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Young Master

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Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules, Battles Case Subscriber; GameMastery Superscriber. FullStarFullStarFullStarFullStarFullStar Venture-Captain, Australia—Melbourne. 1,493 posts (1,507 including aliases). 1 review. No lists. 1 wishlist. 5 Pathfinder Society characters.



Spoiler:
Kenneth wiped the sweat from his brow as he slowly poured the venom into his mother's chalice, careful to never spill a single drop least he ruin the delicate chalk lines that danced across Vandrae's seal. He lifted the chalice up slowly, his hands shaking as the cold metal touched his lips.

It won't hurt me, he thought. She won't let it kill me. He took the first sip and nearly gagged, as if every natural fiber of being was trying to warn him that what he was doing wasn't 'natural.' Kenneth knew it wasn't and drank deeply anyway.

It wasn't bad at first. However, the very moment that Kenneth allowed himself to feel a twinge of relief was when it started; violent, gut-wrenching pain seared his stomach as he clutched it, watching in horror as his blue veins pulsed an acidic green. The horrendous sight was too much for the occultist to bear; he vomited onto the seal that he had spent so much time drawing and perfecting. His bile was a dark, sickly black; the color of dried blood.

Wiping his mouth on his sleeve, Kenneth was sure that he had failed the ritual. That is, until he noticed something. Something repulsive. His bile had begun to faintly twitch in the faint candle light, slowly at first and growing faster and faster, until finally a large lump of black ichor complied in front of him. Roughly two feet tall, the ichor shaped and modeled itself; Kenneth fell back upon the moist ground, a testament to his prior sickness. Slowly the ichor bleed and molded itself as if it were nothing more then clay under the command of an invisible sculptor. The figure of an elf stood before him. A slit that could only be its mouth opened, speaking.

"Thou hath summoned Vandrae; state your bargain."

Forgotten Secrets have been unearthed ....

Radiance House invites the Pathfinder Community to partake in an event that, quite frankly, we're very excited for. Dario Nardi and myself have been working tirelessly for the past few months to bring something extraordinary back from the sands of time that buried it. I'm talking, of course, about Pact Magic.

What is Pact Magic? Pact Magic refers to the binding of otherworldly spirits onto the soul of a person that prepares a relatively simple ritual, often known as a binder. Texts referring to this particular form of magic date back to the 17th Century, featured the first section of the Lesser Key of Solomon. As a game mechanic, Pact Magic is a supplemental rules system that was made famous by the world's most popular roleplaying game in 2006 and was expanded upon further by Dario Nardi, owner and lead of Radiance House publishing.

Now, Dario and I want to bring pact magic to more roleplayers then ever before, through the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game community. After some in-house playtesting, Dario and I would like to invite anyone who is interested in playtesting the new rules for the first installment, Secrets of Pact Magic, before its upcoming release.

About Secrets of Pact Magic
This book is NOT just a rehash of the original Secrets of Pact Magic book. The Pathfinder version of this book features all-new content; everything from the core of the rules to the spirits themselves have been tweaked and altered to bring them in line with the modernized philosophy of roleplaying games, as made standard by Paizo Publishing. Here's a small (i.e. not comprehensive) list of material that you'll unearth in this book:

  • A new base class, the occultist, as well as an occultist archetype.
  • Archetypes for the 11 core classes.
  • New abilities such as a new cleric domain, barbarian rage powers, rogue talents, an oathbound paladin oath, and more!
  • A new type of feat to modify your pact magic, known as occult feats.
  • Binder Secrets; special abilities that can be taken by an occultist in place of a feat.
  • Constellation aspects; effectively 0-level spirit powers that allow you to increase the binding DC of a spirit in order to gain an additional granted ability.
  • 32 spirits, ranging in level from 1st to 9th. These spirits have been compiled from both of Dario's books, Secrets of Pact Magic and Villains of Pact Magic.
  • And much more!

When Is This Being Released?
Right now, Dario and I are planning to officially release Secrets of Pact Magic at PaizoCon this year; that means that we don't have a whole lot of time to get this open playtesting started!

What Can I Do to Help?
If you are interested in helping out with the Beta Testing of these rules, you need to do no more then announce your interest here. Here's how you do this:

#1 - Leave a post in this thread clearly voicing your interest. You get bonus points if you include a short remark as to what interested you in this playtest; it can be anything from "I used the original books!" to "You caught me at Playtest!"

#2 - I'll send you a PM with a link to the playtesting document. Its really that simple!

I'm something of a forum lurker, so if you post, there's a fairly good chance that I'll get to you reasonably quickly.

How long will playtesting last and what are you looking to have tested?

Excellent question! As publisher, Dario has informed me that he needs the book shipped out to places like the editor and eventually the printer in the month of June. This means that we only have about two weeks, maybe three to really get this show on the road.

As to what I'm looking for? Go wild with the playtesting and theorycrafting. I want to see and hear everything you people have to say. Please keep all of your comments in this one thread, however.

Send me as many impressions as you can muster; does this look too good? Does this look not good enough? Did you find a potentially broken combination of spirits / abilities? Tell me everything!

As I mentioned before, I'm something of a lurker, so I'll do my best to respond as frequently as I can; however, I can't promise that I'll respond to every question I receive. Just most of them :). Any questions, comments, concerns, criticisms, whatever can all be posted here in this thread and I think Dario himself is planning on stopping by and chatting when he can.

So, without further adieu ...

Let the games begin!


This is a topic that is up on another recent Paizo Forum.

PFS spoiler:

For PFS, all of the below should be taken in understanding that time is almost always a issue for Society mods. Many times people don't roleplay to save time and often take metagame short cuts against roleplaying to save time. I don't have a problem with that...but try to avoid it.

There are lots more good comments there that apply to what Jason S is asking above. Here is my contribution to that thread, tailored a bit for PFS, and edited for some clarity:

* * *
Roleplaying in PFS is not easy. Nonetheless, here are some things that I believe to my very core about how to roleplay well in Society Play.

#1: Character over Class: I believe that character comes before class and 'role'...and it's not even close. It's how your interpret how your character would do or react to situations and stimuli that is important to me: not your class or what others think you should do.

Nothing makes me sadder than a guy sitting down at the table thinking "I'm a fighter so I need to X, Y, or Z." Or someone who introduces themselves as "I'm an cleric." They truly don't get it...they aren't roleplaying. They are moving a joystick for paper version of the game Gauntlet. Roleplaying is having a character with motivations, feelings, quirks, styles, and whatever else...it's not about being a 'fighter'.

I want to play with characters who's class and build I *NEVER* know...but who's motivations and actions are a part of a larger being with feelings and emotions. I want to know their character, not their build.

Roleplaying is about putting the expectations of others behind and concentrating solely on the character that you want to play and then weaving that vision into the game. Roleplaying is not about talking in a funny voice or having a perfect mini for your character but about how you interact with others *as* your character.

#2: Real Motivation: Having 'real' motivation for your character is important. Truly important....as important as anything. An answer to the question: "Why are you here risking your life?" I want to play with characters who truly believe that they need to save the Princess/World/McGuffin because they have real motivations for wanting to do so...and they should be interesting and relevant.

For example:

Thorne, the most powerful Mage in *all* Absalom was motivated to prove himself as the most powerful mage in *all* Absalom and traveled with the Society to learn more and grow in power. (He failed miserably on all accounts, but was fun to play.)

#3: It's a Social?Team Game: Pathfinder is a social group game and that, by definition, means that roleplaying cannot be solo or an isolated endeavor. Within your playing good roleplayers will find ways to include others or give other players options and opening for interaction. Great roleplayers create these connections and allows and encourages others to shine and do fun and cool stuff.

If you've built a character that is overpowered for your group, unduly shines and excludes others, or one that is designed to cause problems for your GM? You've failed to be a good player.

Stormwind Warning:

This isn't about roleplay vs. minmax. It's about forgetting the social nature of the game altogether. Roleplayed or not, MinMaxed or not, any character that doesn't have options for interactions and sharing the spotlight with others (including and especially the GM), is a bad one.

This is a social game and that needs to be honored with every character and in every build.

#4: Perfection sucks: Don't ever play or build perfect characters: they are boring. Build characters that are 'broken' and 'imperfect'...that have real flaws and inabilities. Great roleplayers aren't afraid of imperfections: but rejoice and revel in them.

Give yourself room to grow and improve over the life of your character. If you roleplay your character as perfect, how are you going to grow and change over time? How are you going to mature? Where will you go from there?

The more flaws and pieces of interest you give a character, the more chances your teammates and GM will have to hook onto, interact with, and find areas of growth. Conflict, especially good-natured conflict, adds interest and tension.

By not being perfect, you allow for those situations to exist. Build them in as you think about your character. Your group will find room for humor and fun therein, conflict and decisions: stuff that makes campaigns great.

#5: Roleplay over rules. Roleplay first, rules second. Every time. Rules considerations second to the concept of what your character would do/wants to do. Figure out first how and why your character would be doing something...then work on the rules to make it happen.

#6: Separation of IC vs OOC. I believe that there is a separation in game terms between In-Character and Out-of-Character knowledge. Roleplaying is about separating game terms from your in-character actions.

For example: In character, your characters have no idea what differentiates a 'paladin' from a 'cleric' from a 'holy warrior'. There is no such thing as "Divine Grace" to the average person in Golarion. There is only that some holy warriors seem to resist spells well. Or that a particular holy warrior can almost smell evil.

My characters would never call someone a 'paladin' or 'druid'...for those are likely to be out-of-game terms. But 'holy warrior' and 'treehugger' might be more appropriate.

For example #2: In our world, there is something called a "Barbarian"...it's a class with rage, fast movement and whatever else. In the game world, "Barbarian" means nothing. The word "barbarian" (small 'b', referring to someone who is 'barbaric or uncivilized)can mean any sort of uncouth fighting type who might use any sort of weapon or combat style.

#7: Trust/No Fear: Roleplaying doesn't work if your players don't trust you...and you don't trust your fellow players. A *huge* part of roleplaying is trusting your fellow players to respond in kind, not take in-character things too seriously, and understand this is a game.

Trust:
Trust your GM to play along and not (unfairly) penalize you for roleplaying.
Trust your fellow players to play along with you.
Give *your* trust to your fellow players and create an environment for roleplaying.

Part of me believes that overcoming fear of failure is essential to roleplaying. I, personally, would rather fail in my task/mission than fail to act in character. I have to trust that things will work out in the end...and if my character would do X (within reason), he should probably do it and rejoice the earned outcome rather than metagame towards what will earn his 'reward'.

* * *

For when your group is playing their characters together: therein lies to the path to Roleplay Nirvana. I don't get there often enough, but I can try to be a better roleplayer to get there more often.

More great commentary HERE. Go read the fabulous ideas from others there.

-Pain



Hoping to kick up discussion on how best to fit these two classes and what they bring to the table into the Golarion setting(or in the case of the Juju Oracle, to expand their reach). Hopefully some of this'll be useful to folks that want these elements in their Golarion.

Basics

First, a quick rundown for those unfamiliar with the Juju Oracle or the White Necromancer, both Charisma-based full casters capable of bringing non-evil undead into being, which makes them special in the current PF paradigm as far as RAW goes.

The Juju mystery for oracles was introduced in Pathfinder #39 : The City of Seven Spears. These divine oracles work with (somewhat loosely defined IIRC) wendo spirits tied with Mwangi traditions for all manner of reasons, some good, some not so much. Their relationship with the wendo allows them to call these spirits into vessels to animate them, drawing upon a different animating force than most undead. Juju oracles can be of any alignment.

The white necromancer was introduced in Kobold Quarterly #19. These arcane casters are masters of manipulating both positive and negative energy, and many of their healing and protective abilities hinge on putting their own lives on the line. Necromancers also work with the spirits of the dead rather than enslaving them. Where evil necromancers force the state of undeath upon others, white necromancers actually have to use diplomacy to request the aid of the dead, and often this is a two-way bargain that must be respected. White necromancers can be any non-evil alignment.

The big thing about both of these classes is that due to the way they both create undead(specifically through means that remove the [Evil] descriptor from the relevant spells), their mindless undead are always neutral while their intelligent undead always share the alignment of their creator. In the explicit case of the white necromancer, their intelligent undead are also not in any way beholden to their creators by any magical means, and there is often the understanding that this undead state is a temporary affair that will end when whatever task that needs to be completed is done.

In Golarion

So, how to fit these into the Golarion setting(and other worlds, especially when one considers Eox)? Juju oracles are already present in the Mwangi, but their influence is largely confined there, at least in the form written into their article. Expanding on the basic idea of wendo spirits to a more generic form of spirits(background nature spirits, ancestral spirits, etc) makes this approachable for many other cultures in other regions.

The presence of these two classes(or at least the precedence they set) enable a lot of concepts that would otherwise be locked out: The Eternal Charge that has been going on in the Worldwound since the first Mendevian Crusade, eternally loyal and vigilant mummified paladins guarding over the necropolis of Rahotep, Pharaoh of Tomorrow until his returns from his rest in Nirvana(thanks so much for that plotseed Todd Stewart!), to self appointed safekeepers of Black Blood focused on keeping that stuff away from the living and from seeping into non-corrupted Darkland environments by any means necessary.

Now of course Pharasma would get frowny-faced about this. That's what she does and that's okay. We all have our pet peeves. But what about the setting beyond her? How do the other gods and cosmological forces view juju oracles and white necromancers, and how do they react or put them to use? How does Sarenrae consider the deeds of a good-spawned undead weighted against the sins commited during a natural lifetime, if at all?

What cultures tolerate them? What cultures might even embrace them? How do they in turn affect these cultures that they may or may not be a part of? What organizations react to them? What organizations might be born from or because of them?

Mwangi Expanse is easy enough to find possibilities in for Juju oracles and white necromancers. But right next to that we have Osirion with who-knows-how-many cities of the dead. Some of which need protecting from that ghoul civilization lurking underneath the surface...

Reverence of ancestral spirits among the Shoanti and Kellids could give a reflavored variant of the Juju a foot in the door with some tribes. Barbarian cultures don't necessarily lock out arcane white necromancers either, since it's portrayed as a more "don't think, feel" approach rather than an academic approach; that is, it doesn't require any colleges, it requires people skills and an understanding of respect, which is what the white necromancer lives and dies by.

And then there's the notion of Nexian undead agents infiltrating Geb...

JO/WN-made Undead

There's also another issue: The way juju oracles and white necromancers make undead of any alignment while using non-evil variants of animate dead, create undead, and greater create undead raises the question of just what these undead are. We know that they're either vessels for (wendo) spirits or undead made from willing souls, but how does this affect the finer details of what they are?

For example, would a NG ghoul look the same as a standard ghoul? Would they share the same hunger? And this is the trickiest part: What about their spawning ability?

Personally, while I would like to avoid making up new creatures to be alignment appropriate analogues for each undead on those creation lists, I do like the idea of reflavoring them a bit. Admittedly some are more problematic than the others in that regard, one in particular.

On the matter of spawning, perhaps one alignment dependant way of viewing it(besides the easy answer of "good undead just don't spawn") is that good-aligned undead made by Juju oracles or white necromancers can possibly infect those they slay with their own spiritual essense(and alignment). It could be seen as inflicting a massive dose of empathy and guilt in those sorely needing it. For some, it may be like the "Thirty hours of pain all at once, all for you" scene from The Crow. For others, it might be an explicit pact communicated on a spiritual level, offering a sort of Ragman-ish deal to the victim. Both cases and other possibilities could result in good-aligned undead born from evil(or evil leaning) mortals that are now truly repentant and seeking what absolution they can with whatever time has been offered to them. Perhaps it will ease the burden of their souls when they finally go before Pharasma, perhaps it won't, but most would push on as far as they can go anyway with or without the promise of a pardon. Of course, only evil beings with a spark of goodness would even be possible to spawn as good undead. There would have to be something salvagable present to begin with. And that's just for good undead. There's also the added bonus in offering an alternate explanation for why evil undead are the vast majority, if spawning does indead inflict some of the spawners essense upon the spawnee.

Variants

Back to alignment appropriate undead, this is by no means complete, so any other ideas on how to flesh this out are more than welcome(ie: please halp!):

Skeletons look the same out of the box regardless of the alignment of their creators. Any further aesthetics are going to have to be applied directly by their creators.

Zombies work largely the same regardless of the alignment of the spirit animating them. Except in the eyes. All zombies have dead stares, but there's a hint of something in some of them. While all zombies made by Juju oracles and white necromancers are truly neutral, some spark of personality or emotion that marks either where this spirit came from or where it's going. Some have the eyes of dreamers(CG), some absolutely serene(NG), some determined(LG), some absolutely wild-eyed(CN), some impossibly stoic(LN), some impossibly crazed and twitching in their sockets(CE), and some in absolute pain and abject hopelessness(LE).

Ghouls....I have to admit, I love the new aesthetic introduced in one of the early adventure paths. There's something unsettling about that clean, bone-white appearance. I'd largely want to keep that for all alignments, but feeding habits should probably reflect alignment. But they should also still be unsettling. Perhaps they have to devour flesh in order to recover from their wounds.

Mummies are easy to see going any number of ways by culture and alignment, particularly lawful ones big on respecting the dead(Osirion!).

Mohrgs, not so much. These guys might be worth heavily reflavoring for other alignments and aesthetics.

The big problematic one on standard creation lists, and this is one of those undead that I personally never even consider as an option when discussing non-evil undead along with the demilich, is the devourer. Maybe it's just my personal bias, but I can't help but see purposefully destroying souls as anything but the worst of the worst. If there's an unforgivable sin in fantasy land, that's pretty much it for me.

But. they're on the creation list. One could just say "just don't use them and ignore 'em". But let's go nuts.

Whatever the non-evil(I'd go so far as to say non-NE) answer to the devourer is, it has to do something similar: place the souls of their victims beyond the easy reach of their allies without destroying them. This softened approach also makes these souls easier to recover through means other than miracle and wish, though they can still be quests in and of themselves. There is a lot that can be done with this concept:

Names are highly likely to change the moment someone suggests something better (ie: anything)

LE variant - Hell Mason - This towering humanoid figure of flesh and stone has a burning fire within, exposed through stove-like openings dotting its body, the largest in its chest. When it draws the soul of a victim into itself, the fire and pressure within spike to horrible extremes. The screaming soul within is cooked and compressed until it is nothing more than a brick of the same flesh/stone hybrid material as its slayer, a single pained eye left to mark what it once was. Once the cooking process is complete, it disappears in a puff of brimstone, instantly teleported to Hell where it is place into the wall of one of Dis' many prisons. Recovering this brick allows for the vicitm to be raised without wish level magic.

Special Zon-Kuthon-specific variant - Augurmould - This horrible amalgam of flesh and iron is the manifestation of an absolute sadist who has seen what rewards await him in Zon-Kuthon's realm and has desperately tried to avoid it. This being has been allowed (temporary) respite in this undead state, which it can only maintain by sending others to eternal torment in its place. The augurmould is fully aware that whatever torments it inflicts in this form will be visited upon it a thousandfold, giving them a sadistic choice between calling it quits or going on another day and building up a greater debt of pain. This being's chest cavity opens up like an iron maiden, with multiple hooked chains ensnaring victims body and soul and drawing them within. Once the chamber is closed, the victim is physically and spiritually mutilated, their blood spraying from the joints of Augurmould until the chamber opens once more, releasing a new Augur Kyton upon the world(see Bestiary 3). Capturing or destroying this new augur allows the victim to be raised without needing wish level magic.

CE variant - Amalgam of Souls - This blank-faced figure has flesh and skin akin to melted wax having just hardened, with multiple muffled, screaming faces pressing outward just under the skin. Souls drawn within to its mass manifest as their full living figure writhing underneath the skin of the creature's flesh. This figure slowly melts away until it's just one more maddened face screaming along the creature's surface. Slaying an amalgam of souls and completely destroying the body allows victims to be raised without wish-level magic.

N variant - Walking Gateway - This grim, majestic "angel" of bone, looking like the walls of Sedlec Ossuary given roughly-humanoid form, has a hollow torso. Within is a spiral of planar energy, a whirlpool that leads to the Walking Gateway's rightful spot in line at the Boneyard. Essentially, any souls drawn within the whirlpool are fasttracked to judgment. Recoving the soul's newly born petitioner form from whatever plane they would be sent to allows them to be brought back without wish level magic.

CN variant - Priests of Potential - Unstable in form, these somewhat humanoid figures of flashing light and shadow and opposed elements are aimless unless guided by those with stronger wills. The souls they draw into themselves are assaulted by chaos, battering their sense of self and identity until finally they are something else entirely. These souls are eventually released, reincarnated as any number of things, be they humanoid, animal, plant, mineral, or even something as abstract as a song. Restoring these souls ranges wildly in difficulty, depending on what they've become.

NG variant - Chorus of Regrets - This wispy figure seemingly composed of tattered silks hanging about a constantly obscured emaciated humanoid figure is always shrouded in mists which seem to flow out from within its folds. These mists and silks seem to form mournful faces from time to time, lamenting ancient tragedies and regrets. Souls of the wicked that are drawn within are shouted down within, faced by the admonishment and guilt of the faces and voices within until they are made to see their own corrupted soul for what it is. These souls are eventually lost to a mysterious, misty isle of repentance somewhere in Nirvana(see The Great Beyond). Finding that soul and forcibly dragging them back from their self-inflicted purgatory(and possibly eventual redemption) will allow them to be raised without wish-level magic.

I'm sorely tempted to swipe Set's idea for Desnan celestials for a CG variant, it's that awesome. It would also present a notion that restoring victims of good-variants would require evil deeds(as in, each of those butterflies would need to be captured and then pinned alive to a humanoid effigy).

Any other ideas? Culturally/setting-wise/variants/etc?

edit-added Chorus of Regrets after thinking over that last sentence, also edited for readability because words words words

(RPG Superstar 2009 Top 16, 2012 Top 32)

In this thread, I will be presenting one-hundred new archetypes (five archetypes per PC base class, presented in alphabetical order by class name, followed by an appendix of one archetype per NPC class). I encourage posters to let me know what they want to see as I move forward. I won't be taking specific requests for archetype concepts and mechanics, but I will be taking other poster's likes, dislikes, and critiques into consideration when choosing and designing future archetypes.

Given the fact that archetypes are drawn from popular fantasy tropes, and that large numbers of archetypes have already been published by numerous parties, I suspect that many of the archetype concepts I will post in this thread are ones that already exist in one form or another. I will, however, try my best to create archetypes that do things in new and interesting ways. I won't intentionally copy or take inspiration any existing archetype, aside from those in the PRD which I look to as examples.

Feel free to follow along and let me know what you think of my archetypes. My one request is that you please not post your own archetypes (or revisions of my archetypes) in this thread. Anything you can do to keep feedback in this thread short and succinct will help me track other posters comments and allow me to better tailor my archetypes to the needs of the community as a whole. Thanks.

Now, on to some archetypes...

Andoran ** (Venture-Captain, Canada—Ontario)

Pickguy wrote:
The problem I see with this is that it turns every GM who disagrees with reskinning into an unreasonable jerk. Potentially, this sort of ruling would create a situation where the GM was required to show up even earlier before the game in order to hear arguments about the reskinning. At worst, a whole group of rangers/druids shows up, all with reskinned animals, and the GM has to spend the first 10-20 minutes arguing about reskins.

*sigh*

This entire issue has been approached on such a wrong-headed basis by so many posters that I find it so exasperating. We clearly approach these issues from a very, very different footing.

Can we please stop the conjecture and just stick to the facts please?

The so-called "problems" which have been encountered with this issue have to date, amounted to one incident at Gencon with a riding pig, which was not a problem for ALL of the GMs at Gencon involved prior to one lady's attendance at Mortika's table, that touched off this issue.

One GM and one incident does not require a formal rule change.

That's the evidence concerning the actual REAL problem - where the rubber meets the road.

Instead, the posts on this issue by many GMs discuss what they view as potential problems, with potential nightmate scenarios, which might occur at some vague and unpecified date in the future. All of this conjecture deals not with real practical problems encountered in Society Play, but with imagined ones.

While this approach may sound reasonable to you; it sounds plainly unreasonable to me. I believe that rule changes in this game that purport to respond to problems which have been identified during actual play should respond only to REAL problems, with REAL issues, encountered at REAL game sessions == all of which require REAL practical solutions to those specific REAL problems, if any.

This hypothetical reflection about what could happen in the future if we don't do X, Y, and Z now has no demonstrable basis in reality. If it DID, surely we would have seen those very issues by now that all of you are complaining about.

But we haven't seen any of that. We haven't seen reskinned cavalier hores which climb trees or reskinned swords which turn on and go whoosh like light sabers. So why are we trying to "fix" those problems by amendment to the Rules when they don't exist in the first place?

What we have is this one incident with a pig. It was harmless then -- it's harmless now -- and overtly changing the formal rules to accommodate the fears of tree climbing horses, re-skinned lightsabres and a legion of Ranger/Druids requiring an additional hour of prep time for each PFS session is not a measured, well-grounded and practical response to a real problem encountered in the field during Organized Play.

It is, on the contrary, a knee-jerk response to unjustified fears and imagined problems made up wholly out of shadows and conjecture.

Andoran ** (Venture-Captain, Canada—Ontario)

This looks to me like some other priority is now being put ahead of "fun" in the name of "______".

Clarity, consistency? Some other word or dramatically important principle?

The people who play Pathfinder happen to be playing a game. Seeing as "fun" is the central premise behind playing a game, whenever you sacrifice "fun" on the altar of some other priority concerning something which is mechanically neutral, you'd better be DAMN clear about which altar and why.

My guess is that ten years or so from now, looking back, this is going to seem like a really odd idea and people are going to scratch their heads and ask "what the hell happened with that"?



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