Fatefinder update

So here is what I have put together for character creation, included are new magic rules, influenced heavily by Ed Hastings work.  Please give me thoughts.

You may access my google doc of this information Here: Fatefinder

FATEFINDER
A Fate Core Conversion of Pathfinder
Ayrphish Arts

Part 1:  Character Creation

Your Character Idea:

You should have a high concept and trouble as per the Fate CRB.  You should make 3 additional aspects.  One of those should be similar to a campaign trait,  it should be your connection to the campaign.  If you are a magic user, you must take another aspect which indicates your magical training, or something similar, (if your powers were a gift from a god, the aspect should indicate that) this aspect must make it clear that are a wielder of magic in some way.  The other aspect(s) are up to you.

Skills

Acumen (Knowledge Skills, Appraise, Linguistics)
Allure (Diplomacy, Perform)
Aptitude (Craft: all non-magic, Profession: all)
Arcane (Arcane Magic, Spellcraft)
Athletics (Climb, Swim)
Ballistics (Ranged Attack/Defense)
Burglary (Stealth, Sleight of Hand, Disable Device)
Celerity (Reflex Saves, Initiative)
Deceive (Disguise, Bluff)
Divine (Divine Magic, Spellcraft)
Finesse (Fly, Acrobatics, Escape Artist)
Investigate (Perception)
Mend (Heal)
Nature (Handle Animal, Survival, Ride)
Physique (Fortitude Saves, CMD, Physical Stress)
Resolve (Will Saves, Sense Motive, Mental Stress)
Tenacity (Melee Attack/Defense, and CMB)
Thaumaturgy (UMD, Craft Magic Items/Potions/Scrolls)

Skills will be distributed as per the Fate CRB.

Stunts

Stunts will be made as per the Fate CRB.

Magic
(Thanks to Ed Hastings and his FAE - Pathfinder conversion)

In order to practice magic, a character must meet the following requirements:

• Skill ranks in the Arcane/Divine skill of +3 or higher  (You may rename these to something that fits your concept pending GM approval.  For example, you might want to rename Arcane to Psionic, or Divine to Primal.
• An aspect that indicates where your magic powers came from
• Lower your refresh by 1 if you plan on using 1 magic skill; by 2 if you plan on using 2 magic skills.

Arcane Skill

The Arcane Skill represents your mastery and knowledge of arcane magic.  The source of that magic could vary from training and research, powers inherent in your blood, etc.  The Arcane Skill should be coupled with an aspect that provides detail of the source of your arcane power.

Spells are not restricted to be drawn exclusively from pathfinder source material, but that may serve as general guideline as to what you are capable of doing with your magic.  In general Arcane magic is good for attacking and bending the rules of reality.

All arcane casters should have some sort of focus that will be defined as an extra.  This extra serves to limit what kind of spells you are capable of casting a given time.  If your focus is on evocation, that is to say, attack type of magic, it is unreasonable to assume that in a given scenario you use your magic to enchant your enemies.  Sometimes there may be some overlap, it will be up to the group and the GM to decide if your intended use of magic is consistent with what your character has practiced and demonstrated in the past.

Overcome:  The Arcane Skill may be used to overcome barriers created by other arcane magics.  Think of it like “Dispel Magic.”  When this occurs, you will make an arcane check vs the creators arcane check.  There maybe other uses of arcane magic to overcome barriers, such as locked doors, poor lighting, fog, etc.  Use of this magic must be justified by the caster’s focus, or if the barrier in question is a minor inconvenience, or something that could be overcome with mundane means, such as a locked door, there will be a passive difficulty assigned, possibly with a  +2 bonus.

Create an Advantage:  The Arcane Skill may be used to create an advantage.  In most of these instances, you will create an aspect that mirrors a spell from pathfinder source material.  Such as “invisibility.”  There will be a base difficulty assigned based on the spells level in the source material, see the chart below.

Source Material Spell Level / Base difficulty to cast
0    +0
1-2  +1
3-4  +2
5-6  +3
7-8  +4
9    +5

Success of the check will operate as per the original fate core rules.  Extra Shifts in the success may translate into extra invokes, this will be decided by the GM and the players at the time of the casting of the spell, and the number of shifts generated.

Spells that have a passive duration will generally last 1 scene.  That may be extended based on shifts generated during the casting of the spell.

Conjuring and summoning is also covered by creating an advantage.  (The below is taken verbatim from Ed Hastings magic system)
“Rather than allocating extra shifts from the Create An Advantage action used to summon the servitor towards setting a difficulty to be overcome, or buying additional invokes, extra shifts can be used to "buy" Aspects, Stunts, pluses to 4dF rolls for specific things, and stress boxes for a servitor's write up.
Stunts cost 2 shifts each, while extra Aspects, additional +1 skill-like ability bonuses, and stress boxes cost 1 point each.
Servitors can also be spellcasters, but must have a relevant skill-like ability at +3 or better.
Servitors are not necessarily obedient to their caster, but an Obedient Aspect (or similar) can be added to the Servitor to ensure compliancy, at the cost of a shift.
Servitors act on their own, but unless they have a skill-like ability, Aspect, or Stunt that suggests otherwise, they have initiative 0.”

Attack:  The Arcane Skill may be used to make attacks targeting a particular save (based on the pathfinder source material, or decided by the GM and the players at the time of the cast.)  This will be resolved the same way as all other attacks.  Shifts will translate to damage.  There are no dice pool  upgrades, so higher level spells from the source material do not translate to extra damage in this magic system.  To affect more than 1 target, the spell caster will need an aspect and spend a fate point to effectively utilize area of effects.

Defend:  The Arcane Skill is not used for defense.

Divine Skill:
(And any other created magic skill like psionic, primal, etc)

The divine skill will operate in all ways like the Arcane Skill above.  Focus should be described in different ways, and you should draw from divine spells in the pathfinder source material.

Fatefinder - Spells and Magic

Progress is coming along in the Pathfinder to Fate conversion.  Today I did some thinking on how I would want magic to work in the game.  The first thing I wanted to do, is try to balance the spell casters with the non-spell casters.  If the front line guy can attack over and over with his weapon, than the wizard should be able to do the same with her spells.  So I got rid of the idea that there were a limited number of spells that someone could cast 'per day.'  This will require me to pay attention to what spells someone creates so that they don't have world changing magic that can be cast over and over and over again.

In the next couple days, I'll set out some rules for creating spells, and the arcane/divine difference.  But what follows will be the bare-bones of the magic system.

I have also changed up my skill list a little bit.  So I will post my changes made after the section dealing with magic.

Magic

 For a person to use magic, they must have an aspect that shows where that magic comes from, how they got it.  They also must take either the Arcane or Divine skill.  Finally, they will have an Extra which will define how many spells a spell caster has at their disposal.

 That extra will likely mirror a pathfinder counterpart.  For instance, a spellbook, a familiar, a bloodline, a gift from a god, etc.  This extra should be consistent with the aspect that gave the character her magic.

 You will then define spells that will be ‘stored’ in that extra. The extra acts as your spell repository.  When creating and adding spells to your extra, it must be clear which of the four actions from the  Fate CRB the spell will do for you.

 Your extra may only house a certain number of spells.  The number of spells stored in your extra should be the total of your Arcane or Divine skill modifer, and add how many milestones your character has completed.   A significant milestone will add an additional spell to the extra.

 Example:
Kiera is a witch, who stores her spells in a familiar.  She has an arcane skill at +4.  Before completing any milestones, Keira may have 4 spells in her familiar.  Once she has completed her first milestone, she may have 5, 6 after the second, and so on.

 If a character has skill in both arcane and divine, you add the two skills together, and divide by two to determine the number of  spells known.


Example:
Ayr is a mystic theurge with a +4 in divine and a +3 in arcane.  Before completing any milestones, he would be able to know 3 spells.

Skills

Acumen (Knowledge Skills, Appraise, Linguistics)
Allure (Diplomacy, Perform)
Aptitude (Craft: all non-magic, Profession: all)
Arcane (Arcane Magic, Spellcraft)
Athletics (Climb, Swim)
Ballistics (Ranged Attack/Defense)
Burglary (Stealth, Sleight of Hand, Disable Device)
Celerity (Reflex Saves, Initiative)
Deceive (Disguise, Bluff)
Divine (Divine Magic, Spellcraft)
Finesse (Fly, Acrobatics, Escape Artist)
Investigate (Perception)
Mend (Heal)
Nature (Handle Animal, Survival, Ride)
Physique (Fortitude Saves, CMD)
Resolve (Will Saves, Sense Motive)
Tenacity (Melee Attack/Defense, and CMB)
Thaumaturgy (UMD, Craft Magic Items/Potions/Scrolls)

These changes were to spread things out a little more, and allow for some more specialization.  I think I like this list a little better than the first draft.

Fatefinder - Converting Pathfinder Skills to FATE Core

My game group is at an odd crossroads.  Some of us want to explore new game systems, and others are committed to the status quo.  None of us really want to quit playing pathfinder, but most of us could stand a change in the system.

Enter Fate Core.  This system prides itself on being "Hackable" and able to fit any setting.  So can it handle Pathfinder?  Specifically, can it handle the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path?  Mythic Levels?  I don't have all of those answers yet, but here goes the first post of many into a conversion process.

You will be able to find other conversions online, and they are all quite good.  I had no qualms with these other systems, but stubbornly enough, wanted to reinvent my own wheel.

So here is the first step in the process.  Taking the Fate Core skills, and merging them with Pathfinder skills, saves, attacks, and magic.  At this point, I'm not sure what to do with the primary ability scores, right now, I just don't plan on using them.

Fate revolves around skills to do most things in the game, and there are fewer of them then there are pathfinder 'skills.'  Job 1 is to merge somethings into the Fate skill system.  So here is the list I came up.  The name on the left is the name of the skill for my game.  The  skills in parentheses are what pathfinder skills it will cover.

Fatefinder Skills:
Athletics (Acrobatics, Climb, Swim, Escape Artist)
Burglary (Stealth, Sleight of Hand, Disguise, Disable Device)
Speechcraft (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Linguistics)
Investigate (Perception, Appraise)
Lore (All of the knowledge skills)
Profession (Craft: All, and Profession: All)
Nature (Handle Animal, Survival, Ride)
Fly (Fly)
Heal (Heal)
Sense Motive (Sense Motive)
Initiative (Initiative)
Melee (melee attack rolls, CMDs, CMBs)
Ranged (Ranged attack rolls)
Fortitude (Fort Saves)
Reflex (Reflex Saves)
Will (Will Saves)
Divine (Allows for Divine Spells, UMD, Spellcraft)
Arcane (Allows for Arcane Spells, UMD, Spellcraft)

That's all I have for now.  More to come.  What are your thoughts?

A review of "Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-11: The Penumbral Accords"

Note:  This review is made entirely from the player side of the table.  I have not 'seen behind the screen,' so there will not be much information from that perspective.

There are also very big spoilers, so if you are planning on playing this scenario, and want to be surprised, you should probably not read much further.

Overview:  The Blackros family entered into a slave trading agreement with some 'bad guys' from the shadow plane.  Now that agreement entails giving over a couple of their own daughters, so the Blackros family wants the agreement to be broken.  The pathfinders are hired to go into the museum at night, and break the agreement and save the daughters.

Combats:  The combats were pretty good, though our particular group had a harder time with the golem than we did with the "boss" at the end.  The DR possessed by this golem made the fight take longer than it probably should have.  The raptor that we encountered at the very beginning of the encounter can also hit pretty hard.  It one shotted our party's eidolon, and it has quite a few natural attacks.  Fortunately, once we got some hits in on it, it didn't take long to get down.  The alchemist knocked our cleric unconscious, but our bard was able to save the day in recovering him.  So, at the end of the day, the combats were good.  They were challenging but not impossible, dangerous, but probably not pushing the TPK risk.  Of course, our GM may have been fudging some rolls, but I didn't perceive this from where I was sitting.

Role Playing:  There are some great opportunities to role play, and there are some moral decisions that have to bed made along the way.  The group encounters several slaves along their journey in the museum and these could really be played out if that's how your group likes to play.

Faction Missions:  Since this is a season 2 scenario, the newer factions will have to share missions with one of the original factions.  That's OK  but something to be aware of.  We had 3 people all doing the Taldor mission.  There is also some tension between a couple of the missions.  The Cheliax mission requires silence of one particular slave, whereas one of the other factions requires getting a slave to tell 'his story.'  This made for some RP tension between a couple of our characters.  If your group can handle that maturely, then it can be fun, otherwise it could be a bit of a problem.

Time/Prep:  Our GM had maps made ahead of time, but they didn't seem super complex.  There are a couple of mechanics from classes that a GM would have to be familiar with, the monk's ki, the alchemist, construct traits, low light fighting, and balance on slippery surfaces.  The entire scenario also only took our group 3 hours to get through.  I do not know if there was an optional encounter that was skipped or not, I didn't get a look at things from that end.

Overall:  I had a great time playing this mission out.  There is a little bit of a go to room, kill the bad guys, go to next room, kill the bad guys, but our GM did a good job of playing these out and not making them tedious.  The missions were fun, and made for some good RP options in our group.  The difficulty was challenging but never felt impossible.

I would recommend giving this one a play through, it was a good time as a player.

H4X Android Magus

I have to admit.  I'm a softy for all the different races that exist in the Golarion Universe.  The Inner Sea Bestiary presented 4 new playable races, and I really liked 2 of them, was ok with 1 of them, and not impressed with the other... but that's another post all together.

One of the two races I really liked was the Android.  I know it is a little too futuristic / Sci-Fi for the purists, but I think it is a cool idea, could be super fun to play.  Being that I had a chance to make a new character for an online game using Rolld20, I decided to give the android a test drive.

Below I present to you H4X the Android Magus.

H4X like most other androids emerged from the technological ruins of Numeria.  He is programmed to be a deadly combatant with a scimitar.  The magic that H4X has developed however, was never part of his programming.  It is unknown how he developed any arcane abilities.  When asked when he became adept at magic, he is slightly confused.  He fails to see the difference as to what animates him, the biological races of elves and humans around him, the trees in the forest, the beasts on the ground, or the birds in the sky.  To him, all of that is magic, so the fact that he was able to spontaneously cast arcane spells is just as mysterious and remarkable as everything around him.  It is unlikely that he truly needs to study his spellbook everyday to prepare his spells, but that's what everyone else does, and H4X desires to be more of a 'person' and less of a 'machine' so he goes through the motions daily.  He can be seen attempting to eat, drink, and sleep, those these processes are also irrelevant to his functionality.

Despite his best efforts to 'fit in,' H4X remains an emotionless android.  Sarcasm, and humor are completely lost on him, he will often try to rationally explain a joke, or a pun, ironically to comic effect.  He is confused and intrigued by the randomness of human behavior, so creative plan making is sometimes difficult for him to carry out.  To him, most problems are black and white, problem - solution.

Once he acquires his familiar, it will be some sort of living creature, and H4X will go to great lengths to care for it and protect it.  Its well being will be a reflection of his desired humanity.

His stat block can be found HERE.  It is also copied below.  As H4X advances he will likely choose the following feats and Magus Arcana:
3)Extra Arcana - Familiar
3)Spell Shield
5) Weapon Focus - Scimitar
5) Arcane Magic
6) Empowered Magic
7) Improved Familiar
9) Intensify Spell
9)Prescient Defense

From here on out, damage, and survivability is key.  There are a lot of good guides to aid in feat and spell selection for a Magus.  Don't ignore those, and don't worry about mixing and matching ideas.  He starts out fragile but a good spell selection and careful play should balance him out as he progresses.  Get some wands, and some gaze spells for the familiar to abuse the action economy that the Magus already has.

The build presented was created with a 20 point buy, it also assumes you are comfortable with a big dump to Charisma.  This is mechanical as well as for RP flavor, H4X lacks emotions, and humanity, his ability to be diplomatic or intimidating, or even to bluff all rely on a more complex understanding of those things, which he would lack.

Regardless of ability score generation method you should prefer:
STR>INT>CON>DEX>WIS>CHA

In a 15pt buy, I would build him:
16>16>12>10>9>9

For Traits:
I took Reactionary:  Explained as how he was programmed to be deadly with a sword, so when a threat arises  he is quick to respond.  It's not an emotional reaction, its part of his programmed combat abilities.
Focused Mind:  Doesn't let external things distract him, easy to explain from an RP standpoint, important to be able to cast in melee as that's whats a Magus does.

Gear:
You don't have to spend a ton on the scimitar, you'll get abilities to buff it.  That said, don't neglect it, it is THE thing that H4X is most familiar and trained for.
Celestial Armor, or other buffs to the Chain Shirt are good early.  As your armor proficiency increases, progress with it.  AC bonuses are good. He doesn't have a high dex, so you'll have to compensate for that.
Pearls of Power:  Yes.  Get them.  Yes you can recall some spells, more recalls are always good.  The lower level the better value of a Pearl of Power.
Blessed Books:  Also good if you want to put a bigger focus on your spells, lets you add more spells more afford-ably to your book.
Items that boost Str and Int are the other ways to go.

Early on, your tactics have to be smarter.  He starts fragile at level 1.  His AC and HP will get better, but he'll never be a 'tank.'  Using the scimitar with 2 hands when you aren't casting helps a lot with damage, without any risk to hit, so use it frequently early on.   Once you're able to spell strike, shocking grasp is the way to go, Walter's Guide to the Magus talks about keeping it relevant.

You're a great watch at night, your perception is low, but you don't have to sleep.  How this interacts with getting your spells back is up to your GM so iron that out before you neglect the normal night time routine.  My guess is that any reasonable GM will let you get your spells back 'each day' as long as you aren't abusing the fact that you don't sleep.  So don't do things like crafting while everyone else sleeps.

Use his Nanite surge responsibly.  It doesn't have to be used for an attack roll, it can be used for a SV or a CL check to overcome SR, or an important concentration check.  Use it responsibly, you only get it once a day.


H4X
Male Android Magus 1
NG Medium Humanoid (Android)
Init +3; Senses Low Light Vision, Darkvision 60 ft, Perception +2
Languages Common, Elven, Goblin, Draconic
DEFENSE
AC  15, Flat Footed 14,  Touch 11
HP 10
Fort +3, Reflex +1, Will +1 (+4 Racial bonus vs Mind Effecting, Paralysis, Poison, and Stun) Not
subject to fatigue or exhaustion, Immune to disease, sleep, fear, and emotion effects.  Cannot benefit from
a morale bonus.
OFFENSE
Speed 30 Feet, 6 Squares
Melee   Scimitar +4 (1d6+4) 18-20/X2 One Hand or
              Scimitar +4 (1d6+6) 18-20/X2 Two Hand
Ranged Longbow +1 (1d8) X3
Magus Spells Prepared:
1st Level (2/day):  Color Spray (DC 14), True Strike
0 Level (At Will): Acid Splash, Arcane Mark, Mage Hand
Special Attacks:  Nanite Surge, Spell Combat
STATISTICS
Abilities Str 18 (+4), Dex 12 (+1), Con 12 (+1), Int 16 (+3), Wis 8 (-1) Cha 6 (-2)
BAB 0, CMB +4, CMD 15
Feats Extra Arcane Pool
Traits Reactionary, Focused Mind
Skills Climb +8, Knowledge: Arcana +7, Knowledge: Dungeoneering +7, Perception +2, Spellcraft +7
SQ Nanite Surge, Arcane Pool, Cantrips, Spell Combat
Combat Gear Chain Shirt, Scimitar, Longbow, 20 Arrows.  Other Gear Backpack, Spellbook
(Contains: all zero level spells, Color Spray, Grease, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Vanish) 33 gold
pieces
Encumbrance
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Constructed (Ex):  You can as a humanoid and a construct. You have a +4 bonus to resist Mind Effects, Paralysis, Poison, and Stun. You are immune to fatigue, exhaustion, disease, sleep, fear, and emotion effects. You cannot benefit from a morale bonus.
Emotionless (Ex):  You are emotionless and take a -4 to sense motive checks.
Nanite Surge (Ex):  Once per day as an immediate action, you can make your nanites surge to grant you a +3 bonus to a single d20 roll. You must declare you are using this ability before you roll, and it causes the tattoos on your body to glow for 1 round.
Arcane Pool:  You have an Arcane Pool of 6, you may spend a point to give your weapon a +1
enhancement bonus, this stacks with magic bonuses on your weapon to a maximum of +5.
Spell Combat:  You can attack and cast spells in the same round, as long as 1 hand is empty. You take a -2 to attack rolls when you use this ability.

A Reevaluation of House Rules - Ability Scores

It was about a year ago, when I decided "Hey, my table needs some house-rules, that's what all the 'cool' gms do, and ya... I'M that cool..."

In the past year, there have been some successes with those rules, and there have been some failures with those house rules, and now I am considering version 2.  Let's talk about one of those rules I have been using, and what changes I am considering.

The biggest rule as far as how impacts the game, as well as the rule that I want to change the most is the rule governing ability scores.  Right now, our house rules say that each character starts with a 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8.  If they write a back-story, and include relevant traits, they get three free points to distribute however they want.  After racial adjustments, nothing can be higher than 20, there can only be 1 score less than 10, and nothing less than 7.  The original intent of this rule was to create balanced characters that really couldn't be min-maxed.  For those purposes, it has worked.

The problem with this rule, is that is has shoe-horned classes to certain races.  Having a race with a -2 becomes hard to use, as typically you would use a race that has a -2 to an ability score that you don't need.  So, that's where you want to assign the 8 as well.  However, this creates a 6 which is too low.  You can't let the -2 go to your second 'dump stat' and give it the 10, as then you would have two scores less than 10.

As I consider how to address this problem, I am considering two options.  The first is to go old school and roll for those scores.  That's how the Core Rule Book says to do it anyway.  The other option is a point buy, 15 or 20 most likely.  Neither of these options create definite character balance, and point buy certainly opens the door to min-maxing.  As I write this though, I ask myself, so what?  In the real world, some people are better at others at certain skills.  Even in fantasy fiction, some characters do some things better than others.  Balance is widely a myth, both for realism and for fantasy fiction.  Min maxing is the same.  Both methods, point buy, and dice rolling, are the methods advocated in the CRB.  So maybe the house rule that I used to make the game better, didn't really achieve that.  I should have just followed the core rule book all along.

How do you generate ability scores in your game?  What's your advice to a fellow GM?

My thoughts on Goblinworks and Pathfinder Online

Those familiar with tabletop RPG gaming are certainly no stranger to Paizo and its flagship product the Pathfinder RPG.  Last summer the company announced that an online "version" of Pathfinder would be developed by a spin-off company, Goblinworks.  Over the summer, Goblinworks ran a hugely successful kickstarter to gain funding for a technology demo of the new Pathfinder MMORPG.  And in December, they attempted to capitalize on previous success and start a second kickstarter with the goal of speeding up the game's development.  With six days remaining the second kickstarter is over 300k short of its one million dollar goal.

Regardless of how this kickstarter ends, I can't wait for the week to end, and the kickstarter to go away.

This sounds harsh, and let me be clear about a couple things before I go into more detail on my thoughts on the matter.


First, I am big fan of MMORPGs... Or rather, I used to be.  I grew up on EQ classic.  "You died?  Hope you can find a necromancer to summon your corpse."  "Oh, you ran through Kithicor Forest at night?  Hope you can find a necromancer to summon your corpse."  I branched out in many other classic MMOs, Shadowbane, Guild Wars, EQ2, Dark Age of Camelot, and of course eventually World of Warcraft.

My wife and I played WoW nightly, we were in a raiding guild, we made "real-life" friends, it was "our thing" to do for a very long time.

The third member of our house changed all of that... It's really hard to raid when the baby needs to eat.  So, we drifted away from WoW.  It was soon thereafter that I discovered a way to scratch the itch that no more RPG left behind, when I discovered table top RPGs, which brings me to my second big point...


I am a big fan of Pathfinder.  I am still a youngin' when it comes to table top RPGs.  I had wanted to play Dungeons and Dragons for as long as I can remember.  But finding groups, especially if you don't know anyone else who plays can be daunting, especially for us old folks who tried to get into it before the explosion of social networking.  About 3 years ago, while investigating my curiosity I came across a program sponsored by Wizards of the Coast know as "Encounters" that was hosted at a game store not far from my house.  So I ventured out the front door, leaving the wife at home, and wandered into new territory.  From then on, I was an enthusiast.  As my appreciation and enjoyment with the hobby grew, I inevitably discovered Paizo and Pathfinder, and my group of fellow newbies (wife included by now) decided to give it a spin and try to save the world through the Carrion Crown adventure path.

We never looked back.  The small collection of D&D books I had acquired were sold off, as soon as possible once Wizards of the Coast announced "D&D Next," and though I took a loss, I was happy to have some money back in my pocket and the books off of my shelf.

Today, my collection is far from small.  I have 4 complete adventure paths, 6 or 7 big hardback books from the core line, and numerous player companions, campaign settings, and modules.  To say I love Paizo and Pathfinder would likely be an understatement.

So, a Pathfinder MMO should be a perfect fit for me, right?

Not so much.

When I want to be a hero these days, I don't rely on a digital representation of said hero.  I don't spend hours upon hours putting up with obnoxious internet users to gain some new pixels to adorn said hero.  I spend those hours around a table with my wife, and increasingly more and more our son, some good friends, and some dice.

The new baby girl needs to eat?  Ok, lets take a little break.  No need to worry about finishing a fight, or ruining other people's fun while you have to go "AFK."  We don't have to devote every night to gaming, we spend about 1 night a week.

I for one, have no interest in going back.  I don't want to have to log in and 'maintain' my character.  I don't want to risk griefers having their enjoyment at my expense.  I don't want to have to worry if my wife and I both have computers capable of running the new game and its expansions.

To be blunt, I have no interest in Pathfinder Online.

It is my hope that when this kickstarter expires, that Paizo will put just a little distance between itself and Goblinworks.  I enjoy using some free time to check the Paizo forums, and the front page is my window as to what's 'trending' right now.  More and more this window is dirty with discussions about an online game that is 4 years away, and that I don't care about. Yes, that's a small complaint, and I might be in the minority, I'm OK with both of those things.  I look at it at it this way, Pathfinder and Pathfinder Online are two different things.  Paizo and Goblinworks are two different companies.  Sure, they're related, but they're different, if I want to read about one of them and take part in one of their forums, I want to be able to do that without dealing with the other one.

Separate the games, separate their websites, clean my window! 

((In the interest of full disclosure, I did support the first kickstarter.  The dirty secret?  I only did it to get a cheap PDF of a dungeon that I could use at my table.  The second kickstarter really cemented my apathy for the whole thing.  I couldn't help but think, "I already gave you money once, and now you want a million more?"  I may, again, be in the minority here, but I'm pretty sure there are others who share my disenfranchised attitude towards another request for money.))

What are your thoughts?