Planar Alchemical Catalyst

Saint Caleth's page

Goblin Squad Member. RPG Superstar 6 Season Dedicated Voter, 7 Season Marathon Voter. *** Pathfinder Society GM. 1,664 posts (3,039 including aliases). No reviews. 7 lists. No wishlists. 31 Organized Play characters. 8 aliases.


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Voltron64 wrote:
Grankless wrote:

"Yee naaldlooshii", or skinwalkers, are a part of Navajo folklore that is very tied in to their relationship with their cultural values, as they symbolize several things that are antithetical to said values. They do NOT like non-Navajo talking about this stuff or reducing it to just werewolves with the serial numbers filed off.

It's mostly the name that's the issue.

But I'm still right about the personalities of David Fincher villains-aspect, correct?

Yes essentially. As Grankless mentioned they are not an inherently supernatural creature, but rather human magic users who's magic transgresses cultural practices and is largely an inversion of the way that magic is typically used in traditional Navajo belief.


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Tacticslion wrote:

It'll be interesting if I can reconnect with everyone to see what they all think of the Sargava -> Vidrian revolution, especially since a few heavily invested themselves in Sargava with an eye towards reformation, even going so far as to deeply integrate themselves into local politics/earning the graces of Lady Madrona Daugustana and Freeman's Brotherhood (especially famed revolutionary Umagro - yeah, they worked super-hard keeping everyone alive on that one) or similar, in an attempt to leverage things in favor of bringing equality peacefully. It may be interesting to suggest that after Madrona passes - she's pretty ancient already, and her death within a few years is not unlikely - petty in-fighting and squabbling among several of her legal (or socially-invested) heirs hamstrung the PC characters' efforts at internal improvements and they ended up effectively siding with the revolutionaries, though I'd likely ask before making such statements. (They were never so deeply enchanted with Kalabuto - partially because less time was spent there, partially because several of the most politically-focused had effectively dropped out in Eleder, and partially the place was so deeply racist (more so than Eleder!) that they saw little good that could be accomplished directly on the way to <S'sS spoiler>.)

I think that the revolution going from Sargava to Vidrian was more akin to South Africa at the end of aparteid or Rhodesia becoming Zimbabwe than an independence movement from the colonial power. If I remember correctly even as Sargava it was technically independant from Cheliax and the descendants of the settler colonists had their own identity (as Avistani Sargavans?). It was just still under the political and social control of the descendants of the settlers.

I am not that familiar with the specific character of Madrona Daugustana but if she is one of the old-guard class of ethnically Chelaxian Sargavans then her death and that of her peers might allow the opportunity for younger generations to make a more mixed culture and national identity regardless of ethnicity which would probably be beneficial for helping overcome many of the problems the country is facing.

It is also interesting that the new name of Vidrian definitely seems linguistically out of place compared to the other sorts of place names we have examples of from various Mwangi places. It is interesting then that they decided to have a new name from the settler language rather than changing to an indigenous name.

3/5

Shifty wrote:


* 'Chronicle boons' will resume in Season 4 under AcP, but as 0 point buys based on the scenarios we played.

* There will be no Chronicle boons through Season 3 - essentially it will be the 'dead' season, providing neither a Chronicle boon nor AcP for future purchases.

Where was this actually stated that there is a completely dead season with no boons or anything? I thought this was announced now because now that we finally have the AcP system they would be ready to implement the replacement.

For Starfinder no chronicle boons means no new races or starships or anything like that outside of con boons which brings us back to a problem with everything being tied to conventions which I thought we had largely solved back in like 2013. I guess there are online events this time round. At least for 2E there are the normal AcP boons.


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Why are we assuming that the edition change is the beginning or during the Gap? I would think that the Gap begins in the future and that Pathfinder present is more likely to be in the time before the Gap with no dates given. When I first read the setting books I always thought that Golarion had at least a near future level or technology before the Gap.

Pathfinder is more likely to be contemporaneous with the first few Vesk emperors or the invention of the Rune Drive than the Gap.


That makes a lot of sense from a narrative and writing viewpoint although it's a shame we will never get to see an ancient skittermander.

As a related process question, if you ever develop a 2e version of Distant Worlds or People of the Stars would you incorporate names and changes which debuted in starfinder such as the changes to Lashunta sexual dimorphism and gender or the fact that the species inhabiting many of the planets now have names for their species rather than being named foe their planet of origin?


In starfinder lore there have been an increasing number of mentions of the pre-gap histories of places outside the Pact Worlds. Has there been any thought about what is happening in the Azlanti Star Empire or the future Veskarium, for instance, during Goalrion's present day?

Also what about the deities who's worship originated far away in space such as Damaritosh or Talavet. Do they live on the appropriate Outer Planes in a location as distant from the parts of the planes we know as their worshipers originated from Golarion? Do the Pathfinder era deities know about or interact with them?


The-Magic-Sword wrote:


E.g. the modern person is not a member of a culture, but instead, a collaboration of many influences. This can be visible, as someone heavily influenced by certain cultural works, or invisible as a natural result of life in the homogenocene.

This wouldn't stop someone from being part of a culture though. And if you describe it this way you fall into the trap of implying that certain communities don't have a culture which is anthropologically questionable to say the least.


Shisumo wrote:
Saint Caleth wrote:

I also noticed that Paizo here continued to take a Tian-is-actual-Chinese approach when they previously did such a good job evoking a Kelish that was recognizably Arabic/Persianate without being anything from real life.

I'm not sure that follows from the use of "huli jing" - it's the only non-translated word or phrase in the piece, and it's specifically a monster/species name. Using real-world language terms for such creatures is standard Paizo policy, separate from any other linguistic elements that their context might involve.

You are probably right about the specific use of terms in this story. My observation about Tian comes from the fact that out of all the regions of Golarion it is the one with examples of of real life terms and place names from the analagous part of Earth. The only other example I can think of is Osirion which is named after a famous acheological site in Egypt.


Tea4Goblins wrote:
Okay, no one has said it, but I LOVE the fact that Qiu is (apparently) non-binary. A big deal wasn't made of it, just included as yet another fact.

I did in fact not notice that until you pointed it out. Interestingly I read the character as male since Qiu was actually the given name of Confucius.


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VerBeeker wrote:
"A dead people." Man, didn't know Lung Wa was *that* bad.

I am particularly curious because the Xijae sound from their name like they were elves. Also it suggests that the Lung Wa and previous Tian-Shu dynasties culturally reshaped Tian Xia as aggressively as their real world inspiration. I hope we get more about pre-Tian-Shu-ized TiAN Xia.

VerBeeker wrote:
Also is Huli Jing the replacement for the Ancestry name of the Kistune, or is it an overarching term for beings that walk the border between mortal and fantastical?

Huli Jing is just the Chinese term for the figure which in Japanese culture became the kitsune. I assume here it is just the Tian language word for that ancestry. Interestingly they are typically portrayed as more malevolent than the Japanese version especially in pop culture, since the most famous huli jing in myth was Daji who was a sort of femme fatale that corrupted the last king of the Shang Dynasty.

I also noticed that Paizo here continued to take a Tian-is-actual-Chinese approach when they previously did such a good job evoking a Kelish that was recognizably Arabic/Persianate without being anything from real life.

3/5

Arc Riley wrote:

I absolutely love these flying pawn bases, if you have access to a 3d printer https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2256013

Those are awsome. Would have saved me the work of designing my own bases to go with the pawns I make. I am experimenting with 3d printing starship minis too due to the general dearth of options out there.

3/5

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We didn't think the brain slugs were in charge when we played it. We had assumed that some sort of organized crime was using nonsentient parasites as an unapproved treatment to milk money from the survivors.

We didn't put it together until the brain slug went into our envoy's face.

3/5

I played it the other day and what we did was to shoot the window out with a sonic weapon, which triggered the hellknights to throw grenades and blow up the floor, but it's another way out of the room.

3/5

As a non-LGBT+ individual, I am always improving at using the best practices to deal with these sorts of topics. One thing which I really like about Paizo's efforts at representation is that it is never jarringly in your face. They manage to work these individuals into the world in a way that always makes sense in context.

3/5

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I want to second the request for PF2 race boons to work like they do on starfinder. With a combination of races appearing on chronicles (most impressively a custom race introduced in-scenario) and 7nlocks based on games played and maybe run to supplement the traditional boons for running games at events.

The one fault I have with the starfinder system is that most of the con boon races are not available to online players. Online and meatspace players should have the same opportunities to access material.

3/5

BigNorseWolf wrote:


It's genuinely easy to miss reading it, and I'm not surprised it doesn't come up. The PCs have to ask a very specific question, it doesn't tie into the rest of the scenario. and there isn't a whole lot of back and forth with the NPC. Background info in PFS scenarios just doesn't come out to the forefront in a lot of cases.

My table certainly missed it when I played it. Apparently no one asked about the one specific word choice which you have to ask about to get that background.

Which is a shame because Paizo has been great about setting the standard for representation in RPGs and not making it inconguous in context.

3/5

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Bob Jonquet wrote:
Also, if you decide to organize events for, or participate in say a convention where the owners will be using a practice that permits one player to insist another has to change their character because of an offending presentation, then you accept that parameter and cannot complain if/when it actually happens. Again, there is an expectation established at the outset and you accept personal responsibility when you participate.

I would imagine that an event where this rule were in effect would be reported to Paizo and the organizer would be told to cut it out in accordance with PFS rules. At least I hope that would be the case and a venture officer would strongly discourage such a practice.

I do agree that putting a sort of rating warning of various adult themes would be an excellent idea so that people especially sensitive to whatever kind of content can make an informed choice about games which may not be appropriate for them.

3/5

Do we have any answers for this yet? I am about to finish filling out my alien archive boon and I want my Kuthonite Hellknight barathu to join the society with the minimum of confusion.

3/5

The best thing would be a clean start for both boons and characters. PF2 is a new game with new rules and should be a clean reboot of Organized Play.

On the GM front, I see the benefit of the subsidized metric since it is a mostly clean start but still recognizes the skills of GMs who have run many games.

3/5

Is there actually talk of them doing this? If so I strongly second having them be openly available. It would be a shame to close off things like themes before there were a reasonably wide variety available.


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So after reading most of this 14 page discussion, I can say that resonance seems like a really really bad idea. If it truly has anything to do with CLW wands that seems like an issue with how wands work rather than a universal magic item problem. This 'fix' creates more problems than it solves. I will tentatively wait to see the math, but Paizo will also need to dial this back.

The only pro I can see for resonance is unifying the charge pools of anything you have with charges. Accordingly I would support the idea of resonance if it applied only to charged items, either non-renewing like wands or things with charges/day like boots of speed It would not apply to single-use consumables or static effect items. Incidentally this modification of the resonance system would solve the CLW problem for those who see it as a problem as well as not causing most of the issues that people in this thread have identified.

Make wands like the everlasting wands from 3.5. 1-3/day and beyond that they cost resonance. That is how the idea can be leveraged in a useful way. Or maybe using a potion or a scroll could *optionally* use resonance to bring the effect your your level rather than the item's caster level. Again, a way to use the system to add rather than subtract character options and actions.


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Put me in the camp of this being completely fine. And for the love of god don't implement some sort of rule to preserve "realism" in this instance. Instead think about the example from Captain America given above and houserule your grim, serious tone.


In the weapons section what kind of sniper weapons are there? The Horizon Striker line sounds like it is.

3/5

I think they are still working out how that will happen. But fingers crossed.

3/5

The VL where I used to live just never bothered as far as I can tell and gave me some stupid excuse when I asked about it.

so not everywhere even gets to the approval stage.

3/5

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I have several characters registered with 0 XP, just a name as well as a number of low level characters I won't get to play to that high a level before the changeover.

I want a way to port some of the names over, even if it's not the same character, and only a spiritual successor.


WhiteWeasel wrote:
Ravingdork wrote:

The glossary of Dead Suns 4 has a LOT to say on the Drift, and answers numerous questions such as:

[list]

  • Can a ship arrive at a known, precise location every time? No.
  • Will a group of ships leaving from the same place at the same time, such as an invasion force, arrive in the same formation at the same time? No.
  • Is there a way to allow ships to arrive together, in formation? Yes.
  • These are really good things to know. I always felt the inability/difficulty of "fleet warp" for drift based ships would be an interesting military/tactical problem to explore since we are so used to fleets showing up wherever they please at the time they want ala star trek or star wars.

    It mentions that it is possible to link ships as they jump so that they stay together and that there are jumpships capable of keeping entire fleets together in the drift.

    I imagine the best defence against fleets jumping on top of you would be to disrupt this link to scatter them as they re-enter the material plane

    3/5

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    Itzamnaaj Chaac Chan K'awiil, The Jadite Sage:

    Name: Itzamnaaj Chaac Chan K'awiil
    Alignment: CN
    Race: Elf
    Class: Occultist 8
    Description: Chaac Chan as the people of the Inner Sea call him is not from here. He is short and stocky (for an elf), with somewhat dark skin and long jet black hair. He is not sure where his homeland is relative to the Inner Sea, but he certainly has not seen anyone else from home in his time in Avistan and Garund and even Tian Xia. He was originally trained as a scribe but became more interested in discovering knowledge for himself rather than merely reading the knowledge of others. He took his implements and went into the jungle to explore for himself in the tradition of his patron Desna (although he calls her Ix Kin, She of The Days in his language). Unfortunately this first adventure led to a mishap which tossed him to an entirely new and strange continent. While he first focused his investigations on how to get home he has come to appreciate more and more the knowledge of this new world he has found himself in.

    Chaac Chan is the first of my characters inspired by the Native peoples of the Americas. I'm not sure where Mayan inspired people are from in Golarion but I'm sure that they will be developed at some point

    3/5

    -01 Longbow
    -02 Undine bard archetype water slap
    -03 Longsword
    -04 Musket
    -05 Eidolon natural attacks
    -06 Bardiche and claw
    -07 True arcane masters need never make an attack
    -08 Likewise
    -09 Magic missiles mostly
    -10 Bladed scarf
    -11 Longbow
    -12 Science!
    -13 Spiked chain
    -14 Kinetic rocks
    -15 TBA
    -16 Phantom natural attacks

    3/5

    -701 [Operative] Force Baton and Semi-Auto Pistol. (Sonic Pistol in another few games)

    -702 [Mechnanic] Flame Rifle (eventually plasma line)

    -703 [Soldier] Heavy Weapons and Grenades (Haven't decided what line of heavy weapons I will specialize in)

    -704 [Technomancer] Magic Missile and Diasporan Rifle (waiting for more sniper options to be published)

    -705 [Mystic] Mind Thrust

    3/5

    I've never had much luck with the von trading thread. Doubt the online von would be too enticing either.

    I do appreciate the steps they are taking to not repeat the problems with boon distribution which PFS had at the beginning.

    3/5

    So depending on the schedule of events in someone's area, as in if they live somewhere which is not populous enough to have at least four events throughout the year then it would not be possible to get some of the races.

    3/5

    So these regions are relevant only for determining which con boon is given out at a particular time?

    That is disappointing because I live far from any conventions which would be going on in my region. And even though I live near a neighboring region I would have to hope that the events there happen during the window for a particular race.

    So by this system if the only one of these races I am interested in is the witchwyrd I would have to wait until it rotates to the online region and then hope that an event happens during that time to get the boon. Is that correct?

    3/5

    Lau Bannenberg wrote:
    So is there anyone actually advocating that you can't reroll 1s?

    That's the general practice here In Singapore. I'm not sure when the VC ruled on it but it has been that way as long as I can remember.

    I've tried to argue the other side but they want an official statement before they change the practice.

    3/5

    torrquan wrote:
    So I am guess my question is can improved familiars with Use Magic Device still use wands?

    More importantly, what about the faerie dragon, which by RAW can definitely use wands and staves by virtue of being a spellcaster in it's own right.


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    I'm back everyone, and I've finally finished the Bellflower Escape request for rainzax! (at least the first part of it) I'm not going to be taking any more adventure requests from this thread any more, but I'm happy to do some encounters for you lovely people still.

    The Bellflower Escape: Part 1

    Link includes the adventure and map of the Eagle Rose hopefully high enough resolution to be printed as a battlemap.


    To Do
    Encounters:
    Adventures:
    Working on something of my own. Check this thread for a preview soon!

    Castilonium wrote:
    I just GMed Tomb of the Pharaohs for my players, and they loved it. I added a dented genie lamp hidden in the sarcophagus on the 1st floor for the players to use to trap and defeat the edimmu, because they didn't have magic weapons to damage it. I also added a Spirit Oni to the Raktavarna encounter and had it pretend to be a mask.

    This is what I love to hear! Do you have any suggestions after playing for how I can revise the adventure. If anyone else uses what I've written in this thread, let me know after you run it what worked, what could work better and any suggestions you have.


    I know I've been away a while, but I'm anticipating that I'll be back in the swing of things soon. Thanks for your patience.

    Karanidia wrote:
    A pirates beginning.

    For a pirate adventure, rather that waiting for if I get around to it, I recommend Skull & shackles part 1. It's got what you are looking for, and frankly is probably better than what I can write in this thread.

    Draeth Darkstar wrote:
    So, my request is simple; pick a plane and give me your idea for an adventure about it spilling over into the material plane, appropriate for characters somewhere between 3-6.

    While you are waiting, take a look at the Rats in the Cellar that I wrote upthread. It's for lvl 1, but it has the planar mixing that you are looking for.


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    I circled back and made the inside of the hut for bitter lily's map. I used map elements all from one source to give the map a unified look, specifically the tileset from Torstan over at cartographersguild.com.

    Hut Interior

    Irranshalee, I'd love to work with that world, but I use herolab to generate statblocks, so anything with as many house rules as that document would be prohibitively difficult.


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    I'm still working on it, but as a preview for you fine folks here is some crunch from the Bellflower Escape adventure. It's got a description of the ship you'll be on and some all-new evil outsiders you may or may not encounter.

    Bellflower Teaser


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    Banged out one more encounter, the caravan attack for AwesomelyEpic. I was going to add a 'continuing the adventure' section, but it seems like you have something planned. I did toss in an antagonist NPC for you to play with though.

    Charlatan's Caravan
    Map

    To Do
    Encounters:
    Adventures:
    Bellflower Escape for rainzax - Going to focus on this for the near future


    bitter lily wrote:
    I noticed that I've fallen off your To Do list. Should I assume I'm on my own for the hut interior?

    Not necessarily. I am going to need to do some photoshop work which requires experimentation to make some of the resources I'll need for the hut map, so it will take a little longer than just using map elements I already had in my library.


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    It's been a little while, but I'm still writing for you lovely people. Here is the bunyip related encounter

    Bunyip's Crossing
    Map

    To Do
    Encounters:
    Caravan Attack for AwesomelyEpic
    Adventures:
    Bellflower Escape for rainzax - Still chipping away at it


    bitter lily wrote:

    Thank you! It's... beautiful.

    It's... also hard for me to interpret. Goodness! I'm so sorry. The square center left is the "Gatehouse"? With a chasm at its feet? And an ice river or a road running north-south? Then what is the building upper right?

    I'm utterly apologetic. Truly. It really is beautiful. And I'm looking forward to the interior, when you can do it.

    Glad you appreciate it. What you thought was a chasm is actually a steep slope or cliff, with the watchtower at the base and the hut at the top.


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    Finally whittling down my to-do list a little bit. Here is the majority of the encounter map for bitter lily. I'll circle back at some point and make an inset for the interior of the cabin.

    Winter's Gatehouse Map

    To Do
    Encounters:
    Evil Bunyip for GM_Arrule
    Adventures:
    Bellflower Escape for rainzax - Writing the fluff and RP elemets now


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    Sorry for the second installment of recycled content, but it's been a slow week for me. I just wanted to make sure that you have some new content here pretty regularly to keep everyone interested.

    Glare and Shadow
    Link includes adventure and reasonably high-res maps.

    To Do
    Encounters:
    Evil Bunyip for GM_Arrule
    Winter's Gatehouse map for bitter lily
    Adventures:
    Bellflower Escape for rainzax - Writing the fluff and RP elemets now


    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    rainzax wrote:
    And if you would like some vectored feedback after I run it (with some flavor doctoring, likely), I can provide you that.

    Well right now I have an outline that the First Part will include the ship journey to the private island estate you are raiding. It's going to be 5 encounters representing either 3 or 4 days of sailing. Right now the encounters are:

    Gillman Sea-bandits
    A storm dashing you against rocks populated by undead
    Mayhem involving the actual cargo of the smugglers you are sailing with
    The Chelish Coast Guard
    And I need to come up with one more.


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    Well it looks like I won't have nearly enough time as I thought to work on requests this week, but to tide you over, here is an old one-shot that I wrote a while ago.

    Tomb of the Pharaos
    Link includes adventure and reasonably high-res maps.

    @bitter lily - That looks like more encounters than will fit on one reasonably sized battle-map. My sketch of the map right now includes the small hut and a watchtower. In the end it will probably be about half the size of a flip-mat.

    To Do
    Encounters:
    Evil Bunyip for GM_Arrule
    Winter's Gatehouse map for bitter lily
    Adventures:
    Bellflower Escape for rainzax - I promise I'll finish eventually


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    Had some time to write some stuff over the weekend. Here is Azten's request for an encounter with nightmares unleashed. It's got incarnate nightmares and an evil outsider behind it, but its more of an adventure hook really.

    Thornkeep's Nightmare
    Map

    To Do
    Encounters:
    Evil Bunyip for GM_Arrule
    Winter's Gatehouse map for bitter lily
    Adventures:
    Bellflower Escape for rainzax - I promise I'll finish eventually


    bitter lily wrote:
    Does not making the To Do list mean that my hope for a map amounted to too much work to be added? Or something else?

    It just means that I'm not doing the requests on a first come first served basis. I do the ones I have a good idea for first, then I may come back to the ones that will take more time.


    Updated To Do list for the weekend.


    To Do
    Encounters:
    Evil Bunyip for GM_Arrule
    Thornkeep's nightmares for Azten
    Adventures:
    Bellflower Escape for rainzax - Still plugging along

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