Marilith

Chief Cook and Bottlewasher's page

707 posts. Alias of diana ratcliffe.


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CrystalSeas wrote:
Ixal wrote:
so you can't really get away with just worshipping one.

Really? Why not?

The clerics of various gods certainly don't go around conducting ceremonies for other gods.

And laypeople can certainly pick one god that they want to venerate. Nothing will happen if they do. The gods you ignore on Golarion don't send hit squads after you.

Birth, marriage and death.

So deity of choice for marriage and death/funerals, but for births you want an experienced midwife, which most likely means a Pharasma cleric or worshipper.
Most places probably prefer a Pharasman cleric overseeing cemeteries as well


Kelseus wrote:
Chief Cook and Bottlewasher wrote:
Ravingdork wrote:
Only feat tax I've seen that I think qualifies is the Adopted Ancestry general feat. It literally grants you nothing on its own. You need to pick other additional, specific feats to have it do anything at all.
But you then pick the feat you want straight away. You don't spend a level or more with just a feat that does nothing
No it just says "you gain access." No where does it say "you gain a feat."

Huh. You're right. And pathbuilder doesn't give a feat straight away


Ravingdork wrote:
Only feat tax I've seen that I think qualifies is the Adopted Ancestry general feat. It literally grants you nothing on its own. You need to pick other additional, specific feats to have it do anything at all.

But you then pick the feat you want straight away. You don't spend a level or more with just a feat that does nothing


James Jacobs wrote:
bixnoodles wrote:

What kind of music would you use to represent Magnimar?

Also, what kind of transportation exists around the city? Going up or down the seacleft always sounded exhausting.

For things like music for regions, I generally prefer to default to video game or movie soundtracks. Preferably ones that your players aren't super familiar with. If you use a soundtrack that's iconic and recognizable, like Jaws or Halloween or Conan the Barbarian, the music will take over and turn whatever you're trying to do into that movie.

Magnimar is a bustling city that has a LOT of impressive monuments in it, so something sweeping and grandiose would work best. No specific music comes to mind, but I'd start my search by looking into soundtracks for games like The Witcher 3, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, or Dragon Age and check out the background music that plays in large cities of games like that as a potential background music for the city. Or, for that matter, I'd look through Syrinscape's music! There's some stuff in there that's actually MADE for Magnimar/Varisia if I recall correctly!

As for transportation... mostly walking or horseback. While it's a city, it's not as enormous as you might think; you could walk from one end to the other in an hour or two, depending on traffic. Richer folks use carriages. As for going up and down the seacleft... that's not something everyone has to do every day, and for most of the citizens they might not need to make that trip often at all. Those who DO have to make it daily use horses or carriages.

Does Golarion have any funicular railways? There are several in the UK. The one in Folkestone is powered by water and gravity. Maps of mines seem to have rails and minecarts, so it doesn't seem much of a leap


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How did the spiritualist compare with the summoner? Does it have any mechanics that could be useful? Should the spiritualist be included in summoner or are there distinct differences that would stop that?


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James Jacobs wrote:
Chief Cook and Bottlewasher wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Kelseus wrote:

I have a question for converting old adventures.

It wasn't uncommon in Pathfinder 1 for there to be an encounter with a large number of very low level minions. For instance, an encounter with a CR 7 monster and then 6 CR 2 minions, and it is listed as a CR 9 encounter.

But in Pathfinder 2, any creature that is more than 4 levels below the PCs is off the experience chart.

What would be your suggestion for converting this encounter? Just keep the very low level minions and give a slight boost to the encounter (i.e. moderate instead of low) or bump up the minions so they are no more than 4 levels below the PCs?

I've been facing several of these in my work on the Kingmaker Adventure Path. In some cases, I'll convert the mooks up to the lowest possible level where they'll give XP still and adjust numbers as needed, or I'll keep them as is and change the tone and theme of the encounter site.

One great example of this in Kingmaker is...

** spoiler omitted **

In the end, when you're converting an...

I've heard that 'troop' is going to be in Bestiary 3. How much would that help? Does it also extend to herds of animals and stampedes?

(Since 'troop' implies some organisation and probably drilling, would a 'troop' of chaotic creatures be better called a mob? :) )

If the troops are built as higher level creatures, then sure. But they don't have to be built that way. And they're BIG. For a lot of the 1st edition encounters with lots of foes, they're spread out over multiple areas. A single troop won't fit in most of those areas; they're meant to represent a fight against a mob in a relatively large and open area, not so much a dungeon.

I suppose I was expecting to be able to use troop for, say, a pack of half a dozen or a dozen wolves.

Are there any plans for smaller groups?


James Jacobs wrote:
Kelseus wrote:

I have a question for converting old adventures.

It wasn't uncommon in Pathfinder 1 for there to be an encounter with a large number of very low level minions. For instance, an encounter with a CR 7 monster and then 6 CR 2 minions, and it is listed as a CR 9 encounter.

But in Pathfinder 2, any creature that is more than 4 levels below the PCs is off the experience chart.

What would be your suggestion for converting this encounter? Just keep the very low level minions and give a slight boost to the encounter (i.e. moderate instead of low) or bump up the minions so they are no more than 4 levels below the PCs?

I've been facing several of these in my work on the Kingmaker Adventure Path. In some cases, I'll convert the mooks up to the lowest possible level where they'll give XP still and adjust numbers as needed, or I'll keep them as is and change the tone and theme of the encounter site.

One great example of this in Kingmaker is...

** spoiler omitted **

In the end, when you're converting an...

I've heard that 'troop' is going to be in Bestiary 3. How much would that help? Does it also extend to herds of animals and stampedes?

(Since 'troop' implies some organisation and probably drilling, would a 'troop' of chaotic creatures be better called a mob? :) )


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Shifter might work better as a heritage


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Got my copy of Siege of the Dinosaurs here in the Uk today, dispatched 14th April. Almost 2 months, but it has arrived.


Chief Cook and Bottlewasher wrote:
I received an e-mail on 13 March, saying this order was expected to ship by 25th March, with 3-36 days in transit, and letting me download the pdf. It hasn't arrived yet. Could you confirm that it has been shipped, and can you advise whether transit is delayed? Thank you

It's arrived! Hurray!


I received an e-mail on 13 March, saying this order was expected to ship by 25th March, with 3-36 days in transit, and letting me download the pdf. It hasn't arrived yet. Could you confirm that it has been shipped, and can you advise whether transit is delayed? Thank you


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Magic weapons mostly have runes etched on them. (CRB 580). I expect PCs would normally spot them.


If you don't need them soon, the GMG is out in a month and will have a chapter of NPCs


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I believe that at 5th level you can only increase your 18 ability to 19, not to 20. Then to 20 at level 10, not to 22. I don't have the book to hand.


The game I was running (Reign of Winter) is on hiatus since players moved away. If I was converting it, I'd wait on changeling and dhampir in the upcoming APG. And benefit from the GMG and Bestiary 2 out by then.

I've felt daunted by GMing. 2e looks a lot less daunting.


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Everyone is assumed to be literate. That's a huge difference.


2 is circumstantial. E.g. use of detect magic. If the hazard is a magical trap then yes, if it's a random creature or perhaps a patrol discovering the group then no, because the character's focus is somewhere else.


In Knights of Everflame the bard says 'I play my violin' as an action, and takes her next action, and the violin taking 2 hands to play never comes up. Unless there's some mechanic I haven't noticed. She may be only casting spells, I suppose. I've been thinking maybe a penny whistle on a cord around the neck, 1 hand to lift it and toot


The idea that you only know about things you've encountered bothers me. Many of the traits are from mythology. And we know them because of storytelling, not just RPG experience. Surely every village in Golarion has storytellers. Featuring trolls as well as vampires and dragons and ghosts and the like. In fact, everyone is assumed literate, so have likely been reading stories. The classic abilities like regeneration ought at least be an easy knowledge check.


It doesn't compare it to 1e, though, and explain where it's similar and where different. I had the same thought on reading it, that, for trained, it's based of BAB= level. Gave me a point of familiarity for understanding the mechanics


Yes, as long as they are at least trained in the weapon. Plus 2, from being trained. (Everyone is trained in unarmed attack.)

Fighters benefit from starting at Expert, so get an extra +2.

As levels increase, the Martial classes get ahead by progressing in proficiency faster, but the non-martials don't fall as far behind as in 1e


You'd have to watch out for over specializing, so you don't end up with a fire witch and everything having fire resistance, or a cold-based witch and everything having cold resistance. Was this a problem with elemental based wizards and if not, how did they get round it?


So you think that panache and inspiration should be unique like the combat mechanics, not similar like focus? Okay. Makes sense, but I think it could be done either way.


Henro wrote:
Chief Cook and Bottlewasher wrote:
Henro wrote:

I’m not sure I dig two classes in the APG sharing the same mechanic. There has to be a way to make the investigator cool and interesting without just giving it panache.

Except there's the design philosophy of using 1 mechanic. So that once you've learnt the panache system for swashbucklers you can use the same system for any other class introduced with that type of mechanic. So players (and the poor GM) don't have to be thinking 'like the swashbuckler but different like this' for every similar class.

Like monks and champions using focus for very different outcomes but still both focus. Don't have to call it panache, but the mechanism should be the same.
Focus works differently for some classes but the name stays the same. Giving Swashbuckler and Investigator Panache but calling it two different things would be the opposite of that. Almost every martial class has their own unique mechanics anyway so I’m not sure why Investigators can’t.

I was thinking of the underlying focus pool of up to 3 points, if you spend one, take 10 minutes to recover it. Build up a range of abilities you can use. Is it very different in play between classes? Sadly, I haven't had the chance to play 2e, so I don't know.


Except in Golarion, a non-living patron has gone on to an outer plane and, if powerful, will likely have become a powerful outsider. So still existing and capable of being a patron.


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Henro wrote:

I’m not sure I dig two classes in the APG sharing the same mechanic. There has to be a way to make the investigator cool and interesting without just giving it panache.

Except there's the design philosophy of using 1 mechanic. So that once you've learnt the panache system for swashbucklers you can use the same system for any other class introduced with that type of mechanic. So players (and the poor GM) don't have to be thinking 'like the swashbuckler but different like this' for every similar class.

Like monks and champions using focus for very different outcomes but still both focus. Don't have to call it panache, but the mechanism should be the same.


Someone else can get it out for you without needing to take off the pack. Still better in a bandolier or belt pouch


Unicore wrote:
The scenario is for a general fantasy campaign where the players start off in a new "undiscovered" land and build up some kind of homeland there.

Just checking. This would be anathema for a wild order druid but not for the other orders, right?


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sherlock1701 wrote:
Rysky wrote:

One person said they should have focused on the "most invested" (meaning not most invested in then normal sense but in this sense the extreme optimizers and theorcrafyters) players instead of everyone else, which prompted the next person to say that getting rid of said small audience because they're reducing the fun of the larger audience (which the original statement is pretty explicit about doing) would be a good thing.

Definitely not how I would have worded it but I can certainly understand it. What makes a player more invested over another? What makes you [general] more invested than me?

Players who are willing to dig into the rules and interactions and put a lot of time and effort into mastering them are more invested, as they have put a lot more time into the game.

Players who spend less time on building and more time playing may have put the same time into the game.


Tikael wrote:
I converted book 2 of Reign of Winter and it went well, party is just about to take on the dragon. Holding off converting BBEG since I hope to have the witch playtest by then. Items have been the hard part though definitely. I don't think I did a great job with them, at level 6 my party all has roughly 1-2 magic items each and about 80 gold, so a bit behind on the wealth by level table (but the missing parts are just going to be added to the horde).

When converting the PCs, how did you deal with the Mantle of the Black Rider, I.e. the ability gain it gives them?

(Although as my party has a changeling and a dhampir any conversion will have to wait for the APG)


Perhaps it's supposed to be the same but that line got left out. Mistakes happen. It may be in the errata that should be available today.


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At the moment we don't have a new edition half-elf or half-orc iconic. Might be nice to see one. If only one's new, we can't get both, sadly.


The spells dinosaur form, dragon form etc specify if you don't have space the spell is lost. I would guess the spell Enlarge is the same. Although they're Battle Forms, and Enlarge maybe be less restrictive. I'd go with giant instinct enlarge not working, but not being lost


I got into a similar discussion once, and found recipes for cooking a helpful analogy. It's a bit like having to find out that a courgette is a zucchini. If it 'adds pepper' you have to work out how much. It might say 'like Aunt's', which won't help you at all.


James Jacobs wrote:
The-Magic-Sword wrote:

As a follow up clarification, you suggest we wouldn't need new mythic rules to do it-

do you think if such entities were statted currently (given that Treerazer is 24, and the encounter guidelines only go four levels up) that PCs would be able to deal with them using the resources core to the game (level 20, +3 magic items?)

or

did you just mean it'll be easier to design than in the past for a pf2 math reason and tack a couple of extra levels on to bring CL 25+ into range when the time comes?

The second. It's going to be easier to expand the game, I think, beyond 20th level. We have no plans to do that at this time, but I don't think we'll need to do what we did with Mythic, which was to build a half-again entirely new game.

So you expect to be able to(re-)stat Baba Yaga or a similar being without needing new 'mythic' rules?

Cool!


Erez Ben-Aharon wrote:

OP here... I don't think that the table acting on that is cheating, and I'm not sure it plays out as some have pointed out here. I'll give a more concrete example.

P1,2,3,4 - creature is undetected to all, sneaking behind some barrels.
P1 - seeks the creature and manages to change it's status to Hidden.
P1: "So do I find anything out"?
GM: "Yes, the creature is now Hidden to you, but not Undetected."
P1: "Hidden?, so that means I know which square it is on and won't have to randomly target squares to find out?"
GM: "Correct".
P1: "So...which square then?".
GM: "Err... here" -> points to the square.
P2,3,4 - now have to pretend they didn't hear the conversation at all.

If the position has been narrowed down to 6 squares, say, they could always roll a d6


Sam Phelan wrote:

Hello Chief,

I'm sorry that some of your items were delayed. I have combined them all into one order and waived any additional shipping associated with sending you the delayed items. You should soon receive a confirmation email for this order. If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know. Thank you!

Have received my email, thank you


Placed 20th July

Started 2 subscriptions. Adventure subscription is fine, have received Fall of Plaguestone.

Adventure path subscription - have received 8081223 Cult of Cinders, but not my starting volume #143 Sun's grace. Also 144 and 145 were on the order initially, but have disappeared.


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P. 509 Treasure and rarity.
'It's best to introduce uncommon items as a reward fairly regularly but rare items only occasionally'


I started an adventure path subscription on 20th July, 7896063. I opted to start with 143, Tyrants grasp 5. Tyrants grasp 6 and Age of Ashes 1 were originally on the order, but have since disappeared. My order for Age of Ashes 2 has generated properly, but I'm still missing 2 books.

(I have received Plaguestone with no problems)


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Most birds don't lay unfertilised eggs. Chickens are an exception


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Different words are slurs in different countries. Or even different parts of countries. You can't hope to know all of them everywhere, only do your best and say sorry when you get it wrong.


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Fumarole wrote:
Hopefully Gaiman gets as much say in the series as he did with Good Omens. He's not the writer, though, so that's not a good sign in my eyes.

He was so closely involved only because it would have been a joint project with Terry Pratchett. He wanted it to be what Terry would have wanted.


What about the free modules? I ran 'We be goblins' in one session, and I expect the others are a similar length


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Cori Marie wrote:
I was thinking of the country, not the city. America broke away from an empire that was also not squeamish about military conquest, and as far as I know, the British still haven't reconquered us.

You've got the Atlantic ocean, not a land border, though


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Maybe it's practical. These are reference pictures for the iconics in other artwork. Perhaps the brighter colours will make the insert easier.


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If you have 1 healer, what happens when that healer goes down? I've always thought a secondary healer vital. Better still if everyone can do a little healing, in case there's only 1 left standing.


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thejeff wrote:
Ediwir wrote:
Chief Cook and Bottlewasher wrote:
Not quite so simple. How about when some of the party level up, those who don't get their target reduced. You only need to work it out when someone levels, not every XP award
If you're suggesting the same task could have different DCs for different people, I'l warn you that kind of topic led to more thread closures in the playtest than paladin alignment could have ever done.
I think that "target" was XP needed to level, not DC.

Yes, I meant reduce the 1000 XP needed to level


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I didn't think I had suggested that, but I haven't spent time thinking it all through.


Not quite so simple. How about when some of the party level up, those who don't get their target reduced. You only need to work it out when someone levels, not every XP award

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