Times are tough, there’s a lot of people out there looking for work.  Even those of us with skills and abilities that are capable of great feats are barely getting by.  So, I thought I would show you this great character sheet-inspired resume I found on Hongkait.

Finally, all you job hunters out there can quantify your ranks in ‘rope use’ or ‘disable device’, and brag about your +10 to hit with a keyboard.

So, roll up some confidence and get out there and slay an interview or two!  Any experience points are good experience points.

My gaming group and I put Pathfinder’s new classes through a playtest on Friday.  I played the Summoner, and thought I would share some of my thoughts on the class here.

In short: The Summoner acts somewhat like the arcane version of the Druid.  Instead of an animal companion, however, he has a mutated Outsider called a Eidolon.  The Eidelon can appear in one of three forms: quadruped, biped, or serpentine.  Every level, the summoner can spend evolution points on the Eidelon to give them any number of abilities such as flight, tentacles, poison, or extra limbs.  The Summoner also gains the ability to cast Summon Monster as a spell-like ability, gaining the ability to cast higher incarnations of that spell as he levels.  To round things out, the Summoner has a small spell list, and 1d8 HD. Read the rest of this entry »

We suspended the Grand Campaign for an evening to playtest Paizo’s new Advanced Player’s Guide classes.  An evening of chaos and mayhem followed.
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It never ceases to amaze me that I have been selected as some sort of hero.  Almost as if I was chosen by the gods for this purpose.  I rest now in the incredible city of Arcada.  Never have a seen a city more dedicated to the gods, and thus to their beliefs and writings, in all of the Kingdoms.  Equally as fascinating is Leonardo’s and the Vodan Steel Works.  Though smithing was my father’s profession, the shaping of useless raw materials into a finely honed edge or a bulwark of defense interests me.  But I have not set down here to write a companion’s guide to the city.  I have taken myself from my studies and my wonder to relate the events following the summer of 194.
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past couple of days, you probably heard that Apple is going to release a new tablet computer, called the iPad.  So, I began to think what advantages it may have over any given netbook or laptop.  Now, I don’t want to turn this into a melee over if it’s “better” or “worse” than a netbook; you could find that discussion already on a number of other websites.  What I want to explore is what advantages it may have for the gaming table.

Computing at the gaming table is nothing new, due to the prevalence of laptops and smartphones.  However, the first is obtrusive and obstructive, and the second is often too small to read.

So, that leaves an opening for the iPad.  It seems that it would be large enough to be readable, without standing between the players like a laptop does.  The first obvious solutions are digital versions of game books, and dice rolling apps.  But, I think there’s more options here.

With the size of screen on the iPad, and the coming herd of iPad-specific apps, I think there are other options as well.  There could very easily be a tool with everything needed by a DM — initiative tracker, dice roller, reference books, etc.  There could even be a game board app for very close quarters combat.  Zoomable maps are another possibility, since we consistently reference maps of our game world as we play.  If tablet computers became common enough, everyone could have quick access to their rulebooks in the same app that contains their character sheet.  This would greatly clean up the gaming table.

While it may replace books and character sheets, I think that people still prefer the physicality of dice and miniatures, so it can’t replace everything.  But, I do definitely see the advantanges.

What do you think?  Will tablet computers help or hinder the gaming process?  What features would the ultimate gaming app include?  Tell us in the comments!

I write you this letter from Queen’s Landing.  I’ve just returned here from the Barony of Halswood in northern Staenland, after concluding the business your last letter requested my companions and I deal with.

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So Paizo is currently running an open playtest of four (soon to be six) new classes slated to appear in their Advanced Players Guide, due out some time next year.  I’ve taken some time to look over the four classes currently out (and I plan to do the same for the next two) and I have to say that, overall, I like what I see.

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As I sit in the grey dungeon that has become my home over the past several weeks, I have come to two conclusions.  The first is that this power that I have fated upon is dark and treacherous and it has no business being in the hands of any mortal.  This is the very power of the gods, unrestrained.  I have stared into the face of the divine and walked away with its glow and its stench.  I am unfit to know such things, to be who I am.

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We run into the occasional problem with one character being utterly hopeless in a group skill everyone else can do.  Say for example the party needs to sneak somewhere, but the Cleric has no stealth at all.  We can’t very well leave him …

We’ve tried several mechanisms to work around this issue – mass Aid Another works, but it feels cheesy – six people are crowded around one guy, helping him be quiet?  It feels wrong even if it’s legal.  Having only one character Aid Another feels more reasonable, but it’s also kind of weak sauce at high levels … oh, boy, a +2.  The guy listening for us has a +18 Perception …

After some discussion, we came up with a possible House Rule – Aid Another on Skill Checks might confer a scaled bonus based on the margin of success.  For example, a Rogue Aids the Cleric on his Stealth check.  Normally this would be a DC 10 for a +2.  Perhaps for every 5 ranks of success, we get another +1?  So the low-level Rogue rolls a 21, and grants a +4 Stealth.  If the same Cleric was being aided by a 19th level Ranger with some Skill Focus, he could reasonably roll say a 38, which would confer a +7 … after all, he knows a lot more about sneaking than the low level Rogue.

It’s a thought at least, and something that might make Aid Another seem like a good investment of an action even at high levels.