Wei Ji the Learner's page

"Emerging Pact-Pulonis Alliance" Wait, WHAT?! Pulonis is trying to break away from the Veskarium? When did this happen?

It's a knock-down effect of the Drift Crash.

It's effectively easier to get to Pulronis from the Pact Worlds (and vice-versa) via Drift 2.0's 'Drift Lanes' than it is to use the 'traditional route'.

There are also a TON of interplanar disturbances in the Vesk system, so flying 'conventionally' via non-Drift things is also a very risky situation.

At least, that's the nutshell IIRC. Others who are more Starfinder lore-savvy please feel free to correct and/or adjust.

*snip*

Edit: And, with this Adventure Path, we're now on the OCR License instead of the "Open" Gaming License!

Wouldn't that be the ORC License?

I'm pretty happy with most of the stuff we have right now and coming up in Howl of the Wild. Always love more ancestries of course, but we're at a good point. I'd still like to get some Darklands ancestries (Xulgath, Sekmin) and some Arcadian ancestries (Rougarou, Wyrwood), maybe something from Casmaron if we ever go there. Other than that, we've got a lot of options already. Selfishly, I might also like if Harpy sometime becomes an ancestry, or some other "generic bird" ancestry which would be less restrictive than Tengu (appearance wise), more humanoid than Awakened Animal, and less humanoid than Strix. But that's pretty damn specific and redundant.

I could see Harpy as a regional variant of Strix with bad hygiene and press issues. And it's not redundant and the specificity is what I'm interested in, too.

HUZZAH!

Paizo and Artificial Intelligence

This would probably be a better fit in homebrew?

It does make me wonder how many breathe weapons a 1/2 Dragon Kobold Dragon Instinct Barbarian multiclass Wyrmblessed Sorcerer can get...

A completely different kind of 'huffing'.

Martials still need amplification to 'catch up' to casters, if we are going to revive that old tired thought-chain.

I have very rarely run into 'cheerleading' from casters.

If anything, Casters throw out a craptonne of rockets and let the martials 'catch up'.

The perfect blend of support/blast is hard to find.

Wei Ji the Learner wrote:

graystone wrote:

I'm not going to get too excited about making characters until i see what the rarity of them are; if they are Rare, there isn't a reason to expect I'll get to use it right away.

Well, hopefully with the Tian Xia books coming out where dragons are so commonplace one can't sneeze without having to take them into consideration, they'll be Uncommon?

They might be Uncommon in Tian Xia but Rare in Core.

That would become incredibly annoying and once again highlight the problems of the Rarity system.

The big thing for PF2 Shifter if one is in the works is to allow folks to stay in forms indefinitely from the entry gate without putting too much of a malus on the character.

Claws? Big deal. Ancestries have them, as do multiple classes.
Martial DC? Eradicated with Class DC.
Flight hamstringing? Not needed with three-action economy. It's a problem that has been erased.

And the list goes on.

I'm not going to get too excited about making characters until i see what the rarity of them are; if they are Rare, there isn't a reason to expect I'll get to use it right away.

Well, hopefully with the Tian Xia books coming out where dragons are so commonplace one can't sneeze without having to take them into consideration, they'll be Uncommon?

I'd prefer to think of it as 'person-y' dragon, but totally understand.

I have a sort of similar feel about goblins despite them being a Core Ancestry, and get that others are still excited about them.

Ootoya FOREVER!

Yayyyy art of Lady Jingxi!

With possible Annoyed Action Pose of What did my husband do THIS TIME??

I have to get it out of my brain about The Great Flood...

I'm loving what I've seen of the .pdf so far, and have put the hard copy on order despite space issues because so many questions that have been bugging me are getting answered!

The other added benefit of using a new term versus a 'traditional' one is that it becomes something that the ORC license can cover wholly, versus the concern that a certain company with tons of lawyers and infamously armed security forces decides to take offense.

TBH I do not remember seeing alignment used as a justification for the "Fights to the death" NPC tactics.

TBT I remember seeing "Fights to the death" quite often, with no justification provided.

My brain may be conflating the two, because it was exceedingly rare that G folks 'fought to the death' but folks who had the E were seemingly always doing it.

I'm really curious to see how the factions will define on this one.

I just hope it's not like the PFS1 Scenario Red Harvest where it was scripted to be IMPOSSIBLE to get the factions to sit down and talk to each other. That would be a waste of narrative space, imo.

Every mixed race person* I know has been rather offended by the direction some gaming companies have been taking with their "half" races.

At least "half" implies that you exist at all.

** spoiler omitted **

The general consensus among the people I know is that acknowledging all aspects of one's Ancestry is more important than the arbitrary delineation by a bunch of folks in some bureaucracy and welcome the change.

EDIT:

For a Versatile Human ancestry I'd probably suggest something like Arodenian (since Aroden viewed himself as God of Humanity) or some other term that encompassed enough of Humanity without being bigoted.

Not saying the idea of Human as a Versatile Ancestry is bad, just suggesting stepping away from historically bad things.

I think I would like to see half-human heritage.

From main folks of setting... Maybe some type of half-giants or other similar conception?

That gets EXCEPTIONALLY problematic because of the racist connotations IRL.

It is why they stepped to Aiuvarin (mixed elf ancestry) and Dromarr (mixed orc ancestry)

Putting 'Half' on something implies 'lesser' rather than 'better', and there's a whole section of society that leans into it.

Waiting to see what it entails, and what sort of 'load' it takes to play one.

Hopefully the Versatile allows things like eventual flight or other goodies.

I'm curious to read this and see how well paizo is handling giving information quickly without the alignments since the gm core settlement examples seemed confusing to me. Though it might just be matter of having to get used to different style of trpg writing again

If nothing else, its at least nice to get rid of "we can assume they are evil, right?"

And in shocking news, detaching arbitrary morality judgements allows for more flexible writing with opponents that may or may not be wrong, just looking at the world through a different lens.

I'm hopeful that in this arc (and others) that the flexibility gained allows for more options and outcomes beyond 'They all fight to the death because they are (alignment)'.

keftiu wrote:

I'm selfishly hoping this Bloodrager can use Sorcerer bloodlines, because a few of my 1e favorites (hello, Nanite Sorcerers!) never crossed over.

Given that Nanite Sorcerers relied pretty heavily on the High Technology rules to be really that unique, it might be more accurate to say it hasn't been brought over yet. The technology guide wasn't published until 2015, which was a lot longer after PF1E than right now is after PF2E...

In addition, the game is a lot more 'flexible' to adjust to such in PF2 (I would submit even moreso after ReMaster) than it was in PF1.

There have already been androids as an Ancestry published, along with their Feats which should help lay a roadmap.

As long as things remain on schedule.

Given a choice between transforming warriors of power and racially-charged stereotypes of fighter and rogue, I'll take transforming warriors of power, please.

And now I'm thinking 'Intern of the Apocalypse', some poor unpaid soul that has to get Szuriel coffee every morning..

Evan Tarlton wrote:

I'm thinking that there will be representation from the Pathfinder Society and the Knights of Lastwall, and possibly the Magaambya. The Firebrands and Hellknights wouldn't be too much of a surprise. For nations, Oprak and New Eurythnia are basically guaranteed, and I think that a surprise emissary from Highhelm might also show up. Said emissary might be carrying a most unusual message from a king long dead...

That would be from Dongun Hold more likely, wouldn't it?

Also the Matanji from the Mwangi Expanse, come to think of it.

It would be a neat and efficient way to step 'away' from 'Dragon Disciple' (which is probably OGL on some level) plus hearken back to Legacy of Dragons (from PF1)

Is that PF2 Lore Warden (less heavy nerfing)?

Quote:

foreign organizations who answered Ardax’s call

Whomst?

(Question's rhetorical, obviously this will be revealed in the Player's Guide.)

In addition, the Pathfinder Society more than likely. The organization has a relationship with the orcs in the region dating back at least to Season 8 of PFS(1).

And the deity aspect was put in place specifically to prevent folks from going "Oh, we murdered Pharasma in one round so we're all immortal now" and trying to make the claim that it covered everyone (or inspire other tables to do the same).

By not giving the deities statblocks, if memory serves, it becomes solely up to the GM if that's the story they want to tell -- and it will only hold for that table.

So really curious to see how that is maintained while things are going down.

Aenigma wrote:

I still have no idea when and how Arazni has become a deity. In Tyrant's Grasp, Arazni was not even a demigod, just a powerful mythic character. Now, Tar-Baphon is still a mortal (albeit very powerful), yet Arazni has become a full-fledged deity? Did she touch the Starstone?

Arazni was Iomedae's goddess and Aroden's herald until she died.

And also punked hard by Iomedae's crew to get her to 'dying'.

'By accident', of course.

But it looks like she got some beach time and is recharged and in-charge.

I wonder if this will take the narrative space of 'Skald' and bring it more in-line with 'could be any culture' versus 'seems to be Scandinavian'.

All I want is a reason not to use a shield.

I hear this thing about Monks and Shields and yet none of my monks have used them to date and their AC was best at table.

Am I missing something?

Pronate11 wrote:

I'm just going to say, they revealed a living sword deity, and it looks oddly close to Gorum's sword....

Gorum: (dies)

Gorum's Sword: (ascends to godhood from long association and godsblood)
Gorum's Sword: Revenge!
Arazni: Oh, hi there. Aren't you a cutie?

GS: "Sorry, dear, you're not my type. Unless you want to spec over to greatswords?"

Saloc, The Minder of Immortals, is the psychopomp usher that handles dead gods and their cases in Pharasma's court.

Saloc is about to be VERY busy.

Saloc: "Ah, this is a pretty cushy gig, might get someone every couple of centuries, maybe a false alarm and... WTF!!!"

Now, another option that'd be totally on-brand is Gorum feeling his essence being 'sucked out' by whatever thing is going on and going "You know what? I choose a different strategy. You Lose."

And then self-shanking hard enough to break the ritual and send parts of himself everywhere.

Humor aside, my big hope is that he goes out like a champ, not a chump. Like, giving as good as he got or better.

"CATMONKEY!"

...oh no...

I suggested weapon training be build into stances.

If you go into a stance you also turn on proficiency with all weapons that stance is meant to use just like it also provides use of a special unarmed attack. They could do it by weapon group or by individual weapons but by weapon group allows new weapons to be added later without errata.

This would be 'proficiency all the time', the Stance training just grants it, right?

Because otherwise I could see it being an issue if there are effects that cause folks to drop out of their Stances semi-consistently.

That would make such a proficiency pretty useless -- how would they even TRAIN if every ten minutes they forget which side of the stick is pointy?

I am appreciative of the emphasis placed on 'GM table rules apply'.

I am now very worried for my problematic tengu god (Hei Feng), though.

And his estranged wife Lady Jingxi. :>

Why do you think ganking Iomedae will do anything about the player behavior you're obviously extremely angry about?

Evangelist crusaders will just go with Erastil or someone else that they can vaguely identify with their group politics. You underestimate the ability of people wanting to play "smite the unbeliever" to figure out a deity who plays into their biases.

Last time I checked, Erastil wasn't party to summoning in a superior and forcing them via binding to 'get to work'.

Now granted, that take is a bit from the hip, but that one in particular was just a pure WTF moment for me.

EDIT: Saranrae going all bliblical is the sort of thing expected from angelic zero-sum sorts.

However, i will grant that my concerns and thoughts are based in personal bias -- but a lot of the other deities not on my 'goodbye' list have a bit more focus away from concerns of mine.

I like how the scaly person in purple and yellow *could* be a kobold.. could be a nagaji, and looks a bit peturbed at the situation, but the more 'nagaji' sort has an almost prideful look (to the left).

Revised:

I'm hoping for Abadar (goodbye capitalist god), Iomedae(goodbye evangelist crusaders), or Gorum (goodbye deity of murderhobos).

Dreading Shelyn (THE Pride deity), Lamashtu (Honest about monstrosity), Calistria (Honest about payback and lust positivity).

Not super-worried about Gozreh(Climate Change is a thing), Norgorber (Dirty political tricks), or Torag (Genocidal dirtbag who has a lot to answer for even if the stance has 'softened'.).

Alchemist has most changes? In player core 2?

Oracle needs a very big rework of the curse with the new Refocus rules or they are screwed.

Buddy of mine and I were comparing healing and class options and basically determined through our back-of-napkin math that right now there's no mechanical reason to want to play an oracle, and thematically a lot of the beats an Oracle would 'hit' could be covered with GM fiat.

So Oracle definitely needs a rework, because being unable to play most of an adventure is not helpful to the large majority of groups out there.

It merits noting that this was brought up during the Playtest as a possible issue and it was somewhat mitigated.

Hopefully folks were paying attention to that.

The Raven Black wrote:

Sarenrae : one third of the Prismatic Ray = unlikely

To be fair, I can imagine Sarenrae dying. Her death may actually bring about some change. Now, for example, the Padishah Empire is in a state of some prosperity and calm, which is why creating products based on it can be somewhat boring. Of course, it's always nice to live in an era of prosperity and peace. But, in my opinion, times of devastation and chaos are most suitable for adventure. And what better way to wreak havoc on an empire than the death of their main deity?

It is a bit problematic, though, from a RL analogue issue.

Bear with me here.

For years during PF1, Sarenrae was posited as 'the' deity of the Padishah Empire.

Characters was written sometimes with exceptionally problematic takes ((Cult of the Dawnflower, anyone?)) along with a bit of a regional stereotype that got carried over by RL players.

So eliminating a deity from that area could be viewed from a deeper perspective of "Folks from 'that region' shouldn't get nice things" which can almost immediately lead to an incredible level of toxicity.

That Sarenrae is ALSO a member of a poly crew doesn't help, because doing anything there will immediately raise the hackles of an entire community.

From a purely 'meta' perspective, Paizo has been trying to learn lessons from products they release.

((Agents of Edgewatch had HORRIFIC timing with concerns about the conduct of law enforcement, and then some of the tropes the AP covered did not make it any better for most folks as one example.))

So it's not a rough ocean that is trying to be charted, it's a figurative minefield with some hidden devices that won't go off UNLESS someone blunders onto one.

The OTHER prospect is that the 'removal' of a deity may not spark war, but instead chaos and confusion (no, not the alignment thing).

Particularly as the 'rules' of the game have changed rather dramatically and anyone can be the better deity (or worse as so befits them).

The artificial shackles that held the faith construct in place are no longer valid.

Golarion would be improved (in some ways) with removal of stern enforcement of wealth accumulation.

For those who missed Luis hint this week. The next safe deity is a member of the Godclaw (not Aprils Fools)

Still leaves Torag, Abadar, Irori, Iomedae.

Two of them are on a line that doesn't have two 'Safe' spots. (Iomedae, Torag)

Only one is in a column with that doesn't have two 'Safe' spots (Irori).

Speculation:

From a 'narrative weight' the thought raised further up-thread of someone 'leaving' instead of 'dying' might be an interesting tale to weave.

We already had a form of this with Z-K quitting his job.

It would not be hard to see Irori feeling that the Inner Sea was 'wasting his time' and he needed to focus more on Vudra, Garund, Casmaron, Arcadia, or Tian Xia...

More importantly, is it part of the Starfinder Subscription since there's a... Gap in publications? ;>

The Raven Black wrote:

CorvusMask wrote:

Waaait, why did Horsemen of Apocalypse get renamed to Apocalypse Riders?

HorseMEN.

It also helps differentiate them from male centaurs.

Hey you can't say that jackal or woman can't be a horseman!

But seriously, I only accept this change from mythological name if they don't ride horses anymore :p Give one of them a dragon mount

(riders of apocalypse is cooler than apocalypse rider anyway. Latter sounds like some dude on road with cheesy american car in some sort of post apocalyptic road trip movie)

How about infernal combustion engine hogs (motorcycles) so they can ride in style?

Now the important question:

Was it Rye, pumpernickel, hardtack, or some dried out ol' loaf someone had been keeping in their extradimensional storage space for years?

I’m not exactly sure “distracting” Rovagug is the same as “going toe-to-toe”, which tends to imply combat. I guess they could have been doing the gothic twostep while facing each other? No disrespect to Calistria intended - her role was clearly integrally hers and instrumental in the plan…

She'd have to be able to pull off an enticing dance to lure Rovie in, so I could see a deific equivalent of that...?

The other way to go at it, is if there's NOT a feat for it, make a raging person immune to crits while raging.

That'd convey the 'OMG, we HIT HIM AS HARD AS WE COULD and... it did nothing!" sort of toughness associated with Barbarians and beserker sorts.

It'd still provide 'nickel and dime' damage which would take down someone, but it'd mitigate the flaws of a reduced AC, at least.

The ally also gave the PCs some powerful poison and suggested they try to use that on food or drink in the party to give them an edge. I'm curious to see what they wind up doing in that regard and I suspect the Sarenrite will not be comfortable with it at all.

'Not being comfortable with it' is about the spot a follower of Sarenrae would be at, I suspect?

In addition, the 'set-up' is... mildly suspicious to say the least.

So there should be warning bells going off all over the place for genre-savvy players.