdomen of the corpse laid out in front of you. You slowly work the medium—the blood and innards—making sickening squelching noises the entire time. It is only as you finish, when the creature opens its eyes and stares up at you, its master, that the full reality of what you’ve done becomes apparent.
School necromancy; Effective Level 3rd
Skill Check Heal DC 20, 2 successes; Spellcraft DC 20, 1 success
Casting Time 30 minutes
Components M, S
Material Components—corpse of sentient creature, recently deceased (within 2 weeks of death); exotic unguents for preparing corpse (worth at least 500 gp)
Range touch
Target dead creature touched
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw none; SR no
Description
You create a homunculus.With a fresh corpse in hand, you begin the work of molding some of its flesh and organs into your homunculus. Slowly, the tiny form takes shape, and with luck, it begins to take on a life of its own as it pulls away from your sticky hands and corpse incubator.
The creature is a homunculus (see Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary). You supply the creature’s vitality with your own blood (or 1d10 of its total 2d10 hp). You are its creator, possessing the standard bond between homunculus and master.
A secondary Craft (sculpture) skill check is required to determine how well crafted the homunculus is. (This check doesn’t affect the actual success or failure of this lesser incantation.)
Craft (sculpture) (Check Result)
9 or lower: The homunculus is poorly shaped, possessing ugly deformities and no wings (or useless wings). It cannot fly.
10-19: The homunculus is appropriately formed. It can fly.
20 or higher: The homunculus is expertly crafted. It appears as a tiny replica of whatever or whomever you wish: perhaps of yourself or another individual.
Backlash
Half of the total hp of the homunculus, or 1d10 hp, are permanently drained from you to fuel the tiny, necrotic construct. You cannot heal this damage unless the homunculus is destroyed.
Failure
If you fail two consecutive skill checks, the homunculus animates as normal, but you are not its master. You still suffer the backlash, fueling the creature, and you still develop a telepathic link with it, but you cannot control it. It makes its own choices. You do not realize the failure until the homunculus says or does something to clue you in: it may threaten you, attack you, run away, or something else as appropriate.
The homunculus resents you for dredging it into existence, and it wants to ruin you for it. It may attempt to do so openly or secretly. It may even play along, feigning that it’s under your control, but you never actually control it.
You plunge your hands into the open abdomen of the corpse laid out in front of you. You slowly work the medium—the blood and innards—making sickening squelching noises the entire time. It is only as you finish, when the creature opens its eyes and stares up at you, its master, that the full reality of what you’ve done becomes apparent.
School necromancy; Effective Level 3rd
Skill Check Heal DC 20, 2 successes; Spellcraft DC 20, 1 success
Casting Time 30 minutes
Components M, S
Material Components—corpse of sentient creature, recently deceased (within 2 weeks of death); exotic unguents for preparing corpse (worth at least 500 gp)
Range touch
Target dead creature touched
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw none; SR no
Description
You create a homunculus.With a fresh corpse in hand, you begin the work of molding some of its flesh and organs into your homunculus. Slowly, the tiny form takes shape, and with luck, it begins to take on a life of its own as it pulls away from your sticky hands and corpse incubator.
The creature is a homunculus (see Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary). You supply the creature’s vitality with your own blood (or 1d10 of its total 2d10 hp). You are its creator, possessing the standard bond between homunculus and master.
A secondary Craft (sculpture) skill check is required to determine how well crafted the homunculus is. (This check doesn’t affect the actual success or failure of this lesser incantation.)
Craft (sculpture) (Check Result)
9 or lower: The homunculus is poorly shaped, possessing ugly deformities and no wings (or useless wings). It cannot fly.
10-19: The homunculus is appropriately formed. It can fly.
20 or higher: The homunculus is expertly crafted. It appears as a tiny replica of whatever or whomever you wish: perhaps of yourself or another individual.
Backlash
Half of the total hp of the homunculus, or 1d10 hp, are permanently drained from you to fuel the tiny, necrotic construct. You cannot heal this damage unless the homunculus is destroyed.
Failure
If you fail two consecutive skill checks, the homunculus animates as normal, but you are not its master. You still suffer the backlash, fueling the creature, and you still develop a telepathic link with it, but you cannot control it. It makes its own choices. You do not realize the failure until the homunculus says or does something to clue you in: it may threaten you, attack you, run away, or something else as appropriate.
The homunculus resents you for dredging it into existence, and it wants to ruin you for it. It may attempt to do so openly or secretly. It may even play along, feigning that it’s under your control, but you never actually control it.
- Torskal, the Centaur God of Just Vengeance In the second part of Torskal's Devoted Orders we explore two organizations that have their origins amongst the humans of Ptlous rather than the centaur of the southern plains. First up are the Avenged, an order of paladins devoted to bringing Just Vengeance to those who even contemplate taking advantage of the weak and infirm. Next we look into the Brotherhood of Rampant Vengeance, a mysterious order with questionable motives.
- The Face of Fear Mark Gedak brings you another strange creature, well this time he brings you multiple creatures based on a single image. You can decide which one you like best, oh and for those psionic lovers there is a little something extra out there for you.
Other News
- Mass Transit II Poster Map Christopher West has launched a pre-order fund drive for his next poster map. ""Mass Transit II" will be a sequel to and expansion of my first independent poster map project, which was highly praised by the Star Wars miniatures community when it was published last year. The artwork for this new poster is already finished and waiting to be sent to the printer, and in my opinion is some of the finest work I've ever done."
- More free Aces & Eights downloads Kenzer and Company has posted free Cover Objects and Train Car Roof PDFs for use with Aces & Eights and the Trouble on the Sequoyah Star adventure.
- 27 Uses for the Common Halfling Think halflings are only good for tossing rings into volcanoes? Think again! Gnome Stew illuminates 27 ways you can make halflings slightly less useless.
- Full Ang War Pack The Ang War Pack containing Archers, ClanMaidens, Clansmen, ShieldMaidens, Combat Masters, Battle Masters and Standards is now free to download from WarriorElite's website enabling you to expand your War for Edath games.
- Modern Warfare: New feats for Tier 3 perks Favorite perks for the popular first-person shooter, including one that involves stabbing opponents instead of shooting them.
- The Value of Dependent NPCs in RPGs Even though heroes can't afford to have personal attachments...they sure make for great plot devices.
